In 1973, I was an 18-year-old in the midst of one of the most important years of my life. It was my senior year in high school, I became eligible for the draft, I was experiencing the joys/sorrows of a relationship with my first “steady” girlfriend and to “top it off”, live rock n roll descended on Tidewater, Virginia with a vengeance! Prior to ‘73’, rock shows had sporadically come to the area. I recall bands such as Three Dog Night, Deep Purple and Pink Floyd making appearances, but I was not able to attend any of those shows. In 1973, however, local promoters seemed to book national acts nearly every week.

I was (and still am) a huge fan of rock music, and I was “dying” for a chance to see a live show by one of the many bands who’s albums (remember albums?) I would spend much of my free time listening to. My chance came in April of 73. A high school buddy of mine had tickets to a Humble Pie show at the Hampton Coliseum on April 8. He offered me one of the tickets at the last minute and at last my moment was at hand. The show was Humble Pie with two “unknown” openers, Gentle Giant and a band with a particularly “odd” name, Foghat.

The show was fantastic. Foghat was up first. They played the “typical” opener set of approx. 30-min. The set consisted entirely of material from the first LP, including “Hole To Hide In”, “Maybelline” and “I Just Want To make Love To You”. The crowd reaction was generally enthusiastic considering the crowd was there to see Humble Pie. I recall being impressed by Lonesome Dave’s “shiny” (lame’?) suit and his guitar that was like a mirror that reflected the spotlights back into the crowd. As Foghat left the stage I remember Lonesome Dave’s parting words: “Good night Hampton, We’ll be back real soon”. Little did I know how right he was. Just over two months passed when my next chance to see Foghat came around.

-----David C. Morgan

14 June ... Hampton Roads, VA ... Coliseum

June 14, 1973 was one of those “red letter” days. It was the day of my high school graduation ceremony. It was also the day my girlfriend decided to break up with me. The graduation ceremony was held at the local (Newport News, VA.) football stadium and was over around dinner time. After the ceremony, I remember giving my Mom a big hug and kiss, shaking my Dad’s hand, giving him my diploma, and jumping into a car with a few of my friends to head out to the Hampton Coliseum to see Johnny Winter and special guests, Foghat.

We arrived at the coliseum a bit late and Foghat was already into their set by the time we made it inside. Foghat was given a bit longer set this time, (40-45 min.) since they were the only supporting act. The set was similar to the Humble Pie show with mostly songs from the first LP, but they worked a couple from their new LP, “Rock & Roll” into the show. One thing I noticed about this show was that there were a considerable number of people there to see Foghat, not just Johnny Winter. In the two months since their first appearance, the word on this band had gotten out, and Foghat was already on their way to developing the fan base that would sustain them throughout the 70’s. Johnny Winter was great that night and the show was a great way to celebrate my graduation.

-----David C. Morgan

19 August ... Portsmouth, VA ... Frank D. Lawrence Stadium

After graduation, the summer of 73’ consisted of looking for a job (I was not quite ready for college yet) and attending rock concerts. On August 19, an outdoor “rock festival” was scheduled for Frank D. Lawrence Stadium in Portsmouth, VA. The headliner was The Edgar Winter Group, touring in support of their LP “They Only Come Out At Night” and their hit single: “Frankenstein”. Also on the bill was Poco, Spooky Tooth, Tower Of Power, and (you guessed it!) Foghat !

The day of the festival was sunny, hot and HUMID! (Typical Tidewater, VA. weather in Aug.) I attended with several friends and we brought plenty of cold beer and food. In those days there were fewer restrictions on what you could bring to the outdoor shows. I remember we loaded the coolers with “pony bottles” of Rolling Rock beer. I can still see those little green bottles nestled in the ice. Man, they tasted good on that hot afternoon.

The show started slowly; first with some local band, and then Tower Of Power. T.O.P. really didn’t excite the crowd, as “horn driven funk” wasn’t what most of the crowd had come to hear. Next, the promoter announced that Spooky Tooth had cancelled, which brought a chorus of boos from the crowd. It seemed to take forever for the next act to take the stage. The crowd milled about and was beginning to get restless when from the stage came the announcement: “Ladies And Gentlemen, From England, FOGHAT !!.

Foghat “roared “ into “What A Shame” and the crowd jumped to its feet and surged toward the stage. From somewhere near me in the crowd I heard someone exclaim “Thank God for the British”. Of all the times that I have seen Foghat over the years, that intro and first song remain my favorite moment. The band played nearly an hour set and focused on songs from “Rock & Roll” including “Ride, Ride, Ride” “Road Fever”,"She’s Gone”and “Leaving Again” as well as a good portion of the first LP.

A few details that I remember from that show include: Rod Price playing an absolutely gorgeous white Gibson SG with gold hardware, Lonesome Dave’s green Gibson Les Paul Jr., Tony Stevens using some sort of “rosin” or powder on his hands, obviously to help deal with the humidity. Tony also acted as “master of ceremonies” for the band that day, introducing the band members and providing most of the “chatter” between songs. He seemed to be enjoying himself immensely that day. In fact, they all seemed to be having a ball. It was a picture of a young, hungry band working it’s “ass off” and enjoying every minute of it.The rest of the festival was fine, including a great performance by Edgar Winter, but for me, the day belonged to Foghat.

Well, I guess you might figure that, by now, I had seen more than enough of one band in one year. Well, you would be wrong! There would be one more Foghat show to catch before 1973 came to a close.

-----David C. Morgan

31 August ... Eria, PA ... Erie Stadium

At the young age of 19, along with my rock and roll mom, Rose Carter, 44 at the time, we formed a concert promotion company in Erie, PA, in June of 1973, called SCORPIO PRODUCTIONS.

Our FIRST EVENT, was at THE ERIE STADIUM, on AUGUST 31, 1973.
OUR HEADLINER WAS FOGHAT. Also on the day long billing was SPIRIT, CANNED HEAT, FLASH (w/Tony Banks) and CACTUS, plus several regional bands. WOW..Back in the day, a whole lotta music for just $ 4.50 ADVANCE, $5.50 AT THE GATE.

GREAT MEMORIES OF THAT DAY..... It rained the day before and all thru the night...but the day of the show, after a long sleepless night, the sun came out and we rocked all day, all night. I was so sure the rain would never stop.

My first ever concert was a total success, even though we should have done better in attendance, about 7,000 showed up. But we did catch one of our staff selling tickets outside, that she got from my aunt who was in the ticket gate..she claimed I wanted them..BUT, we just kicked her out, fired her ass..no way to prove the damage then and there...we had a show to do.

All of the bands rocked that day, and even though most bought tickets to see SPIRIT, who played a 3 PM set so they could fly out to another gig that night, when FOGHAT came onstage, THEY BLEW 'EM ALL AWAY. THE CROWD WENT CRAZY. Erie is a tough town to sell to and these fans loved these guys.

The funniest moment was when my mom went to pick up the band (FOGHAT) to bring them to the stadium. One of the band members, don't know who for sure, asked my mom, if "it was ok to smoke". Well my mom said, "It's ok, I use to smoke but I quit". Well, when mom got back to the stadium, she had this huge CONTACT HIGH! She giggled as she explained that now she knew what they were smoking! A TRUE AND CLASSIC STORY. NO MOM, THEY WEREN'T CIGARETTES!

-----Edmund Orlando

21 November ... Salt Lake City, UT ... Terrace Ballroom

The venue was the Terrace Ballroom, a small intimate setting where I saw some killer shows. I saw Foghat again there in 1976. The terrace was razed sometime in the 80s. Both Foghat shows rank in my top ten all time and I’ve seen a few shows in my day and continue to attend shows regularly. My good buddy Dr. MJ Smith has seen hundreds of the greatest acts and ranks this 1973 show in his top ten also. It’s a fitting tribute to an incredible live act. I still vividly remember the night 31 years later.

-----Craig Nealey

6 December ... Hampton Roads, VA ... Coliseum

On December 6, Mountain came to the Hampton Coliseum with the apparently “tireless” Foghat as the opener. Even though I was quite interested to see Mountain, by this time, I was a confirmed Foghat fan and they were the real reason to attend this show. Foghat didn’t disappoint, playing an hour-long set with most of the same songs played at the three previous shows, but that didn’t matter as they completely upstaged Mountain. I recall the two friends that went with me to the show were hoping Foghat would play our favorite “drinking song”: “Trouble Trouble”, which had been left out of the previous several shows. Sure enough “Trouble Trouble” was played that night and provided a fitting end to a memorable year of shows.

I would go on to see Foghat several more times in the 70’s and never saw a bad performance, but those shows in 1973 remain as a special memory for me, providing both a point of reference and an exclamation point to a period in my life that I will always cherish.

-----David C. Morgan

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