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Triumph – 19 Aug 1979 – Agora Ballroom, Chicago, IL

Triumph was formed in 1975 in Toronto, Canada and were often billed as ‘The Other Rush’.  After the trio got together, they took Canada and the US by storm.  Triumph has received 18 gold and 9 platinum awards in North America.  Triumph’s first concert was Simcoe High School in Sept 1975 and by Aug 1978, they were headlining at the Canada Jam Festival, playing before 110,000 people.  They quickly signed with Attic Records and RCA (serving Canada and the US, respectively).  Their first self-titled album was released in 1976, but was renamed to In The Beginning later.  This concert was in support of their third album, Just A Game, which was released on 30 Mar 1979.  Their first gold award was for this album, and was just two days later on 1 Apr 1979.  This was NO April Fools joke, either.  This album contained their first big hit, Hold On, which rose to 38 in the Billboard 100.  More significantly, this album also contained Lay It On The Line, which has become the most widely played and recognized song in Triumph’s career in spite of their unpopularity with rock critics.  Rolling Stone reviewers labeled them ‘a faceless band’.  Regardless, they are amongst a few other Canadian bands that have achieved stardom.

 Wolfmother – 15 Oct 2005 – Auckland, New Zealand

Wolfmother was formed in 2004 as a power trio.  They quickly were noticed and signed by an Austrailian record label, Modular Recordings, and released their debut self-titled EP.  The band moved to L.A. and began work on their self-titled LP, which was released Oct. 2005.  The album entered the ARIA albums chart at its highest point, number 3 and remained on the chart until 2007, at which point it had been certified platinum five times.  This bootleg was the day before the release of that album.

Rush – 1980 – St. Louis

Rush is a Canadian hard rock power trio formed in August 1968 in Toronto, Ontario by Jeff Jones (bass guitar, lead vocals, and keyboards),  Alex Lifeson (guitar, backup vocals), and John Rutsy (drums and percussionist).  Geddy Lee replaced Jones before their second performance.  Immediately after the release of their self-titled debut album, and two weeks before the start of their first US tour, Neil Peart replaced Rutsy due to health issues stemming from Rutsy’s diabetes.  Their first concert,  August 14, 1974 was opening for Uriah Heep and Manfred Mann before an audience of 11,000.  In the late seventies, Rush began to become inspired by progressive rock bands such as Yes and King Crimson.  This concert was for the tour for the album Permanent Waves and was a shift in style for Rush.  It contained shorter songs such as Freewill and The Spirit of Radio to promote more radio airplay and helped to propel it to become their first top five album to date.  Rush was well on their way to achieving the peak of their popularity which occurred in 1981 with the release of Moving Pictures.  The lyrics of that album’s Tom Sawyer were written by Toronto band Max Webster’s lyricist, Pye Dubois during a collaboration with Rush.

Grand Funk Railroad – 23 Dec 1972 – Madison Square Garden

How can one mention power trios without including Grand Funk Railroad in the conversation?  1972 was a time of change for Grand Funk.  They fired Terry Knight in early 72 sparking a lengthy court fight.  At one point, Knight seized their gear before a Madison Square Gardens concert (probably this one).  They added Craig Frost on keyboards and released Phoenix with him.  Eventually, they would return as a power trio again…..  They replaced Knight with Todd Rundgren and the result was their two #1 hits, We’re an American Band and The Loco-motion from their next two albums.

Next week’s broadcast, 07 Mar 2015 will air starting at 8 PM Eastern time, and will include:

TBD.