Any chance of moving most of this into the comments? It's taking up a huge chunk of the first page of the blog, and, to non Mahavishnu Orchestra devotees (hard to believe, but we do exist ;-) is not terribly interesting.

And I like the Mahavisnu Orchestra but not necessarily at the same time.

Just 4 songs in one set? Strewth, is that it? I may put up a Ramones list.

...the Mahavishnu Orchestra at the same time!

That said, I do sympathise with Beefy to an extent. Maybe this list should have been added to one of the two giant MO threads for tidyness... but, then again, it's a very clearly described thread and Fishbender's done great work here, as ever! Anyone not interested in Mahavishnu Orchestra Set Lists should, to be honest, be happily able to avoid a thread entitled 'Mahavishnu Orchestra Set Lists'... :-)

Anyway...

My only comment in general Fishmeister would be to say that you could, perhaps, have indicated those shows where the set list is definitely known to be incomplete (because the tape on surviving recordings ran out, etc) - but for the 1971-73 era most of those are immediately obvious (with the exception of the 11/73 Palace Theater date, where only those 3 tracks were performed, for a TV concert with other acts on the bill).

I see you've also opted for the colloquial translation of 'Celestial Terrestrial Commuters' ('Binky's). But hey, it's quicker to type! :-D

I haven't heard all of the thus-far-available 1974-75 concerts yet, but from those I have heard I'd say that it's open to interpretation as to precisely what's played sometimes: there are very few, if any, song introductions as a rule and often medleys/segues between tunes.

I'd transcribed the Stockholm 7/2/75 show as follows:

Eternity's Breath Pt2 / You Know You Know / sanctuary / Eternity's Breath Pt1 / Band Intro Jam-Pegasus / Cosmic Strut / Vision Is A Naked Sword / Smile Of The Beyond-Be Happy

I also have a bootleg CD version (rather than download) of the Bilzen 8/75 show which has the following tracks/running order, noticeably different from your listing, and it SEEMS to me to be as-it-happened, so not edited or requenced:

Meeting Of The Spirits / Miles Beyond / You Know You Know / Open Country Joy / Band Intro Jam / Sanctuary / Planetary Citizen [incomplete] [the bootlegger then adds tracks from France and Holland]

Also, I can add the Reading Festival 8/75 set list, having dug out my cassette copy and had it transferred to CD (mastering/restoration yet to happen):

Meeting Of The Spirits / Dawn / Band Intro Jam / Open Country Joy / Sanctuary / You Know You Know / One Word: funk jam [this latter is tricky - it definitely starts as One Word but lasts 18 mins, most of which is not recogniseable as One Word]

Also, I can add the first half of the Croydon 2/75 set list (from cassette):

Eternity's Breath pts 1 + 2 / Lila's Dance / Vision Is A Naked Sword

And... you overlooked the Buffalo Philharmonic gig in 2/74! Wherein 'only' a 20 min version of 'Hymn To Him' was played with the BPO.

So... what interesting observations can we glean from this list?

Well, from a quick perusal I find it fascinating that;

1. During the 1974/11-piece band era the set list was exclusively the 'Apocalypse' LP plus 'Sanctuary' and/or 'Dawn' from the MO Mk1 repertoire.

2. There was only a narrow window of time - sparsely documented by surviving recordings - where the band (the end of the 11-piece version and then the 9 piece version, basically the first 5 months of 1975) performed a significant amount of material from 'Visions Of The Emerald Beyond'.

3. That the 4 piece version of the band (August-November 1975) reverted to playing almost exclusively MO Mk1 material, with the addition of a couple of tracks which had just, at that stage, been recorded for the last-gasp 'Inner Worlds' (All In The Family, Way Of The Pilgrim) plus only the briefest reference to 'Visions...' (Cosmic Strut, Be Happy).

The versions of the MO Mk1 material played were often significantly different - indeed, I'd even say 'Meeting Of The Spirits' was improved, with Ralphe Armstrong's incredible, cart-wheeling bass runs - the Toledo 11/75 recording is definitely the finest example of this momentarily rejuvenated line-up. If anyone wants to check out JUST ONE recording of the various 'Mk 2' line-ups, I'd say go for Toledo 75, their last ever recorded concert... in pretty good fidelity too...

...in the spirit of Columbo...

I forgot to add that it's noticeable that there are currently NO recordings circulating from the Mk2 band's highest-profile tour: their 2 months across the USA with Jeff Beck, June-July 1975, as a 5-piece (the subsequent 4-piece unit plus Steven Kindler on violin). Thankfully, soundman Dinky Dawson recorded most/all of these, plus several previous shows during May 1975, so hopefully we'll see examples on wolfgangsvault.com before long...

Who was the support - Heimlich Manoeuvres in the Dark?

myself off with it in the toilet. It's the only way I'll get rid of the hard-on it's giving me.

Thank you, fishbender.

By Jagajivan

(Reprinted from Down Beat magazine: June 8, 1972)

Winterland, San Francisco

Personnel: Mahavishnu (John McLaughlin), electric guitar; Jerry Goodman, amplified violin; Jan Hammer, electric piano; Rick Laird, electric bass; Billy Cobham, drums.

Even upon first meeting, players in this echelon are capable of uncanny rapport. Last August, at Greenwich Village's Gaslight, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, together only three weeks, so mesmerized audiences that it immediately was held over. It is only a testament to its mammoth musicianship that in the spring of this year the band did not sound drastically improved, although surely it honed the fine points of shading and interplay. Their first album,The inner Mounting Flame (Columbia), captures the group's genius even though it went down on tape just after the stay at the Gaslight. And primed by the frequent airing of the record and by word-of-mouth reports from back east, the people of the Bay Area were warmly receptive. Mahavishnu commented: "These people are beautiful; they met us right in the center."
The Orchestra appeared after the newly resurrected Blues Project and before Emerson, Lake & Palmer. It felt as though the people were at least as enthusiastic about the Mahavishnu band as about EL&P, the main attraction. Hendrixian histronics (the EL&P organist kept rocking his instrument back and forth, then went behind it, let it topple, and continued playing while pinned under it) seem to have lost their savor. Although EL&P had some "heavy" moments, one sensed that the center of gravity lay in the Mahavishnu Orchestra - to be exact, at Billy Cobham's drum throne. There was no other applause on either evening like that which went out to Cobham, who played with overwhelming passion and power. No doubt he and the others cleared up for many people the distinction between talent and true gift.
Mahavishnu opened: "We would like to dedicate our music to the Supreme Lord, the Supreme Musician," and what followed was straight-on playing. The qualities were starkly apparent: these men are virtuosos, and they are true artists. Whereas so many groups, even if competent, betray a commercial perspective, the Mahavishnu Orchestra conveys the feeling that they have transcended "practical" mundane considerations.
Thus their music was instantly attractive to an audience aware of the "real thing" through exposure to such as Miles Davis and John Coltrane, and when they played, there was awe in the air at Winterland. On the second of the band's two nights, impressario Bill Graham introduced them with these words: "Once in a while we're able to present really great musicians. And tonight we have five great, great, great musicians - the Mahavishnu Orchestra."
If memory serves, on both nights the Orchestra began their set with Meeting of the Spirits. The piece seemed to be in 12/8, and within each solo there was a build from eerie-peaceful arpeggiated guitar work to a chugging violin pattern to wailing upper-register guitar. In this manner, the intensity went full-circle within each solo, all the way back to the eerie-peacefulness, and the people showed vigorous appreciation of this dramatic touch. Meeting of the Spirits embodied some of the group's most attractive features. The sound coming from the interplay of guitar, violin, and electric piano varied from broiling to lilting. (One might have wished that the Orchestra had spotlighted the latter quality more by doing a piece calling for acoustic guitar, as A Lotus on Irish Streams on their record.)
Mahavishnu, Goodman, and Hammer all soloed with articulate musical and emotional direction and with ingenious use of electrical sound-benders. In particular, Hammer often made his piano lines ring and buzz and break up as though the axe had gone blissfully berserk. Throughout, bassist Laird was rock-solid - a firm foundation never to be taken for granted. (On one later piece he soloed, refreshingly free of the usual "oh-my-God-look-how-fast-he-plays-the-bass!" approach, with simplicity and impact.)
Whether supporting or soloing, drummer Cobham was spellbinding in his fleetness, imagination, and sheer energy.
The repertoire for the two evenings consisted of the aforementioned Meeting, Vital Transformation, Dawn (a melancholy theme alternating with a shuffle - all in seven), Awakening, You Know You Know, The Noonward Race, and an as yet unrecorded piece. The writing, all by Mahavishnu, sounded direct and clear and evoked a breadth of feeling. The odd meters of most of the pieces sometimes conjured a sensation of floating, or - as in the shuffle-seven part ofDawn - of everything being fly-reeled back each time a new bar began.
(At the same time, it would be a pleasure to hear them really lay into some walking four-four once in a while. Mahavishnu has played with Tony Williams and with Miles Davis, Hammer has played with Elvin Jones, and Cobham has played with Davis and Horace Silver. The band can swing if they wanted to.)
On both nights, there were several standing ovations after individual pieces, and, also on both nights - with stamping and clapping and whistling and cries of "MORE!" - the people demanded and got an encore. Mahavishnu told them, "How can we refuse?" After the final note they lavished applause as Mahavishnu introduced the band members, with an extra burst for Cobham.
How beautiful that at last music of this quality is being heard and taken to heart - not just by the few but by the many.

... they played Ludwigsberg? It does exist, but it's a tiny Bavarian village - whereas Ludwigsburg is a city in Baden-Württemberg. Hope you don't find me pedantic - but if you can't get the towns/cities right, how we can trust you with the set-lists ;).

interest take up some much fucking room?

'karmic error timeout' wasn't one of their "songs" ? Google Chrome seemed to think so.
But what did they order from the chip shop ? If only someone would start a thread.

Yes, I goofed - it's as above. What can I say; late nights, pressure of work...I'm looking at a repro of the gig poster (hosted by gonzo US DJ Wolfman Jack)on my MO boot. Wishbone Ash, Soft Machine, Caravan, Nektar?!?!?!? etc.
Thanks for the setlists Colin - my Bilsen CD is a download from Jazzfusion.tv and is obviously scrambled. My Stockholm '75 is from the same source and there were two different versions - I downloaded the more complete one that started with "Eternity's Breath" so...go figure, as they say.
I think it's safe to assume that most MO1 bootlegs are incomplete - an eyewitness at one of the final Avery Fisher gigs tells of a 3-hour set after which Billy could barely walk - and I got the set lists from recordings, bootlegs etc; perhaps I should have made that more obvious.
I'll re-post the set lists soon on the main thread - I'm quite new to this so not quite with it yet. Incidentally, if your Reading tape has a weird noise partway through,don't worry. Apparently Concorde flew over during the MO set!
And yes, the Toledo set is fantastic.

...as soon as I get my tape transfer properly mastered, Fishmeister, you're welcome to a copy. Do you, perchance, have a copy of the Knebworth '74 set?

I've recently downloaded the jazzfusion.tv version of Bilzen: it seems to be a different/better and more complete source than the tinnier sounding CD bootleg I have, though both sources only have a part of 'Planetary Citizen', alas.

People's memories, though, can play tricks with them after 40 years. Maybe the Avery attendee BELIEVES it was a 3 hr show, even if it was much less. One MO2 member, for example, believes Inner Worlds was recorded AFTER the 'Star Truckin' 75' tour, not before it. Yet all the references I've found thus far indicate the reverse. That's not to say his memory is necessarily wrong in this case - but I've certainly met other musicians who'll swear blind from long ingrained memory that X or Y happened in year Z when, categorically, it didn't!

a copy of the Knebworth show,unfortunately - it doesn't appear to be in circulation, though for sound quality and performance I think the Wichita show is probably the best '74 set and that would be hard to beat, so I'll just have to make do with that I guess(!)
Yes the 3-hour show sounds a bit much, especially with music of that intensity and energy, though Narada talks of 3-hour sets in Walter's book ("Joy the Supreme, Michael - Joy The Supreme") though as a drummer it probably just felt like 3 hours!
I'll try and re-post the set lists this weekend on the main thread and indicate which appear to be full sets