LAS VEGAS – June 22, 2009 – Fremont Street Experience presents the second annual “American Pie 4th of July” celebration with major headlining entertainment Janis Joplin’s Original Band Big Brother & The Holding Company on Friday, July 3 and The Grass Roots on Saturday, July 4.
The festivities kick off Friday, July 3 as “American Pie 4th of July” commemorates Independence Day weekend from Friday, July 3 through Sunday, July 5 and highlights Fremont Street Experience’s Viva Vision show, “Don McLean’s American Pie.” Headline concerts will feature Janis Joplin’s Original Band Big Brother & The Holding Company on Friday, July 3 and The Grass Roots on Saturday, July 4. The weekend-long event will also showcase a brilliant virtual fireworks show on the Viva Vision canopy, in addition to “Signs of Life,” the official Viva Vision show by Official Artist of Summer of ’69, John Van Hamersveld. Various downtown hotel-casinos will also be offering outdoor patios, selling Fourth of July barbeque favorites.
The Grass Roots are known as one of the greatest rock bands of all time, as they charted between 1966 and 1975 as the brainchild group of songwriting duo P.F. Sloan and Steve Barri. Throughout their career, The Grass Roots have achieved one platinum album, two gold albums and charted singles a total of twenty-nine times. Between 1967 and 1972, The Grass Roots set a record for being on the Billboard charts for 307 straight weeks. They are one of only nine bands that have charted twenty-nine or more Top 100 Billboard single, in addition to selling over thirty million records worldwide. The band also holds the all time U.S. attendance record for a concert consisting of only one act, their show for 600,000 people on July 4, 1982 in Washington D.C. Since the disbanding of the original group in 1975, early member Rob Grill and a new lineup of The Grass Roots continue to play live shows each year.
Janis Joplin’s Big Brother & The Holding Company is the definition of a true American rock band. The group formed in San Francisco in 1965 as part of the same psychedelic music scene that produced the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Jefferson Airplane and are best known as the band that featured Janis Joplin as their lead singer. Their 1968 album, Cheap Thrills, is considered one of the masterpieces of the psychedelic sound of San Francisco, having reached Number One on the Billboard Charts and was ranked number 338 in Rolling Stone’s The 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time.
Guests to Fremont Street Experience can also enjoy the recently opened Hippie Nation Gallery & Records by John Van Hamersveld. The art gallery features various works of art including concert posters, rare vinyl records and rare drawings by the artist himself. The gallery will be open various hours throughout the holiday weekend and is located next to Mickie Finnz, at the base of the Fremont parking garage elevators.
Major headlining bands along with free special events make Fremont Street Experience the ideal destination for celebrating red, white and blue. For more information on American Pie 4th of July and other “Summer of ’69: Vegas or Bust” events, visit www.vegasexperience.com.