1973 Amazing Times, Amazing Music

[Sid Smith]

Forty-one years ago this month I was at the following concerts:

March 2nd The Sensational Alex Harvey Band with J.S.D. Band and Glencoe
March 6th Groundhogs 60p - £1.00
March 21 King Crimson 60p - £1.00
March 23rd Daryl Way’s Wolf with Jackson Heights
March 29 Roxy Music 60p - £1.10p

There's a list of all the gigs I saw that year over on the blog.

I don't think 1973 was *the best* year or anything - I just look back on the whole 70s with amazement at the quality of what was available on a weekly basis.

[N_Singh]

I watched a few BBC documentaries of the music in the UK in the 70s, and the one thing I don't really get was the "pub rock" scene. Apparently, whatever it was, it predated and anticipated punk.

Not sure if that translates into "bar bands", which are usually weekend warriors doing classic rock covers over here.

[gpeccary]

Im gonna go ahead and say that was a flippin great month!

[Stickleback]

And you missed Genesis?!?

[JJ88]

The availability of cheap live music from 'name' bands back then never ceases to amaze me.

I watched a few BBC documentaries of the music in the UK in the 70s, and the one thing I don't really get was the "pub rock" scene. Apparently, whatever it was, it predated and anticipated punk.

Not sure if that translates into "bar bands", which are usually weekend warriors doing classic rock covers over here.

Usually a variation on the phrase 'an antidote to bloated 70s rock' is trotted out when pub rock is mentioned in these documentaries. The best known and best band I've heard from that scene is Dr.Feelgood- they had a high-energy, no-frills R&B sound. Ace's 'How Long' was a huge hit...great song, they came out of that scene, though it's a slick production. But some of the other things I've heard from that genre, is so low key as to disappear altogether.

[jcleary]

I had a way better month of Musical Events on a trip to England in 1972!

Arrive England June 20th 1972

Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come Slough College June 24th 1972

Genesis Flash Watford Town Hall June 28th 1972

Genesis Shorditch Town Hall June 29th 1972

Egg Boxmoore Hall Hemel Hempstead June 30th 1972

Brian Auger's Oblivion Express & Roy Young Band Kings Cross July 1 1972

Yes recording sessions "Close To The Edge" Advision Studios 2 Times

Yes Rainbow Theater "Close To The Edge Tour" Full Dress Rehearsal with Bill Bruford He would leave Yes a few days later. July ?

Steve Howe solo with String Quartet Royal Academy London July 9th 1972

Mick Abrahams Band Supertramp Marquee London July 11 1972

Genesis Audience Capability Brown Lyceum London July 14th 1972

Atomic Rooster, Stone the Crows, Patto ,Fairport Convention and Smith, Perkins, Smith Wealdston Football Club, Harrow, Northwest London July 15th 1972

Leave England July 16th 1972

[PeterG]

Sid, did you ever get to see Uriah Heep back then?

[Blah_Blah_Woof_Woof]

Seemed that I was going to see some show or other every week in those days, whether it was at a big arena or a club. Saw Alex Harvey, Genesis, Yes, Roxy, and King Crimson along with so many others. A band like SAHB worked better in a club with people who knew them rather than as opening act for bands like Tull where the audience boo-ed them. Saw Ace supporting Yes and no one paid any attention. Yet, I saw Yes in a second bill to Black Sabbath and they got a rousing ovation and an encore. Supporting bigger bands served as a way to move up the ranks. Roxy and King Crimson played in medium-sized halls as top billing. Genesis moved from a club like the Roxy to the Shrine Auditorium to become huge. In those days you could see three good bands in one show- I saw King Crimson, Fairport Convention and the Blues Project on the same bill.

[nosebone]

wow, I'm in awe.

Get me a time machine!!!!

[ronmac]

I spent the month of January 1969 with The Beatles at Twickenham Studios while they filmed the ill-fated "Get Back" rehearsals. I'm actually in the movie in a couple of scenes. I'm the one sitting with John wearing the Yoko Ono costume.

[BrianG]

In the states, this was during the time of huge outdoor festivals. Summerfest in Buffalo, NY started that year (1973). Luckily, the next year, my friend and I hitchhiked to Rich stadium after a college interview in Kenmore that day and saw The James Gang, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Emerson lake and Palmer (it was the same show as on their Welcome Back My Friends ... Album) July 26, 1974.

The next year we actually planned it out and saw Yes on the Relayer Tour, Johnny Winter, J. Geils Band and the totally forgettable Ace on July 12, 1975.

I tell my kids to get out and see live music now, so they can share their shows on boards like this in forty years.

[mogrooves]

A few faves from ’73:

KC - Academy of Music, NYC, with Spooky Tooth and Strawbs
David Bowie - Radio City Music Hall, NYC
Pink Floyd - Radio City Music Hall
Genesis - Princeton University
Gentle Giant - Capitol Theater, Passaic, NJ
FZ - Capitol Theatre
Focus - Philharmonic Hall, NYC
Peter Hammill - Wigmore Hall, London
Caravan - Drury Lane, London
Genesis - Rainbow Theatre, London
Magma - Marquee, London

[Jerjo]

Tickets were so unbelievably cheap back then. I remember seeing shows with three bands and not paying more than $5-8. I think my ticket to see Zep in '77 was just over ten bucks but the seats were tenth row so I figured it justified the expense.

[jlneudorf]

Tickets were so unbelievably cheap back then. I remember seeing shows with three bands and not paying more than $5-8. I think my ticket to see Zep in '77 was just over ten bucks but the seats were tenth row so I figured it justified the expense.

Queen is coming to Saskatoon - tickets are around $150.

In the words of Dylan "The times they are a changin." Yes indeed.

Regards,
Jon

[infandous]

Wow. I was 4 years old in 1973.

I was 20 before I saw my first real concert........Def Leppard with Queensryche opening, in 1989. Saw Rush twice in 1990, Grateful Dead twice in 1993, once in 1995. Pink Floyd twice in 1994. Metallica and Page & Plant "Unleaded" somewhere around 1995. That was pretty much it until I started hitting prog shows and fests in the 2000's (aside from local cover bands and bands my friends and I were actually in).

The simple fact was, I couldn't afford either the tickets or the travel, or both. I was far from any decent shows for college, and simply couldn't afford them for years after. You guys who were of age in the early 70's had it incredibly good.

[Mister Triscuits]

I spent the month of January 1969 with The Beatles at Twickenham Studios while they filmed the ill-fated "Get Back" rehearsals. I'm actually in the movie in a couple of scenes. I'm the one sitting with John wearing the Yoko Ono costume.

Ronmac broke up the Beatles!!!

I would have loved to have seen those March '73 Crimson & Roxy Music shows, but I can console myself with having caught some pretty damn fantastic shows by Zappa, Yes, Procol Harum, and Strawbs around that month (give or take)...wouldn't have traded those for anything.

[Blah_Blah_Woof_Woof]

One of my most memorable shows was ELP at the Santa Monica Civic. I walked in as the lights dimmed for the supporting band, something called Mahavishnu Orchestra! My first exposure to JM and Co. That evening changed my life.

[mogrooves]

Tickets were so unbelievably cheap back then. I remember seeing shows with three bands and not paying more than $5-8.

I paid $7 to Hendrix in '69 and thought that was just astronomical!

[WytchCrypt]

After going to prog shows since '75 the 1st concert me and my friends thought was outrageously priced was ELP in 1977 for $6.50! And this was after they dumped the orchestra so it really cost $2.17 each to see E, L, & P

[Phlakaton]

I was about 2 months into being formed a human at that point.

[Mister Triscuits]

After going to prog shows since '75 the 1st concert me and my friends thought was outrageously priced was ELP in 1977 for $6.50! And this was after they dumped the orchestra so it really cost $2.17 each to see E, L, & P

The band actually broke up over which one would get shorted a penny.

[WytchCrypt]

The band actually broke up over which one would get shorted a penny.

And to think if they just would have agreed to take $2.16 each and put the extra $0.02 in the bank everything would have worked out fine

[Ten Thumbs]

Waterloo Ontario Canada
Wishbone Ash / Gentle Giant / Vinegar Joe
Neil Young and the Santa Monica Flyers (playing Tonights The Night album prior to it's 1975 release)
Two of the 1973 concerts I attended. GG and NY became and remain my favorites.

[Scrotum Scissor]

Usually a variation on the phrase 'an antidote to bloated 70s rock' is trotted out when pub rock is mentioned in these documentaries. The best known and best band I've heard from that scene is Dr.Feelgood- they had a high-energy, no-frills R&B sound.

There was also a neighbouring scene halfway between pub rock and west coast-styled, rootsy progressive post-psychedelia encompassing bands such as Quiver, Cochise, Help Yourself, Brinsley Schwarz, Shape of the Rain, Capability Brown, Northwind, Junior's Eyes, Gypsy, Global Village Trucking Co. and so on - and some of these were actually highly listenable but are completely forgotten nowadays.

[trurl]

I spent the month of January 1969 with The Beatles at Twickenham Studios while they filmed the ill-fated "Get Back" rehearsals. I'm actually in the movie in a couple of scenes. I'm the one sitting with John wearing the Yoko Ono costume.

You broke up the Beatles?