Am 1. October 1976, genau 5 Jahre nach meiner Ankunft in Neuenburg organisierte ich dieses Konzert und nahm es mit einem Uher 4400 auf. Es gab und gibt bis heute keine andere Aufnahme davon, also auch keine Bootlegs.
Eine limitierte Gesamt_Auflage von 2000 Stück erschien 2019 als fantastisches „Unburied Treasure„_Box-Set () mit einer Plethora an Infomaterial.
Gentle Giant wandte sich an mich für diese Aufnahme und erwähnt das Konzert auch mit dem nachstehenden Photo, aber entschied offensichtlich in letzter Minute, es nicht zu veröffentlichen, weil es (aus welchen Gründen auch immer) „weniger geeignet“ für diese Veröffentlichung war. Musikalisch finde ich es auch heute noch absolut top, aber die Jungs befanden es vielleicht als ‚zu wenig perfekt‘ oder wie auch immer. Nur ein Photo überlebte und unterlag einem Gary Green geschuldeten Irrtum, bzw. einer Verwechslung: dieses Photo erschien auf der CD mit dem Basler Konzert!

…unten eine Aufnahme mit Sicht auf den Balkon (von der Bühne aus gesehen) – GG ist hier gerade mit der Installation der Quadrophonie (für Ray Shulman’s violin-solo) beschäftigt.

Gitarist Gary (Green) erwähnt in einem Interview ein denkwürdiges Konzert in Basel (1975), wo gerade ein alljährliches Winzerfest in der ganzen Stadt getobt hätte. Sie hätten dort nach dem Konzert gefeiert (und viel getrunken) und hätten eine denkwürdige Erinnerung daran… Nun gibt es in Basel allerdings kein Winzerfest, weil Basel ausschliesslich Stadt ist und keine Weinberge hat.
Neuenburg hingegen schon: am 1. Oktober (1976!) tobt dort selbstverständlich das alljährliche Winzerfest (liebevoll „la fête des vidanges genannt“), was die Musiker natürlich sehr freute und sie – nach dem Konzert – ausgiebig davon profitierten…
Ich traf Gary Jahre später anlässlich eines „Three Friends“_Konzerts in Würzburg, wo er mir die Erinnerung des „Weinfestivals in Basel“ (…) bestätigte…

…sogar ein T-shirt in limitierter Auflage existierte…

…Kurzum:
zum Zeitpunkt des Konzerts war ich 24 Jahre alt und sehr, sehr begeistert von dieser ausserordentlichsten aller ProgRock bands…ich folgte der ganzen Schweizer-Tournee mit dem Motorrad und geleitete den Tross dann (von Bern) in’s Zentrum von Neuenburg zum Temple du Bas. Kein leichtes Unterfangen für die Lastwagen der Band anbetracht der gleichzeitigen Vorbereitung für das ‚fête de vendanges‘ mit Ständen und und und.
Die ganze Stadt war auf den Füssen und die Band dachte, das Fest sei speziell für sie organisiert worden…

Banco’s singer on the church’s pulpit, holding a firy sermon of flabbergasting blasphemy…

Alex Rabus painted this (huge painting) called „Gentle Giant“. So we brought that painting downstairs close to the dressing room, where we also laid out a formidable catered feast for the two bands, Gentle Giant and openers Banco.  Then there was Alex’s wife, Renate, who made this big five-story cake (it was excellent) and they decorated it with the motives of all the GG records recorded so far (up to „Interview“).

Check all of the motives of GG’s albums uptil 1976: the rainbow from „Interview“ on top, upon which was fixed the „Free Hand“.  Another pair of tied-up hands, in white, was placed on the right side.  On the left’s a Chianti bottle covered with marzipan („Power and the Glory“), from which a marzipan tongue’s sticking out („Acquiring the Taste“). On top of the cake’s that great „Octopus“ (also in marzipan).  Only „In a Glass House“ was less obvious. You can see a few scattered pieces of glass in the black and white shot and the little „Runaway“ figure.

The painting in the background is that „Gentle Giant“ painting/fresco of Alex Rabus (he worked about 2 years on that one!)  It was really funny to see the musicians staring at that cake.  None of them dared to cut the cake because it was too beautiful, but Derek (or Ray) threw himself onto the three little knitted friends, knitted with loving detail, the „Three Friends“’s motives on the back, and pocketed them as souvenirs.  Only later did Banco swallow the cake almost in one gulp!

(The two statues in the background  belong to the infrastructure of the venue).

And it sure wasn’t just another gig for me.  I mean, even with all the work that had to be done to launch the show itself, with all the obstacles you encounter always when you do such a thing, with all the animosity coming from the „jealous others“ (after all, this was only Neuchâtel’s second „big“ concert – otherwise the town had been as provincial as a Swiss town can be), I was determined to make it an unforgettable happening.  Alone on board with a few friends that helped at the commands, (all keypositions ran exclusively/mostly by „my good woomen“), So nothing was left to hazard, everything  meticulously planned, things ran firmly in the best of good vibes on all parts, no nasty stories about it – thanks so much, my ladies!

Below are two scetches of Alex’s drawings, how the cake of Renate was going to look…

Ray backstage

But this concert wasn’t the only thing happening: on that same day, October 1, I opened my  own record-store (Victor Disques) within the „Jazzland“_JazzClub…

Trivia: On GG’s technical rider there was a point that I couldn’t fulfill.  It was a call for an electrical safety box that was to be placed right beside the stage.  One person was to sit at this safety box during the group’s performance.  Now, if any musician were to get „stuck“ to an electrical current (a lot of musicians have died that way – Keith Relf and others), then the person at the safety switch was to shut it off, so a life could be saved.

However, the venue (the renowned ‚Temple du Bas‘ – a beautiful church in the heart of the old city, as seen in the photo of the stage) was just completely renovated and was built to host events of all kind.  In other words, there was a brand new infrastructure in terms of lights, stage and, of course, all electrical wiring was new – and Swiss-safe. We have these F1 plugs built into the wall wiring that makes the fuses jump when there is a short circuit.  Besides, it was the wine festival and the all the crews of the city’s electrical services were on the run to install all the wiring for those little stands in the streets where they’d sell wine, barbeque etc.
When I told Giant that at the soundcheck, they made grim faces. A little later, I went down to the dressing room and I saw the roadies dressed in the band’s stage costumes.   I said, „What the hell is going on here?“  And I was told, „Well, you see, Gentle Giant is on the verge of taking off internationally in terms of success, like Tull, Yes, or Genesis, so they can’t take the risk of going on an unsafe stage.“  The roadies said they would perform the show instead.
Then they gave me some live examples of how skilled they were by playing me licks from the band’s repertoire (and actually, quite well did the roadies played those).  They said: „Don’t worry – people won’t know that it’s not GG personally but just us roadies.“  The audience would get the music of Gentle Giant just the same and that would suffice.

As I was very excitable (and exhausted from all the preparatory work), they quickly „picked me up“ and let me know that this was just a little revenge for the scene at the soundcheck, when  I dared tickling the vibraphone, tickling a line from „On Reflection“…

Maybe a year later, I saw the band again and showed them the great photo album I had made of the Neuchâtel show and had them sign a wax-matrix/record of the show.  Benoit Zimmermann had one of those fantastic wax-engravers with which you could „make an LP“.  You had to cut it LP by LP, so it was a very personal, individual thing – no way to bootleg commercialy…

Looks, like this event remains a plus in the hectic and demanding touring schedule of Gentle Giant.
Even today, 40 years later, Gentle Giant remains a monolith a rock music… a collage of bits and pieces is includee on track 3 on „SHA“.
At a „Three Friends“_gig in Würzburg I met Gary and gave him a few CD’s of my own works and asked him, if he’d be on the boat for a some guitarwork as a session player on a next venture. (He declined very politely, saying he was just a little blues-player in Chicago… 🙂 )…