1979-05-19
| 1979-05-19 | |
|---|---|
| |
| a concert pass for today | |
| |
| today's page from support act Wazmo Nariz' tour itinerary | |
| Performance summary | |
| Artist performing: | The Police |
| Tour: | 1978-1979 Outlandos d'Amour Tour |
| Venue: | Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium |
| Location: | Santa Cruz, CA, USA |
| Support acts: | Wazmo Nariz, Pearl Harbor & The Explosions |
| Ticket prices: | TICKET PRICES |
On 1979-05-19, The Police performed at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium in Santa Cruz, CA, USA.
Setlist
Recording information
This section needs more information. Please note if an official or unofficial recording, or recording(s), is known to exist of this performance.
Trivia
Sting had seen Wazmo Nariz' Jeff Boynton use a Minimoog. Apparently he liked it, because at today's soundcheck he showed up with his own Minimoog and began testing it with Jeff Boynton assisting. Not during the actual concert though...
Pearl Harbor & The Explosions' Peter Dunne remembers this (an excerpt from his "Mystical Body" page):
"Bill Graham’s people called again and asked if we’d open for The Police at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium. They were touring in support of their first album and had been, non-stop, for some long months. They had a support act with them but an opener was needed. We took the gig. We took all the gigs. We drove down in one vehicle, a van, and stopped by the Palms on our way to collect our gear which we had left there the night before. Dave Frazer drove his MG and brought Sylvia, my former girlfriend, whom he was now seeing and later married.
I dug The Police, but I was in the minority in my little circle. I loved their drummer and I thought they had some good songs, but for some reason the musicians I knew resisted them and the more hard core punks did as well. For entirely different reasons. Needless to say they were becoming quite popular. We loaded into the auditorium and left our stuff on the massive and deep stage. AJ had his entire kit set up toward the back and was practicing. The stage crew didn’t even mind. There was so much room it didn’t even begin to encroach on the space needed for the headliners.
The Police were very, very late, which surprised us not at all. We were getting used to the opening act routine. Word had it that they were driving in by bus from some remote location but would make it easily in time for the show if not the sound check. Finally their tour bus pulled in and they climbed off. They had that gray pallor that only comes from months on the road. It was unmistakeable. Their gear was already set up and they went directly onto the stage and started jamming. It was a great three piece jam, not unlike what AJ and Hil and I did, although we leaned toward Meters cum Crusaders, rather than the eighth note rock meets reggae favored by The Police at that time. AJ, meanwhile, was still set up and practicing as they took the stage. Without missing a beat, he joined right in and played with them through the initial jam stages of their soundcheck. None of them so much as acknowledged that they had a fourth member for a time.
We actually got a bit of a check, albeit brief, just before we went on. It was a Bill Graham show and the crew went out of its way to facilitate this. Our list of friends was really snowballing by this time. People began to follow us out of town. I got tight with a group of Latino guys from the Mission, whom I would meet in the parking lots of the out-of-town clubs before shows and have a beer. Rock and roll tailgating. These guys had made the trip to Santa Cruz and I saw them in the crowd as soon as I got out on stage. There’s nothing like friendly faces before a new audience. They helped get the crowd going which got us going. By the end of our set we had made a significant impression on the audience which was there to see The Police.
After our set I saw Andy Summers.
“Did you see our set?”
“Naw, I just got here. Been out preparing for our set.”
“Really, what do you do?” I still did my old routine of yoga and guitar warmup exercises.
“Drinking, mostly,” he joked.
The Police were excellent, in my humble opinion. AJ and David Kahne were standing in the back of the hall during their set, looking singularly unimpressed and making snide remarks. I suppose it was the old competitive spirit. The band was doing “Can't Stand Losing You”. “Check out the snare sound,” was all I said. They were rocking hard, baby, like it or not. After The Police finished we went over to the Catalyst with Stewart Copeland."
See also
This section needs more information.
External links
information taken from: http://www.sugarmegs.org/billgrahm.txt
References
source: Stewart Copeland's diary, pass, internet, Jeff Boynton, Peter Dunne
