For me and others growing up in Eastern Massachusetts, Great Woods Amphitheater in Mansfield — specifically its general-admission Lawn — was synonymous with summer. Many acts made Great Woods an annual summer tour stop, visits that became teen rites of passage. I’m talking Jimmy Buffett, Steve Miller Band and others for whom you had to buy tickets. After the long drive you’d kill a beer, make your way to The Lawn, and know half the kids there.
The big one in my book was Reggae Sunsplash. In the late Eighties that package had some stellar line-ups and my friends and I would never miss ’em. The photo here was taken during one of those tours on a warm, near-perfect night the summer before my senior year of high school. That skinny dark-haired kid is me (right); those two handsome fellas in hats are my homies Scott (left) and Todd (center).
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