Gerry Joe Weise's comment: "I'm somewhere in the audience at my first rock concert ! I was 12 years old at the time, and I had to stand on two beer cans to see above the crowd, Led Zeppelin. The Sydney Show Grounds on Feb 27,1972, had a bit of a windy stage set up for Led Zeppelin. But they played nearly 4 hours, with a 15 minute drum solo by John Bonham, and nearly an hour of acoustic numbers by Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones. There were more than 30,000 people, but a lot of people crashed the gates, and it felt more like a near 40,000. Even with a lousy stage set up by today's standards, Led Zeppelin still looked very good, had an excellent open-air sound, and Jimmy Page stretched out on many solos that afternoon. Wow I was really stoked, and you knew straight away you were watching something very special. The last time I saw Led Zeppelin, was in 1980 in Frankfurt, Germany, 3 months before John Bonham passed away."
John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and John Bonham of Led Zeppelin, at the Sydney Showground, Australia, Feb 27,1972.
John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and John Bonham of Led Zeppelin, at the Sydney Showground, Australia, Feb 27, 1972.
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Tommy Bolin and Ian Paice of Deep Purple at the Hordern Pavillion in Sydney, Australia, Nov 20, 1975. (Photo Weise)
Gerry Joe Weise's comment: "I had been looking forward to seeing Tommy Bolin play, as I was a big fan of his, ever since he played on Billy Cobham's 1973 solo album Spectrum. Those great solo leads, trading eights with Jan Hammer on Moog, soloing guitar with just Billy Cobham that sets off the album, soulful slide blues in the quiet funky numbers - wow what a great album that was. Then all at once I had the two James Gang albums, the first Zephyr album, Deep Purple's album, and of course his solo album Teaser. He recorded a lot of good quality albums in such a short time. So I was all geared up, hoping for a good concert with Tommy Bolin and Deep Purple. And sure enough, he gave an excellent performance, outstanding guitar solos, and sang one of his originals off his solo album, Wild Dogs. He was using the Echoplex through three Hi-Watt amplifier stacks, as I was right up in front of the stage, the Echoplex made it sound like UFOs were taking off. Tommy Bolin influenced me a lot with his rock-jazz-blues style, in playing with my Sydney bands, Skid Row, Siren, Class and Corroboree."
Ian Paice and Tommy Bolin of Deep Purple at the Hordern Pavillion in Sydney, Australia, Nov 20,1975. (Photo Weise)
For further information about Tommy Bolin and Deep Purple on the Australia and New Zealand Tour in 1975 go to http://www.tommybolin.blogspot.com
Jan Hammer (Jeff Beck and the Jan Hammer Group) at the Sydney Hordern Pavillion, Australia 1976. (Photo Weise)Gerry Joe Weise's comment: "Jan Hammer probably ended up influencing me more than Jeff Beck, although a girlfriend has said that I remind her of Jeff Beck ?!? I know, but I just went crazy over those incredible notes Jan Hammer was producing on the Mini Moog. While trying to emulate the electric guitar, he came up with something new. At the excellent concert with Jeff Beck at the Sydney Hordern Pavillion, Jan Hammer was strutting around on stage, moving around a lot like Jimi Hendrix - wow talk about liberating the piano player !"
Gerry Joe Weise's final comment: "I'm sure a lot of people will agree with me, that during those mid 70s, it was like a golden period at the Hordern Pavillion in Sydney, by the quality of those international acts that finally made it to Australia. Some of the other notable Hordern Pavillion concerts at that time I really enjoyed were - Rory Gallagher, Black Sabbath, Status Quo, Rainbow and Uriah Heep. Jeff Beck (Jeff Beck and Jan Hammer Group) at the Sydney Hordern Pavillion, Australia 1976.
(Photo Weise)
Gerry Joe Weise's comment: "Jeff Beck had said Tommy Bolin's playing on Billy Cobham's Spectrum album had influenced him to do two jazz-rock orientated records. Jeff Beck embarked on a world tour with Jan Hammer on keyboards, performing those jazz-rock numbers. I was very influenced by all that when I was palying in Corroboree, although I stopped using a Strat and switched to using an all maple Gibson L6S for a smoother sound."
