Moondog Coronation Ball
Generally accepted as the first major rock and roll concert, The Moondog Coronation Ball was held at the Cleveland Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, on March 21, 1952.
Alan Freed joined WJW Radio in 1951 as the host of a classical-music program. Shortly thereafter, record-store owner Leo Mintz, noting the growing popularity of rhythm-and-blues, among young customers, introduced the music to Freed. Mintz decided to sponsor Freed’s three hours of late-night programming where Freed featured R&B. Once they saw the popularity of the program increase, they decided on holding a live dance event featuring some of the artists whose records were appearing on Freed’s show.
The concert was organized by Freed (a disc jockey and considered to have popularized the term “Rock and Roll” at WJW-Radio), along with Lew Platt, a local concert promoter, and Freed’s sponsors, including Mintz, owner of the Record Rendezvous store. The concert featured Paul Williams and the Hucklebuckers, and Tiny Grimes and the Rocking Highlanders (an African American instrumental group that appeared in kilts). Also on the bill were the Dominoes, Varetta Dillard and Danny Cobb.
The concert was held on March 21, 1952. More tickets were printed than the arena’s actual capacity, in part due to counterfeiting and a printing error. Stories of the actual event are inconsistent with some reporting an estimated 20,000 individuals trying to crowd into an arena that held slightly more than half that the fire authorities shut down the concert after the first song by opening act Paul “Hucklebuck” Williams ended due to worries that a riot might break out as people tried to crowd in. Other reports say, a frustrated audience gathered outside, unable to buy a ticket at $1.75 and their number increasing until it amounted to about 6,000. About 9:30, 30 minutes before the show was scheduled to start, they stormed the Arena, knocking down four panel doors, brushing police away and storming inside. Some two hours and 30 policemen later, Police Captain Zimmerman called it a night ordering the crowd to leave. Freed made a public apology on WJW the next day, referring to the event as the “ball” or “dance,” not as a “concert.”
Journalist Valena Williams’ first-person account reports that the musical performances lasted for some time: “Paul Williams and his Hucklebuckers left the stage and Tiny Grimes and his Highlanders took over. I thought the acoustics were poor because I couldn’t hear the music. But then I realized that the din was drowning out the orchestra. I looked back at the dance floor and more than three-quarters of it was filled so tightly that you couldn’t see anything of the floor itself.” Williams described sharing her concerns about the boisterous crowd with promoter Lewis Platt, who “laughed”. She noted that “When the Arena bar was ordered shut down at 10:30 I knew the crowd was disturbing police authority, too.”
While apparently, the show went on, the live radio broadcast of the event was shut off early on. So, the first Moondog Coronation Ball was kind of like the tree that fell in the woods. It happened, but didn’t initially make much of a noise except to those who attended. However, the noise that followed in terms of launching rock concerts has been historic.