I was a big Prog Rock fan when I was a student at San Diego State back when Prog was just starting to hit the mainstream. I bought tickets to what I thought was a strange bill, Prog Rockers Yes with Country Rockers Poco. Come to think of it, there were a few strange bills I saw down there such as Frank Zappa and the Mothers with Linda Ronstadt.
As I was crossing the campus one day I overheard some student talking about the upcoming show.
“Poco is good but I hate Yes, their music sucks,” he said.
“You suck!” I shot back in an involuntary response that shocked me as well as the kid and his long haired friends. “I mean, you’re wrong, Yes is great,” I said as I kept walking.
I was a fan of Poco since I was a huge fan of Buffalo Springfield and followed Richie Furay and Jim Messina’s careers after Springfield broke up. I enjoyed Poco at the San Diego show although I was a bit put off by Rusty Young’s antics on the pedal steel guitar. He jumped on it and kicked it over and otherwise acted like he was Jerry Lee Lewis. Acting like a rock star when you’re playing a pedal steel just looks silly. Yes were, as I had predicted, great although I was surprised and disappointed to see that the San Diego Sports Arena had been divided in half for the show.
A year later I returned to the Sports Arena to see Yes again and this time the Sports Arena was not only full size but was also packed to capacity and the kids who said Yes sucked only a year before were now their biggest supporters. It’s fun to watch a band grow like that.
As I was crossing the campus one day I overheard some student talking about the upcoming show.
“Poco is good but I hate Yes, their music sucks,” he said.
“You suck!” I shot back in an involuntary response that shocked me as well as the kid and his long haired friends. “I mean, you’re wrong, Yes is great,” I said as I kept walking.
I was a fan of Poco since I was a huge fan of Buffalo Springfield and followed Richie Furay and Jim Messina’s careers after Springfield broke up. I enjoyed Poco at the San Diego show although I was a bit put off by Rusty Young’s antics on the pedal steel guitar. He jumped on it and kicked it over and otherwise acted like he was Jerry Lee Lewis. Acting like a rock star when you’re playing a pedal steel just looks silly. Yes were, as I had predicted, great although I was surprised and disappointed to see that the San Diego Sports Arena had been divided in half for the show.
A year later I returned to the Sports Arena to see Yes again and this time the Sports Arena was not only full size but was also packed to capacity and the kids who said Yes sucked only a year before were now their biggest supporters. It’s fun to watch a band grow like that.
No comments:
Post a Comment