In August, 1978, the Allman Brothers Band was broken up with Gregg Allman and Dickey Betts each pursuing their own projects. On this night in Central Park, my friends and I were on the floor for the Dickey Betts & Great Southern concert but at some point during the show we ended up on the wrong side of the fence on the outside looking in. We were scrambling to find a way back in to the venue, which these days of high security would have been an impossibility, but we managed to find a security guard who just wanted us to go away and he let us back in to the mezzanine section. Just as we got back in, a surprise guest appeared to sit in with the band. The estranged Gregg Allman walked onstage and the place went bonkers. This evening’s public appearance of the two Allman Brothers bandmates turned out to be an impetus for the full fledge reunion that would follow.

Enlightened Rogues

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The road goes on forever!

GQ

While not a concert, Laser Rock at the Hayden Planetarium goes down as a musical experience in my book. While in this day and age, lasers pulsating on a planetarium ceiling synchronized to a tock music soundtrack may seem like a stretch for a Saturday night out in Manhattan but depending on the state of mind you were in at the time, it was a pretty cool way to spend a Saturday evening with nothing much else to do. The first time I actually saw lasers in action was at Madison Square Garden during Jimmy Page’s “Dazed and Confused” inspired bow solo. The technology is obviously way more advanced today, but at the time it was definitely visually eye-popping, especially to a bunch of teenage rock and rollers from Queens.

Dark Side of the Moon

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GQ

Discovering the Dr. Pepper Concerts at Central Park was a revelation. In 1978, the music business was exploding and I could not get enough live rock and roll. It was not just the music, although that is what brought us all together, but it was the teenage tribal ritual of gearing up, anticipating, getting to the venue, hanging out with friends, meeting like minded rockers, partying and experiencing the event in person. It was also a time before the internet, YouTube or even VHS players at home were readily available. If you wanted to see your favorite bands perform you had to either attend a concert or go to a midnight showing of a rock documentary film. Information about your favorite bands came from music magazines but mostly from album covers and liner notes. When the lights came on and the band hit the stage for your first time it was definitely a rush. The Dr.Pepper Concerts took place outdoors in midtown Manhattan all summer long , several times a week, and the tickets were cheap- $4.50 for the floor and $2.50 for a mezzanine in the rear. If the show was sold out or you just did not want to spend money on a ticket, you could hang out on the boulders beyond the rear fencing and hear the show just fine. We went to a lot of Central Park concerts and it did not matter much who was playing as it was only a 7 train ride and a short walk to spend the evening in the vicinity of some great music. I do not recall this particular Patti Smith Group concert, and I am not even sure if we got in, but I have seen the band many times through the years and they never fail to kick ass.

So You Want to be a Rock ‘n’ Roll Star

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GQ

As I have said before, Crosby Stills and Nash concert memories are a bit of a blur as I have gone to quite a few but do have one particular CSN at Nassau Coliseum story that is memorable though. My childhood friend and concert buddy Joe Fisk and I manage to move up to the front left orchestra somehow, back in the day before tiered pricing and tough security. CSN were in the middle of their acoustic set but Joe Fisk and I were so pumped up to see our heroes up close, we were on our feet hooting and hollering during a particularly quiet moment in the show. A seated David Crosby looked down at us, glassy eyed with a big sh*t eating grin on his face, and happily said “What are you guys on?” After reading David Btowne’s outstanding biography of CSNY, I now have an idea of what David Crosby was up to back stage on those tours and why he might ask us that question.

Might As Well Have a Good Time

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GQ

Now if I had not written down that I had gone to this Genesis concert, I would never have recalled this show; perhaps there is a concert ticket stub in my collection that may have jogged my memory. As it is, I can tell you that I was there but have absolutely no recollection of the event. I did see Genesis at Forest Hills Stadium some years later, and I have seen the great Peter Gabriel perform solo on several occasions, but this MSG gig does not ring a bell on any level.

…And Then There Were Three

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GQ

There have been so many Crosby, Stills and Nash shows through the years, it is hard to remember details from every one. A great read about Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young is David Browne’s recent appropriately titled “ The Wild Definitive Saga of Rock’s Greatest Super Group”. It is an amazing inside look at Crosby, Stills and Nash with David Crosby’s various harrowing personal issues interspersed throughout.

Wasted on the Way

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GQ

David Soul, “Hutch” on the hit television series “Starsky and Hutch”, parlayed the steady acting gig into a nominally successful singing career and at least one number one hit pop single “Don’t Give Up On Us”. While definitely not my cup of tea, full disclosure requires that I fess up about my attending his concert at the Westbury Music Fair on Sunday, July 16, 1978. My sister, who is a couple of years younger than I am, has always been a “pop” music and “Starsky and Hutch” TV show fan so I took her to Mr. Soul’s concert at the Westbury Music Fair on Long Island. Another concert that I took her to, and I will get in to much more detail later on, was the Shawn Cassidy concert at the Nassau Coliseum where I heard the loudest high picked screaming I have ever heard then or since, when David Cassidy’s younger brother appeared as a silhouette behind a round circular screen. Cassidy played his hit singles to an arena full of adoring delirious teenyboppers and their parents.

Playing to an Audience of One

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GQ

Jefferson Starship was the remnants of the Jefferson Airplane transforming themselves as a more pop, radio friendly band while retaining much of the cosmic vibe of the original outfit. With Grace Slick and Marty Balin on lead vocals, and some catchy hit singles, the “Red Octopus” album with Balin’s mega-hit “Miracles”, and the follow up album “Spitfire” were successful projects propelling them forward and extending their careers for years to come. Starship became in the 1970”s what the Airplane started in the 1960’s and possibly became even bigger and more popular than the Jefferson Airplane had been.

The Bob Weir Band opened the show with the Grateful Dead founder and his side project proving to be the perfect compliment to their Northern California counterparts.

Fast Buck Freddie

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GQ

The Kinks are an all time great band and Ray Davies is an all time great song writer. The main memory from The Palladium show in June, 1978 was that a group of guys decided to jump my friend Little Joe from Kokomo outside the theatre ripping the earring out of his left ear. The three knuckleheads ran off down the street with us in hot pursuit when one of the wannabe thugs lost his footing and fell hard on the sidewalk on his right hip. He hopped right back up and hobbled down the street evidently hurting himself pretty good which pleased us immensely. We went to the concert but I have no particular recollection of The Kinks’ performance that night.

Sleepwalker

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GQ

The Good Rats were one of the more popular club acts on Long Island along with Twisted Sister and Zebra so it made sense that they would open the rescheduled Meat Loaf concert taking place in the basketball gymnasium at Saint John’s University.

The “Bat Out of Hell” album was all over the radio airwaves and Mr. Loaf’s acrobatic stage show were becoming legendary so it was a bit of a disappointment to see him confined to a wheelchair with a recently broken leg. Meat Loaf did manage to dramatically lift himself out of the chair near the end of the concert and walk Frankenstein-like for a bit but without the stage antics the show was a bit of a disappointment.

Years later, Meat Loaf’s reenacting “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” became a little creepy but the man put his heart and soul into every performance until poor health knocked him off the road and possibly into retirement.

All Revved Up With No Place to Go

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GQ