Today in Outrageous History: Keith Emerson and His Airborne Revolving Piano
I almost didn’t write this, but my conscience got the best of me. How could I sleep at night, after all, knowing that I didn’t acknowledge this important religious holiday for those of us who worship at The Church of O.F.R? I refer, of course, to April 6, 1974, the day Keith Emerson (R.I.P.) played a grand piano solo in front of 250,000 paying customers while he and the piano were suspended 50 feet in the air and doing 360s.
Don’t believe me? Here’s the footage:
This took place at the California Jam, an all-day concert in Ontario, California which set records at the time for both paid attendance and the size and expense of its sound system. Emerson Lake & Palmer were co-headlining the concert with Deep Purple (Black Sabbath also played a brutal set against an incongruously sunny backdrop that afternoon), but this doesn’t mean that they were going to let their thunder be stolen, or even shared. Their set that night was nonstop pomp and absurd theatrics, including extended synth workouts and a Hammond organ being played from the wrong end, and it would be memorable for just that. That wasn’t good enough for Keith Emerson, though. Dude had to float in the air on a piano, and do somersaults with the fucking thing to boot.
Please don’t read me wrong. I don’t spend a lotta time listening to ELP, and never have. All things in moderation, some things more extremely so. Still, this stunt was so obscenely over-the-top and stupid, it’s almost punk (or at least trip metal). Keith pulled the floating piano trick many times, as it turns out, but this appears to be the largest audience for as much, and the only time it was caught on tape. Given that, it’s worth celebrating.
If you can hang with some of the most doofy, gaudy prog of the era, you can jam their whole set below. Honestly, I haven’t yet — I’m a busy man — but I’m sure it’s a worthy edition to your O.F.R. hymnal. Blessed be!
