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.

          Brian Lane, manager of Yes, told Festival East president Jerry Nathan that the group had come to the conclusion that costly paraphernalia didn’t significantly increase the enjoyment their fans got.

          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 “Katmandu.”

* * *

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 Market Square Arena in Indianapolis Aug. 30, 1977, and a Superfest 12 promotional tuxedo jacket.

* * * * *

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 Madison Square Garden two weeks earlier:

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

Katmandu

          As for J. Geils, no setlist for them, but here’s what they played on Aug. 11 in Dane County Coliseum in Madison, Wis.

Somebody

Detroit Breakdown

Whammer Jammer

It Serves You Right to Suffer

Monkey Island

Must of Got Lost

Hard Drivin’ Man

Chimes

Give It to Me



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