A Saturday in April. Sophomore year of college. Three days later Nixon would invade Cambodia. Less than a week after that, four students would be killed at Kent State, and the Harvard campus would go out on strike for the second spring in a row. But all that was still ahead, and at this point we were blissfully unaware of threat.
Story from 2017, moved to this prompt in response to John's story Great Performances.
I was heading back to the Radcliffe Quad with Barbara, my singing and hitchhiking partner and future roommate, probably from some Choral Society activity. As we walked past Memorial Hall, the large Gothic building outside of Harvard Yard that contained Sanders Theater, we decided to try to sneak into the sold out concert that was about to start. The headliner was James Taylor, and although we liked his music okay, he was not the reason we wanted to go to that concert. Our friend Bonnie, a college student like us, who lived in Bertram Hall like Barbara and was a government major like me, was the opening act. We had often listened to her playing the guitar and singing in Bertram Hall, and we thought she was much better than anybody we heard on the radio. Still, we were amazed that she was getting this opportunity to open for a big name like James Taylor.
We stood in the central area, or transept, of Mem Hall, watching the ticketholders stream in, and tried to figure out how we were going to get inside Sanders. Finally, Barbara went up to the student taking tickets at one of the doors and told him there was someone inside that she needed to talk to, just for a minute, and then she would come back out. He said okay and let her go in. A couple of minutes later, I went up to the ticket taker at the other door and said that my roommate was inside and she had the keys to our room, so I couldn’t go home without them, and could I please go in and get them from her. He let me in. The beauty of crashing a concert at Sanders is that there are not individual chairs, everyone sits on long benches, so you can always squeeze an extra person in. It was such a great concert! We were so proud of Bonnie — and James Taylor did a pretty good job too!
Four years later, in May 1974, Bonnie was the headliner at a concert at the Harvard Square Theater, which was primarily a movie theater but was also used as a concert venue. The opening act was a guy I had never heard of named Bruce Springsteen. Most people hadn’t heard of him yet – this was a year before his breakthrough hit “Born to Run” was released. Again I went with Barbara to the concert, only this time we bought tickets. They were four dollars each. There was a 7:00 show and a 10:00 show. We decided on the 10:00 even though it was a Thursday night and we had work the next day, because we knew that when there are two shows on the same night the later show is always better. However, it turned out to be a mistake, because this guy Bruce played FOREVER! Despite the fact that he was only the warm-up act, he played for two hours! I know this with certainty, not just because it seemed interminable to me at the time, but because there was an article about the concert in Boston’s alternative newspaper The Real Paper that raved about his two-hour set.
Probably about a third of the audience was there to hear Bruce, and they were cheering and clapping for him the whole time. The other two-thirds of us were there to hear Bonnie, and we started chanting “We want Bonnie” after each of Bruce’s songs, but that didn’t deter him from playing on and on and on. Knowing I had to work the next day, I wasn’t thrilled about the fact that Bonnie didn’t even start her set until after midnight, but of course I wasn’t going to leave. Luckily I had gotten some sleep during Bruce’s set in spite of the fact that I was sitting in about the tenth row and he was playing at earsplitting volume. When Bonnie finally came on, she was fabulous, and well worth the wait. I think she played every song she knew. Her voice was husky and tinged with bourbon, not screamy like Bruce’s, and her guitar playing was way better than his. She gave us an amazing performance, in spite of how long she had to wait to go on. When the concert ended around 2 a.m., I went home and collapsed. Luckily, my house on Cambridge Street was less than a mile from Harvard Square, so it didn’t take me long to get there. I can’t imagine how I managed to show up at my office six hours later, but I’m pretty sure I did. The music was undoubtedly still ringing in my head.
I have seen Bonnie in concert many times since then, and she always puts on a terrific show. I am actually going to see her on a bill with James Taylor again in about three weeks, on July 29th [2017]. It’s been 47 years since I last saw the two of them together. James has lost all his hair in the interim, and Bonnie has a gray streak in hers, but I bet they will sound every bit as good in San Francisco’s AT&T Park as they did 47 years ago in Sanders Theater.
Note: Bonnie recorded “Something to Talk About” in 1990, so I’m sure she wasn’t singing it at either of these concerts. Still, it’s one of my favorite songs of hers, which is why I used it as the title of this story. If you don’t know it, I highly recommend listening to it.
2022 Note: This story was first published on July 10, 2017 for the Concerts prompt. I’m moving it here in response to John Shutkin’s story Great Performances.
Suzy
I love this peek into your college days. I also enjoyed the photos accompanying your story.
I enjoyed the powerful framing of your musical experience w/significant people, places, and events unfolding. You took us from the political to your very personal story, with a great take w/attitude about Bruce n’ Bonnie. Always like to roll along with your graceful story-telling flow and the details (crashing Sanders w/two different stories, sleeping through Springsteen, The Real Paper) moved me. You evoke so much of time, place in emotions with simple images, scraps of recollection. Thanks!
I can’t believe you snuck into Sanders! And not for JT; cool. My choir sang Carmina Burana there many years ago, it is a wonderful space. James Taylor was still ascending then, but such a good singer. One of my favorites from that era.
So funny that you slept through part of Bruce Springsteen, who is, indeed, known for giving his “all” to his audience and going on forever. Bonnie Raitt played at Brandeis about that time too, but I was too ignorant to go see her. I’ve always been sorry to have missed her. You were the smart one.
I loved how you talked about sneaking into the theater to see your college friend Bonnie — and only when we see the poster do we realize it’s Bonnie Raitt! These stories of hearing artists before they were well known are wonderful. So are you a Springsteen fan now?
I wouldn’t say I’m a Springsteen fan. I do love “Born to Run” and a few of his other songs. I certainly love his politics, and the fact that he’s from New Jersey like me. But I haven’t seen him in concert since that time in ’74, and I don’t think I would go out of my way to see him.
Fair enough. Still, it’s hard to believe now that you managed to fall asleep during a Springsteen set, or that you were one of a group that tried to chant him off the stage!
Fun story. Thanks, Suzy.
Wow Suzy, how cool to have known Bonnie Raitt at the start!
I especially like Longing in Their Hearts and recently sang it on karaoke night at a Vermont women’s health retreat. Her lyrics always speak to me!
I wonder what ever happened to that Bruce guy?
Fun to read this again! I adore Bonnie Raitt, sorry to have seen her live only once.
I see I commented last time about my karaoke night singing Longing in Their Hearts!
Dana, I’ve seen her perform 8 or 10 times, not counting listening to her sing and play in the dorm! I didn’t know the song Longing in Their Hearts, so I’m listening to it right now on youtube. Gotta say I don’t think it’s one of her best!
You’re lucky to have known her and heard her perform so often
I think the lyrics to Longing in Their Hearts are wonderful. I just checked and see altho she wasn’t the lyricist here her then-husband was.
I always knew Bonnie Raitt was an alum, but never knew her or anyone who knew her. And, despite being a fan, have never seen her perform. Thanks for taking us to those early concerts and those times back when. Great story .
Not sure if she is technically an alum, since she never graduated. She entered with class of ’71, but somehow ended up being listed in our class, and her name is in all of our reunion redbooks, although she only wrote in for the 25th.
If she is ever performing anywhere remotely close to you, you should go see her, she puts on a great show even now, 50+ years later.
Great story, Suzy, and, of course, a fun, different perspective on the same amazing concert. But I’m still jealous you got in for free. As mentioned, my ticket probably cost about $5.00 — and I may have even brought a date (though that was a pretty “fallow” time for me).
This is a terrific story. So redolent of that time, when I was roughly the same age and immersed in the same culture. You are right that Bonnie Raitt always puts on a terrific show. But what a story — trying to get Bruce off stage! I hope he’s forgiven you by now.
How lucky you were to be at these concerts! I also saw some amazing performers when I was at University of Michigan, especially at a coffee house whose name escapes me.
I almost flagged your (combo) story as “inappropriate” because it was so good as to lose all connection w propriety.
I loved many parts of it, including your reference to Barbara your hitchhiking companion, with whom I assume you boldly hitched the Pacific Coast; and your sneak-in strategy to the James/Bonnie concert (I know this will sound and probably is sexist, but in my experience there are few venues which a pretty girl cannot talk her way into; I would likely have had to slip a Lincoln to the ticket taker, when my sad story about losing my keys or my roommate fell on deaf ears) (but bravo on your successful illicit entry). Are you still on Bonnie’s friend list? Does she do Reunions? Is she still performing? I too love “Something to Talk About”, and lots more of her oeuvre. As to Bruce, he would have been a good one to sign your 1974 playbill (too bad your mom wasn’t with you at the stage door, she would have gotten the job done).
Thanks for your comment, Jon, esp. the first sentence!
Bonnie does NOT do reunions, and only wrote a red book entry once. For many years when I went to her concerts, I would give my name afterwards and get to go backstage. But then she got super famous. In 2014(?) I went to a concert at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley with the same Barbara, who actually had been closer with Bonnie in college than I was. I wrote ahead of time to say we would be there, expecting an effusive welcome. But her assistant wrote back and said that Bonnie had a lot of family members coming to that concert, so she wouldn’t have time to see us. And that was that.
She does still do concerts, in fact she is on a tour now for her new album, Just Like That. There’s a concert at the Greek Theatre next month, but only lawn seating is left, and I’m too old to sit on the lawn.
A charming story, Suzy. I felt I was with you at those concerts. Having been in the alumnae/i business for a short while, Bonnie might have come in Advanced Standing with ’71 and reverted to ’72 as her social class, whether or not she completed her degree. No matter: “Something to Talk About” is an amazing song, and one of my favorites. Well done.
I know for a fact that Bonnie came in with your class, not mine. If you look at your c/o ’71 Freshman Register you will see her there. No Advanced Standing. Don’t know why HAA or someone else moved her to ’72, but it doesn’t matter because she never comes to reunions anyway.