I saw them in August of 1974 at Charlotte Speedway with 300,000 others...They stole the show.
Folks forget that they were the headliners of California Jam, with supporting acts Eagles and EWF and more. My friend knew the promoter in Jackson MS and we drove up to see the show there the night before that Baton Rouge one. He let us in before the venue even opened and I zombied my way to stand directly in front of Keith's keyboards, mesmerized. At one point I yelled out "Knife Edge" and Keith looked at me and nodded, but they didn't play it then. Another friend was a great photographer, so I have some wonderful, clear, action shots of the show. Saw them many times after, but it became "Puppet Show and Spinal Tap" after a while. Even caught the band 3 (tolerable) and Emerson, Lake, and Powell (embarrassingly empty venue, so the echo made it unlistenable). The conceit/expenses of the Works tour (toting around feeding and housing the orchestra instead of just hiring the local folks?) and divorce took all his money and he ended up sleeping on couches. Couches. How much of a fan am/was I? When Emerson killed himself I got at least two calls asking me if I was alright. And, I was. My hero had had many rough periods and was forced to hide a background keyboardist at shows since he couldn't play the parts himself any more. Note in the videos that he keeps his 4th-5th fingers curled since he'd had to have some ulnar nerve surgery. But, he'd teamed up with Marc Bonilla, who seemed to energize his last years.
They had second billing at August Jam to the Allman Brothers but as I said they stole the show. They played deep into the night and had fireworks at the end. I was sitting on top of the grandstands and with every flash it looked like a war zone with bodies strewn everywhere in the infield. It was a scene I'll never forget.
I saw them in August of 1974 at Charlotte Speedway with 300,000 others...They stole the show.
Folks forget that they were the headliners of California Jam, with supporting acts Eagles and EWF and more.
My friend knew the promoter in Jackson MS and we drove up to see the show there the night before that Baton Rouge one. He let us in before the venue even opened and I zombied my way to stand directly in front of Keith's keyboards, mesmerized. At one point I yelled out "Knife Edge" and Keith looked at me and nodded, but they didn't play it then. Another friend was a great photographer, so I have some wonderful, clear, action shots of the show.
Saw them many times after, but it became "Puppet Show and Spinal Tap" after a while. Even caught the band 3 (tolerable) and Emerson, Lake, and Powell (embarrassingly empty venue, so the echo made it unlistenable).
The conceit/expenses of the Works tour (toting around feeding and housing the orchestra instead of just hiring the local folks?) and divorce took all his money and he ended up sleeping on couches. Couches.
How much of a fan am/was I? When Emerson killed himself I got at least two calls asking me if I was alright. And, I was. My hero had had many rough periods and was forced to hide a background keyboardist at shows since he couldn't play the parts himself any more. Note in the videos that he keeps his 4th-5th fingers curled since he'd had to have some ulnar nerve surgery.
But, he'd teamed up with Marc Bonilla, who seemed to energize his last years.
I caught ELP back in the latter 70s in Baton Rouge (college days). After, my buddy said, “Let’s head for the Hilton. All the stars stay there.” We head over, not sure what to do next. There’s music coming from the lounge, live band. As we walk up, the drum solo starts. People start shoving to get in, pushing me and this other guy out of the way: Carl Palmer. After he sits, we take a table behind him and, eventually, I hand him my ticket stub. He graciously signed it, and it’s up on my wall with a lot of my other stubs from shows. But I always love the idea that they shoved Carl out of the way to see if the guy on stage was Carl Palmer. Heh.
I saw them in August of 1974 at Charlotte Speedway with 300,000 others...They stole the show.
I caught ELP back in the latter 70s in Baton Rouge (college days). After, my buddy said, âLetâs head for the Hilton. All the stars stay there.â
We head over, not sure what to do next. Thereâs music coming from the lounge, live band.
As we walk up, the drum solo starts. People start shoving to get in, pushing me and this other guy out of the way: Carl Palmer.
After he sits, we take a table behind him and, eventually, I hand him my ticket stub. He graciously signed it, and itâs up on my wall with a lot of my other stubs from shows. But I always love the idea that they shoved Carl out of the way to see if the guy on stage was Carl Palmer. Heh.
I caught ELP back in the latter 70s in Baton Rouge (college days). After, my buddy said, âLetâs head for the Hilton. All the stars stay there.â
We head over, not sure what to do next. Thereâs music coming from the lounge, live band.
As we walk up, the drum solo starts. People start shoving to get in, pushing me and this other guy out of the way: Carl Palmer.
After he sits, we take a table behind him and, eventually, I hand him my ticket stub. He graciously signed it, and itâs up on my wall with a lot of my other stubs from shows. But I always love the idea that they shoved Carl out of the way to see if the guy on stage was Carl Palmer. Heh.
