I saw this tour on November 30, 1973, in Des Moines, Iowa. I remember the strobe lights during the Karn Evil 9 drum solo. The part when Carl is playing the gongs, the drum set was spinning non-stop, and it was total darkness, except for the two strobe lights going back and forth. The gongs swung over the upward pointed strobes, sending huge insane shadows up the curtains and the wall behind the stage. I'd never known a drum solo to be frightening before, but with incredibly loud gongs and that church bell, and the darkness, and the strobes and the spinning. It was a wild weird moment. Spooky, but brilliant. This was just one of many intense moments on that tour.
Great video series. As you invited suggestions from viewers, may I suggest that you do a stage analysis of Yes' "Tales from Topographic Oceans" and "Relayer" tours. All the best to you and THANK YOU!!!
Thank you pal, it's a bliss that you liked them ❤️ Sure pal, suggestions are always welcome! In fact, I'm currently working on the TFTO tour, which will be the next episode, and Relayer has been added to the list 😉. Warmest wishes RockIsDeadTheySay :')
Fantastic work! This is my favorite album of all time and I have listened to it thousands of times over the years. I am astounded at the level of detail you put into this, down literally to the nuts and bolts of what made it happen. Thanks so much for all your information and hard work!
Thank you so much for your kind words, it's a real bliss that you liked it ❤️. And thank you so much for watching ❤️. Warmest wishes RockIsDeadTheySay :')
I still hold the Brain Salad Surgery,ELP tour, I witnessed Dec. 5 1973 at Cobo Hall in Detroit, as the very best Concert I ever saw out of many close competitors. They blew away the entire audience.
Thank you very much pal 😍 The Mirrors Tour will be done, but I'm not sure on which slot will be put. For now it will be done on Episode 19, but it's probable that it's gonna be sooner. Warmest wishes RockIsDeadTheySay :')
Thank you so much for this superb research, material, video, and insights! Still have hopes someday the complete Cal Jam 74 video will be found (like it happened with Deep Purple's show) and also that some nice soundboard recording of this Get Me A Ladder tour will appear (the triple album sounds terrible and the quadraphonic cartridge version of it has a lot of wow and flutter). Beggars cannot be choosers, but if may suggest, I would love if someday you could post a stage analysis about the Works tour with orchestra! Thanks again!
Thank you so much Daniel 😉, unfortunately, of all performances, Deep Purple was the only one which was required by contract to be given to the band in its entirety, everyone else had to deal with whatever length of footage ABC released during their specials in 1974. But I support you with that, there should be a better mixed album to show how ELP was like during those years. Suggestions are always welcome pal 😉 so the Works tour has been added for a future analysis. It'll be a long period before doing it, but I promise to make it. Warmest wishes RockIsDeadTheySay :')
@@RockIsDeadTheySay Your work is fantastic!!! I like to read/watch as much as I can about ELP since always. I've never ever found anything remotely covering about 10% of the info you've got on this tour. Comprehensive Info that not only you've shared but also explained it very well. Will check as soon as I can The Lamb videos and other cool stuff your channel has. Unbelievable! Thanks again!
Thank you very much 😁 everything starts with knowing where to research, but sometimes info is really scarce and dodgy, and sometimes the research process can take more than a year, which is scary. But I really like to do it 😉
This is the greatest album in my collection. I first got a copy when I was about 12 years old and it still excites me to this day to hear it. There's a lot of info here (specifically the lighting, the sound reinforcement, and the keyboard, bass, and guitar amplification) that I never knew. I'm not sure if anyone had done full-range speakers for the bass before this. I remember reading that that Moog Modular was good out to 100kHz and care had to be taken to not blow tweeters. I hope maybe someone will do a breakdown of what all is going on with the Modular during the show; it gets leaned on pretty hard.
Are you sure the screen moved up and down during the show? I just assumed that it was set up lower if some venues weren't as big. That being said I LOVE the idea of your series! I have a lot of interest in how live multimedia was being done in the '70s and a lot of it wasn't filmed. I met Carl Palmer after his art show in LA a few years ago and asked him about the projections during this tour, he confirmed that they were just still images (not motion-picture film) but didn't specify whether it was a slide-projector or how they did it. Also as a huge Pink Floyd fan, everyone today associates the giant circular screen with Pink Floyd but it's interesting to see that ELP had it about a year earlier ;)
If you had asked me 3 years ago, I'd tell you that I'm sure, but now, I'm not as sure to be honest 😅. They did put the screen on a lower position in smaller venues. Did you meet Carl and talked about this tour? What a great opportunity! ❤️ I tried my best to recreate the slides related to the album, because unlike Genesis, not many bands have shown their slides to the public. There are certain photos on the internet on which the slides appear way smaller than the screen itself, and that led me to the idea that the slides were used as color gels for a follow spotlight fixture; after all, the same technology was used for film and slide projectors. And yes, everyone talks about how Pink Floyd did it, but ELP was doing it prior, it's only that Pink Floyd did it bigger (I guess that happened the same that happened with The Endless Enigma and Speak To Me, regarding the initial beats). Thank you so much for watching, and thanks for loving the concept behind it ❤️. Warmest wishes RockIsDeadTheySay :')
Thank you very much for your words ❤️. Of course it's possible! Suggestions are always welcome, and after the one I'm doing right now (Yes' Tales From Topographic Oceans), I'll make Animals, and the next Floyd one will be The Wall, which will be done in episode 20, so hope that will do for now. Warmest wishes RockIsDeadTheySay :')
Great video! I enjoy the section breakdown of the stage rig and stage lights. Incredible information! However, for such intricate detail, such as the stage lights, you miss the information that has been documented in great detail. Here are same examples. You called the tour from November 1973 till August 1974 the "Get Me A Ladder" tour. It was not the "Get Me A Ladder" tour. The "Get Me A Ladder' tour was the short 1973 Spring European tour from March 30,1973 till May 4, 1973. The "Get Me A Ladder' tour was followed more than six months later, on November 14, 1973, by the tour to promote the Brain Salad Surgery album. Also, ELP did not use the "Proscenium Arch" on the 1973/1974 Brain Salad Surgery tour. It was used on the "Get Me A Ladder" tour. ELP did not use the "Proscenium Arch" again after the "Get Me A Ladder" tour. Greg Lake started the tour using the Fender Jazz Bass and stopped using the Jazz Bass and premiered the Gibson "Ripper" bass at the show on December 17, 1973 at Madison Square Garden. At that show he played a "wood-grained" front Ripper bass. After the shows at Madison Square Garden the band went on a month long tour break and when the tour resumed he switched to the black ripper bass. At no time on this tour did Greg Lake use the Jazz bass, the wood grained Ripper bass, and the black front Ripper bass in unison. He moved on from the Jazz bass to the wood grained ripper and then to the black front ripper. The history of Carl Palmer's percussion synthesizer is not linked to the Moog company. As early as 1971 the Moog company was working on creating a Moog Drum for Carl, and Carl did perform with the device on the UK Winter leg of the 1972 world tour. However, the Percussion Synthesizer Carl used on Toccata was invented by Nicholas Rose who was a member of the ELP entourage as an electronics technician and was a completely different device than what the Moog company had created for Carl two years prior. Later, in 1985, Nicholas Rose became Keith Emerson's keyboard tech.
Thank you very much for your involvement and bringing the facts to light. Back when I made this video, I wasn't aware of all the magnificent info you put here, but once I remake this video I'll take this into account for sure. Warmest wishes RockIsDeadTheySay :')
Another great job! Might I suggest, per your request: YES from any tour in '74 - '76? This would be supporting, Tales from Topographic Oceans; or Relayer; (most desirable, the '76 tour with the "Crab Nebula" stage set-up). Also, any Pink Floyd from '73 - '77 when they toured for Dark Side of the Moon; Wish you Were Here; and Animals. Finally, Kansas from their '77-'78 tour for the Point of Know Return album. Thanks!
Thanks for your kind words Kevin! It's a bliss that you liked it 😃. I'm already working on Yes' Tales From Topographic Oceans Tour, which will be the next one released, hopefully around July/August. The next one released will be Pink Floyd's Animal Tour, which if everything goes according to plan, will be released around Q4 this year. I got you sort of covered 🤣🤣🤣. I will do more PF and Yes tours in the future, but the only certainty I have is that The Wall Tour will be analyzed on episode 20, but I'm still not sure of where to put the remaining tours, and as I don't wanna repeat the same bands so often, other bands will be put in between, but don't worry, I'll do all of them at one point or another. Every one you asked has been added to the list, and the most probable thing is that Kansas will be your next request used for a stage video, around episode 16, but I still don't know when it will be released, so please, stay tuned 😉. Warmest wishes RockIsDeadTheySay :')
This video only gives a very basic simplistic overview of their gear at the time. Greg's bass rig was not totally custom made . But used JBL 4520 scoops, with JBL driver mids and Horns The mids had Folded lens nounted in order to direct and disperse the waves downward. A Mavis preamp and crossover . The DC 300s power amps were stock . The 4 Fender Super Reverb amps ( for guitar) were mounted 2 over 2 in a custom rack for easily rolling on / off the stage and were not modified in any additional way. Greg also used a Fuzztone pedal for guitar. His bass tone was one of the cleanest loudest that had ever been used live. If your gonna call it a "stage analysis ". Then do it right with accurate info. btw the persian carpet was bought by a road tech one day early in the tour The guy found it in a hi end carpet shop, bought it much to Greg's delight. He kept that carpet til his passing and it was recently auctioned off.
Why didn't I find you before? I love that you can recognize the details you mentioned, and those things weren't super easy to research, and of course didn't have when I've done it. But you don't need to brag like a douche about it.
He's doing some tremendous work with these videos. Instead of being a jerk in your "corrections", why not simply give him the updated info? I mean, seriously. What's wrong with you?
The Persian Carpet story is not correct. Greg initially said that the Persian rug was purchased to his surprise when he told the roadies to cover the black rubber mat and the roadies returned with the Persian rug. There are numerous photos from the 1972 world tour that shows Greg standing on a rug he had at least a year before he had the Persian rug. In an interview in 1973 Greg confessed that he himself purchased the Persian rug stating; "When I decided to buy a carpet I thought I might as well get one that was worth something." Quoted from the article titled "Welcome Back" by Johnson.
I've been fascinated by Greg's HiFi rig from when I first read about it in Greg's cover in GP magazine!! What an amazing sound he got!! 2k crown powered watts would definitely make for a clean HiFi sound!!
