RIP Gary Wright
- Thread starter Meat Lab
- Start date
Another one gone. The 70’s stars are fading fast.
As a member of Spooky Tooth
As a member of Spooky Tooth
He and Spooky T backed George and Ringo on a lot of their 'solo' stuff. Wright wrote "Dream Weaver" after he and Harrison returned to England from a trip to India to meet with the MAHAsomethingorother. Good career; enjoyed some of his stuff.
Godspeed, Mr. Wright!
Godspeed, Mr. Wright!
Yes, I saw Wright, Frampton, and the Beach Boys at Three Rivers in the summer of 1976.
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Gary Wright, 'Dream Weaver' Singer, Dead at 80
Gary Wright's son, Justin Wright, said his father died at his home in Palos Verdes Estates, California, on Monday morning.
That's three in a span of a few days...
I was at the "Spirit of 76" tour at JFK stadium in Philadelphia. A country band started it off, followed by Gary Wright,then Peter Frampton, with YES as the nightcap.
Wow. I'm guessing that was right after Frampton Comes Alive and Yes Relayer album.
I was a big George Harrison fan.....thus becoming a Gary Wright fan thru their relationship. My favorite memory was when Gary Wright was on the Dick Cavett show and asked if it was okay for a friend to come on stage to help play his new song....and out walks George Harrison! Place went wild of course!
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It was. Here are set lists for the concert.
Yes setlist:
- Apocalypse
- Siberian Khatru
- Sound Chaser
- I've Seen All Good People
- The Gates of Delirium
- Clap
- Long Distance Runaround
- Keyboard Solo
- Harp Solo
- Heart of the Sunrise
- Ritual (Nous sommes du soleil)
- Roundabout
- I'm Down
- All I Wanna Be (Is by Your Side)
- Penny for Your Thoughts
- Baby, I Love Your Way
- Baby (Somethin's Happening)
- Doobie Wah
- Lines on My Face
- Show Me the Way
- (I'll Give You) Money
- It's a Plain Shame
- Do You Feel Like We Do
- Shine On
- White Sugar
- Jumpin' Jack Flash
Gary Wright setlist:
- Love Is Alive
- Blind Feeling
- Dream Weaver
- Silent Fury
- Are You Weepin'
Setlist not available for: Pousette-Dart Band
As was I, on the grass, about 30 yards from the stage
I think Relayer came out at the end of '74. Frampton Comes Alive was released in early '76. The concert at JFK was in June of '76
Same here, sort of. A bunch of my buddies had a spot about the same place as you. If you recall it was scorching hot that day and luckily I also had two press box passes so I could escape the heat. It didn't hurt that they had a full open bar and food buffet which were both stocked with high end items. They didn't care (nor did anyone ask my age) that I was only sixteen at the time.
I spent about half the time on the field with my group and half the time upstairs.
Well, I don't remember the songs, but people were actually throwing beer bottles at the band. Security was pretty lax and just about everyone was able to bring beer/booze/pot etc into the concert. If they did confiscate something at the door they merely put the "goods" in an area behind them where concert goers would grab "stuff" and run. The 70's were a completely different world. Thank God!
Edit: I vaguely remember a Mummers band at the concert, but I could have the wrong about this, and it seems like they also had beer bottles thrown at them while performing. @Tom McAndrew do I have this right about the bottles? Was a Mummers band there also?
Same here, sort of. A bunch of my buddies had a spot about the same place as you. If you recall it was scorching hot that day and luckily I also had two press box passes so I could escape the heat. It didn't hurt that they had a full open bar and food buffet which were both stocked with high end items. They didn't care (nor did anyone ask my age) that I was only sixteen at the time.
Scorching hot was an understatement. It was horrible. People got sunburnt. And a number of people had to be carried out for medical treatment. (Unless they were part of your party, or sitting right next to you and you had observed what they did, it was tough to say if it was due to the heat, due to drinking, due to drugs they'd taken, or some combo of the aforementioned.)
If I recall correctly, due to the heat they sprayed water onto the crowd.
The scariest part of the event was that folks were there from pretty early in the day, until well after the sun set. Between their rather easy policy on what you could bring into the concert, and then folks buying food at JFK, there was a lot of trash that accumulated during the concert. At some point in the night (I can't remember if it was between acts or in the middle of one of the acts), somebody put a match or a cigarette lighter to a pile of trash. And between the large collection of trash on the field and in the stands, and how the fire looked good in the night, very quickly there were trash fires all over the stadium. And sure enough, within a minute or so of them being lit all over, a strong gust of win came out of nowhere, and the burning pieces of trash were blown all over. Even though everyone was packed in pretty tight in the stadium, people started screaming and running when burning pieces of trash were blown onto or near them. (Fortunately, none blew on me or my group, and nobody ran into us trying to get away from the fire pieces.)
You were quite lucky to have press box passes. I would have liked to have been able to get out of the sun during the day.
Yeah, the Pousette-Dart Band was not well received by the crowd. I seem to recall not knowing any of their songs, and I listened to a lot of music in '76.
One of the Mummers string bands did make an appearance on stage (and played). My recollection is that they were well received by the Philadelphia area fans. I don't remember beer bottles being thrown at them, but it's possible. As you indicated, the security was quite lax at the concert compared to what you would expect at the concert these days.
This was the two year stretch that featured Patrick Moraz on keyboards. I hope everyone enjoyed Sound Chaser, because Yes never played it live again after this tour. Some other history on this show can be found here:
06/12/1976 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
That’s a great picture of JFK, the Spectrum, and the Vet. I still try to envision it every time I’m at the complex. Walking across the parking lot I always think about the number of Army Navy games, concerts, Live Aid that occurred on that very ground
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