garce

First time I saw him was the Lace and Whiskey tour. I THINK it was Cobo Hall in Detroit, circa 1977. I remember the album, the venue - not so much.

I remember he was into his whole Humphrey Bogart phase and completely smashed all the time. The shame of it is that he was still a better showman than anyone who has come down the pike in the last forty years.

Edit: At the time, Alice's stage show was set up to look like a huge television set. In between songs, the screen would show interference and static typical of a 1970's television show. Twenty years before bands starting carting around their own Jumbotrons, Alice was projecting relevant images on a big screen - even though it was just a big piece of cloth.

The Lace and Whisky tour had the screen showing intereference, commercial outtakes, etc between songs. I haven't found anything on Youtube yet, but this gives a little hint. I did not have cellphone or video camera in 1977. Rest assured, every ideas that any performer has had, Alice tried to do it thirty / forty years ago.

Long live Rock. Long live Alice.



You know what's heartbreaking? Even with today's technology, no one can approach the imigination and creativitiy of the great live bands of the seventies and - perhaps - early eighties.