I was there, too. It was a cop riot. The police were very much on edge, had very bad relations with the mostly kids who lived in the VCU neighborhood. It was a very arty, forward-thinking neighborhood, but it was under deep surveillance all the time. 4-10-70 was an unusually warm night, and people had been sitting on the porch roofs all up and down Grove Avenue all day. As evening fell, the neighborhood turned into a big spontaneous block party. The police moved in and rounded up several hundred kids and took them downtown to book them. I heard that a day or two later, when the judge asked the first person to have a hearing (I believe his name was Emory something) how he pled, and he replied, "Your honor, I have diarrhea!" and the judge dismissed the whole bunch of them. The shirts appeared for sale to raise money for bail.

A day or so later, there was another more formal outdoor multi-band concert on the VCU campus. The mood in the audience was electric, tense, and angry, and at the end of a particularly rousing heavy metal set, my husband suggested that we leave because it felt as if a real riot was going to break out. The next performer was a big black guy with a deep, marvelous voice and an acoustic guitar. He played "Get Together" (Come on people now, smile on your brother..." and "Bridge over Troubled Waters." By the end of his short little set, the mood had completely changed and the crowd began to dissipate. I credit that guy for keeping a really nasty riot from breaking out. I wish I could remember his name!