The Worst Concert I Ever Attended

This is going to surprise every rock fan in the universe, but the worst(least professional) show I ever attended was LED ZEPPELIN at the Tarrant County Convention Center in FT Worth Texas on May 22nd 1977. It was originally scheduled for 2/27/1977, but was postponed till May. The band just didn't seem to want to be there. The show started almost an hour late(No backup band), and the sound mix was awful. The TCCC was not known for good acoustics to begin with, but this was really bad. During the song "In my time of dying" Jimmy Page accidentally unplugged his Les Paul and the band had to restart the song. The late John Bonham fell off his drum stool during his drum solo in "Moby Dick". Robert Plant's voice was under the weather and really raspy, and he had a case of the giggles at times. John Paul Jones seemed to be the only band member trying to put on a good show. To the credit of the audience I didn't hear anyone BOO or Catcall, but it would have been justified. Many years later i read an interview with Plant and Page where it was revealed that the band had a serious Heroin problem at that time. Man, it really showed in this concert, but at least I can say I saw them during the "Song remains the same" tour. The playlist was exactly the same as the album and movie.  

When AC/DC was a backup band

On July 29th 1977 I attended a MOXY/AC-DC concert at the Ritz theater in Corpus Christie Texas.
What made this lineup unusual was the fact that AC/DC were the backup band. They were touring to
support the "Let there be rock" album. The band was not well known in America yet. I had heard a couple of songs on the San Antonio radio station KMAC AM(yes: AM band), and I was familiar with the band MOXY because the late Tommy Bolin was involved in recording their first album. On a good night the KMAC signal was strong enough to reach Corpus and they played some really interesting and unusual rock for the AM format.
   The Ritz is an old movie theater in downtown Corpus. I've heard that it still exists and may be in the process of being restored. The cost for a ticket was $7.00(No kidding). All seats were general admission and I was in the front row of the balcony. AC/DC played for about 45 minutes, including a
one or two song encore. Bon Scott and the band were absolutely in control of the stage and the audience. Bon's stage presence was incredible, and the band just tore the roof off the place. I didn't know what to think of Angus Young's school uniform, but I was astounded by his guitar playing. They played most of the "Let there be rock album", including "Go Down, Let there be rock,Problem Child,and Whole lotta rosie". Some of the other songs they played were "T.N.T,The Jack,It's a long way to the top,High Voltage,and Big Balls". Bon carried Angus on his shoulders into the audience during one song and played the bagpipes on "It's a long way to the top" WOW!!!! During instrumental breaks in some songs he would go behind the amps and chug Jack Daniels, Heineken and huff on a big spliff. Now that's Rock and Roll. Within a year this band was headlining stadium venues. I was really sad when Bon passed away in 1979. The same kind of sadness when SRV passed away.
    Moxy put on a good show afterwards, but how could anyone compete with the raw power that preceeded them. I would recommend that everyone search out the first Moxy album(self titled), because its a really good rock album. It was recorded and mixed very well, and the band could really rock out. All in all a great concert by two relatively unknown bands at that time in a small venue where every seat was a good one. Amen....... 
  

Why did Ozzy walk off stage in Dallas 8/24/1975

I attended a Black Sabbath concert in Dallas Texas on August 24th 1975. The tour was for the "Sabotage" album. It took place at Memorial Auditorium(now called the Dallas Convention Center). Brownsville Station was the backup band. During the show Ozzy walked off the stage in the middle

 of "snowblind". This was the 3rd or 4th song of their set. The band continued playing for a few more notes and then stopped and walked off stage too. The house lights came on and after about 15 to 20 minutes Ozzy came back onstage and started a speech about how rock and roll is free, and let my people go(WTF??). The band then started the song over and completed the concert. Great concert, but I still have not been able to find out what caused the walk off. If anyone knows the answer add a comment to this blog. The next morning I had to attend the first day of school for my senior year at Arlington HS. That was a rough day.

Judas Priest's first gig in America

I may have attended Judas Priest's first american gig 6/19/1977. They were the first band in a three band concert at "Texas Hall" on the campus of the University of Texas Arlington(UTA). The headliner was REO Speedwagon and Journey was the middle act. The Priest was touring for the "Sin after Sin" album. Robert Halford announced from the stage that this was their first gig in America. This was before he started opening shows by riding a Harley onstage. I remember that he did use a mike stand that was covered in small mirrors. This was a great show, even though they only got to play about 45 minutes. I also remember that i wasn't much of a Journey fan at that time(still not) and got bored about halfway through the REO set. This is the only concert that I left before the concert was over. The other two bands didnt rock hard enough for me after The Priests set. The audience went crazy during their set and gave them everything a band could ask for from its audience. This probably explains why the band likes the DFW area, and why one of their concert DVD's was recorded in Dallas.

Rock and Roll Vaudeville

Buy Poster from link at page bottom.

I attended one of the most amazing rock concerts ever on july 3rd 1977 in Fort Worth Texas at the Tarrant County Convention Center. The headliner was Alice Cooper. This was the Lace and Whiskey tour. True Rock and Roll Vaudeville. The stage show was mind blowing. I also was dodging fireworks that were being exploded by members of the audience. The show was almost stopped due to the amount of bottle rockets, etc that were going off. The stage show started off with a set of lips talking on a big screen set up behind the drum riser. It was similar to the beginning of the Rocky Horror Picture show. Alice, disguised as a roadie was enticed by the lips to plug in a giant electric cord into a giant wall socket to power up the stage. The lips then asked him to come closer to the screen so she could give him a kiss of thanks. Instead, the lips sucked him through the slits in the screen and started chewing him up. They then said "now thats entertainment" as blood was drooling out of the mouth. The show then started with "No more mr. nice guy". WOW......The stage show included a mock hanging, a guillotine "haircut", Alice chopping up baby dolls, and large dancing spiders. I was seated in the front row of the LOGE and during the show some IDIOT in the upper balcony threw a military style smoke grenade which whizzed by my right ear before it landed on the floor. It missed my head by about 6 inches. I could have easily been killed by it. Better luck next time: I'm still here !!!!!

(Disclaimer-Capt Bootleg is not connected to company selling poster)

Buy the poster here. A great Poster Bought at the Alice Cooper Lace and Whiskey concert Tour 1977. The Poster is in VG++ Rolled. 31 YEARS OLD WOW..... Paypal, Bank or Postal Moneyorder.
www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/alice-cooper-concert-poster-77-lace-and-whiskey

#1 concert of all time

Welcome to thecaptbootleg concert blog. My purpose is to share my knowledge of some of the many Rock Concerts that I attended from1974 to the present day. Most of them are in the Dallas/Ft Worth and Houston areas, but some were in Corpus Christi and Lubbock. I was fortunate enough to have attended almost 200 shows during the era that saw Rock Concerts evolve from simple get togethers to stadium venues. I am going to list the top ten best concerts that I saw. There will be an individual blog for each one of the top ten. After that I will talk about many other shows that had unusual and/or strange occurrences during them. Best Show of all time. #1 of the top ten.

Queen 12-10-1977. Tarrant County Convention Center. Ft Worth Texas. Tour promoting "News of the World" album. This tour was documented on the album "Live Killers". The stage was rather unique. It had three runways that extended into the audience, kind of like a trident, that allowed the band to walk about 4 or 5 rows into the audience. The lighting rig was shaped like a crown that was connected to the stage with a 10 or 12 foot curtain. At the start of the show the curtain parted, the crown rose and the band started "We will rock you". The Sound quality of the show was excellent. The band was able to reproduce the sound of their albums perfectly. The vocals were exceptional... All in all, the best of the best.....Postscript: Freddie Mercury had to be the best showman/entertainer/musician/singer in the history of Rock and Roll. I remember he did several costume changes during the show. There are several Queen concerts available on DVD, but I think the best one is "Queen Rocks Montreal". Watch this show and I think you will agree with me that Freddie was a unique talent. The show I attended lasted about 3 and a half hours with a 20 minute intermission about halfway through. There was no backup band. One of my favorite memories was Roger Taylor singing "I'm in love with my car" because I am a car nut par excellence. 

My youtube link is www.youtube.com/thecaptbootleg