Sunday, December 13, 2009
October 1, 1972 Springfield Civic Center, Springfield, MA Roberta Flack
It may be unexpected to see a Roberta Flack concert listed in "Lost Live Dead," but you have to bear with me on this one.
Stuart "Dinky" Dawson, born in Worksop, Nottanghamshire in 1947, was an English dj who almost accidentally became Fleetwood Mac's road manager and soundman in 1968. Although the Mac had made their first American tour without him in 1968, Dinky returned with them at the end of the year as they tried to conquer America. Alone among English bands in 1968, Fleetwood Mac toured with their own PA system, as Dawson felt with some justification he knew more about live sound than any local, and in any case he had a vested interest in his band's success, and knew proper sound would be an essential part of it.
It can hardly be a surprise that when Fleetwood Mac returned to San Francisco in early 1969 to play the Fillmore West (January 16-19, between Creedence Clearwater and Albert Collins), both Dawson and Fleetwood Mac got on famously with the Dead. From 1968 to 1970, protocol required that visiting bands jam with the Grateful Dead or the Jefferson Airplane (and later Santana) on their first time through town. This was the social equivalent of jazz musicians playing with Charlie Parker or (later) John Coltrane at Birdland or the Village Vanguard when they came through New York. Real players would show up and jam, and failure to show the flag often had peculiar ramifications. Fleetwood Mac and the Dead hit it off big time, however, and Dinky Dawson found a kindred spirit in Owsley Stanley.
The Grateful Dead were one of (if not the) first American rock bands to tour with their own sound system, provided to them with the technical and financial participation of Owsley. Naturally, the group would gravitate to a band who carried their own system, particularly one with no less than three lead guitarists and a smoking rhythm section. Fleetwood Mac toured America heavily throughout 1969 and 1970, and they had many adventures with the Dead, including the New Orleans bust and the famous jam at Fillmore East with the Allman Brothers (on February 11, 1970).
Dawson left Fleetwood Mac and became road manager and soundman for The Byrds, and after extensive touring with them, he set up a sound company (Dawson Sound) in Massachusetts in 1972. While Dawson periodically went on tour with such groups as The Kinks, Steely Dan and Mahavishnu Orchestra, his company also provided house sound systems for venues in the region throughout the early 1970s.
http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/200...ic-center.html