The traditional Willie Nelson Fourth of July Picnic couldn’t possibly have returned after October 2020, when we lost Billy Joe Shaver and Johnny Bush. There’s just a certain threshold of familiar faces required at this event and as big as Ray Benson is, he and Asleep at the Wheel are not quite enough.
For the longtime Picnic fan, there are questions about the lineup: Where is Ray Wylie Hubbard? Where is Lukas and Paula Nelson? Folk Uke?
That said, the buzz about the return of the Picnic is that it will be held at Austin’s Q2 Stadium, a venue newly built for the city’s Major League Soccer franchise.
Because I haven’t been to Q2, and I don’t know how the event will be structured, I’m at a disadvantage to tell you how the event will feel compared to recent Picnics at the Circuit of the Americas.
But I can tell you that this is not the first time, by a considerable margin, that the Picnic has been held at a stadium.
Let’s take a look at the history.
1978: Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City and the Cotton Bowl in Dallas
On July 2, the inaugural Texxas Jam in Dallas gave Willie a day for the Picnic and it drew a then-disappointing crowd of 20,000 to see Willie, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, the Charlie Daniels Band and several others.
Just the day before, more than 50,000 attended the July 1 Picnic at Arrowhead featuring Willie, Waylon, the Grateful Dead and Jerry Jeff Walker.
But Texxas Jam co-promoter Louis Messina of Houston’s Pace Concerts was undaunted.
“As far as I’m concerned, this was Year One of the ‘Willie Nelson Picnic,’” Messina told the Austin American-Statesman. “The days of going out in the fields are over.”
The next two years, the Picnic would be held on the golf course at Willie’s Pedernales Country Club.
1983: The Carrier Dome in Syracuse and Giants Stadium in New Jersey
After two years off, the Picnic returned in 1983 with a 3-day series of concerts along the East Coast, ending at Atlanta International Raceway on July 4.
About 25,000 attended the show at the Carrier Dome, featuring Willie, Merle Haggard, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris and the Stray Cats – really. More than 55,000 went to Giants Stadium for the same lineup, plus Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter.
If Willie was hoping to avoid the Texas heat, it didn’t work out. The humidity inside the Carrier Dome was said to be extraordinary and the Syracuse Herald-American dubbed it “the Syracuse Sauna.” And at Giants Stadium multiple news agencies reported the temperatures on the field were over 100 degrees.
1986: A near miss … almost UT’s Memorial Stadium
Farm Aid II in 1986 was set for July 4 and the hybrid Farm Aid/Picnic was originally planned to be held at Memorial Stadium.
However UT remembered the 1974 ZZ Top Rompin’ Stompin’ Barndance and Bar B.Q., where concessionaires had run out of food and drink and hot and thirsty fans ended up tearing water fountains from the walls and causing considerable other damage. Negotiations broke down over insurance concerns and left Farm Aid II homeless.
The event was moved to Manor Downs at the last minute and drew a crowd of more than 40,000.
2009: Coveleski Stadium, Indiana
Bob Dylan, Willie and John Mellencamp went on a tour of minor league baseball parks in July and August of 2009. With July 4 falling on a Saturday, a stop at Coveleski Stadium was promoted as a "Fourth of July Picnic" and Willie took Dylan's closing spot for the night. It drew a crowd of 8,500 – far more than the stadium’s normal capacity.
Look for my book on the history of Wille Nelson’s Fourth of July Picnics in July 2023 from Texas A&M University Press.