I was surprised to see Simon & Garfunkel, Janis Joplin, and Grateful Dead on that list. Not because they weren't big names (they still are), but I am surprised that I am now just finding this out. Thought I would have heard about the Dead at Rec Hall before today. I am going to assume it is because no one in attendance really remembers being in attendance; and those who had claimed to be were quickly dismissed. For anyone who remembers seeing the Grateful Dead at Rec Hall in 1979, wasn't really there.
Do any of our readers remember any big time concerts from their days as students? I would love to hear some details or stories. If, of course, anyone remembers any details or stories.
Ask and you shall receive! -Blog Idiot.
Ask and you shall receive! -Blog Idiot.
Funny you should bring this up. I was there in 78 or 79 for the Grateful Dead concert. Didn't imbibe a single drug, including alcohol or even caffeine at the time. Invited a real "dead head" HS friend from Franklin and Marshall and he made up for my abstinence with mushrooms and much, much more. I was more interested to hear Jerry Garcia play guitar. I still wear Jerry Garcia ties nearly every day at work. In a weird twist, the friend was also the person who drove me to State College in 1977 to meet Coach Groves my very first time. Weird world. And weirdest concert crowd I ever witnessed. People would pay incredible prices for tiny stickers (not LSD,I checked) and then get free mushrooms after the purchase. Saw 2 girls who jumped straight up and down for the entire 2 hours of the concert with no expression at all on their faces. If that energy was harnessed horizontally, I feel the 2 of them would have made excellent marathoners. Instead they just embarrassed all their current and past relatives.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Bob Dylan at Rec Hall around the same time. "Slow Train Coming" was the album at the time. This was Bob's born-again Christian/Jewish phase. Before the concert, a friend who worked the lights was getting ready next to the stage when Bob sat down next to him. Bob asked him a question and my friend pretended he didn't know who he was and told him that "this Zimmerman guy isn't any good". Got a good chuckle from the former Robert Zimmerman!
ReplyDeleteAlso Talking Heads, Hall and Oates... You should hear from others.
I saw Jerry Garcia at Eisenhower Auditorium. He was at least three hundred and fifty pounds. He was out of breath just standing still. The Dead Heads trashed the place. After the concert, I ran into the head of the student concert comittee. He thought once the grown ups saw how bad Eisenhower was trashed, he was getting fired.
ReplyDeleteGreat Show!
Sounds like a tailgate for a Penn State football game. Guess they have different Dead Heads in Oregon.
ReplyDelete"As a group, the Dead Heads were considered very mellow. 'I'd rather work nine Grateful Dead concerts than one Oregon football game,' Police Det. Rick Raynor said. 'They don't get belligerent like they do at the games.'"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grateful_Dead#Deadheads
I remember the Grateful Dead concert. It was great fun just to watch the concert-goers at that one, including one guy with a tie-dyed shirt and really long hair who kept hopping around and dancing in circles all night without falling over once. Hall and Oates concert was great too. Santana flipped off PSU and was a no-show, claiming his guru told him it was a bad idea to do the concert or some such nonsense. Wish I'd been at the Talking Heads concert, later became a huge fan.
ReplyDelete-RMH
I saw Springsteen, Seals and Crofts (they had the big mirror ball hanging in Rec Hall for Diamond Girl "special effects"), and Paul Winter Consort. All were good! And all of the tickets were incredibly cheap (and all of the concerts were before May 1976!)
ReplyDeleteIt was either 1978 or 1979, The Doobie Brothers played Rec Hall. Great concert - Michael McDonald, who was with the Doobies at the time, was the warm-up - he was getting ready to go solo. Best part of the show was when they transitioned into China Grove with this giant gong that someone was hitting with a giant flaming mallet.
ReplyDeleteChuck Mangione (who was huge in pop radio at the time) played Eisenhower in 1980 (I think). Great concert for a trumpet player like me!
Was billy Joel at Rec Hall in '77? I think it was his last concert before really hitting it big.
at Rec hall, saw Steven Stills and Manassas (Stills had the flu) and New Riders of the Purple Sage. Can't fathom why I missed all of the shows mentioned above, but have nagging suspicion that I saw Mangione.
ReplyDelete