Emerson, Lake & Palmer performed on this day in 1970 at the Winter Gardens in Bournemouth, England.
ELP were at this time midway through their debut tour, undertaken from late summer to winter of 1970. During this time, the group released their first album. Shows from this period featured the first side of the album played in its entirety. A portion of “Tank”, from the second half of the album, sometimes showed up in the piano improvisations Keith Emerson undertook during “Take a Pebble”, at least in concerts later in the tour that we have recordings of.
Neither of the other songs, however, appeared at all. One of these, “The Three Fates”, would have been all but impossible to play unless the venue at which they were performed featured a powerful in-house pipe organ. The other, “Lucky Man”, was quite unusual as compared to the rest of the album. It is quite likely none of the members of the band expected it to become one of their most popular and recognizable numbers.
This concert held special significance for one member of the group in particular. Singer and bassist Greg Lake had grown up in the area, and later recalled the positive reception he got made him feel as if he’d really succeeded. The very next night, another member of the band would experience a homecoming of his own.
There is no known recording of this particular concert.
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Post Sources
- Freeman, Garry. Do You Wanna Play Some Magic?