I first saw Mr. Emerson in early 1969. I'd just joined a band in Oxford, after arriving in England only a few weeks earlier. The drummer had taken it upon himself to introduce me to the local music scene, so we'd go see bands on weekends. One of them was The Nice. "You're gonna love this band " he said. "The organ player's the star of the show...they don't even have a guitarist."
The gig was at a community hall in a nearby town. Admission was 50p and there were perhaps 200 people there ("America" wouldn't start getting radio play for another month, so they were still relatively obscure). Of course, we went right up to the edge of the stage. I'd not been told about Keith's onstage antics, not warned of the possibility of physical injury from falling M3s and thrown knives. Needless to say, I was absolutely delighted. And extremely jealous that he had not one, but two Leslies.
So the following year, when ELP was formed, I knew who he was and couldn't wait to hear the new band. I'd also become completely enamored with
In the Court of the Crimson King, which Greg Lake had produced, so I was a fan of his, too. We scored tickets to their second gig ever, in Frankfurt.
The concert didn't start on time, and there was no opening act. So a thousand hippies sat patiently on the floor, passing joints around for 4 hours. A roadie came out to explain that the holdup was Keith's brand-new Moog modular synth was held up in customs. Having had my own surreal experiences with German customs, I was sympathetic. And having never actually seen a synthesizer in person before, I reckoned it was well worth the wait.
I was a little disappointed that the synth was barely used. I think just on two songs, as Emerson had only bought it a few weeks prior. But it was still very cool. A technician in a white lab coat did the patching and constant re-tuning.
This was before ELP got a reputation for being the world's loudest band. Amplification was scaled to the venue perfectly, and even though I was only 20 feet away the sound was excellent. Keith was more reserved in this Serious Band, but he did throw a knife into the Leslie, which the Germans went nuts over.
That was on a Friday night. The following night we went to see Deep Purple perform
Deep Purple in Rock. Between Jon Lord and Keith Emerson, I felt finally vindicated for choosing to be an organ player.