The first 4th July Picnic,1973

Willie celebrates the scene

ÒThere was one road in, and it took us about four hours to get to the stage,” says Mickey raphael of Willie Nelson’s inaugural tribal gathering in 1973. “It was a tiny stage, just two flatbed trucks and a very funky plywood roof. Back then, Willie travelled in an Open road van, like a little mobile home. That’s where we hung out. After the show was over, in the wee hours, I fell asleep. I woke up afterwards and everyone had gone apart from a few stragglers. The walking dead, out in this big field! No facilities, just trash for acres… Nothing was organised. The shows were never organised until the ’90s!”