Emerson, Lake & Palmer performed on this day in 1978 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
This was the band’s second consecutive night at Maple Leaf Gardens on their Works tour. They would be on this second leg until mid-March. This leg of the tour was conducted without the orchestra they had originally been touring with the previous summer, which had been dispensed with due to budgetary restrictions. ELP as a three-piece were still more than capable of holding their own, however, as bootlegs from this era show!
The setlist was the same as the rest of the tour, featuring many songs from the recent one-two album punch that was Works, Volume 1 and Works, Volume 2. “Maple Leaf Rag”, appropriately, was played, though the original piece and the venue probably have no connection! Ending the setlist was “Show Me the Way to Go Home”, probably the most low-key piece to ever end an ELP setlist! (source)
One attendee remembers some kind of pyrotechnic display on this particular night, namely cannons that fired to accompany “Pirates” (source). Another told me that there were none on this particular night; the above account may have been referring to something else, then.
While the previous night at this location was reportedly recorded, there is no known recording of this performance.
This performance marked the final of three performances the band performed at Maple Leaf Gardens in their career. I talk more about the first concert, as well as the venue itself, here.
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