THE BYRDS :: Prior To Closing - Live at Fillmore East NY 1971- So Many Roads

We played the fabulous version of Live Byrds doing Eight Miles High on YouTube the other day to celebrate the Truckers, Kickers and Cowboy Angels from Twilight Zone and then this set cropped up on So Many Roads which featured a nearly twenty minutes version that is well worth listening to on its own frankly but the text and this recording are really worth checking out. Thanks to Speedy as usual

Speedy says:

While 1967 may have been the Summer Of Love, that moniker most certainly did not apply to The Byrds. The band was wracked by tensions, especially between Roger McGuinn and David Crosby. Those tensions reached a boiling point at Monterrey Pop. First, Crosby angered all of his fellow band mates during their performance at the festival by rambling on between songs on a variety of controversial topics ranging from the assassination of JFK to the benefits of LSD. Then, he exacerbated the situation by sitting in with Buffalo Springfield (filling in for an absent Neil Young) during their set at Monterrey. Soon after the festival, McGuinn fired Crosby. Ironically, even as Crosby was being booted from the Byrds, the group's record label released The Byrds Greatest Hits, which of course, included tunes such as Eight Miles High which prominently featured the now dismissed singer. The album climbed all the way to #6 on the Billboard charts. making it the highest charting album in the band's history, tied with their debut disc. This soundboard recording from the Fillmore East on June 9, 1971, 51 years ago today features a very different line up from 1967.  Only Roger McGuinn remained from the original roster of The Byrds. He was joined by Clarence White, Gene Parsons, and Skip Battin, comprising a foursome that came together in late 1969 and lasted until 1972. The quartet was group’s longest tenured configuration and the one which established the band’s reputation as dynamic live performers. By the way,  after this performance by The Byrds, only 8 more concerts would take place at the Fillmore East, including the 3 final shows on June 25, 26 and 27 by the Allman Brothers. A week or so later, the Fillmore West would close as well, It was the end of an era, an era that had begun in 1967, the end of a time when a $5 dollar ticket would get your 3 bands in one night, who just might play until the sun came up. 

The Byrds - Live at The Fillmore (East) NY 1971 - So Many Roads here

Roger McGuinn