Memory:Bruce Dabney
I saw the Giant 3 times at the Calderone Concert Hall in Hempstead, N.Y. between '74 & '77. Also was at the '76 Central Park concert and the Nov.'77 Palladium show.
The most memorable show for me (besides the Central Park show, which was neat because I took some fellow musicians who had never seen them before & enjoyed watching them get blown away), was the July 3rd, 1976 show at Calderone. We left New Jersey early for the trip to Long Island because of the armada of tall sailing ships visiting NYC for the Bicentennial, which was supposed to draw huge crowds and we were worried about traffic tying up on the Cross Bronx Expressway. Got there in plenty of time & hung out in a parking lot till showtime. I snuck in a decent cassette deck to record the show, complete with a collapsible ruler I taped to the seat to get the mic up in the air for a better sound.it worked. I got a wonderful tape. Basically the same show as 'Playing The Fool', but the live sound of the room resonated, with John Weather's drums sounding exceptionally punchy. Some random memories: The great piece of intro music (I can't imagine why they only included the tail end of it on the beginning of the live album). The '74 tour's intro music was really great too.. During the thunderous ovation after the first song, a giant picture of a hand giving the 'OK' sign was projected up behind the band, making me laugh. Various innovative lighting effects, including, briefly, the magical twinkling lights in the pitch dark that happened during the percussion/xylophone solo that other people have mentioned. At midnight, July 3/into 4th, the made a reference to America's bicentennial & played 'In The Midnight Hour'.
Ray's stage presence & dynamic quadrophonic violin solo, with quotes of '3 Blind Mice'. Derek's expressive hand gestures.Kerry's virtuosity.John's punchy, powerful, tastefully quirky drumming...Gary's capable guitar work.
My tape was stolen when my apartment was robbed in '81. I sure do miss it.
The last time I saw them was at the Nov. '77 show at the Palladium. The audience didn't respond to the new 'rock & roll' material; There were huge ovations for the 'traditional giant stuff', polite applause for the new commercial stuff.
Does any concert video exist of them? I'm glad I have all the albums, my kids are now old enough to enjoy them also.