Togs, a new band formed in Brooklyn, are self-releasing their debut EP More of Your Favorites today. Set to a groove-laced indie rock jam, a cyclist out for a cruise gets mugged and chases his attackers into a twisted disco nightmare. The release is accompanied by the adventurous music video for lead single “Disco Ball Shoes”.
“Disco Ball Shoes” via YouTube
After first coming together in 2018, Togs found a new stride while living through the pandemic by playing socially-distant shows from their stoop in Bedford-Stuyvesant. The stoop was upgraded to an outdoor, backyard venue where full-day shows became regular programming. Back in May, Togs headlined a party for a full-house and played the final version of More of Your Favorites for the first time. The band has natural chemistry and were noticeably “at-home” playing in front of friends, family, and strangers who heard the music from the street.
More of Your Favorites Cover Art, Designed by Graci Mills
Specializing in “angular music suitable for aqua-aerobics, wave simulation, and so much more,” the original 4-piece lineup consists of Graci Mills on guitar and keys, Colin Vallee on guitar and vocals, Abbie Krinsky on drums and vocals, and Justin Birmingham on bass and vocals. New member Tony Catalano joined the group in 2021 to round out the live show on guitar and effects.
You can see Togs this Friday, July 16th, headlining a release party at Gold Sounds in Bushwick with support from Night Coast and Plastic Hag. You can find the EP on their BandCamp or Spotify pages.
Togs Headlining the Doomyard, 5/22/2021 – Photo By: BuscarPhoto
Check out more photos from May’s Doomyard show below and keep your eyes peeled for more shows to come this summer.
With COVID-19 restrictions abating and live music emerging from the shadows, Summerland Tour 2021 is out in full force. It’s a rock ’n roll road show merging alternative acts in a festival atmosphere. The annual tour, conceived in 2012 by Art Alexakis, front man for Everclear, varies the lineup year to year.
Everclear
The Summerland Tour 2021 assemblage consists of Living Colour, Hoobastank & Wheatus and headliners Everclear. Prior to this year’s excursion, Alexakis shared, “After personally fighting Covid—19 for two months and managing the lingering symptoms, I’m so grateful that the numbers are going down, the vaccines are going up, and that we’re getting the chance to tour the U.S. again. I couldn’t be more proud of this year’s lineup of legendary alternative bands.”
Wickham Falls
Opening at the Orange County Fair Speedway stop was Wickham Falls. A local Warwick N.Y. four-piece who shared songs from their debut album To Pluto. With the night’s appetizer served, Alexakis came out, welcomed everyone, and shared praise for the acts on this year’s tour.
Art Alexakis, Everclear
Stepping into Summerland 2021, Wheatus took over. Opening with “Break it Don’t Buy It,” the band flowed through a seven-song set this night. Featured was an AC/DC cover ( “Rock ‘n Roll Damnation”), and they closed with the HBO, Netflix and film -featured tune “Teenage Dirtbag.”
Wheatus
As the day transitioned from afternoon into evening, a storm started looming on the horizon. With no regard for the inevitable, Hoobastank kept things moving, performing tunes from their Hoobastank, The Reason, and Every Nan for Himself albums.
Hoobastank
Three acts in, the musical heat was being turned up. But the dark clouds in the west had other plans. As Corey Glover, Vernon Reid, Will Calhoun, and Doug Wimbish were stepping on stage, it started to rain. Without hesitation, the band tore into “Type.” Nature, not to be outdone, then engulfed the speedway in a deluge. As if meteorologically energized, Living Colour didn’t look back and played through, finishing up with “Cult of Personality.” Having left it all out there, both the band and the storm exited the stage.
Living Colour
The house quickly jumped into action to pump out, dry off and prep for headliner Everclear. With the band and crew plugging in for the start of their set, Alexakis took center stage and called out everyone: the audience, crews and house support teams, for their stoicism during the torrent of rain and shared how great it was to be playing out once again. Starting with the apropos “Summerland,” Everclear took the slightly waterlogged but enthusiastic crowd through a thirteen-song set that included “Heroin Girl” and “Father of Mine.”
Summerland Tour 2021 is scheduled through September. So if you can’t get to a festival this year, no worries, let the festival come to you.
With the postponement of their annual summer festival Camp Bisco, The Disco Biscuits decided to pivot and still find a way to treat their fans to some great music last weekend. The solution came in the form of City Bisco – two nights of Biscuits at the Mann Music Center in their hometown of Philadelphia, with some of their friends along for the ride.
The DJ triumvirate that is Orchard Lounge kicked things off on Friday night with their infectious blend of hypnotech house and downtempo musical soundscapes. This set the table nicely for Lotus, who would play an opening set each night. Friday’s set saw a blend of their newer material like “Free Swim” along with classics like “Greet The Mind” and a massive “Flower Sermon.”
The Biscuits started the first of their two shows in theatrical fashion, with a first time cover of “Gonna Fly Now,” better known as the theme to Rocky. The inspired opening set even included a “Tractorbeam” segment, an electronica-heavy sequence that sees the band covering or playing along to the influence of another DJ which, until now, have normally been reserved for second sets.
The second set featured songs like “Astronaut” and “Running Into The Night” both broken up into two sections which helped sandwich “The Great Abyss.” The Biscuits also brought out their comrade Tom Hamilton, from Ghost Light and JRAD, to assist on the encore.
City Bisco Night One TD Pavillion at the Mann – Philadelphia, PA 7/9/21
Set 1: Gonna Fly Now > Spaga, Run Like Hell, > Spacebirdmatingcall > Tractorbeam Jam (Terje) > Spacebirdmatingcall
Set 2: Astronaut > Running Into The Night > The Great Abyss > Clocks > Tractorbeam Jam (Eden) > Astronaut > Running Into The Night
Encore: Humuhumunukunukuapu’a > Run Like Hell
Luke the Knife handled opening DJ duties for Saturday’s night two of City Bisco. He was followed by another scintillating set of music from Lotus, setting the tone for the evening nicely again.
What came next was nothing short of a classic Disco Biscuits show, with a perfect blend of classic and new material and, yes, another Tractorbeam sequence each set. The first set alone had a little bit of everything: an old school opener in “Mulberry’s Dream,” an exhilarating “Champions,” the middle section only of “Crickets,” and the first “Trucker’s Choice” in nearly four years.
The second set opened with another vintage Biscuits song in “Mindless Dribble” which set the table for a ferocious take on the newer “Anthem.” And the “Tractorbeam” sequence in this set was based off of original material instead of covering someone else. After two nights of fantastic music, surrounded by fans and friends alike, there was only one logical musical selection to wrap up the weekend and City Bisco, “We Like To Party.”
City Bisco Night Two TD Pavillion at the Mann – Philadelphia, PA 7/10/21
Set 1: Mulberry’s Dream, Reactor > The Champions > Tractorbeam Jam (Revive) > Crickets > Trucker’s Choice
Set 2: Mindless Dribble > Anthem > Gamma Goblins > Tractorbeam Jam (Original) > Abraxas > Story Of The World
Lettuce finished two nights in the Adirondacks as part of their “bring back the love” Summer 2021 and converted Charles R Wood Park to “Lake George Duke,” in honor of funk keyboardist George Duke. Lettuce founding member Sam Kininger special guested on Saturday night.
“Sam’s The Godfather of Lettuce, he believed in us before we did,” said Lettuce drummer Adam Deitch. The current Lettuce hybrid batch has guitarist Adam “Shmeeans” Smirnoff on guitar, Nigel Hall keyboards/vocals, Adam Deitch on drums, Erick “Jesus” Coomes On Bass, Ryan Zoidis on saxophone and trumpeter Eric “Benny” Bloom. The groups second to last New York show was at the Capitol Theater on 4/20 with special guest John Scofield.
Friday night included a two set performance and encore. The evenings highlight was an original off Lettuce 2008 album Rage! “By Any Shmeeans Necessary” mixed with a New York instrumental tribute to Notorious B.I.G. The band laid down the original funk track “Juicy Fruit” that the Brooklyn artist sampled.
Rolling off this great energy the band put on an epic Saturday night show with special guest Sam Kininger. Sam’s on stage presence was the ultimate “Break Out” for live sets this year. The second set culminated in another New York nod for “Madison Square.” It got everyone on the bandstand lifted with the grooving audience.
This was Uticat’s Kininger second live performance this year. He played his sons wedding at the Stanley Theatre in Utica where he last performed with Lettuce on November 20 2019. “The Sam Fam” were all in attendance for a funked up reunion on the newly crowned “Lake George Duke” Guitarist Micheal Wooten said of the performance “You can tell they are having fun again up there” The band encored with a kickin cover of the James Brown classic “Funky Drummer.”
Drummer Adam Deitch and Bass player Erick “Jesus” Coombs kept the Saturday night groove going at KRIS & Co featuring Ryan Dempsey after show party in town. The duo jammed on the spot to samples of the Grateful Dead’s “Shakedown Street” and J.J. Cale’s “Cocaine.”
Lettuce kept burning in the Empire State on Wednesday July 14 for their third New York date, this time at Lewiston’s Artpark. The historic park stage sits next to the running Niagara River across from Canada. The band and audience played off the great landscape for a three hour set and encore. The sunset over the border brought out a third stone from the sun tease by guitarist Adam Smirnoff. The crowd responded to Lettuce outbursts of groove by throwing heads of actual fresh produce lettuce in the air during the performance.
The band resonated by debuting a brand new song not on the setlist named “The Lock,” off an upcoming record. Lettuce is bringing back the love this summer and knocking out crowds along the way. Nigel Hall’s vocals over the grooves, “Think I’d better let it go, looks like another love T.K.O. (Oh, Oh)” during a Teddy Pendergrass Cover.
The band encored with “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Tears for Fears to keep this ’80s-style New York summer resurgence of live music. Lettuce returns to New York at Brooklyn Steel on November 6 2021.
Lettuce 7/9/21 Lake George, NY: Blaze, MR Shminklehuffer, Kron Dutch, Shmink Dabby, By Any Shmeans Necessary( Don’t stop the music/Juicy Fruit) Ready to Live, Larimar, Trilogy->Trap->Makin my way->Checker Wrecker, Suppit, Do it like You do Encore: RVA Dance
Lettuce 7/10/21 Lake George,NY: Luck of Lucien->Krewe, Pocket Change, Gratitude, Mr Yancey, Sam Huffs Flying Machine->Squadlive Royal highness, Supit, Don’t Change, Breakout–>Relax, Nyack–>Madison Square Encore: Do it like you do (funky drummer)
Lettuce 7/14/21 Lewiston, NY: New Reel, Royal Highness, In the Middle -> Silence is Golden, SquadLive, Fly, Phyllis, Love TKO, RVA Dance Encore: Everybody Wants to Rule the World
Lettuce guitarist Adam “Shmeeans” Smirnoff and drummer Adam Dietch spoke with NYS music about past, present and future music experiences in the state.
Matthew Romano: Tell me about some music you have seen live in New York State that helped put the groove in you
Adam “Shmeeans” Smirnoff: I remember my Uncle bringing me to see Stanley Jordan at the Blue Note in NYC. That blew my mind as a kid. I have all these different ages of seeing things that changed me. One of my first concerts was Robert Cray “Forecast Calls for Pain Tour.” At 17 years old I saw Phish at Jones Beach for the first time and it helped me understand you could build a grass roots audience. You didn’t need to be on the radio. You could follow your own path. That’s how Lettuce has aimed itself.
AS: Does seeing the Grateful Dead In 1990 at the old Giants stadium count? Sting opened and Branford Marsalis sat in on “Eyes of the World.”
Seeing Prince at Madison Square Garden has to be the big one. He was such a genre breaking musician. He went up there and played what he felt and didn’t have to categorize everything. I feel like for New York that’s a big part of it. It’s the melting pot. We’re all different, a little bit of everything and try and make it a little bit like you too. It also represents modern humanity. That New York attitude. “Just got to pull up your britches, do the best you can do and be yourself.”
MR: Any current musicians that are on the scene that you have been digging?
AS: Well You have Taz, other younger cats like Justin Lee Schultz. DOmi and JD Beck that’s been playing with Thundercat. You got MONONEON. I just got to jam with Cory Henry, TaRon Lockett and Isiah Sharkey.
MR: What about the future of your own musical journey? What’s on the horizon?
AS: Well we have been lucky enough to play with some of our heroes. Our new recording that we just finished I feel we have made some beautiful music and history with Bootsy Collins. I can’t wait for y’all to hear this.
Adam Deitch: Our friend Alissa Bennevente whose an amazing bass player runs Bootsy’s Instagram. She sent us an uplifting video of him speaking during our time off that gave us hope. It’s Bootsy giving a positive message to everyone out there . At the end of the video he just kept saying (finger snaps) “Keep The Funk Alive” (finger snap). I immediately downloaded the sample of it and sent it to the guys
MR: Wow. So you just took the end of him speaking on the video and sampled it? That sounds like an organic way of creating a groove.
AD: Yea exactly. I added drums and quickly sent it to everyone in the band. They all kept adding their parts to it.
AD: We sent it to him and he loved it. He played bass and added his vocals to it. Showed interest in wanting to make a video of it. He even eluded that he’s glad a band like ours is still playing real funk music.
MR: Sounds as if you’ve been added to Bootsy’s shot calling like on the 1980s Dave Sanborn TV special… “Lettuce”… get ready to roll!
On a steamy Friday night, Lark Hall played host to two of the fastest rising jam bands in New York, Long Island’s Baked Shrimp, and Albany’s own Glass Pony, as a warm up to the former’s LonCon Fest.
For the opening set of the night, Glass Pony tore in with “Maximus” that segued incredibly into Oasis’ “Morning Glory,” but so smooth you wondered ‘is this a new song inspired by the 90s, or are they deep in a 90s cover?’ Sure enough, as guitarist/singer Eddie Hotaling belted out the lyrics, you knew the story. After the high energy and upbeat lyrics of “Something Good,” bassist Jeff Picarazzi sang lead on Leo Sayer’s “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing.” With a new album coming down the road, and a crowd that was getting down from start to finish, Glass Pony has a lot more music in store.
Setlist: Maximus > Morning Glory, North Bound (unfinished) -> Something Good, Check it Again, You Make Me Feel Like Dancing -> Daydream (unfinished) > House on the Hill, Doppler, Bottom of the Ocean
Baked Shrimp, a jam power trio from Long Island put on a prog/funk clinic. For their entire 90 minute set the band moved seamlessly through complicated chord progressions and never lost a beat or the attention of the crowd. The young trio has great potential in their three members, bassist Scott Reill, guitarist/singer Jared Cowen, and drummer Jager Soss, a doppelganger for Andy Frasco. Their festival LonCon will be held in Parksville, NY over August 27-28. Find out more details on the festival here.
Setlist: The Manatee, Numpty, Synth, The Method -> Now’s Your Moment -> The Method, Four Corners to Every Side, Orpheus, Down the Drain
Thursday, June 8 was a special day for Syracuse. Not only was this the very first show of the much anticipated “Proud To Be Right Here” Luke Bryan US Tour, it was also the opening night for St. Josephâs Health Amphitheater at Lakeview. This was the first large concert to happen in CNY since COVID had taken it’s toll on the country. With Gov. Cuomo recently lifting restrictions for the entire state, this concert was the light at the end of the tunnel that was so needed.
One thing that was certainly on everyone’s mind going to this show was the rain. It had been raining all day, very hard at times and many were hopeful that it would stop prior to the show beginning. Fortunately enough, the rain stopped just prior to Caylee Hammack taking the stage.
The event was packed with 10,000+ in attendance and fans were showing how they too have missed live music. People laughing, hugging, and toasting drinks were a sight I didn’t I would see for quite awhile.
Opening the night was Caylee Hammack out of Nashville. She came out strong with a good mix of southern rock and Country. Hammack had the crowd singing along to a cover of Dolly Parton “9 to 5” Her set was energetic, fun, and very easy to get into. Dressed in a leopard printed dress and blue jacket, she was definitely having a good time on stage.
Following Caylee Hammack was Dylan Scott, the country pop singer out of Louisiana. His stage presence was very engaging and he sucked the crowd right in with his songs “My Girl” and “Nobody”. His interactions with the audience was a highlight of Scott’s performance. Joking with a couple fans, he asks who could chug a beer faster. This turns into a contest with Dylan grabbing a couple beers and having the fans race each other drinking, which then he leads into his song “Beer Buddies.”
Luke Bryan was set to take the stage next, with the sun setting just after 9pm the atmosphere and intensity of the amphitheater was building. The crowd of people were screaming and singing along to classic rock hits provided by DJ Rock. Finally the lights go dark and the amphitheater erupts as Luke Bryan takes to the stage with “That’s My Kind of Night”. Luke Bryan came right out down the walkway the stage had and wasted no time singing to the fans. Following the opening, Luke Bryan played “Rain is a good thing” which was well accepted considering how much it had been raining that day.
Luke delivered a powerful 20 song set, performing fan favorites “What She Wants Tonight”, the sing along “One Margarita,” and “Country Girl(Shake it for Me). This was a much needed night for everyone in attendance. Not only the fans, but all the artists performing seemed so happy to be back, the employees at the amphitheater were also very friendly and looking glad to be back as well. Overall it was a great experience and great concert that set the bar high for the rest of the concert season.
Luke Bryan Setlist: That’s My Kind of Night, Rain Is A Good Thing, What Makes You Country, Huntin’, Fishin’ and Lovin’ Every Day, Knockin’ Boots, Kick the Dust Up, Waves, Down To One, What She Wants, One Margarita, All My Friends Say, Crash My Party, Roller Coaster, Strip It Down, Drink A Beer, Sunrise, Sunburn, Sunset, Move, Play It Again, Country Girl(Shake It for Me), I Don’t Want This Night To End
Multi-platinum artists Fitz and The Tantrums made a summer tour stop at Artpark in Lewiston on July 6.
Photo Credit: Maddie McCafferty
Alternative band Colony House kicked off the night in an upbeat fashion. The opening act consisted of Caleb Chapman, Will Chapman, Scott Mills, and Parke Cottrell. Popular singles “Silhouettes” and “You Know It” brought the energy to everyone at Artpark.
Fitz and the Tantrums later took the stage and steamrolled the crowd instantly. Their liveliness and distinct stage presence made everyone get up on their feet. They opened their set with the throwback song “Don’t Gotta Work It Out” from their 2010 album.
Photo Credit: Maddie McCafferty
The LA-based band is composed of Michael “Fitz” Fitzpatrick (vocals), Noelle Scaggs (vocals), James King (saxophone, flute), Jeremy Ruzumna (keyboards), Joseph Karnes (bass), and John Wicks (drums, percussion). This dynamic group is able to match each other’s intensity on the stage while also keeping the crowd engaged.
The band played songs from their recently released, fourth full length album ALL THE FEELS. This included their well-known hits “123456” and “I Just Wanna Shine.” Additionally, other songs that proved to be crowd favorites were “Out of My League,” and “Fool.” Throughout the night Fitz shared how excited he was to be back singing with a crowd again. Everyone from those on stage, to the crew, to the folks on the lawn, were absorbed in this feeling so many have missed. As Fitz has said, “It’s great to be back!”
Photo Credit: Maddie McCafferty
With a roaring crowd, Fitz and the Tantrums performed their RIAA-certified 2x Platinum single “HandClap” for the encore. After, they finished off the performance with songs “All the Feels” and “The Walker.” Many left the show dancing down the streets as everyone was ready for more.
Artpark has much more in store for the rest of the summer with Lettuce performing on July 14 and a Bright Eyes show on July 27.
“The world is counting on us now, we have to find a way.” Powerful lines are imbued in the new song, “We’ll Come Together,” by Queens based singer and native New Yorker Craig Greenberg.
“I wrote this song the day after the 2020 election, from having a strong positive feeling that I hadn’t had in a very long while about the country,” Greenberg expresses when asked about the message of the song.” Coming off a year of isolation, lockdowns and protests, it’s safe to say that we need a catchy song that promotes unity.
Although the message of the song is, “Getting past our the differences of the previous few years,” Greenberg originally saw this piece as a, “Sardonic type of song in the vain of Randy Newman,” but after really hitting on the positivity message, Greenberg decided to keep it as an uplifting song, going on to say, “And really I just thought, coming out of the pandemic, people could just use an upbeat song.
When asked about any specific lines or images that were meant to be conveyed, Greenberg responded with, We’ll love our country the red white and blue. All the other colors, yeah we’ll stand for them too” really sums up the feeling of the song for me.”
Greenberg has also released a video for the song, which has received a great response from the public, shown above.
Greenberg has self-released 4 albums in the past 10 years, the most recent a 12 track album titled “Phantom Life,” which was released in Dec 2020. He has performed upwards of 1000 shows, since his start playing in bars while living in Chile, and later Spain.
His songs have received praise in American Songwriter, the Huffington Post, Relix Magazine, and have been played on radio stations all around the country and internationally.
Greenberg was born in Bayside, Queens and grew up on the south shore of Long island. His mom was from Manhattan and Westchester, and Dad from Brooklyn. When he was 25, He left NYC to teach English abroad in Chile. He was only supposed to be there for six months, but was offered his first gig playing covers in bars. Preforming six nights a week for another year, Greenberg learned to sing and preform.
“I was fortunate to have a few good music teachers at my public school in LI, and as well a private guitar teacher, who really opened my eyes and ears. I also had several friends who were more advanced players who I would have show me stuff as well.”
“I’ve been making music as long as I can remember. I knew from a young age that I wanted to affect people and improve their lives, and when I started writing music that just seemed like the ideal way to do that.”
For upcoming events, new music and updates visit craiggreenbergmusic.com
Based in Bovina, NY, Esquela released their fifth studio album A Sign From God on June 25th. The album features 10 tracks, produced by Eric “Roscoe” Ambel, and was recorded entirely remotely throughout the COVID-19 pandemic which prevented members from getting together to record during the Spring and Summer of 2020.
Esquela, via bandsintown.com
Over the course of several months, Finn wrote all the songs on the record, except the final track, “Wait For Me” which utilized a poem by Konstantin Simonov and was arranged musically by Becca Frame and Brian Shafer. He then sent bits of songs to Roscoe, involving Keith Christopher on bass, Brian Shafer on guitar, Becca Frame on vocals and Matt Woodin on guitars and mandolin, and Mike Ricciardi on drums with the audio engineering accompaniment of Jeff Stachyra. Their individual parts were woven together by their brilliant engineer, spinning a 70’s style overdub in a completely remote 2020 world.
Once the reality of COVID 19 hit us, nobody knew what was going to happen and for how long our normal routines would be disrupted. Since I was homebound for the duration – I decided that I should get my home recording studio up and running again. After weeks of technical frustration– I was finally able to get my home setup cobbled together with a Universal Audio Apollo interface and my MacBook, using Protools recording software.
Bandleader John “Chico” Finn
Amidst a race war and global pandemic, the album captures the cultural conversation surrounding the time, including addressing sensitive topics that unfolded during the year like racism, sexual assault and climate change. The first track on the album, which premiered ahead of the others, addresses climate change and humanity’s impact on Earth. “Not In My Backyard” was inspired by a conversation that transpired between Finn and a friend about fracking in West Virginia. Between the rhythmic guitar riffs and pulsing drum beat, a larger message lies at the core of the song.
The bottom line is that energy is cheap right now…in order for the climate to improve will mean people will have to pay more for their energy source, and I am afraid it won’t happen anytime soon, sad to say.
John “Chico” Finn
Premiering as Esquela’s first album since 2017, the band chose to tackle pressing issues about the world, spreading a message while telling a narrative throughout each song. The last song, “Wait For Me,” has a more stripped sonic atmosphere with soft acoustic guitar and less processed vocals. The song tells the story of Konstantin Simonov and a poem he wrote as a homesick Russian soldier during World War II. Esquela uses the poem as a vessel to acknowledge racism in the deep South, much like the French village of Oradour Sur Glane destroyed by Nazis within the poem.
With Esquela, challenge brings creativity. The album is a true testament that challenge breeds creativity amidst the pandemic. Even prevented from taking a band photo all together for the cover art, they crafted a creative solution to replicate images of them in a fun illustration pictured below. While COVID-19 forced the members to send over the tracks individually, the cohesiveness of these tracks expands beyond Roscoe’s phenomenal work as a producer. These songs tell a narrative about what we need to change as a society in 2020 (and now, its roots have spread into 2021).
The album is now available on Bandcamp or Spotify, with a music video for “Not In My Backyard” on Youtube.
On Saturday July 6, 1974, Rich Stadium in Orchard Park, NY held the first ever concert in its history. Eric Clapton and his band would serve as headliners, with The Band serving as a warm up for Slowhand. Tickets for the show were $8.50 each ($46 in 2021 dollars) and caught one of rock’s biggest legends upon the release of his classic 461 Ocean Boulevard.
The show was held one year after opening as the new home of the Buffalo Bills, going 9-5 in their inaugural season. More affectionately known as ‘The Ralph’ in the late 90s, the Buffalo-based multi-national food company Rich Products gave the stadium its original name, signing a 25-year, $1.5 million dollar deal, one of the first sales of naming rights in American sports.
Following a sellout show at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh the night before, the Buffalo show would not be Clapton’s finest hour by any means. July 5 was Robbie Robertson’s 31st birthday, and with The Band guitarist on the road with the hard-partying Eric Clapton, its possible that Clapton indulged too much the night prior, affecting his performance the next day. Clapton reportedly said “It’s Robbie’s birthday today and … there’s gonna be some bovver tonight.”
Not much is known about The Band’s set beyond their final song, which may have been the most pivotal part of the evening. Joining the opening band for a song is not unnatural for a headliner, but rarer still, as the impact of the main act’s arrival is lessened. When Clapton joined The Band on July 6 for an encore of “Chest Fever” in the support slot, the performance was disjointed and led to the drunken Clapton needing to be carried off stage.
photo by Watt Casey, Jr.
The Band setlist via Setlist.FM
Hard Times the Slop (Noble “Thin Man” Watts cover), Just Another Whistle Stop, Stage Fright, The Weight, The Shape I’m In, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, Across the Great Divide, Endless Highway, Up on Cripple Creek, The Unfaithful Servant, Smoke Signal, The Genetic Method, Chest Fever (with Eric Clapton)
Clapton’s band included George Terry (guitar), Dicks Sims (keyboards), Carl Radle (bass), Jamie Oldaker (drums), and Yvonne Elliman (backing vocals). Also joining the lineup was Freddie King, who was flown in specially for these shows.
Geetarz shares insight on Clapton’s performance, which is widely reported as the worst show of the 1974 tour, and a low point for sure. Eric was reportedly massively, incoherently drunk, and unintelligible at times. As the show begins with Clapton giving an outro to emcee “Legs” Larry Smith, a member of the crowd would shout “Clean Up Yer Act!,” a sign of the times indeed.
photo by Watt Casey, Jr.
Drunk and stoned, Clapton would start playing songs without getting the band on the same page, starting the show with a rambling “Last Train to Brownsville”, where he seemed to start engaging with the audience who had apparently been throwing fireworks at the Clapton, saying “To be serious … one more of them, I’ll tell you, and you’re out of here! One more of them silly fucking fireworks and you are out of here! Behavior!”
After “Let it Grow,” Clapton shouted “I am drunk and I am ready for fuckin’ trouble!,” and then brought up Freddie King, but Eric was far from ready and was outshone by King. Clapton even gave a drunken intro for King: “He’s strapping on his guitar, moving to the guest spot, and if you haven’t heard of him, you don’t fucking deserve him! His name is Freddy.”
photo by Watt Casey, Jr.
You would think that bringing on stage a blues guitarist he looked up to would keep Clapton on his toes, but he was outshined in Buffalo and reportedly unable to keep up during this performance of “Have You Ever Loved a Woman?” Doubling down, when King sang the line ‘It’s a shame and a sin’, Clapton weighed in unnecessarily: “Don’t believe them! There’s no shame, there’s no sin…” a revealing moment for Clapton who was at the time secretly in love with Patti Boyd, then married to his friend George Harrison.
Capping off the show with “Little Queenie,” Clapton was now more incoherent and ready to end the night. Rambling during the Chuck Berry song, and apparently triggered by the repeat mentions of the Queen, Clapton said “Meanwhile, in Birmingham …. England, that is, not here, in Alabama …. they’re making Persian carpets … at 19,000 quid apiece … there’s only 10 Pakistanis here! They can’t be bad – who am I?”
photo by Watt Casey, Jr.
The next night in Jersey City was reportedly a somewhat better show for Eric Clapton, and likely The Band as well, with a recording available below that offers an idea of what the July 6 show sounded like. Rich Stadium has seen many more shows over the years, with Clapton setting the bar low for all to exceed in the years that followed.
Going To Brownsville*, Smile, Let It Grow, Hideaway**, Have You Ever Loved A Woman**, Tell The Truth, Willie And The Hand Jive, Get Ready, Steam Rollin’ Man, Little Wing, Blues Power, Presence of The Lord, Little Queenie, Crossroads * with Legs Larry Smith ** with Freddie King
Photos below are by Watt Casey Jr., who was working for Showco, this being his first show.
