I saw the Faces on May 12, 1973, in Roanoke, VA, and I always rank it as one of the most disappointing rock shows I ever attended. I always loved their stuff, and was very psyched to see them live, but they were bloody awful.

This was in the stage of the bartender on stage (also chronicled in Ronnie's book), and they were absolutely ripped, falling around the stage. Rod Stewart was in good voice, had a good stage presence (flipping the mike stand way up to the ceiling of the arena, catching it, flipping it back around....looked sharp). But the songs never really ended, they just.....fell apart at the end, with loud "thank you thank you thank you"'s from the band. I remember they came back out for the encore and almost no one in the entire civic center was applauding.

You know how it is.....most shows you are up dancing, drinking beer, etc. (like all nine of my Stones shows). Other times the overall mood of the crowd is wanting to just sit and listen to the band. That might have been part of the problem....the Doobie Brothers had been the opening act, had just done a very tight and together set, and the Faces wound up sounding very sloppy and thrown together. My feelings at the time were that if all of us had been in a smaller hall and also ripped, it would have had been a much more friendly environment.

I was always glad I saw Ronnie again for all those Stones shows.

Now.....with all of that being said:

This morning I was looking around some Faces websites (I still love the band), and came across a good explanation about the Roanoke show - Ronnie Lane had just announced to the group minutes before they took the stage that night that he was leaving the band after two more gigs. Found this on a website this morning:

Lane’s departure, however, was not amicable. Before a performance in Roanoke, Virginia, in May, 1973, Lane announced backstage that he was leaving the band. This moment precipitated a violent row between McLagan and Lane that carried its way onto the stage and off again.

“There was no send-off party [for Lane],” Mac recalls. “It was ugly. We didn’t want to speak to him. I mean, there’s a picture in [the official live release, Coast to Coast/Overture and Beginners] of the four of us sitting around a table [drunk and unhappy]. It got more and more bloody horrible towards the end. I kicked him off the stage at one point, God bless him!”

[www.the-faces.com]

Makes a lot more sense now.

The only other time I was that disappointed with a show was the same year, 1973. I got a chance to see Badfinger, and was really psyched up to hear them live, and they were one of the all time worst concert experiences I ever had. Understanding later that they also had quite a few issues going on at the time puts that show into perspective, too.

cool story mongoose

I saw the Faces do 2 great shows in spring & fall '75, and they were hot (check the March 7, '75 live tracks on the box, or the boot from that show in circulation). I love their albums, never saw them with Lane, yet it seems from '71 or so Lane rarely sang his songs live - usually just half of 'Maybe I'm Amazed'...Too Bad, as they say, for his voice (writer and singer, and of course bassist) add so much to the band's recorded legacy.

Thanks, Lukester!

Yeah, john r, Lane was one of the best. I especially like the Rough Mix album that he did with Pete T. (which reminds me....that's one I still just have on vinyl....time to get that one on CD or iTunes)

Mongoose, there is a recent Hip-O reissue of Rough Mix on both SACD and regular cd, and it has 3 bonus tracks - 2 written by Lane. Well worth checking out. 'April Fool,' 'Annie' etc are achingly beautiful, and when he sings on one of Pete's best - 'Heart To Hang Onto' his soulful vocal really adds something special.

....mongoose, I'm, trying to think, where was that concert in Roanoke? That seems like a rather small town for a Doobie Brothers/Faces show. I'm guessing you drove up from Boone? (or Hickory?)

It was held at the Roanoke Civic Center. Used to see shows there a lot when I was in high school, including Alice Cooper, Humble Pie, Chicago. Also very close by was the Salem Civic Center, in Salem, VA, where I saw Canned Heat, J. Geils, Grand Funk, Iron Butterfly (yeah, I admit it.....I went to see Iron Butterfly), etc.

I lived in Martinsville, VA (currently of NASCAR fame), so my high school concerts were either in Roanoke or Salem.....Virginia Tech at Blacksburg (saw some great shows at Tech, including my very first concert ever, the Association, in 1970, as well as concerts by Loggins & Messina, Doobies).

MOST of my concerts were at Greensboro, NC (Stones, Who, Bad Company, about a zillion others). Martinsville is right in the middle of Roanoke and Greensboro, so most every tour went to at least one of those two cities.

Back in the nostalgic days when concerts were five bucks, and you saw three bands to boot. I remember when I got to see George Harrison here in Atlanta in 1974...the tickets were nine dollars, and my friends and I were OUTRAGED...."NINE DOLLARS?!! You've got to be freakin' KIDDING me!! Awww, I'll pay it, it's George Harrison.....but NINE DOLLARS??!!! Jeeez...."

....oh yeah, thanks Mongoose, I forgot about the civic center.....and I'm sure we attended a lot of the same shows in Greensboro.

Lukester, speaking of Boone:

I was only there for my freshman year of college at Appalachian State, but there were unbelievable shows on campus there that year (1973-1974).

The biggest thing was something they used to call Rally Weekend, which was held in late April or May. Check out the lineup:

Friday show: Roy Buchanan, opening for Mountain
Saturday Show: The James Gang, opening for the Edgar Winter Group

Heavy stuff for a small college up in the hills of NC, huh?

That year we also had smaller shows by Crosby & Nash, Goose Creek Symphony (remember them?), Earl Scruggs Revue, Doc Watson, Seals & Crofts (ugh), and two nights of the Maynard Ferguson jazz band. There was also a great college station in those days, WASU-FM, that always played very progressive stuff.

....wow, thanks for the memories mongoose. I remember we had strolled down this memory lane once before. Those were indeed some heavy bands for a little college in a small mountain town. When I was in school there WASU-FM had taken a turn towards lameness....playing 70's pop and disco. Every now and then I run into an old hippie or two that still reminisce about that Mountain/James Gang show. Thanks.

I saw the Faces once at the Reading Festival 1972. And it was an amazing show. I remember the newspaper the next day wrote about the best and longest Faces show ever. I don't know if that is true but the show lasted for about 3 hours and it was fantastic. Unforgotten moments.

The charm of the faces. Hit and miss. As was Ronnie. Sometimes sloppy, sometimes brilliant. Often a fine line between the two. Emphasisi on having a good time. Good-time Ronnie.

That's the element he brought to the Stones. To the extent that by 1982, people were praising the Stones for their loose, have-a-go garage-band approach. Ten years previously this looseness would have been unthinkable. It was all about controlled surging power, (with the 'roll-factor' ofcourse), but never sloppy.

I saw them at Cobo Hall in Detroit on Valetine's Day '75. I think that's the common boot from the era. Rod wore this ridiculous bright yellow pantsuit w/ big poofy shoulders and, as I recall, Ron did at least two interminatable slide-guitar solos which were little more than noise. I'd never been to a show where girls screamed like they did for Rod. For the most part it was great, sloppy fun and I DID get lucky after so all-in-all it was a great show from the perspective of a seventeen year old - AND a fifty year old all these years later.

In July 72 i seen them @ sorta like a Woodstock gig , had 2 walk about 5 miles to get there & lost my ride home because the driver didn't want to go all the way up front , many over doses there as someone brought a ton of bad brown acid & passed it around , they had a drug center & many of my friends ended up there

rumors were heavy thru out the day da Stones were gonna show up , no such luck

The Faces came on da very foggy stage very late about 4am , Rod , Woody & Ian impressed da hell out of me
ill tell ya ill never forget Woody playin " that's all you need " To bad i never had a chance to see The Faces play again

i had great pics from this gig , esp. da Faces in da fog , but they been lost since 1977

To add to Wiki
It did Not rain much of the time & Black Sabbath also did not play
[en.wikipedia.org]

Ron Wood's 'sloppiness' sometimes overshadows (not so much here at IORR) just how talented he is, with an original and distinctive style (especially on slide)and sense of timing, and a delicacy and soulfulness that has made him the perfect collaborator for Stewart, Lane, Bobby Womack, and later Keith, among others. Listen to his fills and commentary on the upbeat songs from "Gasoline Alley" ("All Over Now", "Cut Across Shorty"), how closely he follows the vocal, then the beautiful, mournful mood he creates within "Only A Hobo" or "Jo's Lament".

Yes, I agree. That's where he expressed himself most fully, (with most distinctive 'flavour' and character). Working with the Stones - well he's had to change/adapt.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008-01-22 20:32 by Four Stone Walls.

thnx for the story and scoop about that show.

i never really knew why ron left the band. what his issues were...he was a key ingredient to their sound, stage show and their deep soul...and had been since the steve mariott days...anybody know wassup with him leaving?

imo they were mostly past their prime by the time they hit stadiums but i'm sure there were exceptional shows in there sometimes; was it the booze? or were they just meant to be a close quarters outfit where you could see the sweat and be right there with them?

my one live experience with Faces was at Fillmore East circa '71, around the time of the 'long player' and 'a nod is as good as a wink..." releases; sorry i can't remember the date more specifically but i could find it...ron wood was a total guitar king;
i didn't miss a second guitarist for even a moment.

it remains to this day one of the best and most fun, and also most intense, shows i've ever seen and heard. also, despite the great party atmosphere, it was one of the sharpest and most professionally delivered rock shows i've ever seen. the real deal; up close and personal.

my memory is a little foggy on the actual date of that show but i remember very specifically the music and the stage show and it was thrilling and spectacular. r.i.p. ronnie.

Beelyboy, in Ron Wood's book he touches on the subject of Lane leaving the Faces briefly with this quote:

"The next thing that any of us knew was that Lanie was quitting. I figured that he wasn't really quitting, except this time he meant it and he did. He turned it into one of those 'it's Rod or me' things. Lanie said to the rest of us, 'Come with me and we'll all leave Rod before he leaves us.' That wasn't going to happen, so Lanie went home." (p. 115)

Who knows? Maybe Lane could see the writing on the wall that management was starting to shift over to Rod and his solo career, and not so much the band concept for the future.

There is a 19 song Faces anthology for sale from 1999 on Amazon, I think I'm going to have to pick that one up.

For all of that, I have a vid of the Faces doing "Stay With Me" that is great. It WAS available on You Tube -- maybe I should post it.

Yeah, man, that would be great, please DO!

Have a fun weekend.

Quote
Mongoose
Yeah, man, that would be great, please DO!

Have a fun weekend.

Ok, the d/l link is on "Hot Stuff" now.

Cool story. I guess it all made sense after reading this....you just never know what's goin on with people.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008-01-25 04:54 by TrulyMicks.

stay with me (1971)




i'm losing you




maybe i'm amazed (1972)

The 1999 comp is excellent, and a more recent 2-cd comp has been issued called "The Definitive..." with less intersting artwork, but 30 tracks and only a couple dollars more. The remastering is better than the '99 set. Of course the boxed set from a couple years back is one of the best rock 'n' roll boxes ever, with the majority of the tracks unissued or non lp singles, and it adds a lot of wonderful music to the Faces' body of work. Like a fabulous 8-minute 'Love In Vain', a stunning cover of the Beach Boys' 'Gettin Hungry', the gorgeous original soul ballad 'Open To Ideas' and dozens more.

Nice report Mongoose, with a wicked little twist in the story.

Had tickets for the Faces back in 1971, in Liverpool, but they called the gig off at a few hours' notice because one of the band was about to become a father!