As everyone knows by now, the Grateful Dead was like having the circus roll into town. This was my first foray delving in to the Grateful Dead universe and while the music appealed to me on a number of levels, I was no Deadhead. The crazy scene in the arena hallways with the drug assisted dancing and spinning, and some of the most high individuals you could imagine to encounter, was interesting but ultimately not my bag. Also, and although I sort of got it much later, the interminable drum solo portion of the program did not do it for me.
I had been contemplating going to see the Grateful Dead again when they were scheduled to play Giants Stadium at the Meadowlands but it was not to be as Jerry Garcia died before that could happen. An excerpt published in Rolling Stone magazine from a book, that highlighted Jerry Garcia’s drug addiction came out some time later was startling and a bit frightening. I have seen Dead and Company and the Phil Lesh Band since and it is fun to see the Grateful Dead catalog performed, and to watch the always interesting audience, but I remain not a Deadhead.

Dark Star

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GQ

Happy New Year!

What better way to rock in the year 1979 than with a Ted Nugent aural assault. The Motor City Madman cut his arena rock teeth touring with label mates Lynyrd Skynyrd, but when Skynyrd’s plane crashed in 1977, Nugent continued on as a headliner in the larger venues. Ted Nugent still rocks and hunts for his food but now is almost as famous for his conservative rants on Facebook live.

Dog Eat Dog

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GQ

Shortly after Hot Tuna’s live album was released, we had tickets to see them perform at The Palladium when seemingly suddenly they broke up. I also saw Jorma in concert at the Palladium in April so forgive me if this story may apply to that show. Everyone was expecting long haired Jorma to perform at the Palladium so when he walked out solo acoustic with slicked back orange hair it was a bit of a shock. I later read in Rolling Stone magazine that at one of these Palladium concerts he had taken a swig from a champagne bottle that unknowingly to him had been spiked with LSD resulting in his playing the same note during a song for a half hour. Not surprisingly, I know that I had not noticed that evening.

Hesitation Blues

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GQ

Another road trip from Queens to see Queen again at the Nassau Coliseum. Since I have gone to a few Queen concerts in my time, with Freddie Mercury and later Paul Rodgers of Bad Company fame, the Adam Lambert version of the band just does not appeal to me (although some have told me they are still very good with Lambert).

Queen was a true original act that no one has been able to duplicate or replicate for all these many years and I was fortunate to have seen the original lineup in their glory days many moons ago.

Now I’m Here

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GQ

The Doobie Brothers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year. With no live show possible, the Hall of Fame ceremony was a virtual taped HBO special and it was actually very well done. I have attended the Hall of Fame ceremony at Barclays Center in Brooklyn a couple of times and the speeches can be kind of rough (the worst being the E Street Band; the teleprompter pleading with them to keep it short was better than their endless acceptances).

Right now I have been listening to the “Southbound” collection that remakes some of their many hits with guest artists.
The 50th anniversary tour with Michael McDonald was postponed until at least next year because of the pandemic. I am holding on to my tickets for the Jones Beach Theatre in hopes that we will one day be rocking out again under the stars at the beach.

What a Fool Believes

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GQ

The concerts are coming fast and furious in 1978 and it’s a good thing I kept an accurate log of all the shows I attended. While I know that I was there, I have no recollection of the Heart/Walter Egan concert at New York City’s Palladium.

Magic Man

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GQ

Before Yes and Neil Young, my favorite band was Jethro Tull. The first album that I “owned” was The Beatles “Meet the Beatles” given to me by my Aunt Pat, the second was the Moody Blues “”Every Good Boy Deserves Favour” bought for me by my dad after getting clunked on the forehead by an errant shoe flying off the foot of someone ahead of me during a foot race at a Post Office picnic, but the first piece of vinyl that I purchased myself was Jethro Tull “Warchild”. The wild eyed and wild haired frontman for Jethro Tull was and is the extraordinary Ian Anderson famous for making the flute a lead instrument in a rock and roll band all the while singing and sometimes playing on one leg. While I have no specific recollection of the Tull/Uriah Heep concert, I am certain I was appropriately pumped up to see one of my musical heroes live at the venerable Madison Square Garden.

Bungle in the Jungle

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GQ

After Neil Young & Crazy Horse headed on to the Nassau Coliseum after performing Rust Never Sleeps in Madison Square Garden for two nights, Bob Dylan with orchestra rolled into town. The tour later memorialized with the “Live at Budokan” album the following spring had received mixed reviews and reportedly at the time Neil Young was annoyed that the Rust tour was being lauded while Bob Dylan’s tour was not.

I do recall doing my wandering act trying to move up front in the orchestra with little success and seeing Dylan on stage but not much else.

This was quite a week in 1978 seeing two all time legends at the World’s Most Famous Arena.

Blowing in the Wind

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GQ

I was in my first month of attending Queens College when Neil Young & Crazy Horse performed the first of the two now legendary “Rust Never Sleeps” concerts at MSG the night before. Some friends told me that I must not miss this concert,, and although I was already going to the second night at Madison Square Garden, the word of mouth reviews just heightened my anticipation for these upcoming shows. I cannot remember what kind of seat I had in hand for the second MSG concert but while hanging outside the Garden before the show a scalper was selling a fifth row dead center orchestra seat for thirty bucks. Now it seems like a no-brainer but at the time thirty dollars was a weeks pay in my part time job world. After some internal trepidation, I decided to buy the ticket; needless to say it was the best seat I had sat in up until that point. The “Rust Never Sleeps” tour was groundbreaking in so many ways but seeing the stage set up for the very first time was jaw dropping. My first of now close to 100 Neil Young concerts was one of the great tours in the history of rock and roll.

The only recollection of the Nassau Coliseum “Rust Never Sleeps” show is while on the move trying to get a good seat in the orchestra, I walked in front of the first row (yes kids, you could walk in front of the first row orchestra seats in 1978) and while security tried to clear the walkway, I looked up to see Neil at the edge of the stage looking down singing “I Am a Child”. The groundbreaking “Rust Never Sleeps” tour helped to transform the arena rock concert experience and opened a world of creative possibilities for years to come.

A Day in the Life

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GQ