Jan 012013
After viewing this concert I can’t think of a band I’d feel more comfortable bringing home to meet my family than 1976-era ELO—and their equally polite audience. Excuse me, Jeff: please pass the salt when you’re done with it.
After viewing this concert I can’t think of a band I’d feel more comfortable bringing home to meet my family than 1976-era ELO—and their equally polite audience. Excuse me, Jeff: please pass the salt when you’re done with it.
Your highlighting of appropriately polite audiences reminded me of a couple of examples of inappropriately polite audiences.
I remember seeing a clip of Led Zeppelin performing in 1969 in front of a French audience that sat in theater seats very close to the stage but showed no reaction as Page/Plant/et al unleashed their monster groove right up in their faces at full thrust.
Then, earlier this year, I was linked to an incredible performance by Marva Whitney and the JBs on the Mike Douglas Show, also around 1969. It was perhaps the funkiest shit I’ve ever heard, and the audience sat there like they were watching a funeral. Speaking of which. Ms. Whitney just passed away the other day. Here’s the clip of that performance:
http://youtu.be/7PKpQwQ4ZGQ
I know the Zeppelin performance you refer to. You are so right on both counts.
I didn’t know about Marva Whitney’s death. I’d never heard of the woman until maybe 6 months ago, when I purchased a collection of records produced by James Brown and featuring the JBs. Her stuff is among the best of that bunch of records.
Same here. I had some Bobby Byrd and Maceo and the Macks tracks on an old mixtape and when I went to find them on CD earlier this year, I came across that series of James Brown’s Funky People. I think there are three volumes.