Today in Rock History – 13th APRIL:

BIRTHDAYS
1944: Brian Pendleton (The Pretty Things)
1944: Jack Casady (Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna)
1945: Lowell George (Little Feat)
1946: Al Green
1947: Michael Chapman (Producer / Songwriter for Sweet / Suzi Quatro / Mud / Blondie / The Knack / Pat Benatar)
1951: Max Weinberg (The E Street Band)
1954: Jimmy Destri (Blondie)
1962: Hillel Slovak (The Red Hot Chili Peppers)

EVENTS
1967: The Rolling Stones performed their first concert behind the Iron Curtain at the Palace of Culture in Warsaw, Poland.
1970: Led Zeppelin became the first band to sell out the Montreal Forum.
1979: Thin Lizzy released their ninth album, ‘Black Rose’.
1979: David Lee Roth of Van Halen collapsed on stage at a concert in Seattle, due to exhaustion and a stomach virus.
1985: Queen performed a concert at Mt. Smart Stadium, Auckland ~ I was there!
2019: Death of keyboardist / guitarist / songwriter, Paul Raymond [aged 73]. Over the years, Paul played with and contributed to music by UFO, Michael Schenker Group, Waysted, Chicken Shack, Savoy Brown / Waysted & more).

I was lucky enough to catch Queen’s one and only show in NZ on ‘The Works’ Tour, exactly three months prior to their legendary Live Aid appearance. What a spectacular night it was! Being amongst the enthusiastic crowd of around 30,000 and witnessing Queen on stage at last really got the heart racing! It was an incredible performance, with ultimate showman Freddie in fine singing form, despite being quite clearly inebriated and swearing like a trooper, haha. “Hello New Zealand, we’re gonna have one muthafucker of a time”…. and it was!!

QUEEN Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland, NZ: 13 April, 1985

Machines (Back to Humans)
Tear It Up
Tie Your Mother Down
Under Pressure
Somebody to Love
Killer Queen
Seven Seas of Rhye
Keep Yourself Alive
Liar
It’s a Hard Life
Dragon Attack
Now I’m Here
Is This the World We Created…?
Love of My Life
Guitar Solo
Brighton Rock
Another One Bites the Dust
Hammer to Fall
Crazy Little Thing Called Love
Bohemian Rhapsody
Radio Ga Ga

Encore 1: I Want to Break Free
Jailhouse Rock (with Tony Hadley)

Encore 2: We Will Rock You
We Are the Champions
God Save the Queen

1992: Crowded House played a concert at Auckland Town Hall ~ I was there!
2000: Gavin Rossdale of Bush collapsed at the end of a concert in Los Angeles. He fully recovered the next day.
2019: Death of Paul Raymond, keyboardist / guitarist for UFO, Michael Schenker Group, Chicken Shack, Savoy Brown, Waysted & more (aged 73).

Lowell George was a brilliant, melodic songwriter / singer / guitarist (especially on slide), but he was never going to get old with his lifestyle. He was only 34 when he died. Here’s a rare Little Feat live video clip ~ you’ll need to turn it up LOUD!