We read that New York is heavily in debt, that Mayor Beame can’t afford to pay his workers and that President Ford has vetoed any government assistance, but the skyscrapers are still standing and Madison Square Garden is still boasting sell-out shows. Traditionally, the entertainment business holds its own in times of stress – there’s nothing like a good depression to sell records and concert tickets.
New York is no exception. It’s more newsworthy when an established act’s record doesn’t go gold here, or when their concert doesn’t sell out. Music of all kinds thrives in New York and 1975 has been no different.
The most important event of the year has been the re-emergence of Bob Dylan, not only as a New Yorker but also as a Village Person. Quite what motivated Dylan to tread the downtown streets once again no one knows but our lives have certainly been richer for it. The luxury of Malibu and the pleasures of living upstate in the country have lost their attraction: Bob’s back where he started and don’t we know it.
The year began with Blood On The Tracks, a spectacular return to form, and ended with Desire. In between were The Basement Tapes and numerous unscheduled appearances in the city that culminated in the most extraordinary tour of his career, the Rolling Thunder Revue, which climaxed, somewhat limply, with a benefit for Rubin ‘Hurricane’ Carter at the Garden two weeks ago.
Bob’s in New York right now, seeing to the release of the new album. Last night, my spies tell me, many of the Rolling Thunder crew stopped off at The Other End to catch John Prine, a slight indication that the excitement is not yet over. There’s talk that the Revue will play concerts in California early next year, and a chance they’ll travel to the UK.
During the year the Beacon Theatre has risen to prominence as a rock venue, taking over the role previously played by Howard Stein’s Academy of Music on 14th Street, which has all but closed down as far as live music is concerned. Aesthetically, the Beacon is a vast improvement, though its situation, at 74th and Broadway up on the Westside, is not as convenient as the old Academy.
Despite its impersonal, cavernous nature, the Garden still thrives as a rock venue. The Rolling Stones broke all attendance records this year when they played for six consecutive nights and grossed well over a million dollars, easily eclipsing both Elvis Presley and The Who, who have both sold out four-day runs.
But outbreaks of violence at the Garden have left an ugly scar, though these have occurred only at concerts by black artists. New York still rings with tales of thieves who went about their business with alarming efficiency at a recent concert at the Felt Forum, the Garden’s smaller annexe, stealing purses and jewellery while the security guards were powerless to help. A step-up in security is bound to be enforced next year.
If the second half of the year has belonged to Dylan, and the summer to the Stones, then the first part of 1975 belonged to Led Zeppelin whose earnings from the US during February, March and April must have been astronomical. Not only did they tour the entire country – including three shows in New York – but their Physical Graffiti album topped the Billboard charts and sparked off remarkable sales for their entire catalogue. At one time there were five Zep albums in the Top 100.
Elton John, another of Britain’s big dollar earners, chose to ignore New York this year, although he did play the Garden last November, bringing John Lennon on stage for a memorable guest appearance. Elton’s Rock Of The Westies tour was restricted to the Western States.
The Who, too, have been absent, probably because they played the city in 1974 when Pete Townshend was unhappy with the shows. It seems likely they’ll include New York on their schedule early next year when they return for the second half of their US tour. Who manager Pete Rudge, though, was still undecided at the time of writing.
On a lesser scale, the clubs here continue to thrive. Queues line up outside the Bottom Line nightly, and the re-opening of the Other End – formerly the Bitter End – has provided some competition, attracting Dylan to its stage in the process.
The so-called underground in the city has thrown up another potential star in Patti Smith, easily the most prominent artist to have emerged regularly at CBGBs, a Bowery bar catering for unsigned local bands. The first band to emerge from this strata, the New York Dolls, split this year but re-formed later with a change in personnel though they don’t have a record contract and are currently dormant. Television, the underground’s other big hope, remain unsigned despite critical recognition and earlier this month they released a privately distributed single. Patti Smith did the same thing before Arista signed her earlier this year.
Only two major outdoor events occurred in Central Park, both, coincidentally, within 24 hours. The first was a mammoth gathering to celebrate the end of the Vietnam War, organised by Phil Ochs. Paul Simon made an unscheduled but welcome appearance, alongside Ochs, Joan Baez, Peter Yarrow and Richie Havens. The following day Jefferson Starship, certain winners of the comeback-of-the-year award, played their annual free concert attended by over 100,000 fans.
Paul Simon AND Art Garfunkel remain firm New Yorkers, and Simon’s season at the Avery Fisher Hall last month was among the year’s musical highlights. Garfunkel showed up at his midnight Saturday concert and joined his former partner for two songs.
The disco boom has continued with scores of private clubs opening in downtown Manhattan to cater for dancers who keep going until the following day. The trend continues to break records each month. ‘Fly Robin Fly’ by Silver Convention was number one last week and ‘That’s The Way (I Like It)’ by KC & The Sunshine Band is number one this week. Both are perfect examples of the disco trend.
Predictions for next year: Aerosmith, who blatantly model themselves on The Rolling Stones, will become a major band in the US; Patti Smith will have difficulty broadening her cult following into mass appeal; Paul Simon will score a Broadway show; Bob Dylan will remain active: and John Lennon, whose immigration problems seem to be almost over, will visit the UK at last.
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