Arena Rock and Me

Yes  15 August 1977  Providence RI

Starship Trooper -- Yes -- 15 Aug1977 -- Providence RI

Mid to late 1970's -- the height of the Rock and Roll era. If you lived in a decent-sized market, it seemed like there was a big show every week. If your favorite band was touring, chances were good they'd be coming to your town. By now, Rock (as the genre had come to called) had wide appeal, with a broad audience from the 12-year-olds to the young adults of the Baby Boom generation. There was enough cash burning holes in the pockets of all those Levi's to move the big shows out of the theaters and into the arenas.

Into halls built for basketball ... Shitty seats, horrible sound, parking hassles, hearing damage ... although the last was part of the appeal. But it was the BUZZ that made it all worthwhile ... the indescribable feeling you'd get from a surging, converging crowd of 10,000 fellow travelers gathering to get drunk, get high, and soak in some mega-decibels.

I was born and raised in Rhode Island, and the local arena was the Providence Civic Center, featuring the big acts of the day, and boy, were there plenty (Sinatra! Elvis! Zeppelin!) Saw some good shows there. Here's a tale of one of the better ones.*

My buddy Dave and I started the evening as was customary, at the local Lum's for a burger and a couple of icy Schooners. Then up I-95 to Downtown Providence. Our seats were OK, stage left, about half-way up, set back just enough for a decent angle and a good view. Sound was surprisingly good.

Donovan, with a full electric band, was the opening act. Don't remember much, except he and the band all wore matching Hawaiian shirts. Great versions of "Season of the Witch" and "Atlantis", the latter closing out the set.

But I was there to see one of my very favorite bands, Yes. Steve Howe, Chris Squire and Rick Wakeman were among the very top instrumentalists of that era, and I have always loved Jon Anderson's voice. The first three albums were sensational and are still among my favorites. If they were on, it was guaranteed to be a great show.

And it was a great show, but I'll be damned if I can recall any particular musical highlights. Maybe it was just that everything they played was good. The only song I remember was "Roundabout", and only because they played it for their obligatory phony encore. Since it was the only hit the band had, they weren't getting out of the building alive if they didn't play it. After taking their bows, most of the instruments were taken off the stage, and the houselights began going up. But the audience kept up such a racket that the band came back and played a real encore, and burned the house down with what I now know (see below) was a knockout version of "Yours Is No Disgrace."

Other memories: I thought I saw Chris Squire play a three-necked bass (beating Jimmy Page's renowned Gibson EDS-1275 by one), and pretty sure Rick Wakeman had a mini pipe organ onstage. Steve Howe had a host of guitars arrayed behind him, but I don't think he played even half of them. There was a primitive (by today's standards) laser show up in the rafters of the arena. I thought it was pretty nifty and could see (or imagine) geometric shapes form from the intersection of swiveling laser beams.

Years later, I found a live audience recording of this show. Yup, it was a pretty good show, alright. And sure enough, the fake encore was indeed Roundabout. There are some photos of that night here, and, yup, Chris Squire was playing a three-necked bass. More photos from a 8 August 1977 show in New Haven CT. Can't find any photos of that mini pipe organ, though. But pretty damn sure I can hear it in the recording.

You can listen to one of the highlights from the show at the link at the top of the page. "Starship Trooper" is probably my favorite Yes song, and that night featured dueling solos from Howe and Wakeman.

When I turned 18, and I could legally drink alcohol, I quickly discovered that I enjoyed sitting in a small club listening to music, even from a cover band, more than dealing with the hassles seeing a big band in a huge arena. The clubs had good audio, waitress service, and there wasn't a one-hour crawl to leave the parking lot. But more importantly, I really dug the Punk/New Wave revival that popped up in the late 70's. That was the music I listened to up through the 80's, and those bands all played in clubs; and, to my taste, played better music. After leaving Rhode Island in 1978 I only attended three arena shows: Heart and Bruce Springsteen in Champaign IL (1978), and The Grateful Dead in Landover MD (1981). I can't imagine ever attending another, unless Led Zeppelin should decide to tour again, which seems unlikely.

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* The Providence Civic Center, known for many years (2001-2022) as the Dunkin' Donuts Center, has recently re-sold naming rights, and is now the Amica Mutual Pavilion. And please, the events described above all took place 45 years ago, and various substances had been consumed. I can't swear that every particular thing in this reminiscence is correct.