it was constantly revolving throughout. Not like the Beatles 64 Washington concert where it was rotated every couple of songs.
Why did they choose to use a revolving stage. Westbury Music Fair out on Long Island had one at the time (still does) Could that of been an influence ??
Sure would be nice if they would go back and re-edit the film from the source reels, I find it hard to believe most everything was shot from the neck up.
The audience tape of the Cream show is way better than the Blind Faith but that could just be the location of the taper .
the reason was greed. With the stage in the center they could sell all the seats. For the Stones concert the stage was at one end which meant the sections behind without a view were left empty.
Was it not permanently then like that if not before or are you saying The Stones were the first to have it changed?
I don't believe it was not permanently like that. But MSG opened in 1968 (at least that incarnation of MSG) so it is possible it started only with a revolving stage.
There were only a handful of rock music concerts held at the Madison Square Garden arena in 1968-69. Most events were reserved for the basketball NY Knicks and the hockey NY Rangers. The few rock acts to play the Garden in 1968-69 were Cream (November 1968), The Doors (January 1969), Jimi Hendrix (May 1969), Blind Faith (July 1969), The Rolling Stones (November 1969), and Janis Joplin (December 1969). I do not know if Jimi or Janis used the revolving stage. The Stones did NOT. Most of the other musical acts to play "Madison Square Garden" (MSG) in those years were really held at the Felt Forum, which was a theater located in the MSG complex. The Felt Forum had a capacity of about 5000 seats.
I was there at MSG for Cream, Hendrix, the Doors and Blind Faith. It was very weird with Cream and Hendrix, watching the stage go round. For a time you were hit with full volume from the stage amps (lots of Marshall 4x12 with the heads cranked) and drums, then as it started to turn away from you, you'd get less highs until the band had their backs to you and the back of their cabinets were between you and the band, drums included. When Hendrix played, there was a whole contingent that got up and walked all around the lower floor section they were on so they the stage was always facing them. I don't remember anything like that for any of the others. Again with Hendrix, he asked the audience to not use flash when they took pictures as it was distracting, so immediately the place light up like high noon, as everyone with a flash camera took as many shots as they could. Then the flashes continued as usual throughout the rest of the show. I don't think the Doors had a revolving stage, as I have no memory of that issue for that show. My main memory of the stage and Blind Faith was of the audience rushing the stage and overrunning it. Lots of weirdness for those shows!
