Rock Concert

September 27, 2021
Myers (Anatomy of a Song), a music writer for the Wall Street Journal, surveys in this engrossing oral history five decades of rock concerts, and the “songwriters, producers, disc jockeys, managers, promoters, and artists sided with the youth culture as it struggled to be heard.” Starting with the emergence of R&B in the late 1940s and ending with 1985’s Live Aid benefit, he vividly recreates what went on behind the scenes, onstage, and in the crowds with intimate accounts from the people who were there. Joan Baez recounts what it was like to perform at the 1963 March on Washington and to lead the crowd in singing “We Shall Overcome”; Bob Eubanks describes how—despite being a disk jockey who’d never produced a concert before—he scrambled to secure the funding to make the Beatles’ legendary Hollywood Bowl performance happen; and Alice Cooper recalls relocating his band from California to the Midwest, where his “lurid and despicable” reputation resonated with Rust Belt kids. Myers also offers a thoughtful overview of the considerable ways in which the rock landscape has shifted since Live Aid, due to the popularity of streaming services and scandals recently brought to light on social media in response to “past or present me-too events.” Eminently entertaining, this is sure to delight rock fans of all persuasions. Agent: Glen Hartley, Writers’ Representatives.

November 1, 2021

The live performance is an integral part of the rock and roll experience for both performers and fans; it can create community, offer escape, and even forge political awareness and activism. For this oral history of the evolution of the rock concert, spanning 1950 to 1985, writer and music journalist Myers (Anatomy of a Song) interviewed more than 90 performers, promoters, journalists, and photographers, who discuss early Elvis appearances and package tours in the 1950s, the folk music boom of the early '60s, performances at the March on Washington, the Beatles' early stadium shows, the massive festivals of the late '60s and '70s and the turn to arena and stadium shows, and, finally, the rise of MTV and the increasing sophistication of computerized ticketing in the '80s. Myers deftly weaves a compelling narrative that documents decades of music and cultural history. VERDICT While not a totally comprehensive account, this book places the live concert in context with the broader story of popular music; its insider perspectives have an immediacy that will appeal to a broad swath of music fans.--James Collins, Morristown-Morris Twp. P.L., NJ

Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2021
A multifaceted account of the rise of the rock show from the birth of the genre until Live Aid in 1985. In the beginning, writes music journalist Myers, the rock concert was an impromptu affair. Songwriter Mike Stoller recalls that in the 1940s and '50s, nightclubs staged shows with several acts on the ticket, and DJs would do same-day announcements when they came together. "White kids who otherwise never would have heard of these events found their way there," he notes. Black music drew ever larger White crowds thanks to those DJs, foremost among them Alan Freed in Cleveland; as they did, the limits of segregation were tested. Wanda Jackson, the pioneering rockabilly singer, remembers that in the South, the most spacious venues were state fairs, but eventually, rock shows began to move into concert halls once reserved for higher-toned music. There, acts like the Beach Boys could draw huge (and largely White) crowds. As audiences grew, music marathons such as the Monterey Pop Festival of 1967 began to take shape. Then the music changed, at least by the lights of documentarian D.A. Pennebaker. Whereas Broadway tunes were about the notion that life is good, he notes, rock tunes sounded change: "They were saying, 'This isn't friendly music. It's a warning.' Which is why the cameras in Monterey Pop [Pennebaker's documentary] gravitate toward the oddness of the concert with a childlike curiosity." Myers charts the technological changes as well: the development of vast PA systems that enabled concert stalwarts like the Grateful Dead to send their sound out for miles; the wireless electric guitar; and complex stage-lighting systems and props that made Pink Floyd's The Wall an unforgettable live experience. Closing with the Live Aid benefit of 1985, Myers notes that the rock concert continued but grew sclerotic (and expensive), so that "by the 2000s, the rock concert had fizzled as a rite of passage and was more of an event parents took children along to experience." A revealing, absorbing book for those who keep their old ticket stubs close at hand.

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