America’s biggest bands once rocked in Cayuga County: Inside the 5 loudest ‘Rockin in Weedsport’ concerts

Weedsport was "rockin'" on June 28, 1990 with the sounds of Tesla, who opened for Motley Crue. Syracuse Post-StandardSyracuse Post-Standard

For years in Central New York there was one surefire way to know it was summer: They were rockin’ in Weedsport.

Concerts at the Cayuga County Fairgrounds and Speedway often brought more than 10,000 fans to the small village. TV and radio stations played the popular ads constantly: “You know it’s summer when they’re rockin’ in Weedsport.”

The concerts featured massive rock groups from Metallica to Def Leppard to Aerosmith to Guns ‘n Roses.

The concerts were the brainchild of Glenn Donnelly, the auto racing promoter who turned to music following the oil crises of the 1970s.

Early on, the shows featured acts like Buddy Rich and Duke Ellington, which failed to grab an audience. But the loud rock that followed brought huge crowds.

Local high school students told the Herald Journal in 1991 that the concerts were the “best things that happen all summer.”

The noise, traffic, rowdiness and profanity around the concerts made them unpopular with older residents.

The music could be heard inside people’s houses and continued while they were trying to sleep.

“I live about a half-mile from the Speedway as the crow flies,” Brutus Town Councilman James Sullivan once complained. “And it sounded loud in my backyard.”

In 1984, there was an attempt to stop the shows with a noise ordinance, but the proposal died after some worried what the new rules might mean for high school football games and band practice.

We scanned the Post-Standard archives for some of the loudest and biggest concerts at Weedsport. Here’s what we found on five of the biggest shows (and also Milli Vanilli).

Jeff Maryak from Syracuse shotguns a beer before the Metallica Concert starts at the Cayuga County Fairgrounds in Weedsport on July 4, 1992. The loud music, traffic, and rowdiness of the hard rock concerts at Weedsport did not make them popular with the residents who lived near the grounds. Syracuse Post-StandardSyracuse Post-Standard

DEF LEPPARD – JULY 24, 1988

Rock concerts at Weedsport might have hit their apex during about a two-week run during summer 1988 when Def Leppard (whose album “Hysteria” was number one on the charts), Whitesnake, Aerosmith and Guns ‘N’ Roses played there.

More than 12,300 people sold out the Speedway on July 24 for Def Leppard with lead singer Joe Elliott. Europe was the opening act.

The band’s green laser light show mixed with a torrential downpour halfway through the performance to create an eerie effect.

“The storm actually added to the show,” wrote Herald Journal reviewer Brian Bourke.

It looked like the standing crowd were being rained on by green crystals.

“The artistic highpoint of the show was ‘Bringin’ on the Heart Break,’” Bourke wrote, “where the two guitarists — neither has any individual talent, but they work well together — played a tasteful intro on flamenco-style acoustic and double-necked electric guitars.”

There was some trouble at the show.

Eighteen people were taken to area hospitals that night, injured by pushing and shoving as the huge crowd surged closer to the stage.

AEROSMITH AND GUNS ‘N’ ROSES – AUGUST 9, 1988

Boston bad boys Aerosmith had a career resurgence in the late 1980s and created a new fanbase mixing old and new fans.

Joined by Guns ‘N’ Roses, Aug. 9 show was the “loudest of the season.” The bands, Bourke wrote, “offered up three hours of loud, guitar-drenched hard rock for a capacity crowd of more than 12,000 eager fans.”

Aerosmith mixed their 1970s classics like “Dream On” and “Sweet Emotion” with the hits off their latest album “Permanent Vacation” including “Angel” and “Rag Doll.”

Much like the De Leppard concert a few weeks before, the crowd threatened to get out of hand.

A retaining wall at the front of the Speedway was pushed over. Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler had to scold the over-eager concertgoers.

“Cool it,” he said. “We came here to play, not to fight.”

Guns ‘N’ Roses had just replaced Def Leppard on top of the Billboard album charts and brought an angrier and more energetic experience to the concert.

What about Whitesnake?

The middle act of the 80′s hair band tripleheader drew 10,000 fans the night before Aerosmith, but it seems most were disappointed by the group’s “lackluster performance.”

“Even the die-hards down front seemed less than enthusiastic by the end of the band’s set,” Bourke wrote, “while the more discerning rock ‘n’ roll fans began heading for the parking lot before it was half over.”

Motley Crue base guitarist Nikki Sixx unwinds before the band's concert on June 28, 1990 behind the wheel of a bumper car at the Weedsport Speedway.Syracuse Post-Standard

MOTLEY CRUE, TESLA, JOHNNY CRASH – JUNE 28, 1990

It was a hot Thursday evening on June 28, 1990 when more than 11,000 people filled the Cayuga County Fairgrounds for Motley Crue.

“It was crowded up there and hot, very hot,” Bourke wrote. “As the air cooled, steam from the mass of bodies drifted up through the stage lights.”

Thousands punched the air during the band’s hits like “Dr. Feelgood,” “Girls, Girls, Girls,” and “Smokin’ in the Boys Room,” mimicking the beat set down by drummer Tommy Lee.

Bourke preferred the Crue’s impressive high-tech laser display and fireworks much more than the band’s music.

The bass guitarist for the rock group Tesla, struts his stuff as he is cheered on by faithful fans at the Cayuga County Fairgrounds while opening for Motley Crue on June 28, 1990. Syracuse Post-StandardSyracuse Post-Standard

Openers Tesla were the best musicians on the stage that night, according to the reviewer.

“Many of the band’s lyrics seemed to come from the cerebrum, rather than a lower part of the anatomy, as is the case with most metal music,” Bourke wrote.

Johnny Crash was said to be “all of the trash and none of the flash” of Crue.

METALLICA – JULY 4, 1992

A full Independence Day of bungee-jumping, go-carts, and fireworks at the Cayuga County Fairgrounds ended with “real pyrotechnics” in 1992.

Heavy metal group Metallica took the stage in front of 8,000 fans and offered a sound and message different than most metal acts.

“The band’s two-hour set was proof that today’s heavy metal music is capable of producing something other than speed and volume,” Bourke wrote.

Steve Terzini from Utica jumps out backwards while bungee jumping before the Metallica concert starts at the Cayuga County Fairgrounds in Weedsport on July 4, 1992. Syracuse Post-StandardSyracuse Post-Standard

Ballads and acoustic guitars and “inventive instrumental solos” were all part of the show. Their stage was largely bare.

“Guitarist Kirk Hammett was the instrumental star of the show,” Bourke wrote. “His work on ‘Enter Sandman’ and “The Unforgiven’ made those the highlights of the show.”

THE HOOTERS AND BRYAN ADAMS – JUNE 16, 1987

Concerts at large open speedways and those performed by the hair metal bands of the 1980s and ‘90s were not known for their great music quality.

What concert at Weedsport sounded the best according to the reviewers from Syracuse newspapers?

The Hooters, a rock band from Philadelphia who became popular in the mid ‘80s thanks to radio and MTV, had, in Bourke’s opinion, “the best-sounding” concert in the Speedway’s history.

“The quintet’s delicate instrumentation and tight harmonies could be heard crystal in every corner of the Fairgrounds,” he wrote.

A friend of his said the music could be heard at their house some four miles away.

They achieved a “complex sound that is very melodic and danceable” and one that “does not tire.”

Hits included “Day by Day,” “Johnny B.,” and “All You Zombies.”

Most of the 7,000 fans there that night, mostly teenagers, came for Bryan Adams who had built a strong following in Central New York.

The audience responded enthusiastically to Adams but Bourke said he never rose to the level of The Hooters.

Joe Kosturik from Christian Brothers Academy and Aaron Maloney, from West Genesee High went to the Milli Vanilli concert in Weedsport on August 2, 1990 in style. A limousine furnished by HJ magazine was their transport. Syracuse Post-StandardSyracuse Post-Standard

MILLI VANILLI, YOUNG MC – AUGUST 2, 1990

Few music acts had a year like pop duo Milli Vanilli did in 1989.

Their debut album, “Girl You Know Its True,” sold 10 million copies and spawned three number one songs. They won the Grammy for best new act. And they were relentlessly mocked by talk show host Arsenio Hall and TV show “In Living Color.”

“Rolling Stone” magazine readers voted their album the worst of the year.

And then there was the time their live performance on MTV was interrupted by a computer glitch which indicated the group did not sing their own songs.

But none of that seemed to matter to the 6,200 fans who came to the Cayuga County Fairgrounds on Aug. 2, 1990.

Fans were more interested in the dancing and theatrics of the duo of Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus.

“They cheered as the spandex-clad duo conquered a band of ninjas at the start of show, then danced and swayed through the opening song,” wrote reviewer Molly Fennell.

Through 13 songs nobody cared too much that the volume of their singing seldom changed in volume or quality when they did not hold their microphones in front of their faces. Or how “Blame it on the Rain” sounded as though “it was being played at a reduced speed.”

The strongest singers on the stage, Fennel joked, were Milli Vanilli’s three-woman backup section.

There was a strange dichotomy between the headliners and opening act.

Rapper Young MC was the “only performer who made an effort to prove he was not lip-synching” and he left the stage with the audience begging for more.

Milli Vanilli fans began breaking up early, even before their final number.

When it was over the “music stopped and the stage went dark and the concert was over,” Fennell wrote. “Just like that.”

“As if someone had pulled the plug on a stereo.”

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This feature is a part of CNY Nostalgia, a section on syracuse.com. Send your ideas and curiosities to Johnathan Croyle: Email | 315-416-3882.

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