Did anyone here who was old enough in the seventies and early eighties ever catch Earth,Wind & Fire Live on Stage?I was to young to go then but heard them when the Gratitude album was released.I'm talking about the original group when Maurice White was with them.They had all the elaborate costumes and special effects in those tours that were to be witnessed in those days.Next year,E,W & F will be together as a band for forty years and I wrote to be folks at Sony Music on releasing previously unreleased concerts from the glory days on Blu Ray/Dvd.I think there's enough people who will buy it.Do you agree?Peace!

One of the great "misses" of my time in pop....sure wish I coulda seen them in their prime.

I DID see them on tour in 90 with the "Touch The World" album & they were great anyway. Did some of the magic stuff (which is amazing) and I git to see them do my fave EWF track "Can't Hide Love".....so although I missed em back in the day, all felt forgiven.

My fave band of all time.

Earth Wind and Fire is my favorite band but unfortunately,I never got the chance to see them in concert during their "heyday" The first time I saw them in concert was in 1997 and by then,Maurice White wasn't touring with them anymore.As much as I admire them,I won't attend any of their concerts anymore.Their recent shows aren't nearly as exciting as the old concerts with the original members (based on footage that I've seen from those shows).

DarylB said:

I agree.I know that some of their mid-70s shows were videotaped,and an entire show from 1979 was aired on TV back then,so the footage exists.They need to release live DVDs from their golden era!

JamFanHot said:

co-miss


co-wish



co-sign

JamFanHot said:

Maybe this performance will bring back memories for you?

Saw Earth, Wind & Fire in 71, 73,74,75,76 and the last time I saw them was 81. The 1975 concert my brothers and I followed E,W, & F around the country.

SoulAlive said:

how exactly did the members change?

Does anyone know ho much Reece is now affected by his disease?

TD3 said:

WOW,you really got to see them in their prime!!

SoulAlive said:

NOOOO.


She made me jealous. Having been there on all the concerts is quite a thing to be proud of.
[Edited 11/5/09 6:47am]
[Edited 11/5/09 6:48am]

Yeah....thanks all. 90 was the last time that Maurice was with them live....was always thankful I got to see the full band....kinda knew that was gonna be the last time...so was lucky.

I love the boys.....god bless em for trying to "soldier on"...but they are NEVER NEVER going to be the thing of glory they were in the 70's without Maurice.

Maurice White IS EWF.

graecophilos said:

YEEEES, In 1973 at the Chicago Stadium my ticket cost me $5.50.

TD3 said:

was that much for you at that time? how much would it be today?

graecophilos said:

about $26.37 not bad. Hell you can't see an "oldie" artist for that much. Some of the concert merchandies was pricey, I can remember bitching about the tee-shirt I bought was more than the ticket. I can't recall maybe buck and half more.

yep saw them late 70s and early 80s

whoever said EWF = MW

I don't think you can say that. MW was the man with the vision, the mastermind.

And although he's not been there since the beginning I bravely say that Philipp Baily is essentiel TOO!

Maurice's brother has to be there as well!! It's such a joy seeing him performing the bass.

I dunno about the drummers and other musicians, but I'd say that at least both cocalists are essentiel for EWF,

Btw, I think Phil does pretty good singing MW's parts in concert as well.

Point taken, Grae.....Maurice IS the man with the vision.....but I didn't mean to demean the contributions of the other guys.....they are all stunning performers.

And I also agree that Phil HAS done a good job of filling in for MW';s vocal parts in recent years. NOT the same as MW bein there...but a worthy fill-in.

JamFanHot said:

But doesn't MW write songs for EWF anymore? In the last 25 years there was not much vision in EWF by anyone. In fact I think their last two albums were better than the 80s and 90s stuff (save for faces abd Raise!)

I don't quit understand MW's role now.

graecophilos said:

and how's MW at all? Is he shaking and rattling all day or is he more or less fine. How ill is he? terminally?

OK it's time to report out the Earth Wind and Fire concert of Dec. 30th, 1980 at the Oakland Coliseum in Oakland CA and as I recall it's this stadium type place that holds maybe 35 or 40,000 people.

We had great seats, maybe a hundred feet or so from the stage which in a venue like this is really close.

As the time drew near for the show to begin the house lights were turned down and we were sitting in the dark with some low spots on the stage so you could just barely see the amplifiers and drum set a glowing in the dark.

Anticipation is mounting and then a tall shadowy figure appears on the stage and begins stalking around kicking at the amp banks. As he comes forward we see its Darth Vader. His helmet is mic’d and we hear him raspilly breathing and growling to himself, "I hate music. I hate music."

This was curious. WTF does Darth Vader have to do with an EWF performance? Then, as mysteriously as he arrived he was gone.

And then all of a sudden BOOM, the show was in full swing!

Now remember these were the days of incredible special effects and EWF had spared no expense.

They appeared out of nowhere in a giant blast of fire and smoke already playing their instruments. Some came down from the ceiling in flaming pyramids some came up out trapdoors, some came out of clouds of smoke but all of a sudden they were just THERE and playing their asses off.

I don't remember which song they started with but I do remember that it was a particularly fast tempo song and they did not start this song from the beginning. They came in on it somewhere in the middle of a very fast passage and they did it flawlessly, while swinging down from the rafters no less.

It had the effect of just blowing you back in your seat. It was an Oh My God moment. If you think about the discipline and virtuosity that it took to start a show like this you get a good sense of how accomplished these players are

The show continued on for more than an hour with EWF running through their hits but stretching out on them with lots of variation from the recorded versions and awesome soloing. Although every musician who took a solo displayed world-class virtuosity, the one that impressed me most was when Philip Bailey the falsetto lead singer showed us his chops.

The fact that that could be done with the human voice was just astounding. If you’ve ever heard the call and response exchange between saxophonist Don Myrick and Philip Bailey on the song Reasons from the live album you have just a hint of the form that Bailey was in that night.

So here we are groovin’ to a fabulous show and all of a sudden the Darth Vader character was back on stage. Lead singer Maurice White and the Darth Vader character began to have a fireball fight. Flash pots are going off everywhere.

Vader was running all over the stage knocking things over and trying to ruin the performance. He'd pick up a horn player like he weighed nothing and toss him through a flaming trapdoor in the stage as if sending him to hell

After five or so minutes of this fighting Maurice White steps up to microphone breathless from the effort and says to the audience. "This dark force, he’s
too powerful y’all. I can't beat him alone. I need all y’all’s help. On the count of three I want you to stand up out your chairs with your hands over your heart like this (he crosses hands and arms over his chest) and I want you to throw all the love you got at the stage and together we can beat this dark force."

Then Verdine White, the bass player steps up to mic and counts off, "one, two three" and 30,000 people jump up out of their seats and throw all the love they got in their hearts at the dark monster on the stage.

Now what happened next happened all in a single moment but it will take me some time to describe it.

Over the stage were mounted about a dozen emerald green lasers very, very bright. At the back of the stage were positioned a dozen mirrors set at precise angles to deflect the emerald shafts of light flashing out into the back of the stadium where they were met by a dozen more mirrors which directed the beams to the center of the ceiling.

In the center of the ceiling was one mirror which consolidated all 12 beams into one huge super beam of green light and directed at back down to the stage right on the spot where Darth Vader was standing and vaporized him into a puff of smoke.

Now in this moment that the event occurred, the musicians turned on a dime and went from playing the dramatic fight music to playing a very triumphant passage.

The fact of having everyone's attention in the same place at the same time to participate in such an archetypal act of vanquishing a demon with the power of love accompanied by the appropriately triumphant music was unbelievably powerful. It was not merely witnessed but participated in it and it was a moment of true oneness and one of the most brilliant performance concepts I've ever seen.

One of the top concert experiences of my life.

DakutiusMaximus said:

Thanks for sharing. I'm sure it was one of those "you had to be there" moments. Darth Vader?? Whoa!!!!

Here's an example of them live in the 70's from the movie Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band:

DakutiusMaximus said:

I wonder if this is what you saw.This was taped at the Oakland Coliseum on December 30,1981 ("Raise" tour).Features the song "Jupiter" (the battle).

dannyd5050 said:

that performance was a highlight of that film!

SoulAlive said:

Wow! Thanks, Soulalive.

That was almost it. I saw it exactly one year earlier at the same venue but the version I saw was better.

In this video the green lasers were there but they didn't use them in the same way as they did at the show I attended. There was no fire coming up out of the trap door that Darth threw the bandmember down into and they didn't get the audience to stand up and blast the Darth Vader guy with their love. Maurice did it by himself.

I'm sure that if I was at this 1981 show and had not seen the other version of "the battle" I would have been blown away but it but the 1980 version was far better in how they choreographed it.

I wonder if they had to improvise at the last minute because they couldn't get the lasers dialed in right that night.

They came on alright but they were all over the place and didn't focus into one concentrated beam ondarth like the night I saw it.

Still pretty cool that you could find that vid though.

SoulAlive said:

My pops had that on video, used the scare the shit out of me.

Daryl, what up cuzzin'?
I saw Earth Wind & Fire 3 times, twice at the Oakdale in Wallingford CT, and once with Chicago at Mohegan! Both bands played together and even played each other's material! It was a long time ago, a while. Maurice was there for the last one, only Phillip for my first two.
Gratitude was their best album, but 'Brazilian Rhyme' is my favorite!
Ba Da Bop Bop Ba Bop Ba!

DarylB said:

TD3 said:

In 1975, I not only got to see them perform (That's The Way of the World Tour), but the group I was in got to open for them when they played at FAMU in Tallahasse, FL. Through a lucky twist of fate Ramsey Lewis who was scheduled to open, couldn't make the gig. The promoter knew us and based on our musical abilities and local popularity, offered us the spot.

So, did you make the FAMU gig?



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