In April 1975, John McLaughlin reformed the Mahavishnu Orchestra and began a US tour with Jeff Beck as a co-headliner. I anticipated seeing John, a fellow Yorkshireman, and his new band, and was curious about Beck’s recent interest in jazz fusion.

Like fellow guitarist, Carlos Santana, and Narada Michael Walden, the drummer who replaced Billy Cobham, John had embraced the teachings of Indian spiritual teacher, Sri Chinmoy, and some of the band roadies were also believers. But not Ralphe Armstrong, the big, 19-year-old musician who wore red hot pants on stage and played a soulful, fretless bass, and Stu Goldberg, the new keyboard player. I had heard that this Mahavishnu Orchestra had gone electronic and everyone except the drummer played through Morley pedals, foot-controlled effects boxes that electronically distorted, altered, and enhanced musical instruments.

We all met on April 22nd for our first sound rehearsal in Kresge Auditorium at MIT in Cambridge. Mahavishnu Orchestra had expanded to nine players—John had added a new keyboard player, Gayle Moran, and strings, including Steven Kindler, who replaced Jerry Goodman on violin. I was excited to see Jeff’s band, which included Mr. Soul Man, Bernard “Pretty” Purdie on drums, Wilbur Bascomb on bass, and Max Middleton on keyboards. Depending on your perspective, it was either a soundman’s dream or nightmare.

Hearing I had a monster monitor console that was capable of outputting 10 separate mixes, Jeff decided he wanted to use six of them just for his guitar! We set up six Rebel 2 X 10” cabinets with JBL speakers across the front of the stage. Jeff worked with our monitor engineer setting different tones and feedback levels in each monitor until he felt he was playing in the perfect environment. On the other hand, keyboard player Max Middleton complained that Jeff was too loud, so we set up two Rebel cabinets in stereo with eight 4-1/2” acoustic suspension speakers for him. Purdie wanted mono monitors so we obliged him with two Rebel cabinets with 4-1/2” speakers. Wilbur only used one Rebel cabinet for his monitor.

During the Kresge sound rehearsals, Dawson Sound made a major change in personnel. Our road electronics engineer, Andy Topeka, was working on a couple of studios, including one in upstate New York for former Mahavishnu Orchestra keyboardist Jan Hammer, and was unavailable. Bobby Greenburg, who brought Andy to the company, now introduced us to Jim Akens, who agreed to tour with us, even though his previous engineering experiences had been at Bell Labs and in recording studios. 

The first gig was in Buffalo on April 24th, and the four-man sound crew traveled in an Executive Motorhome, while the band’s roadies and crews flew with the musicians to the venues. A semi with a 40-foot, low bed, air ride trailer carted the band’s gear and our sound system.

By the time we arrived in Buffalo, McLaughlin and Beck had decided they would take turns closing the show. Unfortunately, the promoters for the early shows had already advertised that Jeff Beck would close, but John didn’t seem to mind and the tour started with a nice camaraderie between both bands.

On May 2nd, we played the Spectrum in Philadelphia. On a previous tour with the Kinks and Loggins and Messina, I had gotten into such a loud fracas with the unions that Topeka had to step in and settle the confrontation. This would be the first time back at the arena, and I felt a little nervous but resolved to hold my tongue if anything came up. Fortunately, the guys had a short memory, and my three-year-old daughter, Amanda, charmed the stagehands and teamsters with her singing and dancing. When the load-in was completed, they gave her a tour of the venue, lavishing sports swag to her delight. Even Jeff and John were laughing as she danced with the stagehands during sound check. I was relieved! By the end of the show, they couldn’t do enough for us.

May 3rd brought the tour to the Music Hall in Boston, a 5,000-seat venue that had previously been an ornate vaudeville theater. Bernard Purdie and an entourage from Jeff Beck’s band arrived early for their sound check—it was Jeff’s turn to close. When Purdie came to the stage, he found Amanda sitting at his drum kit, trying to reach his pedals and pounding his snare with a pair of drumsticks that seemed huge in her small hands. Smiling, Purdie came over to her. “Hold the sticks like this,” he said, gently, turning them in her hands. “Now, hit the snare right here,” he said, pointing to a spot on the head. “Yeah, that’s it,” he cried as she followed his directions. “Now, again!” and he began a counter clap as she rhythmically hit the snare. All the crew stopped to hear Amanda bashing the drums and Purdie giving directions. As the other musicians started arriving on stage, Amanda slid off of the drum throne and the sound check began.

Later, I heard laughter coming from the dressing room. Peering in, I saw Pretty Purdie on all fours with Amanda on his back, giggling, “Go, Mr. Pony, go!” Jeff and John were cracking up, referring to the drummer as Bernard Pony. Everyone was relaxed—the sound check was mellow and the concert that night was energetic and spectacularly special, with John joining Jeff for a rousing encore.

On May 8th, the tour hit the Arie Crown Theater in Chicago. Unlike most venues at that time, we parked the semi with our motor home beside it inside the building. Everything was fine as we set up the gear with the union hands. Jim Akens created a workbench right next to the monitor mixer and immediately started repairing broken microphone cables. While he was soldering, a stagehand brought a waste bin for Jim’s cable and solder scraps. About five minutes later, as Jim flicked off excess solder into the empty waste bin, we all heard an enormous explosion. Boom! Everyone turned towards Jim. Suddenly, the waste bin exploded with a large flame that rose 15 feet in the air. It looked like the theater curtain was going to catch on fire, but it was over in seconds and the only thing that burned was whatever was in the waste bin. I ran over to Jim. At first, all I noticed was that the violent explosion had knocked Jim over and scorched his beard. As I stood next to him, however, I could see that his right arm and hand were burned. I yelled, “Get an ambulance!” as the stagehands put out the fire. We helped Jim off the floor and walked him to the loading dock to wait for the ambulance that quickly arrived with a fire truck. As he left for the hospital, the firemen assessed the accident. One of the union lads remembered that the show the previous night had used pyrotechnics. Sure enough, looking at the remains of the barrel, we discovered that the unused special effects had been discarded in the waste bin. We were lucky Jim wasn’t severely injured and the entire place hadn’t caught on fire.

After the firemen left, we returned to setting up for the sound check. Everyone was slowly calming down. Suddenly, our semi driver, Kim Varney, rushed onto the stage from the loading dock, screaming, “Call the police! Get the cops!”

“What’s going on?” I yelled back, turning from my soundboard.

“Call the cops! Someone’s broken into my truck!” Kim frantically replied.

No one could believe this. The truck was parked inside the theater in a private loading dock. As a teamster called the police, Kim and I ran back to the truck. Arthur “Mack” McLear, our driver, ran to check the motor home. The Executive was fine, but inside the truck, only wires remained from where the radio and CB unit had been installed. Kim’s bag had been emptied all over the cab.

“Fuckin’ bloody hell!” I screamed, as I stormed up and down
the loading dock and ran back and forth from the stage to the dock. “What’s goin’ on?” First the fire, now this. I had lost it. By the time the police arrived, I was boiling over with rage, banging the outside of the empty trailer with my fists. I was sure this had been an inside job and was furious it took a while for the cops to arrive.

“Bloody hell!” I screamed at the cops. “You wankers took your fuckin’ time!” I banged the trailer again.

Suddenly, one of the detectives turned around and whipped a gun in my face.

**Stay tuned for Part II of “Backstage Scenes From a Tour”**

Read more from My Life Is the Road:

Part II: Rock ‘n’ Roll Animals in Europe, ‘73

Part I: Rock ‘n’ Roll Animals in Europe, ‘73

Andy Topeka: The Rolling Stones Technician