Stef Dollee - de Doelen

Tuesday, November 5, 2024 9:21 AM

[GOOGLE TRANSLATION from Dutch]

In 1971, the American rock band Iron Butterfly performed in the Doelen. However, the supporting act Yes proved to be more popular and was even called back on stage. It was a memorable evening for visitor Stef Dollee.

"The American rock band Iron Butterfly was known in the early seventies for the song In A Gadda Da Vida. In 1971, the band gave a concert in the Doelen and we had bought tickets. That evening we didn't really feel like going to the support act, I don't remember exactly why. What I do remember well was the remarkable atmosphere in the hall when we entered. It felt like something special had happened. However, we didn't have the time to find out what it was, because at that moment Iron Butterfly came on stage and started playing.

Unfortunately, the band's repertoire was limited, which meant they kept playing the same song. The longer the concert lasted, the more annoying it became. There was more and more unrest in the hall and people shouted: 'We want Yes'. Eventually there was a massive shouting for the British rock band. At first I didn't understand why the audience shouted that, until another band came on. It was Yes, the band from the support act that we had missed. From the first few notes I completely understood the other visitors in the hall. This was, as far as I was concerned, a world band! What a surprise, the support act that evening ensured a lyrical audience! After the concert I had to recover for at least fifteen minutes.

Later I attended several Yes concerts, but that first time is the one that stuck with me the most. Afterwards we often had to laugh about the fact that the support act was better than the main act."

Het vrije volk: Democratisch-Socialistisch Dag

Tuesday, January 18, 2022 11:34 AM

[GOOGLE TRANSLATION - Het vrije volk: Democratisch-Socialistisch Dagblad - 1971-01-11]

In a gadda-da-vida we now know Iron Butterfly asks: a round of applause for Yes

ROTTERDAM — Although In-a-gadda-da-vida is potentially a strong song — it's still floating in all possible charts after two years — Iron Butterfly has it there on Sunday evening. In not being able to meet goals, there could be several reasons for this: the group may not be that good after all; the group floats on one song; or the fun was already gone because the group Yes, in the support act, was actually much better. Let's keep to the last option.

Both Yes and Iron Butterfly have been on TV this week. Yes, it was a bit disappointing then. But the group made a strong impression last night. Technically, Yes is second to none, especially Iron Butterfly. Vocally, Yes Crosby, Stills and Nash (with or without Young) take the cake. Combined with a very good set-up of the sound equipment (the Who and Deep Purple can use that); Yes made sure that the main program gave the impression of being switched.

When Iron Butterfly showed up after the intermission, there was a bit of an insecure mood in the hall. The pretentious stage act by the American group had little inspiration for the audience and only now and then a few called for In-a-gadda-da-vida. And even the 5 Iron Butterfly must have been impressed well with Yes because this group z early public.

After Iron Butterfly was recalled once, there followed another jam session by both groups. It was also striking how forced Iron Butterfly played and how ordinary the Yes members played, but most of all, how good. An LP by this group should be bought for the discotheque.

NRC Handelsblad - 1971-01-11

Tuesday, January 18, 2022 10:44 AM

[GOOGLE TRANSLATION - NRC Handelsblad - 1971-01-11]

Psychedelic nonsense from Iron Butterfly

By OSKAR DE BOER

AMSTERDAM, 11 Jan. — Iron Butterfly is a group from Los Angeles that tries to represent magical realism in pop music. As the name already symbolizes, the group tries to explore the cosmos, with both feet firmly on the ground. The musicians use a very penetrating heavy rock as a basis, on which a lot is floated away, especially by means of organist-singer Doug Ingle. It is sometimes called psychedelic rock. In the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, where the group gave a concert on Saturday night, the members of the group not only radiated little magic, it also became clear that they belong to the most unfavorable musicians in America. Hard, very simple riffs were interspersed with what should have been psychedelic sounds.

Organist Ingle was also more muddy than psychedelic. It was all a bit of a muddy mess coming off the stage, because bassist Lee Dorman also got little nuanced music from his bass, mainly because he struck the instrument with his fingers instead of playing it with a pick. Of course we had to wait for the big hit "In-a-gadda-davida", played live by the stars themselves. When that song finally came out, it showed once again how bad it is. Continuing with just one rather irritating riff, the group plays variations for about twenty minutes on a theme that doesn't exist, but is probably floating somewhere in the cosmos, unrecognizable to earth people. In it then another solo (on a completely transparent drum kit) by the full-time amateur drummer Ron Bushy,

By way of contrast probably played the highly skilled group Yes. Building on their excellent playing guitarist (on an amplified acoustic guitar) and the very strangely dressed bassist Chris Squire, who started Yes in 1969, the group played a very complex form of pop music, in which many jazz influences could be heard. The very small singer turned out to have a beautiful voice among the companies and to be able to get very nice sounds from a kind of meccano box.

Algemeen Dagblad - 1971-01-11

Tuesday, January 18, 2022 10:25 AM

[GOOGLE TRANSLATION - Algemeen Dagblad - 1971-01-11]

Survived Iron Butterfly Theater

Red ears after a night of pop music

From our pop collaborator AMSTERDAM —

Last weekend the English group Yes and the American group Irpn Butterfly gave away excited evenings of pop in Eindhoven, Amsterdam and Rotterdam that yielded more folkloric pop therapist than captivating music.

Yes. performing with a bass guitarist dressed as a kind of Batman and an organist with a broken ankle, it soon got bogged down in too long sustained, tension-free improvisations, in which many sounds were crushed by hurricane-strength loudspeakers. This despite Steve Howe's clever guitar exercises and Jon Anderson's nuanced singing.

GIEREND

Iron Butterfly was equally unimpressive with its pathetic trip music, but won the duel on points due to a predominance of professional instruments and skilful* presentation. According to the surviving process, the head went into the neck, the guitar stem went vertical, the strings were touched as if they were 220 volts and the rest shook and ripped as vigorously as possible after the screeching guitar sirens.

EXTRA

The most striking thing about the Iron Butterfly were the electric wire in the oral cavity of guitarist Mike Pinera, with which an electrically amplified burp was occasionally released, and the clearer sounding drum solo by Ron Bushy on a transparent Perspex drum set during „In-a -Gadda-Da-Vida”.

For that top song, from 1969, most seemed to have come to the reasonably filled Concertgebouw.