Emerson, Lake & Palmer performed on this day in 1978 at the Assembly Hall in the University of Illinois in Champaign, Illinois.
ELP’s Works Tour brought the band to several colleges around the United States. Well-known ones like Cornell and Princeton were in the mix. Its quite notable and says a lot about the state of the musical world that colleges could bring in one of the biggest acts of the 70s. That would be nearly unheard of now.
While many people are of the opinion that ELP was on the decline in 1978, recordings of the band suggest that they had missed the memo that they weren’t doing so well anymore! Every night suggests a group as full of energy and providing as high-quality an experience as ever. The budget may have been gone and the band may have been attempting to recoup financial losses incurred by earlier-tour ambitions, but nothing is as important in the musical world as talent and hard work. Thankfully, the band had a surplus of both!
No recording of this particular night is known to exist.