| Cozy's notes from the ELP tour |
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I arrived In the USA on 23 July 1986 and spent the first week in Los Angeles, then on 30 July on to New York for promotions. Everyone arrived at El Paso Marriott on 2 August 1986. 3 August We
all went to a barbecue for promotions, judging a beauty competition and
bits of promotion.
We then did a week's worth of radio and TV interview. We
were just about starting rehearsals. The ELP album was at this point
number 23 with a bullet in Billboard. That week we worked the drum solo
out as well with the aid of a guy called Reek Havoc who works for
Simmons drums as a computer programmer. A lot of programme Ideas come
from Reek. The
album was down from 23 to 29. In the last two weeks we commuted between
El Paso and Las Cruces in New Mexico, which was about a one hour drive.
We used to leave about 2pm and rehearse, say from 3pm to midnight. The first concert was at El Paso where there were 3,500 people and I gave it a 4 out of 1 0. Yngwie Maimsteen turned up and decided to throw a wobbler at the shortage of room and so didn't play and was thrown off the tour. The band wasn't being difficult, It was just Yngwie being a pain. 16 August Day off. Norman, Oklahoma. 1,000 people and a 4 out of 1 0, with trouble getting the gear set up. No replacement for
Yngwie so no support as with most of the tour. New Orleans, Louisiana. 5,000 people and 6 out of 10. Good gig, haven't played better. Houston, Texas. 5,000 people, disaster show, an outdoor gig. Dallas, Texas. 5,000 people, 7 out of 10, really good gig. The band were starting to gel together. San Antonio, Texas. 1,200 people, 8.5 out of 10. Excellent gig despite the small number of people. Cincinnati, Ohio. 8.5 out of 10, so was a good gig and also a good crowd. Album dropped to 40. 3 September Toronto, Canada.
8.5 out of 10, unbelievable gig, we had a 10 minute standing ovation and they wouldn't leave. 2 encores, a fabulous show. Montreal, Canada. 6 out of 10. We received a gold disc for Canada. Frank and I went to a place called Lake George where we went parasailing and played football with the crew. The crew, I must
add, were the best I've ever worked with and I used to hang about with them a lot. Drove to New York for a gig
in New Greenwich which was canceled. Fortunately It wasn't anything to do with us,
it was the unions at New Haven. Philadelphia, the Mann Centre. 6,000 people, really good gig. The first really good attendance on the tour. 8 out of 1 0. Meadowlands, New Jersey. 14,000 people, 9 out of 10. John Sykes came and enjoyed it and Providence, Rhode Island. Disaster gig yet 2 encores. It was a little theatre and the power went off twice. Greatwoods, Boston. 4, 000 people, 9.5 out of 10 - My personal best.
On to New York. Landover, Maryland. 4,000 people, 4 out of 10, it wasn't too bad. Madison Square Gardens, New York. 13,000 people, 9.5 out of
10. It was a really good show and we went down with a storm. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 5 out of 10 and was alright. This was an extra that was put in as 22nd sold out. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Sold out, 7 out of
10. It wasn't too bad, though we were all a bit Cleveland, Ohio. 2,400 people, 4 out of
10, It wasn't that clever. Then we went to Hershey for a day off and we trained with Jerry Cooney who
is the white hope heavyweight champion of the world. Hershey, Pennsylvania. 9.5 out of 1 0 so the standard was
getting better now. Another good
gig. Hampton, Virginia. 7 out of 10, average gig. Richmond, Virginia. 7 out of 10 so that was okay. On to Lexington. I had a terrible toothache that night, don't know why. Lexington, Kentucky. 9 out of 10 though there were only about 800 people there in a 20,000 seat venue! Fox Theater, Atlanta, Georgia. 6,000 people, that was sold out I think. 9 out of
10, a great gig. Tampa, Florida. Day off. Lakeland
Arena. 3,000 people, 3 out of 10. It was recorded for Westwood One (radio). It was Miami, Florida. 4,000 people. Very good gig. We played very well. Charlotte, North Carolina. 4 out of 1 0, I played the worst on the whole tour, don't know why. A six hour flight and felt dreadful. I had a bit of a cold then. Grand Rapids, Michigan. 4 out of 10, bit of a dump, a college type gig. It wasn't very good Fox Theatre, Detroit. 6,000 people, 9.5 out of 10, great gig and sold out. Indianapolis, Indiana. 4,000 people, 9 out of 1 0, good gig again. We played with a great band
with a great singer, Henry Lee Summer,whom l might be doing some work
with in the future you never know. Chicago, Illinois. 8,000 people, 8 out of 10 but everybody was really tired at that point. At Chicago, saw 'Crocodile Dundee' which was the highlight of the evening, great film, go and see it when
it comes out - it's hilarious. St. Paul, Minnesota. Not
many people there but still a 9.5 out of 10. Good gig. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 9.5 out of 10, it would have been a 10
out of 10 but I messed up one of the numbers at the end! Ames, Iowa. 8.5 out of 10, middle of nowhere, college campus. Left to go to Portland and all got drunk on the plane and caused a lot of havoc, arrived at
Portland 25 October and it was raining. Portland. 9.5 out of 1 0. We were trying to compete with Van Halen in the same town so there weren't many people there. Seattle, Washington. 9.5 out of 10, great gig. San Francisco, California. 4,000 people, 7 out of 10, good gig. (Note: Frank thinks it is better than a 7 out of
10). Lots of Cozy banners, which was nice. Los Angeles, Greek Theatre. 10 out of
10, excellent gig and sold out. [It was great, but only about 2/3 full - Bill W.] Costa Mesa. Halloween night, open air, funny sound. I gave it a 5 out of 10 but everyone else enjoyed it so maybe it was me (Note again: Frank again says more than 5 out of 10). San Diego, California. 9.5 out of 10, open air, not a bad gig. |