Amazing how music can take you back in time. I know exactly where I was sitting the first time I pulled the wrapping off the album cover, and played this for the first time.

The little things in our lives turn out to be our memories. I remember my sister who played the flute being real excited when I brought home the album Benefit. She couldn't wait to buy Aqualung and then her most favorite Thick as a Brick

The gear changes they go through are great.
Another I like a lot because of the way it builds as it goes is this one, which looks like it may be from the same show.

In74 or 75 around that time
At one time I had everything they put out ( almost) I think there were gift sets and limited editions I didn't pick up. Loved skating away on the thin ice of a new day. H
Ian Anderson did have a way with words.

Probably 9 or 10 thousand people.
It was the Minstrel In The Gallery tour.
We had backstage passes, and met John Evan & Martin Barre, but didn't get to meet Ian. He was using the facilities while we were there.
Fun fact: Martin plays flute, too.
So, both he & Ian play guitar & flute!
I have Martin in my Top Five most underrated rock guitarists. His excellence fits in perfectly with an excellent & adventurous band.

Last edited Fri Sep 27, 2024, 05:21 PM - Edit history (2)

I've gone to over 100 concerts in my lifetime never had vackstage passes. Closest I got was when summerfest first started and the " stage" eas a piece of plywood on top of some pallets and there were folding chairs for seats. Saw Chuck Berry. Chaka Chan, Bob Seger . Steve Miller, Boz Scaggs, and others I can't recall right now up close. Chuck Berry even jumped off the platform and got real close to the seating. I liked Summerfest better then, lots more grass and less cement.

The backstage pass thing was a lucky accident.
The city wouldn't allow the use of their facilities, unless the promoter had a local partner with a non-profit.
My dad was a high mucky-muck with the 1,000 member KofC council. So, the promoter, who was in the KofC, came to him. My dad got 2% of the gate & 4 backstage passes for any show brought to town.
The reason I ask about Chaka, is that the 3 band Monday concerts each summer for 6 or 7 years included Rufus for about 4 years, and they played twice at least one year.
So, we actually met Chaka. She was 18 when we first met her. I was 15. That whole band was super friendly. Really good folks; no attitudes.
We had passes to probably 70 shows over those years.

Like the s for a or I for o etc. Or sometimes i hit such odd keys that autocorrect puts in strange words. Yeah my daughter was like 4 or 5 at the time so it had to be 74 or 75 and she was dancing and they looked like they had a hard time keeping from laughing.

Laughed readily at everybody's jokes. Even dumb ones!