Emerson, Lake & Palmer performed on this day in 1977 at the Montreal Olympic Stadium in Montreal, Canada.
This concert was the final concert on the first leg of ELP’s Works Tour. The undertaking was one of the most ambitious rock tours ever planned; ELP was going to play nightly accompanied by an orchestra to support their recently-released Works, Volume 1.
This concert brought the first portion of the Works Tour into full circle. The band released their first major music video, a simple, streamlined exercise spotlighting “Fanfare for the Common Man”, to the backdrop of the Montreal Olympic Stadium. It had been recorded in May in the snow soon before they got going on the Works Tour.
It was also the last time ELP performed with the orchestra they had begun the tour with. Budgetary issues forced the group to stop touring with them fairly early in the process, though they reunited with the orchestra a few times. This would be the last of those times. Afterwards, ELP took a two-month hiatus from the Works Tour before roaring back in October with two grueling legs to help make up for financial losses incurred on the first part of the tour.
This concert was recorded officially. The audio was later released as Works Live or as In Concert, which packaged numbers from this night with performances from later in the tour.
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