At Wolfgang’s Vault, we’re constantly adding new material to our sites, and the Concert Video section is no exception.  As a special holiday treat, we’re offering an early glimpse of just one of the incredible new concerts we will be bringing you in 2012, this one from the recently acquired Metropolitan Archive – Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band live at the Capitol Theatre, 1978.

Beginning as a Vaudeville theatre in the 1920s, Passaic’s Capitol Theatre became renowned as a beloved music venue under the management of John Scher during the ‘70s and ‘80s, hosting a who’s-who of artists of the era.  The Metropolitan Archive contains many of these great performances captured on video, and as our restoration project continues, we will be adding these rarely-seen concerts to our site.

And who better to start with than the Boss?  While the video is in its rawest form, not yet enhanced in any way to improve audio or visual quality, it is still an outstanding document of Bruce and his band in top form, bringing a little holiday cheer to the Capitol Theatre.

This video, along with the entire concert from which it came, will be painstakingly restored and digitized to guarantee the best possible quality for online broadcast.  Check back with us in the New Year to see this and others from the Metropolitan Archive and all of our collections.

We are very grateful for the continued support of our online community, and we look forward to bringing you much more exciting content in the year to come.

Cheers!

[Merry Christmas from Passaic, NJ! is a post in From the Vault - The Wolfgang's Vault blog.]

Fred McDowell played Newport Jazz on July 27, 1968.   Here is a track from that show:

It is our pleasure at Wolfgang’s Vault to keep alive the important musical performances of Fred McDowell all these years later.  Read more about this great bluesman, and enjoy the whole Mississippi Fred McDowell performance at Newport Jazz 1968 right here.

[Mississippi Fred McDowell is a post in From the Vault - The Wolfgang's Vault blog.]

Monday:
Zebra – Playhouse (Hofstra, Long Island, NY) – 11/13/84

Zebra came out of New Orleans in the late 1970s, destined to be the next big power trio in rock. Knowing they needed a major east coast market to break out of, the band traveled on a regular basis to New York City and Long Island, where they quickly built a loyal following in a number of rock clubs. When they first arrived in New York, it was clear to Zebra that their competition would be fierce. In Long Island, bands like Twisted Sister and The Good Rats were dominating the rock clubs and had a number of labels eager to sign them.

Tuesday:
UFO – Record Plant (Sausalito, CA) – 9/23/75

Formed in England in 1969, UFO began as a hard rocking outfit with plenty of emphasis on space-rock and riff-heavy boogie. Their first two albums bore a passing resemblance to early Deep Purple with a healthy dose of the space-metal of Hawkwind mixed in. These early albums found great success in Japan, France and Germany, but met with general indifference in their native country and the United States. A third live album, which was released exclusively in Japan, showed the band to be an engaging act onstage, but did little toward increasing their exposure. In June of 1973, all this took a turn for the better, when teenager Michael Schenker of the German metal band Scorpions permanently joined the group on guitar. Although Schenker spoke not a word of English, his guitar playing sensibilities communicated plenty with the core band members and it was during this time that UFO’s music really began to jell.

Wednesday:
.38 Special – Long Island (Long Island, NY) – 1/29/85

.38 Special were at the peak of their popularity when they recorded this show for the King Biscuit Flower Hour. Following a format that blended Southern rock with a rock-tinged country sound, the band had carved a niche´ spot on FM play lists that embraced a well-polished production value.
Opening with the rockin’ original “Take Em Out,” .38 Special presents a solid show that is high on musicality as this specific lineup had been together for over five years. One listen and it shows that the band members were seasoned road warriors by this point.
Recorded in Long Island, NY, a stronghold for the band for many years, the group blasted its way through a solid set of best known songs. Carlisi introduces Van Zant as “the hardest working man in show business,” which James Brown would’ve obviously taken exception to. Still, both Van Zant and Barnes deliver unmistakably powerful performances, especially on such up-tempo rockers as “Rough Housin’,” “Stone Cold Believer,” and the radio favorite, “Caught Up In You.”

Thursday:
The Alarm – Metro (Boston, MA) – 6/29/83

Mike Peters can still recall the moment, in 1980, when he came to realize precisely “what direction I wanted to move in life.” At the time, Peters was an ex-member of Seventeen, a Mod revival band from the Welsh town of Rhyl, who’d managed one single and a tour with the Jam before their ambitions all went pear-shaped. Since then, he’d been running a club and a clothing stall in town, but the band members didn’t fall out of touch, and a few months after Peters’ Marquee epiphany, in April, 1981, Dave Sharp, Nigel Twist and Eddie MacDonald were all back rehearsing together. Just two years after that, they were preparing to take their first steps into American soil supporting their close friends, U2.

Friday:
Blue Oyster Cult – Late Show – Palladium (New York, NY) – 2/16/79

Blue Oyster Cult was out hawking its successful live LP, Some Enchanted Evening, when this set was captured for national airplay on the King Biscuit Flower Hour in January, 1979. Much of it contains material also found on the Evening disc, with the obvious substitution of the covers the band always included in its live shows.
The live album had a brilliant remake of the MC5 classic, “Kick Out The Jams,” and a less convincing version of the Animals’ 1965 hit, “We Gotta Get Out of This Place.” In their place for this tour was a meaty, but not too innovative take on the Steppenwolf gem, “Born To Be Wild.” That song would eventually become a staple of the BOC live show. Some of the material here will engage the listener with themes of science fiction and the supernatural: “Stairway To The Stars,” “E.T.I. (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence),” and “Harvester Of Eyes,” among them. They get down to business later in the set with ballsy versions of “Hot Rails To Hell,” “Godzilla,” and the band’s long time closer, “Cities On Flame With Rock ‘n Roll.” Also featured is the band’s biggest radio hit, “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper.”

[Rockin’ Download Deals is a post in From the Vault - The Wolfgang's Vault blog.]

Monday:
Joan Baez – Newport Folk Festival – 6/26/1968

In 1968, Joan Baez returned to Newport, as she would in years before and since, to deliver a breathtaking set built around her voice and acoustic guitar. The times had indeed a’changed by that tumultuous year in US history, not only for Baez but for all involved with folk music. Richie Havens, Tim Buckley, and Fred Neil were the folk world’s stars that straddled both folk and rock’s lines but Baez largely stayed on the side of folk even three years after Dylan’s historic electric appearance at Newport. Eventually she would make her own foray into rock ‘n’ roll with Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue in the ’70s, but as the ’60s ended, Baez was still rocking the house (so to speak) with a combination of her vibrato and pointed commentary that rarely failed to get a reaction.

Tuesday:
Band Of Gypsys – Fillmore East – Late Show – 1/1/70

The only LP of completely live Jimi Hendrix recordings to be released during his lifetime, the Band Of Gypsys album found the iconoclastic guitarist with a new rhythm section and soaring to new creative heights. Recorded on the second night of a New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day engagement at the Fillmore East, these performances gave Hendrix the opportunity to showcase new material and fulfill a contractual obligation simultaneously. The circumstances surrounding these shows are now well known; Hendrix had just successfully defended himself against drug possession charges in Toronto and now, due to a contract signed before he was known, was being forced to deliver an album of original material to Ed Chalpin, an entrepreneur determined to exploit Hendrix’s success.

Wednesday:
Canned Heat – Parr Meadows – 9/7/79 (Woodstock 10th Anniversary Concert!)

There have been quite a few high profile events to commemorate the legendary 1969 Woodstock Festival, but one of the most interesting occurred when many of the original musicians who had performed at Woodstock converged in Long Island’s Parr Meadows in Brookhaven, NY to celebrate the 10th anniversary. Unlike later events, this was a true reunion for many of the musicians who played at Woodstock and the audience was treated to performances by the likes of Richie Havens, John Sebastian, Stephen Stills, Johnny Winter, the Rick Danko/Paul Butterfield Band and Canned Heat, among others. Although much had changed in the previous decade and this was a considerably smaller event, the audience was treated to a wealth of memorable music. The King Biscuit Flower Hour folks were on hand and later that fall, they broadcast several highlights from this memorable day.

Thursday:
Mountain – Fillmore East – 12/31/70

There is no better example of Mountain at the height of its powers than this New Year’s Eve concert at Fillmore East. The band was based out of Forest Hills so they were surrounded by friends, family, and an extremely enthusiastic audience. They had recently released their strongest and most cohesive album, Nantucket Sleighride and this great new material combined with the success of their previous album and single, “Mississippi Queen,” inspires the group to play at peak capacity.

Friday:
Grateful Dead – Fillmore West – 6/7/69

This is the third night of this memorable Fillmore West run. An outstanding show from beginning to end, containing several song transitions unique to this show and a wonderful version of “Lovelight” with Janis Joplin sitting in. This is one of the all time classic Grateful Dead shows.
Beginning quietly and in extremely unusual fashion for 1969, they kick the show off acoustically. They open with “Dire Wolf” and continue with an acoustic rendition of “Dupree’s Diamond Blues.” The audience must have had no clue where the band was going with this unusually quiet behavior, as they continue with an acoustic rendition of the rarely played, “Mountains Of The Moon.” This is when things really begin to get strange.

[Download Deals from 1969 Woodstock Artists is a post in From the Vault - The Wolfgang's Vault blog.]

Monday: Lou Reed – Empire Theatre – 9/28/1973

After the remarkable commercial success of Lou Reed’s 1972 Transformer album, which contained his biggest hit, “Walk On The Wild Side,” he then recorded the dark and depressing Berlin album, which although now acknowledged as a classic, was initially met with extremely unfavorable reactions. Nonetheless, Reed fully embraced the moment, deteriorating into alcohol and drug addiction and with David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust as a rough template, recreated himself as the “Rock ‘n’ Roll Animal,” a caricature of what many perceived him to be. His self-deprecation and resentment fueled his performances during this time and the band he assembled helped to revamp his music, taking it to the level of arena rock, which was met with dismay from many of his Velvet Underground-era fan base. To this day, Lou Reed fans remain divided over this era and Reed’s artistic validity on this tour. Still, it remains amongst Reed’s most celebrated and controversial tours.

Tuesday: Lou Reed – Apollo Theatre Glasgow – 9/24/1973

This particular set, recorded at Glasgow’s Apollo Theatre, certainly captures a moment in time, when this remarkable band were hitting their stride and Reed was creating emotionally honest musical turbulence on stage. Although the revamped Velvet Underground material veers toward well-crafted stadium rock, this serves to accentuate the crisis Reed was dealing with at that time — he was now an artist too popular for the small venues and intimate audiences of The Velvet Underground-era, yet disdainful and downright hostile of performing before larger arena-rock audiences.

Wednesday: Lou Reed – Mann Music Center – 7/27/1986

Lou Reed has always been in the upper stratosphere when it comes to most music critics, but in reality he has had as many misses as he has had hits, at least in terms of his universal artistic success. This show, recorded in 1986 when he was promoting his poorly accepted Mistrial album, is actually a strong representation of Lou Reed as a viable live performer. After an illustrious, but commercially disappointing career as the songwriter, guitarist and vocalist for the early cutting edge band, The Velvet Underground, Reed dissolved the group after 1970’s Loaded release, which was the album that could have given them a real commercial crossover.

Thursday: Lou Reed – Capitol Theatre – 9/25/1984

This show was captured for the King Biscuit Flower Hour shortly after Reed moved to Warner Brothers Records after long stints with both RCA and Arista Records. Warner was banking on rumors that Reed was getting ready to re-form the Velvet Underground, and wanted to be his label when he did. (The Velvet reunion would not happen until several years later).
Reed was fronting one of his best backup bands, which included Eddie Martinez on guitar (Robert Palmer) and Fernando Saunders (ex-Jan Hammer Group), on bass. Reed offers sterling performances of both his classic hits (”Sweet Jane,” “Coney Island Baby,” and “Walk On The Wild Side”) and newer material from that time period, including “My Red Joystick” and “New Sensations.” He closes with a pumping version of the Velvet Underground staple, “Rock and Roll.”

Friday: Lou Reed – Birmingham Odeon – 10/3/1973

Reed’s set begins with the band developing one of their soon-to-be classic opening jams, applying it on this night to “Vicious,” rather than the more familiar “Sweet Jane.” The instrumental sparks fly through this opening sequence, clearly defining the sound of this band. Thanks to the dual guitar creativity of Hunter and Wagner, when Reed enters, the energy level is cranked way up. The ambiguousness of “How Do You Think It Feels” and “Caroline Says I,” both from the Berlin album, follow in sneering style, both studies of physical and mental suffering. A tough, undulating “I’m Waiting for the Man” is up next, taking this classic VU song to another level. In contrast, the “Satellite of Love” that follows is a dreamy, downright romantic ballad. Two of Reed’s most fully realized character studies follow with “Walk on the Wild Side” and “Oh Jim,” with the latter packing a serious punch.

[Lou Reed Is Cooler Than You is a post in From the Vault - The Wolfgang's Vault blog.]

Tue: 4/3/71 – Fillmore East (New York, NY)

Wed: 5/25/75 – Rynearson Stadium (Ypsilanti, MI)

Thu: 5/7/76 – Beacon Theatre (New York, NY)

Fri: 8/18/70 – Tanglewood (Lenox, MA)

[This Week’s Download Deals by Santana is a post in From the Vault - The Wolfgang's Vault blog.]

Bob Dylan & The Band
1/14/74
Boston Garden
Sure, Bob Dylan and the Band’s 1974 tour was just another highlight in a series of highlights in their respective long and storied careers, but this stellar night on their celebrated comeback tour is something special.

Don Henley
11/2/91
Shoreline Amphitheatre
Don Henley turned in a terse and tidy little set at this 1991 Bridge School Benefit, opening with a smash from his solo years and closing with an Eagles chestnut.

Jack DeJohnette
10/10/75
Great American Music Hall
By 1975, drummer Jack DeJohnette was just a few years removed from his sideman stint with Miles Davis and was deeply immersed in his own search and discovery mission as a composer and bandleader in his own right.

Journey & Friends
10/1/78
Automatt Studio
One of the most unusual and ambitious King Biscuit Flower Hour recordings occurred during the Fall of 1978, just as the San Francisco-based group Journey was breaking big with their fourth album, Infinity.

McGuinn, Clark & Hillman
2/9/78
Boarding House
One of the most groundbreaking American bands of the 1960s, the Byrds, had been influenced and in turn influenced nearly everyone who came in contact with their music, including Bob Dylan and the Beatles.

Stephane Grappelli
3/19/76 - 1st Set
Great American Music Hall
An elegant improviser whose lilting lines are imbued with a vivacious spirit of swing and tender lyricism, legendary violinist Stephane Grappelli had a long and distinguished career that began in the mid ’30s with the Hot Club of France Quintet (featuring Gypsy jazz guitar great Django Reinhardt) and continued well into the 1990s.

The Flying Burrito Brothers
2/21/77
Franklin Pierce College
The epicenter of country music had been Nashville for decades, but by the late 1960s it was Los Angeles that was becoming a magnet for young musicians devoted to bringing country music into a modern rock context.

The Who
12/17/82
Maple Leaf Gardens
Phase two of the Who’s extraordinary career essentially began in 1978, with the death of their drummer Keith Moon and ended on December 17, 1982 with a pay-per-view television broadcast and global radio transmissions of what was billed as the Who’s “Final Concert” at Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens.

Thelonious Monk Quartet
7/4/63
Newport Jazz Festival
Monk came to Newport in 1963, to celebrate the 10th year of George Wein’s annual summer festival with a group which by that time had become solidified as his longstanding working quartet featuring tenor saxophonist Charlie Rouse and the reliably swinging rhythm tandem of bassist Butch Warren and drummer Frankie Dunlop.

Van Morrison
9/5/71
Pacific High Studios
One of the most enigmatic songwriters of our time, Van Morrison first gained recognition as the lead singer of the Northern Irish band Them, writing their seminal 1964 hit “Gloria.”

[Ten Best New Releases Of 2011 is a post in From the Vault - The Wolfgang's Vault blog.]

Stevie Ray Vaughan – 10/20/83 – Ripley’s Music Hall
Like many before him, at a root level, Stevie Ray Vaughan was influenced by the likes of Albert King, Otis Rush, Albert Collins and Buddy Guy. What Vaughan dared to do differently and ultimately better than any blues guitarist before or since, was to channel the raw intensity of Johnny Winter and fuse it with the dexterity and expressiveness of Jimi Hendrix. The fact that he did it so well and managed to bring his own stylistic sensibilities into such a heavy brew is why he deservedly remains near the top of the guitar pantheon to this day. What we have here, straight off the King Biscuit Flower Hour multi-track mixdown masters, is the bulk of one of his most legendary early performances, recorded at Philadelphia’s Ripley’s Music Hall. Touring to promote his debut album, Texas Flood, these recordings capture a powerful performance, when Vaughn and his band, Double Trouble, were truly establishing their reputation.

Band Of Gypsys – 1/1/70 – Late Show – Fillmore East
The only LP of completely live Jimi Hendrix recordings to be released during his lifetime, the Band Of Gypsys album found the iconoclastic guitarist with a new rhythm section and soaring to new creative heights. Recorded on the second night of a New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day engagement at the Fillmore East, these performances gave Hendrix the opportunity to showcase new material and fulfill a contractual obligation simultaneously. The circumstances surrounding these shows are now well known; Hendrix had just successfully defended himself against drug possession charges in Toronto and now, due to a contract signed before he was known, was being forced to deliver an album of original material to Ed Chalpin, an entrepreneur determined to exploit Hendrix’s success.

Little Feat – 2/14/76 – Winterland
This 1976 Winterland performance is one of the finest examples of Little Feat during the prime years of Lowell George, when the group had established a reputation as one of the most exciting and original bands on the planet. Lowell George’s innate ability to craft songs with sophisticated melodies and intriguing lyrics, as well as the high production standards on the groups studio recordings, were key to the group’s popularity and longevity. However, it was concert performances, such as this one, that truly established such a dedicated fan base that remains to the present day.

Fleetwood Mac – 11/2/69 – Cue Club
This incendiary Fleetwood Mac performance, recorded at Gothenburg’s Cue Club in November of 1969, shortly after completing the sessions for Then Play On, captures this magic moment in time perfectly. Right off the bat, Green pulverizes the audience with a rip-roaring “Rattlesnake Shake” that heads directly for the stratosphere. It’s a fierce and forceful version that soon ventures off into a blazing jam featuring extremely impressive guitar interplay between Kirwan and Green. This is no warmup excersize as they go at it full boar for nearly 10 minutes.

Lynyrd Skynyrd – 3/7/76 – Winterland
“Free Bird,” more often than not, sarcastically, would become the most requested song of all time. For musicians, this inevitable request has become so tiresome, that the act of requesting it has become universally known as “the mantra of the moron.” Still, this only goes to prove just how deeply this song has permeated American culture and is a testament to its enduring popularity, making it one of the true landmark rock songs of twentieth century music.

[Best Sellers Of 2011 is a post in From the Vault - The Wolfgang's Vault blog.]

Notorious satirist of Rock’s age old dilemma of “selling out”, Ray Davies and The Kinks wrote some of the most catchiest, self-aware pop tunes about the irony of rock stardom. This week we celebrate Ray Davies’ birthday by featuring The Kinks on their 1972 US tour in support of “Everybody’s In Show-Biz”. Embrace your Rock N’ Roll fantasy with us and pick up one of these shows now!

Monday: The Kinks – 11/16/72 – Felt Forum (New York, NY)

Songwriter, bandleader, social critic, poet, and humorist all apply to The Kinks front man Ray Davies. Unlike other British Invasion-era bandleaders, he didn’t seem comfortable as a front man. He wasn’t cute like the guys in The Beatles or cocky like Jagger from the Stones. The band’s sound was also different. Much less rooted in American music, The Kinks had a more overtly English sound. Davies often sang in a shy, insecure voice over some of the wildest and rawest music anybody had ever heard.

Tuesday: The Kinks – 11/17/72 – Palace Theater Providence (Providence, RI)

The recording begins in progress, with Davies engaging the audience to sing along during three of the group’s classic hits, “Sunny Afternoon,” “A Well Respected Man” and “Lola.” The next half hour or so is devoted exclusively to material featured on Everybody’s In Show-biz, beginning with Davies’ greatest ballad of this period, “Celluloid Heroes.” This bittersweet rumination on dead Hollywood screen icons vividly displays his melancholic longing for a simpler time. Davies vocal is particular touching on this number as he wishes his life were like a movie, “because celluloid heroes never feel any pain / And celluloid heroes never really die.” Next up, The Kinks pound out the road rockers, “Here Comes Yet Another Day” and “Brainwashed.”

Wednesday: The Kinks – 11/11/72 – Early Show – Orpheum Theatre (Boston, MA)

The set ends with a raw double dose of the group’s earliest hits, “You Really Got Me” and a truncated “All Day And All Of The Night.” The former includes a trademark raunchy guitar solo from Dave Davies and both songs are punched up by the horn section, leaving the audience clamoring for more. The encore features a rollicking take on “Good Golly Miss Molly,” one of the first cover songs the group played as teenagers, featuring Dave Davies fronting the band on vocals. A joyous “Victoria” follows, bringing this performance to a close, exuding a sense of loose, ragged fun, featuring the antics of a frontman who had turned stage fright into a way of life. For a textbook example of the schizophrenic nature of this band, check out the late show from this night, when reckless abandon becomes extreme.

Thursday: The Kinks – 11/9/72 – SUNY (Binghamton, NY)

The recording begins in progress with “Top Of The Pops,” one of Ray’s classic commentaries on the recording industry. Next up is “You’re Looking Fine,” performed here as a medley containing the classic 1950s hits, “Little Queenie,” “Shakin’ All Over” and “Be Bop A Lu La.” Raw and loose, one can tell the group is in fine form and enjoying themselves. During the “Shakin’ All Over” sequence within this opening piece, Dave’s savage guitar riffing recalls The Who’s legendary Live At Leeds version of the song. Next Ray engages the audience to sing along during three of the group’s classic hits, “Sunny Afternoon,” “A Well Respected Man,” and “Lola.” The next half hour or so is devoted exclusively to material featured on Everybody’s In Show-biz, beginning with Davies’s greatest ballad of this period, “Celluloid Heroes.”

Friday: The Kinks – 11/4/72 – University of Virginia (Charlottesville, VA)

Returning to classic vintage material, the Kinks continue with one of the first songs the group ever played, a rocking cover of “Good Golly Miss Molly,” featuring Dave Davies fronting the band on vocals. This is followed by the ever popular “Lola,” complete with audience sing-a-long and they conclude the set with a pulverizing double dose of the group’s earliest hits, “You Really Got Me” and “All Day And All Of The Night.” The audience demands an encore and when the group returns to the stage, they wind things up with a celebratory “Victoria.” Throughout this performance, rhe Kinks exude a sense of loose, ragged fun, showcasing the antics of a front man who had turned stage fright into a way of life.

[Happy Birthday Ray Davies! Everybody’s A Star! is a post in From the Vault - The Wolfgang's Vault blog.]

Clarence Clemons died on Saturday at the age of 69. An amazing performer, both with the E Street Band and in his own right, we know of no better way to celebrate his legacy than to share some music from the Vault with you. We’ve put together a Big Man Playlist featuring Clarence and his Red Bank Rockers performing with Bruce Springsteen as part of a Legendary Ladies of Rock concert from 1987, and with the Grateful Dead on New Year’s Eve of 1988. And catch him at his prime in an early show and a late show from 1983, also with the Red Bank Rockers.

From Bruce Springsteen’s site: Clarence lived a wonderful life. He carried within him a love of people that made them love him. He created a wondrous and extended family. He loved the saxophone, loved our fans and gave everything he had every night he stepped on stage. His loss is immeasurable and we are honored and thankful to have known him and had the opportunity to stand beside him for nearly forty years. He was my great friend, my partner, and with Clarence at my side, my band and I were able to tell a story far deeper than those simply contained in our music. His life, his memory, and his love will live on in that story and in our band.

[Remembering The Big Man is a post in From the Vault - The Wolfgang's Vault blog.]