Fan Stories & Photos

Derek W. Brown from Bridgeport, CT writes: I saw Boston's maiden tour at the Palace Theater in Waterbury, Connecticut, in December of 1976. The Palace was an old movie theater built in the thirties, back when a night at the movies was a social event: it seated 5,000. I settled into my seat at the front of the balcony and took in the giddiness that precedes every rock & roll show: joints being passed, people talking, Frisbees being tossed around... I'd been hearing "More Than A Feeling" and "Foreplay/Long Time" on the local rock & roll radio stations and reading about the Boston in Rolling Stone and Creem magazines for a couple of months by that time. Their debut album was a studio creation, which was obvious from the first listen. The songs were a near-perfect balance of melody, harmony, and rock & roll might. But it was accomplished in the privacy of Tom Scholz's basement studio. I was curious: would they be any good as a live act? Going by first impressions, I didn't think so. After reading about Tom Scholz's perfectionism and technological wizardry it was a shock to see how beat up the band's gear was. The amplifiers looked as if they'd been left out in the rain, and the lamination was peeling away from the speaker cabinets! How could any band sound good with that shit? Then the lights went down. Stoneman, a popular afternoon DJ on WPLR-FM (99.1) in nearby New Haven, came out to make a few announcements and introduce the band. They kicked off with the semi-autobiographical "Rock & Roll Band" and I was stunned: if anything the rawness of being under-rehearsed gave the songs a power that the studio recordings lacked. They carried on with a set that included most of the songs on their debut album and a few others ("A Man I'll Never Be," "Television Politician") that would see the light of day a few years on. They left the audience cheering for more It was a good show, one of my fondest rock & roll memories...

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