What Ears Hear, Eyes See!
part 2
1975 Toronto, Canada
In 1974, with the writing and subsequent recording of Down to Earth, for "Astral
Man," "Fidgety Queen," "Early Morning Clown," "That's
Life" and "Show me the Way," the screens became a circus tent, and
like roustabouts, the crew erected the entire environment, then tore it down, night
after night. It was during that time period the idea of a fourth screen came to
mind… as a roof. As the center screen was moved back to give Ron a larger
area for his expanding kit, the side screens were angled at about thirty degrees
so that a fourth screen could be attached from the front lighting truss to the top
of all three vertical screens.
purple fingers
The "box" effect enabled the purple fingers of the liquid "big slide"(which
visually followed most guitar and organ solos)to fill the area above the band and
the other screens… the projection was round, and huge by design yet often
only half of it was ever seen unless it was projected through a long throw lens
to condense it on the center screen only. Floating slides and the big slide could
rise out of the panoramic backdrop which added a new dimension to the show. The
box also retained the smoke or dry ice much better, which made for longer periods
for the laser and strobes to be effective. Ron added his tympani and gongs, and
the screens were raised enough to compensate those, along with additional backline
amplification.
1975
Then came Recycled… Panoramic mountains, cities, streets, beaches and garbage…
and the band played within it all, with Hollie Holitztka's famous eagle with tears
in his eyes watching from the side screens before descending, sword in his talons
to take center screen for the conclusion of side one.
The light show reached its pinnacle in 1976 when Mick was able to completely engulf
the audience. The last time the full lightshow was displayed was on June 3, 1977
at the Palladium Theatre in New York City.
Mick's light show ideas changed little during this time (1976 to 1977) until the
start of the "Magical" tour September 24, 1977 when at the Morris Stage,
Morristown, New Jersey Mick projected his light show from the rear of the stage.
Gone was the set up that was so familiar to all the fans that used to be in front
of the stage. A part of the light show's grandeur was lost because Mick projected
from behind the stage.
To complement the light show in 1977, Nektar added Pete's "cannon", a
3 inch billet aluminum tube, about 24 inches long that was sealed at the bottom
and wired like a flash–pot to the show. Angled at 45 degrees into the audience,
it fired a ball of "magic paper" powered by the flash powder. It wasn't
very loud however; it created an expanding ball of fire which went high above the
audience. As the ball broke up, the embers fluttered down, yet they were totally
extinguished before they ever reached the seats, in fact NOTHING reached the seats.
A large Magic mushroom was added to the stage show midway through the tour. When
"Magic Is A Child" was played, Ron would sit on a large mushroom on the
stage and sing the lead vocals.
"I used the Showco light board to direct the stage lighting, not a full light
show. The whole rear projection via mirrors idea had not been working well in certain
venues with a short stage, and the 3 band schedule was too tight to change things
on that night, as all the seats were sold, thus I had nowhere to set up in the audience,"
said Mick.
"My final actual full light show of that era was a front projection show at
the Memorial Hall Kansas City on Tuesday, November 15, 1977. I played the stage
lighting board at each "Magic Tour" show from KC on," said Mick.
"As a footnote, I (we) tried using THREE REAR projection screens only on that
Magic tour, wheras I HAD been using FOUR FRONT projection screens (three across
with a white roof) since 1975. The change was requested by promoters to allow the
seating area that I'd required in the audience to be used for people to sit. Hmmmmmm…
In retrospect, it seems that the idea backfired," said Mick.
As a side note:, Mick continued parts of the light show when performing with Sam
The Band. Instead of projecting the show behind the band or from the front, Mick
set up a screen off to the side of the stage away from the band.