I wanted to share with the Pencil Storm world the story of two concerts from my youth. Here are my stories about an Aerosmith show - my very first concert - and also a Sex Pistols show that would have been epic, if only it had actually happened.
We will start with Aerosmith. I was 14 years old, and I liked rock n roll. I was buying records by this time, but I’d never seen a concert. My big sister Molly (RIP), who was three years older than me, decided it was time for that to change. She was truly the coolest of big sisters. She asked me if Aerosmith would be suitable. Well hell yes, of course they would! So, my beautiful sister went over to the local Sears store where they had a Ticketron outlet (this was way before it changed to Ticketmaster) and she bought four tickets to see Aerosmith with Styx as the opening band.
She invited her best girlfriend and I invited my best friend who lived down the street. The day of the show arrived and my friend called to tell me he wasn’t going to make it, but his sister would love to go. It was a curveball for me, and my sister Molly worried because my friend’s sister was a year younger than me and having a couple beers in the car was part of the plan for introducing me to the world of concert-going. It worked out just fine, as my buddy’s younger sister was totally up for the whole experience. Looking back on it, I guess it’s kind of cool that I took a girl to my first show. After the hour or so drive to the Capital Center in Largo, Maryland from our home in Alexandria, VA, we were all very excited and feeling great.
We found our seats and not long after, as the smell of pot wafted through the air in a thick haze making us all high by contact, an announcement was made. The venue apologized, but Styx would no longer be on the bill due to unforeseen circumstances. Have no fear they said, because Golden Earring was in the house to open the show. Well damn! Things couldn’t be going any better at this point. I’ll take Golden Earring over Styx all day long. (editor’s note; Damn straight, JCE, you dodged a bullet there. I had to sit through Styx 4 or 5 times down-the-bill to bands I liked.)
I would be lying if I said I could remember a ton about the actual show. I remember the cigarette lighters coming out every time the lights went down and I definitely remember Aerosmith playing “Dream On,” which, for a 14 year-old in 1977, was pretty damn iconic. I recall knowing only “Radar Love” by Golden Earring, and of course that was played near the end of their set to my delight. It was a very special night for me that I will always remember. I have always wished I still had my ticket stub, or at least knew definitively what date this show occurred. I am writing about this now, because I found an ad posted online and the person who posted it said it was from 1977. I knew right away that it was the show. I am so happy to have this image.
Aerosmith played again the next night at the Capital Center, again with Golden Earring, and I found that there is a bootleg of that entire show in existence. So, while the list below was not the actual show I saw, I assume the setlist was nearly identical. It’s pretty great.
Now on to the Sex Pistols show. I grew up and lived from birth until college in the City of Alexandria, VA, just outside of Washington, D.C. When good ol’ Malcolm McLaren booked a string of shows in the U.S.A. for the Pistols, would you believe that one of them was slated to take place at a roller skating rink in Alexandria? I still can’t believe it. The tour was to start with a bunch of gigs in run-down halls throughout the South. The Pistols arrived in America on January 3, 1978 and started the tour in Atlanta on January 5th. However, if it had not been for delays with visas and a whole host of other issues, the tour would have begun earlier, and would have included a show in my city. I became a huge punk-rock fan and loved all the British bands (The Clash, Sex Pistols, 999, The Damned, The Stranglers, Siouxsie and the Banshees). I also loved local music and one of the earliest killer D.C. bands was Razz (which included amongst its members the fabulous Tommy Keene). Razz was slated to open the show. Now that’s cool. I have a friend that I met much later who has an untorn ticket to see the show, just like the one below.
As I have read, there were seven actual shows that took place, the last one being at The Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco on January 14, 1978. After the last number, which was a cover of The Stooges’ “No Fun,” Johnny Rotten ended the show, the tour and the Pistols’ career with this line: “Ah-ha-ha, ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated? Good night.” Sadly, the ad for the Alexandria show saying “Postponed” should have said “Canceled.”
In all honesty, I’m not sure if I was well-versed in punk rock as early as January of 1978. I don’t really think so. Therefore, I’m not so sure I would have been at the show even if it had happened. But what if…….
BONUS VIDEO: Aerosmith, Capital Center, Largo, MD – This was a year later, in 1978.
JCE, or John to his friends, is 61 years old and lives happily in rural VA about an hour and half outside of D.C. His wife of 33 years says he’ll never grow up, and she’s exactly right. He attributes that to his lifelong love affair with all things rock n roll. Starting with 45 rpm Monkees records at a very early age to his present massive collection of vinyl, cd’s and a digital library of God knows how many songs, he’s a rock n roll lifer.