{"id":1418,"date":"2021-11-27T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-27T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.nysmusic.com\/2021\/2021\/11\/27\/stars-and-behind-the-scenesters-trace-the-rise-of-the-rock-concert-in-new-oral-history\/"},"modified":"2021-11-27T17:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-11-27T17:00:00","slug":"stars-and-behind-the-scenesters-trace-the-rise-of-the-rock-concert-in-new-oral-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.nysmusic.com\/2021\/2021\/11\/27\/stars-and-behind-the-scenesters-trace-the-rise-of-the-rock-concert-in-new-oral-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Stars and Behind-the-Scenesters Trace the Rise of the “Rock Concert” in New Oral History"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Like rock music itself, the rock concert has very humble, homegrown origins. It started way back in the later 40s\/early 50s when radio DJs and record store owners saw them as a way to generate more bucks from the racy new musical style that was igniting the passions of a new, monied class of teenagers. Over time, rock concerts would explode in size, scope and cultural and revenue impact.\u00a0 They evolved from quaint \u201chops\u201d at high school gyms to a circuit of psychedelicized theatres, then onto sports arenas, stadiums and, ultimately, multiday outdoor festivals. In 2019, before COVID-19 blew it to smithereens, the live music business was a $136 billion-a-year global juggernaut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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With his new book Rock Concert<\/em><\/a> <\/em>(Grove\/Atlantic Press), veteran journalist Marc Myers has marshalled an army to tell the free-wheeling story of the growth of this entertainment staple. Like Legs McNeil\u2019s punk history classic, Please Kill Me<\/em><\/a> and Frank Mastropolo\u2019s recent, Fillmore East: The Venue That Changed Rock History<\/em><\/a>,  Myers\u2019 book is a well ordered oral history weaving through decades of fascinating facts and anecdotes. It is told by some of rock\u2019s most iconic stars including Alice Cooper, Ian Anderson, Steve Miller, Roger Walters, Angus Young, Hall & Oates and Bob Weir, as well as an A-list of promoters, managers, songwriters, producers, photographers, sound and lighting techs, filmmakers, fashion designers, roadies and fans.  These are the people who witnessed many watershed concerts firsthand, from the days of L.A.\u2019s proto-rock R&B scene through to 1985\u2019s Live Aid, the final event before the era of corporate sponsorship and out of sight ticket prices took hold. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Myers goes back 3,400 years to set the stage for his story. In the book\u2019s preamble, he introduces The Hurrian Songs.  This is the world\u2019s oldest known sheet music, tablets from ancient Syria containing tunings and tablature for lyre music meant to be performed before a live audience \u2013 the first historical evidence of what would become today\u2019s concert spectaculars.   Also noted in the deep history are two Big Band-era pop concert events \u2013 Paul Whiteman\u2019s 1924 performance of Gershwin\u2019s Rhapsody in Blue<\/em> at NYC\u2019s Aeolian Hall and 1938\u2019s Carnival of Swing on Randall\u2019s Island, the first outdoor jazz fest headlined by Benny \u201cKing of Swing\u201d Goodman which drew over 20,000 white and black fans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As stated earlier, the real genesis of the first era of rock concerts is credited to radio DJs.  In late 1940s Los Angeles, musician\/radio host Johnny Otis commenced his Barrelhouse Club shows in Watts featuring R&B stars of the day. This was followed by shows at additional sites on Central Avenue, many headlined by the original \u201chonking\u201d sax man, Big Jay McNeely<\/a>, including Hunter Hancock\u2019s popular Midnight Concerts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The true \u201crock concert\u201d commenced in Cleveland when Rendezvous Record Store owner Leo Mintz partnered with radio DJ Alan Freed, the man who coined the term rock \u2018n\u2019 roll, for events like his Moondog Coronation Ball.\u00a0 With Freed\u2019s move to NYC and radio giant WINS in 1954, he introduced the big concert concept to the Big Apple, with huge shows that ultimately settled at Brooklyn\u2019s Paramount Theater.\u00a0 Myers also quotes the recollections of rockabilly great Wanda Jackson to bring to life the frenzy around Elvis Presley\u2019s early barnstorming tours of the South.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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