Over the years, there’s been a few concert recordings by GENTLE GIANT released but it looks none of those are reckoned “official” by the band, save for 1977’s “Playing The Fool” that captured the Shulman brothers’ troupe during the previous year’s European track. Now, coming from a couple of months earlier and taped in the USA – at the Calderone Theater, Hempstead, Long Island, to be exact – “Live At The Bicentennial” is called so because it documents the show from July 3rd, performed on the eve of the United States’ 200th anniversary. Out on GG’s own Alucard label, this 2CD set, which was not sonically enhanced or given any overdubs, mostly overlaps with its on-stage predecessor yet is wilder and rawer and, therefore, quite interesting.
It was the time of the “Interview” album promotion, and here’s “Timing” from that LP, a track not featured on “Playing The Fool,” so there’s another alluring point to it. Read the review, and the full track list runs as follows:
Live At The Bicentennial
Disc 1:
1. Intro/Just The Same
2. Proclamation/Valedictory
3. On Reflection
4. Interview
5. The Runaway/Experience
6. So Sincere
Disc 2:
1. Excerpts From Octopus
2. Give It Back
3. Timing
4. Freehand
