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Entertainment ^ A 1 Denver chara wm^mm By BILL DOUGLAS Gamecock Staff Writer John Denver brought his 'Rocky Mountain High' music to a sellout crowd at the Carolina Coliseum last Tuesday night and gave one of the best concerts Columbia has seen in a while. Most of the audience paid between $7 and $10 for tickets to the show, while some persons paid up to $30 to scalpers nutri/lafkn /.nKn?. T1..1 A1 ' ' * * uuioiuc ilic: v,wnociuii. Dui oncc me concert siartea everyone forgot about the high-priced tickets. Denver walked onto the stage, located in the middle of the arena and was greeted by enthusiastic applause and an array of flash bulbs. Once onstage Denver, with guitar in hand, and his band opened the show with "Farewell Andromeda' followed by "It Amazes Me." UPON COMPLETION of the two songs Denver welcomed the crowd and told them that the Columbia concert was the 14th concert in a tour of 53 concerts in 47 cities.Someone in the audience yelled "far out!" to which Denver gleefully replied, "Yeah, it'll be far out if we make it through." Throughout the show Denver enjoyed talking to the ... as Clapton By TERESA McCLAIN Th Gamecock Staff Writer voca "Knc The 461 Ocean Boulevard or new Slowhand album Clapi would have made a better investment than tickets for High the mediocre performance of Eric Clapton Easter numl weekend. writt The show lasted 60 minutes and was not one to Ke remember. Ticket sales were poor and those who cordi came were passive. Jami Opening with some really fine harmonies on "Let It of cy Grow," Clapton and Marcy Levy were a picture from Radl the past. Clapton wore a dark coat, white satin vest, black shirt and patched bell bottom jeans. JO "I Feel Wonderful Tonight," a love song from the alone Slowhand album, crept in after some blues and an thesi instrumental called, "Peaches and Diesel." Foot mam stompiiv "LayDown Sally," "Cocaine" and "Get in Ja Ready" left the audience still in their seats. Clapton acid seemed unfriendly and totally disinterested in Th communication. was LEVY, WHO used to be with the Bob Seger band, aske kept the show alive with a nice harmonica, jamming coun tamborine and provocative rhythm. Her voice knew P^rf( no bounds and touched every emotion. On her only no ei solo number, "Nobody Loves You When You're Down Th and Out," she accompanied her dynamic voice with abse: an electric box guitar. In the most enthusiastic a w( response of the evening someone yelled "You belong thanl here." bam. is with wholes* HHHHMi i %i audience which was close to him because of the stage setup. The center stage arrangement gave a personal atmosphere to the show and the placement of the speakers overhead improved the acoustics in the arena. Denver stood in the middle of the stage on a rotating platform, so that everyone got a look at him. He was surrounded by his band ? percussionist Hal Blaine, bassist Emory Gordon Jr., flutist Jim Horn, keyboardist Glen B. Hardin, Ban joist Herb Peterson, vocalist Renee Armad, Danny Weefner on harmonica, and guitarists Denny Brooks and James Burton. The band proved itself more than capable by accompanying Denver on a few bluegrass instrumental. DENVER PERFORMED songs describing the beauty of nature and man, such as "Looking For Space" and "Rippling Waters," a song written by a member of The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. He treated every song with a great deal of emotion and sincerity, whether it was "Take Me Home Country Roads" or "Sweet Surrender." Denver performed many recognizable songs like "Fly Away," "When I'm Sixty-Four," and "Back Home Again." He also performed some lively foot-stomping tunes which l fizzles out H e stage was bathed in violet lights and mellow Is during a beautiful rendition of Dylan's )ckin' on Heaven's Door." George Terry and 'Mljjjftlj ton managed some tricky picking on "Key to the HHW way," and "Willie and the Hand Jive." The best ber of the night was an old Creme tune, "Badge," en by Clapton and George Harrison. yboards by Dick Sims were solid and his acton on a country-western tune was SDunkv. But ie Oldaker never surfaced from behind his maze mbals and drums during the show. Bassist Carl e was equally indifferent to the audience. UN MARTYNJfrom Scotland, opened the show |?|j||i^ ? with an electric acoustic guitar. The syn- HHHj zer at the mercy of his boots added to the ufactured noise. "A number I wrote for a friend maica" sounded promising, but led to some old sound on quadrophonic travel. HnEBflR e crowd became restless and the general feeling "where did they dig this dude up?" Martyn d, "How do they treat you in this part of the try ?" and reinforced concern over his origin. His >rmance was mercifully short, 40 minutes, and iiBKlSBl nnAt?a moo nwiv woo ^-iiv-uui agcu. e spirit needed for'Tprize entertainment was nt in the Eric Clapton band and the crowd. After 111111118 >rdless performance Clapton's big smile and Fric Clan ks following the single encore was a 'wham, ' P , thank you maamfclap in the face. < i iir )me music... ^ ' >?^mbimp /? ??gg?*w rv Leslie Erickson -THE GAMECOCK onnfinlcrl frt tV>n n?nt>,J nrt i? _i i 1 . ... uFK^?i^vt i.u me uuwu, x-wpie sianea clapping and singing along to "Grandma's Feather Bed," "Baby You Look Good To Me Tonight," and "Saturday Night in Toledo, Ohio," a song which Denver said he likes to sing just to lower the quality of the show. But the humorous tune added to the show's quality because of the spirit and energy Denver employed in it. THE 28 SONGS Denver sang in his two-and-a-half hour stint on stage were a mixture of bluegrass, country and a little mellow classical. All the songs had the vivid lyrics. A typical Denver song is almost like a beautiful descriptive poem that can create an image in the mind. The most appealing lyrics were in the song "The Hawk and The Eagle," which lauded the two majestic birds. Denver also performed a few love ballads like "Annie's Song," "I Want to Live," and "How Can I Leave You Again," a song which Denver said he wrote after spending only one day at home during last Christmas because of the filming schedule of "Oh, God!" John Denver's concert was a very fine, organized show 1L.1 1 4. _ A without feeling too old fashioned or too hip. 8h JKTOMI R.^jffit-:: JH SS^-vM84^'Kfl*A.6L^^^^^^f^^E B:$SW ',; ^on Dave Roback -THE GAMECOCK everybody in the Coliseum stayed in his seat'