The Felt Forum May 31st, 1974
'Stomp Your Hands, Clap Your Feet' was the American release of 'Old, New, Borrowed and Blue' minus the tracks 'My Town' and 'My Friend Stan', and frankly, I’ve always felt cheated by this. No replacements or substitutes, just ten tracks instead of twelve. Thank you Warner Brothers.
Our story begins at 3PM in Murphy’s Bar and Grill a few blocks away from The Madison Square Garden complex in New York’s “Hell’s Kitchen”. It was a sleazy little dump run by The Westies who were an Irish American organized crime association, and used the place to launder money, so drinks and food were cheap, and they didn’t care how old you were. By 6PM on the night of a concert the place was over run with underage drinkers. The bar area was usually filled with Westies and lots of low life types. It was the kind of place Tom Waits wrote songs about. If you weren’t a regular or looked young, you had to sit at the tables in back room.
More on the Westies here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westies
So there we were, me, Harry, Paula, “Dollar” Bill and the Hayes Bros. Joe and Steve (you know: The Brooklyn Slade Crew ) getting pleasantly buzzed on cheap draft beer. The back room started filling up with concert goers, and one of the tables wearing Aerosmith tee shirts started shouting “Slade Sucks”, which to many a Slade fan in the back room was “fightin’ words”. Next thing we knew beer glasses and punches were flying, between the table next to us and the Aerosmith table. With that four bouncers moved in, and heavy handedly threw them out. It was time to leave Murphy’s and head over to The Felt Forum. As we walked up 32nd Street we saw the same two tables from Murphy’s were going at it again!
So we got inside lit a spliff or three, the lights went down and Aerosmith took the stage. Aerosmith’s set wasn’t bad, but Steven Tyler’s low budget Mick Jagger posturing always gets on my nerves. That said the crowd enjoyed them.
Then it was Slade’s turn.
Slade took the stage; Noddy asked “HOW YA FEELIN’?” we shouted ALL RIGHT! Noddy shouted “I CAN”T HEAR YA! I SAID HOW YA FEELIN’?” we yelled back as loud as we could ALL RIGHT! And Slade ripped into “Take Me Back 'ome”. Next up was “Good Time Gals”! Next to Don’s drum set was a cymbal which Jim would kick and knock over, he did this several times during the set to the crowd’s delight.
Last night Harry, Paula and I put our heads together and we came up with the rest of the set list, with the exception of the encores; we just can’t agree on the order of some of the songs. Be that as it may, here’s the rest of the set list with some comments.
- Take Me Bak 'ome
- Good Time Gals
- Gudbuy T'Jane - A crowd favorite, at every show we saw.
- Move Over – We all agreed this was the best version we ever heard
- When the Light Are Out – I think this was the only tour this was performed on. Jim nailed it!
- Darling Be Home Soon – Complete with BURP!
- We're Really Gonna Raise The Roof – Played at warped speed, this got the entire audience on there feet, AND we stayed there for the rest of the gig.
- Just A Little Bit – Noddy improvised a lot here with the crowd and Dave did a few minutes on his own. (Oh dear? Ed)
- Let the Good Times Roll / Feel So Fine – Jim did a bass solo, and played parts of William Tell Overture
- Cum On Feel The Noize – The entire Felt Forum went f***ing nuts!
- Get Down & Get With It – A Riot erupted, only this one wasn’t quiet, it was LOUD.
- Mama Weer All Crazee Now, and went straight into
- Keep on Rocking.
Slade once again left the stage. We went f***ing nuts. When they returned, Noddy thanked everyone for being there while wiping sweat of his face. Dave played the opening riff to Roll Over Beethoven, and all Hell broke loose, this was the loudest and fastest version of Roll Over Beethoven I’ve ever heard.
Afterwards the audience yelled Slade, Slade, Slade, Slade, Slade. As they left the stage, they shook hands with as many people as they could down in the front.
Harry, Paula and I are in agreement: This was the best Slade show we ever saw.
Palace Concert Theater, Providence, 2nd June 1974
Bayfront Center Arena, St.Petersburg 8th June 1974
"The New York Dolls and Slade... can only be desribed as abrasive to one's senses.... The Dolls of course, are brilliant compared to Slade which has to be one of the worst rock bands in all the history of the music industry. These fellows have as much grace with guitars as a coal miner would have with jewellers tools."Perry Fulkerson: St Petersburg Independent, 10th June 1974
The Auditorium, Chicago, June 21st, 1974
The Auditorium opened in 1889 to immense critical acclaim and soon became something of a ‘white elephant’ until the 1965 when it quickly became Chicago's premier rock venue and regained its former status as 'a jewel in American history'.
"My friend Tom and I proudly displaying our tickets before heading off to the train station to see our first ever concert. And what a show it was!"
"We headed off from the front yard photo to the local trian station that would take us to downtown Chicago for the show. We were 15 years old at the time, just finished with our sophomore year in high school and quite innocent."
"It was the first concert for both of us and we were a bit anxious about heading into the big city on our own. The train ride was uneventful and after fiddling with a map for a bit we figured out a route we could walk. It was a bit over a half mile to venue and we made good time."
"The Auditorium is a grand old theatre with balconeys and boxes that holds about 3000 people and it was about 3/4 full. Upon arrival we scoped the lobby for Slade gear and or memorabilia but there was none to be had. Major disappointment as I wanted to upgrade the homemade t-shirt I had with a sewn on mini Slade fist patch to an official one. Oh well, them's the breaks."
"We headed to our seats: 7th row on JWL's side and settled in for a night to remember. But first we had to suffer through 45 minutes of 10cc. If I had been more sensitive I would have felt bad for them as they were barraged with cartcalls for Slade. Since I wasn't all that sensitive I joined right in! Once they finished the place started getting rowdy. I can't really remember how long it was until Slade began playing but whatever it was, it was too long!"
"Finally the moment came and the band was introduced:"
'Please, welcome from England, SLADE!'
Nod shouts "Take Me Bak 'ome" and they were off... and so were we. Out of our seats like a shot from a gun we were shouting along from the get go.
Nod was decked out in his plaid coat, vest, & trousers along with the iconic mirrored top hat, H was in his fish scale outfit with dollar sign boots and the SuperYob guitar, Jim was in some type of yellow get up, and Don was in his traditional striped pants & vest along with more gum than a playground full of kids.
From there the set list that followed:
Take Me Bak 'Ome
Good Time Gals
Gudbuy T'Jane
Move Over
When The Lights Are Out
Darling Be Home Soon
We're Really Gonna Raise The Roof
Just A Little Bit
Let The Good Times Roll
Cum On Feel The Noize
Get Down With It
Mama Weer All Crazee Now
Keep On Rockin'
All in all it was a great show.
As I have said in the past I much prefer Slade originals to cover tunes and would like to have had them replaced with the likes of DWSDI, How'd You Ride etc but that's just quibbling. The band was in good form; Nod had the crowd going the entire evening, H did his schtick, and Jim & Don laid down the foundation."
"If there is one overall impression I took away from the show was that Slade were f**king LOUD!! My ears rang for 3 days afterwards and Tom and I literally had to shout at each other to be heard as we headed back to the train station."
"Although I haven't seen a whole lot of concerts I have been fortunate to see Kiss, Sabbath (both line ups), Nugent, UFO, and Rainbow among others this concert remains my favorite. I'm sure the fact that it was my first show and my favorite band has something to do with it but what a way to kick it all off."
The Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1975.
next page
5th US Tour (known dates)
28/04/1974 Depart for 5th US tour
05/05/1974 Municipal Auditorium, Atlanta, Georgia
08/05/1974 Philahamonic Hall, Miami, Florida
12/05/1974 Kiel Auditorium, St Louis
13/05/1974 Louisville Civic Center, Kentucky
14/05/1974 Memphis Civic Center-Tennessee
15/05/1974 Warehouse, New Orleans
17/05/1974 Lansing Michigan
19/05/1974 Ford Auditorium, Detroit Michigan
20/05/1974 Canton, Ohio.
21/05/1974 The Auditorium Theatre, Chicago, Illinois
30/05/1974 Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
31/05/1974 New York City
01/06/1974 Rochester, New York
02/06/1974 Palace Concert Theater, Providence, Rhode Island (10cc)
03/06/1974 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
05/06/1974 Atlanta, Georgia
07/06/1974 Miami
08/06/1974 Bayfront Center Arena, St. Petersburgh, Florida (New York Dolls & 10cc)
11/06/1974 Cleveland, Ohio
12/06/1974 St. Louis,
13/06/1974 Louisville, Kentucky
14/06/1974 Memphis, Tennesee
15/06/1974 New Orleans
16/06/1974 Little Rock, Arkansas
??/06/1974 Memorial Hall Kansas City, Kansas, USA (10cc, Robin Trower Band)
??/06/1974 San Francisco?
20/06/1974 Detroit,
21/06/1974 The Auditorium, Chicago (Slade & 10cc)
21/06/1974 The Auditorium, Chicago (Slade & 10cc)
26/06/1974 San Diego, California
28/06/1974 Palladium, Hollywood, California
29/06/1974 Berkeley, California
30/06/1974 Warner Theatre, Fresno,California
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