The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Behind the scenes of the biggest shows
For his previous book, the fun and informative “Anatomy of a Song,” Marc Myers talked to musicians and producers about how some combination of experimentation, accident, talent and inspiration led to such classic records as “My Girl,” “Proud Mary” and “Ramblin’ Man.”
With “Rock Concert,” Myers brings his interview-based approach to a topic so sprawling that it had the potential to breach the barriers like the crowds at Woodstock. Clearly the author had to make some rules: He steers away from sex and drugs, favors mainstream rock and ends the show in 1985.
Unlike some recent oral histories that zero in on a particular time and place, “Rock Concert” tracks the growth of rock ’n’ roll audiences across the United States from small, dynamic shows after World War II to the televised double-stadium spectacle of Live Aid.
The book begins promisingly in 1940s Los Angeles, with active participants in the music scene including tenor saxophonist Big Jay McNeely and songwriter Mike Stoller. Readers get a sense of the integrated audiences, the business that was emerging, and the performances from both the fan’s and the musician’s perspective. “The hall felt as if it was rocking on its foundation,” a photographer says of a Big Jay McNeely show. “He had created some sort of resonance with the audience. In some weird way, he seemed to be playing them.”
Many of Myers’ interviewees — including Wanda Jackson, Ronnie Spector and D.A. Pennebaker — tell compelling stories, but he also includes material that doesn’t seem relevant to the big task at hand. And by focusing on how audiences and venues got bigger and bigger, Myers leaves out almost all the music that was being played in clubs and theaters from the 1970s onward. As the book goes along, more pages are devoted to the way businessmen and tech teams handled the challenges of arena rock than to the experiences of musicians and fans.
The last chapter of “Rock Concert” concerns Live Aid, held in London and Philadelphia in the summer of 1985 to raise funds for famine relief in Ethiopia. He could perhaps have extended his account another decade or so; traveling festivals like Lollapalooza, the H.O.R.D.E. tour and Lilith Fair were all artist-driven and no more expensive than Live Aid. One of Live Aid’s promoters ends up with the last word, saying, “In many ways, Live Aid was the last pure rock concert.” Rock music certainly encompasses all sorts of things, but what’s purity got to do with it?