Alive As Yesterday: 1972 Concerts

“Some people say the 1970s New York rock scene started in the 1960s with the Velvet Underground. Others insist that it began around 1968 with the Stooges and MC5 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Or with Lou Reed’s reconfigured Velvet Underground at Max’s Kansas City in 1970. Or Patti Smith’s poetry reading with Lenny Kaye on guitar at St. Mark’s Church in February 1971. Or in London in 1970, when David Bowie began sewing those pre—Ziggy Stardust costumes. 

The truth is that the truth is not so simple. What really happened is that several things happened, all at once, all over the world. But nearly everyone would agree that in early 1972, when the New York Dolls performed every Tuesday night at the Oscar Wilde Room of the Mercer Arts Center in the Broadway Central Hotel, the 1970s New York rock scene was officially born.

Everyone really went to see the New York Dolls. Before they were the Ramones—whose singer Joey had an early glam rock band called Sniper—the Ramones went to see the Dolls. Patti Smith opened for the Dolls, reading poetry. Richard Hell and Tom Verlaine went to the Mercer to see the Dolls before they formed their band the Neon Boys, the precursor to Television."  (Lisa Robinson, Vanity Fair 2014)

"To create an art movement, you have to set something up and then destroy it. The only thing to do is what the Dadaists, the Surrealists, did—complete amateurs who are as pretentious as hell—and just fuck it up the ass. Cause as much bad, ill feeling as possible.  You’ll only create a movement when you have a rebellious cause." - David Bowie

 

 

David Bowie's most important concert of the 1st US Ziggy Stardust Tour (September - December 1972) was his debut at New York's prestigious Carnegie Hall on Thursday 28th September 1972. Carnegie Hall was where The Beatles had performed two concerts in February 1964 and for Bowie this was to be his third concert in the US, after two earlier warm-up concerts in Cleveland and Memphis.

"When David Bowie made his Carnegie Hall debut last fall everybody from Albert Goldman to Andy Warhol was there plus a gaggle of weirdo's expecting some kind of a British Alice Cooper.  That's not what they got.  The concert opened as Bowie, in clockwork orange hair, came onstage amid flashing strobe lights, to the Mooged up strains of Beethoven's Ninth.  From there, except for a simulated sex act with silver haired guitarist Mick Ronson, it was a matter of music, ranging from hard rock laid down by Bowie's band, the Spiders From Mars, to a Jacques Brel song with guitar accompaniment..." - Playboy Magazine

 

David Bowie & The Spiders From Mars

Carnegie Hall

NYC

 

Faces

Badfinger

War Memorial

Syracuse, NY

 

 

Faces

Badfinger

Akron Rubber Bowl

Akron, OH

 

 

Leon Russell

Fairgrounds Arena

Oklahoma City, OK

 

Joe Cocker & Band with Chris Stainton

Fairgrounds Arena

Oklahoma City, OK

 

Jeff Beck

Tranquility

Hara Arena

Dayton, OH

 

 

Grateful Dead

Jahrhunderthalle

Frankfurt, Germany

 

Grateful Dead

Waylon Jennings

New Riders of the Purple Sage

Led Zeppelin

Kezar Stadium

Golden Gate Park

San Francisco, CA

 

Pink Floyd

Carnegie Hall

NYC

 

T. Rex

Palladium

NYC

 

 

 

 

Van Morrison

Copperhead

David Blue

Berkeley Community Theatre

Berkeley, CA

 

John Sebastian

Cheech & Chong

Van Morrison

Bread

Academy of Music

NYC

 

The Who

Munchen Deutsches Museum

Munich, Germany

 

Freddie King

Freda & the Firedogs

Armadillo World Headquarters

Austin, TX

 

 

Yes

Curtis Hixon Hall

Tampa, FL

 

Led Zeppelin

Denver Coliseum

Denver, CO

 

David Bowie

Technical College

Slough, UK

 

Tour of Europe '72

Alice Cooper

 

Ted Nugent & The Amboy Dukes

Brownsville Station

Eric Quincy Tate

Luther Williams Baseball Park

@ Central City Park Fairgrounds

Macon, GA

 

Taj Mahal

Billy Joel

Clean Living

Paramount Theatre

Springfield, MA

 

Leon Russell

Freddie King

Sacramento Memorial Auditorium

Sacramento, CA

 

Leon Russell Group

Spokane Coliseum

Spokane, WA

 

Willie Nelson

Greezy Wheels

Armadillo World Headquarters

Austin, TX

 

Allman Brothers Band

Wet Willie

Dr. John The Night Tripper

Manley Field House

Syracuse University

Syracuse, NY

 

Santana

Weather Report

Dallas Memorial Auditorium

Dallas, TX

 

Jeff Beck

Argent

San Jose Civic Auditorium

San Jose, CA

 

Savoy Brown

John Baldry

Fleetwood Mac

Honolulu International Center Arena

Honololulu, HI

 

Butterfield Blues Band

Dr. John

Masonic Temple

Detroit, MI

 

Van Morrison

Tower of Power

Jo Jo Gunn

Fairgrounds Expo Hall

Santa Clara, CA

 

Slough College Summer Ball

David Bowie

Technical College

Slough, UK

 

The Jeff  Beck Group

Boz Scaggs

Wet Willie

Capitol Theatre

Passaic, NJ

 

Rolling Stones

Stevie Wonder

Municipal Auditorium

Nashville, TN

 

Rolling Stones

Spectrum Sports Arena

Philadelphia, PA

 


 

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