The Moondog Coronation Ball was a concert held at the Cleveland Arena on March 21, 1952. It is generally accepted as the first major rock and roll concert. A concert is a live performance, usually of music, before an audience. ... Cleveland Arena was an arena in Cleveland, Ohio. ... March 21 is the 80th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (81st in leap years). ... 1952 (MCMLII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Rock and roll (also spelled Rock n Roll, especially in its first decade), also called rock, is a form of popular music, usually featuring vocals (often with vocal harmony), electric guitars and a strong back beat; other instruments, such as the saxophone, are common in some styles. ...

The concert was organized by Alan Freed, a disc jockey at WJW-Radio, along with Lew Platt, a local concert promoter, and Freed's sponsors. More tickets were printed than the arena's actual capacity, in part due to counterfeiting. With an estimated 20,000 individuals trying to crowd into an arena that held slightly more than half that - and worries that a riot might break out as people tried to crowd in - the fire authorities shut down the concert after the first song by Paul "Hucklebuck" Williams ended. Alan Freed (December 15, 1922 – January 20, 1965) was an American disc-jockey (DJ), who became internationally known for promoting African-American Rhythm and Blues (R&B) music on the radio in the United States and Europe under the name of Rock and Roll. ... For other meanings of DJ, see DJ (disambiguation). ... WJW, also known on-air as FOX8, is a television station in Cleveland, Ohio, broadcasting on VHF channel 8. ... Paul Williams (1915 – 2002) was an American blues and rhythm and blues alto and baritone saxophonist and composer. ...

External link

• Moondog Coronation Ball