July 26, 1974 review: Emerson, Lake & Palmer at Rich Stadium

 



The second Summerfest show in Rich Stadium in 1974 was a triumph, technically and musically. 

July 26, 1974 

ELP’s Gargantuan Gadgetry

Tests Audience’s Endurance 

          “We couldn’t possibly tour with any more equipment,” the man from Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s management company was saying. “We’ve got four tractor-trailers. This is it. We’re at the limit.”

          So it came to pass that Rich Stadium was decked out in 36 tons of assorted ELP electronics Friday night for the second of four concerts in Festival East’s Summerfest series.

          “Welcome once again to the show that never ends” was the theme for this megawatt extravaganza. ELP’s intention, however, is summed up in another line further along in the same song: “It’ll blow your head apart.”

* * *

THE QUADRAPHONIC sound system took care of that. Its clarity and purity were an audio fanatic’s dream – all Rich Stadium concerts should be quad – and its sheer power was enough to rock you out of your socks.

          With the help of this gargantuan gadgetry, ELP took the throng of 40,000-plus on a supersonic rush through a surrealistic landscape of shrieks, whoops, buzzes, drones and bells, punctuated by an occasional quiet melodic oasis and themes impishly pilfered from old familiar tunes.

          Keith Emerson, in his customary black vest, took the air of a gunslinger, his hands dropped to a synthesizer on one side and an organ on the other, his itch for action racing through his fingers.

          Carl Palmer labored as a noble artisan, nailing an infinite variety of drums, gongs and chimes into a frame for Emerson’s flights of fancy.

* * *

ON THE OTHER HAND, Greg Lake, in a white suit, was the essence of elegant simplicity. No convoluted riffs, just an uncanny ability to convert his voice into another ELP instrument, even when he perched on a stool alone with an acoustic guitar to play “Lucky Man.”

          The ultimate limit for ELP, however, isn’t equipment. It’s audience endurance. Loud music just plain wears you out. After a 90-minute set and an encore of “Pictures at an Exhibition” with Emerson wrestling an organ to the ground, the crowd was finished off for good.

          The celebrated revolving stage made a stunning and serene debut. Its arching canopy, the group’s circular side-show screen and Palmer’s gongs gave ELP’s setting an Oriental flavor.

* * *

PROCEEDINGS ROCKED alive at 5:07 p.m. in front of a Confederate flag. The cause: Lynyrd Skynyrd, the fast-rising Southern boogie band, who boogied so well they earned an encore.

          The James Gang inspired no such devotion. After a promising start, they lapsed into a series of long, mindless solo and their usual ego indulgence.

          Festival East succeeded in making this concert even more hassle-free than the first.

                                                        * * * * *

IN THE PHOTO: Keith Emerson, right, backstage at Rich Stadium with synthesizer wizard Robert Moog.

* * * * *

FOOTNOTE: Looks like the editors simply chopped this review from the bottom, which was not unusual in those days. There’s an art to trimming articles to fit into their allotted space so that the cuts are unnoticed and little atrocities like this were high in my mind in later years when I needed to shorten other people’s reviews for Gusto.

          Meanwhile, here’s the set list from setlist.fm:

Hoedown (Aaron Copland cover)

Jerusalem (Hubert Parry cover)

Tocatta (Alberto Ginastera cover)

Tarkus

Take a Pebble

Still … You Turn Me On

Lucky Man

Piano Improvisation

Take a Pebble (fugue)

Karn Evil 9: 1st Impression

Karn Evil 9: 2nd Impression

Karn Evil 9: 3rd Impression

Pictures at an Exhibition (Modest Mussorgsky cover)

           This was the kickoff of an ELP stadium and arena tour of the U.S. that continued through August. They weren’t seen here again until Harvey & Corky brought them to the Aud on Feb. 1, 1978.

Bootleg recordings of this show attest to how outstanding it was. Writing online in progressiveears.org in 2013, Jeremy Bender says:

“The hype is because it’s a great show on tape/CD. It was well-recorded for the time it was made and ELP were on fire that night. The ‘Tarkus’ and especially the ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’ were versions for the ages, and all the other songs are top drawer versions too, all on the first night of the tour.”

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