Anyone see Gentle Giant at the (Whisky) Whiskey (circa 1975)?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Patrick Boyer, Mar 7, 2014.

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  1. Patrick Boyer

    Patrick Boyer New Member Thread Starter

    I got to see them perform there in 1975. They were fantastic and basically reproduced their studio tracks live! I would love to have the video and sound of that performance! The acoustics at the Whiskey (Whisky) were top notch! :righton:

    Patrick
     
  2. old school

    old school Senior Member

    I saw them early 1974 they did a 5 night gig at the Whiskey. Best concert I ever saw! I can still hear Rays violin!
     
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  3. Patrick Boyer

    Patrick Boyer New Member Thread Starter

    :righton:
     
  4. malco49

    malco49 Forum Resident

    never saw them at the whiskey but say them what seems like a few in the late 70's when i was working a concert hall
     
  5. Patrick Boyer

    Patrick Boyer New Member Thread Starter

    What concert hall was that?
     
  6. Veech

    Veech Space In Sounds

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    I saw them at the Santa Monica Civic Center in 1975. An online source states this is "the show that Gary described as one of GG's best west coast gigs ever"

    They were brilliant. All 5 members were accomplished multi-instrumentalists and they swapped instruments on almost every song and there were often multiple swaps in the middle of a song. I have never seen anything else like it.
     
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  7. malco49

    malco49 Forum Resident

    the tower theater outside of philadelphia...seems like i saw them at least on two tours and they might have played two nights in a row or something like that.great venue 3200 seats
     
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  8. pscreed

    pscreed Upstanding Member

    Location:
    Land of the Free
    That place is legend to me for live releases by Bowie and Mott. Did you see them there in the day?
     
  9. ti-triodes

    ti-triodes Senior Member

    Location:
    Paz Chin-in
    Saw them in Syracuse in 75. I still remember it as one of the best concerts I ever saw. The musicianship was incredible. The fact that they did live what they could do on their albums absolutely blew me away.
     
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  10. malco49

    malco49 Forum Resident

    saw bowie there many times don't think i caught mott there
     
  11. pscreed

    pscreed Upstanding Member

    Location:
    Land of the Free
    Cool, thanks Mal.
     
  12. old school

    old school Senior Member

    They were a band that played loud live but the musicianship was incredible! When I saw them they were doing " In A Glass House" material which rocked as hard as anybody. They amazed me but I remember Ray with his bass hanging around his neck while he got down on one of the best violin solo's ever! As I said one of the best concerts ever in my thinking.
     
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  13. I am a big GG fan, and it sure must have been something to hear them inside a club in those days, where they were really broken in! I disagree though that they played basically live what they did in the studio. The arrangements, and especially since by then they had lost one member from the old line-up, were very different between live and studio. With the later albums the gap got narrower.

    Those different live arrangements could be very interesting though. I loved the acoustic guitar duos! You'd never hear those on the studio records... Gary and Ray played several snippets from the albums. Some of these were obscure, and I liked that!
     
    Last edited: Mar 7, 2014
  14. Daryl M

    Daryl M Senior Member

    Location:
    London, Ontario
    I'm pretty sure that I saw Gentle Giant in a roller-skating arena back in
    the mid-seventies. But I don't think they were headlining....maybe Strawbs
    ......but I'm almost positive that Starcastle was the opening act.
    Is there a listing of GG live dates on-line somewhere?
     
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  15. no.nine

    no.nine (not his real name)

    Location:
    NYC
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  16. Doug Sclar

    Doug Sclar Forum Legend

    Location:
    The OC
    The only time I saw them was Nov 2, 1975 at Golden Hall in San Diego. I got to spend some time with them and was very surprised to discover that they barely made a living. At least that's what they told me.

    Btw, it was a great show.
     
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  17. Interesting, and very sad. That was during their North American contract with Capitol, and IIRC they benefitted from good promotion with them. Plus one mouth less to "feed" (Phil Shulman had left just when "Octopus" got released at the end of 1972)... Maybe the equipment rental and tons of instruments to haul and care for were too much.

    Here in Quebec they had been big and headlining since 1972. In January '75 they sold 10 000 seats in the Montreal Forum, and later in the year they came back with Weather Report as opening act (!)...
     
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  18. G E

    G E Senior Member


    Saw them at the Derby gig in December '75. Incredible show and musicianship. Swapping around the instruments was mind boggling. Never seen it before or since. Also, part of the concert was in quad surround. The violin part in particular comes to mind. This remains one of my top 5 concerts.

    The following spring we returned to Derby for another concert but never found it. Turned the town inside out looking for it one address led us to a swimming pool! We never did find it and returned to Notts. Interesting to see in the link it was indeed, cancelled.
     
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  19. Patrick Boyer

    Patrick Boyer New Member Thread Starter

  20. Daryl M

    Daryl M Senior Member

    Location:
    London, Ontario
    So I saw them on June 30, 1976 with Starcastle. It seems to suggest
    that Gentle Giant was the headliner with no other band. Huh!
     
  21. no.nine

    no.nine (not his real name)

    Location:
    NYC
    Are you certain there was a third band? That could be an error on the site (he solicits corrections & additions), or maybe your memory is playing tricks with you. No offense meant, of course. I just did a few Google searches trying to find evidence of a band other than GG or Starcastle playing the same venue on that date but came up empty. Not that that's definite proof.

    EDIT: I just checked the Starcastle tour listing and they don't list a third band for that show, either. But interestingly, their list gives the date as June 29th instead of the 30th!

    http://www.starcastlerocks.com/tours.html#1976
     
    Last edited: Mar 9, 2014
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  22. We got them here on June 28, with Gary Wright opening (!). That GG concert was my favorite of the ones I attended (March '73; Jan. '75; 'June '76... too few for their many visits here I know! :cry:); they were ripping through those new songs from the "Interview" album and it blew me away! I also dug that the acoustic guitar duo-meddley was a newly arranged one with a couple of new entries in it.

    Upon hindsight, it is surprising that given Doug Sclar's report above that GG barely made a living in America as late as in '75, they would keep on writing and releasing - and for live performance purpose within the rock circuit - incredibly challenging material still for a couple of years...
     
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  23. R. Totale

    R. Totale The Voice of Reason

    I saw that January show in Montreal, and later that year saw them at my college gymnasium an hour away for a crowd of maybe 300. Quite a contrast :)
     
  24. Promoter Donald Tarlton (Donald-K-Donald agency) was quite proud of the attendance at that one IIRC. To give an idea to those who weren't there, fans slept half around the block (of 20 000 seats Forum) in freaking December - i.e. Montreal December! - to get good seats, the night before the ticket counters opened. >I< was one of those fans! Stupidest thing I ever did in my life, given the total lack of organization to keep the line in check in the end when the doors opened and hell broke lose... Perhaps those fans from the head of the line were too stoned to fend off...
     
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