Steve Speer

Saturday, January 25, 2025 4:53 AM

Thanks for your reply. I was not talking about “keyboards”. I was talking about a “pipe organ”. He was not involved with entire set, as I recall, being almost 50 years ago. As I mentioned, I only caught his performance on my way out. My brother told me later, he only made a brief appearance.
Best wishes and “rock on”
Steve

zolias

Thursday, January 23, 2025 2:31 AM

To mr Speer: Indeed, it was Patrick Moraz on keyboards, not Wakeman this night.

Steve Speer

Thursday, January 2, 2025 12:56 AM

This was the summer before I got shipped off to college. My Dad was a nasty mean ex-WW II era marine, so I didn’t get to go to the first Cal Jam. I was real excited to go to the Yes concert because this would be my first live professional rock and roll concert. I went with my girlfriend and an Indian blanket that I swiped from the house. That was all that I had, except maybe five bucks in my pocket. I had been heavily drunk before, and smoked some pot a few times, but really didn’t get loaded. Walking up to the ticket kiosk, I remember some tall dude with real long hair was passing around a pint of blackberry brandy. I took a big swig, then gave it to someone else. I was supposed to hook up with my brother and his buds and all go in together. I never did find him.
We had the cheapest tickets that you could buy through Ticketron, so we headed for the top of the stadium. As we climbed the stairs the sun started to set, but it was still so hot that we both broke a sweat. Peter Frampton started his leadoff song: “Do You Feel Like I Do”.
After the sun set lighters started to come out and joints were coming at me from all directions. Within a short time my girlfriend and I got so horny that we both got naked under that heavy wool Indian blanket. We had about a half hour of foreplay followed by rough, and yelling intercourse. We emerged after Peter Frampton finished his entire set, both of us completely saturated with sweat. It was only then that we both realized that we had taken over as the most favorite performance in the stadium!
We ducked back under the blanket and pulled our clothes back on as best we could, being real sweaty. All we could do was stand up, and take a bow, to the resounding hoots, cat calls, and applause. We started back down the stairs just as Rick Wakeman emerged from the stage, sitting on his pipe organ, which was embedded in an oak tree prop. I remember giant mushrooms, green lasers, and black lights.
We got into my car and headed back to Ontario. Needless to say I was still so messed up that I missed the split to the 57 North and took the 5 instead. I was in Commerce before I realized what I had done. I found the San Bernardino freeway, and got headed east, cruising into town on fumes.
I had seen photos of Woodstock in Life Magazine when I was about ten years old. I remember being sickened by the dirty naked hippies in the photos. Here it was seven years later, and I had become one! I am thankful everyday that my eyes were opened that day, and I became a human being.
Thanks for reading this poor man’s bio. Rock and Roll Will Never Die!

Alvaro Pacheco

Wednesday, April 14, 2021 12:05 PM

July 17th, 1976.......I was there! Arrived around 5am and made a long line. Pot joints marched up and down the line. When finally got in Gentle Giant opened marvelously I stranded close to the baseball 2nd base, the diamond was blocked and protected by bodyguards! By by the time The green lasers started to travel crossing all the stadium to the stage I was also climbed on the mixing tower. Three headed butterfly stage exploded with Siberian Khatru. Spiritual experience!
I saw all the second floor move up and down like in waves., I thought it was gonna break and fall with thousands of souls!

R North

Tuesday, March 16, 2021 11:49 AM

Hey Glenn you must have been on some pretty heavy hallucinogenics because Eddie Offord was NOT at the concert! He stopped doing the sound and touring with Yes after the 1975 tour. His last concert with them was
Reading August 23rd 1975! Check the tour book buddy.

Glenn H

Monday, March 15, 2021 10:58 AM

I was at this concert. I didn’t remember that Gentle Giant was there.
When Yes cameon, I was sitting in the stands. Had to get closer. I climbed up with the mixing tower, and sat in front of Eddie Offord. He told me I could stay there as long as I kept any one else from climbing up. Awesome. I was on the front of the tower, with my legs dangling over the edge. Had the best seat in the house!

zinabre

Tuesday, January 26, 2021 2:40 PM

thank you very much Bettie Russo for your wonderful memories.

Bettie Russo

Monday, January 25, 2021 8:57 PM

WOW! What a blast this concert was!! We had tickets to this concert. Our tiny little duplex was right next to the Stadium. Our little baby boy of 1 yr loved the music of Yes! Still likes them as a grown man. I remember the town buzzing all month about this concert. All over the radio and everyone started lining up and camping out about a week early. Security always trying to get people to leave, then just gave up. Then it happened...my son got very ill and we couldn't go. I was devastated, but I remember it was so loud, and clear at our little house by the stadium that it was almost the same as being there. There were hundreds of people outside of the stadium that were trying to buy scalper's tickets and got none, so the parties in the parking lot and surrounding areas began in earnest! The whole town rocked! It is burnt into my memory of that concert for many reasons..Pete Frampton was great and all, but as soon as my ears heard Yes, my heart dropped. I was so bummed to not be inside,when I had a ticket, and then I saw it. My little baby with a 105F temp heard Yes and he stood up, in his little diaper and started to move his little butt back and forth and tried to sing along in baby jargon! I picked him up, we went to the back yard and listened and rocked out to another memorable Yes concert in the stream of many many concerts to come in my life. Throughout all the years, I often wonder if the band has any idea just how important they and their music has been in the lives of so many people? Thanks for the memories guys!

Dave Morford

Sunday, December 27, 2020 11:17 PM

I was 18 y.o. One of the best nights of my life. I loved YES and Frampton and had a blast. This was the first of many times I'd seen both of them live. I couldn't wait for Gary Wright and Gentle Giant to end. Although, Dreamweaver was a cool song. I remember watching in terror as everyone on the upper deck was jumping and dancing and that deck was moving a foot in both directions, up and down. I thought for sure it would break and everyone would crash onto the people below it. I had no idea that it was built to take that kind of punishment. Good Times.

ALVARO PACHECO

Thursday, April 20, 2017 3:48 PM

I was there since the night before passing on the joints that were roundabouting, All bands were a blast Gentle Giant was fantastic, not particularly a Frampton fan but it was ok to see the half naked chicks be carried out by the security guys. I was lucky to get pretty nice spot on the edge of the baseball diamond about 250 feet from stage. Then the evening dropped its curtains and the green lasers announced what I had came for. By the time Siberian Katru dropped in with the lasers I had managed to move to almost 35 ft from stage just where the mixer boards and sound engineers were. Great spot. Simply a day in my life That stays live!!!

LVphotomate

Wednesday, February 19, 2014 2:06 PM

This was the first concert I ever went to. My buddies and I arrived the night before, camped out in the parking lot, and ate pot brownies until the sun came up! It was fantastic!
Two things that really stick out in my mind is that sometime in the early morning, people would 'rush' the front of the line and we would have to grab our shit and run...and, the other thing that I remember was that we assumed that everyone was coming to see Yes!

Peter Frampton was a great surprise as far as performance goes. I knew his music but wasn't a big fan. He rocked that place. I remember the upper decks bouncing up and down while he sang. After his set, the stadium thinned out quite a bit and we moved to the font of the stage and had killer 'seats'. We actually stood in center field as close as you could get to the stage. One of many many memorable Yes concerts!

Robert Allen

Wednesday, October 23, 2013 11:37 PM

I was there man. I was 17 years old and I remember this show like it
was yesterday. I was there with my two best friends in the world.
There were yellow shirt security guards everywhere. They were huge ! looked
like they were body builders. When I got to the gate, there were these large
green garbage dumsters filled with drugs and alcohol that the security guards were removing from people trying to get into the show. I had time to look down and see what was in those garbage bins. Knives, huge bags of pot, every type of drug known to man. The dumpster was half full, and this dumpster was huge. We got inside and went to the upper deck where you can lean over the concrete balcony and see down to the parking lot. I saw this small ant running away from a bunch of yellow shirt security guards. He was trying to break in to see the show. he did not have a ticket. i told my pals that this crazy guy was running straight for the side of the stadium. This crazy dude jumped up onto the stadium wall and began to climb straight up the wall like spiderman, at high speed. ( There was some type of decoration on the side of the stadium back then, they sort of looked like diamond shapes. ) this crazy dude was moving fast, he was coming straight up the wall! The yellow shirts ran to the front gate and started to run up the stairs. If you remember there is an overhang on that balcony spot that lets you view the outside parking lot. My friend Peter said, there is no way this guy can get his hand over the top, because when he gets to where we were standing, it would be impossible for him to get his hands over the concrete overhang. He would be stuck underneath us. I watched spiderman for as long as possible, until he climbed so high i could not lean over and see him anymore. Suddenly i saw a hand appear and his fingertips grabbed the ledge. Peter and I knew he was going to die, he could not get his other hand up to the ledge. We both leaned over and grabbed his hand and he was so strong he managed to flip his body over the concrete ledge and tumble into our space of safety. He had long black hair and he was high on speed. I could see it in his eyes. He was breathing so fast I thought he was going to have a heart attack. he managed to say " thanks man " as he ran toward the seats and hurled himself into the crowd. About 1 minute went by and we were surrounded by the swarm of yellow shirt security guards who leaned over the ledge to capture spiderman. They looked at us in bewilderment. They thought he vanished into thin air. it appeared to be impossible to get past the extending overhand that was working against him. We realized spiderman literally had to put his life on the line, he kicked off the stadium wall and put everything he had, on the hope his fingers would catch the lip of the overhang. if not, he would have surely fallen to his death. I saw so many crazy things happen that day that I still shake my head in disbelief. it was the best YES concert I have ever seen in my life. Peace

Mas Groovy in Seattle

i was sooo wasted, lost my friend marc in the upper decks (remember baseball stadium) only to run across him in centerfield. we celebrated our great fortune with another fatty in the middle of 60K plus party people. the lasers, sets, CHRIS and STEVE transformed that shithole of orange county into ROCK HEAVEN. we were 17 years old and frampton could kiss our ass, YES!!!! oh yeah, burnt the hell out of the tip of my nose but could'nt feel it. i'm grateful for the event and for being here to recall that night. hey marc! ROCK ON!

Kenny Hundt

Thanks for posting the review from the Times Scott. It was interesting to read the Richard Cromelin review just to refresh my memory that he and the head nut case at the LA Times (Robert Hilburn) had no business reviewing anything outside of mainstream rock / pop of that era (I was at this show so I remember).

If a band didn't have lyrics like Bob Dylan, the Who, Bruce Springsteen, Elton John or the Rolling Stones then these guys dismissed it as pointless. The medium was music guys, not lame rock poetry.

Though Cromelin was more open to music like Yes he was still part of an attack team of Times writers that constantly trashed the likes of Yes and any music that pushed the envelope.

Sadly, due to their position at the main newspaper in a key music industry city, these writers had a hand in turning the music industry into the wasteland it is today.

stacey

We were just kids, 16 years old living near the stadium that summer. We stood in line from dawn just to get a chance to lay a blanket on the field which was given later up to the surging crowds. Yes came out after Framton, and sounded as great as they ever had, the the Dean set was artistic, and the laser show, a lost art, was great. This was one of many we saw at the Anaheim Stadium over a period of a couple of years; the Stones, Beach Boys, Pink Floyd, the Who, Black Sabbath just to name a few. Yes was one of the best, then MTV came about and these grand live shows faded, but over time artists like Yes became epics, while the no talent MTV bands were left to just talking as dubbed bad rap. There seems to be no demand for the artistic live performance anymore, where have the all the fans gone, you still there?

Ken Clarkson

I remember paying $10.00 for the ticket to see this YES show. It was the first time and also the best Yes show I've ever seen and I've seen them every time they have toured sence then.The light and lasers were awesome.Roger Deans stage set was out of this world.Too bad for anyone who missed the 76 tour. They will never know what they missed.

Steve Jensen

I remember this concert. Hot, crowded and I went there to see YES. Didn't understand why Peter Frampton was on the bill but enjoyed his show. The wierd thing was, after Frampton played, the crowd really thinned and we were able to move to really good seats to see YES. Then the sound got really better, different soundman I suppose and we enjoyed one of the best YES concerts ever to bless the LA basin.
Eventually married the only girl in our crowd and she could whistle louder than Frampton could play his guitar.

Scott

Well 69,000 sure seemed like 80,000. I'm Surprised no one was Killed! It started when 50,000 people lined up the Night before, and whatever line that was 'formed' by Thousands was totally disregarded, MY GOD! Greatest Concert of all time possibly?
Scott
yesman@att.net

Steve Ruddell

I believe "Starship Trooper" was played after "Roundabout"..In fact I know it was! Gentle Giant was awesome with everyone in the band joining in on the drum solo.

Scott Salmon

"Yes, Frampton in Rock Concert"
AT ANAHEIM STADIUM
Monday, July 19, 1976
Los Angeles Times
Richard Cromelin

The reasons for the great popularity of the giant stadium rock shows (Saturday's Yes-Peter Frampton bill at Anaheim Stadium sold out 10 days in advance) must involve the two-headliner-for-the-price-of-one package and the picnic atmosphere, rather than purely musical concerns. On that level bigger is not necessarily better, and the vastness of the venue Saturday reduced Yes to maybe.

Or perhaps the group itself was simply low on inspiration this time around. A year ago at the Hollywood Bowl Yes countered the somewhat forbidding nature of its symphonic progressivism with a passionate eloquent performance which put across its imposing structures with the naturalism and economy of a Chuck Berry show. This time it seemed a bit strained and sluggish, perfect ammunition for the anti-art-rock argument.

Yes' music retains a certain sensuality and the group still delivers with authority, but as its material becomes increasingly more dense, abstruse and insular, its seems more and more remote.

The music is without an underlying sense of urgency, and while it's not necessarily heartless, neither can it be considered warm and engaging. Yes doesn't really mean anything, not the way the Wailers or the Who mean something, and its private visions, however pleasurable at moments, seem more fitting for a museum than for the rock 'n roll stage.

Peter Frampton, whose momentum refuses to wane, followed sets by Gentle Giant and Gary Wright at the early-starting concert with his basic "live album" show (plus, of all things, "Lady Madonna"). Audience response was typically enthusiastic, from the kids in the top row to the president's son, Steve, in the wings.

Scott Salmon

I minor point but one worth noting. Yes did NOT play in Los Angeles on July 17, 1976 but rather at Anahiem Stadium, in Anahiem, CA, which is aprox. 35 miles south of L.A. Anahiem is home to Disneyland.

The show consisted of: Gentle Giant, Gary Wright, Peter Frampton, and then Yes, which to say the least, was an absolutely stellar performance by the band!

There had to be 80,000 people at this show, and man, they were all crushing me in the rush to be near the stage when Yes came on!