Truth is, Yes' grand and glorious, classically influenced brew of pomp-rock was considered a much bigger deal here than almost anywhere else in the country, thanks to the Anglo-rock-loving tastes of local FM DJs like Ed Sciaky.So much of that paragraph describes a world which no longer exists: the idea that regions matter in music success, that radio matters, that individual DJs could still break a band ... oh, well. Use this as a jumping-off point for sharing your summer concert memories on this, the first day of the hottest time of year.
But after that huge Philly endorsement, other populaces took the band more seriously, "just as they would for other acts that got started in Philly, like [David] Bowie, [Bruce] Springsteen, Billy Joel, Rod Stewart and Genesis," noted veteran concert promoter Larry Magid.
Monday, June 21, 2010
PEACHED ALE NEVER FAILS: This is what local newspapers can still do -- take the decision of Yes/Peter Frampton to recreate an apparently legendary 1976 bicentennial concert at JFK Stadium to not only revisit the event itself (and seriously: read the comments on that link) but also the history of rock at the long-since-imploded stadium (my two shows: the Jacksons' Victory Tour and Amnesty's Human Rights Now show; so pissed I missed U2's Joshua Tree stop with Springsteen popping in) and the importance of Philadelphia in 1970s rock culture:
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Oh those heady days of a heavy smoke over the venue, festival seating and parking lot pre-parties...Forget DJs breaking music, try lighting up a spliff at a concert these days, you might get tased...
ReplyDeleteI reluctantly went to a show at the Meadowbrook Pavilion near Detroit to see Elvis Costello back in 1982. He blew me away, and then we went for a nightcap at the hotel bar across the street and Elvis and Steve Nieve from his band jump up on stage with the house band and play "Allison"...Wow...I remember my friend went up to ELvis in the bar and couldn't talk because he was a combination of awe struck and stoned out of his mind...
You're so right about the influence of DJs like Sciaky and how we've completely (and sadly) lost that in the age of corporate radio.
ReplyDeleteAhhh, the Amnesty show. My first college concert, and the first time I saw Bruuuuce and the ESB live. Had great seats, near the front of the second section on the field, just right of center (back in the days when you had to call into Ticketmaster, I had just plain gotten lucky). Tracy Chapman was terrific and confident, playing to a crowd unlike any she'd ever seen before (or ever would again, after this mini-tour) in support of her debut album. And Bruce and Sting traded vocals on Every Breath You Take (in Sting's set) and The River (in Bruce's). Gabriel, as anticipated, gave us the most theatrical staging (back in the Shock the Monkey days). I kept that concert tee for a long time, but presently have no idea what's become of it. Just a great, great day at the old, decrepit JFK.
Another fond memory: The first Who reunion Tour, in old Tampa Stadium, on a day that first turned rainy, and then cleared into an I-kid-you-not rainbow just as the band finished up "Love Reign O'er Me."
Most of my other great summer concert memories are at places like the Mann Music Center and whatever-they-call-that-venue-in-Camden-these-days -- the second Lilith Fair, Elvis Costello, a great Soul Asylum-Jayhawks (w/Lucinda Williams)-Matthew Sweet triple bill, Neil Young and Crazy Horse, Bruce and the Seeger Sessions band (enjoyed in the company of Adam & Jen) -- but it's hard to top Lollapalooza 1994, at FDR Park here in Philly, in terms of most impressive collection of talent and most outstanding performances.
People lighting up at concerts, which gave me tremendous asthma attacks, is one of the things that drove me away from going to see live music in a lot of places. So if that's on the decline, I'm thankful.
ReplyDeleteI was at that Lolla show as well, and I'm pretty sure I've written about it here before -- Breeders, L7, Beasties on the main stage, Luscious Jackson on the side, the cameo from a still-grieving Courtey Love -- just a magical, awesome day.
ReplyDeleteI actually don't much enjoy concerts, as it involves very large crowds, which I don't like. But when I was fifteen, I did go see Day on the Green - an annual summer series at the Oakland Coliseum. Scorpions, Ratt, Y&T, Metallica, Rising Force, and Victory. Also, the following summer, I saw the Dylan and the Dead shows -- Grateful Dead (who I guess I've seen about 20 times) were great, Bob Dylan was the most boring live performance ever.
ReplyDeleteI've long heard Dylan runs very hot and cold in his live shows. I was lucky enough to see him on one of the nights he was most definitely ON -- at the Trocadero in Philly back in Decemebr 1997. Fantastic show, and one I never plan to ruin by seeing Bob play live again.
ReplyDeleteCome on down to Austin, TX during ACL (Austin City Limits). It's just like the old days... :-) It's outdoors and last year became a mudbath. Had a bit of a Woodstock vibe.
ReplyDeleteMy first concert was huey lewis & the news at merriwether post pavilion during the sports/back to the future heyday. On the lawn, the air was thick, prompting me to ask "hey dad, what's that smell?" I just saw Pearl Jam at MSG last month and the concert tradition of fans smoking up is still going strong and smelly. One of my favorite concert memories is July 5, 2003 seeing Pearl Jam in Camden. The Phillies had fireworks that night and Eddie Venter worked it into his banter. Beautiful night, great music.
ReplyDeleteI just saw that livenation has no surcharges for june at selected venues. So even though the ticket industry is evil and sucks beyond belief, now is the time to go see a show and pay only the outrageous prices!
(hmm, that sounded like the rant of an old lady....)
Summer concerts are a particular love of mine, since in LA we have both the Hollywood Bowl and the Greek as terrific outdoor venues with great picnic options and stellar summer season line-ups. If I were to pick just one summer concert to reminisce on, it would be seeing the Swell Season (better known as the couple from Once) almost exactly one year after they one the Oscar at the Greek. They played a terrific combo of music from the film, some of their other songs, and some classic hits (Neil Young, Van Morrison.) And then, Glen Hansard, starts talking about their time in LA the previous year, and how the studios and managers had been sending them out on lunches and meetings with other "Hollywood musicians." He says he goes to lunch one day, with a songwroter named Richard Sherman. And he asks Sherman, "So, have you written songs for any movies I might know?" And Sherman responds, "Well, do you know Disney's The Jungle Book?" And Hansard is suitably embarassed and blown away to be having lunch with Sherman. So then, at the concert, Hansard announces that Sherman is at the show, calls him onstage where he is given a tremendous ovation, and is asked to play a song with the band. So he sits at the piano, says into the mic that it's been a wonderful night and he once wrote a song with his brother for a movie that he felt described the night, and leads the band, and the audience, in a rousing, slightly Irish sounding, version of Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
ReplyDeleteIt was just this tremendously fun moment where every person in that venue reverted to being a child, singing and clapping along at full volume. I will never forget it.
That is a fabulous story.
ReplyDeleteThree memorable summer concerts from three very different moments in my life:
ReplyDelete1983: Went down with high school buddies to JFK in Philly for a bizarre, wonderful, brutally hot concert, headlined by the Police at the height of their Synchronicity popularity. The Police were good, if a bit sloppy, but the opening acts made the bigger impressions: the nearly unknown R.E.M., fresh off the release of Murmur and clearly better than their opening slot; the goofy guys from Madness, determined to get 100,000 people pogoing simultaneously; and most improbably, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, who seemed totally out of place among the college-rock acts but wound up nearly stealing the show.
1989: Summer after college, saw Elvis Costello and the Rude 5 at Lake Compounce in Connecticut. Amid the rides, games, and silliness of the amusement park, Elvis somehow brought the audience into a different place, especially with a scathingly bitter version of "I Want You," sung just as darkness was descending on the amphitheater. Great lesson in how to capture a crowd.
1999: My son is six weeks old, and my wife and I are visiting my parents in the Berkshires. We all go over to Tanglewood to sit on the lawn for James Taylor, figuring that we'll wind up missing most of the show shuttling a crying baby back and forth out of earshot of the other concertgoers. Instead, incredibly, the little guy naps through the whole first act, wakes up and fusses during intermission, and then drifts back off for the second half, waking up just in time for the final number, the lullaby "Sweet Baby James."
Jones Beach is a wonderful outdoor concert venue, but it's small and out of the way, so it tends to be played by up-and-comers and past-their-prime types. I saw a lot of great shows there - Crosby Stills & Nash, Chicago (more than once), Billy Joel, etc. but by far the best was in the summer of, I think, 1989. Could be 1990. Howard Jones (who I dearly loved back then) had had a bunch of hits, but he was there promoting an album that hadn't done very well. The place was sold out, and the crowd was enjoying the first few songs. At the start of the 4th song, there was a huge clap of thunder, the sky went dark in the space of a few minutes, and by the end of the song, it was pouring rain. People started leaving in droves, and Howard is on stage yelling in the microphone, "don't leave! We'll keep playing as soon as we move the equipment, and you're already wet..." to no avail. By the time the roadies finished moving the equipment under the bandshell and out of the rain, there were probably 100, maybe 200 people left, including me and my friends. So Howard looked out and said, in his cute British accent, "you might as well all come down here and talk to me." So everyone came down in front (it was still pouring) and Howard took requests for three hours. He played anything we wanted to hear, told stories about how the songs came to be, played some new things he was working on. It was incredibly fun - one of the best concerts I've ever been to. We were soaked to the skin, but it was a warm night, and once you're wet, you really can't get any wetter, right? Great, great night.
ReplyDeleteI saw Joan Jett on the Parkway during the summer of 1983 or 4 and she was awesome. I was about three rows back and she winked at me when I mouthed to her that I loved her. She did not, however, sleep with me. Damn.
ReplyDeleteUmm, I know I've written a few times on here about my JFK experience at Live Aid. I don't know if I can do it again. Here are the highlights:
ReplyDelete1. I was really young and beautiful and perfect.
2. I was with a beautiful red-haired Irish lass that I knew I would love forever. We broke up a few weeks later.
3. It was unbearably hot and we didn't care.
4. We booed Run DMC off the stage, I don't know why we did that. I'd love to hear that set now.
5. Crosby Stills Nash & Young. Young on stage with the band, top that.
6. Madonna, wow what Charisma in that beautiful young woman who had not a single trace of a british accent when she said something like, "I'm not taking shit off."
7. There were two tremendously drunk and high teenage lovers in front of me, and before each band would play, he would scream for Zeppelin. Then, when it wasn't Led Zeppelin he would sob and cry through the next song.
8. Duran Duran were great.
9. The crowd was mad that U2 played over their time. I was too. Shows what you know when you're 18.
10. Phil Collins was a great drummer when he played for...
11. Clapton! wow.
12. Phil Collins had no drummer when he played In the Air.. which was cool in its own way.
13. If you've never heard Santana live you've never heard Santana.
14. All day long we heard that Bruce and the ESB were backstage waiting to go on. I guess they weren't.
15. Zeppelin! Zeppelin! Zeppelin!. I know Bonham was still dead but I will go to my grave saying that I saw Zeppelin that day and they were awesome.
16. If I had never been at Live Aid I would have never fully understood what all the fuss was about Mick Jagger. Yeah, I like the Stones, and I think some of his vocals are among the best lead vocals ever recorded, but seeing him on stage that night with Tina Turner was a moment. The charisma, the raw sex coming off of that stage was palpable. It was like you could feel the heat from their bodies everywhere in JFK. Like they were already screwing in the seat next to you. I've never been able to really describe it, but now I know how you get them to drink the Kool-Aid.
17. I was with two of the greatest friends of my boyhood on that day and night, and I don't think we ever had a day to top it. It always makes me think of the way everyone leaves Derry except the librarian.
I just asked my 23 year old assistant whether she knew who Peter Frampton is. She did not.
ReplyDeleteDid the Berkshires seem dreamlike even without their frosting?
ReplyDeleteI...love this. Especially 17. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI've mentioned this before, but the Little Earthling can do a pretty good Peter Frampton imitation with the help of his electric toothbrush.
ReplyDeleteYou know, they truly did. Though maybe that was just the sleep deprivation.
ReplyDeleteWhen Peter Frampton was the headliner for Philly's 4th of July concert on the parkway, some young boys standing near me said, who is that guy? And then one of them said, oh, he was on the Simpsons. I almost cried.
ReplyDeleteI used to rock the big metal shows... and this will totally date me.. but the summer after senior year of high school (June 30, 2000 to be exact) I saw Metallica, Korn, System of a Down, Kid Rock, and Powerman 5000. It was me and 3 guys at the old Foxboro stadium. One of the guys had bought the tickets, and he refused to get the GA field tickets because his asthma would kick up, which I didn't know until we got there. I was furious with him. So, SoaD and PM5k play, and before Kid Rock's set, the security guard between our seats and the field goes missing. We rush the field, and one of the guys and I got seperated from the other 2 for the rest of the show. During Korn's set, they play A.D.I.D.A.S., and the absolute biggest mosh pit opens up in front of me- it had to be30-50 yards across. Hundreds of people. It was insanity. Then, their set ends, and we race forward, trying to get up front for Metallica, who didn't go on for an hour. It was crazy hot and dry, no one had anything to drink, people were passing out... then I saw James Hetfield, and my life was complete. Have I mentioned that I was hugely obsessed with James Hetfield? Still am, to a lesser degree. It made everything ok.
ReplyDeleteAfter their set and 3 encores (amazing to the nth degree), my friend and I made our way back to the car, found the other 2 guys we had gone with (who got caught rushing the field and sent back to their seats, they were super pissed), and showed up at the Marriot hotel completely dirty, smelly, exhausted, and happy. I wasn't sure they were going to let us have the rooms! Plus, after that, I got my own room with a giant king bed, which my parents had sprung for, while the other 3 had to fight over 2 beds. It was pretty much the happiest I had ever been for 24 hours straight.
It's not strictly summer, but one of my vividest concert memories was Memphis in May 1998. I went with a bunch of my friends the night Hootie and the Blowfish were headlining. They were already on their way down from the heights of Cracked Rear View, but man, if they didn't know how to put on a show and had huge fun--at one point they said from the stage "we understand we have to shut it down by 10:30, or we have to pay a big fine for breaking curfew. We're happy to pay that!" Near the end of the show, they brought up someone to dance on stage--we couldn't tell from where we were standing, but it was one of my friends.
ReplyDelete(I believe that year also had George Clinton and the P-Funk All Stars on the other stage earlier in the evening--and man, if there had been a roof on that sucker? It woulda been torn off.)
Adam C, I get what you say about Dylan - I saw a great summer show in 96 at Strawberry Hill in Richmond VA - one of the few concerts I'd seen alone - and he was on fire and his band, as always, was outstanding. It was shortly after Garcia died, so one of his final songs was "Alabama Getaway". There were girls rushing the stage and dancing during "Rainy Day Women". He's been something of a disappointment ever since.
ReplyDeleteThe Police reunion a few years go was a great summer show and out of the 30 odd Dead shows in the last few years there were a couple that were stellar - Soldier Field during one of the Bulls series, where the second set was delayed so the game could be played out on the big screen during intermission and fireworks after.
Caravaning from Morgantown WV to Meriweather Post in Columbia for the Cure in...87. Yipes I'm old!
Jim, #2 reminds me that my high school boyfriend took me to the Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary concert, and I felt the same way about him. He stuck around longer than your redhaired lass, but my best memory of my time with him is still that concert.
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