Memory:David Vella
I've been a fan for many years, and saw them in concert 3 times, more times than I saw any other single act. All three concerts were in Springfield, MA. Once at the Paramount Theatre (circa 1973 or 4, with Focus as the opening act), twice at the Sprinfgield Civic Center; the first time in a poorly planned concert - they were booked with of all people, the J. Geils Band. Nobody in that audience filled with Neanderthals could appreciate GG. Indeed, most of them continued to talk and mill around throughout GG's peformance, rudely shouting things like "Beer!" and "Bring on Geils!" inbetween songs. The band was miffed, puzzled, and embarrassed, and played a very short set. The fifteen or twenty people who came specifically to see GG got up and left when GG did (much to the consternation of the rest of the audience), so as not to subject ourselves to "Geils". I hope the band at least saw the few of us devoted fans leave when they did. The third time was for the Playing the Fool tour, which was a great show (as was the Paramount Theatre show), and more than made up for the previous miserable concert. Indeed, Giant was the top billing, the house was packed, and every one of them was there to see GG and cheer them on.