ELP + Journey - Perry = My Third Concert

When my older brother was killed in a car accident in 1973, I became the de facto proprietor of his music collection. There, I discovered two cassette tapes of particular interest which expanded my music-world view, and opened to me an entirely new avenue of musical appreciation and exploration. The albums Tarkus and Trilogy by Emerson Lake and Palmer (ELP) blew my ten-year-old mind. I had never heard anything quite like it. Careful listening revealed that ELP were serious yet extravagant musicians, capable of complex orchestrations, and poetically profound lyrical themes. They were, as far as I was concerned, the next step in music... the future of rock and roll. By 1977, they had become one of my favorite bands, and I owned most of their albums when I learned that they were coming to play at the Salt Palace.

We purchased four tickets. Two of them went to my best friend Jon and myself, and the other two went to my sister Skarzita and her Gritzmacher friend. We all rode together in Skarzita's little red Ford Mustang 2, and listened to Steve Miller Band on the way to the show.

When we arrived, we could hear the opening act already playing, yet the doors were still locked. Jon had heard somewhere that the first band was called Journey, a new band no one had ever heard of. Finally they opened the doors and thousands of people filtered through dozens of unlocked glass doors manned by fancily clad security personnel donning snazzy baby-blue coloured uniforms busily checking for cans and bottles of alcoholic beverages and other forbidden objects and substances.* We were lucky to get good seats on the arena floor... my first time there. Journey** continued to play as we made our way to our seats. They were great! A four man band-bass, drums, guitar and organ. After finishing an incredible set, the keyboardist (Greg Rollie) announced, "We're going to play a George Harrison song." I took special notice as they played a nicely arranged version of It's All Too Much. After a lengthy appreciative applause, the organist said, "This song is on our newest album." This meant that they had multiple albums, so I shouldn't have any trouble locating one. I knew I'd be hearing more from Journey in my future. I'd make sure of it. They finished their set and left the stage. The house lights came on to reveal a thick smoky atmosphere in the large arena. It smelled like everyone was having a great time.

The intermission lasted about forty minutes, which gave me ample opportunity to use the restroom, grab some grub and rehydrate with Coca cola. The arena was mostly full, with at least ten thousand in attendance. The Salt Palace maximum occupation would accommodate 13,075 persons. The lights went down, and a male voice was heard announcing:

"Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends... Ladies and gentlemen, Emerson Lake and Palmer."

The band began playing Karnevil #9 which was immediately followed by a speedy version of Aaron Copeland's Hoedown. Then Greg Lake announced, "We're going to give you Pictures at an Exhibition." I couldn't believe it. That was one of my favorite pieces, and certainly one of my favorite ELP albums... and they played the piece in its entirety... to perfection. Carl Palmer and Keith Emerson took a break while Greg Lake played Lucky Man on his acoustic guitar. I had hoped they would play that song, and wasn't disappointed.

It was the Works Tour, so the remainder of the show was dedicated to material from that album. Keith Emerson was flamboyant, yet masterfully precise. I had never seen anyone play like he did. He stood surrounded by keyboards, with a large standing panel of what appeared to be hundreds of input and output jacks, not unlike an old-timey telephone switchboard operator would have used. Carl Palmer played drums in a way I had never imagined. He was incredible, and seemed to give his performance every bit of energy he had. Their finale concluded with the song Pirates, and the firing of two cannons which were mounted on top of towering speakers at each end of the stage. I was impressed, and bent over to pick up a phosphorescent Glow Stick someone had thrown during the encore applause. I took it home with me as a souvenir of the event.

Now I had been to three rock concerts, George Harrison, Kiss and now ELP, and had gained a good perspective on what true musicianship is. More evidence to me that Kiss was all image, and no substance, while Harrison-Shankar and ELP-Journey were the real deal. It had only been thirteen days since I had seen Kiss, so the contrast was loud and clear.

*"1. In conformance with Salt Palace rules; cans, bottles, ice chests alcoholic beverages will not be permitted inside the premises.
2. The presenter of this ticket consents to a reasonable search for such items before entering.
3. Failure to comply with above conditions will result in non admission."

** Within a few days Jon and I had sought out some Journey albums at Odyssey Records in Salt Lake. We discovered that they had released three albums. Jon bought Next, and I purchased Look Into the Future, because It's All Too Much happened to be on that record. Jon and I both became numbered among the first one thousand members of the Journey International Force, the official Journey Fan Club. Unfortunately, Journey was never the same after that cow bell banging, luvin' touchin' squeezin' singin' fellow joined the band... in my opinion of course, (Over the years, expressing my opinion about Journey has earned me a great deal of disfavour among certain people who think Perry/Journey is the ONLY Journey). To Journey's credit, Infinity was a good album, but then Evolution came out, and after hearing one particularly bad song about a trillion times too many, Journey lost favour with me. You know the one.