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Thursday, July 1, 2010

California Jam '74

'74 California Jam and some great clips off Youtube.
400,000 paying people at the gig made it more of a profit making venture than Woodstock.
Also had the largest assembled PA back then with Tycobrahe Sound Company combined the touring systems of Black Oak Arkansas, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Earth Wind and Fire, and Rare Earth (each manufactured by Tycobrahe), plus 16-ft bass horns from Phoenix Sound and several folded bass horns from Flag Systems. Total power was 54,000 watts RMS, provided by a number of BFA-2000 amplifiers, manufactured by Tycobrahe.
Never been a huge fan of Purple to be honest, but Burn was always a favorite.At the end of the show, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore threw multiple guitars out into the audience and attacked one of the network's video cameras (which had been getting between him and the audience) with a guitar. A mishap with a pyrotechnic effect caused an explosion which briefly set the stage on fire. The group is said to have left the concert via helicopter to escape possible arrest from angry fire marshals and ABC executives.
 I mean, the sound is raw back in the day and the clip of Sabbath is also one of my favorite songs of all the Sabbath songs and this version is also HUGE is blackness!
Look at that crowd as well, the Yanks always turn out in numbers, has to be said. Makes a working day go a lot faster when your speeding on these classics!I wonder how it sounded at the back...





ok ok....so here we are in 98 and the reunion and the same song. Just love the sound of the rhythm in this song...chunka chunka chunka in the background..I'm in this crowd somewhere at the NEC still not believing the fact that I'm watching the Original Sabbath reunion. The sound out was unlike anything I've ever heard and trust me I've seen a lot of bands, metal, thrash, rock, the lot. This actually had the goosebumps from the off.

3 comments:

digdeep said...

Great clips. It was a fantastic day and I remember it well. There are many of us talking over old times at the California Jam Fan Club, and it's amazing how many people have such vivid memories of that event. From the current vibe, it looks like energy is building for a C.J. III somewhere in California in the future, but who knows. For all those of us out here that were there, it was a day to remember. For those that weren't and maybe stuck somewhere back east...sorry about that.

"Gonzo" said...

Well I'll start by saying I'm envious of all the 400,000 plus who were there! I consider myself to be fortunate to have seen some of the bigger concerts in the late 70s and early 80s in the UK, but to me it would have been a something else to have been around back in 74 or even 69 for Woodstock...
I wonder who they could get to headline a Mk 3 jam?
The older bands are still awesome but kinda lost they're energy...
to me the greats are past...and some passed away even...
The Who...Zepplin (although they could..).although...Sabbath could do it and maybe even RB could find some special muchrooms on stonehenge and put DP back together...
Great to read you were there and thanks for leaving a comment!

burn tab said...

I have the VHS... CD, and DVD...
great show!