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Dire Straits – 1978-10-19 – Live at the Shouwburg, Rotterdam, Holland [SBD]

Dire Straits were a British band that was formed in 1977 by Mark and David Knopfler (lead and rhythm guitars, respectively), John Illsley (bass), and Pick Withers (drums).  Their career spanned a total of 15 years.  They broke up in 1988, but reformed in 1991.  They broke up for good in 1995, when Mark Knopfler pursued his solo career full-time.  In reviews of Sultans of Swing, Dire Straits‘ first big hit, often cited Mark Knopfler’s vocals as sounding like Bob Dylan.  When he saw Dire Straits for the first time in 1978, Dylan was so impressed that he invited Knopfler and drummer Pick Withers to play on his next album, Slow Train Coming.  Knopfler also played on the Dylan albums Infidels and Down In The Groove.  When Dire Straits launched the 2nd leg of their fall tour in October 1978, it marked their first extended run of shows outside of the UK.  The band visited France, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands, promoting both their self-titled debut album and the single, Sultans of Swing.  This  soundboard recording captures the band on 19 October 1978, the 2nd of 6 nights in the Netherlands at the very outset of their career.

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers  – 1978-12-31 – Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica, CA  [SBD]

Tom Petty is an American musician, best known as the vocalist of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, as well as member, and co-founder of The Traveling Wilburys.  Around 1976, Petty fomed a band known as the Epics, later to evolve into Mudcrutch, containing future Heartbreakers Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench.  Although popular in the Gainesville area, they never broke into mainstream.  After Mudcrutch broke up, Petty went solo and Tench decided to form his own band.  Eventually, Petty and Campbell collaborated with Tench and fellow members Ron Blair and Stan Lynch, resulting in the first lineup of the Heartbreakers.  The band achieved far greater sucess in Britain.  The single “Breakdown” was rereleased in 1977 and peaked at #40 in early 1978.  This concert is the New Year’s Eve show in Santa Monica, 1978, and Petty covers a classic party song, Shout.  Originally recorded by the Isley Brothers in 1959, the song experienced a new wave of popularity in 1978 thanks to a version by Otis Day and The Knights that was featured in the movie Animal House.  In fact, while Petty was playing this concert, The Blues Brothers were a few hundred miles north at Winterland, in San Francisco, leading in for the Grateful Dead.

The Runaways – 1978-01-07 – The Palladium, New York, NY  [FM]

In the mid 1970’s, 5 young women – Joan Jett, Lita Ford, Sandy West, Cherie Currie and Micki Steele (later replaced by Peggy Foster and then Jackie Fox) – formed a band and the rest as they say, is history.  Punk and Heavy Metal were two emerging genres and were not the exclusive domain of the boys of rock and roll.  They released their first album in 1976, then headlined shows with opening acts such as Cheap Trick, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, and Van Halen.  In the summer of 1977, the bands selling more albums in Japan than The Runaways were ABBA, Kiss and Led Zeppelin.  They were mobbed by fans on their visit, and Joan Jett later described the mass hysteria as being like Beatlemania.  This FM broadcast captures the band at the Palladium in New York, NY on January 7, 1978.  By that point, Currie had left the band, and tensions were rising between the other members.  In addition, while The Runaways were far more popular overseas, they had yet to breakthrough in the US.  In just about a year, the band would break up, due to creative differences between Jett, who wanted the band to play more punk and new wave music, and Ford, who pushed to steer the group toward more hard rock and heavy metal.  Check this one and hear The Runaways at their peak, and get a glimpse of what Joan Jett and Lita Ford sounded like before their highly successful solo careers.

The Rolling Stones  – 1978-07-06 – Detroit Masonic Hall, Detroit, MI  [SBD]

The Rolling Stones are an English band formed in London in 1962, originally comprised of Brian Jones (Guitar, Harmonica), Ian Stewart (Piano), Mick Jagger (lead vocals, harmonica), Keith Richards (Guitar), Bill Wyman (Bass), and Charlie Watts (Drums).  The mid 70’s were not the best of years for “The Greatest Rock and Roll Band In The World”.  The Stones’ albums during that period had not lived up to the standard set by 1972’s Exile on Main Street.  Drug problems plagued Keith.  Mick seemed more interested in the party life (he was a regular at Studio 54) than music.  Mick Taylor (Brian Jones’ replacement) quit the band.  As the punk scene took a leading role on rock’s stage, many depicted them as decadent, aging millionaires and criticized their music as stagnant.  All that changed in 1978.  The band struck back at their critics with a vengeance, releasing Some Girls in June of that year.  That album, with songs such as Miss You, Beast of Burden and Shattered, was easily the best Stones album since Exile, and ranks as one of the finest of their career.  Check out this soundboard recording, on 6 July 1978,  to relive the return of The Rolling Stones to the top of the rock world.