In the late 60’s musicians who were booked into small concert halls like the Fillmore East in NYC would play two shows a night. The first show started at 8:00 and the second show at midnight. This was also de rigueur at places like the much smaller Bottom Line down in the Village. It was occasionally the setup at other area venues like the Capital Theatre in Passaic, NJ and The Academy of Music (later the Palladium) also in NYC. The early show had to be over by around 11:00 so the theatre could be cleared and the audience for the midnight show could get in and settled. At the Fillmore there were usually two to three acts on the bill so timing for the first show sets was reasonably strict. The midnight shows were more open ended. Clearly just the presence of the second show starting at midnight indicated there were no local curfews to deal with. Because of this the midnight shows were sometimes more desired because the bands could stretch out their sets. This was the era of bands playing songs with long, improvised instrumental sections.[1]As I came of age in the early to mid 70’s I had the opportunity to attend a few of these midnight shows.
My first midnight show was in 1974 when I was 15 years old. One of my close friends[2] got tickets to see Gregg Allman‘s midnight show at the Capital Theatre in Passaic, NJ. His older brother, also attending, would drive us (we were sophomores in high school). Somehow my parents didn’t put up much resistance to this middle of the night sojourn to one of New Jersey’s more blighted cities. Later I saw a couple of midnight shows at The Bottom Line. In November 1979 my college roommate and I drove up to NYC to see J.D. Souther[3]. I also saw Warren Zevon there in 1982. The Bottom Line was set up like a night club with small round tables (first come first serve) and they served food and drinks at the tables. It was a small place that seated around 400.[4] However, the midnight show that makes the others pale in comparison was my adventure in November 1976 seeing Neil Young and Crazy Horse at the Palladium in New York City
The actual date of the show, November 20, 1976, is burned in my memory. It is probably the best concert I ever attended. It is the perfect example of seeing the artist at the right time in their career. Neil had emerged from his “Doom Trilogy” phase of 1973-74 with the release of “Zuma” in the fall of 1975. This album, a set of electric guitar based songs, reunited him with his band Crazy Horse. Young and the band toured Europe and Japan in early 1976 and the shows were said to be legendary with Neil lighting up the stage with some of his most ferocious guitar playing ever. After a side project and tour with Stephen Stills that summer[5] Young returned with Crazy Horse for a November tour of the U.S There were three shows booked for the Palladium in late November. They sold out quickly and a fourth show was added for midnight on the last night. I was the one who got the four tickets for this midnight show. I don’t remember how I came into these tickets but I’m sure my father was involved. I was in my first semester freshman year at college so I must have sent my dad on a trip to Ticketron when I heard about the show. Brief digression… my father was a wholesale furniture salesman who spent most of his time driving around the New York metropolitan area visiting furniture stores. On many occasions, upon hearing of a show I was interested in, I would ask him to stop by the local Ticketron or box office and try to buy me tickets. My father was a really good sport. There he was in jacket and tie, between appointments, standing in line with other teenaged music lunatics like me waiting to buy me tickets to a concert. Picture it, a middle aged man leaning into some hippy behind the counter, “four tickets to Neil Young and Crazy Horse please.”
The show was on the Saturday before Thanksgiving. My college gave us the whole week off so I got home that Friday. The story of our trip to the show in New York City is almost as memorable as the concert itself. I invited two of my close friends to the show, let’s call them John and Dennis. I still had one ticket left when the first problem emerged. None of our parents would let us take the car to New York City after midnight. Normally for a show in the city we would just take the bus but for a midnight show mass transit (schedules and the sketchiness of the bus terminal/subway) was not an option. So with one ticket available and in search of transportation we went to a party that Saturday night given by a girl we went to high school with. We were all back from our first few months at college so it was a celebratory affair. We got to the party around 9:00 and immediately began working the crowd for a Neil Young fan with a car. The ticket being free to whoever volunteered for this assignment. We finally found our man. We’ll call him Tommy. He was a huge Neil fan and his car was available for the trip. Next problem: Tommy was so drunk he could barely stand up. Solution to next problem: one of us would drive Tommy’s car. Now none of us had a lot of experience driving in New York City but Dennis stepped up and took the keys. The only drawback to this was that Dennis was a notoriously bad driver. He drove too fast and wasn’t very attentive to his surroundings. This issue was counterbalanced by the fact that John and I (Tommy was obviously excluded from these deliberations) wanted no part of driving in the city. With only about an hour until showtime off we went. We went through the Lincoln Tunnel which dumped us out on 34th Street on the west side. The Palladium was on 14th Street on the east side. Not too far. I was in the front passenger seat navigating and holding on for dear life as Dennis sped south through the lights on one of the avenues. We got to the theatre a little for before midnight. Now we had to find a place to park. We circled the block looking for street parking. As we drove along 15th street we called out to Dennis that he had just passed a spot. Being a one way street this meant we had to go around the block again and would probably lose the spot. Dennis had a solution for this: a U-turn onto the sidewalk and back around into the spot (living up to his driving reputation). What it lacked in legality it more than made up for it in practicality. Parking spot secured we decamped for the show. Tommy, now conscious, emerged from the backseat screamed “Neil Young” and staggered off in the other direction. We quickly retrieved him and guided him into the theatre and our seats.
Our seats were 12th row, left side, first four seat off the middle aisle. Soon after midnight the lights dimmed and my adrenaline redlined. Out walked Neil, acoustic guitar strapped on, harmonica around his neck. The acoustic set started with “The Old Laughing Lady” from his first album and wound its way through favorites and unreleased songs before ending with “Sugar Mountain”. After a short intermission the lights dimmed again and Neil was back with the “Horse”. Now sporting his black Gibson Les Paul (“Old Black”) the electric set was mind-blowing. Young soloed like a man possessed, distorted guitar lines wafting out over the crowd. The highlights included “Cortez The Killer”, “Down By The River” and the as yet unreleased “Like A Hurricane”. After an encore Neil and the band left the stage. Lights up. Show over. Not so fast. Here comes Young back on stage with his acoustic guitar to treat us with one more song, “Tell Me Why” from “After The Gold Rush”. It was a magical night.
I don’t remember much about the ride back but we had to return to the party to retrieve our cars. We got back there sometime after 3:00 in the morning and the party was still going on. Tommy by this time was back into shape for driving. The rest of us went into the party to see who was still there. I ran into a friend I had seen earlier in the evening when looking for a driver who, not knowing about the concert, asked “Hey where’ve you been? I haven’t seen you all night.” I’d been on a journey to see one of the legends of rock and roll but it was too late to recount it now. It was also too late to go home so I followed Dennis to his house. I crashed there until returning home later that Sunday, exhausted but still exhilarated from the night before.
ARTS ROUNDUP
Books – “The Night Fire” by Michael Connelly. This is the second book to feature Connelly’s long running character Detective Harry Bosch and his young collaborator, Detective Renee Ballard. Connelly hits his stride with this Bosch/Ballard entry which is a definite step up from their debut in “Dark Sacred Night” (2018). Bosch enlists Ballard’s help on a cold case involving one of Harry’s mentors. Meanwhile Ballard is working an arson/homicide on her midnight shift. There is also an appearance by Bosch’s half brother the lawyer Mickey Haller who enlists Harry’s help on one of his cases. Gradually it all comes together in this compelling and cleverly plotted tale from one of the masters of the genre.
Film – “Little Women”. I wasn’t very familiar with the story haven’t not read the book or seen earlier movie versions. This adaptation of the March sisters’ saga is a star filled epic directed by Greta Gerwig. I thought it was really well done; beautifully filmed with authentic period costumes. The great cast extends to the supporting roles (e.g., Tracy Letts as the newspaper editor who publishes Jo March’s stories). It is out of the theatres now but still worth streaming.
Streaming – “Justified” (Amazon). I just finished the first season of this FX series that centers on US Marshall Raylan Givens played by Timothy Oliphant. Givens is reassigned from the Miami office after a controversial shooting of a drug kingpin. His new post is Lexington, Kentucky which is in the vicinity of his rural hometown. He returns to find criminal boyhood friends, old loves and his outlaw father. A bit of a throwback, Givens is fast with his gun, soft-spoken but with a definite swagger (and a very cool hat). Thanks to my brother-in-law Bill for turning me to this series. Check it out.
[1] The recording for one of the most famous live albums, The Allman Brothers, “At Fillmore East” were taken mostly from the second (midnight) shows from their three night stand in March 1971.
[2] This was the same friend who would score Led Zeppelin tickets a year later.
[3] Touring behind his hit album “You’re Only Lonely”.
[4] There were some classis shows through the years at The Bottom Line most notably Bruce Springsteen’s five night, ten show stand in August 1975 just before “Born To Run” was released.
[5] I went to see the Stills/Young Band in early July at the Nassau Coliseum in Long Island. Not long after this show Young abandoned the tour leaving Stills to cancel the remaining dates.