Blimp Time-Hop: The Outlaws Guitar Army Rocks The Civic Center
41 years ago today, WBLM welcomed a sold-out night of southern-fried rock to the Civic Center in Portland. The Outlaws brought their triple-lead guitar attack along with soaring vocal harmonies to Blimpville for a second time, on December 9, 1979.
And how 'bout this? The opening band was Molly 'freakin' Hatchet! They were about as hot as it gets by the time they hit the stage in Portland.This show was just after their biggest selling album, Flirtin With Disaster was released in September of 1979.
Watch 'em live in 1979 on a French TV show.
WBLM had been playing The Outlaws' There Goes Another Love Song and Green Grass & High Tides from their 1975 debut pretty regularly. The Blimp was also spinning cuts like Hurry Sundown from there live album, Bring It Back Alive. That one came out just before their first appearance at the CCCC in 1978.
Let's celebrate the 41st anniversary of this historic show with this ridiculously epic 20 minute version of Green Grass and High Tides recorded a year before the '79 Portland show.
Dig that leathah vest on the late guitarist/vocalist Hughie Thomasson while he rips killah riffs...pretty much every stoner dude in Maine stoner dude was wearing one in those days.
This song still gets lots of requests at WBLM. You can't resist giving the volume control all it's got when this one comes on, that's for sure.
Watch another absolutely sick jam of Green Grass and High Tides from a couple summers ago from up in Bang Town.