Why prog bands of the 70' chose Quebec City ?
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Topic: Why prog bands of the 70' chose Quebec City ?
Posted By: BilletBill
Subject: Why prog bands of the 70' chose Quebec City ?
Date Posted: February 24 2021 at 13:01
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Hi, I'm doing a documentary about a Prog French Canadian band, called Morse Code and one question is still unanswered. Why prog bands of the 70' (Gentle Giant, Genesis, etc) chose Quebec City, Canada to "invade" America?
They could choose Toronto or Montreal who are bigger than Quebec City or going to New York or to the West Coast of the US...The only thing I know is that Quebec City was very receptive to these bands but one step is missing i.e. you have to get known before being appreciated and the best way to do it, at that time, was to perform live. So, once again, how a band could decide to go to Quebec City to be sure to have a receptive audience? Thanks! |
Replies:
Posted By: nick_h_nz
Date Posted: February 24 2021 at 13:24
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I’m only guessing, but presumably because Quebec had a big prog scene? There were a number of excellent Québécois prog bands in the ‘70s, and I imagine that the audience for those bands would have been familiar with the UK prog scene, and therefore receptive and welcoming to the touring bands? 🤷🏻♂️ ------------- https://tinyurl.com/nickhnz-tpa" rel="nofollow - Reviewer for The Progressive Aspect |
Posted By: The Dark Elf
Date Posted: February 24 2021 at 13:43
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Tull started their first North American tour in New York (Fillmore East) and Detroit (a several day stay at the Grande Ballroom). Yes went to Edmonton and Vancouver first. Pink Floyd went to Chicago and Detroit (again, the Grande Ballroom). King Crimson went to Vermont, of all places, and then to Boston to start out their NA tour. Emerson, Lake & Palmer started in Pennsylvania and then Detroit. And Genesis first played Carnegie Hall in New York on March 2, 1973 before playing in Quebec City the next day on their first North American tour (Foxtrot tour). So it sounds like a scheduling thing. ------------- ...a vigorous circular motion hitherto unknown to the people of this area, but destined to take the place of the mud shark in your mythology... |
Posted By: Catcher10
Date Posted: February 24 2021 at 13:46
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Coming to 'Merica as a band, trying to break in is very expensive. Yea you landed in NYC but somehow had to get to LA or San Fran and that is 3,000 miles away and spendy. So picking someplace like Quebec that probably covers a lot of ground, probably made sense....money wise -------------   
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Posted By: bertolino
Date Posted: February 26 2021 at 11:58
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As a sixtygoer born and raised in Quebec City, i can tell that my hometown was "the place" in the the 70s for all things prog. But yet, bands were coming generally from Montreal and would go to Toronto. These were economic matters i'd think, once you'd agree that Quebec public was receptive. Middle range cities had less an offer of different concerts. The big Rock acts never made it to Quebec city, the Colisée was too small at about 13,000 places. So prog bands trying to make a name were right on the target in Le Palais Montcalm, or Pavillion des Congrès (from 1000 to 5000 places) and coming bigger could fill Le Colisée. Genesis (and then Gabriel and mostly Steve Hackett who i may have seen up to six times in my hometown) came to Quebec till they became huge. And then at that point, we were usually forgotten on the tour list of the big names. It's true that prog as a genre was huge in Quebec, i could spend much time on a theory about our "distinct culture" and the "distinct sound" of progressive music. Not forgetting our "european/latin sensibility". Yes so much good local bands that, at that time, we were considering the norm but could nowadays considered as an anomaly. But once you know that Harmonium was the most popular band in the province, you understand that our "collective ear" was ready for all the Genesis,Tull, Strawbs, Gentle Giant and Caravan of this world. Not forgetting the jazz rock scene (double feature one only could dream for today , like Pat Metheny and Jean Luc Ponty). And once the engine is started... We were on the map for all the promoters and became kind of a "test public"! ------------- 45 years of prog listening and still movin' |
Posted By: questionsneverknown
Date Posted: February 28 2021 at 16:03
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I don't have a good answer to your question--at all--but I am chiming in merely to say that I'm quite excited to hear that someone is working on a documentary about this tremendous scene. One thing I've long been curious about--and loosely related to your question--is why (at least to my ears) Gentle Giant's influence seems especially strong on the scene. This seems especially true of Sloche, Maneige and Maelstrom. Some of these bands seem closer to the Giant, than say Crimson, ELP or Floyd. So, chicken and egg kind of question--did Gentle Giant come to Quebec early and therefore have a stronger influence, or did Gentle Giant come to Quebec because the scene was already more receptive to them? ------------- The damage that we do is just so powerfully strong we call it love The damage that we do just goes on and on and on but not long enough. --Robyn Hitchcock |
Posted By: kenethlevine
Date Posted: February 28 2021 at 18:36
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I was born in 1958 in Montreal. It was not specifically Quebec City I don't think, though bands may have begun tours there before hitting the road and heading SW. There are a lot of articles that were written about this in the 1970s with different theories. I think the radio scene in Quebec in that decade was very free form with knowledgeable DJs playing basically what they wanted to, and a lot was British prog. Of course, when punk and new wave came in and the stations started embracing the 2 minute song, the earlier period was belittled for being self indulgent. So I think radio made them popular initially and it blossomed from there. And it wasn't just big P prog - acts like Shawn Phillips were also very big in Quebec, and Chris de Burgh was superstar in Quebec when he was still unknown elsewhere. Some groups, like Strawbs and Gentle Giant, never got very popular elsewhere in NA but were radio and fan favourites in Quebec.
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