Donovan: The Lostbrook Tape Series - Volume 122


Shortly after the August 7 Yes concert at Madison Square Garden
(Vol 121), my friend Danny came up with a brilliant idea: "Let's
rent a van and go see Yes in Springfield, Massachusetts!" Having
just seen Yes five times in six days was certainly no excuse for
the party to end. We were still crazy teenagers, so we piled into
a van, drove through the night, and arrived at the Springfield Civic
Center early in the morning on August 10th. We camped out on line
all day with little food or water but guaranteed ourselves a prime
position for this general admission event. I believe the doors opened
fairly early, and since there were no chairs in the orchestra section,
we parked ourselves on the floor in front of the stage. As the arena
began to fill, more and more people joined us on the floor, but we
all sat there peacefully like hippies at a festival, each of us happy
with a small piece of real estate.

You can guess what happened next - latecomers arrived and stepped over
people as if they weren't even there. When the lights went down and
Donovan took the stage, even more people showed up. The moment the
music began, so did the pushing, shoving, arguing, hair-pulling, and
choking. Things settled down a bit after the first song, but the worst
was still to come as the crowd continued to build. During Donovan's
encore break, you'll hear me predict, "This is gonna get rough." Jody
saw the handwriting on the wall, and after "Atlantis," she announced,
I am leaving." I foolishly talked her into staying. By intermission,
all naive thoughts of remaining seated on the floor were gone. During
the last fourteen seconds of Track 10, you'll hear the opening notes
of "Firebird Suite." Almost immediately, the impact of the crowd surge
turned the recorder off. I was able to restart the tape, but at this
point, I don't think our feet were touching the ground. People in front
of us were being crushed into a barricade. While we were unintentionally
crowd surfing, I said, "They gotta stop the concert," and the recorder
switched off for good, this time without me noticing. Several minutes
into "Parallels," Jody and I suddenly found ourselves on the floor under
the surf. We had had enough. There was only one thing to do, so we crawled
out sideways as if escaping a rip tide. We were so upset that we didn't
even consider finding another place to stand, so we left the building.

With plenty of time on our hands, we decided to locate the band's hotel.
We waited in the lobby for a couple of hours, and when they showed up, we
confronted Jon Anderson, told him our story, and asked him why he didn't
stop the concert. Jon said that he would have if he had noticed what was
going on. We weren't completely satisfied with that answer, but we dropped
it since we were also a little star-struck. In the end, I suppose it makes
for an interesting story, and I do have a decent Donovan tape as a souvenir.
I'm not trying to say this was Altamont or Cincinnati, but it was a truly
unpleasant experience, especially after all the effort we had put into it.
The worst part was finding out that not all Yes fans were about peace, love,
and brotherhood. A touch of innocence was left behind in Springfield that night.


August 10, 1977
Springfield Civic Center
Springfield, Massachusetts
USA


Recording Equipment: Internal Mic>Sanyo M2533 Tape Deck>TDK SD C90>Alesis TapeLinkUSB> Audacity>WAV

Taper: Lostbrook
Mastering: CQ
Artwork: ethiessen1


01 Cosmic Wheels (3:57)
02 Sunshine Superman (4:16)
03 Brave New World (4:38)
04 Astral Angel (5:19)
05 Hurdy Gurdy Man (3:38)
06 Dare To Be Different (3:57)
07 Local Boy Chops Wood (3:52)
08 The Light (5:02)
09 Mellow Yellow (5:27)
10 Atlantis (5:23 - includes 14 seconds of Firebird Suite)