Saw ELP in concert when I were a wee lad. They played with a full orchestra, and had a huge stage that spun like a record and raised itself waaay above the audience. I counted 15 18-wheeler equipment trucks parked behind the venue. It was the most pretentious over the top douchebag shitshow I have ever seen. It was awesome
Can you imagine the transcribed music from ELP or Yes? Odd time signatures, little repetition, notes all over the place. It would look like someone just took and ink bottle and threw it at paper. Listen to Heart of the Sunrise by Yes, primarily Chris Squire's input.......staggering.
Saw Yes in the Round (original lineup) and the reconstituted Yes for the 90125 tour (with the green laser light show). Both were ridiculous prog wankfests. The ELP show far surpassed them in wankitude.
I saw the 90125 tour somewhere in NC (probably Greensboro). I thought it was very good, but then Yes and Floyd contributed heavily to the soundtrack to some of my misspent youth. I thought the harmonies live were damned good. I missed ELP at the Charlotte Speedway just before I started my Freshman year (no money), but one of my first weekends at school they did have Tim Weisberg and Eric Johnson (with the Electromagnets) there for a free concert in the quad outside my design school studio. That almost made up for it.
Oh hells yeah. For the heavy pot smokers/acidheads of the era, prog was a godsend. The only other alternative was the Grateful Dead. Most prog fans bathed on a fairly regular basis I would have been high as a kite at enjoyed that show immensely.
Hey Russ...two questions: 1. Ever hear the a capella version of Leave It? 2. When were you in Raleigh? A local band played before Weisberg, Terra Nova. Bass player was in SOD, ended up playing for a while with Steve Morse.
Yeah. That’s one of the true “goose bumps” songs, Truly incredible. “One down, one to go, another town, and one more show.” I was in Raleigh from 1992 to 2006, so that probably occurred before I was there, but I may have seen the bass player. I saw Morse a bunch of times post~Dixie Dregs. Funny story - I was in Richmond, VA on a business trip in 1984 or 1985 (but was actually there to catch a Steve Morse Band show), and the night before the show I was in a bar getting my drink on. Was talking to some random guy in the bar, and mentioned I was in Richmond to see Steve Morse. The random guy said, “You came here to see me play?” I made him show me ID, because I thought he was shining me on. It really was him (he had cut his hair short). What was the bass player’s name?
I can understand the first part, but why did you put it down? Perhaps it’s for the same reason I stopped playing keyboards....
Same reason I was in a fusion band in the early 90s, and was also a recording engineer. I had the passion, the technical chops, but not the talent.
My problem was that I couldn’t translate the music in my head to my fingers. As Captain Kirk said, “Too much LDS in the 60s.”