The 1971 - 1973 gig list can now be found at walterkolosky.com

1974
Feb 21 Century Theater?, Buffalo NY
New band debut performing “Hymn To Him” with Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra
Joseph D’Anna: It was snowing and I had to get the equipment up there. The band wore tuxedos but the orchestra was dressed in everyday clothes. It was reversed. I never saw John so nervous as when he walked onstage. It was a big deal for him.
John McLaughlin: The main reason I get nervous is pure vanity.
Ralphe Armstrong: It was our very first concert. I can’t see John as ever being nervous. But, there was so much music he had to get together.
Michael Walden: It was one exciting thing. We only played one piece that was 20 minutes long. I stood on the stage and there were people applauding. I didn’t want to walk off the stage. They had to come get me!

Apr 30? Auditorium Theater, Chicago IL
The expectations were greater than the music ever could’ve been. There were immediate questions, comparisons of the band then & now. The band then was better-but the music now isn’t the same. The music is good – or it will be. It’s not the apocalypse as advertised, but another inauguration.
Downbeat, July 1974

May 1 Washington DC
May 2 Columbus OH
May 3 Cincinnati OH
May 4 Cleveland OH
May 6 Masonic Auditorium, Detroit MI (108 min)
May 14 Pantages Playhouse Theater, Winnipeg, Canada
Support by Mood Jga Jga
May 15 Centre Of The Arts, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
Support by Wascana
May 26 Winterland, San Fransisco CA
Journey and The Tubes also appear
Jun 1 Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica CA
Journey also appear
Jun 4 Civic Auditorium, Pasadena CA
Jun 11 Dallas TX
Jun 19 Spectrum, Philadelphia PA (80 min)

Jun 23 Schaefer Music Festival, Central Park, New York NY (92 min)
Michael Walden: There was a mirror above the stage where I could look up and see everyone standing behind me. Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, Lenny White were there. It started to rain as we were playing “Sanctuary”. We were all mesmerized by the power of that song. It was raining and
no-one leaving! I’ll never forget that.
Bob Knapp: Stanley Clarke was having a fit because he had been asked to join the group earlier but had turned it down.

Jun 26 Coliseum, Cape Cod MA
King Crimson also appear
Bill Bruford: It was Michael on drums, and damn me, if he didn’t sound as good as Billy. Back to the woodshed.

Jun 27 Saratoga Springs, Saratoga NY
Declan: They were good, not bracing or electrifying. What I remember most was the sheer amount of contraband being consumed, the smoke wafting in waves over the crowd for several hours.

Jun 28 Massey Hall, Toronto, Canada
Jun 29 Century Theater, Buffalo NY

Jul 2 Pine Knob Music Theater, Clarkston MI

Jul 7 Convention Centre, Montreux
Recorded by Claude Nobs and released in 2003

Jul 9 Kongresshalle, Frankfurt, Germany (124min)
Jul 12 Teatro Monumental, Madrid
Jul 13 Palacio Municipal De Deportes, Barcelona
Jul 15 Olympia Theatre, Paris, France

Jul 20 Knebworth, Stevenage, England (100 min)
Allman Brothers Band, Doobie Brothers, Van Morrison, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Alex Harvey Band, Tim Buckley
Bruno Coppola: The crowd was amazing and the weather was great. Mahavishnu were pretty other-worldly.
Adrian: John was fabulous and clinical in his all-white, then Jean-Luc Ponty joined him and the combo of fire and ice was awesome.
Nigel Barton: The sound quality was just stupendous.

Jul 22 Grona Lund, Stockholm, Sweden
Jul 23 Gothenburg, Sweden
Jul 27 Hilversum, Holland
Van Morrison also appears

Jul 29 Juan-Les-Pins, Antibes, France (64 min)
Filmed by French TV

Jul 31 Kongresshaus, Zurich, Switzerland
Aug 8 Cessna Stadium, Wichita KS (102 min)
Oct 15 Durham NC
Supported by Janis Ian
Oct 27 Field House, Manchester, NH
Support by Gary Burton
Oct 30 UCLA, San Fransisco CA
Nov 2 Winterland, San Fransisco CA
Electric Flag and Moby Grape also appear

Start of Australasian tour
Nov 8 Concert Hall, Perth
Nov 10 Festival Hall, Melbourne
Nov 12 Hordern Pavillion, Sydney
Nov 14 Festival Hall, Melbourne (85 min)
Nov 15 Thebarton Hall, Adelaide
Nov 17 Hordern Pavillion, Sydney
Nov 19 Festival Hall, Brisbane
Nov ? Wellington, NZ
Nov ? Christchurch, NZ
End of Australasian tour

Nov ? Houston TX
Nov 27 Sahara Hotel, Las Vegas NV
Richie Havens also appears

1975
Start of European tour
Jan 19 Fairfields Hall, Croydon, England (95 min)
Jan 21 Guildhall, Portsmouth, England
Jan 22 Albert Hall, London, England (65 min)
Jan 23 Town Hall, Birmingham, England
Jan 24 Colston Hall, Bristol, England
Jan 25 Free Trade Hall, Manchester, England (42 min)
Jan 26 Kelvin Hall, Glasgow, Scotland
Jan 28 Usher Hall, Edinburgh, Scotland
Jan 29 City Hall, Newcastle, England

Jan 30 City Hall, Sheffield, England
Steve Waring: I took this girl I was with. All the way through she kept saying, ”That violinist’s gorgeous!” I was like, “Listen to the music!” and all she could say was, ”Oh, he’s lovely!”
Johnnie K: The music was very loud (for the time) and very complex – so much that my friend and I left early and went to the pub.

Feb 2 Forest National, Brussells, Belgium
Feb 4 Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, Holland
Feb 6 Falconer, Copenhagen, Denmark (117 min)
Feb 7 Concert Hall, Stockholm, Sweden (85min)
Feb 9 Congresshalle, Hamburg, Germany
Feb 11 Palais De Beaulieu, Lausanne, Switzerland

Feb 12 Paris Salle Pleyel, Paris, France (20min)
Recorded by French radio

Feb 13 Paris, France
Feb 15 Palais De Sports, Barcelona, Spain
Feb 17 Real Madrid, Madrid, Spain [2 Shows]
Feb 20 Palasport, Turin, Italy
Feb 21 Palasport, Udine, Italy
Feb 22 Palasport, Milano, Italy (2 Shows)
Feb 23 Thetro Genova, Genova, Italy [2 Shows]
Feb 24 Palasport, Bologna, Italy
Feb 25 Palasport, Rome, Italy
Feb 26 Palasport, Naples, Italy
Feb 27 Thetro Petruzelli, Bari, Italy [2 Shows]
End of European tour

Apr 12 Penn State Uni, Pennsylvania PA
Apr 13 SUNY, Stony Brook NY
Apr 14 Allentown PA
Apr 17 University, Georgetown Washington DC
Apr 18 College Park MD
Apr 19 State College, Millersville PA
Apr 20 Clark Uni, Worcester PA

Start of Jeff Beck tour
Apr 24 Century Theater, Buffalo NY (60min)
Apr 25 Auditorium, Rochester NY
Apr 26 Civic Center, Springfield MA (45 min)
Apr 27 Capitol Theater, Passaic NJ
Apr 29 Hofstra University, Hempstead NY

Apr 30-May 1 Avery Fisher Hall, New York NY
Dick Wyzanski: McLaughlin opened the first show and by the second song I found myself with a splitting headache from the 500mph high-on-the neck guitar runs.

May 2 Spectrum, Philadelphia PA
May 3 Music Hall, Boston MA (80 min)
May 4 Conn Coliseum, New Haven CT
May 6 Stanley Theater, Pittsburgh PA
May 7 Music Hall, Cleveland OH
May 8 Aerie Crown Theater, Chicago IL
May 9 Masonic Temple, Detroit MI
May 10 Auditorium Theater, Milwaukee WI
May 11 Ambassador Theater, St Louis MI

May 28 Exposition Hall, Civic Plaza, Phoenix AZ
Elliott Sears’ last gig with the band

May 29 Golden Hall, San Diego CA

May 30 Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles CA
John’s Double Rainbow breaks irreparably
Stu Goldberg: John leaned his Rex Bogue straight up against the dressing room counter, and of course, BOOM! It fell over and died.

May 31 Winterland, San Fransisco CA [2 shows]

Jun 1 Civic Center, San Jose CA
Mpfaff: They blew the socks off of Jeff, if you can believe that!

Jun 3 Paramount Theater, Portland OR
Jun 4 Paramount Theater, Seattle, WA

Who, indeed, was the wrong-headed entrepreneur who decided that Mahavishnu Orchestra and Jeff Beck would make a compatible concert bill ? The coup certainly seemed tantalizing in the ads – two of the most celebrated guitar ‘legends’ in “the one concert this year not to be missed”. Sadly, the pre-packaged aggrandizing proved less than accurate. The basic split between the factions of fans was obvious, making for an uncomfortable atmosphere.
San Diego Reader, 5/6/75

Jun 7 Ice Arena, Denver CO
Jun 8 Johnson Gym UNM, Albuquerque NM
Jun 9 Civic Center, El Paso NM
Jun 11 Memorial Hall, Dallas TX
Jun 12 Municipal Hall, San Antonio TX
Jun 13 Music Hall, Oklahoma City OK
Jun 14 Assembly Center, Tulsa OK

Jun 15 Music Hall, Houston TX
Dinky Dawson: John was very reserved, even when jamming with Jeff. Nothing was said, but it was inevitable that the electronic Mahavishnu Orchestra would be moving on.
End of Jeff Beck tour

Jul 7 Albuquerque NM

Recordings for “Inner Worlds” at Chateau D’Herouville, France

Start of “Star Truckin’ ’75” tour
Wishbone Ash, Lou Reed, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Soft Machine, Richard & Linda Thompson, Caravan, Robin Trower
Aug 5 Falconer Theatre, Copenhagen, Denmark

Aug 7 Chateaux Neux, Oslo, Norway
Desdiova: A friend and I snuck into the soundcheck. It took ages to set the drums (“Single shots, Michael!! Please!!”) Ralphe was cooler than cool, wearing his red jumpsuit and white shoes, even to soundcheck. I asked McL for some guitar tips and this is what I got: “Cut your long hair and pick up yoga”. 80% of the crowd were there to see Mahavishnu.

Aug 9 Runsala Folk Park, Turku, Finland
Aug 11 Grona Lund, Stockholm, Sweden (50 min)
Aug 14 Groenoordhal, Leiden, Holland (52 min)

Aug 15 Bilsen Jazz Festival, Bilsen, Belgium (61 min)
Bert Lams: The whole band was dressed in white. There was a lot of technical difficulties. Also there were a few drunken people yelling to the band. Mostly I remember John smiling through it all.

[John] radiates an incongruous air of preternatural calm in the midst of the unbelievably violent electronic/percussive sturm und drang of the music – like a man serenely bathing in lightning because he knows that it’s on his side and can never hurt him.
Charles Shaar Murray, NME, August 1975

Aug 16 Stadion Galende, Ludwigsburg, Germany (38 min)
Aug 17 Theatre Antique, Orange, France (73 min)
Aug 18 Plaza De Toros, Marbella, Spain
Aug 20 Malaga, Spain

Aug 24 Reading Festival, Reading, England (66 min)
Supertramp, Judas Priest, Yes, Thin Lizzy, Joan Armatrading, UFO, Hawkwind, Robin Trower. Mahavishnu Orchestra and others
Winty: Memories...Concorde flying overhead during an excellent set by the Mahavishnu Orchestra.
Ian Ellis: John didn’t look overly happy, and at one point he physically threw his beautiful gold-encrusted Gibson across the stage – it made a dreadful clunking noise as it hit the floor once and bounced into the arms of his waiting roadie. They were refused an encore by the powers-that-be, even though the audience demanded one. Mr McLaughlin took it philosophically – he smiled at me once more as he turned and made his way down the ramp.
Pat Gribben: I didn’t want it to end.

Aug 29 Vienna, Austria (64 min)
End of “Star Truckin’ ‘75” tour

Oct 16 Meehan Auditorium, Providence RI (64 min)
Oct 28 Masonic Temple Auditorium, Detroit MI
Support by Jan Hammer Group

Oct 29 Palace Theater, Waterbury CT [2 Shows] (20 min)
Frank Zappa also appears
Ralphe Armstrong: I think I met Zappa on a show. We opened for him. And he was freaking out at how I played the bass.

Nov 29 Toledo Uni, Toledo, OH (100 min)
The final concert by the greatest band that ever was

but... necessary?

...no art is necessary, as such. And yet all of it is. Likewise history. People yearn to know what the seven wonders of the ancient world actually looked like, to have the lost shelves of books from the library at Alexandria. But there's only fragments and hints of such things left.

The Mahavishnu Orchestra(s) were - I firmly believe - the zenith of all popular musics in the 20th century. In the absence of Smithsonian Institutes and their ilk collating, preserving and proselytising the legacy it's up to the likes of us to do so. And we shall!

amazing though the pudding is, this may be over-egging it

peace and love, peace and love

Why the Fishbender pseudonym ? Is it some kind of Elvis Costello/the Imposter thing ?
I don't mind reading about MO just as long as i don't have to listen to them.

p.s Was going to go for Jonathan King pseudonym thing but thought people might get the wrong idea.

what is necessary and what is not are two different things (oh really?) But does that make the unnecessary things less important? No. The Trevi Fountain isn't necessary, but the sight of it once reduced me to tears. It's what separates us from the animals. It's why we write symphonies, build cathedrals, paint masterpieces - and make music like the Mahavishnu Orchestra; it's our rage against the shadow of death (oh, God). Necessary? Food, water and shelter are our only necessities - but what kind of existence is that? Yup, just an animal one.

the Fishbender pseudonym isn't Colin, it's me. It's a nickname I used to use for a long-lost friend of mine years ago. As for the Jonathan King thing - don't go there. Don't even look at the brochure.

The new Gerry Rafferty? ;)

It sounded like someone taking out the bins while whistling the theme tune to Farmhouse Kitchen.

Therefore, I loved it.

you should work for the NME! Excellent

Interview of Rick Laird by Loraine Alterman –
Why Mahavishnu is Breaking Up

Rick Laird, former bassist with the now-scattered Mahavishnu Orchestra said it was a case of too much ego and pride that finally doomed the band.
“We never even said goodbye to each other after the last concert in December”, he said. Laird, the second member of the Orchestra to state his views on the group’s breakup, directed most of his remarks to the subject of John McLaughlin and his leadership.

However, Laird also took issue with some comments of drummer Billy Cobham [Rolling Stone January 17th and 31st, 1974]. On McLaughlin: “Out of the 24 compositions we did, there are 23 that he claims are his. The large portion of each of those songs is his. However, the other members, myself included, contributed a great deal to those compositions, making them come alive as a piece of music. We were not credited financially or any other way.

The first year and a half, said Laird, was spent with us battling his so-called enlightenment, and him battling our so-called ignorance, which is the highest form of bullshit I ever heard in my life. What a game.” The end came just as the communications gap began to be resolved, said Laird. “Nineteen seventy four promised to be the year in which we could have possibly made some money as individuals, and that too is gone. It’s very unfortunate. I’m sure it’s a disappointment to the audience who wanted to hear Mahavishnu Orchestra”.

“Billy accused the rest of us of rejecting him and his music, which is entirely untrue. If anyone was rejected it was the four of us, by him. This he did quite blatantly in the last few months. Most of the time he was concerned with doing his own album.” Laird added :
“Billy made a comment that Jerry Goodman[violinist], Jan Hammer[keyboards], and I were wasting our time and that the reason we wanted our music played was an ego trip. This is bullshit ! The fact that he considered his music good enough to record is an indication of a real ego trip .....”

Mahavishnu members, said Laird, were salaried. Although they were also supposed to receive a percentage from album sales, he doubted they’ll ever see any money because of losses accrued when the band tried to record an LP in London last year. An attempt was made to persuade McLaughlin to record other people’s music. The idea didn’t work. “That record date was a disaster. We salvaged nothing from it. After five days I remember John leaving the date crying.”

The possibility of the group playing again- even occasionally, while everyone pursued their own interests the rest of the time- is very slim, said Laird. “If we were mature adults, we could do this, but since we’re all acting like adolescents, none of these things is possible because we’re in the way. When I say we, I mean egos. Pride - that’s what ultimately destroyed us.” “I feel we’ve let down a lot of people - especially the huge audience that we had gained. I must say that they were great. It really surprised me that they dug our music, and they dug us. I’m most grateful for all of that ..."

...what publication (and what date) is the Rick L interview from, Fish? And while I'm at it, do you have the exact date of the Downbeat issue in July 74 with the concert review?

the Downbeat article is dated simply July 1974. If I remember rightly it's from the Articles section of the Pages Of Fire site, which is accessible through the John McLaughlin Archive, in Links. I think there's other Mahavishnu articles there too, as well as the notorious Crawdaddy article.
The Rick Laird interview is from drumminfool.com and is undated. It has a [bracketed] reference to a previous Rolling Stone article which suggests that as a source, but this could have been added before being posted.
Hope this helps - I don't tend to write stuff down but I hope my memory is still reliable enough :D

...Downbeat was fortnightly, so there'll be at least two July-dated issues. But I'll track it down... Biographies are nothing without accurate sourcing/citations :-)

and good luck in your endeavours. Have a good week :)

how's the sleuthing going? Are you writing a book, and is that why you've been chatting to various MO horn players lately?
BTW, how's the tape remastering job going, and where do you find the time for all this?

Get a room!

...many people being interviewed, many slabs of vintage reportage being accumulated - from UK, US, Spain, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand...(often obscure, occasionally pricey, sometimes free - and sometimes located/translated with generous help from the good people of the far-flung Massive!)

It's a many-months project, but it's going very well indeed and most importantly (to me) the spirit/karma around it feels very positive.

Haven't forgotten about restoring the Reading recording - but I've sort of got distracted (pleasantly) in the studio lately from that by recording some music of my own, instrumental pieces for an EP featuring that Mahavishnu of the Sydney Chicago blues scene, our very own Shane Pacey... along with one or two other special guests.

Send us some e-postcards to keep us in the loop. I'm sure we all here at the MahaMassive will be intrigued by the outcome of this Pangaea-sized project. Does it have a title?
Good luck with the music - the mridangam isn't easy to play at the best of times!
PS Brookster, behave you dirty boy!

...but it'll have to wait. All I can say for the moment is that I've taken on a project that I believe I'll enjoy doing, that I think really *will* be a (modest but) important shining of a spotlight on a neglected corner of musical history - and I sincerely hope I do those who were involved in it proud. Hopefully my book will complement Walter's existing biography and overlap only to a very small degree (mine is solely on the 1974-75 period - and yes, there really *is* a book in those two years). I'd love to say more but observing a line between internet discussion and keeping powder dry is the path of wisdom!

But, of course, that won't stop me casually enthusing around here on matters MO-related. Somebody mentioned starting a 'Five Best MO tunes' thread recently. I'm still thinking about it...
:-D

Colin - consider our breath bated! You're very lucky to have the time and resource to be able to do such a thing. Hope you'll include tour dates as well; we've made a good start here already, though there's lots of obvious gaps. Good luck with that.
BTW I Googled Chris Eckhardt the film-maker a few weeks ago and found a guy in the US who might fit the bill; he's now a top video producer who's worked with some big names. Unfortunately, by the time I'd plucked up courage to e-mail and confirm it was him and ask about the Orange footage, I re-Googled and couldn't find him! (The wine, probably!) Perhaps you might do better?

!¬ }