Maharishi Tour Radio Ad

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I was listening to online radio station KYA, which is an oldies station that sometimes plays radio ads from the '60s and '70s in between the songs, from the archives of the original San Francisco KYA-AM.  Today I heard an ad for a Maharishi Mahesh Yogi "show" at the Oakland Coliseum, "featuring music from 5 supporters of the Maharishi, known as the Beach Boys."  It went on to say that all proceeds from the show would go to the Maharishi.  It was funny in that it completely downplayed that the Beach Boys would be appearing, and featured none of their music.  Not to mention the fact that it made clear they would not be making money from it.  Did the Beach Boys get any appearance fees or expenses for appearing with the Maharishi?  No wonder they lost a ton of money doing that tour.

[Andrew G. Doe]

5/18/68, at the Oakland Stadium - didn't happen, of course. 

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So it was the stadium.  There's a smalller indoor arena next door that also has been referred to as the Coliseum at times.  I didn't remember how the tour turned out, other than the fact the Beach Boys lost a ton of money off it.  The ad was so weird.  It was just a male narrator droning on about how this Marharishi guy was going to appear at the Oakland Coliseum and that five supporters would be providing the music.  It didn't even occur to me when I first heard those words that it would be the Beach Boys, until he added it almost as an aside.  The ad didn't even explain much about who the Maharishi was.  I don't remember what the ticket price was., but it would't make anyone want to go to the show the way it was done.

[Andrew G. Doe]

I'm thinking that by spring 1968, no-one needed to explain who Maharishi was.

[bgas]

5/18/68, at the Oakland Stadium - didn't happen, of course. 

So it was the stadium.  There's a smalller indoor arena next door that also has been referred to as the Coliseum at times.  I didn't remember how the tour turned out, other than the fact the Beach Boys lost a ton of money off it.  The ad was so weird.  It was just a male narrator droning on about how this Marharishi guy was going to appear at the Oakland Coliseum and that five supporters would be providing the music.  It didn't even occur to me when I first heard those words that it would be the Beach Boys, until he added it almost as an aside.  The ad didn't even explain much about who the Maharishi was.  I don't remember what the ticket price was., but it would't make anyone want to go to the show the way it was done.

Since it didn't happen anyway, perhaps it was the smaller Arena rather than the Stadium, that they were planning to appear? The Swami would probably have gone over better in a smaller venue

[SBonilla]

5/18/68, at the Oakland Stadium - didn't happen, of course. 

I remember seeing tiny ads for the that Coliseum show; they ran in the Sacramento Bee. I thought how strange it was to advertise a concert in such a huge place without banging some drums, so to speak.

I did see them there in 1976, headlining a  Bill Graham's Day On The Green show. As they took the stage, inflatable murmaids were dropped from above; Dennis caught one and humped it. Brian cracked up.

[guitarfool2002]

This is the print ad for the same tour, at the Hollywood Bowl...I guess Mike and the guys were thinking small venues would not be sufficient to hold the tens of thousands of devoted devotees who would come to this show decked out in their robes and flowers... I'm assuming ticket prices in Oakland were not too different from those in Hollywood.

[Micha]

The local Maharishi guys here in Hannover have asked me of all people to design a magazine ad for them. It's a nice opportunity to earn some money (judging from the interiors of their "peace palace" they are pretty wealthy), but their ideas are pretty strange, I haven't had an idea how to visualize them yet.

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It's funny how ticket prices in that era seemed to often end in .50.  I suppose it's the inflation effect that no one even bothers with that now (bottom ticket prices for all the ads I've heard seem to be $3.50, now you're lucky to see a lowest ticket price of $50.00 in a stadium or arena).  There was another radio ad from the same era for an outdoor concert at Oakland Coliseum stadium that KYA was running, but it was for about six acts appearing together.  The headliner was The Animals, and the song played was "San Francisco Nights," so it must have been from around 1967/68.  I had no idea the Coliseum was used as a concert venue prior to Day on the Green in the '70s, so maybe the Maharishi show was another example of that.  An unsuccessful one, of course.

[bgas]

It's funny how ticket prices in that era seemed to often end in .50.  I suppose it's the inflation effect that no one even bothers with that now (bottom ticket prices for all the ads I've heard seem to be $3.50, now you're lucky to see a lowest ticket price of $50.00 in a stadium or arena).  There was another radio ad from the same era for an outdoor concert at Oakland Coliseum stadium that KYA was running, but it was for about six acts appearing together.  The headliner was The Animals, and the song played was "San Francisco Nights," so it must have been from around 1967/68.  I had no idea the Coliseum was used as a concert venue prior to Day on the Green in the '70s, so maybe the Maharishi show was another example of that.  An unsuccessful one, of course.

Not really as a comparison, I suppose, But here's one of the 1st BBs headlining shows (at the Presbuyterian Church)  for $1: 



and for this gala 1964 show, ALL seats were $2.50 each: