Rock Concerts: 1966 To 2026
By
Leonard Zwelling
Regular readers of this blog may recall that in my youth, as a Duke junior, I ran the Major Attractions Committee. This was the arm of the Student Union that brought the big name, popular music groups to campus. The year before, I served as the host for these acts and was privileged to meet the following performers over these two years:
Simon and Garfunkel
Marvin Gaye
Aretha Franklin
Janis Joplin (with the Full Tilt Boogie Band)
The Rascals
The Turtles
The Lovin’ Spoonful
Martha and the Vandellas
The Fifth Dimension
Linda Ronstadt (with the Stone Poneys)
The New York Rock and Roll Ensemble
Mitch Ryder
I may have left out a few.
The music these performers made was highly varied, but almost of all of these artists had two things in common.
First, they played the music. They did not have elaborate stage shows with hordes of dancers and dry ice fog rolling over the stage. The sound systems we had then were comparatively primitive to those of today. If there was an opening act, old-fashioned amplifiers had to be rolled on and off the stage. Drum kits, too. Guitars needed to be attached to amplifiers with cords. Monitor sound for the performers to hear what the audience was hearing came through speakers on stage, not through their ear pieces. Technology has made performing easier for today’s musicians.
Second, the shows I ran started on time. The one exception was Simon and Garfunkel who flew into Durham on a small, private plane the evening of their show and rushed to Cameron Indoor Stadium to do a sound check before the audience was admitted. It was worth the wait. They were pleased with the sound. We were all pleased. It was a hell of a show for $3.50 a ticket with no opening act.
My actual first rock concert took place two years before during Father’s Weekend when my Dad drove down from Long Island with some other men to visit their sons at Duke. The real Four Seasons put on a great show in Cameron even though it was a bit loud for my Dad’s taste.
Through the Sixties I also saw many shows at the Fillmore East on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. This included six Jefferson Airplane shows, the Youngbloods, Steppenwolf, the Who, and Albert King. Again, the great Fillmore impresario Bill Graham made sure the shows started on time and the break between acts as one group’s roadies carted off the amplifiers and another group’s carted theirs on, was kept to a minimum.
That was then. This is now.
On Monday evening, March 9, the BW and I took son Andrew and his wife Danielle to see Lady Gaga at the Moody Center in Austin.
First, let’s talk about the crowd.
In my day, 60 years ago, the garb of the average concert goer was blue jeans, tee shirts (some tie dyed), and very long hair.
Lady Gaga’s audience was the epitome of DEI and wokeness. It was very amusing that this took place on the UT campus where our state legislature has banned DEI in the classroom. It was alive and well at the Moody Center where the UT basketball team plays. Men were wearing dresses. Women were wearing almost nothing—bare bottoms and breasts were falling out of skimpy outfits. The tattoos were rampant and so was the Goth make-up. I really did feel like I was the odd man out—well, sort of. Most of the men were definitely out as were the women. Gaga attracts a truly diverse group. I saw one other straight man over 65.
But, that is all neither here nor there. It’s about the show, right? Here are the differences between now and then.
The stage show now is everything. Gaga’s told a complicated story that I had to look up to understand, but was essentially her life on a psychoanalyst’s couch. She’s at war between the good Gaga and the monster Gaga. No matter, because the music was the hits and she certainly puts on a show. She is not a great dancer, but has a powerful voice which doesn’t quit for two and a half hours. It was a tour de force and the crowd ate it up. These Little Monsters loved Mother Monster.
But here’s where the unprofessionalism has spilled from politics and academic medicine into show business. Precisely at 8 PM, the called for show time, I looked around. Most of the crowd of 15,000 were seated. But, instead of coming out on time, Gaga appeared at 8:45. There was no opening act. There are no amps to move any more. Her crew had just run the same show the night before. The stage was ready. This delay is just rude.
I am more than ready to admit that the technology and audio is better than anything I could have imagined when I ran concerts in 1968. I have seen a number of these stage galas recently. Frankly, I don’t need them. I’m there for the music.
The performers, however, are far less professional now than they were 60 years ago despite their great talent. That is a digression in showmanship.
When you have 15,000 people waiting—show up—on time. There is no excuse for this unprofessional behavior of which we have seen a great deal. Madonna is famous for it. Stop it! People are waiting. Sing!
As for the music, this is now three concerts of modern performers that the BW and my son have taken me to—Teddy Swims, Benson Boone, and Lady Gaga. Both Teddy Swims and Lady Gaga can sing. They don’t need the elaborate stage show and tens of musicians. In fact, all that stuff gets in the way of their music. Benson Boone appeals to twelve-year-olds and while he does great back flips his music is pretty vapid. I would listen to none of the music of any of these three acts on my SONOS system, and I have tried.
Three strikes and I’m out. No more concerts for me from those on Top 40 radio, if that’s still a thing.
Yes, I loved Haim. I think these women are talented. I really like their music which is pretty much rock the way it used to be. Oh yes, and they just play and sing. What a concept for a concert. Just like 1968.
