James Gang Takes Over At SPAC Hard Rock Fest
by Bill Rice, The Times Record, August 31, 1972
That notorious James Gang rode again in Saratoga Wednesday evening. They got a considerable haul of money from around 8,500 people at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center but we witnessed the whole thing and would testify anywhere that nobody wuz robbed.
The current James Gang is a popular, hard-rock group that rates high on the lists of young people really into what is sometimes referred to as “acid rock.” At any rate, it is the type of rock most adults dislike most, and some of the kids like best—hard driving and uncompromising.
Out in front of this long-haired and bearded, but stylishly dressed group, is vocalist Roy Kenner, who also adds some colorful conga drumming. Kenner is the most dynamic personality on stage (in this idiom) we have seen since Billy Preston strutted his stuff at SPAC earlier this season.
Clad in an open-chested jumpsuit that resembled a jungle camouflage outfit, Kenner had unusual control over his audience. At one point, when many in the audience stood to applaud guitarist Domenic Troiano’s first of several extended, psychedelic solos, Kenner requested they sit down so the others could see, and they did.
A few minutes later he had them all on their feet again to join in a little boogie. He divided the audience up into sections and had them clap different rhythms together. He even had one section clapping on the off beats, and considering the spastic results other performers have had just trying to get an audience to clap together on the beat, his results were very good.
The audience responded enthusiastically to Troiano’s progressive guitar solos and also to drummer Jim Fox’s crisp, clean drum work, but when you get down to basics, they reacted most wildly to good old rock and roll, as on Chuck Berry’s “Roll Over, Beethoven,” done as an encore. Even the rafters rocked on this one, bringing about another encore, which turned out to be anticlimactic.
There can he no question that the kids who like to clap and stomp, stand on the seats and dance the aisles, got their money’s worth from the James Gang.
Perfect Warmup
The first half of the concert featured another hard rock ensemble, the Fabulous Rhinestones, who proved to be a perfect warm-up for the desperados who followed.
Terrel Eaton was the most versatile of the group, playing keyboard instruments as well as alto and tenor sax. His yakkity sax approach on the horns was most effective on the tenor, but his overall musicianship was secondary to that of Kal David, who supplied well-sung vocals and played an unusually tasteful lead guitar.
Most of his improvised solos showed a knowledgeable train of musical thought and he was able to build effectively around chord changes, rather than just play notes.
We didn’t care for some of his “freaking out” on the instrument, but that seems to go with the profession. Getting around on electric bass as well as anyone we have heard this summer was Harvey Brooks.
Drum Use Compared
It was interesting to compare the use of conga drums in the two groups. The Rhinestones use therm constantly in every song and, at least in our opinion, this has a tendency to muddy things up and cause some monotony.
Used only sparingly in the feature group, the congas added spice and color to its sound.
Both groups were very loud, but the James Gang managed to be so without the distorted sounds heard in the first half of the program.
The concert opened with the usual rush from the lawn to fill in the empty seats, but once this was over SPAC officials had a comparatively well-mannered crowd on their hands.
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