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I would have loved to see Focus also.
Actually, I had a buddy ask me to go see them (didn't even know they were coming to town). We arrived at The Omni (the old building where Phillips Arena is now) at 7:30. The concert was to begin at 8:00. We noticed there were only about 3000 people there. I never heard a radio ad for the concert, so it was no wonder. We noticed roadies coming and going on stage all this time. By 9;30, people were getting very upset. By 9:45, promoter Alex Cooley came out (lights had not dimmed- BAD NEWS!). The bands equipment truck had broken down in Alabama, the show was CANCELLED! ..."But our opening act, Lynyrd Skynyrd, will play over the Omni PA system for those who wish to stay. Just move around to the seating behind the stage."
This was a Tuesday evening. Their new album was just released to the local college station, and came out in stores that week. They played most of their debut album, and they really rocked. Free Bird was played in the studio album style, NOT with the frilly piano on the live album. A memorable moment was when Ed King's Fender Twin Reverb started smoking near the end of Free Bird. I've never heard that small of a crowd cheer so loud .
Another memorable show:
Listen to "Utopia Theme" from Todd Rundgren's Utopia. Now picture yourself listening to that show live in a huge castle courtyard with stars twinkling above in the night sky. Then, notice that it's played over a full-blown high resolution Quadraphonic sound system!
This show was a $5.00 general admission show at the Fox Theater. People were pushing up to the doors in the main foyer. Todd came out and got on some folk's shoulders to urge people to "move back"! He opened playing solo works from Something/Anything, A Wizard, A True Star (with backing tapes!) and his current album, Todd. Not bad.
The band came out and Todd announced they were doing a live recording of the band's theme song. "We've recorded in two other cities, so you have a one-in-three chance of becoming famous!" The sound quality was FANTASTIC! The quad system was used to great effect during the synthesizer break prior to the vocals. If you listen closely, you can hear me yell yeah (ya-uh) in the background.
The performance was perfect, no overdubs on the album.
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