With note towards the performances that exist, as I stated before, in the Graham archive:
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
> > December 13, 2005; Page B1
> >
> > Two and a half years ago, a Minneapolis
> entrepreneur named Bill Sagan spent more than $5 million to buy a treasure trove of rock 'n' roll memorabilia: millions of T-shirts, posters,
handbills, photographs, concert tickets and other items from the archives of Bill Graham
presents, the legendary San Francisco rock
promoter that virtually invented the modern concert business in the mid 1960s.
But what neither Mr. Sagan nor the seller, Clear
Channel Communications Inc., realized at the time was that the archives contained an even more
valuable bonus: more than 5,000 live audio and
video recordings made between 1966 and 1999, eaturing artists varying from the Doors to
Nirvana. The recordings were made at rock concerts that the late Mr. Graham ran or promoted. They were uncataloged and collecting dust when Mr. Sagan acquired the archive.
Today, the 55-year-old Mr. Sagan controls what may be the most important collection of rock memorabilia and recordings ever assembled
in one business. Called Wolfgang's Vault -- from
Mr. Graham's given name, Wolfgang Grajonca -- the company has a staff of 14, projected
sales this year of $3 million, and nearly 20
million separate items in its San Francisco warehouse.
Having set up a business selling vintage rock
T-shirts and concert posters on the Web, Mr. Sagan is only now turning his attention to the
audio and video assets, where he faces a remendous challenge. He is in the early stages of complex negotiations with artists, their
representatives and record labels over the rights
to sell the recordings on discs and as downloads. In the meantime, Mr. Sagan plans
to begin "streaming" some of these recordings as
Internet radio feeds on his company's Web site, which involves little more than paying
royalties to organizations that represent
songwriters.
The performances, many of which are Professionally recorded and extremely high quality, amount to a sweeping, unheard history of rock during its seminal years and beyond. The archives include performances by artists including Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, Pink Floyd, the Who, Tom Petty, Stevie Wonder, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Emmylou Harris, Aretha Franklin and Tracy Chapman, all of whom played shows put on by Mr.Graham. The are videotapes of early performances by Crosby Stills Nash & Young and from 1978, the Sex Pistols' last show for nearly 20 years, before their reunion in 1996.
Though some of the recordings have leaked as
bootlegs over the years, they contain some revealing moments that may surprise fans. For
example, a recording taken from Led Zeppelin's
first U.S. tour, in 1969 -- when the band was opening for Country Joe & the Fish -- finds lead
singer Robert Plant displaying little of the
rock-god swagger that would eventually become his trademark. Instead, he makes nervous small
talk to the audience as guitarist Jimmy Page
changes a broken string.
........and it goes on.
Surely QPL will have the foresight to either buy their tapes back from the BGP or they will allow the licencing of them for release?
Oh, no, sorry, that's the company that put out the bonus DVD on ANATO 30th, isn't it? This would display far too much imagination....
Queen always played the Oakland Arena that was promoted by BGP (Bill Graham Presents). I saw them numerous times in the late 70's/early 80's. This was a time when concert production was regionalized and not the corporate FearChannel structure of today.
I just received a list of all the concerts in the Bill Graham archive, either in audio, video, or both. There are thousands!! ALL of them were not lost in the fire, so I have heard. Here are the Queen ones:
3/30/75 Winterland
3/7/76 Berkeley Community Hall
3/6/77 Winterland
12/17/77 Oakland Coliseum
12/16/78 Oakland Coliseum
7/13/80 Oakland Coliseum
7/14/80 Oakland Coliseum
9/7/82 Oakland Coliseum
Since there is so little demand for Queen bootlegs in the USA, I doubt any of these recordings will see the light of day, but I'll remain slightly optimistic.