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| The ad in the February 22, 1973 Village Voice mentions "Special Friends" on the bill, a reference no one would have missed. The Grateful Dead were booked in Long Island during this weekend. |
New Riders Of The Purple Sage Tour History, January-April 1973 (NRPS IV)
The music of Jerry Garcia casts a large shadow, if a shadow that is bright rather than dark. It is so large, however, and so bright, that it outshines many things around it. In the 21st century, the New Riders of The Purple Sage are best known as the vehicle through which Jerry Garcia created an opportunity to play pedal steel guitar as a sideman in 1970 and '71. When the demands of playing full-time with both the Grateful Dead and the New Riders became too gargantuan a task, Garcia stepped aside from the Riders. For most Deadheads, that's where the story ends.
Yet the story of the New Riders of The Purple Sage was only beginning. For obvious reasons, the Riders are always compared to the Dead, and like almost every other 20th century rock band, the Dead outshone NRPS by many orders of magnitude. Compared to all the other bands struggling to make it in the early 1970s, however, the New Riders of The Purple Sage were hugely successful. After their debut album with Garcia in late 1971, they released four more albums with Buddy Cage on pedal steel in 1972 and 73. The albums sold well--Panama Red eventually was certified Gold--and the New Riders were a popular concert attraction.
On top of the Riders' undeniable success, they were still part of the Grateful Dead's business operation. Grateful Dead tours were booked by their in-house Agency, Out-Of-Town Tours, led by Sam Cutler. Cutler and Out-Of-Town also booked the New Riders. So a review of the New Riders touring history in 1972 and '73 shows both what lessons Cutler had learned from the Dead's rise to success in 1970 and '71, and also provided an avenue for Cutler to expand his relationships with promoters who worked with the Grateful Dead. So the New Riders touring schedule was both a do-over for what had come before and a rehearsal for what would come later for the Grateful Dead.
This post will continue
the series on the tour history of the New Riders of The Purple Sage in
1972
and '73, with a particular emphasis on how their saga was both similar to and
different from that of the Grateful Dead. These posts would not have
been possible without the stellar research of fellow scholar David
Kramer-Smyth, whose contributions have been both deep and broad. The first
post focused on the New Riders' performance history from January to
April, 1972. The next posts focused on the New Riders' performance
history
from May through August 1972, and then the New Riders'
performance history from September through December 1972. This post will focus on the New Riders' performance history from January through April 1973. Anyone with
additions, corrections,
insights or just
interesting speculation, please include them in the Comments. Flashbacks
welcome.
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| The New Riders of The Purple Sage had released Gypsy Cowboy, their third album on Columbia, in December 1972 |
New Riders Status Report, New Year's Eve 1972
The New Riders of The Purple Sage had had an excellent 1972. They had released their second and third albums on Columbia, and established themselves as separate from Jerry Garcia. Heavy touring in the Northeast, particularly in colleges, was creating a solid fan base for them. The Grateful Dead were more popular than ever, and the Riders' association with them only helped. At the same time, there was an undeniable merger occurring between hippies and country music, with more "country-rock" bands and more country bands letting their hair grow a little bit.
The New Riders were now a tight live band, playing two-hour shows that were a mix of old and new material, both originals and covers. John Dawson was still the focal point, but Dave Torbert's singing and writing made a nice contrast. David Nelson sang the occasional country cover, too, just to widen the band's scope. The record industry was booming, the concert industry was booming, and the New Riders were good and signed to a major record label. By any reasonable standard, the future looked very bright for the band at the end of 1972.
The New Riders were still part of the Grateful Dead family, and not just socially. Grateful Dead manager Jon McIntire shared the same duties for the New Riders with NRPS road manager Dale Franklin. McIntire was the principal go-between for the record companies. The Riders were booked by Sam Cutler and Out-Of-Town Tours, who also booked the Dead. By booking multiple bands, Cutler had more to negotiate and thus more leverage with promoters and agents throughout the country. The Riders didn't have to worry about being left out of the mix--Cutler's principal assistant was Sally Mann Dryden, the drummer's wife (whom Cutler refers to now as "Mustang Sally," perhaps a reference to her 428ci Ford Mustang). Travel arrangements were made by the Grateful Dead's in-house agency, Fly By Night Travel.
The New Riders of The Purple Sage, January-April 1973
John Dawson-vocals, rhythm guitar
Buddy Cage-pedal steel guitar (ex-Great Speckled Bird and Anne Murray)
David Nelson-lead guitar, vocals (ex-New Delhi River Band)
Dave Torbert-bass, vocals (ex-New Delhi River Band, Horses)
Spencer Dryden-drums (ex-Jefferson Airplane)
February 14-17, 1973 The Gallery, Aspen, CO: New Riders of The Purple Sage (Wednesday-Saturday)
The New Riders had worked very hard throughout 1972. In the back half of the year they had recorded a new album and that had a grueling, but seemingly very successful National tour. So it's no surprise that they seemed to take a break the first six weeks of 1973. Apparently, their first shows of the year were four nights at a tiny club called The Gallery, in Aspen, CO. We have not yet been able to confirm this booking, but it seems likely.
Now, we think of Aspen, CO as a wealthy resort town, just a playground of the elite. But of course it became such a playground because it was an appealing place to go. Besides the skiing, and the beautiful Rocky Mountains, a bunch of freaks had congregated around the area. The most famous of these freaks was Hunter S. Thompson, who lived in nearby Woody Creek. So Aspen was a ski resort where long hair and weed were welcome, when that wasn't always the case in comparable destinations.
The Gallery itself was apparently the main (possibly only) nightclub in Aspen. Most famously, when David Geffen constructed The Eagles out of some Hollywood rock veterans who hung out at the Troubadour in West Hollywood, he apparently sent them to The Gallery to be the house band for several weeks. The new band played a couple of weeks in October of 1971, and then returned for a few more weeks in November. By the end, they were a real band. Glenn Frey would end up purchasing a house in Aspen, and became a long-time resident. The status of Aspen as a hip playground rose along with the career of Frey and the Eagles. Hunter Thompson remained based in Woody Creek until he traveled on in 2006.
In February of 1973, the New Riders would have been rusty after several weeks, the Aspen booking seems like a sort of paying rehearsal.
February 19, 1973 International Amphitheatre, Chicago, IL: Grateful Dead/New Riders of The Purple Sage (Monday)
The New Riders of The Purple Sage had built a strong market in the Northeast, but had less of a footprint elsewhere. The strategy for this leg of a tour seems to have been designed to use the Grateful Dead to introduce the Riders to a broader audience. The New Riders had played Chicago in December of '72, opening for Mott The Hoople (of all bands). I think this Monday was a Federal celebration of Washington's Birthday (which was actually February 22, 1732).
February 21-22, 1973 Assembly Hall, U. of Illinois, Champaign, IL: Grateful Dead/New Riders of The Purple Sage (Wednesday-Thursday)
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, colloquially known as the University of Illinois, had been established in 1867. It is a huge school, currently enrolling 56,000 students. It is a few hours South of Chicago, in the flat plains of the agricultural Midwest. The size of the school, however, means it can support a huge rock market. Assembly Hall, at 1800 South 1st Street, was the school's basketball arena. It had opened in 1963, and had a basketball capacity of 15,000. It is surprising to see the Grateful Dead (or any band of the era) play two nights at a University instead of one, but the University of Illinois was large, with many students from the greater Chicago area. I don't know what the attendance was like.
February 25, 1973 [venue], U. of Missouri, Columbia, MO: New Riders of The Purple Sage (Sunday)
While the Grateful Dead played the University of Iowa (February 24) and the University of Nebraska (February 26), the New Riders of the Purple Sage went West on Saturday night to play the University of Missouri, in Columbia, MO. The University of Missouri had been founded in 1839, and it, too was a large Midwestern school (currently 30,000 students).
While Columbia, MO was a small college town at the time (population about 60,000), the University of Missouri was on I-70, midway between St. Louis and Kansas City. The New Riders had headlined in both cities, so they would have a ready-made audience at the University. I don't know what venue the band played.
February 28, 1973 Salt Palace, Salt Lake City, UT: Grateful Dead/New Riders of The Purple Sage (Wednesday)
The Dead and the New Riders closed out their tour by playing together at the Salt Palace. Salt Lake City was conveniently located between the Midwest and California, so a lot of bands made tour stops there. The Salt Palace, at 100 S. West Temple street, had opened in 1969. It had a basketball capacity of about 12,000. At this time, the Salt Palace was home to the Utah Stars of the American Basketball Association. The Stars would fold in early '75, ultimately replaced in 1979 by the Utah Jazz (who had relocated from New Orleans).
The New Riders had not played in Utah or generally in the Mountain West, so opening a Dead show was a proven way to introduce them to their future audience. We have a setlist from this show (possibly incomplete). The New Riders followed the Grateful Dead path, making a point to play songs that were not on albums. This was appealing to fans who had seen them before (not likely an issue in Salt Lake), and also allowed the band to hone their arrangements before going into the studio. The Salt Palace set included a cover of Red Allen's "Teardrops In My Eyes" (sung by Nelson), Dawson's new song "One Too Many Stories" and Dave Torbert's homage to Sally Mann Dryden, "Groupie." All three would end up on The Adventures of Panama Red, not recorded until the Summer.
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| SF Examiner March 5, 1973 |
March 8, 1973 Berkeley Community Theater, Berkeley, CA: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen/Ramblin' Jack Elliott (Thursday) Jolly Blue Giant Presents
6'7" Bill Ehlert, known locally as "the Jolly Blue Giant" was a club operator and promoter in Berkeley. He had run Berkeley's Jabberwock until it had closed in 1967, and ran the Matrix for a while after that. In the 1970s, he promoted local concerts under the name Jolly Blue Giant. Berkeley Community Theater was both the local civic auditorium and the Berkeley High School auditorium. It seated about 3,500. It's unlikely that the New Riders and Commander Cody could sell it out on a Thursday night, but they probably drew a pretty good crowd. The New Riders were now a Bay Area concert headliner.
Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen had moved from Ann Arbor, MI to Berkeley in Summer 1969. Their hippie honky tonk was instantly popular. They regularly performed locally with the Dead and the New Riders, and were often booked with the Riders around the country. Their weren't a lot of long-haired pot smoking hippie bands playing rocking country music, so they made an excellent fit. George "Commander Cody" Frayne had even played on a few tracks of the NRPS debut album.
Paramount Records had released Cody and the Airmen's own definitive debut, Lost In The Ozone in November, 1971. They scored a memorable regional hit with Cody's cover of "Hot Rod Lincoln." Their second album, Hot Licks, Cold Steel and Trucker's Favorites had been released in May, 1972. At this time, although the Austin, TX based "Outlaw Country" scene was just starting, "country rock" seemed like a sound whose time had come. The Riders and the Airmen seemed to be among the harbingers.
Legendary folksinger (and Bob Dylan influence) Ramblin' Jack Elliott lived in the North Bay. He, too, was booked by Sam Cutler's Out Of Town Tours. He would often open for the New Riders, and often joined in to sing backup on a song or two. On this evening, he joined the Riders to help sing the Rolling Stones' song "Connection."
The New Riders had other guests in Berkeley, both of whom would appear many times in 1973. Singer Darlene DiDomenico was from New York, where she had been part of a singing duo with Dan Healy in 1970 and '71. When Healy returned to the West Coast to sign on as the Grateful Dead's soundman, she went, too, although she split with Healy. DiDomenico sang with a local band (whose name I have lost), but she was also employed as part of the Grateful Dead/New Riders complex (possibly with Out Of Town Tours). Thus she regularly sang with the New Riders, both in the studio and on stage. For example, she had sang on the Gypsy Cowboy album. In Berkeley, she sang on "Whisky," just like on the record.
Harmonica player Matthew Kelly had been in various bands with Dave Torbert in 1968 and '69. Kelly had ended up in England, in an American band (Gospel Oak) that had needed a new player. He sent a plane ticket for Torbert, then in Hawaii, to join him in London. David Nelson's girlfriend "coincidentally" called Torbert when he had stopped at his parents' house in Redwood City, and the boys had invited him to join the New Riders. Torbert called Kelly, who graciously told him to take the gig with Jerry Garcia. So Kelly was in good with the New Riders, notwithstanding he had known Nelson and Dawson as long as he had known Torbert. In Berkeley, Kelly sat in on 5 songs, including Torbert's newly-written "It's Alright With Me," which would end up on Panama Red.
March 16, 1973 Nassau Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, NY: Grateful Dead/New Riders of The Purple Sage (Friday)
The New Riders had expected to begin their Eastern tour on Saturday, March 17, at SUNY Stony Brook (see below). Meanwhile the Grateful Dead were playing three nights at the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island. For some odd reason, the Dead were booked for Thursday (March 15), Friday (March 16) and Monday (March 19). Saturday, March 17, had not been available, as the New York Islanders had a home game (they beat the St. Louis Blues 6-4). Interestingly, these shows were produced by Bill Graham Presents, making a rare foray out of his Bay Area territory.
In any case, the opening act booked to open for all three Nassau shows were Marin's Sons Of Champlin. The re-organized Sons had just released a new album on Columbia Records, Welcome To The Dance. The Sons were also booked by Sam Cutler's Out Of Town Tours, so it seemed that the plan was to build an East Coast audience for the Sons by introducing them to the Northeastern Grateful Dead fanbase. The New Riders, meanwhile, having built such an audience, could largely tour on their own.
The Sons opened the Dead show on Thursday, March 15. Tragically, however, the family of Sons bassist David Schallock was murdered in San Rafael by a disturbed young man with a shotgun. The Sons instantly abandoned their tour and returned home. The New Riders, already on the East Coast, filled in at Nassau on Friday and Monday.
The Grateful Dead were getting to be very popular in the Northeast, but they were not yet the automatic sellout that they would become. By adding an opening act, the shows were a longer party, and thus more appealing, even if the openers themselves (the Sons or the New Riders) did not in themselves attract a different audience.
March 17, 1973 [venue], SUNY Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Ramblin' Jack Elliott (Saturday)
The Grateful Dead had started playing Long Island's SUNY Stony Brook as far back as 1967. The New Riders had opened for the Dead there in 1970. Now, as the Dead had grown too large to play the school, the New Riders had played again on April 20, 1972 and now in '73. Granted, since college students graduate, almost no one in the school would have seen all the shows there. Still, there would have been undergraduate continuity and thus word of mouth.
The New Riders probably played Pritchard Gym, with a (basketball) capacity of about 2,000, where the Dead had played previously. Ramblin' Jack Elliott opened the show and joined the New Riders for the encore of "Honky Tonk Women." The entire concert was released as an archival CD in 2007.
March 18, 1973 Felt Forum, New York, NY: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Ramblin' Jack Elliott (Sunday) Ron Delsener Presents
Ron Delsener was a major Manhattan promoter who had taken on a bigger role in the rock market once Bill Graham had closed the Fillmore East. The Felt Forum was a theater in the basement of Madison Square Garden, first opened in 1968 (and now the Hulu Theater). The concert capacity appears to have been 4,332, although the theater could be configured at various sizes. The Grateful Dead and the New Riders had played four memorable nights at the Felt Forum on December 4-7, 1971. Now, the New Riders hd returned as the headliners.
The March 18, 1973, New Riders Of The Purple Sage
show at The Felt Forum was broadcast in its entirety on WNEW-fm, New York
City's leading rock station. Besides being a fine broadcast of the New
Riders in their prime, the show featured numerous special guests.
Ramblin' Jack Elliott and Donna Godchaux helped out on vocals on
different songs, Jerry Garcia played electric guitar and banjo on a few
numbers, Bob Weir sang a couple, and Keith Godchaux played grand piano
for much of the show. The most memorable part of the performance,
however, was when Garcia, Weir and Godchaux joined the New Riders and
began the second set with a trio of gospel numbers: "Cold Jordan", "I
Hear A Voice Calling" and "Swing Low". Garcia played banjo and Weir
played acoustic guitar, the only instance of the two playing acoustic
together on the East Coast between 1970 and 1980.
The
Grateful Dead were playing three nights at the Nassau Coliseum in
Uniondale in Long Island, but they had the Sunday night off to hang out with
the New Riders. It's remarkable enough that the Dead guested on a radio
broadcast, but thanks to the great Its All The Streets You Crossed blog, we can now see that the Grateful Dead were all but advertised in the Village Voice.
The ad above is from the February 22, 1973 edition of the Voice, a full
month before the show, and the ad says "New Riders Of The Purple Sage
& Special Friends." The message would be unmistakable: in 70s rock talk,
"Special Guests" would have meant 'opening act who hasn't been booked yet', but
"Special Friends" would imply extra people on stage. It wouldn't take a
genius to note the Dead's performance dates on Long Island and see that
they had the night off.
There were plenty of live FM
performances in the 1970s, but relatively few of them featured guests,
as the record company was paying for the band to be on the air. The
economics of 70s FM broadcasts depended on some entity, usually a record
company, buying up the ad time that was "lost" during the time the band
was playing live on the air without commercials. Generally speaking, if
a record company paid for their band to be broadcast live on FM radio,
they did not want their sponsored act upstaged by friends, however
talented, when the purpose of the financial subvention was to promote
the company's act. Columbia Records, the New Riders label, would have
paid good money to make sure that the New Riders were broadcast live for
some hours on the biggest New York rock station. As a practical matter,
I suspect that Columbia agreed to purchase a substantial number of ads
through the month of March, rather than laid out cash per se, but the net effect would have been the same.
In the case of the Dead, however, since they were
bigger than the New Riders and had a unique relationship to them,
Columbia would have been ecstatic to have the Dead join the New Riders
on the FM broadcast throughout the entire Tri-State area. For the Dead,
the significant factor here was that by Spring 1973 they had left Warner
Brothers and were working for themselves, so they didn't have to
concern themselves with whether their own record company "approved" of
them appearing with their friends. Since both the Dead and the New Riders
were booked by Out Of Town Tours, Sam Cutler's agency, coordination
would have been easy.
In fact, as an indication of the clout of the Dead in this context, not only were the New Riders broadcast in their entirety, but the set of opening act Ramblin' Jack Elliott was broadcast as well.
At the time, Elliott, though a legend, did not have a label and had not
released an album in three years (his last album had been released in
1970 on Reprise). However, Elliott was also booked by Sam Cutler, and
clearly the presence of Jerry Garcia was enough to induce Columbia to
subsidize the broadcast of Ramblin' Jack's set as well as that of the
Riders.
However, since the
Dead were performing elsewhere, their contract with the Nassau promoter, old friend Bill Graham, would have prevented them from being
mentioned by name. Also, since the name "Grateful Dead" was not formally
invoked, the band members could show up and perform on whichever or
whatever songs they felt like. Knowing what we know today, Garcia
must have had his banjo with him because he was probably practicing
constantly, trying to get up to speed for Old And In The Way, which had
just begun to play in the Bay Area. It's a great touch that he used
it to perform with the Riders--I think March 18, 1973 was almost the
only time he played banjo on stage with them (Garcia did play banjo briefly at a unique show at The Matrix on July 7, 1970).
Besides the mini-acoustic set, Garcia played banjo on "Henry" as well
as electric guitar on "Glendale Train," obviously just having the kind
of fun he couldn't have if the marquee had said "tonight: NRPS with
Jerry Garcia."
Of all the unreleased New Riders tapes that circulate, the Felt Forum show is surely the most memorable. Hopefully it will be released in its entirety someday (I have discussed this concert at some length elsewhere).
March 19, 1973 Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, NY: Grateful Dead/New Riders of The Purple Sage (Monday)
On their return to Nassau, Ramblin' Jack joined the New Riders for their "Connection" encore. He did not open the show, however.
For the opening leg of their Northeastern tour, the New Riders performed on eight consecutive nights (from March 16 through 23). Bands on the road rarely played this often, typically playing a couple of nights in a row and then having a few nights off. One thing to note, however, about this stretch was how the New Riders' gigs clustered around New York City. The travel obligations were a lot smaller, mostly only going from Long Island to Manhattan and back.
March 20, 1973 Field House, U. of New Hampshire, Durham, NH: New Riders of The Purple Sage (Tuesday) S.C.O.P.E Presents
The New Riders broke out of their New York Metro bookings to play two gigs in New England. The University of New Hampshire is in Durham, about 270 miles from Manhattan (and just 65 miles North of Boston). Given the consecutive dates, the New Riders probably flew from La Guardia to Manchester airport (likely on long-gone Northeast Airlines). Durham, NH, is on the border of Maine, near the ocean, and has a population of about 15,000. The English had made their presence known as far back as 1622. UNH was founded in 1866. The University currently has a student body of 14,000, although I doubt they had that many students in 1973.
While Durham is only an hour North of Boston, the school seems pretty isolated. So the students would have heard Boston FM radio, yet there probably weren't that many local concerts. Thus a lot of students might attend a show on campus, even if they had only barely heard of the band. Also, although Durham itself was isolated, the students were often from suburbs or big cities, so a band like the New Riders could build a regional audience by playing colleges. The Riders played at the Field House, which had built in 1938. Most likely they played Lundholm Gym (part of the Field House), which had a capacity of 3,000.
March 21, 1973 Palace Theater, Waterbury, CT: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Hot Tuna (Wednesday) Shelly Finkel and Jimmy Koplik Present
On Wednesday night, the New Riders played for promoters Shelly Finkel and Jim Koplik in Central Connecticut. Finkel and Koplik had been promoters in the New England area for about two years, initially using the name Cable Music. They had booked the New Riders in December, 1972 in Boston.
Jim Koplik had gotten his start as a promoter in college, putting on a Steppenwolf concert in 1968 at Ohio State when he was a student. Around 1972 he teamed up with Shelly Finkel to form Cable Music. Finkel was a bit older, and Koplik was the "house hippie," a common enough arrangement in concert promotion at the time. Entrepreneurs who knew the business side were not necessarily able to navigate who was cool and who was not, so they needed a younger partner.
Shelly Finkel (b.1944) wasn't some neophyte in the concert business. In 1967, Finkel (then running a dating service) managed to parlay a job passing out flyers into managing the Action House in Long Island. The Action House was the premier rock club in the region, breaking local bands like Vanilla Fudge and the Vagrants, and also putting on shows by touring bands like the Doors, Cream and the Grateful Dead (on November 9-10, 1970).
The owner of the Action House was an infamous Long Island club owner named Phil Basile. Over the years, he was involved in numerous other Long Island clubs and discos, including Speaks (the re-named Action House), My Father's Place, Channel 80 and Industry. In the late 60s, however, thanks to the Action House, Basile had recognized how much money there was in live rock music. Basile formed the promotion company Concerts East, who put on most of the Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin shows in the East in the 68-70 period (the Grateful Dead had opened for Hendrix at a Concerts East production at the Temple Stadium in Philadelphia on May 16, 1970). While Finkel had just been Basile's house manager at the Action House, he would have had plenty of intersection with the larger business of rock promotion. Finkel and Koplik played a critical role in the Grateful Dead's success in the early to mid-70s, and did so for the New Riders as well.
Finkel and Koplik booked the New Riders at a now-legendary venue called the Palace Theater in Waterbury, CT. Waterbury is between Hartford (33 miles to the Northeast) and New York City (77 miles to the Southwest). It had (and has) a population of around 110,000. In the first half of the 20th century, it was a thriving industrial city. From the 60s onward, however, Waterbury underwent a severe economic decline. As a rock peculiarity, however, Waterbury had a large movie theater from its glory days, and easy freeway access from larger areas. The Palace Theater, at 100 E. Main Street in downtown, had been built in 1922. By the early 1970s, it wasn't apparently in great shape, but it had a capacity of a few thousand and fantastic acoustics. It went from being an oversized movie house to a destination rock concert venue.
The New Riders had played the Palace in May 1972 (for different promoters), and now they returned to play for Finkel and Koplik. By pairing them with Hot Tuna, the weeknight show was a more appealing draw, while still providing a payday for both bands. The show would not have had to sell out to be worthwhile financially for all concerned. This very same night, about 200 miles Northwest of Waterbury, Finkel and Koplik were presenting the Grateful Dead in Utica, NY.
March 22, 1973 46th Street Rock Palace, Brooklyn, NY: New Riders of The Purple Sage/others (Thursday) (ABC In Concert Taping) broadcast May 11
In December, 1972 ABC debuted ABC In Concert, a bimonthly 90-minute rock show on Friday nights at 11:30pm. In Concert was instrumental in breaking open the late night market for TV networks, paving the way for Tom Snyder's Tomorrow and Saturday Night Live, because the show indicated that young people would stay up to watch interesting "non-family" TV. For suburban teenagers like me, ABC In Concert was like a portal to a New World. The shows were staged for TV, yes, but the bands were playing in real venues with their real equipment in front of a live audience. I was stuck in the suburbs, but at least I got a glimpse of all the bands touring the United States while I was in High School.
The New Riders appearance on ABC In Concert was filmed on a Thursday night in Brooklyn. The former Loew's Theater was called Banafish Gardens at the time. Back in 1970, the theater was briefly a competitor to the Fillmore East called The 46th Street Rock Palace. The Grateful Dead and the New Riders had headlined four thinly-attended shows on November 11-14, 1970. The 3000-capacity former movie theater had first opened in 1927, had been converted into a rock venue around October 1970. The
venue was located at 46th Street and 11th Avenue in Brooklyn, near Alben
Square. The venue booked some of the top touring acts: The Byrds, The
Youngbloods, the Dead, Jefferson Airplane and others. The venue had only been
open for a few weeks. There were plenty of Grateful Dead fans
in New York City, and plenty even in Brooklyn, but for whatever reasons
fans did not come to the 46th Street Rock Palace. By 1973, the theater was called Bananafish Gardens and periodically used for taping ABC In Concert, but it's not clear how many other times the venue was used.
The New Riders episode of ABC In Concert was broadcast on May 11, 1973. Other acts on the show were Hot Tuna, Jerry Lee Lewis and Gladys Knight And The Pips. I don't know for sure if all three of those acts also recorded this night in Brooklyn (I would bet that Hot Tuna did, since we know where they were the night before). At this time of the In Concert broadcast, I had all three New Riders' albums, but had never seen them live. When they jammed out on"Willie And The Hand Jive," teenage-me was thrilled: I had no idea they sounded that cool in concert. It's impossible to underestimate the impact of ABC In Concert (and competing shows on other networks) on expanding the audience for different touring bands during this era. The New Riders were no exception.
March 23, 1973 Capitol Theater, Passaic, NJ: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Ramblin' Jack Elliott (Friday)
For this weekend, pity poor John Scher. In New York at the time, Howard Stein and Ron Delsener promoted shows North of the Hudson River (New York City proper) and John Scher generally promoted shows South of it (in New Jersey). Scher's principal venue was the Capitol Theater in Passaic, NJ. Scher booked both the Grateful Dead and the New Riders throughout 1972 and '73. Scher had booked the New Riders at the Capitol for Friday, March 23, 1973, five days after the Felt Forum show. The New York City (Tri-State) metro area is so large that the Passaic show would have drawn a different crowd than the Felt Forum show, even though they were only 20 miles away from each other.
However, with the Dead having made a
surprise guest appearance at the Felt Forum show, and the Riders opening for the Dead, the buzz would have
been in the air, so everybody in New Jersey must have assumed that the
Dead were going to drop in at Passaic, too. Never mind if that's a
rational judgment: I guarantee you everybody standing in line for the
show that night had heard about New York (probably in a greatly
exaggerated fashion) and was fully expecting Jerry and the boys to make
an appearance. Anyone on the Deadheads mailing list could have seen that
the Dead were booked for Utica on March 22 and the Spectrum March 24,
so it would have seemed perfectly plausible.
The 1973
New Riders were a great live band, and I'm sure they put on a terrific
show at the Capitol. Kathleen Miller of the Paterson News gave the band a very positive review, although she didn't seem that familiar with the material. Still, I think that the audience was probably still let down. It
must have been tough for the Riders to rock through their best songs
while a crowd of Jersey Deadheads (plus some Philadelphia lunatics, of course)
shouted "Jerrrry!"
Per the Miller review, Ramblin' Jack's opening set was poorly received, even if he was backed on a few numbers on drums by actor Michael J Pollard. Sound problems marred Elliot's set, a common enough scenario for solo performers playing big halls.
March 25, 1973 Playhouse, Hofstra U., Hempstead, NY: New Riders of The Purple Sage (Sunday) early and late shows
The Hofstra University Playhouse was an 1105-seat theater on the Hofstra campus. Hofstra is a private college that was founded in 1935. It currently has about 10,000 students, although I don't know if it had that many in 1972. Ramblin' Jack sang at least one song with the New Riders in the early show, so I wouldn't be surprised if he opened the shows as well.
March 30, 1973 War Memorial Auditorium, Rochester, NY: Grateful Dead/New Riders of The Purple Sage (Friday) Festival Presents
The New Riders played a couple of Grateful Dead dates, where they had a chance to add to the Dead's audience and also pick up some new fans. Although the New Riders' audience overlapped about 100% with the Dead,
by booking them, the show was longer and more of an event, so it would
have been appealing to bored teenagers looking to fill up the whole
evening.
The Grateful Dead had been playing Rochester since 1970. After playing some smaller halls, they were moving up. The Community War Memorial Auditorium in Rochester had opened in 1955, and had a capacity of over 11,000 for concert (now the Blue Cross Arena).
We know that Keith Godchaux played piano on at least some of the New Riders' songs, possibly all of them. Keith would go on to sit in with the New Riders a number of times over the next two weeks, occasionally joined by his wife.
The Buffalo Memorial Auditorium (not "War Memorial") was a big old concrete block, built in 1940 with a concert capacity of around 18,000.
It's doubtful that the Dead sold out an 18,000 seater in Buffalo in
1973, even on a Saturday night. But they probably didn't have to. The
economics of the show were probably that the promoter could break even
on a half-filled arena, and the band and promoter split the overage. Why
was there such a big venue in Buffalo? Buffalo, in its way, is a symbol
of the history of the Erie Canal and New York State. When the Erie
Canal took hold in the 1830s, Buffalo was the gateway to Lake Erie and
thus the city was a critical transportation hub linking Canada, the
Atlantic Ocean (via the St. Lawrence Seaway) and Manhattan, all via
canals and later railways, feeding the Central and Upstate
manufacturers. In 1940, Buffalo had a population of 575,901.
By 1970, however, the world had changed and Buffalo was declining
significantly, with a population of only 462,768. It was shrinking
during the Baby Boom. Still, there were still a lot of people in
Buffalo, many of them young, and they wanted to rock and roll like
everyone else. The biggest local promoters were "Harvey 'N' Corky." The
independent production company was run by Corky Burger and two brothers,
Harvey and Bob Weinstein. After some years as successful concert
promoters, the Weinstein brothers moved into the movie business. Miramax
pictures was extremely successful in ensuing decades. Harvey Weinstein
is also widely known as a convicted rapist.
It's pretty likely that Harvey Weinstein, a former SUNY Buffalo student,
had had some engagement with a Howard Wales/Jerry Garcia concert in
Buffalo in January 1972, and at a New Riders show at SUNY Buffalo on April 12, so that probably provided a level of confidence for the
bands to book with an untried promotion company. Things must have gone
well, since the Dead played for Harvey 'N' Corky Productions again later
in the year, and again in 1977.
Once again, it's known that Keith Godchaux sat in with the New Riders for a few numbers, possibly more.
April 2, 1973 Boston Garden, Boston, MA: Grateful Dead/New Riders of The Purple Sage (Monday) Cable Music Presents
The Boston Garden, at 150 Causeway Street, was the city's principal arena. It had been built in 1928 and had a capacity of about 15,000. It was the home arena for both the NHL Boston Bruins and the NBA Boston Celtics. As a result, potential concert dates were limited. At this time, no specific promoter had an exclusive least on concerts at the Garden. Jim Koplik and Shelly Finkel were presenting the Dead for their debut at the Garden.
Boston was both awash in college students and a big city surrounded by suburbs, so it's no surprise that the Grateful Dead had a big following. Still, the Dead had played Boston less than you might expect prior to 1973. Nonetheless, per a Boston Globe review, the Dead managed to sell out the Boston Garden, even though it as a Monday night. Once again, booking the New Riders as part of the show seems to have been a strategy to help fill out the crowd when the Dead were playing in bigger places than they had played previously.
As a funny footnote, sometime earlier in the tour, David Nelson had told Robert Hunter that he had a dream where he was writing songs like "serving up cheeseburgers." Hunter then than turned up in Nelson's hotel in Boston with the lyrics to the song "Crooked Judge" (supposedly adding "do you want fries with that?"). Nelson would write the music, and the song would turn up in New Riders' sets in the Fall. It was later released on the 1974 album Brujo.
The Grateful Dead's Spring tour had ended at Boston Garden on Monday night, but the New Riders kept right on rolling. The next night, the band played their first gig for Boston promoter Don Law. The Grateful Dead had played for Don Law at the Boston Tea Party in October and December 1969, including New Year's Eve in Boston. Law was one of many promoters in the Boston area, but the Dead had not played for him since '69. By the mid-70s, the Grateful Dead would play the Boston area exclusively for Don Law, a relationship that remained intact until 1995. Similar to John Scher and Jim Koplik, it seems that the New Riders were the ones who re-initiated the Dead's relationship with Law.
Don Law Jr was the son of Columbia Records Staff Producer Don Law Sr (1902-1982). You can look up Law Sr's remarkable career, yourself, but among many other things he produced Robert Johnson's recordings (yes, that Robert Johnson) and became head of Columbia's Nashville division, steering the careers of the likes of Johnny Cash. Law also produced numerous legendary country hits himself, like "El Paso" (Marty Robbins) and "Battle Of New Orleans" (Johnny Horton).
Don Law Jr was a Boston University college student when he started presenting local events. By mid-1968 he ran the Boston Tea Party, Boston's principal underground rock venue. The Tea Party was particularly legendary for booking touring English bands like Jethro Tull and Ten Years After. Law also co-owned Boston's first full-time FM rock station, WBCN. WBCN began broadcasting on March 15, 1968, with dj's often spinning records from a studio on an upper floor of the venue itself (the all-night DJ, known as "The Woofuh Goofuh," was future J Geils Band lead singer Peter Wolf).
The tiny Tea Party had closed by the end of 1970. Law went on to book other venues, but initially he was just one of many promoters in the competitive Boston marketplace. There were numerous college students in the center of town, plus public transport to bring in teenagers from the suburbs, so there was a market for far more events than in some typical bohemian downtown neighborhood. Every hip band came through Boston, whether mainstream or underground, but they didn't just play one or two places.
By 1973, Don Law Jr's principal, though not only, venue was the 2700-seat Orpheum Theater, at 1 Hamilton Place. On this Tuesday night, Law booked Hot Tuna and the New Riders together, like so many other promoters. One interesting thing to consider is whether Keith and Donna Godchaux played with the New Riders this night, since we know they played at least two of the next three nights.
April 4, 1973 Atwood Hall, Clark U., Worcester, MA: New Riders of The Purple Sage (Wednesday early and late shows)
Worcester, MA is about an hour West of Boston, and the Grateful Dead had played at Clark University there in 1967 and '69. The Dead returned to Worcester on May 9, 1970, with the New Riders but this time at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. The bands had played Harrington Auditorium (at 100 Institute Road), built in 1968 and home to the school's basketball teams. The venue held about 3,000.
The New Riders now returned to headline Atwood Hall at Clark. Atwood has only 658 seats, so there were early and late shows. An archival cd of the complete show was released by Kufala Records in 2003. Keith Godchaux sat in with the New Riders for both sets, and Donna Godchaux sang a few numbers as well, including singing lead on Loretta Lynn's "You Ain't Woman Enough To Take My Man." Keith would have known all the New Riders material from all the shows the bands played together, and he adds a lot to the band's sound.
It's worth noting that the Godchauxs' presence couldn't have been casual. The Grateful Dead had returned home, and yet Keith and Donna stayed on tour. Bringing a piano player on stage also means that a piano has to acquired, and at Clark it seems to have been a grand piano. It may have been a university piano.
On Friday night the New Riders played Syracuse. I don't know the venue, but given that it was a weekend it could have been Loew's Theater, a 2900-capacity theater at 362 S. Salina Street. I'll bet Keith and Donna sat in, too.
April 7, 1973 McGonigle Hall, Temple U., Philadelphia PA: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Meters/Dr. John (Saturday) Electric Factory Presents
McGonigle Hall was a relatively new 3900-capacity basketball arena at Temple University. The arena had only opened in 1969, and was located at Broad and Montgomery, just North of downtown. The concert was co-promoted by the Temple Student Union and Electric Factory. The Electric Factory were Philadelphia's biggest rock promoters, and had been presenting the Grateful Dead since 1968 (and would continue through 1995). The size of the venue and Electric Factory tells us that the audience wasn't exclusively students, but also downtown rock fans (although Temple Students got tickets for $4 instead of $5).
The Electric Factory probably didn't expect the New Riders to sell McGonigle out, but by having a bigger venue they could absorb as big a crowd was available. The show must have been an absolute banger. Dr. John The Night Tripper had played with the New Riders many times in 1972. In late February, he had released his sixth album, In The Right Place, on Atco. It was Dr. John's best selling album, and it would reach #24 later in the summer. The signature hit single "Right Place, Wrong Time" would reach #10 in the Summer. There were other great songs on the album, too: "Qualified," "Such A Night" and "I Been Hoodoo'd," to name a few.
As if The Night Tripper wasn't enough, his backing band on this tour was the same as his album, namely New Orleans very own Meters. Each member of The Meters--guitarist Leo Nocentelli, organist Art Neville, bassist George Porter and drummer Ziggy Modeliste--was an absolute monster. So The Meters would play an incredibly funky set, Dr. John would come out, and then the New Riders had to follow that.
At least the New Riders came heavily armed. Keith Godchaux played electric piano for the whole show, and Donna sang on a few songs, including joining in for the "Honky Tonk Women." Such a night, indeed.
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| Newsday listing from April 7, 1973 for the Monday, April 9 New Riders show at Queens College |
April 9, 1973 Colden Auditorium, Queens College, Flushing, NY: New Riders of The Purple Sage (Monday) 7pm-9:30pm shows
The Grateful Dead had played Colden Auditorium at Queens College on October 10, 1970. Once again, the New Riders were following a prior trail.
Queens College had been established in 1937, and by 1970 was part of
CUNY (City University of New York). In 1970, the school had also adopted
an "Open Admissions" policy, allowing any New York High School graduate
to attend regardless of scores and grades. So, no matter what, it was a
forward looking place at the time. There were probably about 15,000
undergraduates in 1970. Colden Auditorium had been built on the campus in
1961, and had a capacity of 2,085. The fact that there were early and late shows suggest that the show was trying to draw people from around the area, not just college students.
April 14, 1973 [venue], Providence, RI: New Riders of The Purple Sage (Saturday)
A tour ad lists two final weekend dates, in Pittsburgh and Providence. Both seem very plausible, and these may have happened, but we can't find any confirmation.
Whenever the New Riders Northeastern tour exactly ended, the band returned to California and took most of the month off, prior to a run along the West Coast later in May. In between, however, there was one extremely interesting performance in downtown Los Angeles, a reminder that the hippie New Riders were signed to a very big corporation.
Columbia Records was the largest record label in the world, and also a division of the powerful Columbia Broadcasting System, so the label could do things on a scale beyond that of other labels. In early 1973, Columbia chose to book all their major acts in Los Angeles' finest theater for seven consecutive nights. The real purpose of this mini-festival was to showcase their acts for radio djs, talent agents and Columbia sales staff. This was commonly done at company sales conventions. At a typical sales convention, however, with the drinks flowing, newly-signed bands found themselves playing to drunk industry pros catching up on gossip with their pals. By selling tickets at a big theater, the hall was filled with regular civilians who liked the bands. It was more of a true concert atmosphere, and the pros could more fairly guage the impact of each band.
The Ahmanson Theatre had opened in 1967, as part of the Los Angeles Music Center. It was Los Angeles' premier theater, and regularly featured prominent Broadway productions. For the week of April 29-May 5, Columbia booked the 2084-capacity Ahmanson for seven nights, with three acts each night. The acts ran the gamut, as Columbia was prominent in rock, soul, country, jazz and pop styles. Billboard reviewed all seven nights, which were apparently 95% sold out (Part 1 is here, and Part 2 can be seen here).
The New Riders played Tuesday, May 1, headlining the show over Dr. Hook and The Medicine Show. Dr. Hook had released their album Sloppy Seconds, which included their lasting single "Cover Of The Rolling Stone." Opening the show was one Bruce Springsteen, who had released his debut album Greetings From Asbury Park in January 1973. Columbia recorded and filmed the shows professionally. Bits and pieces of all seven nights have turned up over the years. A tape of the five-song Springsteen set has circulated for decades, and a fragment of the video even turned up in a 1998 BBC documentary. Apparently the entire set can be found on YouTube now.
An unnamed Billboard reviewer ran down the Ahmanson show in the May 19, 1973 issue:
If any one artist captured the essence of what the week was really about it was Bruce Springsteen. Latest in Columbia's recent acquisitions of singer-songwriters (Bill Quateman & Andy Pratt) he has an appeal that borders on the universal...a glowing and vibrant performer in his own right.Conversely, the reviewer was scathing about Dr Hook, calling them "insufferably self-indulgent...instrumental sloppiness and vocal insipidity did nothing to salvage their performance."
All in all, the Riders came out fairly well. He says:
The New Riders of The Purple Sage have uncovered nothing new or outrageous, but they do what they do very well and with more than a little bit of inspiration. The mode is country, mellow and laid back yet ready to set off sparks at a moment's notice. Joined by Grateful Dead members Bob Weir, Keith Godchaux and Donna Godchaux they transformed the staid Ahmanson into a veritable hoe-down.
So Bob Weir made his last appearance with the New Riders, and Keith and Donna played yet another gig with the band, lending a little star power to the proceedings. This was never nothing in status-conscious LA. Also, given that we know the Springsteen material exists, it's just possible that there is professional audio and video of the May 1 NRPS Ahmanson show, deep in the Columbia vaults.
New Riders of The Purple Sage Status Report, May 1, 1973
By May, 1973, the New Riders of The Purple Sage had released three albums on Columbia Records, all of which had been moderately successful. The band had established themselves as a successful touring entity independent of Jerry Garcia. They were inevitably associated with the Grateful Dead, which was not at all a bad thing, but it made it harder to establish a fully separate identity. Long-haired country rock seemed to be rising in popularity, although no one suspected that the Outlaw Country sound coming out of Austin at this time would supersede it. The New Riders were becoming an established act in the Northeast, able to fill the smaller halls and college gyms that the Grateful Dead had been filling just a few years earlier.
For the next post in the series (NRPS Tour History May-Sep 1973) see here
