Aug. 22, 1977 review: Superfest 12 -- Yes, Bob Seger, J. Geils Band and Donovan
In my book, one of the best Rich Stadium concerts.
Aug.
22, 1977
A
No-Nonsense Fest
Bathed
in Sunshine,
Compliments of ‘Yes’
Superfest 12 Saturday was a sunfest
too.
British singer-songwriter Donovan,
blinking into the brightness, sounded the first amplified notes of the day at
high noon, earliest start ever in the history of rock concerts at Rich Stadium.
The headliners, progressive rock
quintet Yes, encored and exited well before they needed to switch on the
stadium floodlight towers. Mother Nature threw in her own encore: A brilliant
sunset for the drive home.
Yes was responsible for the daylight
show. It was their request that moved the starting time ahead from the original
3 p.m. They hadn’t wanted to perform partly in sun and partly in darkness.
* *
*
THE
EARLY HOUR had its side benefits. Most of the be-denimed young concertgoers –
approximately 33,200, according to co-promoter Festival East – didn’t have time
to smoke and drink themselves halfway to oblivion before the gates opened.
Medical workers and security
organizers agreed that this was the safest and sanest of Superfests, quieter
even than the Eagles rain-out in 1975, which had half the attendance. The two
first aid stations had the chatty, leisurely air of polling places in an
off-year election.
The only mischief was at the tall
plywood barrier in front of the raised stage, where fans climbed on each others’
shoulders and jousted with security guards on top. That struggle drew reprimands
from both Bob Seger and Yes’ Jon Anderson, who was pelted with a couple of
plastic jugs.
* *
*
THE
90-MINUTE Yes set was devoid of the elaborate special effects of their
Topographical Oceans tour, when they rose from simulated clamshells. No smoke,
no flames, just music and a few geometric screens in front of the amplifiers.
The early start gave Yes enough leeway
to take an extra half hour for adjustments to the sound system, which had
suffered from treble distortion. They strolled onstage to a taped fanfare and
celebrated the return of keyboardman Rick Wakeman with a generous helping of
old hits he plays on, beginning with “All Good People.”
* *
*
WAKEMAN,
hopping from one tier of keyboards to another, counterpointed guitarist Steve
Howe with an arsenal of sounds that boiled, shimmered, tinkled and stuttered.
Wakeman threw an Irish jig into his solo for the climactic “Roundabout.”
The extended intermission also insured
that the crowd wouldn’t be bristling through the sober center of Yes’ set with
energy from the big-beat groups that came before them. After all, Seger
finished with his sax player high atop the triple-decked speaker scaffolding.
Seger’s wary, streetwise songs rode on
a fluid rhythm, beginning hard with “Rock and Roll Never Forgets,” turning down
for the ominous “Turn the Page” and the melancholy “Beautiful Loser,” kicking
up again for a raving finale of “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man” and “
* *
*
THE
J. GIELS BAND didn’t turn it down at all. After Donovan sounded the twin themes
of rock (with a tight four-man band) and nostalgia (with his recollections of
his ‘60s hits “Mellow Yellow” and “Atlantis”), Geils blessed the day with “Ain’t
Nothin’ But a Party” in a blaze of harmonica, guitar, organ and the raspy wail
of singer Peter Wolf.
Their strong set, after a year off
from touring, was as pleasant a surprise as the sunshine, which left rain-weary
fans with sunburns.
Will future Superfests get the benefit
of an early start? Festival’s Nathan says maybe. “It depends on routing,” he
said after the show, “and it depends on the group. A band like Blue Oyster Cult
wouldn’t play any time but after dark.”
* *
* * *
IN
THE PHOTOS: Yes in
* *
* * *
FOOTNOTE: The return of Rick Wakeman wasn’t the only way Yes was reaching back to their earlier days. Their “Going for the One” album, released in July, was a return to shorter, more accessible songs. Their setlist, courtesy of setlist.fm:
Parallels
I’ve
Seen All Good People
Close
to the Edge
Wonderous
Stories
And
You and I
Flight
Jam
Awaken
Starship
Trooper
Roundabout
(encore)
Yours
Is No Disgrace
Donovan opened for Yes on the entire
six-month Going for the One tour. There’s no setlist for him on the Rich
Stadium date, but here’s what he played at
Brave
New World
Cosmic
Wheels
Dare
to Be Different
Lady
of the Stars
Hurdy
Gurdy Man
The
Light
Sunshine
Superman
Mellow
Yellow
(encore)
Lalena
The Bob Seger setlist at Rich Stadium
went like this:
Rock
and Roll Never Forgets
Turn
the Page
Travelin’
Man
Beautiful
Loser
The
Fire Down Below
Mary
Lou
Night
Moves
Ramblin’
Gamblin’ Man
As for J. Geils, no setlist for them,
but here’s what they played on Aug. 11 in
Somebody
Whammer
Jammer
It
Serves You Right to Suffer
Must
of Got Lost
Hard
Drivin’ Man
Chimes
Give
It to Me
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