Chicago
1977-05-20
Nassau Coliseum
Uniondale, Long Island
WNEW-FM Broadcast
224 kbs
CD 1:
01. Introduction
02. Mississippi Delta City Blues
03. Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is
04. Call On Me
05. You Are On My Mind
06. Once Or Twice
07. Just You and Me
08. Lowdown (not inlcuded - officially released)
09. Free (not inlcuded - officially released)
10. Beginnings
Ballet For A Girl In Buchanon (Tracks 11-15)
11. Make Me Smile
12. So Much to Say, So Much to Give > Anxiety’s Moment
13. West Virginia Fantasies
14. Color My World
15. To Be Free > Now More than Ever
16. Set Change
CD 2:
01. Tuning > Chatter
02. Anyway You Want
03. Question 67 & 68
04. Scrapbook
05. A Hit By Varese
06. If You Leave Me Now
07. Takin' It On Uptown
08. Saturday In The Park
09. I’ve Been Searching So Long
10. Mongonucleosis Jam
11. 25 Or 6 To 4
12. I'm A Man
13. Feeling Stronger Everyday
Lineage: FM > ? > CD-R trade > WAV (EAC) > FLAC (TLH)
The late Terry Kath was Chicago’s lead guitarist up till his untimely death, eight months after this concert on January 23. It was a great loss. Perhaps Chicago would never have ventured so deep into ballads and love songs, had Kath remained alive. Just listen to him fire up his Fender. You can hear him clearly on the second disc when the more guitar-rock songs are played. Kath also sings on Make Me Smile, Color My World, Free and Uptown. On Uptown, Kath shows you why Hendrix called him a great guitarist. Like Jimi, Terry could sing and play guitar. Kath had to play both lead and rhythm and make it sound as strong and powerful in front of Chicago’s prominent horn section. In this, he did exceedingly well. This show opens with Kath’s Mississippi Delta City Blues, found on Chicago XI.
Here is a first-person account of this show by sungodra12:
I can confirm the date as May 20, 1977 at The Nassau Coliseum on Long Island - as I was at the concert and retained my ticket stub. A stub that placed me behind the band, near the last row in the place, despite the scalper’s repeated assurances that we’d be on the floor, right in front (I memorized the seating chart after this concert).
The place was PACKED. I remember this because we spent half the first set attempting to improve our vantage by offering, um, encouragement to the ushers for seats in their section, only to be told rather apologetically, there were none.
Back in the day - the up and coming super-reporter Geraldo Rivera (pre-”Al Capone’s Vaults”) would host an annual charity raising event entitled “The One to One Telethon”, I believe to raise money to update and/or eradicate the gloomy “insane asylums” that were mistreating mentally challenged individuals - thus James Pankow’s unfortunately worded comment, something like “We’re going get all the nuts out of those looney bins and put ‘em back on the streets where they belong.” Or something like that. It’s on the tape.
Anyway - 1977’s “One To One Telethon” featured this concert by Chicago. Two sets with a break in the middle - unusual for them. We’re treated here to absolutely spectacular, dominant work by Terry Kath - the best I’d ever heard him. Particularly poignant since we’d lose him not long afterward. We’re also treated to Lee Loughnane unfortunately doubling the vocals on “If You Leave Me Now” - a mercifully brief experiment.
The concert was broadcast live on FM radio - WLIR 92.7? - at least in New York. I remember running to a telephone in the Coliseum, calling my fiend and shrieking into the phone, “Chicago’s live on the radio - TAPE IT!!!!”
A fan, Abraxas2, has said at the Dime site that “Lowdown and Free are not from this evening, this songs are from the 1971 tour”. Other circulating versions of this ‘77 concert have never included Lowdown and Free so he is likely correct.
Big thanks go to satchmo67 for sharing this great show at the Dime site. Sound quality on this show is better than on previous versions.
- The Little Chicken
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