Originally Posted by John_W
(Post 1912253)
1969 and I was 19, and it was Vanilla Fudge. Two years before I in the 11th grade and You Keep Me Hanging On was played on the radio non-stop, in fact in the morning I remember I couldn't leave for school until I heard that song. They came to the Amory in St. Petersburg just off 34th Street South. I got a ticket for about $5 and went. It had no seats, about 2,000 people and you had to sit on the floor. The opening was 5 local bands, each did about half an hour. I don't think any of them made it big, I just remember one sounded like the Association and another had the name The Electric Chairs.
Vanilla Fudge was incredible and Carmen Appice is still my favorite drummer, he was a show in himself. I never saw a drummer before that wore gloves and had a double kick drum. The singer, the Hammond organ, the whole effect was great.
I had one other experience that year, but it didn't start out that way. It was in September I had just started back at SPJC and me couple of other guys decided to go the Bayfront Center to see George Carlin. He was on theater side which held 2,200, it has since been torn down for the Dali Museum. At the box office they said the 8:00 show is sold out, but come back at 10:00 we have seats.
There's nothing to do in St. Petersburg at night back in 1969 for two hours, especially if you're not 21. Someone said, let's to the Electric Zoo out by the airport, you can get in even if you're not 21. We go, I remember a girl in the parking lot asking us for $3.50 to get in, that's how I remember the price.
We walk in and they stamp your hand a different color and give you free Coke, not a bad deal. I go around to see the band and it's two drummers, one white and one black. I hear a singer but I don't see who's singing, I see it's the guy sitting down behind the keyboard. Everybody was not watching him, but this guy with long blonde hair in front waling away on a red guitar.
We watched them all night, then the headliner came out. It was Cat Mother & the All Night Newsboys. Their claim to fame was Jimi Hendrix produced their album. If you liked Loggins & Messina type music, they would be a poor man's version. We all yelled and clapped and said bring back the other band. Which they did, and they played until 2am. When finished, the singer said, our debut album comes out in 2 months and I hope you buy it, our name is The Allman Bros.
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