Prog Concert Memories

Grobschnitt, King Crimson 7 times incl. both shows recorded for absent Lovers album at the Spectrum in Montreal. Also saw the Marillion show at the same venue part of which appears on the Real To Reel album, Fish got mad at the audience and started to pelt us with acorns. The Spectrum was just demolished last month to make way for something dumb. Saw Jethro Tull at the old Montreal Forum. Can't remember which tour it was but some fans got angry and used one of the park benches from Cabot Park as a battering ram and there was a mini riot. I was already inside but saw the damage afterwards. I think it could have been the B&TB tour because I think I remember the Viking Boat through my narcotic daze. Saw Rush too many times. Very boring. Went with friend who thought they were the greatest thing since the invention of the wheel. Jean Luc Ponty with Larry Coryell. Black Sabbath with Gillian. Ozzy twice. FM three times. Met Nash The Slash after one of the shows. Journey. Boston. Aerosmith. Supertramp. with Jean Luc Ponty. The Mahavishnu Project In NYC ( first incarnation ) . The Musical Box. Over The Garden Wall another Genesis cover band that predated The Musical Box. They were better and had a female keyboard player and the singer did the Gabriel thing. Nina Hagen at Metropolis in Montreal. Got backstage and never saw so many illegal drugs in one place in my whole life. Pink Floyd Pulse, Edmonton AB commonwealth Stadium. They switched the airplane crashing with a locomotive. Kiss. ELP, Calgary Saddledome. The promoter had to comp a lot of tickets and almost lost his shirt. Concert was a disaster. Crap sound and they played new songs no one knew. Really bad. Almost saw Yes in Calgary but the same promoter cancelled the show when he saw that he was really going to lose his shirt due to bad ticket sales. And this was the classic lineup. Calgary is a cultural wasteland. people likeTerri Clark, Garth Brooks and Celine Dion routinely sell out instantly in this lonely Canadian outpost. Saw the Bay City Rollers reunion in Banff AB. About 40 people in the audience. Got an autograph from one of them out of a dare. Chiliwack, Red Rider, Chalk Circle, The Spoons, Gary Numan, Nazareth ( loud loud show ) ACDC ( another Loud Show ) Judas Priest ( screaming For Vengeance ), Lee Aaron ( talked to her and got her autograph ), Jonny Winter & April Wine, Mahogany Rush, Ted Nugent ( Intensities in Ten cities tour ), Krokus, Motley Crue, Styx ( pieces of Eight ), Cars ( Candy O tour ), Rita McNeil, Alanah Myles, Van Halen ( Diver Down ? ), Anne Clark, Motorhead ( had to leave because it was too f**** loud for our girlfriends ), Dred Zeppelin, Joan Jett

plus many more jazz concerts at the once great Montreal international Jazz fest incl. John McLaughlin, Pat Metheney, UZEB, saw Carl Palmer Band at the Medley with two kids on guitar & bass. Dissappointing show. Girlschool. Peter Gabriel Place Des Nations open air concert Freakin' amazing. Plus  more. Unfortunately I haven't see a ton of bands that don't play this side of the Atlantic often or not at all such as Hawkwind, Guru Guru. I'm thinking of splurging next year and going to see Amon Duul II in Europe.

Several years ago I tried to sum-up what made Enid gigs so special (and slightly confirming Ian's post above about prog-gig etiquette)

 

on darqdean's now defunct Goth ezine-site wrote: ]I think I've seen the Enid slightly more times than I've seen the Cure, but it's close. The Enid where one of those enigmas of the music industry... that have a huge and very loyal following, but never achieve success as measured by record sales. On CD and vinyl, the Enid were superb, but they could never never capture the pure essence of their live performances. This bothered me for years, because recordings of their live performances couldn't capture it either. On reflection, I think what was missing was something that can never be recorded by "normal" media, (and perhaps this is true of all live albums), I believe the missing 'element' is the attuned, focused concentration of the audience. Recordings of Enid music are very easy to listen to, the sounds flow over you and absorb you. Live it is different, and unlike any rock concert I have ever been to, you sit or stand in reverent silence: listening intently to every note; watch the interplay between guitar and keyboard as if the music contains a power that lives only for the fraction of a second in which it was created. Yet at the end of each song, there is not polite applause, but an euphoric eruption. Then came the encore, where the Enid really let their hair down, assaulting the audience with blasts of Land of Hope and Glory / The Dambusters March and a straight and pure, unadulterated version of the Pistols' God Save the Queen. No wonder John Peel called them the A-Levels of rock.

Edited by Dean - November 28 2008 at 07:58

 

Whoa...you have exactly serious opinion.

To tell the truth, we couldn't see which we had to watch...the excellent play by Keith, or the eccentric sway by the BOY.

 

Sure...must concentrate upon the brilliant songs and play...on the hot stuff.

 

Thanks for your comment.