Eric Burdon and War, Crow, and White Lightning appeared at the Minneapolis Auditorium on August 23, 1970.

Neal Bond tells this story about the show:

This was my final stand in for promoter Scott Johnson’s wife, who at this point was in basic training for the Military.

Crow was riding high on the charts with “Evil Woman.” War was basically unknown except for Eric Burdon and they were the headliner.  It was my understanding that Scott had booked Crow as the opening act for $1000 and Eric and War for $3500.  Crow’s manager wanted to renegotiate and charge $7500 because of the chart action “Evil Woman” was getting nationwide.

I knew all the guys personally and had worked with the band many times in the past so it kind of left me in a precarious position.  I finally told him that if that was the case we would have to get another opening act.

That was when White Lightning was added.  All of the print and radio ads had already gone out.   Crow’s manager finally came to his senses, deciding it would damage the bands reputation if they didn’t show and agreed the band would play.

The day of the show Eric and band arrived without a PA. They said it was in the contract that the promoter would provide the sound system.  I’m thinking what….nobody told me…..

It was a Sunday and I’m faced with the dilemma of trying to get a sound system large enough to fill an arena with everyone who had the capability closed for the weekend. I called Jim Kane from the Litter and Freedom Electronics and they were playing in Chicago so there was no chance of using their sound system.

We finally decided that if we combined White Lightning and Crow’s sound systems it would be decent enough to fill 3/4 of the room. I called a few other bands I knew and got more speakers.  So it put a band aid on a potentially huge problem.

It worked because there were only about 3500 people in attendance in a hall that held 10.000, but if you were in the nosebleed seats the sound was really muffled.

White Lightning came on as a five piece and did one really outstanding short set. A promoter from Canada was in town and backstage. He was really impressed with Lightning and with Mick Stanhope’s stage work.  His comment to me was “He’s better than Jagger.”

When Crow came on the place went ballistic. Dave Waggoner asked me backstage if it would be all right if he asked the crowd to move up because of the PA situation. I said sure. When he did everyone rushed the stage area and the promoter from Canada had to help me stop the show and talk the crowd into calming down.  The fire marshal was not pleased but it ensured that everyone had good sound.  When Crow came back on the room was electric and I believe they got called back for two encores.

Eric Burdon and War put on a fabulous set afterwards.  MGM, their label at the time, was dead set on changing the music scene from anything psychedelic and was cleaning house.  Burdon had an asthma attack onstage and collapsed  later in their tour, so War continued to tour without him and became a huge act later in the ’70s.  MGM held Burdon’s contract and refused to release his new recordings. While I was out in LA I saw him protesting outside their building.  Though they were short lived as an attraction, Eric Burdon and War were one terrific live act.

Overall it was one fantastic night.  Everyone got more than their money’s worth. After the show the Canadian promoter told me that he was trying to break into the Twin Cities market and asked me if I wanted to work with him.  I told him I was just filling in and headed to Colorado at the time to do a series of concerts as a folk performer so I turned him down.

But that’s another story…….