Oddest one I ever saw was Livingston Taylor opening for Jethro Tull, Madison Square Garden, 1977. I was in the 8th row and could see Taylor being pelted with objects from the moment he took the stage. He walked off after being narrowly missed by a half-full beer bottle, never finishing his first song (With A Little Help From My Friends).

The first album I ever bought on my own was Jethro Tull’s “Warchild” and my freshman year in high school the band was my favorite.
Ian Anderson’s wild eyed, long haired stage persona was right up my alley.

Jethro Tull’s Madison Square Garden shows were supposed to revolve around “greatest hits” which was fine by me. Somehow word got out before the first MSG concert that Ian Anderson was under the weather and was having some sort of throat issue causing them to shorten up the setlist.

I do not think that anyone was expecting one Livingston Taylor to take the stage that night; Livingston was only known for being James Taylor’s brother and he was put in the unenviable position of opening the show for a crowd who knew none of his solo acoustic music and only wanted to see Jethro Tull.

We were sitting midway up to the left of the stage when Livingston Taylor came out with an acoustic guitar and began his first song. The sea of people was angry that night. Boos drowned out his singing and about halfway through his first song objects started to fly toward the stage. Taylor could be seen ducking some near misses and he tried to continue but was driven off the stage by the onslaught. I have never seen an artist wave the white flag and literally run off the stage like that before or since. Although I felt kind of bad that he was seriously abused by the crowd, we were not disappointed that Taylor’s set had abruptly ended and we hoped this meant that Tull would hit the stage earlier (they did not).

A few years ago I was telling this story to a business acquaintance who said that he used to work as a vendor at Madison Square Garden when he was a teenager and he told me that he was there that night selling pretzels. When the crowd started throwing anything they could find toward Livingston Taylor he said that he sold out his entire pretzel supply to concert goers who immediately hurled them at the shell shocked musician.

Ian Anderson’s voice was not at its best and his hair was shorter than in his recent photographs but seeing my then musical hero play the great hits two nights in a row was a thrill.

Bungle in the Jungle

Rock on

GQ