2023 FIFTY-year anniversary of concerts! (1973-77...more stories to come)

[DTwwbwMP]

HA HA, yeah, I'm an old one! It's been a battle with my ears since I was twenty, but I've just learned to live with the ringing   The one time I did get concerned was in 2000 at the Tradewinds club in NJ. Me and a buddy were on the rail for DT right in front of JP and it was SO LOUD! My ears basically "died" for 3 days and I was basically reading lips at home and at work. Luckily around the 4th day, sound returned!

[Samsara]

The Zep story was great! Mail away tickets?! LOL. Unreal. Imagine that today. Mail theft would be at an all time high.

Achilles Last Stand and Nobody's Fault But Mine are the gems on Presence. Both rank high up in the Zep catalog for me. I sadly never got to see Zep (just like so many didn't). But I did see Jimmy Page and the Black Crowes play a Zep heavy set at Jones Beach back in the late-90s. They played Nobody's Fault But Mine at that gig. It was a blast.

I'm a big Zep fan. Probably not considered a hardcore, but I have all their officially released stuff and have done many gallops through the discography over the years.

I'm not a huge Fleetwood Mac fan, but I enjoy some of their stuff. Rumours obviously being one of their high points and I like that record a good deal. Funny about Kenny Loggins. My wife and I have tickets to see him later this year. 

[DTwwbwMP]

The Zep story was great! Mail away tickets?! LOL. Unreal. Imagine that today. Mail theft would be at an all time high.

Achilles Last Stand and Nobody's Fault But Mine are the gems on Presence.

ABSOLUTELY

[DTwwbwMP]

Concert List 1977   
Show # / Group(s) / Date / Venue / entry / # shows for year
40    Queen / Thin Lizzy  2/5/77  Madison Square Garden P   
41    Queen / Thin Lizzy  2/6/77  Nassau Coliseum S   
42    Electric Light Orchestra / Steve Hillage  2/11/77  Madison Square Garden F   
43    KISS / Sammy Hagar  2/21/77  Nassau Coliseum P      
44    Genesis  2/23/77  Madison Square Garden F   
45    Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band / Rush / Starz    3/17/77  The Palladium S   
46    The Eagles / Jimmy Buffet  3/18/77  Madison Square Garden F
47    Kansas / Rick Derringer  4/3/77 The Palladium P   
48    Angel / Piper / Legs Diamond  4/16/77  The Palladium S   
49    Boston / Sammy Hagar  4/19/77  Madison Square Garden P
50    Led Zeppelin  6/7/77  Madison Square Garden F
51    Led Zeppelin  6/14/77  Madison Square Garden M
52    Fleetwood Mac / Kenny Loggins  6/29/77  Madison Square Garden F
53    Pink Floyd  7/1/77  Madison Square Garden P   
54    Emerson, Lake & Palmer 7/9/77  Madison Square Garden M
55    Lynyrd Skynyrd   7/13/77 Convention Hall S
56    Bad Company / Climax Blues Band  7/31/77  Madison Square Garden P   
57    Yes / Donovan  8/6/77  Madison Square Garden P   
58    Heart / Aztec Two-Step  8/22/77  Wollman Rink (Central Park) P   
59    Foreigner / Derringer  9/17/77     The Capitol Theater P   
60    Emerson, Lake & Palmer  10/17/77  Madison Square Garden P   
61    Rod Stewart / Air Supply  10/20/77  Madison Square Garden C1   
62    Thin Lizzy / Graham Parker & The Rumor 10/22/77  The Palladium S   
63    Chicago  10/28/77  Madison Square Garden F   
64    Rush / UFO / Cheap Trick  11/12/77  The Palladium P   
65    Jethro Tull / Livingston Taylor  11/29/77  Madison Square Garden C1
66    Queen  12/1/77  Madison Square Garden P   
67    Queen  12/2/77  Madison Square Garden S   
68    Billy Joel  12/11/77 Nassau Coliseum S   
69    KISS / Detective 12/14/77  Madison Square Garden C1   
70    Kansas / Crawler  12/17/77  The Palladium P (31)

53) Pink Floyd 7/1/77 Madison Square Garden
    What can you say when two of the ULTIMATE progressive rock bands of the seventies come to the Garden for 7 shows in 9 days? I said “shit” because I was leaving for a week with my family on vacation, Saturday morning, July 2nd . No way could I get out of it either! So, it would have to be night one (Friday) for Pink Floyd, and the final 3rd night (Saturday) for ELP or nothing! Ugh, talk about bad timing!
   Pink Floyd released their latest piece of progressive artistry “ANIMALS” in February and that album was a mainstay on all of my friends’ turntables. In fact, it was (and remains to this day) my favorite Floyd album of all time! Sometime in April, once again it was “mail order” time (as it was with ELP a week later) . I wasn’t able to help out with the mail order process, but a bunch of my friends took care of it. As the tickets started arriving in June (by that time I knew of my upcoming family vacation) only one of my buddies had received tickets for night one. And they were NOT good seats at all (highest level blue seats as far from the stage as possible )! I could have just “did my thing” to get in, but I just paid my buddy and took the ticket. Hell, we didn’t really have to sit there anyway.
   Friday night arrives and about 16 of us meet at the schoolyard (most of them with yankee tickets in hand) and the pre-concert partying began. For me though, I had to take it very easy since I was leaving early in the morning for vacation, so I wasn’t anywhere near as blitzed as were my friends! Oh well, just have to suck it up.  When Scotti, myself and 2 other friends get to the seats, I was like, “oh, hell no”! BUT, my 3 buddies were too wasted to care. I didn’t want to leave because after all, it was Scott who got me the ticket, so I stayed. What an interesting view it was SO FAR away, but the sound was miserable even with the so-called special surround sound!
   The lights go out, and the incredible smell of marijuana increases tenfold. Scott and our friends lit up and while I partook, I was responsible. I just wanted to watch the great Pink Floyd. As strains of the familiar beginning bass chords of ‘Sheep’ began, the stage lights (extremely colorful) took effect and the show was off! The special effects came in to play quickly towards the end of the song as white sparks exploded from both sides of the stage. It was really impressive , even watching from so far away! The entire ‘ANIMALS’ album was played during the first half of the show and was simply awesome, especially ‘Dogs’, where Gilmour stole the show on guitar! During the extended middle section was when a “family of inflatables” rose to the ceiling . Once again, the view from afar was incredible! For a show like this, maybe the blue seats weren’t so bad! To close the first half (and complete the ‘Animals’ performance), the organ notes of “Pigs” began and of course, during this song was when “the pig” was finally released on the audience as it traveled the entire length of the arena along the attached wire with its brightly glowing eyes flashing to the mesmerized and frantic crowd! With the colorful lights brightly shining on the dry ice-covered stage, it was an incredible ending…but there was much more to come!
   During the intermission, myself and Scotti decided, “that’s enough of these seats” and started making our way down to the lower levels. The other 2 guys stayed put, as they were too stoned to bother moving . After getting a soda, we made our way down to level 3 (yellow seats) where we met a couple of our buddies who “yankee’d” their way in. As the lights went out again, we were positioned much better to view the 2nd half of the show. Even though ‘Animals’ was/is my favorite PF album, the 1975 ‘WISH YOU WERE HERE’ is a VERY CLOSE 2nd! And after the twenty minute intermission, that’s exactly what we got…IN FULL!  Re-opening with “SOYCD I-V”, we were all in a trance! Then, the big circular screen came into play during “Welcome to the Machine” with some fantastic animation as the stage was once again covered in fog. Of course, “Have a Cigar” was incredible, and I joined the ecstatic crowd all singing along to the goosebump inducing title track which bled right into “SOYCD VI-IX” which closed out the amazing set. Then something happened which was first disgusting, then incredible!
   As the crowd screamed for an encore, myself and Scotti ventured further down and got ourselves onto the floor. All the while, not even knowing if there WOULD be an encore because suddenly after about 5 minutes, THE LIGHTS WENT ON! That is ALWAYS a sign of “go home”, but the crowd kept screaming for an encore! We continued to make our way closer to the stage when suddenly I saw Scotti leap up into the air and take a fall…………right into a HUGE puddle of puke ! Ugh ! Absolutely disgusting, but he is pretty stoned and doesn’t even seem to care! He gets up and his entire back, top to bottom, is covered in it! Meanwhile, people are starting to give up and turn around to leave, while we continue to make our way right up to the stage. Finally, after a solid ten minutes, the lights go out again, and the band returns!!!! We had gone from starting in the next to last row in the arena to now being able to watch our heroes with our arms ON THE STAGE! We were able to watch the band perform “Money” and Gilmour’ scintillating solo standing right in front of David! Unreal! They closed the show for real with the great “Us and Them” and I could not have been happier. Just a fantastic night all around and a terrific concert. Believe me when I say, if I weren’t going away on vacation, I would have come back AT LEAST for one more show!
   

next up ELP!

[DTwwbwMP]

Concert List 1977   
Show # / Group(s) / Date / Venue / entry / # shows for year
40    Queen / Thin Lizzy  2/5/77  Madison Square Garden P   
41    Queen / Thin Lizzy  2/6/77  Nassau Coliseum S   
42    Electric Light Orchestra / Steve Hillage  2/11/77  Madison Square Garden F   
43    KISS / Sammy Hagar  2/21/77  Nassau Coliseum P      
44    Genesis  2/23/77  Madison Square Garden F   
45    Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band / Rush / Starz    3/17/77  The Palladium S   
46    The Eagles / Jimmy Buffet  3/18/77  Madison Square Garden F
47    Kansas / Rick Derringer  4/3/77 The Palladium P   
48    Angel / Piper / Legs Diamond  4/16/77  The Palladium S   
49    Boston / Sammy Hagar  4/19/77  Madison Square Garden P
50    Led Zeppelin  6/7/77  Madison Square Garden F
51    Led Zeppelin  6/14/77  Madison Square Garden M
52    Fleetwood Mac / Kenny Loggins  6/29/77  Madison Square Garden F
53    Pink Floyd  7/1/77  Madison Square Garden P   
54    Emerson, Lake & Palmer 7/9/77  Madison Square Garden M
55    Lynyrd Skynyrd   7/13/77 Convention Hall S
56    Bad Company / Climax Blues Band  7/31/77  Madison Square Garden P   
57    Yes / Donovan  8/6/77  Madison Square Garden P   
58    Heart / Aztec Two-Step  8/22/77  Wollman Rink (Central Park) P   
59    Foreigner / Derringer  9/17/77     The Capitol Theater P   
60    Emerson, Lake & Palmer  10/17/77  Madison Square Garden P   
61    Rod Stewart / Air Supply  10/20/77  Madison Square Garden C1   
62    Thin Lizzy / Graham Parker & The Rumor 10/22/77  The Palladium S   
63    Chicago  10/28/77  Madison Square Garden F   
64    Rush / UFO / Cheap Trick  11/12/77  The Palladium P   
65    Jethro Tull / Livingston Taylor  11/29/77  Madison Square Garden C1
66    Queen  12/1/77  Madison Square Garden P   
67    Queen  12/2/77  Madison Square Garden S   
68    Billy Joel  12/11/77 Nassau Coliseum S   
69    KISS / Detective 12/14/77  Madison Square Garden C1   
70    Kansas / Crawler  12/17/77  The Palladium P (31)

53) Pink Floyd 7/1/77 Madison Square Garden
    What can you say when two of the ULTIMATE progressive rock bands of the seventies come to the Garden for 7 shows in 9 days? I said “shit” because I was leaving for a week with my family on vacation, Saturday morning, July 2nd . No way could I get out of it either! So, it would have to be night one (Friday) for Pink Floyd, and the final 3rd night (Saturday) for ELP or nothing! Ugh, talk about bad timing!
   Pink Floyd released their latest piece of progressive artistry “ANIMALS” in February and that album was a mainstay on all of my friends’ turntables. In fact, it was (and remains to this day) my favorite Floyd album of all time! Sometime in April, once again it was “mail order” time (as it was with ELP a week later) . I wasn’t able to help out with the mail order process, but a bunch of my friends took care of it. As the tickets started arriving in June (by that time I knew of my upcoming family vacation) only one of my buddies had received tickets for night one. And they were NOT good seats at all (highest level blue seats as far from the stage as possible )! I could have just “did my thing” to get in, but I just paid my buddy and took the ticket. Hell, we didn’t really have to sit there anyway.
   Friday night arrives and about 16 of us meet at the schoolyard (most of them with yankee tickets in hand) and the pre-concert partying began. For me though, I had to take it very easy since I was leaving early in the morning for vacation, so I wasn’t anywhere near as blitzed as were my friends! Oh well, just have to suck it up.  When Scotti, myself and 2 other friends get to the seats, I was like, “oh, hell no”! BUT, my 3 buddies were too wasted to care. I didn’t want to leave because after all, it was Scott who got me the ticket, so I stayed. What an interesting view it was SO FAR away, but the sound was miserable even with the so-called special surround sound!
   The lights go out, and the incredible smell of marijuana increases tenfold. Scott and our friends lit up and while I partook, I was responsible. I just wanted to watch the great Pink Floyd. As strains of the familiar beginning bass chords of ‘Sheep’ began, the stage lights (extremely colorful) took effect and the show was off! The special effects came in to play quickly towards the end of the song as white sparks exploded from both sides of the stage. It was really impressive , even watching from so far away! The entire ‘ANIMALS’ album was played during the first half of the show and was simply awesome, especially ‘Dogs’, where Gilmour stole the show on guitar! During the extended middle section was when a “family of inflatables” rose to the ceiling . Once again, the view from afar was incredible! For a show like this, maybe the blue seats weren’t so bad! To close the first half (and complete the ‘Animals’ performance), the organ notes of “Pigs” began and of course, during this song was when “the pig” was finally released on the audience as it traveled the entire length of the arena along the attached wire with its brightly glowing eyes flashing to the mesmerized and frantic crowd! With the colorful lights brightly shining on the dry ice-covered stage, it was an incredible ending…but there was much more to come!
   During the intermission, myself and Scotti decided, “that’s enough of these seats” and started making our way down to the lower levels. The other 2 guys stayed put, as they were too stoned to bother moving . After getting a soda, we made our way down to level 3 (yellow seats) where we met a couple of our buddies who “yankee’d” their way in. As the lights went out again, we were positioned much better to view the 2nd half of the show. Even though ‘Animals’ was/is my favorite PF album, the 1975 ‘WISH YOU WERE HERE’ is a VERY CLOSE 2nd! And after the twenty minute intermission, that’s exactly what we got…IN FULL!  Re-opening with “SOYCD I-V”, we were all in a trance! Then, the big circular screen came into play during “Welcome to the Machine” with some fantastic animation as the stage was once again covered in fog. Of course, “Have a Cigar” was incredible, and I joined the ecstatic crowd all singing along to the goosebump inducing title track which bled right into “SOYCD VI-IX” which closed out the amazing set. Then something happened which was first disgusting, then incredible!
   As the crowd screamed for an encore, myself and Scotti ventured further down and got ourselves onto the floor. All the while, not even knowing if there WOULD be an encore because suddenly after about 5 minutes, THE LIGHTS WENT ON! That is ALWAYS a sign of “go home”, but the crowd kept screaming for an encore! We continued to make our way closer to the stage when suddenly I saw Scotti leap up into the air and take a fall…………right into a HUGE puddle of puke ! Ugh ! Absolutely disgusting, but he is pretty stoned and doesn’t even seem to care! He gets up and his entire back, top to bottom, is covered in it! Meanwhile, people are starting to give up and turn around to leave, while we continue to make our way right up to the stage. Finally, after a solid ten minutes, the lights go out again, and the band returns!!!! We had gone from starting in the next to last row in the arena to now being able to watch our heroes with our arms ON THE STAGE! We were able to watch the band perform “Money” and Gilmour’ scintillating solo standing right in front of David! Unreal! They closed the show for real with the great “Us and Them” and I could not have been happier. Just a fantastic night all around and a terrific concert. Believe me when I say, if I weren’t going away on vacation, I would have come back AT LEAST for one more show!

54) Emerson, Lake & Palmer 7/9/77 Madison Square Garden   
    When it was announced just one week after the Pink Floyd mail order sale, that the 3 nights for ELP would also be on sale the same way, it was really getting frustrating! The tickets you received were basically out of your control. We went to NYC, sent in our money and applications and waited! I was never worried about getting into the shows, but I was starting to be accustomed to having actual tickets! I came home from school one day in early June to find an envelope that I knew was my response for tickets. Not only were there 4 tickets in the envelope, they were 5th row center orchestra seats!  BUT, they were for opening night, July 7th, which by this point I knew I would be on vacation for! My other friends who had sent away also received tickets, but none of them were for the final night (July 9) or even close to as good as my tickets were! Damn, what to do?
     After a few days of waiting for everyone to receive their tickets, I knew I had to do something. Then I remembered the “ticket agency” I had used for a prior concert. I called and spoke to the owner who was thrilled to hear I had 5th row tickets I had to trade. Now looking back, I’m sure he made out like a bandit, but at that time, I just wanted to get my tickets for the Saturday show. We worked out a deal. I would trade him 2 of my great seats for Thursday night for two “good” seats (they were very good, just not great) for Saturday night, and he would buy my other two tickets for $25 each. I was cool with that because in the end, I wound up making a few bucks and going to the show I wanted. I sold my other ticket to my buddy Mike (all my other friends had tickets) and we planned for a great Saturday night in July!
     I returned from vacation Saturday afternoon, immediately showered and changed to meet Mike at the schoolyard (I never even called my g/f to tell her I was home, which I felt the wrath the next day. I just wanted to see ELP)! We drank some beers and listened as our friends who had gone to either of the prior two shows told us how great the concert was! We were pumped, and 3 or 4 friends joined us on our trip to NYC as they would “yankee” their way in. I was disappointed in not being able to see more than one of the multiple shows both Floyd and ELP had performed, but I was REALLY psyched for this show. Remembering how great they were 4 years ago, I knew this would be a special concert!   
     We wound up getting to the Garden late because of train issues and basically arrived at our seats, mere moments before the lights went out. It was like they were waiting for us! Once the lights went out, the big stage lights shone on the 70-piece orchestra as they started playing ‘Abaddon's Bolero’. I knew they were having an orchestra with them, but I never realized it would be that big! Halfway through the song (after a bevy of thunderous firecrackers thrown by some attendees ), Keith Emerson, Greg Lake & Carl Palmer entered the stage to join the orchestra and finish out the song. They immediately jumped into ‘Hoedown’ (possibly my favorite instrumental of all time) which segued right into a section of Karn Evil #9. As in 1973, it was a joy watching these three magical musicians perform! Between incredible drum extravaganzas by Palmer (the greatest drummer I had ever seen) during, ‘Tarkus’, ‘Tank’ and others, keyboard gymnastics by Keith and soaring, beautiful vocals by Greg, this band was as good as it gets!
     As the almost 2 ˝ hour concert came to a close with the two fantastic “band” songs from ‘Works. Vol 1’, “Pirates” & “Fanfare” the crowd (as well as myself) were completely drained. ELP alone are quite amazing, but when you add an orchestra, it is just completely awe inspiring! My only complaint was that there weren’t any more nights! BUT, I’d see them again soon!


more '77 to follow...

[DTwwbwMP]

Concert List 1977   
Show # / Group(s) / Date / Venue / entry / # shows for year
40    Queen / Thin Lizzy  2/5/77  Madison Square Garden P   
41    Queen / Thin Lizzy  2/6/77  Nassau Coliseum S   
42    Electric Light Orchestra / Steve Hillage  2/11/77  Madison Square Garden F   
43    KISS / Sammy Hagar  2/21/77  Nassau Coliseum P      
44    Genesis  2/23/77  Madison Square Garden F   
45    Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band / Rush / Starz    3/17/77  The Palladium S   
46    The Eagles / Jimmy Buffet  3/18/77  Madison Square Garden F
47    Kansas / Rick Derringer  4/3/77 The Palladium P   
48    Angel / Piper / Legs Diamond  4/16/77  The Palladium S   
49    Boston / Sammy Hagar  4/19/77  Madison Square Garden P
50    Led Zeppelin  6/7/77  Madison Square Garden F
51    Led Zeppelin  6/14/77  Madison Square Garden M
52    Fleetwood Mac / Kenny Loggins  6/29/77  Madison Square Garden F
53    Pink Floyd  7/1/77  Madison Square Garden P   
54    Emerson, Lake & Palmer 7/9/77  Madison Square Garden M
55    Lynyrd Skynyrd   7/13/77 Convention Hall S
56    Bad Company / Climax Blues Band  7/31/77  Madison Square Garden P   
57    Yes / Donovan  8/6/77  Madison Square Garden P   
58    Heart / Aztec Two-Step  8/22/77  Wollman Rink (Central Park) P   
59    Foreigner / Derringer  9/17/77     The Capitol Theater P   
60    Emerson, Lake & Palmer  10/17/77  Madison Square Garden P   
61    Rod Stewart / Air Supply  10/20/77  Madison Square Garden C1   
62    Thin Lizzy / Graham Parker & The Rumor 10/22/77  The Palladium S   
63    Chicago  10/28/77  Madison Square Garden F   
64    Rush / UFO / Cheap Trick  11/12/77  The Palladium P   
65    Jethro Tull / Livingston Taylor  11/29/77  Madison Square Garden C1
66    Queen  12/1/77  Madison Square Garden P   
67    Queen  12/2/77  Madison Square Garden S   
68    Billy Joel  12/11/77 Nassau Coliseum S   
69    KISS / Detective 12/14/77  Madison Square Garden C1   
70    Kansas / Crawler  12/17/77  The Palladium P (31)

55) Lynyrd Skynyrd 7/13/77 Convention Hall - Asbury Park, NJ   
    Honestly, not a whole lot to write about this one. Summer ‘77 and after seeing two fabulous prog concerts already this month , I wasn’t expecting to see Lynyrd Skynyrd, but while playing basketball at the schoolyard Wednesday afternoon, a couple of the older guys asked if anyone wanted to take a drive down to Asbury Park to see Skynyrd. A couple of us decided “what the hell” and took the ride down. As we drank some beers and tapped a few bones on the way down, we listened to the 8-track of their most recent live album. This was the first time I was hearing anything other than “Sweet Home Alabama” or the great “Freebird” from Skynyrd. It was definitely NOT the type of music I listened to, but it wasn’t bad and at times it rocked.
   We didn’t have tickets and had to scalp outside the hall. I think we paid $60 for 6 tickets which was fine. We were pretty late getting in as we spent a LOT of time hanging out talking to fellow concert goers and girls (most all in halter tops )! As we entered, Skynyrd was already on stage playing their opening number, “MCA” as we found our seats (back of auditorium). The 80 minute set was pretty good and included some songs that I would wind up really liking from the soon to be released ‘Street Survivor’ album, which of course would be their last before members died in the plane crash . They were a good live band, and I in retrospect was really glad to have seen them in their prime.

56 Bad Company / Climax Blues Band  7/31/77  Madison Square Garden
     Finally, a show that wasn’t a mail order! When Bad Co. went on sale in May, my “buddy”  who worked in the local ticketmaster, at my request, “pulled” 4 tickets for me when they went on sale. The seats were decent, and while I loved BC’s music, their live shows didn’t “wow” me, so the seats didn’t matter that much to me. But, being the first tickets pulled when on sale, meant that they were still pretty good (lower level, half way back). I wound up taking my g/f and sold the other two tickets to buddies. She wasn’t really “into” BC but I guess just wanted to be with me (a wasted ticket if you ask me ). She and I went to the show alone and wound up meeting my already pretty stoned  friends at the seats. Val & I were really starting to have real feelings for each other, so it was like they weren’t even there.
     The lights went out and TCBB took the stage. Now, they had one pretty popular song at the time which I wanted to see, but I had to sit through their entire performance as they didn’t play their hit until last! They weren’t too bad though. After what seemed like a LONG intermission, the lights went out and it was time for BC.
     They opened the show with a cool version of the title track of their recent album, “Burning Sky” with thunder flashes and sound effects, but as far as a stage show, that was about it. Like I’ve said, I LOVE Bad Co. but I appreciated when bands made spectacles out of their shows, otherwise, you could just stay home and listen to the record. Some bands had a LOT of energy that made up for a lack of presentation (Springsteen, Aero & especially THE WHO), but BC was not one of them. Luckily, their songs were so good, that even though they didn’t give great “performances”, the nights on stage were still worth seeing.

57 Yes / Donovan  8/6/77  Madison Square Garden   
     Yes was a band that some of my friends liked but most hated. When the mail order for their 3 nights at MSG went on sale, I didn’t even know about it. The tickets were all scooped up through that process which meant I was left without tickets. Their latest album ‘GOING FOR THE ONE’ was a favorite of mine for the last few weeks after release, and I was going to one of the shows regardless of if I had tickets or not. This time, it was my g/f that actually came through! Her cousin (my buddy Tony) had a friend who had two extra tickets (not great, 4th level GREEN seats) and who ran into Val and asked her if Tony would want the tickets. She knew I wanted to go, so she bought them and surprised me one night. Nice! She wasn’t interested in going, so I asked Tony if he wanted to go and he happily agreed.
     We got to the Garden and went to find our seats. When we entered the arena I saw that the stage was in the center of the arena, meaning all tickets would be pretty good, but I had never seen this configuration before, so I didn’t know what to expect. The opening band was Donovan, who could NOT have been more boring! I didn’t drink or smoke weed for this show (Tony never did that stuff) and I almost fell asleep.
     Yes, finally appeared as they kind of walked through the crowd to get to the stage. I found this very weird, but whatever. They were here! The sound was really good and the set list was great, but something was “off” for me. While most of the crowd seemed to love the show, the whole “center-stage” thing really annoyed me, plus, the ONLY song from the new album they DIDN'T play was the title track, which I could not understand at all. I LOVED that song! WTF??? I DID get an incredible performance of “Wonderous Stories” which was my favorite from the album, so it wasn’t all bad news. While there were one or two “non YES” songs that were played that I didn’t know, the musicality of the night was fabulous! I just did NOT like that center-stage!

more '77 to follow

[Samsara]

Man, Summer '77 is bad ass so far. That Floyd show, holy crap awesome on the encore. Front the worst seats to the best view. Incredible.

[DTwwbwMP]

Man, Summer '77 is bad ass so far. That Floyd show, holy crap awesome on the encore. Front the worst seats to the best view. Incredible.

 

[DTwwbwMP]

Concert List 1977   
Show # / Group(s) / Date / Venue / entry / # shows for year
40    Queen / Thin Lizzy  2/5/77  Madison Square Garden P   
41    Queen / Thin Lizzy  2/6/77  Nassau Coliseum S   
42    Electric Light Orchestra / Steve Hillage  2/11/77  Madison Square Garden F   
43    KISS / Sammy Hagar  2/21/77  Nassau Coliseum P      
44    Genesis  2/23/77  Madison Square Garden F   
45    Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band / Rush / Starz    3/17/77  The Palladium S   
46    The Eagles / Jimmy Buffet  3/18/77  Madison Square Garden F
47    Kansas / Rick Derringer  4/3/77 The Palladium P   
48    Angel / Piper / Legs Diamond  4/16/77  The Palladium S   
49    Boston / Sammy Hagar  4/19/77  Madison Square Garden P
50    Led Zeppelin  6/7/77  Madison Square Garden F
51    Led Zeppelin  6/14/77  Madison Square Garden M
52    Fleetwood Mac / Kenny Loggins  6/29/77  Madison Square Garden F
53    Pink Floyd  7/1/77  Madison Square Garden P   
54    Emerson, Lake & Palmer 7/9/77  Madison Square Garden M
55    Lynyrd Skynyrd   7/13/77 Convention Hall S
56    Bad Company / Climax Blues Band  7/31/77  Madison Square Garden P   
57    Yes / Donovan  8/6/77  Madison Square Garden P   
58    Heart / Aztec Two-Step  8/22/77  Wollman Rink (Central Park) P   
59    Foreigner / Derringer  9/17/77     The Capitol Theater P   
60    Emerson, Lake & Palmer  10/17/77  Madison Square Garden P   
61    Rod Stewart / Air Supply  10/20/77  Madison Square Garden C1   
62    Thin Lizzy / Graham Parker & The Rumor 10/22/77  The Palladium S   
63    Chicago  10/28/77  Madison Square Garden F   
64    Rush / UFO / Cheap Trick  11/12/77  The Palladium P   
65    Jethro Tull / Livingston Taylor  11/29/77  Madison Square Garden C1
66    Queen  12/1/77  Madison Square Garden P   
67    Queen  12/2/77  Madison Square Garden S   
68    Billy Joel  12/11/77 Nassau Coliseum S   
69    KISS / Detective 12/14/77  Madison Square Garden C1   
70    Kansas / Crawler  12/17/77  The Palladium P (31)

58 Heart / Aztec Two-Step  8/22/77  Wollman Rink (Central Park)
     Early in the summer when WNEW announced the Central Park summer concert schedule, the one and only show that I and most of my friends were interested in was HEART! At least ten of us bought tickets for the show the day they went on sale. I knew I had to get 4 just for myself as my g/f loved Heart and I got tickets for Mike and his g/f.
     On an extremely hot and humid night (I remember that because of a specific incident….), while most of my buddies were getting loaded down the schoolyard prior to the show, I traveled over to NYC with Val, Mike and his g/f completely sober. My g/f didn’t drink much and definitely didn’t get high, so most of the shows I saw with her were “dry”. The VERY long walk up to Central Park was awful in the heat , and as we were 2 or 3 blocks away, Mike’ g/f started throwing up and then suddenly FAINTED right on the street! She came around quickly but it was really scary for sure. We helped her up, got her something to drink, and continued our walk. We didn’t really think too much about it, until after arriving at the outside rink venue, down she goes again!  Once again, after a minute or so, she gets up with our help and says, “I can’t do this. It’s too f’n hot”! Mike decides they should just take the train back to 33rd street and then get a train home. I asked if they wanted us to go with them, but THANKFULLY they both said “no thanks” and off they went. My g/f wasn’t thrilled being out in the heat, but it didn’t affect her too much. Me? I hated the heat, but I wasn’t missing Heart!
     The support band, ‘Aztec Two-Step’ came on, but we didn’t pay much attention and just stood in the back near the concessions, under cover! We just drank soda and had italian ices to try and keep cool, and wait for the sun to go down. Around 9pm, with the sun down and a bit of cool air arriving (not much) we made our way up to the front section to get a better view. My g/f was really good looking, so guys were always letting her move up, then disappointed when they saw her holding my hand!We got up to about 5-10 rows away from the stage as Heart came on. Now, Heart was popular, but it sounded as if Zeppelin had come on stage! The crowd was frantically excited! Even though they started out the show fairly mellow with “Dream of The Archer” (a very acoustic based song), the sound of screaming fans continued.
     One thing about Heart…It was incredible being so close and actually witnessing how BEAUTIFUL both Ann & Nancy were! In fact, my g/f looked very much LIKE Nancy . Anyway, the show continued with my favorite song by Heart, “Love Alive” which was performed incredibly. The voice emanating from Ann was simply majestic! The band continued throughout with songs from the first two albums, shuffling from acoustic numbers to rockers! And when they rocked….THEY ROCKED HARD! The final 3 or 4 pre-encore songs had the crowd jumpin’ and yelling for an encore. What an encore it was! They finished with two rocking cover versions. First, a roaring “Rock And Roll” and then Ann stole the show by belting out a fantastic version of “Without You”! I’ve seen Heart many times since that show, but that one stands out for me as one of their best performances!

59 Foreigner / Derringer  9/17/77  The Capitol Theater   
     The year of 1977 gave my friends and I SO MANY great albums that we spun constantly. One of the bigger ones was the great debut album by Foreigner that came out in March. As far as debut albums up to now, for me, this was right up there with Boston’ debut! ALMOST! For months on end, I waited and hoped they would be touring soon. By the end of the summer, I still hadn’t heard anything.
     I returned to school in September for my senior year, and between albums, shows, sports, summer shenanigans, etc, there was a lot to talk about. Either myself or someone else would always have the local music paper, ‘The Aquarian Weekly’ and to my surprise, I saw an ad for Foreigner at the Capitol Theater in 2 weeks! Within a couple of days I had secured one of my older friends to drive and we now had to figure out how to get tickets to the sold out show. I called my ticket agency guy, who told me he only had 3 SINGLE tickets remaining. He gave me a good deal since he probably would have had trouble selling the singles. The problem was, I needed 4 more. Myself, the driver and my buddy Scotti got the agency tickets, while the others decided against going. That was probably smart, because tickets were expensive and very hard to come by outside of the theater. I was glad to have gotten the seats, even though they were all separated, and none were very close to the stage.
     Once again, Rick Derringer was the opening act, and we just hung out in the back until the band was finished. We each then found our single seats and uncomfortably, waited for Foreigner. After seeing Boston LIVE with only one album under their belts, I knew this wouldn’t be a long show, but I was still really excited. I tried talking to a few of the people next to me, but they were just into talking amongst themselves . Then, the lights went out and Foreigner took the stage to a deafening roar! For the next hour or so, they were as good as I could have hoped. Some of the songs were lengthened by jams and solo’s which was cool as they played the entire album, plus another song that I didn’t recognize, but it was fantastic! When the hour+ show completed, they mentioned they’d return soon, but the next time I saw them would be in a MUCH BIGGER place……..


more '77 to come....

[DTwwbwMP]

Concert List 1977   
Show # / Group(s) / Date / Venue / entry / # shows for year
40    Queen / Thin Lizzy  2/5/77  Madison Square Garden P   
41    Queen / Thin Lizzy  2/6/77  Nassau Coliseum S   
42    Electric Light Orchestra / Steve Hillage  2/11/77  Madison Square Garden F   
43    KISS / Sammy Hagar  2/21/77  Nassau Coliseum P      
44    Genesis  2/23/77  Madison Square Garden F   
45    Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band / Rush / Starz    3/17/77  The Palladium S   
46    The Eagles / Jimmy Buffet  3/18/77  Madison Square Garden F
47    Kansas / Rick Derringer  4/3/77 The Palladium P   
48    Angel / Piper / Legs Diamond  4/16/77  The Palladium S   
49    Boston / Sammy Hagar  4/19/77  Madison Square Garden P
50    Led Zeppelin  6/7/77  Madison Square Garden F
51    Led Zeppelin  6/14/77  Madison Square Garden M
52    Fleetwood Mac / Kenny Loggins  6/29/77  Madison Square Garden F
53    Pink Floyd  7/1/77  Madison Square Garden P   
54    Emerson, Lake & Palmer 7/9/77  Madison Square Garden M
55    Lynyrd Skynyrd   7/13/77 Convention Hall S
56    Bad Company / Climax Blues Band  7/31/77  Madison Square Garden P   
57    Yes / Donovan  8/6/77  Madison Square Garden P   
58    Heart / Aztec Two-Step  8/22/77  Wollman Rink (Central Park) P   
59    Foreigner / Derringer  9/17/77     The Capitol Theater P   
60    Emerson, Lake & Palmer  10/17/77  Madison Square Garden P   
61    Rod Stewart / Air Supply  10/20/77  Madison Square Garden C1   
62    Thin Lizzy / Graham Parker & The Rumor 10/22/77  The Palladium S   
63    Chicago  10/28/77  Madison Square Garden F   
64    Rush / UFO / Cheap Trick  11/12/77  The Palladium P   
65    Jethro Tull / Livingston Taylor  11/29/77  Madison Square Garden C1
66    Queen  12/1/77  Madison Square Garden P   
67    Queen  12/2/77  Madison Square Garden S   
68    Billy Joel  12/11/77 Nassau Coliseum S   
69    KISS / Detective 12/14/77  Madison Square Garden C1   
70    Kansas / Crawler  12/17/77  The Palladium P (31)

60 Emerson, Lake & Palmer  10/17/77  Madison Square Garden
   When radio station WNEW (the main rock station in NYC) announced in early September that ELP would be returning to the Garden for a one-night show in October to celebrate the station’ tenth anniversary, tickets went very fast. I knew of the sale, but just decided to “yankee” my way in one last time. I really didn’t want to do this anymore, as “my guy” at the entrance I used was no longer there, and I was apprehensive about trying it on someone new. The issue was funds. I was pretty tapped out. The expense of the new g/f was wearing out my wallet . So much so that I gave up playing high school football and got a part time job at a local deli. So, myself and a bunch of friends just put the show on hold, and would deal with it in October. Speaking of October, I saw 4 completely different types of concerts (ELP, Rod Stewart, Thin Lizzy and Chicago) in twelve days and ELP would be the first !
   Being that the concert was on a Monday night with school the next day, there was no partying to be done. Seven of us met at the schoolyard and hopped on the train to NYC eager to see one of all of our favorite bands. We were lucky to see ELP with the orchestra in July, but this time it would just be them, which was completely fine by me. The orchestra was cool to see, but it’s ELP we all want to see. No accompaniment needed . When we arrived at the Garden, I began to get nervous about getting in, but it was unnecessary because we got in as easy as before . We split into groups of 4 and 3 and the ticket taker just happily took our yankee tickets and cash.
   The show itself was great. This was part of the 2nd leg of their US tour and the set was a good bit different (even including some songs from the soon to be released, ‘Works. Vol. 2’) and their performance was once again mind-blowing! I was also a VERY BIG fan of the station, WNEW, so it was really cool seeing most of the dj’s come on stage prior to the show and speak. The 2 hour performance seemed to go by in minutes and I was amazed just watching Keith Emerson from where we stationed ourselves with a perfect view of his keyboard gyrations! The show ended and once again I almost forgot to obtain a stub from someone but was reminded by Scotti and got one from someone as we reached the street outside. Another great ELP show, but the next time I saw them (in early ‘78) would be one of the absolute craziest nights of my life….

61 Rod Stewart / Air Supply  10/20/77  Madison Square Garden    
   Back in April when I was at the ticket agency buying tickets for the ANGEL concert, I had to wait while the owner was dealing with someone who had a “ton” of tickets. This really intrigued me, so when their dealing was over and I was buying my tickets, I asked him what “that” was all about. He explained that it was one of his “ticket guys” who sold him his supply of tickets. He explained that this guy has people who “work” for him, and they camp out all night at MSG to get the best tickets. He pays them a fee and then he turns around and sells them to the agency! So, this was what “inside scalping” was all about. The owner asked me if I would ever be interested in having myself and friends, if possible, “work” this for him directly. He would let me know the inside scoop when shows were going on sale, would front us the cost and would pay us $10 for every ticket we got, plus a flat $10 for expenses. Since it was an 8-ticket limit, that was a $90 buck night per person. Now, in 1977 for a 17yr old, $90 bucks was a lot of money! I asked what was involved………
   It worked like this. He had many connections with MSG box office people or security guards who would alert him of ticket sales. He would then alert the people who sold him tickets and so on. Once at the Garden (usually anytime between 10pm and 2am the night before the sale), a Garden employee would come out and hand out numbered wristband to the masses gathered. Then, about 7-8am the following morning, Garden security would line up the people according to their numbers. This sounded easy enough, so of course I’d be interested. I didn’t realize how NOT EASY the whole ordeal was, but I soon would…
   The first opportunity I had to “work a sale” was in June for a Rod Stewart show in October. I was only able to find two of my buddies who were interested in doing this (so far), so when I got the call, we got a ride out to the agency, and I was handed $300 to cover the cost of the tickets (which wound up being $10.50 per). We would get our pay, upon delivering the tickets (he actually arranged to drive into Jersey City to pick them up). I did tell him that I needed to keep 2 of the tickets for my g/f & I and he was fine with that. So, the night of the sale the 3 of us headed over to NYC about 9pm. When we arrived at MSG, we didn’t see ANYONE! What the hell’s going on? We decided to walk around the block on 33rd street and what we saw startled us . In the back of MSG (where the felt forum used to be) were hundreds of people just hanging out, seemingly just waiting around. I talked to a few guys and got the lowdown. At “any point in time”, someone would appear and let the mass of people know exactly where the wristbands would be given out. No structure at all and I would soon learn, it would be a “free for all”! Sometime around 11pm, a security guy appears with a bullhorn and announces that the wristbands will be handed out in front of MSG in the main lobby. Immediately, anywhere from 300-500 people start running around the massive block of MSG to get to the main lobby. My friends and I run with them laughing because we can’t believe this craziness. Once everyone gets to the lobby, that’s where the insanity REALLY BEGINS! No lines…No structure….No order. Just a mass of humanity pushing, shoving, elbowing, just to get as close as possible to the one door where a smirking security employee is just standing behind the door watching the insanity ensue . Some fights break out, but quickly end because there isn’t really any room to fight. Just a bunch of smelly, sweaty guys looking for any advantage we could get.
     Finally, after an hour or so of this craziness, the windowed double door opens and people are being let in to have a wristband put on. Now, I (nor my two buddies) were in the front, but we weren’t too far back either, but when I finally got in, my wristband number was in the 400’s! No way did 400 people get in before me. There were a TON of people waiting outside the doors. Anyway, after my friends came outside after getting their numbers, we all compared. They were behind me, but they were also in the 400’s. We have NO IDEA what’s going on. We were told when getting our numbers to return at 7am to get on line. It was already after 1am so we just decided to get some pizza, a 6 pack of beer and just hang out in Penn station all night. Many of the people did the exact same thing.
   The next morning, bleary eyed, incredibly tired and smelly, we walked upstairs to behind the Garden where the tickets would be sold at the Felt Forum ticket windows. Once again, a sea of humanity were all just hanging around waiting for direction. Around 7:30 am an MSG official appeared and, using the bullhorn, told people how to line up in the gated partitions. The first “corral” would line up starting with numbers 350 or so to 400.  The next group would be 401-450 (these are approximations as I have no recollection of the actual groupings). My friends and I were in the 2nd grouping, and being that I had such a competitive spirit, I was NOT happy . Also, only one night was on sale, so I was concerned that my tickets wouldn’t be that great (a 2nd show went on sale a few days later but I wasn’t involved). Alas, my turn at the window comes and I wind up getting 10th row center orchestra seats. NOT BAD AT ALL! My two buddies got 12th and 14th row as well. We actually could not wait to get out of there and head home. It being a Saturday helped, in that obviously, there was no school, but I had to shower and go directly to work ALL DAY at the deli!  I called the ticket agent, and he was thrilled with the seats we had gotten. He didn’t expect we’d do that well on our first try. He came into JC Sunday morning, and not only paid me the $270 bucks ($90 for each of us), but also just let me keep 2 of the 14th row tickets without having to pay anything. Nice! Me and my buddies learned a lot that night, and pretty soon we’d be doing our own thing.
   As far as the show? It was great. Stewart was quite a performer, and my g/f (who LOVED him) was thrilled with such great seats. Walking up to the front of the orchestra with her was really cool. I felt like a bigshot and saw many of the guys who were at the sale in their seats as well. Val and I sat through a pretty mellow, but decent sounding Air Supply, before Rod took the stage. When he came on (and throughout the show) girls were throwing panties, bra’s, etc at him on stage! Oh, to be a rock star! I made sure Val kept her clothing to herself! While the musicianship was nothing like I’d seen earlier in the week with ELP, this was a tremendously fun and musically rewarding concert, and I’d continue to see Rod on many future tours!


more to follow....

[TAC]

Mike, I am so sorry. You're killing it in this thread, and I just haven't had the time to really participate.

I just read the ticket story for Rod Stewart, and damn there is so much there I can relate to.


One thing that has really jumped out at me so far was just how young you were going into NYC basically unsupervised. It's unbelievable, actually.

[DTwwbwMP]

Mike, I am so sorry. You're killing it in this thread, and I just haven't had the time to really participate.

I just read the ticket story for Rod Stewart, and damn there is so much there I can relate to.


One thing that has really jumped out at me so far was just how young you were going into NYC basically unsupervised. It's unbelievable, actually.

MUCH DIFFERENT TIME my friend! Never gave it a second thought! LOL

[TAC]

I remember going out for tickets and there was this one family of like 8 people. I swear they were inbreeds because they all looked alike. They'd all get in line, and then about a half hour before tickets went on sale, the money man would show up and hand each of them a wad of cash.

[DTwwbwMP]

I remember going out for tickets and there was this one family of like 8 people. I swear they were inbreeds because they all looked alike. They'd all get in line, and then about a half hour before tickets went on sale, the money man would show up and hand each of them a wad of cash.

Oh yeah. This one noted big time ny scalper, would give $10 to bums on the street to stand on line! That was around '81 and is when I stopped. By that time, half the crowd was bums! I hated that guy.

[Samsara]

Mike,

I echo Tim's comments. I try and pop in daily to see, but I don't always get to reply as quickly as I would like. You ARE saving all of these posts on your computer, right? These stories are absolute gold.

re: ELP - I remember WNEW! Ha ha. Good times. Being on the Island, I listened to mostly WBAB and WRCN. Anyway, ELP was never my jam. I saw them in 1998 at Jones Beach, when the bill was Dream Theater - ELP - Deep Purple. Fantastic performers, but at least 25 years ago, I didn't have the ear for what they do.

re: Rod Stewart and the inside scalping. Ah ha! That whole story of the agency and how they got tickets is crazy. I mean, in 1977, I was 1, so obviously I wasn't seeing any shows back then. LOL. But I remember hearing about (8 or 9 years later) adults talking about ticket agencies. I never knew how it worked. I only really camped out for Billy Joel tickets, and that was in...I want to say 1998.

re: different times/NYC. Yeah, that was totally a different time. My dad, who would have been, lets see, 32 in 1977, told us stories about how and his friends (they grew up in Brooklyn) would travel all over the city at like age 13. I thought that was crazy. But it was a lot more common.

re: Foreigner. Funny how here we are, 46 years later, and Foreigner and calling it a day. I have seen them a few times. 1998, with Lou Gramm, and then two other times with Kelly Hansen. In fact, the last time my wife and I saw them (had to be 10 years ago now), Mick wasn't even there. We didn't know that before we bought the tickets, and were annoyed, but they sounded good. I gotta say, I just...I like Kelly Hansen as a singer. Great showman, really good vocals. And obviously, the band is terrific (Jeff Pilson is great). But the Mrs. and I said we wouldn't go see Foreigner after that time unless it was Mick and Lou. That band was gigantic, and you got them at the very beginning!

Brian

[DTwwbwMP]

Mike,

I echo Tim's comments. I try and pop in daily to see, but I don't always get to reply as quickly as I would like. You ARE saving all of these posts on your computer, right? These stories are absolute gold.

ha,ha. Yes, I have my own copies.

[Samsara]

Mike,

It has been four months! Where are you!?

Let's rock!