The Story Of Jefferson Airplane’s 1972 Ohio Performance That Went Crazy

Jefferson Airplane might be known for peace, love, and all things hippie, but their concert on August 21, 1972, at the Rubber Bowl in Akron, Ohio, was anything but chill. What started as a typical rock show turned into a full-blown clash between fans and police, with the band right in the thick of it.

The Crowd Outside Ignites Chaos

Roughly 20,000 fans packed the stadium, but the real trouble started on a hill just outside the venue. Hundreds more, without tickets, gathered to watch the show for free. As night fell, things got rowdy. Many of the hilltop fans were drinking or doing drugs, and soon they started harassing the police.

“We were getting pummeled with rocks and bottles and stones and whatever else they could throw,” recalled John Cunningham, a lieutenant at the time, in an interview with the Akron Beacon Journal. Police responded with tear gas to try and control the scene.

“Before you know it, just all hell broke out,” said one concertgoer. “It was a small war zone, let me tell you. There was cops and teenagers just going at it everywhere. Fistfighting, throwing rocks, anything that people could get their hands on to throw.”

Grace Slick Fires Back

Inside the stadium, things didn’t get any calmer. From the stage, singer Grace Slick fueled the fire by yelling at fans to “get the pigs” and “fight the establishment.”

“[The police] knew we remembered Kent State and they didn’t trust us,” Slick wrote in her autobiography, Somebody to Love? “All along the front of the stage stood a row of 25 officers, arms linked in riot style, creating a barrier. Their heads covered with bulletproof visors, their hips loaded with clubs and guns, they formed a line between the audience and us like a bizarre group of armored, hairy chorus girls.”

Bomb Threat and Arrests

At 11:30 p.m., things took another turn when a bomb threat was called into the Rubber Bowl office. Police shut down the show, which only made the crowd angrier. Fists and objects flew through the air.

Chick Casady, the band’s equipment manager and brother of bassist Jack Casady, stepped in when police started roughing up a fan. “I saw them mace Chick, so I went over and objected to their treatment of my friend,” Slick recalled. “They maced me. Paul [Kantner] came over to object to their treatment of me. They maced Paul. The three of us were escorted to jail where bail was set and the attorneys were called to rectify the situation.”

In the end, 25 fans were arrested, nine officers were injured, and 12 police cars were damaged.

Looking Back on the Mayhem

Slick, Kantner, and Casady were all charged with assaulting an officer but later pleaded guilty to a lesser charge. They paid a fine and agreed to stay out of trouble—at least in Ohio. Reflecting on the night, Slick later admitted her distrust of authority ran deep.

“I don’t know why, but any time I saw a badge, something in me would snap,” she said. “All I could see was some goof who took smelly shits just like everyone else, having the unfair advantage of firepower.”

Peace and love? Not that night in Akron.