Linda Ronstadt had become America’s rock ’n’ roll sweetheart by the time this show was recorded in early 1975 in Long Island. One of the few female singers of considerable depth and musical substance to come out of the 1970s Southern California music scene, Ronstadt would be wildly popular with both fans and music industry insiders and media for many years after this show was recorded. She had her first radio hit, a soft rock ballad called "A Different Drummer," in 1967 with her old band, the Stone Ponys, and she began…entire summary
Linda Ronstadt - vocals
Kenny Edwards - bass, vocals
Andrew Gold - guitar, vocals
Ed Black - guitar, vocals
Michael Bottis - drums
Glen Hardin - keyboards
Herb Pederson - pedal steel
Backing vocalists unknown
Linda Ronstadt had become America’s rock ’n’ roll sweetheart by the time this show was recorded in early 1975 in Long Island. One of the few female singers of considerable depth and musical substance to come out of the 1970s Southern California music scene, Ronstadt would be wildly popular with both fans and music industry insiders and media for many years after this show was recorded. She had her first radio hit, a soft rock ballad called "A Different Drummer," in 1967 with her old band, the Stone Ponys, and she began a string of successful solo LPs in 1969 on Capitol Records. Members of her band included future Eagles Don Henley and Glen Frey. Her break-though records would come with 1973’s Don’t Cry Now and 1974’s Heart Like A Wheel.
Most of the tracks recorded at this performance were from those two albums, as well as Prisoner In Disguise, which Ronstadt had already begun recording and would release during the tour. Opening with "Colorado,” Ronstadt essentially puts a country spin on music throughout this show. She does an energetic version of Buddy Holly’s "That’ll Be the Day” before slowing down for the Eric Kaz staple, "Love Has No Pride.” "Silver Threads & Golden Needles,” the most authentic of her country music classics, blends easily into the Hank Williams tear jerker, "I Can’t Help It (If I’m Still in Love With You).” Ronstadt does a wonderful read of Little Feat’s "Willin’,” written by her good friend, the late Lowell George. She next covers "Desperado,” the brilliant tale of life in the Outlaw west, written by her former bandmates, Henley and Frey. She brings it back up to a higher energy level with the Everly Brothers rocker, "When Will I Be Loved.”
Later in the set, she does a tender ballad, "Faithless Love,” written for her by JD Souther, followed by her original version of Dolly Parton’s "I Will Always Love You.” Ronstadt performed the song that would be Whitney Houston’s biggest radio hit nearly a decade and a half before it appeared in The Bodyguard. She closes with a three-song combination that includes classic rock hit "You’re No Good” and a remake of "Heat Wave,” the Motown classic originally recorded by Martha & the Vandellas. She ends the evening with the pensive ballad, "Heart Like a Wheel” accompanied only by piano.
Ronstadt would remain a pop icon through most of the early 1990s, when she had plunged into more eclectic musical projects and collaborations.
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