Memory:Phil Slade
I've been a big fan of Gentle Giant and their music since the drummer of a local group I was working for turned me on to them back in the early 70's. We were fortunate enough to see GG twice in concert, the first time at one of the Academy of Music concerts, a midnight show in NY City in '74, with Focus. This was a great concert with both groups putting on memorable performances.
The second time I saw them was at the Wolsey Hall concert in New Haven Ct. with Poco. If you haven't gotten confirmation on what year this show was, it was in 1974. Poco recorded their "Live" album at this concert. For me it was a very disappointing show since Gentle Giant was the "opening act" and the concert was focused around the recording of Poco's album. Gentle Giant sounded very good but they had to play a short set, as I remember, and most of the audience was there to see Poco, whom at the time I was not that interested in, and the reaction to Gentle Giant was disappointing. In my opinion this was the most mismatched concert I have seen. The Gentle Giant/Focus combination was a great match-up however. Although Gentle Giant was the first band to play at the NY show , both GG and Focus had equal billing and played full sets. I bring up Gentle Giant's name as one of the best groups I've had the opportunity to see over the years. I hope over the years I've turned a few people on to their music because most of those I've talked to had never heard of GG.
I still listen to GG and I'm still amazed at what they were doing musically so many years ago. Thanks for the website.