When I was 13 years old,
my brother Gord took me to my
first ever rock concert, headlined
by none other than The Doors.
Mom, Dad and I were in Vancouver,
visiting relatives, and while spending an
afternoon with big brother Gord, he
asked if I'd be interested in seeing
The Doors that very evening,
July 13th, 1968 at the
Pacific Coliseum.
Needless to say, I voiced an unqualified 'yes',
which was followed by Gord, wanting to
make absolutely sure I was into seeing
the band, since the 2 tickets'd
cost him about 8 bucks.
I guess my job of convincing him was...
convincing, for the next thing I knew,
I'd gone and bought a Nehru shirt at
Woolworth's, and Gord and I made
our way to the Coliseum - first,
to see the 3 opening acts, The
Crome Syrcus, The Hydro-
Electric Streetcar and solo
singer, Tom Northcott.
Remember: this was my first rock concert,
so I was overwhelmed by a few things,
such as the pre-show crowd revelry
(which got me all worked up), not
to mention (to the parents) my
first, ever contact high....
which really got me worked up.
So when the hockey PA speakers echoed the
following announcement: "Ladies and gentlemen,
from Los Angeles, California, THE DOORS", I
nearly leaped straight out of my skin and onto
the stage, except that it was about 20 rows
away, and I was too young to be allowed
to disappear from within Gord's sight.
I stayed in my seat, straining to take in every,
single moment of Morrison's and his band
mates' performance, albeit from row 20.
The concert changed my life, without a doubt.
Who knows? If I'd not seen this show at the
impressionable age of thirteen, would I have
been galvanized enough (without its impetus)
to want to be in the music business, when I was
old enough to try my luck and my folks' patience?
Most likely, the true answer would still be 'yes',
even without my experiences, during that singular
and influential evening with the Lower Mainland
hippies, the multi-named, long maned opening
bands, followed by Northcott and The Doors.
I'm just so glad it happened, and forever
grateful to Gord for making it happen.
The embedded video was taken during
The Doors' '68 European tour, which
followed hot on the heels of their
tour of the US and Canada.
The poster and ticket stub
were screen-grabbed from
www.MildEquator.com
Mozz the Elder
www.vapormusic.com
So many things: 1) It was the Doors more than any group during the period that introduced the listening public to the extended jam - with the wild success of "Light My Fire". Not even the Grateful Dead could approach the recorded "psychedelic jam" that was the trio behind Morrison. 2) Ray Manzarek was just increbible with the keyboard bass - really controlled the jams with that pianistic style bass line. 3) Grace Slick in her memoirs, describes sleeping (sorry for the censorship here) with Morrison in some far-flung hotel on some lazy dope-filled afternoon - it's hilarious, she's so jaded.
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