Massive! This Was The Biggest Rock Concert Ever In Texas

Texans love live music, and they love Texas-size shows.

Texas Jams & More

I have had the privilege of going to some giant shows. I went to several Texas Jam's, Metallica's Summer Sanitarium, The Dylan/Dead Tour, and several Rolling Stones appearances. The scale of the concerts I just mentioned, just don't rate with the largest rock concert ever in Texas.

A Contender

No one really keeps track of #2 or #3, but I do want to give props to ZZ Top for getting 80,000 people together in 1974 for "ZZ Top's First Annual Texas Size Rompin' Stompin' Barn Dance and Barbeque. That event was certainly a milestone in 1974 and paved the way for huge events in the Lone Star State. I remember the announcements for this event and being incredibly jealous that I was too young to attend. ZZ's record was toppled in 1978 with 100,000 people at the Texas Jam.

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And The Winner Is...

The real winner is a concert that you may not even remember the name of. The record for a one-day rock concert goes to the 1997 Blockbuster Rockfest in Fort Worth. That concert drew 400,000 people (some say 385,000, but who's counting). On the bill were the hottest MTV-type bands of the day. The lineup was Bush, No Doubt, Counting Crows, Matchbox Twenty, Third Eye Blind, Collective Soul, Jewel, The Wallflowers, Sugar Ray, Paula Cole, Soak, Souls and Jackopierce.  Here's a fun fact: The show was technically free. Blockbuster gave out tickets with various purchases.

The video I was able to find from RockFest was just as bad or worse than the commercial...except for a performance by Eve 6 that looks pretty good and will give you an idea of how over the top this event was.