Ugh, I’m a lapsed Catholic, and I don’t think I remember the whole Hail Mary prayer. Can I just stand in the corner and sing ‘Let it Be’?
Shall I assume this was the same tour where they opened for the Grateful Dead?
I really don’t have any idea. I think I read once that their ultimate destination was a festival on the west coast. Newport, perhaps? I’ll have to look that up.
Well, here’s a list of their concerts in 1967. My quick count shows over 140 shows in that year, both in Europe and the USA. Whether they opened for the Dead in one of those venues, it doesn’t say.
Saw Suzanne Vega in a small college theatre with no more than 300 folks in attendance
The Who played before The Dead at the Monterey Pop Festival…I wouldn’t say they “opened” for them.
For that matter, The Who’s legendary live album, Live at Leeds, widely considered one of the greatest live albums of all time, was recorded at the University of Leeds Refectory.
When the two bands shared the bill on two Day On The Green concerts in Oakland in 1976 I believe The Who opened the show on the first day.
In December of 1985, I saw Motorhead play at the Turner Hall (in essence, a gymnasium, not much bigger than a basketball court) in Madison, Wisconsin. At that time, the band had released six albums, so it’s not like they were just starting out. Wikipedia tells me that the band was on their “10th Anniversary Tour” that year.
I worked at a large ad agency in downtown Chicago for over a decade; we regularly had celebrities in the office for meet-and-greets. Two established musical acts which I saw actually give performances in a lounge in our office were Straight No Chaser and Charlotte Church.
A few years ago they had just converted a downtown street into a place for events, which included concerts. This isn’t strange but…
The place where they had their first concert was just outside the window from where I worked. So, I went to my desk, went to the window and got an aerial view of a Cheap Trick concert (they are mentioned in multiple posts so far). The sound wasn’t that good, but it was up close, a good view and out of the crowd.
The Calvert Marine Museum has an outdoor stage that faces the parking lot which is filled with folding chairs for concerts. It seems to be really popular, tho mostly what they have are county artists. I rarely recognize the names of the performers.
Folding chairs in a parking lot, so no shade, no a/c, and likelihood of mosquitoes or other bugs, not to mention basic porta-potties - well, I don’t know if strange is the right word, but it certainly doesn’t strike me as all that great a venue. Or maybe I’m just an old grouch.
Now I’m reminded of one.
In early 1990, I was driving down Atlantic Avenue in Raleigh near the UPS distribution center. I glanced to my right and saw a marquee at the back of a shopping center that read “Richard Thompson February 28.” The marquis was above the Abracadabra Supper club, which had been a magic-themed supper club that lasted a very short period of time. It was closed and out of business, but the marquee had now been changed. I did a U-turn and drove by again just to make sure. Stopped and went up to the door, but there was zero information or phone numbers. Later that week I saw a very small mention in a local music column that stated tickets were available at Ticketron.
It took a lot of effort at the Ticketron kiosk at Crabtree Valley Mall. Back then, they had to leaf through binders and find the identifier for the show. But the guy persisted and I got two tickets for the show.
Showed up at the dinner theater with my wife. They basically just glanced at my tickets and we went in. It was just a big, empty, carpeted room. No furniture or chairs whatsoever. There was a low riser about 18" high with equipment and mic stands on it in the middle of the room. No refreshment stand, no nothing.
While waiting, my wife and I decided to walk up to the Grocery Boy Jr. at the corner. We picked up two six packs of beer and a couple snacks. There was literally a line of people back and forth to the store bringing every kind of drink and snack you can imagine, as well as a couple very cheap folding stools. Nobody bothered checking tickets as we came and went. Some of the people sat cross-legged on the floor and the rest stood through the show.
And…the show was great! RT was solo and played “1952 Vincent Black Lightning,” which was brand new and unreleased at that point. There was no special lighting or house sound system at all. It was like he showed up in your living room with some amps.