Memory:Jory Gaier
I discovered Gentle Giant by accident. The band was the opening act for a John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra concert that I attended at the Felt Forum in New York. I don't remember the exact date but the ticket stub from this show states '1973'. I was amazed and impressed by GG's performance and what is memorable is that they may have been laughed off the stage! The violin player (it must have been Ray) was jumping like mad and supposedly split his pants! I was too far away to see if that was true but that was the story being circulated while we waited for Mahavishnu after GG finished playing. It was just a matter of days before I bought my first GG album - Octopus, which I was able to find at a local department store of all places. Getting the first three albums, however, took some effort. My crowd didn't drive at the time so that complicated things for a bunch of kids in the New Jersey suburbs. To make a long story short, we actually took a train to another town on several occassions to get to a record shop that had GG, Acquiring the Taste, and Three Friends.
Depending on your perspective, I may or may not have attended the Giant concert at the Joint in the Woods in New Jersey (1974?). Being underage, I would not be allowed entry into this venue so those of us under 18 (the drinking age at the time) who didn't have phony ids tried listening to the show outside the building without too much success. According to the lucky ones inside, the audience was trying to boo and hassle the opening act off the stage to allow Giant to start playing. The lead singer of this opening act supposedly said: "Look, I know Gentle Giant warms up better than most bands play but we gotta do our act!"
Have you ever heard of Focus? This was a Dutch band that was known for some song in which they did a lot of yodeling. Focus was the headliner for a show at New York's Academy of Music (Nov '74 or Oct '75) that Giant appeared at. My recollection of this show was that there couldn't have been more than 50 GG fans in attendance and at least 10-12 of these folks were from my hometown in Jersey. Some of the Focus fans offerred some polite applause but most of them were just anxious for the Focus show to begin. The folks from my town proceeded to leave within minutes after Focus began playing and decided to wait for GG. After awhile, the band appeared and I was impressed by what seemed to be a down-to-earth nature as most of them were carrying duffel bags (with their stage clothes???). After a few minutes of chit chat, the five band members started walking down the streets of New York carrying their bags to wherever they were heading. No limos, no groupies, no press, no agents, no entourage - I was just a kid but felt awe struck that these musical geniuses could be so human.
Other concerts I attended in the New York area were in Central Park and Long Island. The Long Island show on July 3, 1976 is memorable for several reasons. I have always remembered the date because to get to the show from our homes in Jersey meant driving past New York Harbor where we could see many of the Tall Ships that would be participating in the Bicentennial Celebration. I believe this was one of the finest performances Giant ever gave and they ended the show by singing and playing "Happy Birthday" to America!
The last two times I saw Giant perform was in Boston. Once as an opening act for Renaissance and the second time as the headliner at a very small club around the time the Missing Piece was released. Giant was the headliner at this small club and it was a good performance but what remains vivid in my mind was the opening act by a horrible little band called Dr. Feelgood that was representative of the beginning of the punk movement. The lowlight of Dr. Feelgood's show was for the lead singer to shake up a beer bottle and squirt it all over his band mates in a sexual manner. Not to sound high and mighty (and I am not a prude) but could any GG fan appreciate such nonsense? I can still remember leaving the show feeling somewhat sad that not only would Giant never be truly appreciated but also that the band was becoming spiritually dead since I was having a hard time getting into the Missing Piece.
Obviously, the best GG shows were the ones where they were the headliners or sole performers because a GG audience provided a spark to the atmosphere. I never understood how promoters could put vastly different types on bands on the same show but then again, if GG had never opened for Mahavishnu, I may have been deprived of some of my favorite and greatest pleasures.
Some of my favorite concert moments and memories include when the whole band played drums at once and then switched one by one to recorders. All five band members playing Yankee Doodle on recorders. Ray on violin and Kerry on a white cello during Funny Ways. Derek moving his fingers, hands, and arms. Derek holding up his index finger while closing out Advent of Panurge. Derek on the Shulberry for Playing the Game. John Weathers wearing an Oakland A's jersey at several shows. Gary Green's toe tapping while playing the recorder. Gary leading off the vocals on Knots. Slide pictures of each band member and then the Giant displayed high above the stage.
Best fun I ever had with Giant music (besides just listening and watching the band perform) was when I was attending college and living in a dorm. Another Giant fan and I decided to blast the glass breaking in the beginning of The Runaway through the dorm. What a marvelous way to create a stampede! Don't be alarmed - we did this during the day. Doing this at night during a New England winter would have been a bit cruel!
The most influential album for me was The Power and The Glory due to its release during the Watergate-Nixon aftermath. The album during the context of those times convinced me the band was onto something more than just music!
Well, I guess this provides some insight to what I was fortunate to see during the '70s. I can only hope and pray that there were folks who were saved and/or rescued from Disco by a healthy dose of Giant. I also hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed remembering and writing it.