1970 – Detroit/Midwest

Click Pictures to Enlarge

January 2-3, 1970 – Eastown Theater, Detroit, MI (w/ The Flamin’ Groovies, SRC)

*As best as I can determine, Alice Cooper played at least seven weekend gigs (14 shows) at the Eastown.

Photo above (taken by ‘Dutt’) was taken in Ohio in January of 1970. Likely in Akron. Thanks to Dennis Dunaway for pic.

January 16-17, 1970 – Pasadena Rose Palace: (Lee Michaels, Eric Burdon & War, Missiah) 835 South Raymond Avenue, Pasadena, CA. This is where the floats for Pasadena’s famous Rose Parade are constructed and stored.

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Jan 30-31, 1970 – Eastown Theater, Detroit, MI (w/ The Stooges, The Früt )

Pictured above is the Eastown in its better days….probably the 30-40s. Balcony – as seen from the stage You can see the projection booth at the back. The building spent most of its life as a movie theater.

 

Feb 20-21, 1970 – The Birmingham Palladium, 136 Brownell (now Peabody Street) in Birmingham, MI (w/ Chip Stevens Blues Band, Richmond). Band played here several times.

March 1970 –  Easy Action released.

 

March 1, 1970 Rhode Island School of Design Refractory.  Providence, RI.   Photo (by Bill Carner)

“The show took place in this room at the Rhode Island School of Design. Someone in the crowd threw an orange (perhaps what Alice has in his hand?) and it hit the copper fireplace hood behind us. The acidity caused a shiny spot on the slightly tarnished copper. The college staff got angry and demanded that we pay a heavy fine to have the entire copper hood cleaned. It was a standoff until the students moved in and promised to take care of cleaning it.”
– Dennis Dunaway 2021

March 7, 1970 – Stage Five – 2451 N. Kidzie Chicago, IL. (w/Joe Kelly)

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(QUESTIONABLE) Mar 26th 1970:  Cincinnati Pop Festival #1 –  Cincinnati, OH. On March 25,26 there was a rock event held at in Cincinnati  at the Cincinnati Gardens that is often confused with the more well- know Cincinnati Pop Festival held on June 13 at Crosley Field. Whether or not the Alice Cooper band performed at the “first” Pop Festival in Cincy is debatable. I will use the information from SickthingsUK.com to provide some detail:

“Mar 26th 1970 Cincinnati Pop Festival #1 –  Cincinnati, OH, Cincinnati Gardens (w/ Joe Cocker and the Grease Band (no show), Balderdash, Mountain, Stooges, East Orange Express, MC5, Cradle, Savoy Brown, Whale Feathers, Frost, West Foster, Steam, Glass Wall, Amboy Dukes, Frigid Pink, SRC and Alice Cooper). 12 hour “Rock Session” mentioned in the Cincinnati Enquirer 6th March 1970. (see below) Later mentions of the “Cincinnati Pop Festival” don’t name Alice Cooper (they only name a few bands) but do say “lots of other bands”, but then on March 21st there is an article about the forthcoming event that DOES mention them again. A review of the show only mentions three acts by name out of the 15 that played. A poster for the event does NOT mention the band.”

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Spring 1970 -Aquinas High School, Southgate, MI ($3 entry charge) Witnesses have stated other bands were on the bill, including Bob Segar, Ted Nugent, The Frost, Mitch Ryder, Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, The Who, Beatles, Fat Bob the Singing Plumber, the Four Tops, Elvis, Loretta Lynn and Justin Bieber). Although the building still stands, the school closed in 2001…due to dwindling enrollment. Over the years the number of people, claiming attendance at this 1970 show, has grown and grown…. too a point where 9 out of every 10 people, born in the SW Michigan area, claim to have been there. (It is possible ACG played there more than one time)

March 13, 1970 – Windsor, ONT, Walkerville Collegiate (w/ Rock Monopoly) – Advert states “No Chickens Please?”

Spring/Summer ’70 – Show in Mount Holly, Holly, MI – Local dance organized by Johnny Irons of radio station WTAC.
The picture below has longed been labeled as taken at the Mt. Holly Ski Lodge (Michigan). The appearance of the stage matches other photos taken there in the 70’s. However, I can find no date of a show here, by Alice Cooper, in the spring, fall, winter or summer of 1970. What confuses things even more – there is a bootleg CD that was created from a 1971 show by the band, recorded at this venue. I cannot find any evidence of a show in Mt. Holly in 1971 either…but I guess there was at least one show there.

March 26, 1970 – Cincinnati Gardens. “Rock Session”. A large 15 band show was organized. Alice Cooper is mentioned in SOME pre show info. No proof of them performing however.

Mar 27-28, 1970 –  Clifton, OH Ludlow’s Garage (w/ Ten Years After). Cincinnati city council member Jim Tarbell was proprietor of the garage from the late 1960s until its closing in 1971. Although no longer a concert venue, the garage still stands and currently houses a restaurant, yoga studio and hardware store.

 Above, Ludlow Garage as it appears today. Notice that “D” is missing in Ludlow…….Dennis Dunaway??????

April 5, 1970- Grandmother’s.  East Lansing, MI, (later called the “Silver Dollar Saloon”)

April 10, 1970 – Chesterfield, MO. The Rainy Daze. Located at 14100 Olive Boulevard. (w/Rush)

???April 17, 1970 – The Grand Circus Theater (w/Stooges and Jam Band) 1526 Broadway Street, Detroit, MI. Concertdatabase list this show….but no info can be found.

April 17, 1970 – Rondeau Pavilion, Rondeau Park, Ontario

 April 19, 1970 – Minneapolis Labor Temple. (w/Rod Stewart and Small Faces).

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April 27, 1970 – Cow Palace, San Francisco, CA (w/Chairman of the Board, Eric Burden & War, Haydn) Actually in Daly City, CA The site of rodeos, basketball, hockey, and wrestling events…the Cow Palace also has seen some big name musically events, including the Beatles, Elvis, and The Who. It was during the Who show here, that Keith Moon passed out on stage and was replaced by a fan. Built in 1941 the Cow Palace is still going strong.

May 2, 1970 – San Bernardino, CA Swing Auditorium (w/ Ike and Tina Turner, Eric Burdon and War)

From San Bernadino Country Sun (newspaper)

The Swing….became a rock mecca in the mid and late 60’s. Destroyed by a small plane crashing into it in 1981.

May 8, 1970 – The Birmingham Palladium, Birmingham, MI (w/ Weaselfox, Mighty Quick). See Feb 21, 1970

May 9, 1970 -Hollywood Palladium -6215 Sunset, Hollywood, CA. (w/Eric Burden and War, Fever Tree) The Palladium is still there – but has seen better days. Opened in 1940.

May 15-16, 1970 – New Old Fillmore, San Francisco, CA (w/ Stooges, Flamin` Groovies, Commander Cody, Purple Earthquake)

SF Examiner

May 22, 1970 – The Birmingham Palladium, Birmingham, MI (w/ All The Lonely People, Chip Stevens Blues Band) See Feb 21, 1970

May 24, 1970 – Piper Rock Festival, Nelson Ledges Racetrack – Garrettsville, Ohio (w/ Rascals, Canned Heat, Cold Blood, Byrds, Smith, Glass Harp, Marble Cake) Location is the city of Garretsville – SW of Cleveland…about an hour drive from Akron, where it was originally scheduled. The racetrack still exists. No idea where, on the racecourse, the show took place. Alice Cooper opened show. Not sure if the concert took place on the racetrack or on a nearby farm.

Alice Cooper was a last minute addition to the show.

http://akroclevkent.blogspot.co.uk/2005/01/mystery-of-piper-rock.html

INSERT……..

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May 30-31 and June 1,  1970 – Festival of Earth and Man from Thunderbird Beach, Baton Rouge, La. (w/ Youngbloods, John Lee Hooker, Chuck Berry, Bob Seger System, MC5 Brownsville Station, Buckinghams, Ides Of March, Mason Proffit, It’s A Beautiful Day & Ted Nugent and The Amboy Dukes.) [Show took place on a beach, apparently. The beach/park seems to have been replaced by land development. Actual location was 20 miles NW of Baton Rouge]

June 5-7,  1970 – Toronto, Canada, Electric Circus (Poster Exists for three shows) at 99 Queen Street East in Toronto, Ontario.
Wikipedia: Electric Circus, aka EC, was a Canadian live dance music television program aired on MuchMusic and Citytv. It aired from September 16, 1988 until December 12, 2003. The name originated from the nightclub that once existed at Citytv’s first studio at 99 Queen Street East in Toronto.

June 13, 1970 – Cincinnati, OH Crosley Field (Midsummer Rock Festival) (w/ the Stooges, Mountain, Grand Funk Railroad, Alice Cooper, Traffic, Mighty Quick, Bob Seger, Mott The Hoople, Ten Years After, Bloodrock, Savage Grace, Brownsville Station, Zephyr, Damnation Of Adam Blessing, John Drake’s Shakedown)
Highlights of this festival were later broadcast on Cincinnati WLWT-TV under the name “Midsummer Rock”. Alice’s broadcast segment showed them playing “Lay Down and Die, Goodbye” & “Black Juju.” During Black Juju, while Alice is crouched at the front of the stage doing the “bodies need rest”/hypnotist bit with the pocket watch, someone in the crown hurls some sort of white cake and smacks him right in the mouth 

                   Screen grab of Alice getting pie in face

June 21, 1970 – The Depot, Minneapolis, MN – two shows

The Depot is now the “Depot Tavern” on 7th Street and Hennepin

June 24, 1970 – *Sherwood Forest*, Davison, MI (w/ Bob Seger, Ted Nugent, MC-5 , Rationals, Brownsville Station, Alice Cooper, Frijid Pink, Teegarden & Van Winkle, Dream Delight) Billed as: “Wild Wednesday – 12 groups in 12 hours – Twin Concert Stages” [outside show]

 June 27, 1970 – Detroit State Fairgrounds, Detroit, MI (w/ Savage Grace, The Werks)
Part of the Mid-Summer Rock Fests that occurred that summer, in and around Detroit. The band probably played in this building. (Unless they sent them over to the building where they judged livestock at the State Fairs.) This was NOT a performance for the State Fair that was held here every year around Labor Day. Solo Alice would often come back to the MI State Fair in following years.

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June 28, 1970 – Aquinas High School(????). Last minute replacement. Many big name groups (or future big name groups played at one or more of the many shows put on at this school. It is likely that Alice Cooper played there once or twice during their stay in Detroit.

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June 30, 1970 – The Rainy Daze. Chesterfield, MO. (w/ Terry Knight and PAX)

July 4, 1970 – Midsummer Night Rock Fest, Michigan State Fairground (w/ Rotary Connection, SRC, Black Murder, Fugi, Wesselfox, Street Noise, Milestone, Magic Circus)

July 12, 1970 – The Factorie Ballroom, Detroit, MI (w/ Loki, The Meat Light Show, The Sunstorm Lightshow)  Address: 2815 Dixie Highway, Waterford, MI

July 17, 1970 – Middle Earth, Indianapolis, IN (w/ Rig) – (3422 N. Illinois Street)
Below is ‘The Middle Earth’ (The Ritz Theater) today. Has been vacant for many years. Built in 1927 as a movie theater [The Ritz], the seats were removed in 1970 to change it to a rock concert venue called the Middle Earth. By 1972, it had closed but had played host to Richie Havens, Frank Zappa as well as Alice Cooper. The seats were put back in and movies returned….but the place was closed by 1977. It has sat empty and abandoned since then.

(NO) July 18, 1970 -Salt Lake City, UT – Terrace Ballroom (w/ Love, Fever Tree) – Handbills exist showing Alice playing with Fever Tree, however posters exist with Alice Cooper listed but with Blue Cheer playing instead. However to add to the confusion apparently Blue Cheer canceled as well to be replaced by ‘Blue Mountain Eagle’.  It is possible that Blue Cheer did appear on July 18 along with Love and Blue Mountain Eagle….but NO Alice Cooper

July 18, 1970 – Gilligans. 2525 Walden Ave, Buffalo, NY Played here several times.

July 23, 1970 – Chicago Underground, 5751 E. 13 Mile Road Warren, MI(w/ The Assemblage) – Chicago Underground bootleg recorded here. A large apartment complex now sits on the site. Venue only existed from 1970-71. Was earlier called The Chatterbox.

July 24, 1970 – The Newcoast Festival in W. Nottingham, Chester County, PA on July 24-26, 1970. (w/ Stooges, Zephyr featuring Tommy Bolin, Cactus, Bloodrock, Amboy Dukes featuring Ted Nugent, Bob Seger System and others)

July 25, 1970 – The International Room, General Motors Institute, Flint, MI(w/ The Rationals, Brownsville Station) (below) The GM Institute has been located in Flint, Mi for many decades…it is now part of Kettering College. The large stage was used as a practice spot for a lot of Detroit area bands.

The Rationals – ‘Respect’

(Hey, I’m from Detroit – and these guys were big!)

(Also) July 25, 1970 – Bradley, Michigan. THE NOTE. There is a poster stating that the band opened this show during the day. Bradley is about an hour and a half drive from Flint, so it would not be impossible for the band to have played at both shows. ??? THANK YOU SICKTHINGS UK FOR POSTER.

*Aug 7 or 8, 1970 – MosportRaceway, north of Toronto, Ontario Strawberry Fields Festival.. Featuring, Mountain, Sly & the Family Stone, Cactus, Jethro Tull, Ten Years After, Procol Harum, , Delaney and Bonnie, the Youngbloods, Grand Funk Railroad, Melanie, Crowbar, and Jose Feliciano). Led Zeppelin was scheduled, but did not show.
The Strawberry Fields festival was initially to have taken place near Moncton, New Brunswick. The event was to run each day from low to high tide on a sandy beach where the tide goes out 1.5 miles. The event was re-scheduled at the last minute to Mosport Raceway, north of Toronto. Nine hundred miles from the original site. Thousands of Americans were denied entry into Canada for the Festival on the grounds that they “failed to produce adequate monies to support themselves.” Ten thousand Americans did make it. Info on Event

*August 4-9, 1970 – “Harmonyville”. The Electric Factory in Philadelphia Pa. was arranging a festival, originally slated to be called ‘Harmonyville’, which was to be located on the Delaware River in Northern New Jersey, opposite Bushkill, Pa. It appears it did not happen. Several large cardboard posters have been found for this event….but Alice Cooper is not listed among the many bands.

*Aug 9, 1970 – Jackson, MI – Goose Lake Int. Music Festival (w/ Jethro Tull, John Sebastian, Savage Grace, SRC, Flock, James Gang, Stooges, Ten Years After, Suite Charity, Detroit, Bob Seger System, Frost, Mountain, Rod Stewart and The Faces). Goose Lake Festival is considered Michigan’s Woodstock

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There is still a question IF the Cooper band actually played this concert. You can find “witnesses” that say they did and others that say the opposite. AC had played the Ontario Strawberry Fields Festival on the 7th or 8th of August, so it was possible that they could have played the next day at Goose Lake.

The majority of historians of this concert feel that the AC band did not appear….but no reason has been stated.

Goose Lake Festival

From Wikipedia:
Goose Lake Park was built on 390 acres of land, with a budget of $1 million, and was billed as the “world’s first permanent festival site”. It was projected that 60,000 fans would attend the first festival.
The stage was built on a large, revolving turntable with two performance spaces so that the previous band could disassemble its gear and the next band set up while the current band was performing. At the end of each performance, the stage would rotate 180 degrees, and the next act would begin performing almost immediately. The backstage area had a tent where 20 to 30 groupies described as “sizzlers” were available for the performers.
Those who attended were provided free campsites, free parking and free firewood. There were restrooms and showers every 500 feet, medical staff, motorcycle and dune buggy trails, a lake with a beach, and also the “longest slide in the world”. To keep gate crashers out, the site was surrounded by a high chain-link fence topped by barbed wire.
The admission price for the three-day event was $15.00 and entry tokens in the style of poker chips were sold to avoid the counterfeiting of paper tickets.
Sadly the area around Goose Lake is home of coal and even gold mining that has destroyed much of the area’s beauty and polluted many lakes and streams.

Aug 10, 1970 – Terrace Ballroom, Salt Lake City, Utah, (w/ Amboy Dukes and Brownsville Station). Article below explains that the band was not there – Brownsville Station and the Amboy Dukes performed (sort of) A mess. From Salt Lake City Tribune on August 14, 1970. Click to enlarge. (Alice ill????)

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August 12, 1970 – Central States Rock Festival, Fairgrounds, Rapid City, South Dakota Band was scheduled, BUT DID NOT APPEAR. (Alice was ill???)

Aug 14-15, 1970 – Eastown Theater, Detroit, MI (w/ Johnny Winter, Tin House) Eastown is at Harper Ave and Van Dyke in Detroit, MI

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Aug 16, 1970 – Me Alice infers that Easy Action is out. Shep at Nimbus 9 in Toronto. Leo Fenn has taken over as acting Manager while Shep and Joey try and find new ways to make money. Leo sends a copy of the album to a young assistant at Nimbus 9 called… Bob Ezrin. He hates it. Fenn continues to hassle Ezrin to see the band live, which he finally does in Max`s Kansas City in NY.

Aug 25, 1970 – Washington, DC, L’Enfant Square, Medicine Ball Caravan show. (w/ Sageworth And Drums, Hot Tuna, Stoneground)
Due to their appearance on the ‘Soundtrack’ album to the film ‘Medicine Ball Caravan’ it has been long assumed Alice Cooper was part of the whole tour but this wasn’t the case. In fact ‘Stoneground’ were the only band to actually travel with the Caravan and play every show. The Caravan was put together specifically for the purpose of making a film about it, and the hippy movement, in the wake of the huge success of the ‘Woodstock’ film. It was basically a group of around 150 hippies and scene leading lights travelling across America and setting up concerts as they went. Warner Brothers bankrolled the project and the bands were simply flown in for each show, different artists each time. Alice Cooper only played this one show, and the track on the resulting album isn’t in fact live, but a studio cut with added audience.
***In 1972 John Grissim published a book entitled “We Have Come For Your Daughters: What Went Down On The Medicine Ball Caravan” which told the whole story (from his viewpoint) of the Caravan. It features one early photo of Alice backstage at the Washington show and a couple of pages describing the bands participation with the Washington show.  (Part of this book – that concerns the AC band – can be found in the ‘Stories’ section of this site.)

Aug 29, 1970 –  Island Park, LI (Near Long Beach), Action House (w/ Hog)

Aug 30, 1970 – Festival in West Virginia, – canceled (w/ Manitoba Hugger, Fuse (Cheap Trick), The Tayles, Amboy Dukes (Ted Nugent), SRC, Bob Seger, MC-5, Siegel-Schwall, Stooges (Iggy Pop), 3rd Power, Brownsville Station, Alice Cooper, Tongue and Django)

Aug 30, 1970 – Sound Storm II, Big Country Ranch Resort West Finley, PA ??????

Aug/Sept 1970 –  Band arrives at Pontiac Farm, Detroit, MI.  [The book, ‘Me, Alice’ infers they were there for 18 months.]

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Practice barn shown below

FROM THE BOOK: ‘DETROIT ROCK CITY’

Alice Cooper: We never lived anywhere, let alone a house, so this house we got on Brown Road north of Detroit was quite a treat. At that time — 1970, 1971 — you’d play the Eastown. It would be Alice Cooper, Ted Nugent, the Stooges, and the Who, for $4. The next weekend at the Grande it was MC5, Brownsville Station, and Fleetwood Mac, or Savoy Brown or the Small Faces. You couldn’t be a soft-rock band or you’d get your ass kicked. We knew how good the Stooges and MC5 were, and if we had all just stayed in Detroit, that would have been fine with everybody, I think. When we started breaking nationally, you almost hated to leave Detroit. I loved that house. I think we had 10 acres.

Dennis Dunaway (Alice Cooper bassist): Before we got our house in Detroit, we were staying at this dive motel on Gratiot Avenue, and all I remember is there was this Big Boy across the street and I was always wishing I could afford to eat something there. But instead of us hearing about Detroit and migrating there, it was more like we were going anywhere we could get a gig, and the Detroit area and the Midwest liked us a lot better than the rest of the country did.

Bob Ezrin (producer, Alice Cooper, Detroit): I had to go to meet the band there when we started getting ready to do “Love It to Death.” First of all, I drove past it about four times because it was boarded up from the outside. It looked like a derelict farmhouse that no one had been in for fifty years. After traveling this road four or five times and realizing there was no other house, I finally pulled around the back, and then I saw that there were vehicles and there was a three-legged dog and the screen door was open to the house, so I let myself in.

The practice hall was a big barn on the property — this was a big farm. It could have been hundreds of acres for all I know. In the practice barn they had some of their props; they had a whole stage back-line set up and there was also a shooting gallery where they used to put up bottles and cans and shoot them with BB guns to let off steam. No one was awake when I first walked into the house, and I came in through the kitchen, which looked like a science experiment. There were filthy dishes that had been piled there forever. There were dishes of casserole that had been there for so long that things were growing in it. I wandered through the kitchen into the next room, which was totally dark, through a beaded curtain into the room … As my eyes adjusted, I saw that and kind of leapt back, and then there was clothes rack with falsies on the other wall — you know I backed into that. I realized there was a bed in the middle of the room, and on that bed were two creatures of indeterminate sex, both wearing Dr. Denton’s, with the button back. The only way I could tell that one was a guy was because one of them had mutton chops. Everything else was identical. They both had long blonde hair, they both had nail polish, they both had Dr. Denton’s on, lots of jewelry, and they were dead to the world — they did not notice me.

Neal Smith (Alice Cooper drummer): That was Glen’s room (guitarist Glen Buxton), which was the living room. It was Glen and his girlfriend. Alice and I had the two bedrooms upstairs, and Glen and Mike and Dennis were downstairs.

Bob Ezrin: So then I tried to leave the room by the other door. There was another beaded curtain, which I thought might lead out to civilization. As I parted the curtain, standing in the doorway was a 6½-foot frog. There was a guy with a frog’s head on, which later I learned was Dennis Dunaway, but he was just standing there with a frog’s head on and I parted the curtain and bumped into him, and he looked at me and said, “Ribbit” and then turned and walked away.

Dennis Dunaway: I didn’t know Bob Ezrin was coming over. It was kind of dark in the living room. He comes in, you know, and I said, “Ribbit” and he’s like, “Oh hello, Mr. Frog,” and you can tell he was really nervous. Because he just didn’t know what to do. He was already apprehensive. He was just a kid. We called him the Boy Wonder because he really was just a boy.

Bob Ezrin: Then I heard this kind of — what would be a good word to describe it? — chattering sound beside me to the left of me, and I turned around and there was a green monkey looking at me and masturbating.

Alice Cooper: We had a bunch of pets. We had a raccoon that was the most horrible thing ever, and it would wad up its crap and fling it at people. It was a horrible little animal. And the monkey, if a girl walked in, the monkey would immediately start masturbating. It was so embarrassing. My mom or my sister would come in, and the monkey would start.

Bob Ezrin: As I backed away from that I bumped into my first real human being, who was Mike Roswell, the road manager with the band. He was sleepy-eyed, had just come out of his bedroom, which was just off of this main room that I was in, and he said, “Oh yeah, the guys are just getting up. We played last night. Yeah, sorry, you know. Sit down here and we’ll all be there in a minute.” Finally, everybody finally assembled; we went back into the room with the thing with falsies that turned out to have been the living room. So then we all sat in there and had a meeting, and we started playing material off of cassettes. We picked “I’m Eighteen” as the first thing; I think actually it might have been “Is It My Body?” was the first thing that we worked on, then “I’m Eighteen.”

Alice Cooper: He said, “I’ll produce the album, but we have to relearn everything.” And it was like what? He said, “Everyone likes you guys, but you don’t have a signature,” and we didn’t know what that meant. He said, “When you hear the Doors, you know it’s the Doors, and when you hear the Beatles, you know it’s the Beatles. When you hear Alice Cooper, you could be any psychedelic band. There’s no signature to anything.”

So Bob came in and we went out to the barn every day, rehearsed for 10 hours a day.

Dennis Dunaway: There was a hospital for the criminally insane across the road from us. You could throw a rock and hit it practically. On a decent day, we’d open up these big gigantic doors to the barn we practiced in, which was part of the deal we got for the house. They didn’t clap at everything. But when we played something that we really nailed, you’d hear them at the prison farm cheering. The song “Dead Babies” never would have happened if that prison farm hadn’t cheered for it. The verse was from a song that had kind of a crappy chorus. And so even though it was a good verse, the song fell by the wayside. I was trying to talk the guys into putting the good verse with the good chorus, and they weren’t going for it at all. I wrote a bass part to tie it all together, and I finally got it. We had a rule that you couldn’t throw out anything until you actually tried to play it, so the doors were open and I got them to play it, and the prison farm cheered like crazy, so that was it. That was the stamp of approval.

Alice Cooper: We pretty much were the entertainment for this hospital for the criminally insane. Perfect for us. We would rehearse 10 hours a day, and they would sit and listen to us rehearse all day.

From the book “Detroit Rock City” by Steve Miller. Reprinted by arrangement with Da Capo Press, a member of the Perseus Books Group. Copyright © 2013.

(Source: Detroit Free Press)

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September 2-5, 1970  – Ungano’s, New York, NY (Advertized in Village Voice) 210 West 70th Street NYC

Sept 5-7,  1970 – Central Texas Music Festival, Highway 95 between Elgin and Bastrop, TX (w/ MC-5, Amboy Dukes, Stooges, Ike & Tina Turner, James Cotton, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chambers Brothers, Alice Cooper, Freddie King, Eric Burdon & War and many more…). THE SHOW WAS CANCELLED DUE TO FEARS OF ”PROBLEMS” DEVELOPING AND PRESSURE FROM LOCALS.

September – MAX’S Kansas City -(AC reportedly arrested for saying “tits”)
Max’s Kansas City – first time Bob Ezrin sees the band perform?  These could/are likely to be the same show. Ezrin later joins the band at the Pontiac Ranch to work on songs for the next album. Recently, a bakery occupied the lower level of Max’s

 

 Another photo of GB on the Pontiac farm

Sept 9, 1970 – Long Island, NY, Action House

Sept 18, 1970 – Rainy Daze, Chesterfield, Missouri. [14100 Olive Street]
The Alice Cooper group entered through the front doors of the venue, walking through the audience before climbing on stage.

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Sept 19,  1970 – New Orleans, LA, The Warehouse (w/ The Stooges, MC 5) (Advert exists, Show happened, but without the Stooges who are listing a show in Canada the following day)
The Warehouse, located at 1820 Tchoupitoulas Street, was the main venue for rock music, in New Orleans, in the 1970s. It opened on January 30, 1970, with The Flock, Fleetwood Mac, and The Grateful Dead. The Allman Brothers Band were regulars.
Rock history was made at The Warehouse. The Grateful Dead’s arrest on opening weekend for drug possession would be immortalized in their song “Truckin”. On Feb. 1, there was a “Bread for the Dead” concert to raise money for legal fees. Fleetwood Mac and the Grateful Dead performed, and concluded with an almost 40-minute jam together on “Turn on Your Lovelight.” [Jim Morrison’s last concert, with The Doors, was also at the Warehouse on Dec 12, 1970.]

Sept 26, 1970 – Gilligan’s Club, Buffalo, NY – The band may have played here several times over the years. (THANK YOU Sickthings UK)

Sept 27, 1970– String Factory, Richmond, Virginia w/Matrix and Titfield Thunderbolt

October 4, 1970 – Birmingham Palladium in Birmingham, Mi. (w/Catfish and Shakey Jake)

Oct 6, 1970 – Dearborn Gym, University Of Maine at Farmington, ME. ?????

October 9-10, 1970 – Eastown Theater, Detroit, MI (w/ Cradle, Mutzie, Chicken Shack)

AT THE FARM

Practicing in the barn at the Pontiac farm (Bob Ezrin in front of drums). 1970 This photo and the one above – copyrights are held by Paul Brenton. (Photo – R. Sega)

Oct 16 1970 – Grand Rapids, MI, Grand Valley Armory (w/ Mike Quatro, Jam Band, The Ones) (Poster exists)

Oct 17, 1970 – Memorial Gym, Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois (w/ S. R. C., Chase, Frijid Pink)

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?? October?? 1970, Grand Haven Bash, Grand Haven Roller Rink, Grand Haven, MI – The band played this venue at least twice (eye witnesses) and there are adverts for the MC5 (Oct/10) and John Drake Shakedown (Oct/24) in the Holland Evening Sentinel playing “Grand Haven Bash” events on Saturdays during October 1970 which maybe gives us an approximate date of at least one. Unfortunately however the advert below just says “Tomorrow Night” and I can find nothing that confirms a specific date.

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Oct 31, 1970 – Ypsilanti, MI, Bowen Field House, Eastern Michigan Univ. ( w/ SRC, Brownsville Station, Jam Band,  Insanity’s Horse) – THE BAND WAS A NO SHOW

Yours truly was a student at this university at this time and I can verify the “No Show”. They were replaced by a local (Ann Arbor, MI) band called Mutzi.

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November 1, 1970 – The Früt (sic) Palace, Mt Clemens, MI 23580 Hall Road, Mt. Clemens. “The Früt” (originally Früt of the Loom) was a local Detroit-area band who rented out two large geodesic dome buildings (called the “Dancing Domes”) and had other local bands play there. They also had shows at a place called the Früt Cellar in downtown Mt. Clemens. (234 Gratiot Ave) The Früt Cellar was the ballroom of the Colonial Hotel which dated back to the beginning of the 20th century. Originally the structure was a sanitarium. Although the dates are unknown the Alice Cooper band is said to have played this venue as well, per book: Detroit Rock City.

[Cautionary note for Früt Palace show: While copies of performance contracts, for 1970, exist for the bands the MC5, Stooges, Funkadelics, and Mitch Ryder, there is not one for the ACG. Re: RnR Hall of Fame library and Archives.]

Nov. 6-7, 1970 – Dewey’s in Madison, WI

 Nov 8, 1970 – Minneapolis, MN.  @Labor Temple – (w/ Amboy Dukes)

Nov 11, 1970 – Eighteen/Is It My Body released without there being an album to promote as yet.

Nov 20, 1970 – Los Angeles, CA, Homecoming Dance, UCLA Ackerman Union Grand Ballroom (w/ Bones, Christopher Milk)

Nov 21, 1970 – Detroit, MI.  U of D Memorial Building. University of Detroit campus. (w/Stooges and Jane Fonda)

Nov 25, 1970 – Salt Lake City, UT – Fairgrounds Coliseum (w/ Wishful Thinking) Tickets for a previous AC show were valid for this show by returning the unused ticket for an exchange. Addy: 155 N1000 W, Salt Lake City, Utah

Nov 27, 1970 – Chicago, IL, The Syndrome, 1400 S.Wabash Avenue, Chicago (w/MC5)
Structure was actually the last of the three “Coliseums” in Chicago. It was built in 1899 and saw service as a hockey arena (Chicago Black Hawks), basketball and political conventions.
During the late 1960s and early 1970s, The Coliseum saw duty as “The Syndrome”, a general-admission venue for rock music concerts. Many popular bands of the era played there, including The Grateful Dead, Cream, Grand Funk Railroad, Steppenwolf, Jethro Tull, Jimi Hendrix and The Doors. The venue was also hosting roller derbys and pro wrestling matches.
In 1971, the city shut the building down for fire violations, and the building fell into disuse, finally being demolished in 1982. Part of the Libby facade was given to the Chicago History Museum. The site is now occupied by the Soka Gakkai USA Culture Center. Coliseum Park, across the street at 14th Place and Wabash Ave., has a sign that commemorates this historic structure.
AC would return here on Dec 31 of this year.

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Dec 7, 1970 (OR DEC 4) –Rochester, NY, Monroe Community College Gymnasium (w/ Buddy Guy, Damnation, The Stooges, Catfish, Junior Wells, The Dells) Rochester Democrat and Chronicle on November 29,1970 placed this ad.

This show would conflict with the show in Virginia listed below

Dec 7, 1970 – Northern Virginia Community College, Annandale, Virginia
Show took place in the campus cafeteria. (With ‘Titfield Thunderbolt’)

OR THIS CONCERT? DEC 7 AND 8, 1970…..THEY WERE SOMEWHERE.

Dec 11, 1970 – The Loft, Lakeville, MI (w/ The Maxx) An earlier show here saw the arrest of 2 members of the MC5. Place was also called the Limberlost. The building still stands on private property.

Dec 25-26, 1970 – Eastown Theatre, Detroit (With Bob Ezrin playing Keyboards!!) (Love,  The Früt)

Dec 27, 1970 – Toledo Sports Arena – Toledo, Ohio (w/Mutzie)
The Toledo Sports Arena was a 5,230-seat multi-purpose arena, at 1 Main Street, Toledo, Ohio. It was built in 1947 and razed in 2007. The band would return to this venue in 1971 and 1973.

Dec 28,  1970 – Chatham, Ontario ?
Dec 29,  1970 – St. Louis, MO ?

Dec 31, 1970 – Chicago IL, Chicago Coliseum (w/ The Byrds) (eye witness – “The Byrds played after them in the wee hours of the morning”) [Note the Nov 27 date above.]

Other shows possible in 1970:

1970 – Wheeling, IL – Wheeling High School

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Winter 1970??? – Pittsburg S.M.A.P. (Sunshine Music America Peace) – They were a last minute fill-in for Cold Blood, who canceled??????
Formerly The Electric Theater (which opened on March 29, 1969) Sunshine Music America Peace was a Pittsburgh, PA. venue built to stage underground acts and compete w/the likes of the Fillmore in San Francisco and the Electric Factory in Philadelphia. Alice Cooper played that venue in 1969. Also known as “S.M.A.P.,” 1970 concerts featured Mind Garage, Lighthouse, Bob Seager System and Amboy Dukes which featured Ted Nugent, Alice Cooper and others. The owner says the Cooper band played at either the Electric Theater or one of the S.M.A.P. events. Located at 6117 Broad Street in Pittsburgh, PA. Building is now a Youth Center.

Goofing