Gentle Giant Tour History
Compiled by Jack Skelly
e-mail me at JAskelly@aol.com
Includes Research Provided by
Geir Hasnes and Tor Nygard
Updated May 1, 2008
(new or modified information
added since the last update is in red)
DID YOU EVER SEE Gentle
Giant LIVE?
IF SO, GET IN TOUCH WITH ME!
PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS FROM CONCERTS ARE ESPECIALLY WELCOME.
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I have
also put together a list of all the known live Gentle Giant concert audio
recordings found so far.
If you
are a collector, or even if you are simply curious, you may wish to take a
look.
TO SEE THE LIST OF LIVE GENTLE GIANT AUDIO
RECORDINGS, CLICK HERE
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* Prologue *
Gentle Giant was formed by the three Shulman
brothers (Phil, Derek and Ray), all of whom had earlier been in the late '60's
British pop/soul/psych band known as Simon Dupree and the Big Sound. This earlier group, formed in 1966, played
all around
By the end of 1969, the Shulmans
disbanded Simon Dupree and set their eyes on the growing market for a more creative,
intelligent type of music that eventually came to be called progressive
rock. At the beginning of 1970, they
formed their new group, retaining Martin Smith from his time at the tail end of
the previous group, and adding new members Kerry Minnear
and Gary Green. This new group strove
for a sound that was adventurous, challenging and distinctly its own. Right from the start, their compositions
seemed to be equal parts rock, jazz, classical, avant-garde, blues, medieval,
and whatever else they could mix into the musical stew. They were ambitious, to say the least, but
with their vocal and multi-instrumental virtuosity, they rightly assumed they
could realize their vision.
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TABLE OF
CONTENTS
PART
One THE EARLY
DAYS (1970 - 1971)
PART
Two HITTING
THE ROAD (1972 - early 1973)
PART
Three GOING ON
AFTER PHIL (early
1973 - mid 1974)
PART
Four BACK TO
NORTH AMERICA (late
1974 - mid 1975)
PART
Five THE PEAK
OF SUCCESS (mid -
late 1975)
PART
Six STILL
PLUGGING AWAY (1976 -
early 1977)
PART
Seven A CHANGE
OF DIRECTION (mid
1977 - 1979)
PART
Eight THE FINAL
DAYS (1980)
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Notes from the Compiler -
Many of the tourdates,
as well as some of the other material here, were provided to me by either Geir or Tor. In his role as publisher of PROCLAMATION: THE OCCASIONAL
GENTLE GIANT NEWSLETTER, Geir was able to compile vast
amounts of information on the band's activities between 1970 and 1980. Many thanks to him and the others involved in
the Newsletter for their monumental efforts poring through magazine and newspaper
articles, ads and reviews, interviewing band members, canvassing other
subscribers, etc. This document is as
much theirs as it is mine and I am greatly indebted to them.
Likewise, Tor has
put an incredible amount of time, on his own, into researching and gathering up
documentation and details of the band's time together. He has been gracious enough to share
information from his archives with me and allow me to include it here for all
Gentle Giant fans to enjoy.
Additional sources used include
- THE OFFICIAL GENTLE GIANT HOME PAGE (hosted by Dan Barrett)
- GENTLE GIANT IN CONCERT (giglist
compiled by Francois Angers)
- ON-REFLECTION (recollections from members of
this Gentle Giant internet newsgroup - a collective goldmine of GG knowledge)
- my good friend Bolle
Gregmar who first got me started as a serious Gentle
Giant collector and continues to help me to this day
- the
many, many fans and concertgoers throughout the land who continue to willingly
share their memories and anecdotes (thanks to all)
- my archive of live
concert recordings
- whatever
else I could dig up!
This
is most definitely a work in progress.
There are no doubt cavernous gaps and countless inaccuracies in the
information. Please feel free to contact
me with corrections, additions, deletions, etc.
Hopefully, this "labor of love" can continue to grow.
Thanks!
Jack
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Here
are a few cool LINKS for you to check out –
To go to the highly recommended OFFICIAL GENTLE GIANT HOME PAGE, click here
For an interesting website on SIMON DUPREE AND THE BIG SOUND, click here
To see MALCOLM MORTIMORE’S informative website, click here
To see ROLF THALMANN’s excellent GG site (lots of ticket stubs!), click here
To read a brief history and discography of the band,
written by GEIR HASNES,
click here
To read GEIR'S essay on the compositional theory behind Gentle Giant's
music, click here
(also
available in the new GG biography, ACQUIRING THE TASTE by Paul Stump - SAF Publishing,
2005)
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