Show # / Group(s) / Date / Venue / Entry / # shows for year 1
Led Zeppelin 7/29/73 Madison Square Garden
F2
Elton John / The Sutherland Brothers & Quiver 9/23/73 Madison Square Garden
F3
Emerson, Lake & Palmer / Stray Dog 12/18/73 Madison Square Garden
F 34 Grand Funk Railroad 4/22/74 Madison Square Garden
H5 Mott The Hoople /
Queen 5/11/74 Uris Theater
L 6
The WHO / Montrose 6/14/74 Madison Square Garden
F 7
Yes / Gryphon 11/20/74 Madison Square Garden
F 8
Elton John / Kiki Dee (
John Lennon appearance) 11/28/74 Madison Square Garden
L 59
Led Zeppelin 2/7/75 Madison Square Garden
F10
Queen / Argent /
Kansas 2/21/75 The Capitol Theater
S 11
Jethro Tull / Carmen 3/7/75 Madison Square Garden
F 12
Alice Cooper / Suzi Quatro 5/5/75 Madison Square Garden
F13
Bad Company / Maggie Bell 5/30/75 Madison Square Garden
F 14 Chicago / The Beach Boys 6/14/75 Madison Square Garden
F 15
Pink Floyd 6/15/75 Roosevelt Stadium
P 16
The Rolling Stones 6/27/75 Madison Square Garden
F 17
Aerosmith / Ted Nugent & The Amboy Dukes 8/29/75 Wollman Rink (Central Park)
P 18
Black Sabbath / Aerosmith 12/3/75 Madison Square Garden
F19
KISS / Blue Oyster Cult / Leslie West Band 12/31/75 Nassau Coliseum
S 1119759 Led Zeppelin 2/7/75 Madison Square GardenI almost feel bad writing about this show, because in all honesty, it was a pretty big disappointment for various reasons. Not that it wasn’t good, it just wasn’t great and definitely not on par to the show I saw in ‘73…well, as far as I can remember. Also, there’s no real big story that goes along with this concert, except…..well, we’ll get to that.
It was a Friday night after we had a big snow storm a few days earlier and it was pretty cold. That evening about twenty of us (!!!) gathered at the schoolyard and headed to Journal Square to get the train at the PATH station to NYC. But first, we all gave money to a couple of the older guys in our group to buy beer and alcohol for us. Being that it was cold, one of my buddies talked me into getting blackberry brandy! Now, I had had vodka & orange juice before, but other than that it was always beer. We drank before getting on the train and things were going well. I felt warm. I definitely was buzzed (later worse) and we were all in a rockin’ mood. We got to MSG and now I start to really feel it. We buy our token shirts outside and all get in with our phony tickets and payoff. But, many of us split up inside the arena and being so buzzed, I walked off on my own for no real reason but stupor. I’m outside in the hallway when the lights go out and as I re-enter the arena I run into two of my buddies. We find a good spot to stand but my one buddy Tommy, who’s also drunk, talks me into jumping down to the floor, which we do. Luckily for us, no security spotted this and we wound up about 15 rows from the stage. The show is going well, but one of the things I remember clearly is Plant not sounding well. The performance was okay, but VERY similar to the ‘73 show aside from a few new songs (which sound really cool) from PG that wasn’t released yet. The stage was definitely more compelling than last time with a big, lighted LED ZEPPELIN lighting behind the band and some really cool lasers that I barely remember! I’m enjoying the show and can pretty clearly remember up to when Dazed & Confused started so I got pretty deep into the set before……..let’s just say I didn’t feel well. UGH From here until the end of the VERY lengthy song my other buddy Scott, who at some point joined us on the floor, filled me in on what went down with me the next day. I sat down on the ground during JP’s LONG solo and “lost my lunch”! I remember getting sick but the next ten minutes or so is a complete blur. Apparently a few poor attendees near me were hit with “enemy fire” and Scott had to keep me from getting pummeled by some girl’ boyfriend. The next thing I remember is Plant singing Stairway, not very well. Honestly, Scott told me many times that all I wanted to do was go to sleep on the floor of MSG! He gave me a few hits of a joint which helped (I think). The show ends and I’m awake, but unfortunately, I have ZERO recollection of the encore, or even going home. Apparently, I lost some more lunch on the train ride home that expectedly didn’t go over well with the crowded train. I don’t remember any of it! LOL
Thankfully, I was sleeping over Scotts friend Ricky's house in the basement (with 4 other of us) so I didn’t have to go home. So, I can’t really blame Zep but what I DO remember was that the ‘73 show was better. Also, that was THE LAST time I got wrecked before a concert and have NEVER had even a sip of blackberry brandy since! The next morning, Scott surprised me with a ticket stub he got for me and a really bad headache I had was made a little better. LOL
10 Queen / Argent /
Kansas 2/21/75 The Capitol TheaterA couple of weeks later on another freezing night, Queen was playing in NJ at the Capitol Theater. I would have rather gone a week earlier in NYC at the Avery Fisher Hall, but I didn’t know about it for some reason. It was only by luck that I found out about the NJ show. Friday in the school cafeteria a high school friend was reading a music trade paper called THE AQUARIAN WEEKLY and he passed it to me to glance at. Then, a few pages in I see the ad for “TONIGHT’S” Queen show in NJ with “SOLD OUT” covering the ad. SH*T I think immediately. How did I not know about this? I had their latest album “Sheer Heart Attack“ and loved it, but somehow this tour got by me. I always checked and read rock mags like Circus & Hit Parader which always had tour dates listed, but how did I miss Queen? I was freaking out and immediately went to my next class to tell my buddies, Mike, Tommy & Scott who were all in that same class. Tommy said he couldn’t go, but Scott & Mike both said “hell yeah, but how can we get tickets”? We were all kind of in shock that none of us knew about this. A big thing then came up as to A) how would we get there (Passaic, NJ was about 35 minutes away, in a bad neighborhood and NO WAY to get there (we were still only 15) & B) We don’t have tickets.Then, I remembered a BIGGER problem. I had a JV basketball game that evening. All I could think was “F*** THAT, I’m NOT missing Queen! To add to my many problems was that the JVBB coach was ALSO the teacher of THIS class! SH*T!!!! What to do?
First things first. We decided that I had to fake like I was sick. It had to be good because the coach/teacher wasn’t some dweeb. He was someone who obviously had been around the block and seen it all. I did my best impression I could of having serious stomach issues. I ran out of the class and just sat in the bathroom for a while thinking about the other problems we would need to overcome to get to the show….AND IN! After about ten minutes I re-entered the class only to do it again about ten minutes later. This HAD TO BE GOOD. Finally, after returning to class I got my books and said I had to go home. That was met with some consternation from the coach/teacher because I WAS a starter for the team. He questioned me if I thought I would be able to come back and play later to which I responded with a shrug. I walked out of class and left school knowing I was missing the game (a first, but there would be more in the next 3 years). The plan was for Mike to call me as soon as he got home and we’d discuss.
On the bus ride home from school I thought of a possible answer. I’d call my cousin Jimmy and see if he wants to go, or at the very least, drive us. Upon arriving home I called but was told by my aunt that he wouldn’t be home from work until 5:30. Ugh, that didn’t leave much time and what if he said “no”? Finally, around 4pm Mike calls and says he asked his older brother for a ride but he had plans. He also found out that his brother HAD seen Queen last week in NYC but “forgot” that Mike and I really liked Queen! UGGH, again! My stepfather wouldn’t be home from his trucking job until around 7pm so that was out. It started to look REALLY bleak. We kind of resigned ourselves that we were probably going to miss the show. In fact, I was thinking about leaving for my basketball game. I decided against that and put my hopes into my cousin.
The phone rang earlier than expected with Jimmy calling. I told him the predicament I was in when he told me he ALSO had seen the show last week but didn’t have an extra to ask me. I didn’t care, I just needed his help driving me tonight. He also already had plans, but since he felt guilty about not taking me last week, he finally said he would take us, BUT, he couldn’t stay! WTF? How would we get home (IF we even got in) from Passaic, NJ? I said (“F” it, we’ll figure it out later….it’s great being 15 and just not giving a f***)! He said he’d pick me up at 6:30, so I first called Mike. He thought I was nuts and “NO WAY” was he going to be stuck in Passaic. I pleaded with him that we’d figure it out, but he was more sensible than me, I guess! Angry at Mike, I then called Scott. He took more chances like me and was “IN”. We would figure out getting home later. But how would we get tickets? I told him I still had a lot of my birthday gift money (about $40 bucks, give or take) and he had about $15. I said “let’s just take a shot”. He agreed.
My cousin picked us up and got us to the theater about 7:15pm. We had about 40 minutes to get tickets and get in before the first band came on at 8pm. I didn’t know or care about the opening band (AT THE TIME) because I had never heard of Kansas. The 2nd band on the bill was Argent, and while I knew one song, I didn’t care about them either, so I knew we had some time. My cousin didn’t like leaving us there, especially without tickets in hand, but he had plans he couldn’t get out of. BUT, he said he could come back at some point after 11 to pick us up and if he was late to just wait in front.! MY MAN! Jeez, how I loved and idolized him! Great guy who’s no longer with us. He leaves and now we’re on our own. There were a few people selling tickets but they wanted more than we had. Then, I decided just to check the box office. Who knows? If you don’t ask, you don’t know. I went to the window and an older woman was there. I told her my story and what we went through to just get here and I know it’s sold out but is there anything that she could do to get us in? Well, that wonderful woman smiled and said, “I’m not supposed to do this, but…” and printed us out two standing room tickets. And get this,
SHE DIDN’T EVEN CHARGE US ANYTHING! I guess since it was sold out, she couldn’t charge us. I wanted to kiss her! I must’ve thanked her twenty times! In we go. Yes, we don’t have seats, but we’re used to that. I didn’t know then that I would have gladly paid the scalper’s price if I knew what was to come………….
We get a soda and a pretzel and stand in the very back. The lights go out and Kansas comes on stage and BLOW US AWAY! Wow! What a band! They played for almost an hour, and they definitely made MANY new fans as they got a well-deserved standing ovation. Next up was Argent. They took their sweet time coming onstage and the 3,200+ Queen fans were not happy. To make matters worse…they SUCKED! Their big song “Hold Your Head Up” was okay, but they acted like they were why everyone was here, and the crowd was getting restless to say the least. Then to make things EVEN WORSE they had equipment trouble. Out come the roadies and tech people to insanely loud boo’s! I can’t say for sure how long they played before the trouble (maybe 40 minutes or so) but the boo’s grew louder and meaner with every minute. Suddenly, a movie screen lowered, and some really old-time sci-fi movie started to play. I was almost 11pm NOW and nothing. ANOTHER problem for me to deal with. What do I do about my cousin picking us up? Do we leave? NO CHANCE! Then the screen rises, and everyone is ready for Queen!
NOPE! Here comes Argent back out again!
WTF??? The place explodes into boo’s, curses and some things are being thrown at the stage. But Argent keeps on playing like it’s their show. I finally tell Scott I’m going to check outside for my cousin. The usher at the door understands what’s happening as I’m not the only one who was seemingly getting a ride. He lets us step out but reminds us to hold on to the ticket or we can’t get back in. After a few minutes I see Jimmy’s car circling the block. I run into the street and let him know what’s going on and that we’ll find a way home if he can’t stay. He decides to not only stay, but to park somewhere and come in. How, I ask. He just says wait for me. He arrives about 5 minutes later and we walk to the entrance where I show my ticket while Jimmy hands the usher $5. Jimmy walks in with me and asks where we are sitting. I tell him how we got in and he just shakes his head and laughs. One problem….Argent is
STILL on stage! Playing to heckling, bombarded with boo’s and curses they FINALLY finish! It’s now AFTER MIDNIGHT and their set is being taken down. It’s at least another 30-40 minutes of just waiting in this theater that is now so filled with marijuana smoke, EVERYBODY is high, including those of us who weren't even smoking!
FINALLY,
almost 5 hours after I entered the theater, the band that everybody came to see LITERALLY EXPLODES on stage. This story is already way too long, so all I'll say is that for the next 90 minutes or so, QUEEN KILLED IT! OMG, they were SO great! The place was going so crazy, you’d think it was 9pm instead of almost daylight!
Great music…Freddie flying all over the stage…smoke…flash pots…it just was greatness from the beginning of “Now I’m Here” through to the amazing encores, beginning with Freddie’ strip act in “Big Spender”
! They didn’t seem to cut out anything because of the craziness of the time! Just an incredible performance and solidified them to me as my absolute favorite band!
We got into Jimmy’ car at 2:50AM! Insane! If he didn’t pick us up, I have no idea how (or if) we would have ever gotten home! I had a helluva lot of explaining to do to my folks when I walked in at 3:40 am smelling like a pot factory and completely exhausted, but Jimmy was with me and stayed the night and vouched for everything. This was
THE MOST craziest concert experience (the entire day really) I ever had…at least until almost 3 years to the date later, but that’s a story for later.
1975 TBC....