In Boston, during July of 1970, Mayor Kevin White sponsored a series of free concerts (which got their start in the late ’60s) called Summerthing as a response to the racial and political unrest that roiled the country. Featuring world-class artists in local parts, the city set up mobile trailers that unfolded hydraulically into a large stage. One side lifted up to become the roof, while the trailer bed served as a floor equipped with stage extensions that expanded the playing area to include stacks of sound and lighting gear. This was my first date with the Byrds in the US—I had just left Fleetwood Mac to work with them. Jimmi Seiter, the Byrds’ tour manager, and I got to the first show early and took a lot of extra care setting up the equipment. This would be the first time the band used my English sound gear. Essentially, the WEM system featured the same type of equipment arrangement that I’d used near the end of my tenure with the Mac, but this one added monitor cabinets for the players and offered stereo sound, both rarities in live concert sound at the time.

By show time, the field was so crammed in with spectators that I hesitated to leave the mixing area in front of the stage-left speaker stack for my usual walkabout, an unfortunate lapse since I would have easily noticed the opposite channel of the P.A. distorting badly. Despite a great set from the Byrds, this sound defect probably spoiled the show for many fans on that side of the stage.

At the next concert, on July 28, 1970, Bo Diddley opened for the Byrds at the Jamaica Pond concert site on the Jamaica Way. I might have missed the problem yet again. However, after a few audience members walked up and complained to me, I finally marched over to the speaker columns on the other side of the stage to discover the distortion. I was close to panicking—without good sound, we couldn’t do the show! Testing everything I could without yanking the band’s sound all together, I finally tried bypassing the stereo box and putting the P.A. system in mono. Now everything sounded fine, even louder and clearer, in fact. The problem centered in that stereo box, which I would have to repair and reattach to the system before the next gig, but the crowd roared its appreciation.

Was that the end of the problem? Definitely not! Roger McGuinn tarred and feathered me in his hotel room the next day. His wife had called him from Los Angeles, saying that one of her friends had reported that the sound at the show absolutely sucked!

“Why have you spent so much of my money on something that doesn’t work?” he screamed at me.

However, after listening to the tapes of the two shows and my account of how I’d finally isolated the problem, he finally accepted my explanation about the defective stereo box. His face twisted from a scowl into a smile as he told me simply, “Well then, get on with it.” After that situation passed, it would be a while before I had any more trouble getting along with Roger McGuinn. Or any of the other Byrds, for that matter.

Now you can hear Bo Diddley from the gig that almost didn’t happen. At least he never complained to me. He played so hot—sometimes, even when there are technical problems, true artists still can overcome them and play their soul. Let me know what you think of his show!

Bo Diddley, Boston Common (Boston, MA), 7/28/1970

» Previously: Rock and Roll Animal: Lou Reed 1973