This little exercise came about as an explanation for a Facebook post that sort of left people hanging. As a result of a YouTube video, I thought I'd finally determined the real reason why Deep Purple wouldn't take the stage at William and Mary Hall back in 1971 on the "Fireball" tour. We were told it was because the sound system was so bad, and yes, it was horrible. But I never lost the idea that was more to the story . . .
So, it was Saturday, October 23, 1971. At the time, “The French Connection” was still playing in theaters, Rod was lamenting his tumultuous relationship with Maggie May, and it would be another 8 months before George Gordon Battle Liddy and the rest of his fellow plumbers would break into the DNC Headquarters.
We had tickets to see Deep Purple
and made it to William and Mary Hall in plenty of time. The story is pretty
simple at first - the sound system was horrible, Christine McVie complained
about it, and Deep Purple said "Forget it, we ain't playing."
I can tell you that all that
"peace and love" stuff went straight down the drain when the poor guy
told the crowd it was over. A considerable amount of damage was done to the
place that night. For our part, we walked around, cussed, and left after a few
minutes. The one image I still have is some guy so stoned and angry that he
tried to throw a chair and somehow threw himself instead.
