Memory:RrriccK
Ahhh, the 70's--- here's the bill: headline was Rick Wakeman, Journey to the Center of the Earth Tour, opening act was Larry Coryell and Eleventh House and sandwiched in between was Gentle Giant-- I don't have the ticket stub but believe this was Fall 1974, venue was the Spectrum in Phila, PA, USA. I actually owned the current LP's for all above but I was there to see Giant (my 1st of only 2 GG concerts, the other being the Tower Theatre, Phila show from 77 so well documented in the photo section of the GG website..) This was a long time ago but I remember the show opening with the glass-breaking sound effect from the opening of "In a Glass House" LP and my excitement was certainly palpable since I thought at the time I was the only one in a 100 sq mile radius to own this LP... I believed they played "The Runaway/Experience" and also remember clearly them playing "Cogs in Cogs" which seemed to break down somewhere along the way but this may have been intentional or a result of the infamously horrendous "Spectrum" sound.. I remember the set being too short, probably 40minutes tops and fast-paced and , for me, surprisingly "Rocking". They may also have played "No Man's a God" but my memory may have "invented" that since I love that song and wanted to hear it... I left 1/2 way through the Wakeman set since it was anticlimatic after the improvisations of the Coryell group and the auditory onslaught of the Giant performance and could not deal with the "tacky" narration throughout......
For the record: I love all the GG LP's except the last 2 (excepting a few traks but they don't hold up as a whole and sound the most "dated" of all the releases...) 1st GG purchase was in '72, "Three Friends" and this remains tied for my favorite (despite the muddy low-end and attenuated high end which was prob due to the noise reduction gone out of control... I'd love to hear this remixed with more dynamic range...) along with "In a Glass House" which in retrospect seemed to be the "Punk" progressive LP of the time due to its stark mix, energetic execution and its distance from everything labeled "Progressive" up until then (although certainly not as "Punk" or shocking as the Genesis "Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" live show in '75 that featured PG strutting his stuff with short hair, a leather jacket and platform shoes, a ballsy move for sure for their genre AND they played the whole LP and it wasn't even out yet but I digress...) I am a semi-amateur musician (meaning I play gigs or do studio work sporadically for poor pay) to this day, don't read, and attribute my ability to play live with little rehearsal in multiple genre's (with musicians who typically have better "chops" than my own) to the "ears" I developed in the 70's listening to Giant records.. these records taught me how to listen to music and challenged convention, even within their supposed genre, that being "progressive".. personally, I think they had very little in common with the bands from that genre... they were unique and untouchable in timbre, composition and arrangement (this coming from a guy that doesn't read...)