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Gentle Giant
Tour History
***
Part Four ***
***
Back to North America ***
(late 1974 - mid 1975)
new information will be in RED
Finally,
after a series of aborted tour plans and over sixteen months away from North
America, Giant returned there in the fall of 1974. The band initially pieced together a short
tour and were also looking to book a television appearance on
the ABC Wide World In Concert program. The tour was organized with very little help
from their management, as their relationship with WWA had continued to
deteriorate, but these long-awaited concerts went over quite well. Additionally, they found that album sales in
the United States were, by this time, fairly brisk and
improving all the time. Because of these
factors, they decided to add more gigs as they went along, sometimes as a support
act and sometimes as a headliner.
TYPICAL SETLIST (Fall 1974)
The Runaway/Experience
Funny Ways
Excerpts from Octopus
Nothing at All - The glockenspiels remained, but Shortnin' Bread was no longer played.
Plain Truth
In a Glass House
Their
setlist remained relatively unchanged, except that Prologue was again
dropped, this time for good. Songs from
their new album, THE POWER AND THE GLORY,
strangely only rarely appeared in their live shows at this time. Even though the album had just been released,
it was the band's feeling that they would be better off promoting the earlier
albums. Capitol Records, their American
label, was not at all happy about this decision.
Oct. 7 Cleveland,
Ohio Agora
Ballroom
CANCELED. Multiple news sources
confirm that Giant was scheduled to play at this popular Cleveland club on this
date, but it did not happen, Harvey Mandel and Larry Coryell being booked as
replacements. The group did play at the
Allen Theater in Cleveland on Oct. 18, however, and finally made it to the
Agora on Jan 27, 1975.
Oct. 8 Denver,
Colorado Denver
Coliseum
On
this first date of the US tour, GG opened for Traffic. They had arrived in
Colorado two days earlier and spent some time exploring and enjoying themselves
in the Rocky Mountains. During the day
on Oct. 8, they also visited Caribou Ranch, a well-known recording studio not
far from Denver. Paul McCartney was recording
there at the time, though it’s not known if they got
to see him. Giant was considering the
possibility of doing some future recording outside of England, but they didn’t end up using Caribou Ranch. Giant went over quite well at this
Denver concert and the Denver College newspaper The Catalyst gave a
glowing review of their hour-long opening set, despite pointing out the noisy
crowd and a somewhat mushy sound system.
Another press report also pointed out the woefully inadequate sound in
the Coliseum which plagued both bands at this gig. A third review pointed out that Giant’s set
was actually louder than that of the headliners. It also included the curious claim that John,
during the Nothing at All drum bash, “ran around the stage playing a
police whistle, a cowbell and a tambourine”. For their part, the band was encouraged by
the good reception they received. In a post-concert interview, they indicated
that after their upcoming run of concerts in West Hollywood, they had a few
days off and may return to Colorado to play a gig at the nearby University of
Colorado at Boulder. However, this was
dependent on whether they secured the slot they wished for on the ABC Wide
World In Concert TV program which would need to be
filmed during that hiatus. As it turned
out, they never did play a show in Boulder.
GG had also been advertised as playing a Denver club called Ebbets Field sometime in October, but there’s
no indication this went ahead either.
The group did, however, play Ebbets Field in
February 1975.
Denver
- first gig back in North America Oct.
8, 1974
Oct. 9 Columbus,
Ohio Agora
Ballroom
CANCELED. As was the case with
the Cleveland Agora gig scheduled two days earlier, this show at the Columbus
Agora was also planned and advertised at one point, only to be ultimately
canceled. There is no doubt Giant played
West Hollywood on Oct. 9, as described below, appearing at the Columbus Agora
on Oct. 21.
Oct. 9 West Hollywood, California Whisky A-Go-Go
This
was only the second date of the tour, but it was the first of five straight
sellout nights at this popular 500 seat nightclub in greater Los Angeles. The
band was rapturously received. Because
of this, ticket prices were raised for the remaining evenings. The band’s success here is particularly
ironic, considering they did not even want to play at this club at all, finally
being talked into it by their manager.
Derek complained in a review that the stage was too cramped for their
“elaborate stage show”. This run of shows at the Whisky is legendary
among Gentle Giant fans and is viewed as a turning point in their success in
America. People started to line up for
tickets hours ahead of time and each night, the club had to turn away hundreds
of disappointed fans. In fact, on this
first night, police squads had to help dispel the crowds outside the club. The band themselves were quite stunned by the
reception, but their success at this club ended up getting them more headlining
engagements over the next couple months.
Ex-Canned Heat guitarist Harvey Mandel was the opening act on this
night, as he was at all these Whisky shows.
He led a rather heavy sounding four-piece group which included a violin. A tape of this night’s gig exists.
West
Hollywood - five nights in a row at the Whisky Oct. 1974
While in the Los Angeles area for their run of shows at the Whisky,
the group did manage to sign on for the coveted appearance they wanted on the
ABC late-night television music program, Wide World In
Concert, no doubt with the help of Capitol Records who were based there in
Los Angeles. For years, the most
reliable evidence was that their segment was filmed during the afternoon of
October 10, before their evening show at the Whisky. However, recent information has surfaced
which makes the date of filming much harder to determine. October 10 is still a possibility but, as
indicated above, it may have taken place during their hiatus between Oct. 14
and Oct. 16. Then again, during an
interview after the Oct. 18 Cleveland gig, the filming was said to still be “in
the near future”. The date of Nov. 3 and
even some time in December have also been put forward. Ultimately, it has so far proven impossible
to confirm definitively when this television performance was filmed.
What is certain
is that filming took place at Los Angeles’ Aquarius Theater, not at the Long
Beach Auditorium, as often stated. The
band’s entire short set consisted of Experience, Excerpts From Octopus and Funny Ways. There were tuning problems at the beginning
of Funny Ways, causing the group to stop and start over. The whole performance was filmed, though only
Excerpts From Octopus actually appeared on TV
when it was broadcast on Jan. 3, 1975.
The entire three-song set has now been officially released as part of
the GIANT ON THE BOX DVD, although the DVD liner notes mistakenly list
the set as being filmed at the Terrace Theater in nearby Long Beach in early
1975. The Terrace Theater did not open
for business until 1978.
Oct. 10 West Hollywood, California Whisky A-Go-Go
Harvey
Mandel opened.
Oct. 11 West Hollywood, California Whisky A-Go-Go
Harvey
Mandel opened.
Oct. 12 West Hollywood, California Whisky A-Go-Go
They
played two shows on this date. Harvey Mandel opened both.
Oct. 13 West Hollywood, California Whisky A-Go-Go
They
again played two shows. Harvey Mandel
opened both. At one or both of the shows
on this night, the band played two songs from the new album, probably Cogs In Cogs and Proclamation. They had been practicing these two songs in
soundchecks, but this may have been the only time the songs were actually performed in front of an audience prior to the
European tour in late November. After
the band’s extremely successful run of shows at the Whisky, Capitol responded
by ordering that 30,000 more copies of their current THE
POWER AND THE GLORY album be pressed.
Some online sources state that Giant was originally scheduled to open
for the Mahavishnu Orchestra on this night at Johns
Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, but canceled due to illness. This may or may not have been the plan at
first, but Giant definitely ended up playing the
Whisky and they definitely were not ill.
After their 5-day stint in West Hollwood,
the band took a brief vacation in San Francisco, California before heading East
to continue their U.S. tour. As explained above, they may have filmed a segment in Los Angeles
for the ABC Wide World In Concert TV program
during this vacation, but that is not certain.
Otherwise, they had no professional commitments during these few days
off.
Oct. 14 The
BBC rebroadcast a Gentle Giant studio session, probably the one from July 1, on
Sounds of the Seventies, presented by Bob Harris. The program also included sessions by Mike D’Abo and Beckett.
Oct. 17 Milwaukee,
Wisconsin Riverside Theater
Giant
played first, followed by Aerosmith and headliners Golden Earring in a packed
house of about 2,400 people. The Milwaukee
Sentinel had kind words for GG and Golden Earring but totally dismissed
Aerosmith, saying they were “loud and little else”.
Milwaukee ads Oct. 17, 1974
Oct. 18 Cleveland,
Ohio Allen
Theater
again opened for Golden Earring. During the afternoon before the concert, the
band did an in-store promotional appearance at a nearby record store called
Record Revolution. Unfortunately, it
seems the turnout to meet the band was minimal, perhaps because it was a Friday
and many were at school or work. An
employee at the store also points out that promotion for the appearance was
minimal. As was tradition at the store,
GG signed their name to a wall of visiting bands. This same employee recalls the handwriting
being sloppy, resulting in some jokingly referring to the group thereafter as
“General Grant”.
Cleveland ad Oct. 18, 1974
Oct. 19 Marietta,
Ohio Marietta
College
Giant
opened for Quicksilver in the college gymnasium as part of the college’s 1974
Homecoming activities. Supposedly, a
large percentage of the crowd left during Quicksilver’s set. A tape is rumored to exist of Giant’s
set. The band also got a few color
photographs in the college’s yearbook.
Marietta
- college yearbook page Oct. 19, 1974
Oct. 19 Gentle
Giant appeared on the Swiss music television program Kaleidos-Pop. It’s not known what their
appearance entailed but they shared the program with Alain Berceville,
Bert Jansch and the Swiss band TEA.
Oct. 20 Youngstown,
Ohio Tomorrow Club
played
two shows, opening for Focus. The first,
at 2:00 P.M. was open to all ages, while the late show at 9:00 P.M. was only
for those over 18. This venue had been a
movie theater called the State Theater until its closure in 1970. It was unoccupied until this very date when
it reopened as the Tomorrow Club with this being the first concert event presented
there. There was a report that a male
dancer followed by a gospel group actually went on
stage first, before Giant and Focus, but this has not been confirmed. One online Focus source also places these
same two bands at the State Theater back on March 12, 1973 but, as stated
above, that theater was strictly for movies and was closed in 1973.
Youngstown
ad Oct. 20, 1974
Oct. 21 Columbus,
Ohio Agora
Ballroom
GG
was scheduled to open for Focus, but a member of Focus came down ill, so that
band canceled. Giant played the entire
gig by themselves at a reduced ticket price.
Ticket sales were not very good for this show which could have
contributed to the price reduction.
Columbus
ad Oct. 21, 1974
Oct. 22 Chicago,
Illinois Auditorium
Theater
This
venue was a converted opera house and boasted superior acoustics. GG opened for J. Geils
and it’s been said that a large percentage of the
audience left before the headliners played.
The afternoon of this gig, Derek, Ray and Kerry
were interviewed by Chicago’s WXFM Radio.
Chicago ads Oct. 22, 1974
Oct. 23 Parsippany, New Jersey A
Joint In The Woods
This
club was located, literally, way out in the woods, away from everything, a fact
which may have contributed to the rather small size of the crowd. The audience stood on an empty dance floor,
with no tables or chairs, making for a very intimate concert experience. The group is known to have, once again,
played Cogs in Cogs and Proclamation in their soundcheck, though
not during the actual concert.
Supposedly, the opening act, a band called Joe’s Bar and Grill, was
somewhat frustrated by the hard time given them by the impatient audience. The frugality of the travel budget Giant
allowed themselves on this tour is evidenced by the fact that they showed up at
the club on this night, not in a limousine, but in a rented station wagon. A tape of this gig exists.
Parsippany
ad Oct. 23, 1974
Oct. 24 Northampton,
Pennsylvania Roxy Theatre
UNCONFIRMED. This gig may have been planned at one point,
but it probably was scrapped. Some early
promotional material from Capitol Records listed an Oct. 24 date at this very
small theater, but other material did not.
Then, in its Oct. 19 issue, a nearby college newspaper instead
advertised Melissa Manchester as playing at the Roxy on Oct. 24. Giant did finally make it to Northampton on
August 25, 1975.
Oct. 25 Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania Carnegie-Mellon
University - CMU Gym
The
band opened for Chick Corea’s Return to Forever. The concert was part of the school’s
Homecoming celebration and was held in a gymnasium with everyone sitting on a
large mat on the floor. As is not
uncommon for gymnasium concerts, the sound at this show is said to have been a
bit boomy.
Pittsburgh ad and college yearbook
photo Oct. 25, 1974
Oct. 26 Lawrenceville,
New Jersey Rider College - Alumni
Gymnasium
Originally,
GG was scheduled, along with Dr. John, to open for J. Geils
at the Spectrum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on this date. However, that gig was canceled one week
before showtime, J. Geils rescheduling their
appearance for Dec. 21, when Manfred Mann and Alex Harvey served as
openers. This freed up the Oct. 26 date
for Giant who were now able to play this homecoming gig at a small college
outside of Trenton, where they opened for Dave Mason at a reasonable cost to
the college. Reportedly, Mason’s ticket
sales had been slow but picked up considerably when GG was added to the bill,
resulting in a packed house. This was
all fortunate for the college as they had been having financial difficulties
and considered sponsoring no more concerts if this gig did poorly. At the start of the band’s set, Derek annoyed
some in the audience by stating it was “great to be in Pennsylvania”, although the show was actually taking place in the state
of New Jersey. Still, GG was well
received, even though they suffered through terrible acoustics in the gym. However, Mason seemed a bit on edge most of
the evening and this caused an uncomfortable situation with his opening
act. A couple local student newspapers
reported that Mason had the lights turned up early in an attempt
to shut Giant down. One newspaper
report had this happening 50 minutes into their set, while another claimed
Giant went fifteen minutes over their allotted one-hour time slot. Whatever the specifics, this angered some
members of Giant who were quoted as uttering the phrases “professional
jealousy” and “childsplay”. Mason himself was then said to have been very
agitated on stage, while rushing through his own set. The reasons for his agitation were not clear
at the time, but the student in charge of booking the concerts at the college
has now come forward and offered an explanation. It turns out Mason was scheduled to have a
filmed segment aired on the Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert TV program that
very evening and he was anxious to not miss the broadcast, especially as he was
to be the show’s featured performer. The
student concert committee graciously secured a television in one of the
college’s fraternities so he could watch the program in private immediately
after the concert, a gesture for which Mason was very appreciative.
Ads
for canceled Philadelphia show and added Lawrenceville show Oct. 26, 1974
Oct. 28 Detroit,
Michigan Ford
Auditorium
GG,
along with John Martyn, opened for John Sebastian. Oddly, GG played in Detroit again just one
week later on Nov. 4.
Detroit ad Oct. 28, 1974
Oct. 29 Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania Farm Show Arena
opened
for Frank Zappa, as confirmed by a newspaper ad, a backstage pass and two
attendees at the show. Some in
attendance expected John McLaughlin to also be on the bill. This was just a rumor that circulated at the
time and McLaughlin was definitely not there. It was a pretty full
house with somewhere in the neighborhood of 8,000 people present. Giant was well received by the Zappa fans, as
might be expected. The Farm Show Arena,
as can be surmised by its name, was not much more than a big barn, with dirt floors
and terrible acoustics. At one point,
the sound man was asked why he was using so much echo, to which he replied that
he was using none at all. This was an added date, not on the original
schedule, and was presented by Electric Factory Concerts, one of the biggest
concert promotion firms on the east coast.
John, who was a big Zappa fan and had been looking forward to this show,
described the Arena as a “rodeo hall” and was so upset by the poor acoustics
that he refused to listen to Zappa’s set.
Harrisburg
- opened for Frank Zappa Oct. 29, 1974
Oct. 31 Springfield,
Massachusetts Julia Sanderson
Theatre
This
venue was originally a vaudeville theater known as the Paramount Theater but
converted to a 2,600-seat concert hall in 1973, changing its name at the same
time in tribute to a well-known actress from Springfield. It’s now a dance club
known as the Hippodrome. GG was preceded
by John Martyn, both opening for headliners Focus. According to the Daily
Collegian, Giant a large number of audience
members left before Focus even took the stage.
Being Halloween night, the crowd was rather festive, with a number of spectators in costume. Giant decided this would be a good night for
a bit of holiday theatrics, as well. At
the beginning of Giant’s set, Kerry disappeared underneath the stage, seating
himself at the theatre’s beautiful built-in Wurlitzer organ. He was for a time totally in the dark,
struggling to find his place on the instrument, until he finally rose out of
the pit, lit by spotlight, at which time he launched into the keyboard intro to
Experience. It is unclear if the breaking glass loop or The Runaway
were heard prior to this. Either
way, the band played their parts somewhat quietly so as not to drown out the
Wurlitzer. When they reached a section
of the song requiring just bass and drums, they added a few extra measures to
give Kerry enough time to return to his spot on stage
so he could continue the show, now out of breath. Throughout it all, to complete the effect, he
was wearing a cape. It did take some
cajoling to get Kerry to agree to this stunt, but the audience responded with
deafening applause as he rejoined the rest of the band on stage. Ever the gentlemen, they had asked Focus
ahead of time if they would mind this possibly upstaging activity. Graciously, Focus agreed. According to the Connecticut Daily Campus,
the acoustics were fine and the crowd was generally quite well-behaved and
thoroughly enjoyed Giant’s entire performance, to the point of being quite
forgiving when, during the Knots portion of Excerpts from Octopus,
the band got a little off on their timing.
A gentle wave of sympathetic laughter rippled through the crowd and the
band recovered quickly.
However, the crowd did show their displeasure when the emcee for the
evening announced that Giant would not return for an encore, since the show was
running a bit late. On either Oct. 30 or
31,while in town for this concert, Kerry, Gary and
John visited the campus of the University of Massachusetts in nearby Amherst
and took part in an hour-long interview.
A recording of this interview was probably broadcast over the
University’s radio station on Dec. 10.
Springfield ad Oct. 31, 1974
Since this tour ended up being extended quite a bit longer than
anticipated, touring plans for later in the year had to be rethought. They had planned a UK tour, to be supported
by the band Snafu, beginning at the Plymouth Guildhall on October 31, followed
by a swing through Europe, but the European schedule was shortened
considerably, while the UK tour was postponed until December.
Original and rescheduled
UK and European tour plans Oct. - Nov.
1974
Nov. 1 New York, New York Academy of Music
This
was a midnight concert, with a totally separate concert featuring Shawn
Phillips and Quatermass taking place earlier in the
evening. Quatermass
may not have played alone but may have simply served as Phillips’ backing
band. A tape of GG’s set exists. John Martyn played first then Giant and
headliners Focus, although GG and Focus both played full length sets, Giant’s
clocking in at around 70 minutes. This
is the first confirmed time GG played at this popular New York venue, but they
returned there many times in later years.
At this show, the transition tape between The Runaway and Experience
played a half step sharp, for some reason.
A member of the audience recalls a fan near the front screaming at Ray
during his violin solo. Ray then put his
instrument down and engaged in a back and forth screaming match with the fan
before resuming his solo. This was actually a common occurrence during the violin solos through
the years, though it is unclear how much of it was spontaneous and how much was
provoked by Ray himself. After the show,
as further evidence of their shoestring budget at the time, no limousine was
present and the band was spotted simply walking away from the Academy,
belongings in hand. A
number of reviews of this gig appeared in various publications, almost
universally positive, although Billboard did cite the band’s music as
being “too repetitious”. A local
newspaper review called the show a “giant triumph” and even indicated the band
had to play three encores to please the New York audience, while a couple other
reviews pointed out the multiple ovations that occurred over the course of the
performance. One online source lists
that this show took place on November 3 but that is wrong, another source
placing Focus in Edison, New Jersey on that evening.
New
York - Academy of Music Nov. 1, 1974
Nov. 2 Boston,
Massachusetts Orpheum Theater
Giant
played first on a triple bill here, preceding Golden Earring and headliners
Black Oak Arkansas. In the interview referenced above before the Springfield
show, band members described BOA as “one of the funniest bands we’ve ever seen”.
Boston ad Nov. 2, 1974
Nov. 2 In
England, BBC 3 Radio included a segment on Gentle Giant on their Sounds
Interesting radio program, along with segments on King Crimson, Harry Chapin and singer/guitarist Krysia
Kocjan. It’s also known that Giant appeared on a later episode of
the program on Feb. 2, 1975, during which an interview with Derek and Ray was
featured. It’s
not known if this Nov. 2 episode included the same interview or different
content.
Nov. 4 Detroit, Michigan Cobo
Hall
Like
the Detroit appearance from one week earlier on Oct. 28, three bands were again
on this bill, Giant playing first, Mountain in the middle, and the J. Geils Band headlining.
This was apparently a late add, not appearing on Giant’s original
schedule. J. Geils
had played just the previous night at Cobo Hall with
Mountain and Golden Earring but when tickets for that show sold out, another
show was scheduled for Nov. 4. Mountain
returned for this second appearance, but Golden Earring did not, Giant taking
their place. J. Geils was extremely popular in Detroit and played their
often, often multiple times per year, and always to rapturous fans. However, in comments made the following day,
both Kerry and Gary expressed disappointment over their own band’s lukewarm
acceptance by the audience, Kerry going so far as to state that Giant never
enjoyed playing in Detroit. A tape of
GG’s performance also exists, documenting an unusually short opening set.
Detroit ad Nov. 4, 1974
Nov. 5 Akron, Ohio Civic Theater
CANCELED. GG was booked to open for Foghat but, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer,
Foghat was having “tour troubles”. Online Foghat
sources indicate that band was out of commission for the entire beginning of
November, although it is certain that they did share the bill with Giant in
Flint on Nov. 6, as listed below.
Confusingly, other sources have GG opening for Focus at the Palace
Theater in Waterbury, Connecticut on Nov. 5 and receiving a nice reception,
though that is obviously wrong. It’s known from a private telephone interview two teenage
fans conducted with Kerry and Gary on this date that Giant ended up with the
day off.
Akron
- canceled show Nov. 5, 1974
Nov. 6 Flint,
Michigan I.M.A.
Auditorium
opened
for Foghat before 1,790 fans. In comments made the day before with a couple
young fans, Kerry expressed concerns that this pairing would not be ideal and
he was proved right. Giant was heavily
booed at this gig by the relatively small number of people who even bothered to
watch them. When first addressing the
crowd, Derek asked that they stop throwing things at the stage. In response to
the poor audience behavior, Ray is said to have made "rude" sounds
with his violin, directed towards the audience.
A reviewer in the Flint Journal admired Giant’s talent but did
admit the crowd had trouble warming up to them.
A tape of the show exists as does a bit of the soundcheck. During this soundcheck, the band can be heard
in a bluesy jam, as well as running through an instrumental version of Cogs In Cogs.
Originally, Giant was planning to play the I.M.A. Auditorium on Oct. 30
on a bill with John Matryn and headliner John
Sebastian. However, they switched to
this Nov. 6 bill with Foghat. Even earlier, it had been announced that
Giant was to play the Centre Culturel in Sherbrooke,
Quebec on Nov. 6, but that plan did not materialize. In fact, even though rumors have surfaced now
and then about Canadian GG shows in 1974, all of them are false. The band’s Fall 1974 North American concerts
all took place in the U.S.A.
Flint
ad Nov. 6, 1974
Nov. 7 Center
Valley, Pennsylvania Allentown
College of St. Francis de Sales - Billera Hall
The
Allentown College venue is correct, even though a conflicting report has this
gig taking place at nearby Lehigh County Community College in Schnecksville,
Pennsylvania. This college gig was
arranged at relatively short notice and was supposed to be a triple bill with
GG and the Strawbs opening for Robin Trower. However, the Strawbs
canceled. One fan recalls about 250 in
attendance, while another places the number higher. The attendees simply sat on the floor in
front of the stage in what’s believed to have been a
converted dining hall and, although Trower was the headliner, Giant was very
well received. In fact, after their set,
the lights came on but the crowd continued to chant “Giant! Giant!
Giant!”, sadly to no avail.
Center
Valley ad Nov. 7, 1974
Nov. 8 Plattsburgh,
New York State University of
New York at Plattsburgh
Original
plans were for Giant to perform in Teaneck, New Jersey on this evening, but
they played this college near the Canadian border instead, opening for the
Climax Blues Band. In fact, several
photos of the band appear in the college’s yearbook, where they are mislabeled
as “Gentile Giant”.
John’s drum solo was particularly well received by the Plattsburgh crowd
and one fan alleges they played Working All Day, dedicating it to the
road manager. One unofficial report puts
about 200 people in the audience.
Plattsburgh
- includes college yearbook pages Nov.
8, 1974
Nov. 9 New Haven,
Connecticut Yale University -
Woolsey Hall
This
concert was booked as part of a University charity
drive and the band opened for Poco. Giant
was booed for the first ten minutes of their set, but the crowd ended up giving
them a standing ovation by the end.
Then, after the show, the members of Giant were interviewed on the Yale
University radio station. Poco recorded
their set and one song from this night may have ended up on their 1976 Live
album.
New
Haven ad Nov. 9, 1974
Nov. 10 Baltimore,
Maryland Johns Hopkins
University - Newton White Athletic Center
GG
opened for Robin Trower. By the
beginning of November, Giant’s participation had not yet been confirmed, but
they did play and were well received.
Several days before the concert, a vague bomb threat was phoned in to
the Athletic Center, putting the concert in doubt. However, local police deemed it not to be a
credible threat and the show went on as planned. The University did increase security for the
concert and police searched the building the day of the show, just to be
safe. Due to these events, ticket sales
started a bit sluggish but, in the end, the 2,300-seat facility was
sold-out. New Riders of the Purple Sage
at one time planned to be part of this bill, but they ended up playing at the
University on Dec. 8.
Baltimore ad Nov. 10, 1974
??? Buffalo,
New York New Century
Theatre
UNCONFIRMED. A report has Nektar
opening for Giant here in 1974.
??? Upper
Darby, Pennsylvania Tower Theater
UNCONFIRMED. There are
a couple reports that Giant opened here for Focus in 1974, although one Focus
source gives a date of November 9, 1973.
That is most certainly incorrect.
??? North
Branch, New Jersey Somerset
County Community College
UNCONFIRMED. There are two fan reports of Giant
playing in the gymnasium at this college.
One has GG opening for Robin Trower.
The other has GG opening for Caravan.
Late 1974 and late 1975 have both been presented as possible time periods,
but Trower and Caravan tour date sources both make late 1974 more likely. No documentation of a gig at this college has
been located but at least some agreement can be found between the two reports,
as both fans complained about less than ideal acoustics.
Nov. 15 Knoxville,
Tennessee Knoxville Civic
Coliseum
This
was a festival seating gig at which Giant opened for John Sebastian and
headliner Dave Mason.
Knoxville ad Nov. 15, 1974
Nov. 17 Memphis,
Tennessee Ellis
Auditorium North Hall
UNCONFIRMED. One press report
had listed Nov. 17 as being the tentative final date of the extended North
American tour but no clear information has surfaced. A couple pieces of evidence hint that
Giant may have been the support act for Dave Mason, but advertising and a review in the Memphis Commercial Appeal
listed the Souther, Hillman, Furay
Band as openers. Of course, Giant may
have been an additional, unmentioned part of the bill but, more than likely, they were not there. Attendance for Mason’s performance was
reported at 3,800.
Upon
returning to Europe, the group finally began regularly including songs from THE
POWER AND THE GLORY in their live stage show. However, they ended up spending relatively
little time in Europe, because of the unexpected extension of their tour in the
US. Six shows were, at one time, slated
for Switzerland, then shortened to four, but it appears that only three actually took place.
Gigs in Italy were originally planned for Nov. 20 - Nov. 30, then that
tour was shortened as well, with as few as three gigs actually
taking place. It’s
believed, though not yet confirmed, that a show was scheduled for the Olympen in Lund, Sweden with support from String Driven
Thing, the same band that had supported Giant at many shows earlier in the
year, but this Fall concert was canceled.
One newspaper account implied the group may have even planned to return to
America for a short spell at the end of the year, after their time in Europe,
though this did not happen either.
TYPICAL SETLIST (late 1974)
Intro/Cogs in Cogs - A brief pre-recorded
edit of the album version of the song Giant was used as an intro. This opening tape was actually
fashioned from two different snippets of the original song segued
together.
Proclamation/Funny Ways
The Runaway/Experience
Excerpts from Octopus - The recorder quartet
included a brief bit of Raconteur, Troubadour instead of Yankee
Doodle for only this minor European tour.
Nothing at All
Plain Truth
Mister Class and Quality?/Peel the Paint - a
slightly different arrangement than was used at some early 1973 gigs. Gary's guitar solo now found a home in Peel
the Paint. The "breaking
glass" tape loop was now faded out at the end of this, as an outro.
Most
notable at this time is the band's ever-increasing
fascination with combining songs or portions of songs into mini-medleys. This would continue into future tours.
Nov. 21 Basel, Switzerland Stadtcasino
A
tape of this concert exists. It’s been said that on this night, John was seen walking
across the stage with bells attached to his ankle.
Basel
ticket Nov. 21, 1974
Nov. 22 St. Gallen,
Switzerland Kongresshaus Schützengarten
A
complete tape of this concert exists. It
was held in private hands for many years but now most of it, though not all of
it, has been released officially in the UNBURIED TREASURE boxset.
Nov. 23 Ascona, Switzerland Palestra
Scolastica
Ascona is a beautiful small Swiss town on Lake Maggiore,
Palestra Scolastica referring to the sports hall or
gymnasium of the local school. This
concert was organized by Suzy Stauss of the one-woman
Ascona concert agency known as SU 71. Although several fans in attendance recall
there being no opener, it has been confirmed that an unnamed jazz trio actually began the evening.
This trio was made up of local musicians Andre Desponds on keyboards,
Piero Righetti on bass and Oliviero Giovannoni on drums.
They played a highly improvisatory set of original and cover
numbers. The crowd of about 500 were
quite well behaved but one press report does mention there were a number of people gathered outside the hall protesting the
commercialization of pop music, specifically the charging of admission. This was an extension of the anti-capitalism
sentiments common at the time in nearby Italy.
Ascona Nov. 23, 1974
Nov. 25 Bologna,
Italy Palazzo dello Sport
opening
act was Arti e Mestieri. A couple sources agree that attendance was
sparse, about 2,000 out of a capacity of 7,000.
Nov. 26 A
short film clip of the band appeared on British television on BBC 2’s Old
Grey Whistle Test program, alongside the episode’s other attractions, the
Pretty Things, Jackie Lynton’s Grande, and Can.
Giant’s contribution to the show was the second half of Excerpts from
Octopus shot at London's Drury Lane on March 16. The clip has now been released officially in
video and audio form on the GG AT THE GG DVD.
Complete lineup of Old Grey
Whistle Test episode Nov. 26, 1974
Nov. 26 Rome, Italy Palazzo dello Sport
opening
act was Arti e Mestieri. A reviewer in Ciao 2001 pointed out
the poor acoustics in the hall, as well as the presence of some noisy, unruly
elements in the crowd. This same
reviewer was kind to Arti e Mestieri but seemed
disappointed with GG’s set, an unusual occurrence in a magazine noted for
championing the band in the past. The
magazine Nuovo Sound published a similarly lukewarm review, while
voicing surprise that the audience wasn’t bigger. A couple other sources indicated the size of
the crowd to be between 6,000 and 7,000. The venue for this show is often listed as Palaeur which was a commonly used nickname for the same
location. It was a large circular hall
built on a hill. In 2000, a soundboard
recording of the majority of this show became the
first in the series of official Glass House releases, appearing on a CD
entitled LIVE IN ROME. An
audience recording of the same show also exists but it is complete, containing
some material not on the soundboard recording.
Nuovo Sound claimed in its review that GG played Working All
Day as an encore, but they were probably incorrect.
Rome
ticket Nov. 26, 1974
Nov. 27 Italy Palazzo
dello Sport
UNCONFIRMED. The exact location of this planned
concert has not been determined. The
show, with Arti e Mestieri in support, was advertised
for the Palazzo dello Sport in Udine with a note that
it may end up in Brescia instead at that city’s own Palazzo dello
Sport. To date, it’s
not been confirmed that any gig at all actually took place. A member of Arti e Mestieri
states that the two bands only played three gigs together, most likely Bologna,
Rome and Torino.
Nov. 28 Torino, Italy Palazzo dello Sport
opening
act was Arti e Mestieri. Upon first welcoming the audience, Derek
mentions the city’s famous football club, Juventus, and elicits applause from
many in the crowd. Unfortunately, the
city’s other football club, the Torino club, was not mentioned, thereby upsetting
others in the crowd. It seems fans of
the two teams have a very rocky relationship.
A member of Arti e Mestieri claims the venue,
which seated around 6,000, was oversold with as many as 9,000 tickets being
purchased by fans. Another member recalls
that some segments of the audiences at this and the other 1974 Italian shows
were unkind to GG, believing them to be money grubbing capitalists. Understandably, he claims Giant did not
particularly enjoy this Italian mini-tour.
Derek himself confirmed this in a Ciao 2001 article at the time,
presenting it as a contributing factor in the band’s decision to cut their time
in Italy short. This was a common
sentiment among Italian rock audiences at the time but GG had, in the past, been
treated more forgivingly than had many other bands. That was not the case on this tour. A tape exists of this concert.
Torino ad Nov. 28, 1974
Nov. 29 Genova, Italy Teatro Genova
CANCELED. Two shows were scheduled for
Genova, with some sort of transportation problem as the reason given for the last minute cancelation.
The opening act was supposed to be Arti e Mestieri.
??? Modena,
Italy Teatro Storchi
UNCONFIRMED. No written documentation has been
found proving this gig. However, it
cannot be completely discounted as two separate fans seem to recall it,
although only one recalls the specific venue.
This fan also stated the audience responded better to the older tunes
than to the newer ones.
As stated above, the band rescheduled their October-November 1974 tour of
Great Britain for the month of December, with Joe Brown's Home Brew planned as
the opening act. They even intended to record
some of the dates for a possible future live album release. However, this second attempt at a tour of the
UK ultimately had to be canceled, as well.
There are differing reports as to why.
The primary reason given to the press was that Derek developed a severe
stomach ulcer. Although possibly true,
it seems there may have been more to the story.
John and Kerry have both claimed that management problems also played a
part, logical when considering that Giant’s relationship with WWA had by now
completely broken down. Listed below is
the originally planned December tour itinerary.
Second cancelation of UK
tour Dec. 1974
Dec. 5 Sheffield, England City Hall
CANCELED. Joe Brown’s Home Brew was supposed
to open.
Dec. 6 Leeds, England Town Hall
CANCELED. Joe Brown’s Home Brew was supposed
to open.
Ad for canceled Leeds show Dec. 6, 1974
Dec. 7 Norwich, England University of East Anglia
CANCELED. Joe Brown’s Home Brew was supposed
to open. Although sponsored by the
University of East Anglia’s Student Union, this show may very well have been
booked at a different, presumably smaller, Norwich college simply known as City
College.
Dec. 8 Birmingham, England Town
Hall
CANCELED. Joe Brown’s Home Brew was supposed
to open.
Ad for canceled Birmingham gig Dec. 8, 1974
Dec. 9 Manchester, England Free
Trade Hall
CANCELED. Joe Brown’s Home Brew was supposed
to open.
Dec. 10 Stoke on Trent, England The Heavy Steam Machine
CANCELED. Joe Brown’s Home Brew was supposed
to open.
Stoke-on-Trent ad - canceled
concert Dec. 10, 1974
Dec. 10 In
London, the band did their tenth BBC studio session, broadcast on Dec. 17. Derek was obviously well enough to fulfill
this one commitment, although it was the band’s only performance that
month. The studio used for this
recording of Proclamation, Experience, Aspirations and Cogs
In Cogs, is unknown. This entire session appears on the OUT OF
THE WOODS and TOTALLY OUT OF THE WOODS albums.
Dec. 10 On
this same evening, WMUA, the radio station of the University of Massachusetts
in Amherst, broadcast a Gentle Giant interview on their Straight No-Chaser
program. More than likely, this was the
interview conducted with Kerry, Gary and John on
either Oct. 30 or 31 when they visited this Amherst campus.
Dec. 11 Glasgow, Scotland Apollo Centre
CANCELED. Joe Brown’s Home Brew was supposed
to open.
Glasgow ad announcing
cancelation Dec. 11, 1974
Dec. 12 Liverpool, England Royal Court Theatre
CANCELED. Joe Brown’s Home Brew was supposed
to open.
Ad for canceled Liverpool show Dec. 12, 1974
Dec. 13 Newcastle, England City Hall
CANCELED. Joe Brown’s Home Brew was supposed
to open.
Newcastle
ad and cancelation notice Dec. 13,
1974
Dec. 14 Edinburgh, Scotland Usher Hall
CANCELED. Joe Brown’s Home Brew was supposed
to open.
Dec. 16 Bristol, England Colston Hall
CANCELED. Joe Brown’s Home Brew was supposed
to open.
Bristol ad and notice of
cancelation Dec. 16, 1974
Dec. 17 The
band's tenth BBC session from Dec. 10 was broadcast on Sounds of the
Seventies, hosted by John Peel.
Other sessions by other artists appearing on this program are not known.
Dec. 18 Redruth,
England Regal Cinema
CANCELED. Joe Brown’s Home Brew was supposed
to open.
Ad for canceled Redruth
concert Dec. 18, 1974
Dec. 19 Plymouth, England Guildhall
CANCELED. Joe Brown’s Home Brew was supposed
to open.
Plymouth
flyer - canceled show Dec. 19, 1974
Dec. 22 London, England Rainbow Theatre
CANCELED. Joe Brown’s Home Brew was supposed
to open. Even though the rest of the
tour had been canceled, the group had still hoped to play in London as a
one-off performance, first planning it for Dec. 20, then moving it to Dec. 22. However, it
too was finally canceled just a few days beforehand. The report circulated at the time was that
Derek’s throat condition had actually worsened and was
compounded by a sugar deficiency. This
had originally been advertised as the group’s London premiere of their THE POWER AND THE GLORY album.
London’ Rainbow - ad and last-minute
cancelation Dec. 22, 1974
Dec. ? ACQUIRING THE
TASTE, which had seen limited release in America by Mercury Records in July
1971, long before the band ever set foot in that country, received a proper
re-release, again by Mercury, in late December, this time being given more
widespread distribution. Some evidence
indicated this may have been pushed back all the way to April 1975 and,
although that is possible, it seems less likely.
Article on ACQUIRING THE TASTE
US re-release Dec. 1974
Things came to a head around this time as Gentle
Giant decided it was time to end their rocky relationship with WWA. They approached Terry Ellis of Chrysalis
about his company taking them on. Ellis
agreed so Giant officially left WWA, although it cost them 90,000 pounds to buy
out their contract. Not only did WWA no longer
manage the band, but Giant also ended the contract with their recording
division WWA Records, Chrysalis becoming their UK record label for the remainder of
their career.
1975
Jan. 3 The
ABC Wide World In Concert TV program, filmed sometime in late 1974, possibly on October 10, was broadcast. Only Excerpts
from Octopus was shown, though more was performed and filmed. Also appearing on the program were the Climax
Blues Band, the Isley Brothers
and the Souther-Hillman-Furay
Band. The show was also simulcast in
various cities on FM radio stations affiliated with the ABC network. On television, the audio was
aired in mono, while the FM simulcast was a stereo mix. The audio from the
broadcast was released on the Glass House CD IN A PALASPORT HOUSE in
2001. It’s also
possible some of this material was later broadcast on the BBC In Concert
radio program, but when that was is not known.
Newspaper notices of ABC Wide
World In Concert TV broadcast Jan. 3, 1975
Jan. ? At some point between
January 6 and January 9, a live studio concert was filmed in Brussels, Belgium
for a German television program called Sonntagskonzert. This was a show that normally featured
classical performances, but ran a series of shows on rock bands that displayed
classical influences. There had been
great confusion as to the actual date of filming with some evidence originally
pointing to October 1974. However, the
correct timeframe has now been confirmed by the program’s audio engineer whose
own records show that work on this project took place during the aforementioned four dates in early January of 1975. Further corroboration comes from a Dutch
newspaper article which states that immediately after filming, the band flew to
North America to begin their tour there.
Sure enough, the North American tour started on January 14. Even more convincing is the fact that the
film clearly shows the band playing their early 1975 setlist while standing in
front of their early 1975 stage set and wearing their early 1975 stage
clothing. The band traveled to Belgium
specifically for this project. The
performance was filmed on high quality 35mm film with five cameras and audio
recorded on a brand new 16 track machine in a spacious Brussels studio called
Studio Mathonet. Only a small number of people were in
attendance in the studio that day, so they all called friends in order to round
up a more reasonably sized audience for filming. It was eventually broadcast on Aug. 10, 1975.
Jan. ? Immediately
after leaving Belgium and returning home to England, Ray and Derek were
interviewed by an American radio personality named Jeff Pollack. Between 1972 and 1976, while working for
radio stations in Denver and Albuquerque, Pollack would travel to England to
record interviews with a number of British bands. Pollack’s interviews were originally featured
in a radio program called “English Musicians” on the University of Denver’s
college radio station KCFR, the station where Pollack had gained his early
experiences in radio, although they may have appeared in Albuquerque or on
other stations, as well. It’s evident from listening to the tapes that one of his
interviews with members of Giant was conducted immediately after returning from
Belgium, placing it in this timeframe.
However, he had already interviewed Ray and Derek at least once before,
the tape of that interview having been advertised for radio syndication in a
March 1974 issue of Walrus! magazine.
Whatever the case, all of Pollack’s original Gentle Giant interview
cassette tapes had lain dormant and unheard since the 1970’s, but they finally
surfaced again when the band themselves released excerpts online in 2021.
Giant
again toured quite heavily as 1975 rolled around, beginning in North America
and then, by summer, returning to Europe.
As was the case with the late 1974 U.S. tour, the dates on this swing
through North America in early 1975 were sometimes changed and rearranged
frequently as the days and weeks went by.
This year, they did manage to gain quite a bit of public exposure
through an increased number of live radio and television appearances. Their itinerary also included a few more
successful eastern Canadian dates. By
this time, promoter Donald Tarlton was booking the
band in that country. He claimed that
Montreal, in particular, was a North American
springboard for Giant and other progressive bands, and he openly took pride in
his role in that.
TYPICAL SETLIST (Early - Mid 1975)
Intro/Cogs in Cogs - The
pre-recorded edit of the album version of the song Giant was still used
as an intro.
Proclamation/Funny Ways
The Runaway/Experience
Excerpts from Octopus - Yankee Doodle
was returned to its place during the recorder quartet.
So Sincere - another new addition to the set drawn
from the new album. A full 5-man “drum
bash” was now performed as part of this song.
During the glockenspiel section of this, the stage lights would turn
off, revealing strobe lights and twinkling white lights.
Plain Truth
Mister Class and Quality?/Peel the
Paint/Valedictory - Gary's guitar solo was again a part of Peel
the Paint. Once more, as an outro,
the band faded out the "breaking glass" tape loop.
This
was the time when Nothing at All, a staple of their shows since 1970,
was finally retired. John said in 1977
that the band attempted to perform Playing the Game briefly in 1975, but
it isn't known exactly when during the year this
happened. The song was considered
unsuccessful and was quickly dropped, but it resurfaced starting in early 1977.
Jan. 14 Montreal, Quebec Montreal Forum
A
band named Maneige opened the show. It is illustrative of how well-respected
Gentle Giant had become in Canada that they were able to play in a venue as
large as this one. However, although
total capacity of the Forum was 20,000, it’s estimated
that no more than 10,000 attended this concert, with one press report listing
attendance as 7,000. As was the case
with all the Canadian stops on this tour, reviews for this show were extremely
positive, with the exception of the Montreal
Gazette which gave GG a terrible review.
Their write-up included the curious statement that Giant “sound like
everyone and have no distinctive sound of their own”. They did, however, express admiration that
the band had enough humility to rear project the word “pretentious” above
themselves at the start of the show, a new trick they began employing around
this time. Although not directly related
to the concert, three people were unfortunately stabbed in separate incidents
outside the venue, one a 17-year-old boy scalping tickets to the show. The Feb. 8 issue of Billboard reported
that, while in Montreal, the band recorded a live-in-the-studio special for the
city’s CHOM radio. The whereabouts of
this recording today, if it still exists at all, are sadly unknown.
Montreal
- ad and article about live-in-the-studio recording Jan. 14, 1975
Jan. 15 Ottawa,
Ontario Lansdown
Park - Civic Centre Arena
Bluesman
John Lee Hooker opened this concert. The
venue, a hockey arena, seated 5,000 - 7,000 people, but about 4,000 were actually in attendance.
During the show, Derek jokingly introduced himself as Robert Plant,
while shaking his microphone stand hard.
He used this gimmick of incorrectly identifying himself many times
through the years, usually giving the audience a nice laugh. An Ottawa Citizen newspaper review
singled out Funny Ways as a particular highlight, but incorrectly
identified it as Strange Ways. Not
to be outdone, a reviewer in the Carleton University student newspaper The
Charlatan gushed that Giant’s performance was one of the most incredible
concert performances he’d ever witnessed. Sadly, this same reviewer gave terrible marks
to John Lee Hooker.
Ottawa Jan. 15, 1975
Jan. 16 Sherbrooke,
Quebec Centre Culturel
The
scheduled opening act canceled so, at the last minute, the promoter booked the
popular local folk duo of Jim Corcoran and Bertrand Gosselin as last-minute
replacements. Unfortunately, Gosselin
was out of town on vacation so, according to an interview conducted with
Corcoran in 2005, he contacted two other musician friends and they put together
a set of American county blues music.
They were fairly well-received. During one song, Corcoran seems to recall a
fourth person joining them on stage to play a xylophone solo. It was a member of Gentle Giant but the
others did not recognize him, as none of them had actually
met the band and had no idea what they looked like. As it turns out, two fans at the show
remember only one other musician joining Corcoran on stage, local double
bassist Normand Bouchard. Additionally,
neither fan remembers anyone playing the xylophone. Pinning down the specifics is quite difficult
after all these years of fading memories. The most ironic thing about the whole
affair was that, unbeknownst to Corcoran, his partner Gosselin had returned
from vacation specifically to see this concert and was actually
sitting in the audience.
Sherbrooke ad Jan. 16, 1975
Jan. 18 New York, New York Academy of Music
two
sold-out shows, preceded by American Tears and followed by Alvin Lee and
Company. On the marquee outside the
Academy, GG’s name was misspelled as “Genlte Giant”. Evidently, there
were significant time management problems at the early show. There was a lengthy delay after American Tears’
set and then when GG finally took the stage, they played a longer than expected
set themselves. These factors
contributed to the early show not ending until after the second show was
scheduled to begin. This situation
greatly upset Alvin Lee. In written
correspondence with Giant’s agent on Jan. 20, Lee’s tour manager made a point
of urging Giant to start on time when the two bands again appeared together at
the Jan. 22 Buffalo show. Both Academy
shows were recorded by King Biscuit Radio who, on Sept. 28, broadcast, in
quadrophonic sound, about twenty minutes worth of music from this evening,
including the song Cogs In Cogs. It had been conjectured that the broadcast
was taken from the second show, but that is no longer at all certain. Most of the songs played on this evening were
also released on the KING BISCUIT PRESENTS GENTLE GIANT album in 1998,
but without Cogs In Cogs. Again, which performance each song came from
is not clear, although it had been believed that most came from the first show.
More recently, a longer set of King
Biscuit material, this time approximating a nearly complete set, has surfaced,
made up of all the music on the 1998 album plus a version of the missing Cogs
In Cogs. As
if this were not all confusing enough, this newly surfaced version of Cogs In Cogs is not the same as the one on the original radio
broadcast. Ray remembers the audience
was a bit less receptive during the first show.
He laughingly recalls that during his violin solo at that first show,
someone in the crowd yelled out "you suck!" He says he later cut out that segment from
King Biscuit’s tape and placed it in a locket he still owns today. It’s presumed this
solo took place, as usual, during the song Plain Truth, but no Jan. 18 recording
of that tune has yet surfaced.
Amazingly, the exact same thing happened at the Nov. 5, 1977 gig at the
same venue, during which it’s been confirmed someone
again yelled out “you suck!”
New
York’s Academy of Music - ad and misspelled marquee Jan. 18, 1975
Jan. 19 Trois
Rivieres, Quebec University of
Quebec - Sports Center
A
fan in attendance specifically remembers this concert as starting at five
minutes before midnight. Apparently, the
band was late due to a delay at the U.S. - Canadian border after playing in New
York City the night before. Attending the show was long-time Montreal radio personality
Jean LaLonde who took several nice photographs of the band, including the two
shown here.
Trois-Rivieres Jan. 19, 1975
Jan. 21 Quebec City,
Quebec Centre Municipal
des Congress
Sloche, a Quebec area prog/jazz fusion band, was the
opening act at this sold-out gig. Before the show, some trouble occurred
among the overly eager crowd waiting to enter the venue. Some fans tried to force their way in and, in
the process, some metal fences fell on the crowd. As people surged forward, a few fell to the
ground and were in danger of being trampled.
Fortunately, there were no reports of serious injuries. After the show, the
band attended an afterparty where John admits to having had way too much to
drink. A young couple offered him a ride
back to his hotel but along the way, the couple got into a heated argument and
let John out of the car, instructing him to walk the rest of the way. It was 3:00 A.M. and freezing cold so John,
being under the weather, had a difficult time trudging through the snow and
ice. Things could’ve
ended very badly but, fortunately, a cab pulled up nearby and he was saved. At one point, a second Quebec City show was
added for the following night, but the band ended up playing in Buffalo instead
on Jan. 22.
Quebec
City ad and ticket Jan. 21, 1975
Jan. 22 Buffalo, New
York Kleinhan's Music Hall
opened
for Alvin Lee and Company and it’s been reported that
Giant did not play an encore.
Conflicting assessments of this concert exist. One audience member recalls the crowd was
unmoved by Giant’s set, with the exception of two rows
of rabid fans near the front. These fans
screamed back and forth with Ray during his violin solo. Another remembers the Giant fans standing and
cheering wildly after each song. It’s been stated that very few GG fans were even in
attendance this evening and the rest of the audience, there to see Alvin Lee,
reportedly gave Giant a poor reception.
This would be unusual in Buffalo where the promoters, the team of Harvey
and Corkey, always did a good job of publicizing GG's
appearances. This particular
gig, however, was promoted by a different promoter. In contrast, a local college newspaper
claimed Giant won over the crowd and it was Lee who had to endure a cold
reception from the crowd. The local
Buffalo newspaper's own review the next day, while also unkind to Lee, was
favorable of Giant and made note of the fact that many of the very vocal Giant
fans left shortly into Alvin Lee's set.
As stated in the New York City listing from four days earlier, Alvin
Lee’s tour manager was concerned that Giant start their set on time in Buffalo,
but it’s not known if they complied.
Buffalo
- contract attachment from Alvin Lee - concern over GG’s punctuality Jan. 22, 1975
Jan. 23 Rochester,
New York Auditorium
Theater
Before
a near sellout crowd, GG was preceded by American Tears and followed by Alvin
Lee and Company. One fan at the gig
described the audience as very “rowdy” and claimed GG “boogied” for an hour.
Similarly, the Democrat and Chronicle stated in its review the next day
that Giant “can boogie with the best of the rockers, and they did it last night.” The
band went over well but time constraints prevented an encore.
Rochester
ad Jan. 23, 1975
Jan. 24 Toronto,
Ontario University
of Toronto - Convocation Hall
This
was a sold-out general admission show on a very cold night in a small, intimate
hall seating around 1,700. The Myles and
Lenny Band opened the show. A tape of
Giant's performance exists which shows that Derek had problems with his
microphone and monitor at the beginning.
This is easily explained by the fact that their own sound system did not
arrive as it was stranded in another province, necessitating the last-minute
rental of a replacement system.
Accordingly, the gig was quite late starting. Because of this delay, a large crowd had
gathered outside the venue and eventually broke through a door and entered
without ever showing their tickets. Many
threw their unneeded tickets in the air on the way in, to be scooped up by fans
who had never even purchased a ticket in the first place. This resulted in an overly packed hall with
people standing in aisles and sitting in stairways. The tape of this show also includes one of
Ray's most energetic violin solos known on any recording. Ironically, Ray was not even using his own
violin this evening, as it was stolen before the show. He borrowed a violin from Lenny Solomon, a
member of the opening band. In addition
to the tape of the full concert, a small bit of the soundcheck exists, recorded
by someone else in the crowd. On this
tape, the band can be heard running through a little of So Sincere plus
an instrumental version of No God’s a Man, a song never known to be
played live in concert. University
officials were quite concerned about reports of excessive drinking and smoking
at both this gig and a Lynyrd Skynyrd gig a week later and considered banning
all concerts in Convocation Hall. They
only relented after the Student Activities Council agreed to only book lighter
fare performances and stay away from “hard rock” shows for a while.
Toronto Jan. 24, 1975
Jan. 25 Waterloo,
Ontario Wilfrid
Laurier University - Theatre Auditorium
This
show had a disappointing turnout. The
Myles and Lenny Band opened, as they had the night before. Previously, this college was known as
Waterloo Lutheran University, where Giant had played on Mar. 31, 1973. At one point during this 1975 show, Ray was
seen correcting a minor lighting flub from the stage. When finished with a violin part, he noticed
the spotlight was erroneously still on him so, while switching to his bass, he
pursed his lips and blew puffs of air at the light operator, as if appearing to
blow out a candle. The misplaced
spotlight went out.
Waterloo Jan. 25, 1975
Jan. 26 Springfield,
Massachusetts Civic Center
opened
for J. Geils in this general admission gig before a
crowd of 7,500. According to a fan, the crowd
was quite rude to Giant, who were somewhat shaken by the experience and seemed
to rush through their set. After this,
the house lights came on for quite a while, since Giant finished early and J. Geils was actually late arriving
at the venue, due to what the promoter called “transportation
difficulties”. Gary recalls that GG and
J. Geils actually got along
quite well, despite their differences in musical direction.
Springfield ad Jan. 26, 1975
Jan. 27 Cleveland,
Ohio Agora
Ballroom
The Agora Ballroom in Cleveland was the
flagship venue in a chain of Agora nightclubs located in several cities. WMMS
Radio in Cleveland had started a tradition of recording many of the Monday gigs
at their city’s Agora, editing them down to one hour in length and then
broadcasting the hour long versions, usually two days
later, on their Monday Night at the Agora program. Giant was fortunate enough to be one of the
bands so recorded, their Monday, Jan. 27 concert being broadcast on Wednesday,
January 29. Most, but not all, of this
broadcast, sourced from an off-air recording, was released by Glass House in
2004 with the title PLAYING THE CLEVELAND. The entire broadcast, newly remastered, is
now included in the 2019 UNBURIED TREASURE boxset. It’s believed that
the gentleman who ran the Agora at the time still owns the master tape of this
broadcast or, possibly, the entire unedited show. At the very tail end of Excerpts from
Octopus, the band got off and the music nearly fell apart. Fortunately, they recovered and ended
together. This wobbly moment aside, the
group was well received with one press report noting that many in the audience
happily sang along with the songs, thoroughly enjoying themselves. The support act at this standing room only
concert was advertised as being a local area progressive band called I Don’t Care but, at the last minute, they did not
appear. Instead, another local group, a
fusion band called Course of the Electric Messenger, opened the show and was also well received. Giant played two more times at the Cleveland
Agora in later years, plus they also graced the stages of Agora Ballrooms in
Columbus, Ohio and Atlanta, Georgia.
Cleveland ad Jan. 27, 1975
Jan. 28 Columbus,
Ohio Agora
Ballroom
The
local band I Don’t Care was again scheduled to open
and this time, they did indeed play, unlike the previous night in
Cleveland. The keyboardist with that
band recalls the members of GG being very personable with them. Originally, advertisements had GG set to play
this venue on Feb. 2, but that was changed.
Columbus
ad Jan. 28, 1975
Jan. 29 Utica, New York Memorial Auditorium
opened
for J. Geils in front of between 3,500 and 3,800
fans. A tape of this show exists. As was typical at J. Geils
shows, Giant had to endure a fairly noisy audience and
fireworks being set off during their opening song. Still, the band ended up surprisingly well
received, earning a standing ovation at the end. They returned for an encore but, by that
point, many in the crowd were calling out for J. Geils. Derek later explained that, due to limited
stage space in the Auditorium, they were unable to use their slide show and
back projection system. This same lack
of available space also forced them to abandon their full percussion setup and
not perform So Sincere on this evening.
Utica Jan. 29, 1975
Jan. 29 The
Cleveland show from Jan. 27 was broadcast on WMMS Radio in edited form as part
of that station's regular Monday Night at the Agora series.
Jan. 31 Norman,
Oklahoma University of
Oklahoma - Field House
Three
acts were on the bill, with Giant taking the stage first, Michael Martin
Murphey playing second, and Alvin Lee and Company headlining. The Field House, holding perhaps a couple
thousand people, was a small building underneath the larger football stadium
and, in fact, Giant used the team’s locker room as their own dressing room the
night of the concert. Murphey was a
cowboy singer and GG was reportedly somewhat amused at the odd pairing of acts
at this show. After some initial
uncertainty, the audience ended up giving GG an enthusiastic welcome, with one
report having the recorder quartet during Excerpts from Octopus particularly
well received. Things could have turned
out much differently as, earlier in the afternoon, Derek had to visit a doctor,
having come down with the flu. He
claimed in an interview after the concert that he actually
felt worse by showtime and had a lot of trouble singing his high notes.
Norman ad Jan. 31, 1975
Feb. 1 Tulsa,
Oklahoma Tulsa
Municipal Theatre
opened
for Alvin Lee and Company. Rolling
Stone published, in one of their issues, an itinerary of Giant which
erroneously placed them in Lakeland, Florida on this evening. However, this Tulsa date has been confirmed
by the Texas based promotor, Stone City Attractions, who was involved in the
promotion of three Lee/GG concerts in this time period. Throughout the 1970’s, Rolling Stone
was notorious for its inaccurate information when reporting GG concert dates.
Tulsa backstage pass Feb. 1, 1975
Feb. 2 St. Louis,
Missouri Kiel
Auditorium
Along
with a country rock group called Mason Proffit, GG
opened for Alvin Lee and Company. A
published Alvin Lee ad gave a date of Feb. 1 at the Auditorium Theatre, but
that was incorrect.
St.
Louis ad Feb. 2, 1975
Feb. 2 In
England, BBC 3 Radio broadcast a conversation with Derek and Ray Shulman as
part of its Sounds Interesting program.
Feb. 3 Denver,
Colorado Ebbets Field
The
band played two nights, both general admission, at
this small club on the ground floor of a downtown Denver building, with an
official seating capacity of only 238 people.
It had a small number of tables near the stage and, behind those, a
combination of folding chairs and several tiers of wooden bleachers. Much of the floor, wall space and bleachers
were covered in orange, black and brown shag carpet. While many acts at this club played two sets
a night, GG only played one set each night.
A reviewer for a local college newspaper praised the group’s creativity
and musical ability at this performance, but ranted at length that the volume
was way too loud and made the show uncomfortable. A fan in attendance wrote a letter to another
local newspaper and also made reference to there being
sound problems at the gig. This fan
thought Giant’s set was fine, although it began twenty minutes late, but he was
quite angry with the club owner for the poor quality of “two horrendous opening
acts”. Exactly
what these acts entailed was not mentioned, although
being a small club with a small stage, openers were generally small as well,
often comedians or simple acoustic solos or duets. Gary was lucky enough to meet his wife
Judy in the early morning hours of Feb. 4, after this gig. A well-known Denver audio company, Listen Up,
professionally recorded many of the Ebbets Field
shows from its booth in the back, right up until the club’s closure in
1977. These shows were usually either
simulcast as they happened, or the tapes were broadcast a few days later on a Denver radio station. Sadly, best evidence so far indicates this Giant
show was not one of them.
Denver
- two-night engagement Feb. 1975
Feb. 4 Denver,
Colorado Ebbets Field
It has been confirmed that a Colorado stand-up comic named Benny
Boulder opened the evening. He was a
very off-the-wall comedian who wore a blue striped bathrobe during his act. Gary Green watched his act and very much
enjoyed it, being upset he had to miss the end to go backstage to prepare for Giant’s
set. Like happened at the Ebbets Field show the night before, the band played one
general admission set. Also like the
previous night, this show was most likely not professionally recorded or
broadcast, as so many other shows were from this club. John recently shared a story of an
unfortunate medical situation he endured while at one of these Ebbets Field shows.
After playing the vibraphone during On Reflection, he was running
back to his drum kit and while ducking under some microphone stands, he felt a
muscle pop out in his abdomen. This
could have been serious, especially for a drummer, but he was fortunately able
to pop the muscle back into place manually and continue the show. It is unknown whether this occurred on Feb. 3
or Feb. 4.
Feb. 6 San Diego,
California Golden Hall
The
Daily Aztec, which was the college newspaper of San Diego State
University, claimed that GG stole the show from headliner Alvin Lee and
Company. First on the bill before Giant
was American Tears. 2,629 fans witnessed
this sellout performance.
San Diego ad Feb. 6, 1975
Feb. 7 Long Beach,
California Long Beach Arena
GIANT DID NOT PLAY. Although it was, at one
point, advertised that they would play after American Tears and before Alvin
Lee and Company, it was actually Flo and Eddie who
occupied the middle spot on the bill.
During the ABC In Concert performance filmed near Los Angeles in
October 1974, Derek told the crowd that the band would be returning to Los
Angeles in February. However, Derek may
simply have been referring to this planned Long Beach show, or either of the
Feb. 13 performances listed below. All
of these were located near Los Angeles.
Feb. 8 Fresno,
California Warnors Theater
opened
for Alvin Lee and Company. This was the
first event of the 1975 Warnors season, after the
theater had undergone extensive renovations, including the addition of a new
$50,000 sound system. It’s
been reported by more than one attendee that quite a number of the Alvin Lee
fans were skeptical of GG at first, but came around as the evening wore
on. In fact, many in the crowd held up
lighters while cheering wildly after Giant’s set, an indication of their desire
to have the band return to the stage.
The band obliged and came back for an encore, after which there was
quite a long pause before the house lights finally came on. This seems to indicate the members of GG even
considered a rare opening act second encore, but ultimately decided against it. Cries for Giant to come out again could even
be heard partway into Alvin Lee’s set.
Interestingly, Alvin Lee is known to have played additional West Coast
dates immediately after this one and, since there is a hole in Giant’s known
schedule for the next few days, it’s certainly
possible that they could have joined Lee on at least some of them.
??? Berkeley,
California Community
Theater
UNCONFIRMED. There is a report from one fan that,
at some point, GG played at this Berkeley venue with the band Camel in
support. The only times the two bands
were in America at the same time were late 1974 and early 1975. Giant’s late 1974 tour tended to concentrate
on the east coast, making early 1975 a better bet. There is, as of yet,
no confirmation although, supposedly, a large percentage of the crowd was there
to see Camel, and therefore left before Giant took the stage.
??? Lawrenceville,
New Jersey Rider College - Alumni
Gymnasium
UNCONFIRMED.
GG had already played this college once
on Oct. 26, 1974, but after the Fall 1974 US tour ended, a New Jersey student
newspaper did mention that GG was planning on playing here “soon” with a local
band called Garrett is support. No other
information is known.
Feb. 13 In
Los Angeles, California's Capitol Studios, Gentle Giant made a live studio
recording, with no audience, meant for broadcast two days later over the city’s
KMET Radio. It included much of the
material they were performing on stage during their early 1975 tour. The group even recorded a brief musical
jingle based on the radio station’s call letters, which, during the broadcast,
served as KMET’s station identification.
This jingle has been officially released on SCRAPING THE BARREL
under the title With Gentle Giant on KMET and was actually
based on one of the unreleased songs the group wrote as a possible
single in 1974. In fact, a low-quality
audio fragment of the original song appears on the same boxset titled The
FBI File # 2. On Feb. 13, 1975, the
group were in southern California for the nearby Santa Monica gig listed below,
held that same evening. In fact, this
Capitol Studios recording is often mistakenly listed as having been recorded in
Santa Monica, as well. It has been
rumored that another reason Giant made this studio recording was because
earlier plans to release an official live album were changed. In an interview around this time, Derek
indicated this was because they felt they needed more time to establish
themselves in America through studio albums before bringing out a live record.
Feb. 13 Santa
Monica, California Civic
Auditorium
The
opening act for this concert is still in dispute. Some ads simply stated there would be a
“support show”, but others, even right up until the
day of the show, listed the scheduled openers as being Journey, a fairly new
southern California group later destined to become 1980’s superstars. However, there is no confirmation they actually appeared and a couple reports have a country band
named Captain starting the show instead.
According to one of these reports, Captain had a difficult time being
accepted. At one point, their lead
singer asked for tolerance from the crowd, claiming the band were “friends of
the Giant”, but they still ended up playing an abbreviated
set. Whatever the case, Giant’s set was
rapturously received. Ray was given a
rare mid-concert standing ovation after his Plain Truth violin solo,
while the band received another after their main set. Even when the encore was finished, the crowd
kept yelling for a full ten minutes before the tour manager had to come out and
announce the band had no other material prepared. Gary has described this show as one of GG's
best west coast gigs ever.
Santa
Monica - ads and humorous college newspaper article Feb. 13, 1975
Feb. 14 San Francisco, California Winterland
Once
again, an early ad in Rolling Stone was inaccurate, listing the band as
playing Albuquerque, New Mexico on this date, while the two San Francisco dates
were listed in the same issue as planned for Feb. 7 and 8. However, by the following issue, the correct
San Francisco dates were printed. American
Tears was scheduled to open this concert, followed by Giant, then headliners
Alvin Lee and Company. However, American
Tears bowed out and was replaced by Raw Soul, a local R&B band. The crowd was sparse, numbering only a little
over 1,000 out of a capacity of 5,400.
Reviewers were not at all in agreement concerning Giant’s
two performances at the Winterland. One write-up of the Feb. 14 gig in the Stanford
Daily, a college paper known for its anti-Giant bias, stated that while the
crowd was not always accepting of Alvin Lee’s post-Ten Years After music, they
were “downright mean” to Gentle Giant.
It apparently frustrated Derek so much that he was reduced to shouting
obscenities at the crowd. In stark
contrast, another newspaper reviewer, writing about one of the two nights, was
amazed at how well the crowd accepted Giant, claiming this to be quite unusual
for a Winterland opening act. A rumor existed once that some of this
performance, or that of the following night, may have been broadcast over San
Francisco’s KSAN-FM radio station, but this has not been verified.
San
Francisco - two nights at the Winterland Feb. 1975
Feb. 15 San
Francisco, California Winterland
GG
again opened for Alvin Lee and Company at the Winterland,
with the band Raw Soul playing first, as a replacement for the scheduled
American Tears who backed out.
Attendance was again poor, with the 5,400 seat
hall only about half full. Reviewing these
two appearances, The Argus was generally kind to Giant but branded Derek
as “a poor imitation of Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson.”
Feb. 15 The
live studio recording made at Los Angeles’ Capitol Studios on Feb. 13 was
broadcast over the city’s KMET radio, on that station’s weekly Saturday
Night At the Concert Hour series, also known as SNATCH. To prepare the audience, KMET preceded the
live session with the airing of three studio tracks, namely Black Cat, Knots
and In a Glass House. The master tape of the Feb. 13 studio session still exists in
Capitol’s vaults and there is even a
possibility that it includes an additional song or two that never made it to
the airwaves. An official release of the
entire session was being considered several years ago, though the idea was
shelved at the time. Whether it will see release in the future remains to be seen. In the meantime, Glass House
released almost the entire live portion of the broadcast, albeit in rather
sub-par sound quality, on their incorrectly labeled LIVE IN SANTA MONICA
1975 CD in 2005.
Feb. 17 Chicago, Illinois Auditorium Theater
A
tape of this gig exists at which Giant opened for Peter Frampton. Early on, the band
PFM was slated to open for Frampton, but GG ended up booked in their
place. Apparently, Frampton was
still using the name Frampton’s Camel for his touring band. it was a rather small crowd, but there was a
large percentage of receptive GG fans sitting in the balcony. This GG rooting section was so enamored by
Giant's set that they loudly demanded an encore. The promoter came onstage and tried to move
things along, but to no avail. Finally,
Ray could be seen in a heated argument with three people on the left side of
the stage, his bass strapped on. After a
few minutes, Ray pushed the others aside, walked onstage, plugged in his bass,
then turned to the audience and smiled.
The crowd erupted in applause as the rest of the band joined him for the
requested encore. Then, after GG finally
concluded their set, a large percentage of their fans cut the evening short and
left the Auditorium.
Chicago ad Feb. 17, 1975
Nothing
definitive is known about the band’s live activities after Feb. 17. There have been vague, unconfirmed fan
recollections of U.S. shows in Houston, Austin, and Washington, D.C. around
this time. These recollections may very
well be wrong but cannot be entirely ruled out.
There are also personal reminiscences from fans who claim the band
played at least one gig with Greenslade, probably sometime in 1975. It is not known what time of year or even in
which country this allegedly took place.
It is
known that at least two dates opening for Alvin Lee and Company were planned
for this later period, as listed below.
These two known dates were confirmed by the promoter Stone City
Attractions, the same organization who promoted the Alvin Lee/GG gig in Tulsa
on Feb. 1. However, it has been
confirmed that by Feb. 22, due to several members of Lee’s band coming down
with severe cases of the flu, Lee canceled the remainder of his tour and
returned to England. Therefore, even
though the band did attempt to extend their tour past the Chicago date listed
immediately above, Giant’s early 1975 North American tour seems to have come to
an end on Feb. 17.
Feb. 28 San Antonio,
Texas Texas Theatre
CANCELED. This gig opening for Alvin Lee and Company
was canceled due to illness in Lee’s band.
This was to be the very first rock concert presented at this
facility. Who was set to open the show
was always tenuous, with some ads simply listing a “special guest”, others listing Houston band Navasota, and later ads
announcing Canadian band Rush. As it
turned out, Giant was the final pick for the support slot, as confirmed by the
promoter Stone City Attractions.
However, after all that, this concert never took place.
Ad for canceled San Antonio show Feb. 28, 1975
Mar. 1 Arlington,
Texas University
of Texas - Texas Hall
CANCELED. another gig where GG planned to open
for Alvin Lee and Company, as confirmed by the promoter Stone City
Attractions. However, this show was definitely canceled, due to illness within Lee’s band. Ray is known to have spent this evening with
some friends at London’s Rainbow Theater where they were enjoying a concert by
Chick Corea’s band Return To
Forever. This RTF concert at the Rainbow
has been confirmed, and Ray’s attendance shows that Gentle Giant was already
back home in England by this point.
Mar. 10 The BBC
rebroadcast GG’s Dec. 10, 1974 session on Top Gear, hosted by John
Peel. A session by June Tabor was also
featured.
It is
known that, between spring and summer, the group spent most of their time
writing, recording and mixing the music for their next
album. There was a rumor that GG was
planning to do a tour of Scandinavia with old friends Jethro Tull sometime in 1975, but this never materialized. It appears that the band had also planned
some US gigs for April of 1975, though it is unlikely any of them went
ahead. Only a couple of these planned
dates have been identified, so far, as listed below.
Apr. 11 Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania Spectrum
CANCELED.
This show did not take place, although
an early ad listing GG as playing in Philadelphia opening for Slade has
surfaced.
Philadelphia ad - canceled show Apr. 11, 1975
Apr. 19 Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania Spectrum
GIANT DID NOT PLAY.
Interestingly, GG was also signed to
play a different gig at the Spectrum on April 19, probably booked after the
above listed show with Slade fell apart.
In this case, they were to follow Joe Vitale’s Madmen, both opening for
Robin Trower. The gig did take place,
but Giant did not take part, being replaced by Brian Auger’s Oblivian Express.
Apr. ? The band
recorded their seventh album, FREE HAND, at London's Advision
Studios. The band also mixed a
quadraphonic version of the album, but that was not released at the time, not
appearing until a 2012 Chrysalis reissue.
After
recording their album at Advision Studios, Giant
planned some dates in continental Europe.
However, details are sketchy and written documentation has proven
elusive, so the extent of this touring is unknown. Although the press published ads for some of
these gigs, no reviews or definitive fan recollections have yet been located, with the exception of the June 21 Dusseldorf appearance
listed below.
Apr. 25 Amsterdam,
Holland Concertgebouw
May ? Brussels, Belgium Auditoire
Janson
UNCONFIRMED. One fan seems to remember seeing GG at
this venue on the campus of the University of Brussels somewhere around the May
1975 timeframe. However, no written
evidence has yet been located.
May 13 Berlin,
Germany Philharmonie
UNCONFIRMED. One notice in the German press
advertised this concert at Berlin’s prestigious classical music venue where,
accordingly, it was announced as one of “rock chamber music”. At least one other concert listing in the
German press did not mention this gig at all, so it must still be considered
unconfirmed. One Berlin fan recalls this
gig being announced but has no recollection of it going ahead, possibly leading
to the scheduling of a Berlin date later in the year, on Nov. 16.
Berlin - ad for unconfirmed
concert May 13, 1975
May 17 Tilburg,
Holland Pellikaanhal
June 21 Dusseldorf, Germany Philipshalle
This
was a festival event entitled the "2nd Pop Meeting". A total of twenty different bands performed,
including Grobschnitt, Nektar,
Savoy Brown, UFO and the Baker Gurvitz
Army. The festival was a two-day affair,
beginning on June 20, with Giant appearing midday on June 21. Although much of the crowd enjoyed Giant’s
set, there were many who were loud and vocal in their opposition. On an existing tape of Giant's set, Derek is
shown to be a bit flustered by this at times.
The group endured several other mishaps during their performance, as
well. Kerry had trouble with a falling
microphone and a dropped vibraphone mallet, Ray had a bit of trouble with the
cable on his violin, and an audience member even seems to recall John temporarily
falling off his raised drum platform at one point. About 6,000 were in the crowd on June 21 and
they reserved most of their enthusiasm for UFO.
Dusseldorf
poster - “2nd Pop Meeting”
June 21, 1975
Some
people recall dates Giant played in England in the period between late spring
and early summer of 1975, a possibility also hinted at by a Canadian press report
back at the end of January. Supposedly,
these included stops in Southend-on-Sea and
Portsmouth, but no proof of English concerts in this time period has yet been
found.
July 20 A
portion of the Golder's Green concert recorded by the BBC on Nov. 16. 1973 was
broadcast on American radio as part of the Rock Around the World
series. The song Way of Life and
part of Excerpts from Octopus were aired. This weekly syndicated series broadcast live
music, studio tracks and interviews with many rock musicians of the day. Giant’s was the only
live music on this particular episode, but others whose studio records appeared
on this week’s broadcast were Dave Edmunds, Pete Wingfield and Man, a group
John Weathers would join in later years. Oddly, during the broadcast, Gentle
Giant was introduced as being from Wales.
Even more curiously, even though this broadcast only included a portion
of the original BBC performance, it does include a section of The Advent of
Panurge from Excerpts from Octopus that was edited out of the
original 1973 broadcast for some reason.
This missing section does not appear on the official OUT OF THE FIRE
CD release of the concert either, making a recording of this American broadcast
the only place to find the missing musical section.
“Rock Around the World” US radio
broadcast July 20, 1975
Go on
to Part Five
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