This gig had an extraordinary start that still lives vividly in the memory. We had seats in the front stalls at Newcastle City Hall. Mahavishnu Orchestra were at the peak of their fame (even if they were a minority taste) having just released "Birds of Fire" as their second album. The all-star line-up of McClaughlan (guitar), Cobham (drums), Hammer (keyboards), Goodman (violin) and Laird (Bass) didn't last much longer and the band exploded later that year to be reformed with McLaughlan and some different musicians.
They played fast and furious jazz-fusion in weird rhythms with the maniacally fast but always precise Cobham driving the tempo relentlessly. The soloists were constantly outdoing each other while the bassist tried to keep up. That's how I remember it anyway.
They came out on stage, the audience clapped and they started tuning up. After a few minutes people started wondering if there was a problem but they carried on, each individual apparently searching for the perfect tuning. After ten minutes or so the audience began getting a little restless but perhaps these devoted musicians deserved a bit of leeway. It seemed like fifteen minutes or so before they suddenly launched an avalanche of precision sound and the gig was underway.
I wonder whether each gig started the same.
McLaughlan was eye-catching - he had a guitar with two heads and one of those was a twelve string guitar. He switched between the guitars often and effortlessly.
They played stuff off the albums and I don't recollect what else but to experience it live and close up was astonishing.
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