"They're The Only Ones Who Do What They Do" (Or Were They?)

 

"There Is Nothing Like A Grateful Dead" concert, or so the saying went, and those who saw one would generally agree to that. Bill Graham added "They're not the best at what they do, they're the only ones who do what they do." That was probably true, too. In most cases, comparing to the Dead to other bands was about comparing the music they made in concert to that made by other bands, and they were pretty singular. Sure, you can point to a few bands in our current century who might compare, maybe, but those were largely built on the Dead's model. In the 20th century, the Grateful Dead were pretty much sui generis. 

I have a peculiarly narrow academic perspective, however, far less oriented on the music that drove the Grateful Dead than on the financial edifice that allowed that music to thrive. In this century, Deadheads are far more aware of the unique financial arrangements of the Grateful Dead. Most classic rock bands in the 1970s and '80s were deficit-financed by their record company in the hopes of gigantic record sales. The Dead, in contrast, were largely designed to make money by performing live for the same core audience, over and over, and made their working living on ticket sales and merchandise. Recording income was just for dessert. The Grateful Dead had to keep their audience coming back, to an increasingly better live concert experience, and had to do it over decades. Amazingly, they did it. Were the Grateful Dead unique in re-organizing the hierarchy of commercial rock music in the far-gone days of the 20th century? Without a doubt, yes. 

Did the Grateful Dead have no peers in their economic construction? That's a different question. No band from their era had a full commercial history that equated to the Grateful Dead. But a number of major bands were very much in tune commercially with the Grateful Dead's working playbook, however far from the Dead their music may have been, even if they only executed the plan in certain parts. This post will look at the Grateful Dead's unique commercial approach in the 1970s, which lead to perpetual success that has remained in force to this day. I will look at it by considering contemporary bands who played the same cards as the Dead did, and reaped similar benefits. It's a different way of looking at the Dead's career, by not confining ourselves to bands who "sound like the Dead."

Many may have other views. Share them in the Comments. Make sure you know your '70s, though. 
 

David Davis' 2025 book The Economic History of The Grateful Dead provides a unique and thorough analysis of the band's financial success

1970s Rock Economics: The Grateful Dead vs "Other Groups"
In general, the formula for a rock band to have a huge amount of success in the 1970s was to sell a huge amount of records. The rock audience was young, and liked to buy records, and bands and their albums were also cultural markers. When you moved into the dorm, you looked for people who had albums that were similar to yours, or albums that might be cooler than yours. Even successful bands were largely deficit-financed by their record companies. The artist would get a huge advance, and the record company would recoup the advance out of future royalties. Bands only received money for their records after their advance had been paid back. The key to success was getting played on the radio, so fans would buy the album. 

Touring was another source of income, but live performance was still generally seen as a method to sell records. Popular bands could tour profitably, but they were often fronted money by their record company--for rented equipment, plane flights and hotel reservations, for example (which in industry parlance was "tour support")--which was also taken out of their future royalties. So bands would get some "walking around money" from a tour, but they were deeper in the hole with their label. On top of that, promotional costs for the album, like radio and magazine ads and promotional representatives, were also taken out of royalties. An album needed to be a big hit to make a band any money. 

The thing about the record industry in the '70s, and even into the '80s, is that hit records could be so profitable that they easily made back the advance, the recording costs, the tour support and the promotion, with a pile of money left over. Once an album had been recorded, produced and packaged, it just had to be manufactured and distributed. The actual physical album did not cost much to make and ship out, even in quantity, so when a hit album reached Platinum status and beyond, it just printed money. So the goal of touring was to create new fans to buy your albums. Out on the road, bands played their best songs, over and over, in more places or in larger places or both. It was unheard of for a band to skip their best-known song in concert, or change the arrangement of a familiar hit. 

The Grateful Dead flew in the opposite direction of the industry. While they had a few hit albums in the early '70s (Workingman's Dead, American Beauty, Skull & Roses and Europe '72 all went Gold), the Dead weren't huge sellers like Elton John or even Emerson, Lake & Palmer. The band got a little FM radio play, but that shrank over time. In 1973, the Dead went independent. Instead of taking advances from Warner Brothers and hoping to make back their nut, they self-financed. Their touring operation was in-house, the sound was in-house, and they were also the first band with their own merchandising (t-shirt) arm. When the record company folded in 1976, the Dead returned to making albums financed by a record label, but their main money was from touring, playing for the same devoted fans over and over. Skipping "Truckin'" was no big deal, as fans would see them again and again. Meanwhile, other bands still played the same songs every concert, trying to find new fans (for a more thorough and nuanced look at Grateful Dead finances, see David Davis' excellent 2025 book The Economic History of The Grateful Dead). 

By the 21st century, the business model had reversed. Pretty much all the 20th century rock bands that were still touring followed the Dead's model. Bands like the Rolling Stones, the Eagles, the Doobie Brothers and so on, all made their 21st century money on the road. The fans who saw them had seen them many times before. Each tour was designed to ensure that there was something new for fans who had seen them so often. T-shirts and other merchandise was a big part of their touring income. If there were any new records by such bands in the 21st century, they were an afterthought with little economic impact. The Grateful Dead had foretold the future, even if the rest of their peers had to take 20 more years to figure it out. 

This post will look at some other rock bands that toured back in the 1970s, contemporaries of the Grateful Dead, and show how they succeeded with some pieces of the Dead's business model during the same period. Any similarities between these band's music and Grateful Dead music is incidental.  This post will look at the touring economics of the following bands: 

• The Byrds
• Ten Years After
• Journey 
• J. Geils Band 
• Black Sabbath 

The Byrds ninth album, Untitled, was a double album recorded live and in the studio. Columbia Records released it in September 1970.

 

The Byrds/A College Education

After Elvis, the modern age of American rock history can be carbon-dated to February 9, 1964, when the Beatles performed on the Ed Sullivan Show. The effect on American kids and teenagers was cataclysmic. The Beatles dominated the AM radio airwaves in an unprecedented manner. On top of that, their hit singles were clearly superior to everything else on the radio, and the four lads were charming and funny, too.  

The live rock explosion blossomed in San Francisco in 1966, and the whole country was aware of it by the Summer of 1967. By 1968, most big cities had their own version of the Fillmore in some seedy city ballroom, and the Dead and the Airplane and a few other psychedelic pioneers played legendary shows for the downtown hipsters in each place. Much as we mythologize the Fillmores and the Avalon, and their progeny (like Boston Tea Party, Kinetic Playground or Thee Image)--and rightly so--the truth was that relatively few people actually saw the shows in such places. That was doubly true if you were a high school student in the suburbs. If you were, say, twelve years old when the Beatles played Ed Sullivan, you would have been 16 in 1968, around when the likes of the Jeff Beck Group were playing the Fillmore circuit. The chances that your parents would let you take the family station wagon to the dubious part of town were close to zero. If you were a girl, it was probably actually zero. 

But once you got to college, that was different. If you were in college, even if you were still 17, what could your parents say? The Junior High kids who saw the Beatles on Ed Sullivan started hitting college in Fall '68 or so. Alien as it may seem today, back then colleges and universities had entertainment budgets. The idea was to bring film, dance, theater and music to both students and the surrounding community for education and entertainment. In the mid-'60s, colleges mostly booked folk and jazz acts, since that was what undergraduate men (and "coeds") were seen to like. Once Bob Dylan and The Beatles came along, however, rock music got some respect, and colleges and universities started to book rock bands. 

Rock gigs at colleges were not high profile. They only got reviewed in the student paper, if at all. While the schools would subsidize the fees, so ticket sales didn't have to cover everything, those shows weren't huge moneymakers for bands. On the other hand, schools never went out of business, and always paid. Even when the venues were small, young people were exactly who bands were trying to reach. There were colleges everywhere, particularly in the Northeast, so it was smart business to book college shows in between higher profile or more lucrative bookings in big cities. '60s bands were like sharks--they had to keep moving to stay alive. Tuesday night at some college gym in New England was a great gig between, say, Boston and New York. Starting around 1969, rock gigs became standard in colleges and universities, particularly in the Northeast. 

The other unique thing about the college audience was that they had--broadly speaking--just escaped their parents' clutches. Now they could see all the concerts they had to miss in High School. Bands who had made their mark after the Beatles had largely been unseen by 1969 college students, as most of those had broken up. One of the few exceptions was The Byrds.  

Columbia Records had released the "Mr Tambourine Man" single by The Byrds in April 1965. It was the biggest selling single in the history of Columbia. The hit album followed in June.

The Byrds had been one of the foundational groups of Folk-Rock. They had released their first hit single in 1965, and they were a best-selling band on mighty Columbia Records. The Byrds were Columbia's answer to the Beatles--that's why their name was spelled with a "y." When Gene Clark and later David Crosby left the Byrds, journalists debated whether the ensuing albums counted as products of the "real" Byrds. Every band would have to face that question, but the Byrds faced it first.

Back in August, 1964 The Beatles had starred in their film A Hard Day's Night. Singers starring in a movie was a throwback to an earlier entertainment era, but not when the Beatles did it. The brilliant, groundbreaking film followed the band around with a hip, modern commentary on popularity and celebrity. Along the way the movie invented the music video. The music was also better than anything else on the radio. Any musicians who saw A Hard Day's Night suddenly knew what they wanted to do, and it wasn't playing folk music. Then-folkie and future Byrd David Crosby said that when he saw A Hard Day's Night "I could feel my hair growing longer in the theater." 

The only cultural competition for the Beatles was Bob Dylan, and The Byrds took care of that by electrifying a Dylan song. When The Byrds released "Mr. Tambourine Man" in April, 1965 it became Columbia Records' best selling single ever. By 1970, however, working on their ninth album, and with only one original member, the Byrds were the "oldest" American rock act. Yet in 1970, FM radio was playing their still-excellent music, and college students all over the country had never seen The Byrds. 

The Byrds played a lot of colleges from 1969 until their demise in early '73. Even if the Byrds were no longer a top draw in hip circles, the college students had missed them in the mid-'60s, because they had been kids. Now was their chance. So The Byrds became the first major '60s "legacy" touring act, getting booked for their name, rather than their current record. The irony was that the early '70s Byrds were far better live than their earlier incarnation, and fans wound up loving them. Roger McGuinn was joined by the great Clarence White on lead guitar (an old Garcia pal), and they played Byrds hits, new songs and folk classics in both electric and acoustic settings. 

The Grateful Dead started getting booked in colleges in 1969, and in 1970 they started playing schools in earnest. Initially, the Grateful Dead had simply been underground legends, the kind of band that suburban parents would have blocked their kids from seeing at some disreputable city joint. When they came to their college, however, with the promise of dope and depravity, what college kid wouldn't check them out?The irony, of course, was that the 1970 and '71 Grateful Dead were not only really good but more accessible than their '60s incarnation. Whatever fans may have expected, the Dead had become something else. But if the Dead hadn't had the reputation that made college freshmen feel they had to see it to be a grown up, those fans might have missed the bus. 
 

Ten Years After's classic second album was Undead, recorded live on May 14 '68, and released in July '68 on Deram Records (London Records in the US)

Ten Years After/On The Road
One of the seismic changes in rock music that began in San Francisco was the rise of FM rock radio. In the 1950s and '60s, rock music was only available on AM radio, with tight formats and low fidelity. The same "Top 40" songs were played over and over. Big hits were big hits all over the country. Those artists who hit it big, like Elvis Presley or The Beatles, were omnipresent in a way that is unthinkable today, but the total amount of music circulating on the airwaves was quite small. While it it is true that local stations in the '60s played local or regional hits, that was typically only a slice of songs in the Top 40 in any region. For the most part, the same songs blasted out of every bedroom and automobile all over the country.

In February 1967, that changed. Tom "Big Daddy" Donahue had been the top disc jockey on San Francisco's KYA (1260-am) radio station in the mid-60s. Donahue figured out that something else was going on at the Fillmore and the Avalon. He had the foresight to look to high-fidelity FM radio, which up until this time had been just the lonely province of Assistant Professors and Tech geeks who liked jazz and classical music. Donahue bought time in the evening to broadcast rock records on a station called KMPX (106.9-fm). These weren't hits--Donahue's jocks were playing Jefferson Airplane, Cream and Blues Project. By April 7, Donahue and his crew were broadcasting 24/7 on KMPX. They were selling ads, too--to companies selling jeans, records and incense, and other hip necessities. The djs spoke in laid-back "hip" jargon and played what they liked to listen to themselves, whether rock, jazz, blues of folk. It was a new world. 

A 1967 promotional poster for KMPX-San Francisco, the first FM free-form rock station, at 106.9

The broadening of the airwaves opened new vistas for rock bands. In particular, bands could headline in San Francisco that had no prayer of an AM hit. Traffic, for example, was a headline act at Fillmore and Winterland in Spring '68, far ahead of any other region, because KMPX djs liked Traffic. In the early days of KMPX, and the few other FM stations that cropped up in places like Los Angeles, San Diego and Boston, the djs simply played what they felt like. Airplay wasn't limited to under-3-minutes-you-can-dance-to-it numbers. The door opened for other kinds of bands. All sorts of artists got airplay, particularly late at night. Once these bands got FM airplay, they could tour the States. One early beneficiary was Ten Years After.  

The English quartet Ten Years After had released their first album in 1967. Their records weren't bad, but they were a sure thing in concert, with their relentless boogie and Alvin Lee's turbocharged lead guitar runs. Ten Years After had a lot of long songs, and they could play very fast shuffles--a lot harder than it sounds--and just let Alvin Lee cook. While Ten Years After played blues, they didn't do them Chicago-style, like most English bands, but instead with a jazzy approach, like a psychedelic big band. In an era when fast licks turned heads, Alvin Lee got to shred loud and hard on most songs. It didn't go unnoticed. 

Ten Years After got a little FM airplay on stations like KMPX, and they hit the road in the States. Ultimately they would make 17 US tours between 1968 and '75. The first time out, they were usually at the bottom of the bill (except at Fillmore, where thanks to KMPX they were known, and co-headlined with Canned Heat on June 28-30 '68). But TYA always killed it, and the next time through a town, anyone who saw them before would bring their roommate, their brother and their girlfriend, and the cycle would continue. Ten Years After gigged hard, too. They played the big rooms, sure, but they would play a junior college in East Orange, NJ on a Tuesday night if that was the available booking. Besides Lee on guitar and vocals, Ten Years After had Chick Churchill on keyboards, Leo Lyons on bass and Ric Lee (no relation) on drums. 

By mid-1969, Ten Years After was established enough to get invited to Woodstock. Most of the acts at Woodstock were the groups touring around the country, with just a few stars at the top of the bill. Thanks to the hit album and the movie, some of those touring acts had their careers made by the movie. You can argue that Sly & The Family Stone and The Who were already making it on their own, and Santana and CSNY probably would have anyway, but for acts like Richie Havens, Joe Cocker and Ten Years After, the Woodstock movie absolutely made them. In the movie, TYA did a scorching version of their set-ending "I'm Going Home," complete with the rock'n'roll oldies medley in the middle, at lightning speed, with the full supersonic Alvin Lee guitar. Every teenager who rocked out in the movie theater after the March 1970 movie release wanted to see Ten Years After live, and thus Ten Years After played everywhere and delivered the goods each time. 

The Grateful Dead built their audience and their legend by touring endlessly throughout the '70s, East and West, in basketball arenas and civic auditoriums, on weekends and school nights. But they couldn't have done this if there wasn't a network of venues and promoters booking shows. While the always-reliable Dead were beloved of promoters, since they could draw a crowd on Friday night in Wichita or Monday night in Nebraska, they weren't alone. Ten Years After was another band that promoters could count on, since everyone had seen the Woodstock movie, and the band had always been great the last time through town. 

A Space In Time was Ten Years After's first album for Columbia, released in August 1971. It would reach #17 on the album charts, and it included the band's only real radio hit, "I'd Love To Change The World."

In 1971, Ten Years After changed record labels, and they had their only hit for Columbia Records. "I'd Love To Change The World" only hit #40 in the singles chart, but the August 1971 album (A Space In Time) reached #17 on Billboard and went Platinum. The song itself was a sort of ballad that alternated between a slow, dreamy chorus and a hard driving center section, very atypical for a Ten Years After song. The band almost never played it in concert, but their fans did not appear to be dismayed. TYA didn't play their sets note for note, and jammed a little bit in a sort of extended boogie fashion, but they didn't get outside their basic parameters. Shows were pretty similar, with perhaps a few new songs added and dropped each tour. 

Although Ten Years After was an immensely popular and profitable touring machine, they stuck to a formula that eventually got stale. Their last original album was Positive Vibrations, released in April 1974, and it only reached #81. Their subsequent American tour, their 16th, was more popular than ever, but the band knew they had hit a brick wall and broke up. Although Ten Years After were far less creative than the Grateful Dead, it's hard not to draw professional parallels. Ironically, Ten Years After got offered so much money to return in 1975, that they did one final tour, without releasing an album, but then they really did break up. Alvin Lee (1944-2013) went on to release a number of R&B-focused solo albums. Ultimately Ten Years After would reform off and on throughout the 20th and 21st century, with and without Alvin Lee, although they never recaptured their peak.  

The logo for the band Journey, designed by Alton Kelly and Stanley Mouse, based on their unused proposal for a Jimi Hendrix album. The logo was used with different colors and different contexts on various albums. Journey manager Herbie Herbert was a huge Deadhead, and it's no coincidence that he chose Kelly & Mouse to make his band's signature logo. 

Journey/Wheel In The Sky
The San Francisco rock band Journey formed in 1974, built around some already-veteran musicians and an experienced manager. They didn't go into the business as wide-eyed teenagers but as experienced professionals. What's particularly interesting about Journey, in this context, was that their manager's business model was the Grateful Dead. It took a few years and a couple of albums for Journey to hit it big, but when they did, manager Walter "Herbie" Herbert explicitly modeled the band's finances on the Grateful Dead. Herbert was not only a Deadhead himself, he was familiar with the Dead's operation from working for Bill Graham and acting as Santana's production manager in the early 1970s. I'm going to make the argument that Herbert actually succeeded with the Dead's self-financing business model before the Dead themselves did. 

Journey had formed out of the ashes of the original Santana lineup. Guitarist Neal Schon and organist Greg Rolie had been in the classic lineup, and they had formed a band that included legendary English drummer Aynsley Dunbar (ex-Jeff Beck, Mayall, Zappa, Bowie among others). Also in the original Journey lineup were two former members of the obscure East Bay band Frumious Bandersnatch. Frumious had a torturously complicated history, but Herbie Herbert had been their road manager and van driver. In the late '60s, Frumious had been booked by Bill Graham's Millard agency and had opened for the Dead a number of times. Bassist Ross Valory had also played with Steve Miller, and guitarist George Tickner had even briefly played with Garcia/Saunders around Spring '73 (note: I am greatly simplifying Journey's history, to keep the post on track). 

As soon as Journey formed, they were immediately courted by major labels. As an ironic sub-plot, Grateful Dead Records CEO Ron Rakow said on the Deadcast that the label had a chance to sign Journey. This was the period when Bill Graham was also trying to get GDR to sign Bob Marley and The Wailers. It's tempting to imagine an Alt-Universe where the 1974 Wall Of Sound tour was Grateful Dead/Bob Marley/Journey, but no such thing happened. Rakow correctly divined that no matter what, Grateful Dead Records wasn't going to be a "real record company," and outside bands were better off elsewhere.

Journey's fourth album, Infinity, released in early 1978, was a huge hit. Kelly & Mouse did the cover art. 

Journey's first three Columbia albums (in 1975, '76 and '77) were kind of arena-friendly prog-rock, with Rolie on lead vocals, and Schon taking long deedle-dee type solos. They sold OK, a few hundred thousand each, but not what Columbia wanted. Herbert assented to Columbia's demand for a dynamic lead vocalist. After cycling through one insufficient choice, Journey discovered singer Steve Perry. Perry debuted at the Old Waldorf club in San Francisco in a high profile event on October 28, 1977. Infinity, Journey's first album with Perry, was released in January 1978. It included band classics like "Wheel In The Sky" and "Lights" ("When the lights go down in the city/And the sun shines on the Bay..."). Journey's fortunes soared. 

In the late '70s, successful rock bands toured like crazy in order to accelerate record sales. Journey did this, and it worked. The albums Infinity ('78), Evolution ('79), Departure ('80), Captured (Jan '81) and Escape (Jul '81) sold huge amounts of albums (Escape has sold 10 million), and that isn't even all of Journey's records. As noted above, the era's typical financial picture was that record companies financed a band's touring against record royalties. Although bands made some money from touring, even popular bands were deeply in debt to their record companies until they made back the huge forward expenses on their royalties. Once Journey hit it big in 1978, Herbie Herbert inverted this model. The basis for the inversion was the business model of the Grateful Dead, which Herbie knew well.

The late '70s heralded the rise of the Arena Rock era. Bands crisscrossed the country, playing the biggest basketball arenas and Civic Auditoriums, sometimes sharing the bill with other major bands and sometimes headlining on their own. By modern standards, even adjusted for inflation, tickets were relatively cheap. The rock audience was still pretty young, and for the most part would see any popular band that came to town, if only to go to school on Monday just to say "oh, yeah, I saw ELO and they weren't all that" (I myself did it, and can assure you that ELO was not All That). Bands who stood out, however, had a chance to sell stratospheric numbers of albums.

Most bands of the era, even major ones, outsourced the sound and lights, and hired crew for each tour. The Grateful Dead had been an exception to this rule since the late '60s, and that was ultimately essential to the Dead's successful touring history. Herbert was aware of this, as manager of opening act Frumious Bandersnatch, as a Bill Graham Presents employee, and as Santana's road and production (stage) manager. Journey toured with their own sound system, lighting crew and video team.  I personally think Journey's '80s music was cheesy, but Herbert correctly divined that a great concert experience would accelerate Journey's record sales in every market.

Journey's sound system was designed by Don Pearson and the Meyer Sound crew, who had worked on the Dead's sound. Cheesy music or not, Journey always sounded great in concert. Journey was among the first of the "arena-rock" bands to tour with their own stage video set-up, which set them apart in the early 1980s. Their state-of-the-arena production team was hired out for other tours, becoming a source of profit for the band when Journey wasn't even on tour. Ultimately, the team was spun off into a concert production outfit called Nocturne, which was hugely successful on its own. 

Kelly & Mouse used the Journey "Scarab" in a different setting for Journey's 1979 album Evolution. The designs looked great on a t-shirt, and Journey sold a zillion of them.  

Merch? Herbert had been there at Winterland and the birth of the t-shirt boom, with Bill Graham manufacturing American Beauty shirts in the basement of the ice rink. It's no coincidence that Journey's first big hit album (Infinity) had a Kelly/Mouse cover, and no coincidence that Herbert used the Kelly/Mouse "Scarab" as a logo for the band. At the same concerts where Journey's sound and lights were killing the audience, Journey's t-shirt vendors were going full tilt in an era when this was still a new enterprise. Herbert was using the Grateful Dead's touring model, consciously, and executing it better than the Grateful Dead were at the time. 

I'm not speculating about Herbert's business model. In a memorable 2008 interview, Herbert said that in the mid-80s, he said Journey "could have been a polished Grateful Dead and that was my model as a Deadhead." In fact, due to band politics, Herbert was forced out of band management in 1986. After the Escape album, Herbert had bought Journey an office building in San Francisco (at 1111 Columbus Ave, near Jones St in North Beach) instead of renting. When it was sold to become the Indonesian consulate in the early '90s, the band made another huge profit. 

The Tri-Chromes 2002 cd featured Bill Kreutzmann on drums, Neal Schon on guitar and Sy Klopps (Herbie Herbert) on vocals. Robert Hunter co-wrote eight of the songs. The album was partially recorded at Club Front, and Steve Parish was an executive producer. Few can say they were a bigger Deadhead than Herbie Herbert. 

After being forced out of Journey in '86, Herbert continued a successful management career for another decade, with bands including Mr. Big and Roxette. By '98, he had given up management, and re-invented himself as blues singer Sy Klopps. He recorded an album as Sy Klopps, and later formed a group called The Tri-Chromes with Bill Kreutzmann on drums. On the Tri-Chromes 2002 album, Robert Hunter co-wrote eight of the eleven songs. Herbert died in 2021, but he made the Grateful Dead business model work before the Dead did. 

Atlantic Records released the fifth J Geils Band album Bloodshot in 1973. The album was printed on red vinyl, and it included the minor hit "Give It To Me."

J Geils Band/I Want My MTV
The Grateful Dead had an unexpected hit with "Touch Of Grey" in 1987. Even more surprising was that much of the buzz around the song arose from the video, which was played on high rotation on MTV. MTV had arrived in the Summer of 1981, coinciding with cable TV's widening spread throughout the United States. Teenagers mesmerized by the availability of dozens of channels found MTV endlessly fascinating, even if the videos were often fairly lo-fi. Rock music had always had a performative element to it, but that had hitherto been confined to the concert stage, and occasional concert movies. 

A byproduct of the first decade of MTV was that often bands would become hugely popular very quickly, far before they had much experience touring, or often before they even had many songs to play beyond their hit. A couple of clever twenty-somethings would score a big hit, and suddenly they needed to play big arenas with a 50-minute show, even though they had neither a touring band nor a live set. Many early tours by MTV bands were disappointing. A significant thing for the Dead's new MTV-rooted audience in 1987 was that a Grateful Dead concert introduced them to an entire new universe. "Touch Of Grey," even when the Dead performed it, was just another popular song of many, and whether or not the video was representative of the band, the net effect drew in a tidal wave of new fans. 

The Grateful Dead, however, weren't the first veteran touring act to come in at the top with a surprise video hit. Boston's J Geils Band had a similar experience with their hit "Centerfold" back in 1982. The J Geils Band arc was very similar to what happened with "Touch Of Grey," even though Geils' demise came only a few years later. 

The J Geils Band had formed in Boston in 1968, from the ashes of two rising local bands. The Geils band took their cues from R&B and Soul, and they had a much more dramatic presentation than the typical hippie rockers hunched over their guitars. Lead singer Peter Wolf and keyboard player Seth Justman wrote great songs, and the band gigged hard. They were soon the Kings of Boston, and in 1970 they were signed by Atlantic.  By 1980, however, recording by then with EMI, they seemed stuck in the middle, with a loyal following but a stalled career. They had released nine albums that had sold OK, and had a few songs people sort of recognized ("Give It To Me" [from '73], "Must Of Got Lost" ['74] and "Love Stinks' ['80]). They had a killer live show but were playing the mid-level arenas.

EMI Records released The J Geils Band Freeze Frame album in 1981, their tenth album, which included the huge MTV hit "Centerfold"

In October 1981, the J Geils Band released their tenth album, Freeze Frame. The first single, "Centerfold" had been released back in September. Somewhere along there, the band made a video. If you see the video now, it seems hilariously cheesy, like it was made in your dorm with an iPhone. But this was 1982. Seeing the actual band--admittedly, just miming their parts--enacting the entire song symbolically was weirdly riveting. "Centerfold" tells the story (such as it is) of a shy boy who had a crush on a pretty girl in High School, only to see her as a pin-up model in a Playboy-type magazine a decade later. Peter Wolf sings "My memories have just been sold/My angel is a centerfold" while cheerleaders dance behind him. It's dumb. But it was 1981. I was there. It worked. J Geils Band were one of the first big hits on MTV, and the single went gold by January 1982, reaching #1 on the Billboard charts.

The J Geils Band promptly hit the road, and legions of new fans saw them for the first time. The Geils Band killed it every night, and their new fans heard all their classics. J Geils Band was going from big to bigger, and their 14 years of hard road work were paying off. 

Except--the J Geils Band fired lead singer Peter Wolf. The band had released a live album in 1982 (Showtime), which had reached #23. Then they fired Wolf. The band's final 1984 album wasn't bad, apparently, with songs all written and sung by organist Seth Justman, but fans didn't care. MTV showed the power it had to supercharge a good touring band, but J Geils Band didn't really cash the check. While I doubt that the Dead thought about the demise of the J Geils Band, they didn't miss their own train when it stopped by the station.

A very young Black Sabbath, on the wrong side of the tracks, probably near where they grew up

Black Sabbath/The Strangest Of Places If You Look At It Right
Black Sabbath, as everybody knows, was a quartet formed in Birmingham, England in 1968. They released their first album in 1970. Initially they were seen as a sort of "heavy rock" band, but ultimately became one of the founding fathers of Heavy Metal ("Heavy Metal" did not exist as a defined genre until the mid-1970s). The band got very little radio play, and band members and fans were dismissed as drug-addled clods. Yet each album sold more than the last, they remained on tour in some form for fifty-plus years, and their final concert on 5 July 2025 was a giant event at a sold out stadium. 

In their first decade, pretty much everyone except their ardent fans dismissed Black Sabbath as unmusical clowns who couldn't play, and everyone thought their lead singer Ozzy Osbourne was a talentless oaf. Just so there's no misunderstanding, I was one of those people, and my opinion is unchanged to this day. I find them a terrible, unlistenable band. I have heard my share of their records, but only recognize a song or two, and their music isn't worth my time (please do not send me suggestions like "you've got to listen to this-and-such track"). Nonetheless, it is undeniable, even to me, though largely unnoticed by everyone else, that the career arc of Black Sabbath is very much parallel to that of the Grateful Dead. In many ways, Black Sabbath's career in the 1970s--not the '60s--was the one most similar to that of the Grateful Dead. Their subsequent careers were even more similar, right down to the huge Farewell concert at the end. 

In the 1960s, although the Grateful Dead sold few records, they were cool underground legends. More people had heard of the Dead than had actually heard them. Surprisingly, for underground sensations, the Dead cashed in their notoriety with some excellent, popular records in the early '70s. Since they had learned to be an excellent live band, when new fans went to see the former undergrounders they were suitably impressed. The Dead sold a bunch of albums and built a huge concert audience. As a comparison, Ten Years After had done something similar. Both were hugely profitable touring attractions who put a brake on it in 1975.

When the Grateful Dead returned to touring in 1976, they turned out to still be a prominent live attraction, much to the surprise of many industry observers. Their claim on underground cool had entirely dissipated, however. All of the trends of late '70s rock went against the Grateful Dead. Arena rock, Disco, Punk and New Wave adherents all looked down on the Grateful Dead. All the different trends in the '80s were just as unfriendly to them. Yet the Grateful Dead kept touring, kept playing their music and kept building their audience against all odds. While other Fillmore-era veterans either homogenized their music (like Fleetwood Mac or Steve Miller) or deteriorated into also-rans (like Alvin Lee or Canned Heat), the Dead were still drawing well in concert on their own terms, with their own loyal fans. When "Touch Of Grey" finally launched the Grateful Dead into the stratosphere, it was from a position of strength rather than weakness. 

Black Sabbath's Paranoid album, released September 1970 on Vertigo Records (although not until January 1971 in the US, where it was distributed by Warners). The title track was their only (minor) radio hit, and over the decades the album had sold four million copies.

Black Sabbath never even had any underground cool. Nonetheless they were a hugely popular concert attraction, and as a result sold extraordinary numbers of records. You might note a few bands who sold more, of course, but pretty much without exception those bands (Eagles, AC/DC, Fleetwood Mac, etc) had huge radio hits. Black Sabbath had none. Here is a brief summary of the success of their 1970s albums. Generally speaking, chart positions speak to popularity at time of release, but Gold (500,000 sold) or Platinum (1 million sold) speak to record sales over time. Other than "War Pigs" and "Iron Man," few non-fans know or would recognize a song from any of these albums (unlike, say, Fleetwood Mac).  

Black Sabbath Feb '70 US #23 [Billboard] Platinum [debut]
Paranoid Sep '70 US #12 4xPlatinum
Master Of Reality Aug '71 US #8 2x Platinum
Vol 4 Sep '72 US #13 Platinum
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath Nov '73 US #11 Platinum
Sabotage July '75 US #11 Gold
Technical Ecstasy Oct '76 US #51 Gold
Never Say Die Sep 78 US #69 Gold (Osbourne's last show Albuquerque, NM  Dec 11 '78. Fired Apr '79)
Heaven and Hell April 80 #28 Platinum (first album w Ronnie Dio)

In 1979, Black Sabbath fired Ozzy Osbourne, and hired singer Ronnie James Dio, from Cortland, NY, and formerly a member of Richie Blackmore's Rainbow. Osbourne, meanwhile, split from his legendarily notorious manager Don Arden, and married his daughter, the soon-to-be even more notorious Sharon Osbourne, and went solo (Sharon did not speak to her father for decades, and told their children he was dead. They were surprised when they bumped into him on the street in LA in the late 1990s).  The impending demise of Black Sabbath seemed imminent, except that it wasn't. Both Ozzy and the Sabs were more popular than ever, as Dio turned out to be as legendary as Ozzy (FYI: I can't stand Dio either). 

The Grateful Dead turned out to be even more popular after Garcia died, much to the surprise of everyone. Black Sabbath was the same, with the peculiar twist that every now and again Ozzy would rejoin Black Sabbath for a concert, a tour or an album and everyone would go crazy. Of course Ozzy became a legend with his MTV "Reality" show The Osbournes. I know who could have imagined an MTV reality show called Jerry's Kids, stage managed by Jerry's wife, but it isn't me. 

The Grateful Dead stand out in rock history for anticipating where the industry was going, long before other bands would figure it out. One indicator of this was that the Dead were the first major band to have a widely publicized "Farewell Concert" tour, which printed more money than the US Mint. You'd better believe that band managers took note. The likes of Eric Clapton, Elton John and many others have gone on worldwide farewell tours since then, but as always it was the Dead who laid the track where the other bands drove their trains.  

The original Black Sabbath, supported by all their progeny, headlined Villa Park football stadium in Birmingham on July 5, 2025. A very ill Ozzy Osbourne watched from a throne on stage, and took the mic for four songs at the end.

Certainly Black Sabbath executed their farewell with a panache that can hardly ever be topped. The same four Birmingham lads who put the band together in 1968 appeared on stage together at the city's biggest football stadium in 2025, sold out at a huge premium. A parade of acolytes opened the show, many of whom were headliners in their own right, while a fading, unwell Ozzy Osbourne watched from a giant throne on stage. Finally Ozzy sang the last few numbers with his boys, and rang down the curtain on Black Sabbath. He died a few weeks later. 

When Bobby Weir rang it out with Dead & Company at Golden Gate Park in August 2025, would that Jerry might have stepped up and plugged in for a final "Sugaree." But that isn't how it went down, and Bob met him at the Jubilee instead. 

Jerry Garcia, with his Nudie suit and the Erlewine Stratish guitar, on stage (possibly, though not certainly) at my first Grateful Dead concert at Winterland on December 12, 1972

There Was Nothing Like A Grateful Dead Concert
There was nothing like a Grateful Dead concert. Not then, not now. If you know, you know, and the rest of you will just have to imagine it. No other band or musician had the arc of musical talent, invention, risk appetite and sheer luck of being in the right place at the most opportune moment as the Grateful Dead. We shall not see their like again. Nonetheless, that doesn't mean there were no parallels, that there weren't bands that matched steps on the Dead's unique elevator to the top, even if they got off on different floors. The elevated status of the Grateful Dead was their accumulation of so many special features, more than other bands, combined with their relentless willingness to tour against all good sense until the last bell rang.

Sic Transit Gloria Psychedelia.  

Kingfish Performance History August 1976-February 1979 (Kingfish V-Live 'N' Kickin')

 

Kingfish Performance History: August 1976-February 1979
Matthew Kelly formed Kingfish to play some bluesy rock and roll in early 1974. Rather unexpectedly, he had been joined at its inception by his old pal Dave Torbert, who would leave the New Riders of The Purple Sage at their high water mark in order to join up with Kelly. Torbert and Kelly had been in bands in 1968 and '69, so they had plenty of history, but it was still a surprising move for Torbert. In the Fall of 1974, there was a bigger surprise: Bob Weir, a teenage school friend of Kelly's, asked to join forces with Kingfish, since the Grateful Dead were on hiatus. By the end of 1974, Kelly was working with two well-known rock stars in his band.

From late 1974 through mid-1976, Kingfish found an audience of Deadheads eager for some danceable rock and roll. Kingfish played steadily in the Bay Area, toured around the country and released an album on the Grateful Dead's Round Records label. The album, distributed by United Artists, was quite successful, even though poor distribution and doubtful accounting from UA left much to be desired. By the middle of 1976, however, the Dead's hiatus was over. The members of the Dead were looking forward to playing live again, and of course their organization was completely broke. They were ready to play and they needed the money, so the Dead returned to the stage in June and July of 1976.

Initially, Bob Weir continued to perform with Kingfish in July and August of 1976. Nonetheless, Kingfish had already played some gigs around the Bay Area as "the Kingfish Quartet," indicating in nightclub ads that Weir wouldn't be playing with them. So Kingfish was preparing for a future without Weir, or at the very least with him as only a part-time member. The Grateful Dead got serious about touring at the end of September 1976, and Kingfish moved on from Weir. Weir would eventually return to the group in 1980, and was a part-time member after 1984.

Remarkably, however, Kingfish soldiered on for the next several years. While not nearly so high profile as they had been with Weir, they released two more albums, played numerous concerts, toured Europe and the United States playing major arenas as an opening act and had a following of their own in the States. This post focuses on the live performances of Kingfish from Weir's departure in August, 1976 through February 1979, when Matthew Kelly left the band. I have detailed posts on the performance history of Kingfish prior to this period. The previous post, covering Kingfish from January through August 1976, can be found here. For a complete list of the performance history of Matthew Kelly and Kingfish, see the Appendix below.

Initially I only had the scarcest of information about the 1976-78 period, but that was rectified by the astonishing research of David Kramer-Smyth, without whom this post would not have been possible. Also, thanks to Roy D, who sent me some great information on the '77 Rainbow tour, and to those behind the Ronnie James Dio site and the Electric Light Orchestra histories, who provided valuable information about the major tours that Kingfish was on. 

Anyone with additional information about Kingfish performances during this period, whether they are eyewitness accounts, additions, corrections, reflections or just interesting speculation, please include them in the Comments. Flashbacks are always welcome.

Kingfish In Concert, a double cd released by King Biscuit Flower Hour Records in 1995, remains the definitive document of Bob Weir's time in Kingfish. The set has the complete concert from Kingfish's April 3, 1976 show at the Beacon Theater in Manhattan (part of which was broadcast on KBFH)

Kingfish Performance History, August 1976-February 1979
August 1, 1976 Calderone Theater, Hempstead, NY: Kingfish [Sunday]
The Grateful Dead's summer tour had ended at the Orpheum in San Francisco on July 18. Weir immediately went out for a short East Coast tour with Kingfish. Weir played at least five July dates with the band, and then a Sunday night show in the well-conquered territory of Long Island, where Kingfish and The Grateful Dead had played many times before. The next night the Grateful Dead would play Colt Stadium in Hartford, CT.

August 5, 1976 My Father's Place, Roslyn, NY: Kingfish/Graham Parker and The Rumor (Thursday)
David Kramer-Smyth found an ad for Kingfish and Graham Parker for August 4 and 5. Since the Dead played at Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City on August 4, Kingfish must have canceled, or possibly played without Weir. But David found a commenter on a Graham Parker site who recalls them opening, so the August 5 show must have happened.

August 6, 1976  The County Carousel, Stanfordville, NY: Kingfish [Friday]
DKS found a listing in the Poughkeepsie (NY) Journal. 

 

August 26, 1976 SF Examiner listing for the Long Branch

August 27, 1976 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA: Kingfish [Friday]
DKS found what appears to be the final show for Bob Weir with Kingfish for the next 4 years. The Long Branch Saloon, at 2504 San Pablo Avenue (at Dwight Way) was an infamous music address for Berkeley. Members of the Grateful Dead only played the Long Branch occasionally, since it was just two miles from the Keystone Berkeley, and the clubs competed with each other. Given the way it was booked, without fanfare, I don't think Weir necessarily planned this as his last gig with the band, but that's the way it worked out.

August 30-31, 1976 Golden Bear Saloon, Huntington Beach, CA: Kingfish/Grinderswitch (Tuesday-Wednesday)
The Golden Bear was at 308 Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach, an Orange County town midway between Long Beach and Newport Beach. It had been a legendary club in its own right going back to the mid-60s. Weir and Kingfish had played there many times. 

In Fall '76, the remaining Kingfish was a quartet:

Robbie Hoddinott-lead guitar, vocals
Matthew Kelly-harmonica, guitar, vocals
Dave Torbert-bass, lead vocals
Chris Herold-drums

Grinderswitch was a bluesy ensemble from Macon, GA, founded by former Allman Brothers Band roadie Joe Dan Petty. Not surprisingly, they were signed to Capricorn Records, and would have just released their third album Pullin' Together. They weren't a bad band, but they never managed to break out of the second tier. Besides Petty on bass and Dru Lombar and Larry Howard on guitars, this configuration included ex-Elvin Bishop Group organist Stephen Miller. 

The odd double booking of two bands with albums on a weeknight suggests some kind of showcase for record companies or booking agents.

September 12, 1976 listings for the LA Times

September 15-16, 1976 Starwood, W. Hollywood, CA: Kingfish Quartet (Wednesday-Thursday)
The Starwood, at 8151 Santa Monica Boulevard (at North Crescent Heights Blvd), had been a West Hollywood club called PJ's in the '60s. By 1973, it had changed its name to the Starwood, and was owned by a notorious character named Eddie Nash. The Starwood was open until 1981, and is famous for breaking lots of punk and metal bands. Lots of now-famous bands, as well as now-infamous bands, played the Starwood. But like any club, it was open most nights of the week and booked all sorts of acts. Kingfish played Wednesday and Thursday. Disco singer Vickie Sue Robinson ("Turn The Beat Around") played Monday, while the legendary Runaways (with Joan Jett and Lita Ford on guitars) were playing Tuesday. 

Note that the band is billed as "Kingfish Quartet," an implicit admission that Weir would not be present. 

Joel Selvin's September 19, 1976 column in the SF Chronicle announced that Kingfish would be recording a new album. Selvin also mentioned that Weir was no longer a member, as Kingfish would record as a quartet.

The September 19 Chronicle had an item from music columnist Joel Selvin, who noted that Weir had left Kingfish. Selvin wrote "Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir has left Kingfish, and the band will record its second album as a quartet." While Weir had a peculiar part-time status in any case, his departure was not insignificant. In this window, the Grateful Dead's self-financed record company had disintegrated, and their deal with United Artists was effectively terminated. 

According to Round Records documentation in the Grateful Dead Archives (at UC Santa Cruz), the contract for the Kingfish album was for Bob Weir and Dan Healy to produce the record as independent contractors. Dave Torbert and Matthew Kelly signed on behalf of Kingfish. While Weir ultimately received approximately the same amount of royalties as Torbert and Kelly, the contractual arrangement kept clear boundaries for Weir, with the Grateful Dead and Kingfish as two independent entities. 

Kingfish, as we will see below, ended up remaining with a wing of United Artists Records. The Grateful Dead were urgently looking for a new record company, and Weir would have needed to be as unencumbered as possible. Thus a formal "announcement" in the local paper helped emphasize that Weir was a free agent along with the other Dead members (the Dead would ultimately sign with Arista Records by the end of 1976). 

September 24-25, 1976 The New Riverside Back Room, Santa Cruz, CA: Kingfish (Friday-Saturday)
The Riverside was a Szechuan Restaurant in Santa Cruz, fondly recalled by Banana Slugs of that era, just across the San Lorenzo River from downtown (on Barson and Riverside). As you can see from the Santa Cruz Sentinel ad above, there was both a lounge and a "Back Room," which was kind of like a pub (if one that served spicy Chinese food). Robert Hunter and Roadhog had played the night before Kingfish (attended by esteemed scholar CryptDev, who recalled the club). 

Kingfish may have played a few more low-key club dates, but in general they went to ground. Around this time, drummer Chris Herold retired as a professional musician. Herold had played with Torbert in the New Delhi River Band from 1966 thru '68, and then with  Torbert and Kelly in various bands (such as Horses and Shango) afterwards. Herold, a confirmed Pacifist, had driven a hospital truck in the early 70s as an alternative to military service, and only drummed a little bit on weekends. Around 1973, however, he had returned to full-time drumming with Kelly, in Lonesome Janet and then Kingfish. Herold had great left-foot time and a good blues feel, and his understated style had fit very well for Kingfish. After a decade, however, it seemed time for him to move on. Ultimately he was replaced by Dave Perper, but I don't know anything about Perper's background.

A logo for the Jet Records label. Jet Records was formed by UK manager Don Arden, and mainly featured groups like ELO and Black Sabbath. The US subsidiary (formed in 1974) was distributed by United Artists Records, although Jet moved distribution to CBS (Columbia) in 1978.

Jet Records
In the Fall of 1976, the Grateful Dead dissolved what was left of Grateful Dead Records, and moved from United Artists to Arista. Somehow, Kingfish ended up on Jet Records, which was distributed by UA. Matthew Kelly was kind enough to speak to me in February 2022 about the history of Kingfish, and even he couldn't remember how they ended up on Jet. Kingfish, however, was a stand-alone act and had released a successful album on Round. Granted, Weir had been a member of Kingfish on their debut, but the album had sold pretty well. It's possible that Kingfish wound up on Jet as a kind of consolation prize from UA (Kelly couldn't recall, but he thought that was plausible). At this time, Jet was expanding from the UK to the US, and was surely looking to expand their roster with any promising US rock bands. Apparently, Kingfish was the first US band signed by Jet.

Matt Kelly told me in 2022 that he had hired an attorney in 1978 who had found evidence that United Artists owed him significant royalties for the Kingfish album. It remains a little known fact that Gold Records were effectively "requested" by record companies, and if they had good record sales and did not want to pay them out they would simply not request "Certification" from the RIAA (the sanctioning body). Kelly had good reason to think that the Kingfish record would have sold enough to qualify for a Gold record. To some extent, Ron Rakow's recollection about the history of Round Records bears this out. Rakow recalled (on the Deadcast) that Round received an award from a magazine for the Kingfish album having been added to the most FM radio playlists in early 1976. In this era, radio play equaled record sales. The Kingfish album had good sales, too, and maybe really good sales. So it makes sense that Jet Records would have been interested in picking up Kingfish.

The Jet Records label run by an absolutely legendary English band manager named Don Arden. Arden had been the manager of the Small Faces in the 1960s, among many others. According to legend, Arden's business practices included bribing djs, threatening to throw Eric Clapton's manager out of a second story window and many other thuggish procedures. Arden made huge amounts of money for his bands, but his bands saw almost none of the money, because Arden frittered it away and kept dubious account books. Arden also consorted with numerous gangsters. The source for all these terrible stories about Don Arden, is, in fact, Don Arden, mainly in his 2007 biography Mr Big. In the mid-70s, Arden's principal lieutenant was his daughter Sharon. In 1978, Sharon Arden ran off with one of Don's most popular acts, Ozzy Osbourne, later becoming infamous herself as Sharon Osbourne and the reality TV show with her family. 

Back in '76, Jet Records biggest act was Electric Light Orchestra. Kelly recalled the band being ushered down to Los Angeles to meet Arden, in early '77 or so. Arden greeted them on a raised golden chair, like a throne, and lectured the band that he was indeed important. Arden made it clear that they should do whatever he told them without question and not screw up.

Bob Weir appears on the back cover of Kingfish's March 1977 Jet Records album Live 'N' Kickin'

Live N Kickin'-Kingfish (Jet Records) 1977
In March 1977, Jet released a Kingfish album called Live 'N' Kickin'. The album consisted of material that had been recorded live at the Roxy in March, 1976. The cover of the album suggested the band was a quartet, and that Bob Weir had "guested" on two numbers (of 10).  An attempt was made to remove Weir's contribution to this recording, since he had left the group. His lead vocals were retained, as were his guitar parts on songs where he sang lead vocals. Other guitar parts were removed but they are slightly audible as they were also audible on the drum track. His picture appears on the back of the album cover. 

This oddly dishonest record was a throwback to the old '60s record industry, assuming that fans would believe anything on the back of the album. Of course, Don Arden had been one of the Kings of the '60s record industry, at least in the UK, so it was somewhat par for the course. No band members were named on the record, but Dave Torbert and Matthew Kelly were listed as the producers, which fits what we know as their partnership arrangement with Round.  

May 14, 1977 Winterland, San Francisco, CA: Dickey Betts and Great Southern/Kingfish/38 Special (Saturday)
A new edition of Kingfish made a high profile debut in the Bay Area. They were second on the bill at Winterland, not playing in some local dive as they had before. Dickey Betts and Great Southern were touring behind their second Arista album, Atlanta's Burning Down. The Allmans were not nearly as big as they had been a few years earlier, but Betts was still popular in San Francisco. Openers 38 Special, having just released their second album (Special Delivery) were also a rising band, featuring Donnie Van Zandt (the brother of the Lynryd Skynyrd singer). This was a good booking for Kingfish, a sign of record company clout. There may have been a stealth club gig warmup,  but as far as I know this was the debut of the new lineup, with Barry Flast on keyboards and Dave Perper on drums joining Torbert, Kelly and Robbie Hoddinott.

Kingfish's performance was a debacle. Robbie Hoddinott was not present. The official line was that he was "sick," although the general feeling around the Deadhead world was that Hoddinott had taken too many drugs. Now, in fact, Hoddinott did have very serious health problems. None of these health problems were helped by his bad habits. Whatever happened on this night, it seems to have happened at the last minute. An unprepared Kingfish had John Cipollina guesting on lead guitar (along with singer Pam Tillis, a pal of Cippo's), but the tape tells us clearly that Kingfish was faking it. This was their high profile moment and they blew it.

May 20-22, 1977 Whisky-a-Go-Go, W. Hollywood, CA: Kingfish (Friday-Sunday)
Kingfish was booked for a weekend at the infamous Whisky-A-Go-Go in West Hollywood. Bands never made money playing the Whisky, but it was the easiest place for the industry to see a new band. If typical practices were followed, Jet would have put numerous djs, talent agents and scene-makers on the guest list and bought them drinks. 

Kingfish brought in guitarist Michael O'Neill to replace Hoddinott. I assume this was done immediately, and he had a quick week of rehearsal. O'Neill, a bluesy guitarist who was a good slide player, was from Wichita Falls, TX, but had moved to the West Coast in the 1960s and played with a variety of bands. 

The new lineup was

Michael O' Neill-lead and slide guitar, vocals
Matt Kelly-harmonica, guitar, vocals
Barry Flast-keyboards, vocals
Dave Torbert-bass, vocals
Dave Perper-drums

Barry Flast had come from the Boston area, and in 1968 he had been in a band with guitarist Billy Squier called The Tom Swift Electric Band. The group was booked regularly at an infamous club called The Psychedelic Supermarket, and opened for many well-known touring bands. Flast ended up in San Francisco a few years later, playing piano and organ with various groups. He even had a brief stint with Kingfish in Summer '74, playing with them in Juneau, AK, prior to Bob Weir joining the band. Now he had joined them again, sharing some of the lead vocals along with harmonies.  I don't know anything about Dave Perper's musical history prior to Kingfish.

May ?, 1977 Quadrangle, Washington University, St Louis, MO: New Riders Purple Sage/Kingfish/Flying Burrito Brothers
Sometime in late May Kingfish played the Quadrangle, booked with the New Riders of The Purple Sage and the Flying Burrito Brothers. The New Riders, along with Torbert, had in fact played a free concert at the Wash U Quad back on May 13, 1970, although I suspect that neither Torbert nor the Riders recalled it. The Flying Burrito Brothers configuration at this time may have included Bobby Cochran on lead guitar, himself a future member of Kingfish (the Burritos' 1977 album would be released under the band name Sierra).

May 30-31, 1977 Bottom Line, New York, NY: Kingfish (Monday-Tuesday)
The Bottom Line, at 15 W 4th Street in Greenwich Village, was Manhattan's showcase rock club from its opening in 1974. John Rockwell of the New York Times gave Kingfish's Monday night show a favorable, though not enthusiastic, review in the June 1 paper:

Kingfish is a band with strong associations with the San Francisco rock scene—the Grateful Dead and the New Riders of the Purple Sage in particular —so its appearance Monday and yesterday at the Bottom Line, just before tonight's world premiere of the Grateful Dead's movie, is all the more appropriate.

But Kingfish now is mostly a new band, because only Dave Torbert, the bass player, and Matthew Kelly, a singer and guitarist, remain from the original configuration Barry Flast, another singer and the keyboard player; Mike O'Neill, the lead guitarist and Dave Perper, the drummer, are new.

The band's music on Monday was primarily instrumental, a funky, jumping, high‐energy jazzish rock akin to that of Stuff or Little Feat. At the moment the vocals are down‐played, although Mr. Flast seems to have a pleasant, guttural baritone.

There's nothing wrong with all this, and at times Kingfish's execution had a genuine intensity. But the trouble with this whole genre is that it tends to sound faceless, and Kingfish falls right into that trap.

June 2, 1977 The Cellar Door, Washington DC: Kingfish/Valerie Carter (Thursday)
June 3, 1977 The Cellar Door, Washington DC: Kingfish/Legendary Cowboy Folk (Friday)
This brief Northeastern tour by Kingfish followed record company orthodoxy at the time. The band played two-night stands at high profile clubs in New York, DC and Boston (below). The goal was to attract dj and critical attention. It certainly worked in New York, as they were reviewed in the Times. The Cellar Door was a tiny club--just 163 seats--at 34th and M Street NW. Despite or perhaps because of it's tiny size, it was a popular place for record companies to highlight their new acts. Valerie Carter, for example, had just released her second album (Wild Child, on Columbia), and she was opening for Kingfish on Thursday.

June 4, 1977 Lighthouse, (unknown city), PA: Kingfish (Saturday)
We're not even sure which Pennsylvania town the Lighthouse was in. It's pretty likely we are missing several tour dates over the next two weeks.

June 9, 1977 Hoffman Beach House, Point Pleasant Beach, NJ: Kingfish (Thursday)
Of course, not every gig was high profile. Some of the bookings were just to make a few bucks and build audiences out in the trenches. In the Summer, Jersey Shore destinations like Point Pleasant Beach (10 miles South of Asbury Park and 75 miles East of Philadelphia) were busy, prosperous places. Anyone there was on vacation and looking to go out. 

June 15-16, 1977 Pauls Mall, Boston MA: Kingfish (Wednesday-Thursday)
Paul's Mall was Boston's showcase club, just like the Bottom Line was for Manhattan. 733 Boylston Street was the entrance to a pair of side-by-side nightclubs, the Jazz Workshop and Paul's Mall. The Jazz Workshop, at least, had opened in 1963. Paul's Mall wasn't large, but its location ensured that performers regularly got reviewed in the paper.

From the July 24 '77 SF Examiner

July 25, 1977 Miramar Beach Inn, Half Moon Bay, CA Kingfish (Monday)
Kingfish was setting out on a big European tour, so they probably played this out-of-the-way gig to try out some new material. The Miramar Beach Inn was a tiny place that had "name" rock bands on Monday nights. The rest of the time it mostly featured locals. I'm pretty sure that this was the former Ocean Beach Motel, at 131 Mirada. If so, in the late 60s and early 70s it had been known as The Spouter and then the Shelter Inn. There were very few substantial buildings in Half Moon Bay at the time, so I assume it was the same (note that the address is just "Coast Highway, Half Moon Bay," which I assure you was all that was necessary).

August 13, 1977 Sierra Beer Hall at The Hofbrau, Squaw Valley Lodge, Olympic Valley, CA: Kingfish (Saturday)
Kingfish had regularly played the Lake Tahoe area when Weir had been in the band. Lake Tahoe was full of vacationers in both the Summer and Winter, mostly from Sacramento and the Bay Area suburbs, so gigs could be pretty lucrative. Once again, I think this was used as a warm-up gig for the band, rather than specifically a money maker (although they were probably paid pretty well). 

Rainbow Rising, by Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, was the second album by the band, released on Polydor in 1976. It was a hugely popular record, but after heavy touring, bandleader Blackmore fired bassist Jimmy Bain and organist Tony Carey (retaining singer Ronnie James Dio and drummer Cozy Powell). Their search for a new bass player unexpectedly affected Kingfish.

European Tour with Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, Summer/Fall 1977
The playbook for breaking a band in the '70s was having them open for a larger band on a major tour. The idea was that even if only half the crowd paid attention to the opening act, that was more than would hear them playing at a nightclub. In 1975, former Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore had left that band to form his group Rainbow, joining forces with singer Ronnie James Dio. Dio's band Elf had opened for Deep Purple on tour in the early 70s. Dio, from upstate Cortland, NY, would go on to become a metal legend himself, but at this time he was just becoming a star with Rainbow. The band's 1976 album Rising (their second) had made them into stars in the US, UK, and Europe. An opening slot on a Rainbow tour would be coveted by rock managers on multiple continents.

Ritchie Blackmore and Rainbow were on Polydor, and had no connection to Jet Records. Yet the story of how Kingfish came to open for them on tour is worth telling, if only to show the many levers at play in the high-stakes rock business. Deadheads tend to think of Kingfish as a sort of "Grateful Dead/Bob Weir-spinoff band," and maybe they were, but at this juncture they were part of the big money rock machine. No one rolled bigger than Don Arden. 

After Rising, Rainbow had toured very successfully. Blackmore and Dio were unhappy with their band, however. The initial (1975) lineup of Rainbow had been revamped for '76, and now they revamped the that version as well. Blackmore kept drummer Cozy Powell, whom he had added 1976, but he summarily fired the bass player (Jimmy Bain) and keyboard player (Tony Carey) in early '77, without any warning. The band was busy recording their followup album, and planning UK and US tours starting in July. Rainbow hired Mark Clarke on bass (ex-Uriah Heep, among other bands), but couldn't find a keyboard player. Blackmore thus invited Tony Carey to return. 

The recording sessions went poorly. Clarke's bass playing didn't meet their needs, and Blackmore ended up playing bass on much of the album himself. Carey, meanwhile, was unhappy working with Blackmore--supposedly too many practical jokes--and he left the sessions. The album was delayed, and the band wanted to tour Europe. Blackmore found David Stone (ex-Symphonic Slam) to play keyboards and one Bob Daisley to play bass. Still, some booked US dates in September had to be scrapped. 

Australian bassist Bob Daisely was on the 1972 Chicken Shack album Unlucky Boy (London Records). Chicken Shack is largely forgotten today, a blues band led by guitarist Stan Webb, remembered only slightly for the introduction of singing piano player Christine Perfect (later better known by her married name, Christine McVie). Unlucky Boy was an excellent album. 

Australian transplant Bob Daisley had been in some second-tier UK bands, such as Chicken Shack (he was on 1972's Unlucky Boy) and Mungo Jerry (in '73). By 1975, Daisley had joined a band called Widowmaker, signed to Jet Records. Widowmaker featured ex-Spooky Tooth guitarist Luther Grosevnor, using the name "Ariel Bender" (which is the name he had used in Mott The Hoople). Widowmaker had released albums in 1976 and '77, but fell apart. Daisley got the opportunity to jam with Blackmore, probably in Los Angeles. Blackmore wanted him in the band, and he wanted him in the band right away, because Rainbow was not only recording but had a big tour coming up. But Daisley was under contract to Arden and Jet Records via Widowmaker. 

Arden cut a deal. In return for letting Daisley join Rainbow, Jet not only received money ($10K, apparently), but got Rainbow to agree to let a Jet Records band open their tour. Whether or not you think Kingfish opening for Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow in Europe was optimal wasn't part of the equation. There was a deal, and basically Kingfish's opening slot was traded for Bob Daisley's services. At the time, Jet Records had Kingfish ready to tour, and made the deal, like baseball teams swapping a catcher for a relief pitcher.

The revised Rainbow tour was supposed to start with four nights at the Rainbow Theatre in London from September 18-21, but those dates were canceled. The tour would begin on September 25 in Stockholm. Nonetheless, Kingfish came over in mid-August. They spent 3 weeks at the legendary Clearwell Castle in Gloucester. The Gothic castle had been reconfigured to include recording and rehearsal studios, and Kingfish were put up there (the hosts were thanked on the back cover of the 1978 Trident album: "Very special thanks to - Bernard and Sue Yates of Clearwell castle, Gloustershire, England for inspiration and the time of our lives!" ).

August 18, 1977 Odeon, Birmingham, UK: Ted Nugent/Kingfish (Thursday)
Kingfish also played a few gigs in England prior to the Rainbow tour. They were booked to open for Ted Nugent in Birmingham. 

August 26, 1977 Reading Festival, Reading, UK: Golden Earrings/Eddie and The Hot Rods/Uriah Heep/Lone Star/5-Hand Reel/Kingfish/Woody Woodmansey's U-Boat/Staa Marx/S.A.L.T (Friday)
The Reading Festival, 40 miles West of London, was an annual three-day event featuring most of the bands touring around each year. There were also some big attractions from America, in this case Aerosmith and the Doobie Brothers. Kingfish definitely played (their presence is reliably confirmed), but they were probably added at the last minute, since they aren't in any of the pre-show ads. Don Arden's crew had plenty of clout, so if there was any value to Kingfish getting heard they were going to take care of it. There had been endless rain for weeks prior to the concerts, so the venue was a sea of mud. The Friday bands are listed in reverse order above--Kingfish came on after U-Boat (Woody Woodmansey had been David Bowie's drummer).  

? [summer] 1977 The Marquee, London, UK: Kingfish/Clover
Kelly, when I spoke to him, specifically recalled playing the legendary Marquee club with fellow Marin residents Clover. Clover had been struggling for years, and had been unexpectedly discovered by Nick Lowe, who had thought they had broken up years before. Lowe got Clover a contract, and they spent a fair amount of time recording and touring in England. They had released their album Unavailable on Vertigo (distributed by Mercury) in March, 1977, recorded and produced by Mutt Lange in Wales. Kelly and Torbert, at least, had known Clover forever, and shared many bills with them (I saw Clover open for Kingfish at Winterland in 1975, for example). Michael O'Neill had played a little bit with Clover as well.  

Kelly generally recalled that Kingfish played a few other smaller gigs around England during this period. He is sure that U2 opened for them in some joint (the timeline would fit but it's impossible to confirm).

In July 1977, as a placeholder, Polydor released the double live album Rainbow On State (on the Oyster Records imprint). It would reach #7 on the UK album charts.

Rainbow Tour September 25-November 22, 1977
Rainbow began their European tour in Sweden. Rainbow was increasingly popular, even though their next album was still being recorded and would not be released until April 1978. Rainbow's previous studio album had been released way back in February '76, but their audience continued to grow. In the meantime, they had released a live album (On Stage, released July '77). Rainbow would play 41 dates in 59 days, across 9 countries. Kingfish played every date. The history of the tour is quite intricate, with various complications, but you can read about it on the first-class Ronnie James Dio site.

Matthew Kelly recalled the tour as quite difficult. While the band stayed in nice hotels, they were rushing from place to place almost every day. In general, Kelly was focused on not screwing up, in order to ensure that Don Arden did not get mad at them. Potentially, this tour was a big break for Kingfish and it was important for them to do well. Unfortunately, Dave Torbert's habits were getting the better of him. Kelly, ironically enough, was the one who had to go out in European cities and score for him, to ensure that Torbert could keep it together. Kelly spoke neither French nor German, which didn't help, but he managed to find a way, and Kingfish did not miss a date.

September 25, 1977 Konserthuset, Stockholm, Sweden: Rainbow/Kingfish (Sunday)

September 26, 1977 Scandinavium, Gothenburg, Sweden: Rainbow/Kingfish (Monday)

September 27, 1977 Chateau Neuf, Oslo, Norway: Rainbow/Kingfish (Tuesday)

September 28, 1977 Nidaroehallen, Trondheim, Norway: Rainbow/Kingfish (Wednesday)

September 30, 1977 Idraettens Hus Vejle Denmark: Rainbow/Kingfish (Friday)

October 1, 1977 Falkoner Teatret, Copenhagen, Denmark: Rainbow/Kingfish (Saturday)

October 2, 1977 Vejlby Risskov Hallen Aarhus Denmark Rainbow/Kingfish (Sunday)

October 4, 1977 Congresgebouw Prinz Willem Alexanderzaal, The Hague, Netherlands: Rainbow/Kingfish (Tuesday)

October 6, 1977 Grugahalle, Essen, West Germany: Rainbow/Kingfish (Thursday)

October 8, 1977 Sporthalle, Cologne, West Germany: Rainbow/Kingfish (Saturday)

October 10, 1977 Stadthalle, Bremen, West Germany: Rainbow/Kingfish (Monday)

October 11, 1977 Ebertshalle, Ludwigshafen, West Germany: Rainbow/Kingfish (Tuesday)

October 12, 1977 ? Friedrichshafen West Germany: Rainbow/Kingfish {didn't likely happen}

October 13, 1977 Sportshalle, Stuttgart, West Germany: Rainbow/Kingfish (Thursday)

October 14, 1977 Sportshalle, Hanover, West Germany: Rainbow/Kingfish (Friday)

October 15, 1977 Deutschlandhalle, Berlin West Germany: Rainbow/Kingfish (Saturday)

October 16, 1977 Congresszentrum, Hamburg, West Germany: Rainbow/Kingfish (Sunday)

October 18, 1977 Stadthalle Theatre, Vienna, Austria: Rainbow/Kingfish (Tuesday)
Ritchie Blackmore got in a scuffle with a security guard, and was arrested after the show and taken to jail. 

Rainbow Live In Munich 1977, a DVD release from 2006 (fully restored in 2013), featuring Rainbow in Munich on October 20, 1977. It was filmed and broadcast on the West German TV show Rock Palast. Opening act Kingfish was also filmed, and at least one track was broadcast on Rock Palast

October 20, 1977 Olympiahalle, Munich, West Germany: Rainbow/Kingfish (Thursday)
This show was originally scheduled for 19th October but, with bail refused in Vienna, the Munich show had to be rearranged. Ritchie was late arriving from Austria and the start was considerably delayed. After Kingfish's set, refunds were offered and it wasn't until midnight that Rainbow finally took to the stage.

Kingfish appeared on the West Germany show Rock Palast, and it appears that the Munich show was the one filmed. One pro-shot Kingfish track used to circulate on YouTube, but it's no longer available. I don't know whether more was ever broadcast, or if more Kingfish video from the Munich show even exists. The Rainbow set was broadcast, widely bootlegged, and ultimately released in 2006 as Live In Munich 1977.

October 21, 1977 Messehalle, Nuremberg, West Germany: Rainbow/Kingfish (Friday)

October 22, 1977 Rhein-Main-Halle, Wiesbaden, West Germany: Rainbow/Kingfish (Saturday)

October 23, 1977 Eulachhalle, Winterthur, Switzerland: Rainbow/Kingfish (Sunday)

October 24, 1977 Colmar Salle D'Exposition, France: Rainbow/Kingfish (Monday) - also seen listed as Marseille Salle Vallier.

October 25, 1977 Palais Du Sport, Lyon, France: Rainbow/Kingfish (Tuesday)

October 27, 1977 Porte de Pantin Pavillion, Paris, France: Rainbow/Kingfish (Thursday)

October 31-November 1, 1977 City Hall, Newcastle, UK: Rainbow/Kingfish (Monday-Tuesday)

November 3, 1977 Guildhall Lockley Grand Hall, Preston, UK: Rainbow/Kingfish (Thursday)

November 4-5, 1977 Empire Theatre, Liverpool, UK: Rainbow/Kingfish (Friday-Saturday)

November 7, 1977 Capitol Aberdeen, Scotland: Rainbow/Kingfish (Monday)

November 9, 1977 Apollo, Glasgow, Scotland: Rainbow/Kingfish (Wednesday)

November 11-14, 1977 Rainbow Theatre, London, UK: Rainbow/Kingfish (Friday-Monday)

November 16, 1977 New Theatre, Oxford UK: Rainbow/Kingfish (Wednesday)

November 17, 1977 Granby Halls, Leicester, UK: Rainbow/Kingfish (Thursday)

November 18, 1977 Bingley Hall, Stafford, UK: Rainbow/Kingfish (Friday)

November 20-21, 1977 Apollo, Manchester UK: Rainbow/Kingfish (Sunday-Monday)

November 22, 1977 Capitol Theatre, Cardiff, Wales: Rainbow/Kingfish (Tuesday)

April 16, 1978 Old Waldorf, San Francisco, CA: Kingfish/Goodman Brothers/Blessing/Eggs Over Easy (Sunday) Set Bruce Loose Benefit for Bruce Baker
Kingfish returned home after their grueling European tour. The exact timing is uncertain to me, but it looks like they recorded their first studio album for Jet Records early in the year. Trident would be released in mid-1978, but I don't know the exact date. Based on album credits, we can see that the album was recorded at The Record Plant in Sausalito with producer Johnny Sandlin. Sandlin had been a staff producer for Phil Walden's Capricorn Records. In particular, he produced a number of albums for the Allman Brothers Band, notably their hit Brothers And Sisters.

Appearing at a benefit concert was a very San Francisco thing to do, not at all a Jet Records thing to do. They probably didn't ask the permission of Jet. I don't know who Bruce Baker was, or why (or from what) he had to be set loose. The Goodman Brothers had recently moved to the Bay Area from Northeastern Pennsylvania, and included lead guitarist Steve Kimock. Nearly a decade later, Kimock would end up joining Kingfish. Eggs Over Easy was the legendary Berkeley band who had started Pub Rock in England, playing the Tally Ho in Kentish Town. Around 1973 they had moved back to the Bay Area, and they would struggle on until about 1981. Keyboard player Austin DeLone would end up playing with Elvis Costello and many other artists. Blessing is unknown to me.

It's impossible to say who was in Kingfish for this gig, besides Kelly, Torbert and O'Neill.

August 12, 1978 North Shore Club Pavilion, Crystal Bay, NV: Kingfish (Saturday)
Presumably, Kingfish played this gig as a warmup for supporting the Electric Light Orchestra on their upcoming National tour. Although aggressive major labels like Jet discouraged club gigs, in this case they likely would have approved it as a chance to try out new material and a new lineup. North Lake Tahoe gigs could be lucrative, but they didn't attract any attention from the likes of Rolling Stone. Perhaps there were a few other Northern California club gigs around this time, but not likely in Berkeley or San Francisco. 

It remains uncertain who was playing keyboards and drums for Kingfish at this time. '70s rock fans (such as me) tended to assume that when a band went on tour, whoever was on the back of the previous album went on the next tour. Jet Records had released Trident sometime in the Summer, and I myself assumed that it represented the touring version of Kingfish. I now think that was not the case. On the Trident album, Bob Hogins is listed as the keyboard player, and Joe English as the drummer. Dave Perper, the drummer in 1977, is only listed as background vocalist (Perper would later end up drumming for the band Dixie Dregs for some years).  

The Trident album credits (Appendix 2 below) can be read as "meta-data." The album was recorded in Sausalito, but then "additional recording" was done at Capricorn Studios, which was Johnny Sandlin's home studio in Macon, GA. Joe English was the drummer in a Capricorn band called Sea Level, which featured various ex-Allman Brothers members. I think Sandlin returned to Macon, didn't like Perper's drumming, and had his own guy overdub it. Perper's background vocals seem to have remained. Note also that Sandlin played bass on one track (he was a fine bass player), another sign of a producer overdubbing parts he didn't like. 

Bob Hogins, meanwhile (spelled Hoggins on the album cover), was a pretty good Bay Area organ player, and had played live and on record with Quicksilver, Buddy Miles, Country Joe and The Fish and others. He did not play much out of the Bay Area, however. David Kramer-Smyth found some snippets in newspapers naming different keyboard players and a different drummer. I think Hogins replaced Barry Flast, but only played on the album, and Perper left the band. My best guess at the 1978 band, at least once the ELO tour starts in August would be:

Michael O'Neill-lead and slide guitar, vocals
Matt Kelly-hamronica, guitar, vocals
David Merrill-keyboards
Dave Torbert-bass, vocals
Mark Neilson-drums

Merrill and Neilson are unknown to me. David Kramer-Smyth saw them listed as band members in the Shreveport Times (a different paper named the keyboard player as Richard Gibbs).

Electric Light Orchestra-Out Of The Blue Tour February-September 1978
Jet Records had released Electric Light Orchestra's double album Out Of The Blue in October 1977. It was ELO's 7th studio album, and it was hugely successful. It would reach #4 in the US, and by 2007 it had sold 10 million copies. ELO had an epic world tour in 1978, with a massive laser show. The tour began in Australia and New Zealand in February, moved on to Europe in the Spring, and then finally traversed the United States from June to September 1978. The lineup was the "classic" ELO, with the core quartet of Jeff Lynne, Richard Tandy (keyboards), Kelly Groucutt (bass, vocals) and Bev Bevan (drums), along with the electrified string trio of Mik Kaminski (violin), Hugh McDowell (cello) and Melvyn Gale (cello).

ELO was Jet's premier act, so they were going to use the high profile tour to showcase their own bands as opening acts. For much of the first half of the ELO tour, the opening act was a Birmingham band called Trickster (Jeff Lynne and Bev Bevan of ELO were from Birmingham). They had recorded their debut album at Rockfield in Wales, and it had been released by Jet in 1977.

For the last month of the tour, Kingfish and Trickster alternated as the opening act. The list below only indicates shows where Kingfish opened (for a complete list of the ELO tour, see the excellent ELO page here). The opening act for some dates isn't always certain, as ads often gave different information. If anyone who saw ELO during this leg who can confirm (or "dis-confirm") Kingfish's presence as the opener at these shows, please do so in the Comments. It's also possible Kingfish substituted for Trickster at a few shows that I do not have listed below. 

Jet Records released a "radio only" promtional album called Jet Set, that had one side of Trickster and one of Kingfish. It is one of the few Kingfish rarities that were ever released (I have never seen a copy, nor does it have music not on the Trident lp).

August 26, 1978 Anaheim Stadium, Anaheim, CA: Electric Light Orchestra/Journey/Trickster/Kingfish (Saturday)
Outdoor rock concerts in football and baseball stadiums had risen to prominence at Roosevelt Stadium in New Jersey, and had now spread to the rest of the country. Anaheim Stadium, home of baseball's California Angels, was the first stadium in the Los Angeles area to regularly host major rock events like this. For this show, Journey was second on the bill to ELO, and both Trickster and Kingfish played.  Journey had just released their fourth album, Infinity, which was their first with new lead singer Steve Perry. It was hugely successful. 

September 2, 1978 Hirsch Memorial Coliseum, Shreveport, LA: Electric Light Orchestra/Kingfish (Saturday)

September 3, 1978 The Summit, Houston, TX: Electric Light Orchestra/Kingfish (Sunday)

September 4, 1978 Assembly Center, LSU, Baton Rouge, LA: Electric Light Orchestra/Kingfish (Monday)

September 5, 1978 Mississippi Coast Coliseum and Convention Center, Biloxi, MI: Electric Light Orchestra/Kingfish (Tuesday)

September 7, 1978 Knoxville Civic Coliseum, Knoxville, TN: Electric Light Orchestra/Kingfish (Thursday)

September 8, 1978 University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, OH: Electric Light Orchestra/Kingfish (Friday)

September 9, 1978 Murphy Center, Middle Tennesse State U, Murfreesboro, TN: Electric Light Orchestra/Kingfish (Saturday)

September 11, 1978 Buffalo Memorial Auditorium, Buffalo, NY: Electric Light Orchestra/Kingfish (Monday)

September 12, 1978 Veterans Coliseum, New Haven, CT: Electric Light Orchestra/Kingfish (Tuesday)

September 14-15, 1978 Madison Square Garden, New York, NY: Electric Light Orchestra/Trickster (Thursday-Friday)
The shows were advertised with Kingfish as the opening act, but eyewitnesses report that Trickster opened. The record company probably made a decision for some marketing reason

September 18, 1978 The Spectrum, Philadelphia, PA: Electric Light Orchestra/Kingfish (Monday)
Trickster opened the second night at the Spectrum (Sep 19). The ELO Tour continued on with Trickster as the opening act for the next five dates (Hampton, Capitol Center, Pittsburg Civic, Boston Garden and Providence).

September 20-21 1978 The Cellar Door Washington DC: Kingfish (Wednesday-Thursday)
Kingfish may have played a few other Northeastern club dates during their hiatus from the ELO tour.

September 29, 1978 Cumberland County Civic Center, Portland, ME: Electric Light Orchestra/Kingfish (Friday)
The Portland, ME show was the last date of ELO's six-month long world tour. Kingfish was also booked at the Capitol Theater in Passaic, NJ this night, with the New Riders and Robert Hunter, but they probably didn't play. Kingfish may not have known whether they were going to open for ELO until late in the game, so they may have been provisionally double-booked.  

October 1978, Le Club Front, San Rafael, CA: Recording Shakedown Street
The Grateful Dead held recording sessions for their next album at their rehearsal hall on Front Street in San Rafael, which they had rigged out as a studio. Recording for what would become Shakedown Street had begun in late August with Little Feat's Lowell George as the producer, but schedules caught up with both him and the band. The album was finished through October (after they returned from Egypt) with John Kahn and Jerry Garcia running the board.

Matt Kelly played harmonica on "I Need A Miracle" and "Minglewood Blues," probably recorded in October. Even if Kelly and Weir were no longer playing together in Kingfish, Kelly was still part of the orbit of the Dead.

December 7-9 1978 Whisky A Go Go, West Hollywood, CA: Kingfish/Robert Hunter (Thursday-Saturday)
Kingfish pretty much dropped off the radar after the ELO tour. Trident had gotten the "full push" from Jet Records, and hadn't garnered any FM airplay or record sales. At the time, Jet Records was going through significant turmoil. Don Arden managed Black Sabbath, but they were not on Jet. When Ozzy Osbourne left Sabbath, however, he was signed to Jet. Ozzy had a dispute with Arden, however, and Arden's daughter Sharon sided with Ozzy, and later married him. She would not speak to her father for decades, and told her children their grandfather was dead (they were surprised to bump into him on the street in Los Angeles in the late 90s). Sharon Osbourne--thanked by name on the back of the Trident album--went on to manage her husband Ozzy to great success. His most popular albums came when he collaborated with none other than Bob Daisley, who had been (inadvertently) responsible for getting Kingfish on the '77 Rainbow tour.

Kingfish played the Whisky with Robert Hunter. This was a return to their Grateful Dead "roots," so to speak. Hunter had just jettisoned his band Comfort, and was mostly touring with just his bass player. 

December 14, 1978 Rancho Nicasio, Nicasio, CA: Kingfish (Thursday)
Nicasio was a tiny little community, population 100, half an hour and a million light years from San Rafael. Rancho Nicasio was an old roadhouse that had been built in the 1940s, but had only really started booking rock bands around 1977. Since Nicasio wasn't on the way to anywhere, while the hall could accommodate up to 500 patrons, the Rancho was sort of a local secret. Marin bands liked to use it for warm-up gigs. Given that I'm not even sure who was in Kingfish at this point, and the high-profile Old Waldorf gig on the weekend, I think the $1 Thursday show was more like a public rehearsal.

December 17, 1978 Old Waldorf, San Francisco, CA: Kingfish (Sunday)
I have no idea who was in Kingfish at this point, save for Kelly, Torbert and likely O'Neill. Whoever had played keyboards and drums on the ELO tour had probably moved on, since the band wasn't gigging. Of course, the list of Kelly and Torbert friends in Marin County was long, so we might recognize the names of the other band members, but no one seems to recall.  

The Old Waldorf was SF's "showcase" rock club, like the Bottom Line in New York or the Roxy in LA. Kingfish had enough status to headline a show, but just on a Sunday night. Tickets were only $4.50. The Runaways were headlining two nights, and charging $5.

December 31, 1978 Winterland, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead/Blues Brothers/New Riders of The Purple Sage (Sunday)
Winterland closed for good on New Year's Eve. Various friends came by to jam. Matt Kelly joined in for "I Need A Miracle."

January ?, 1979 Knott's Berry Farm, Buena Vista, CA: National Association Of Music Manufacturers Convention
The National Association of Music Manufacturers held conventions every year in various cities. Mostly the events were to show off new gear to instrument stores. Well-known musicians were regular guests and often put on special performances. Bob Weir attended the 1979 NAMM Convention in Knotts Berry Farm, a theme park in Orange County (near Fullerton), as a featured guest of Ibanez. Weir had been playing a custom Ibanez guitar since at least 1976. Bobby Cochran, who had played lead guitar in the Bob Weir Band, had been introduced to Weir through Ibanez connections. 

Ibanez, like most manufacturers at the show, assembled an "all-star" band of users for a concert. Ibanez' lineup included Weir, Cochran, Steve Miller, bassist Alphonso Johnson and drummer Billy Cobham. The casual group put on an hour-long show, with a somewhat rotating cast. Weir sang a couple of songs, including "Minglewood," and jammed along on a few others. Matt Kelly was there and played on the Weir numbers. There used to be video of the event available on YouTube, but I can't find it now.

The jam at this event led to an agreement by Weir, Cochran, Alphonso Johnson and Cobham to form a band. That band evolved into Bobby And The Midnites, even though it took a little while to clear everyone's schedule. Cochran, Johnson and Cobham had met at an earlier NAMM event, and Weir was the missing piece. The evolution of Bobby And The Midnites played a significant role in the evolution of Kingfish in the 1980s.

February 8, 1979 San Jose Center For The Performing Arts, San Jose CA: Camel/Kingfish (Thursday)
Camel was a progressive rock band, not particularly popular except in San Jose. KSJO-fm used to play them constantly, so they were a headline act in San Jose, even if they were just a club act elsewhere. In San Francisco, Camel was playing two nights at the Old Waldorf, but in San Jose they were at the 3,000 seat Center For The Performing Arts, with an opening band. This tour would have been behind Camel's sixth album, Breathless, although by the time of the tour keyboardist Peter Bardens had left, as had bassist Richard Sinclair. Kingfish appearing as the opener was probably the last gasp of Jet Records flexing their corporate muscle.

February 17, 1979 Pacific Strand Theatre, San Pedro CA: Kingfish/Warriors (Saturday)
David Kramer-Smyth found one last trace of Kingfish during this period, in San Pedro. We have no further details.

Aftermath
After a better five-year run than most bands, Kingfish seemed to be at the end of the line. They had released three albums, toured America and Europe and appeared on West German TV. Jet Records would drop them, however--exactly when isn't clear, but Jet was scaling back. At this point, Matthew Kelly left the band he had founded in 1974, and the Kingfish story seemed to be over.

But the Kingfish story wasn't over, not by a long shot. Amazingly, it wasn't even half over. Kelly left the band, yes. But Dave Torbert kept the band going, with Kelly's approval. Torbert relocated to Bucks County, PA, midway between Manhattan and Philadelphia. Kingfish had a new manager, Steve Amoroso, who had booked the band for an infamous concert with Aerosmith at the Trenton Motor Speedway back on August 24, 1975. Torbert and the Bucks County crew kept the band going through the rest of 1979, gigging all over the Northeast.

In 1980, Torbert would return to the West Coast and Kelly would rejoin Kingfish. Bob Weir would rejoin Kingfish, too. The band went on hiatus for a few years after 1980, and Dave Torbert would pass away from long-standing medical issues in 1982. Yet Kingfish would re-appear in 1984, joined at least some of the time by Bob Weir, and continued on until 1987.

Appendix 1: Matthew Kelly and Kingfish Performance History

Shango, Horses and Matt Kelly 1968 (Matt Kelly I)
--The backstory to Matt Kelly's links to the Grateful Dead start with his band Shango, with Torbert and Herold, back in 1968.

 Gospel Oak/Mountain Current/33 1969-73 (Matt Kelly II)
--The Matt Kelly story goes to England, the Santa Cruz Mountains and throughout the United States

Lonesome Janet: The Kingfish Origin Story--1974 (Matt Kelly III, Kingfish 0) 
--Matt Kelly returns to the Santa Cruz Mountains with the predecessor to Kingfish, and then Dave Torbert joins up in early 1974

Bob Weir and Kingfish Tour History Fall 1974 (Kingfish I, Matt Kelly IV)
--Bob Weir joins Kingfish, as the Dead have stopped performing 

Bob Weir and Kingfish Tour History January-June 1975 (Kingfish II, Matt Kelly V)

Bob Weir and Kingfish Tour History July-December 1975 (Kingfish III, Matt Kelly VI)

Bob Weir and Kingfish Tour History January-August 1976 (Kingfish IV, Matt Kelly VII) 

 

Kingfish Performance History, August 1976-December 1978 (Kingfish V, Matt Kelly VIII) [this post]

Kingfish Perfomance History, 1979-1981 (Kingfish V 1/2) [in development]

--Kingfish relocates to Bucks County, PA, and Kelly leaves the band for a while

 

Kingfish with Bob Weir 1984-87 (Kingfish VI, Matt Kelly IX)

--Weir began to re-appear regularly, though not permanently, with Kingfish in late 1984

 

Appendix 2: Trident-Kingfish (Jet Records) 1978

• Dave Torbert - electric bass, lead vocals
• Michael O'Neill - lead guitar, slide guitar, lead and background vocals
• Matthew Kelly - harmonica, rhythm guitar, background vocals
• Bob Hoggins - keyboards, background vocals
• Joe English - drums, syndrums
• John Hug - acoustic guitar, electric guitar, harpolek
• Dave Perper - background vocals
• Johnny Sandlin - electric bass (on Magic Eyes)

• Producer - Johnny Sandlin
• Production assistant - Carolyn Harris
• Engineer - Tom Anderson, Tom Flye
• Assistant engineer - Alex Kash, Steve Fontano
• Additional recording and mixing - Kurt Kinzel, Johnny Sandlin, Carolyn Harris
• Trident logo design - James A. Nelson
• Photography - Michael Zigaris
• Management - R. Gregory Nelson
• Agency - Magna Artists
• Special thanks to - Johnny, Carolyn, Tom, Alex, Nina, Robin, Rosemary, Carol and Charles, Tim, Richard, Mark, Patty, Suzy, Greg, Jeff Samuels, Craig Champie, Donny Hamblin, Jeff Graubart, John Espedal, Renate Damm, John Downing, Peter Mertens, Tony Holmes, Linda Clark, Bryan Blatt, David, Sharon and Don Arden and Jet Records
• Very special thanks to - Bernard and Sue Yates of Clearwell castle, Gloustershire, England for inspiration and the time of our lives!
• Recorded at the Record Plant, Sausalito
• Additional recording and mixing at Capricorn Studios, Macon

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