Archival Buffalo News feature articles

  How big was Supertramp in 1979? So big that one night in the Aud wasn’t enough. They shoehorned a second date into their schedule in June. May 22, 1979  Supertramp Delivers Top-Quality Show “I think it’s only fair to say,” saxophonist John A. Helliwell says early in the show Monday night, “this is one of Supertramp’s hottest spots in America today.”                 The sell-out crowd responds with a long, stomping cheer – the kind usually reserved for encores. Supertramp is Number One in the nation, but in Buffalo they’re Number One and then some. They’ve sold out Memorial Auditorium not once, but twice          The show, which will be repeated here June 7, is a tasteful 2¼ hour tour of Supertramp from their 1974 “Crime of the Century” album to their present success, “Breakfast in America.” The music is impeccable and there’s a light show to match.          The wildest acclaim, of course, comes for “The Logical Song,” which explores the passage from childhood innocence in

  The 29th stop on the tour that turned Van Halen into stars.  They poured all their flash and energy into it.   May 10, 1979  Van Halen’s Sideshow Turns Teen Concert into Real Circus Harvey Weinstein celebrates the seventh anniversary of Harvey and Corky Wednesday night by stepping onstage to announce that Van Halen has sold out. Mark that one down in your history books: First time Memorial Auditorium has sold out without anybody sitting in the orange seats.          Realistically, there’s something like 7,500 hyperactive teenagers in T-shirts and denims, primed in the parking lots and ready now to let off steam with the hottest new hard rock band in the land.          Van Halen does not disappoint them. The quartet from Los Angeles lays out 90 minutes of hard-driving, big-megawatt sound with plenty of flash and panache.          Inspiring most of the excitement is singer David Lee Roth. His hair is long, blond and shaggy. His red pants are low-cut and held up by suspend

  Another classic night at Harvey and Corky’s Stage One. March 29, 1979  Gordon Is Golden Oldie on Birthday           Robert Gordon observed his 32nd birthday Wednesday night at Harvey and Corky’s Stage One by celebrating the many happy returns of old-fashioned rock and roll.           Flanked on stage by a pair of old-fashioned jukeboxes, Gordon looked like he had stepped out of those happy days of the ‘50s.           A skinny guy with a skinny tie, he wore a charcoal gray coat, pleated pants, white bucks and hair that was tall on top and short on the sides. Most rock nostalgists are content to remember Gene Vincent. Robert Gordon recreated him.           He did it with a solid hour of straight rockabilly, complete with stand-up acoustic bass. Holding down guitar was widely acclaimed British sessionman Chris Spedding, who looked a bit like a refrigerator repairman in his white shirt.           Spedding was sensational as he reblocked all the twangy reverberating sounds t