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I WAS THERE

December 31st was a memorable night

 

In the audience of almost 3100 the night became an unforgetale experience.

 

If you were there.. Please click the Contact link at the top of the page. 

 

Tell us your story and it will be added to the virtual attendance database below.

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AUDIENCE MEMBERS

ROBERT MAG

 

 I was there, what an awesome night. Went to see Iggy and but became an instant fan Kiss and Teenage Lust. Being only 13, I had to leave to catch the last train back to Westchester while BOC were only into their second or third song but as far as I was concerned that show was complete.

Natalie Schlossman

 

 I was soo there!!

JERRY AQUILINO

 

Was there that night. I knew Kieth Kaven and Herbie Robinson, the Stage Managers, Hung out while they were all doing soundchecks and went backstage during the show. Met Johnnie and Rich back there..

 

The best thing I remember about that night was waiting for the show to start. It was pitch black on the stage and all you could see was the flash lights guiding the first band on stage. Something didn't seem right about them. Then the announcer came on the mike "Ladies and Gentlemen put your two lips together and Kisssss." Then the lights came on and there they were. I think everyone in the place was in shock from what the y saw. They were destine to become who they are from that one night. Oh and when Gene set his hair on fire was great too even though it wasn't supposed to happen. I can still picture that whole opening of that night as if it was yesterday.

JIM LANIO

 

I was there that night with bunch of my friends from South Ozone Park, Queens. Since that was forty years ago none of us were even 20 yet. We were big on Lou Reed and VU, loved BOC at that time, had heard about how crazy Iggy was, so we were psyched for this show, esp. Since it was New Years Eve and we knew we would be really primed that night. Truthfully, I hadn't heard about your group Teenage Lust or the other opening act you mentioned before -Isis (I guess as mentioned they were scratched and Lust was supposed to open) Anyhow we had seats in the last row on the ground floor and right behind us, leaning on the low divider was a large group of guys dressed in full drag. We though it was funny. But one if my friend's -Barry ( a big Fan of the Beach Boys') was getting a little freaked out . 

 

The announcer came out on stage and said there was a change in the show and we should get ready for a group named Kiss, making there first concert appearance. When they came out with the lights, guitars. smoke, costumes, fire and face paint, the crowd was stunned....like What is this???? But it's good. Then the lead singers hair when on fire and soon after a misdirected flare apparently hit someone in the crowd and he ran yelling down the aisle (maybe that was all part of the act??). When Teenage Lust came out. The part I remember was you singing something like--"busta. Busta busta. Teenage Lusta ". and the lustettes dancing in bikinis 

 

Iggy came out wearing only pink underwear and he was so stoned he could barely form words.... He would start to sing something, forget the words, start it again ...we were all laughing at him. Finally Iggy kept repeating "I got my c*#k in my pocket and my girlfriend loves it". The crowd was still laughing. So Iggy gave us all the finger and walked off the stage. Blue Oyster Cult were great and very loud, (I liked that group until they came out with "don't fear the reaper" than I lost interest). It was night everyone there will never forget.

ANDREW C DOBACK

 

I saw the ad for the Academy of Music New Year's Eve show and immediately called a few friends. The Stooges were playing that was enough for us. We had seen Blue Oyster Cult several times but it was the Stooges that got us excited about this show.
Latter we found out Teenage Lust was opening the show...and added bonus. We had not seen them...but had read of and seen photos of them. Hhhhmmmmm. Lustettes....


We took a train out of New Haven, CT that December 31st. My friends George, Wayne, Bill, and I. Then a subway ride from Grand Central down to 14th Street. 

We joined the line of eager concert goers. That's when we heard a couple of guys talking about how Kiss was going to be opening the show. They were grumbling about how they had seen them before, and they didn't like them. Uh, oh.
 

I taped virtually every show that I went to back then. And even though Kiss was an unexpected addition - and an unknown (and bad mouthed) quantity - I was going to tape them anyway. And was I glad I did.
 

They blew us away. The volume, costumes, great rock & roll songs. Gene's fire breathing went awry, and we saw a guy being led up the aisle holding his face. Now this was Rock & Roll. 

After their half hour set, we were entertained by Teenage Lust. After Kiss' barage, Teenage Lust still managed to hold the audience's attention. A nice set of TL's poppier tunes...and the Lustettes... 

At last, it was The Stooges. Their set started out with Ron Ashton, decked out in a German WWII uniform, shouting in German. Then the sonic attack began. Iggy was dressed in his finest underwear and boots.  

The sad part was Iggy was a bit messed up complete with slurring. But he soldiered on - leaping into the audience several times. But James Williamson's guitar was pure bliss. 

Finally Blue Oyster Cult took the stage. They were a powerhouse band but we were spent after The Stooges. Cities on flame.
 

With ears ringing, we left the Academy and made our way back to the Grand Central. The 2 hour train ride was interspersed with talk of Kiss, The Stooges, and, of course, Teenage Lust and the Lustettes.
 

It was one of my favorite shows. Not a bad band on the bill. We had later discovered that Kiss was signed to Casablanca. Now if only Teenage Lust had gotten a record deal...

MALCOLM BLASI

 

Probably the best $7 I ever spent!

 

 

COLE MARKLAND

 

The memories I have are that I was there with my friend alan and being from long Island we were both blue oyster cult fans.We also really liked the stooges and had the raw power album!Athough it was a hard-core B.O.C. crowd since they were the headliners.The crowd was mixed about the stooges! Half the crowd loved them the other half hated them.The stooges were great but Iggy was out of it but managed to pull it off somehow.Kiss was pretty new then and their first album was released that year.They were pretty good and gene set his hair on fire when he did his flame-thrower bit.A roadie came out and put it out with a towel.Some people thought this was part of the show.Teen age lust opened the show but I dont remember too much about them except they were a local new york glam-rock band they were okay.B.O.C. came on with their symbols on each side of the stage red/black very sinister looking almost like a nazi rally.They were powerful loud and incredible.They played stuff from their first three lps very cool!And they played early into the morning since it was new years eve 1973 turning into 1974.The crowd was part hippie part biker! Punk before there was punk.I have been A boc fan ever since 1972!And sadly my friend alan is gone and I will miss him alot.This sow was amazing and I was lucky enough to have gone to it. cole markland madison, Wi.

JANE TRACY REINISH

 

I Was There..I was like 15! who knew I had such good taste..was there with Eric Weinstein, I think Kieth Kevan was the stage manager for Howard Stein!!!

 

SU HUMERIC

 

Was this the Kiss, Teenage Lust, Iggy and the Stooges, and Blue Oyster Cult Concert,? If so, I was there as well!!

JIMI LALUMIA

 

 I was there!!

JIM PUZIO

 

 I was sitting front row, stage left....anyone have any photos of BOC that night? it was my first concert ever..I was 15 and the participants that night, changed my life..

KATHY MILLER

 

 

I was there! An amazing night of epic rock and roll!

STEVE OCHS

 

 

"Holy shit! I saw you guys (and girls)(Teenage Lust) at the Academy of Music with Kiss, Iggy and Stooges and BOC back in, what? '73? I have told the story of that line up a thousand times and always wondered about you. FB is amazing! You were great that night and helped make one of the most memorable concerts of my life (and that saying something; I've been to a million concerts!). Thanks

KARL BURKE

 

 

Kiss was opening for BOC first time Kiss was there I chuckled when Kiss came to the stage, Buck told me not to laugh that they would end up opening for Kiss.. Sure enough the next year Buck's words came true

MIKE MIRANDA

 

 

On New Year’s Eve 1973 my friend Paul and I went to the Academy of Music on 14th St. to see Blue Oyster Cult. As we approached the theatre we saw other bands listed on the marquee that we had never heard of but we were already pretty wacked-out on whatever we had decided to do to “prepare” for the show and we just figured “cool, we’re gonna get more than we thought out of this”. When you’re young and ready to hang all night this sounds like a great deal. Nowadays if I find I have to sit through three additional bands that I never heard of to see the one that I’m interested in I would likely pass! From what I recall we had pretty close seats on the right side of the Orchestra section (Stage-left if you are on stage). Before Kiss opened the show I was already pretty spaced-out but I remember when they started their set I thought that Paul had passed me some acid or something because I had never seen anything like this up to this point in my young life. These guys looked like giants and with the monster heels they were wearing and with the huge KISS logo above their heads I woke up pretty quickly! I was totally awestruck with their short show. From what I know now they were only on for about a half-hour but that was enough. I remember Gene throwing something that was on fire into the crowd which I heard later was flash paper which flares up then goes out and that he had accidentally hit some kid with it! I also remember him breathing fire (which was completely unbelievable to me!) and setting his hair aflame. I remember someone rushing onstage to put it out and the band continued. By the time they finished I was pretty speechless. My memories past this point of the show are a bit intermittent. I remember Teenage Lust as being a an impressionable young man the Lustettes definitely kept my attention! I remember Harold Black running around with his white suit. Iggy & the Stooges hit the stage and that was another WTF moment. The bass player was wearing a Nazi SS outfit, Iggy was wearing nothing but white shorts and I’m pretty sure that the keyboard player was playing with his feet at one point. Iggy was having a real hard time staying up on his feet and he fell in the orchestra pit a couple of times. One of those times he came flying back onstage and I was told by a friend who used to record one of my old bands, Eddie Solon, that he was in the pit and him and a friend had thrown Iggy back onstage! James Williamson I remember was pummeling his guitar while wearing a crazy rock ‘n’ roll Dracula kind of outfit. At some point in the night (as I said, the sequence of these events is pretty hazy at this point…) the oom-pah band from Luchows, the German restaurant next door, came onstage and played which was hysterical! I recall going to the men’s room and being fascinated by the New York glitter crowd that had come out for this extravaganza. Coming from the Bronx this was like going to the circus for me. I unfortunately have no recollection at all of Blue Oyster Cult’s set, and this is not a knock on BOC as they were the band we had originally intended to see that night. I have heard that Eric Bloom shaved his beard onstage that night but I cannot recall any of this. I may have just gone down for the count by that time and missed the show. BOC used to play extremely loud back then so I am surprised that that alone didn’t make me sit up and take notice! All in all, this show made a huge impression on me at this time of my life. I went to school the next week telling people about this crazy band named Kiss that I had seen and that they were going to be huge but none of my friends had heard of them yet and thought that I had taken too many drugs! I later became a huge Kiss fan for years just like many other guys of my generation. I am happy to see that this page has been created for this show as it was not just another passing show for me and I imagine not for the others that were there as well. Please continue to post whatever can be found from this show and thanks for taking the time to bring that night back to life.

RAY HAUSER

 

 

 I was there too, i loved the academy if music i used to live at that place.in our year book they put my future plans academy of music.

DINA REGINE

 

 

and I was there too....

BILL CHERENSKY

 

 

I was there to see BOC and The Stooges. It was the first real rock concert I ever attended, I was sixteen.

Kiss' first LP wouldn't be released for another couple of months so I hadn't heard of them. I was completely blown away by them. As the last chord of Black Diamond faded, my friend who was with me turned to me and said "I thought they sucked" simultaneously as I said I thought they were incredible! 12/31/73 changed my life (for better or worse is difficult to say). I decided right then and that I had to become a bass player. And so I did.

Oh yeah, and Teenage Lust, Iggy, and BOC were pretty good too!

I wish I had been there 10 days earlier for the Lou Reed R&R Animal show too...

EDWARD PRZYDZIAL

 

 

i just turned 10 years old. went there to see the show. did not know anything about the bill... i only heard of iggy pop and blue oyster cult. was a huge alice cooper fan and had no idea what i was about to see... i lived in brooklyn at that time and i felt odd being there with all those people who were much older then i was and had an issue getting in because of my age. it was a strange night for sure. i remember iggy pop was so messed up i didn't quite understand if he was high or it was part of the show. one of them was dressed like a nazi onstage. i don't remember much about the night otherwise except i became an instant fan of the band kiss. i was mesmerized and scared of them at the same time but i thought it was much like alice cooper and the new york dolls but much scarier and the bass player burned himself with fire onstage. i devoted my early years to obsessively following the band from that time on. my family moved to detroit later in 1974 and i continued to follow the band. i also started my own self published newsletter, "the kiss museum news" as a school project..."the kiss museum news

BRAD KAHN

 

Wow I will never forget this show!!

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MARC CONNOR

 

We had front row seats and Iggy was so stoned he played the same song twice in a row.

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ACADEMY CREW

KARL BURKE

 

I was woking back stage kiss was about to open for BOC I chuckeld Buck Dharma said don't laugh we will probably open for them soon A year later they did.I also woked there when it was the pallaidium.

ACADEMY PHOTOGRAPHERS

DAGMAR KRAJNC

 

Memories... they told us photographers in the pit at a concert, that Iggy would probably throw himself off the stage at some point and we should try to catch him... Thinking of my precious Nikon, I knew I would have to get out of the way instead! wink emoticon By the way: I have some great shots I'd love to see in a book! Just make a note and let me know if you're working on one. Here's a Dagmar-photo of Iggy at the New Year's concert 1973-74, Academy of Music, New York! NOTE: I do hold the copyright!

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