This is pretty neat. I went to a doctor this morning and I have on an ABB shirt. The doctor asks me if I have ever seen them and I tell him that I have seen them many times. He said he saw them a long time ago. I asked him if it was here. We are in Chicago. He said no, this place called Cobo Hall. I don't know if he just named dropped Cobo because he knows I am from Detroit or he just said it. I was floored.
He seemed to know a little history and even knew of Duane. Well, I had never heard of them playing Cobo (It was a big theater downtown. Bob Seger recorded Live Bullet there in 1976). Anyway, I looked in the ABB database and my doctor saw them there in 1973, either in May or November.
I think he thought he saw Duane which of course isn't true but it was still pretty neat. I don't like the doctor but I like the fact that he saw that iteration of the band.
Small world. 😀
Everything in Moderation. Including Moderation.
In 1973 the Allman Brothers Band became a super group. The number one band in America. Rolling Stone, Circus, Playboy and other magazines crowned the ABB America's number one band. By the fall their Brothers and Sisters was number one on the Billboard top 200 album chart for 5 weeks and sold over 5 million copies. The band was headlining sold out shows across the country. But the top position was short lived for the band. They couldn't hold on like the Rolling Stones or Pink Floyd. But apparently they didn't want to be that big. Gregg said he felt Brothers and Sisters would not sell that well and what happened took him by surprise. Said none of the guys were prepared for that kind of success and it was awkward.
So lots of people were seeing the band for the first time. I saw several shows in 1973 and it was aggravating for my favorite band to be that popular and to draw such huge crowds.
People would talk to me and find out I began seeing them in early 1970. More than once I got "Which ones are the Allman Brothers?" Or "How many of them are brothers". And Duane got some press for the ABB albums he was on and Layla and many of these new fans didn't seem to know Duane had died.
Apparently a lot of them bought Brothers and Sisters from ⁹Ramblin'Man and Jessica being on the radio often and never bought another ABB album.
It is hard to believe for fans of the band from 1989 to 2014, but the Brothers and Sisters version of the band was WAY more commercially successful than the lineups that was the band from 1989 to 2014.
All I said was my doctor saw them in the 70s. Thought it was interesting. We didn't discuss the history but thank you for the insight.
Everything in Moderation. Including Moderation.
I have a friend who swears he saw Duane play with Derek and the Dominos in Jacksonville, which of course never really happened. I've also had people say they saw him with ABB in the mid-'70s. It makes you wonder what percentage of claimed Duane sightings are real. Lee, that is cool that your doc saw them at Cobo. I only went there once, and I can't even remember what it was for. By the time I showed up everything had moved over to Joe Louis.
Yeah and I think they tore down Joe Louis too. Cobo was a neat place. Somewhat a dive but the sound was good. Bob Seger played there all the time. I was only there twice, once for Seger and the other time was right before they tore it down. I saw Sting and Concrete Blonde of all things. I wasn't too excited about Sting but I knew I would know his stuff. I wanted to see Blonde. They were awesome. Sting was pretty good too. Most of it was his solo stuff with some Police sprinkled in.
Oh, I have that hat in your picture. 😀
Everything in Moderation. Including Moderation.
Yes, there are doctors with impeccable taste in music
An ex-coworker once told me he saw Duane play at Tiptina's in New Orleans.
Tipitina's opened in 1977.... 😒
