THE MAIN EVENT
- MADISON SQUARE GARDEN
- OCTOBER 13, 1974
Transcript of the presentation by Howard Cassel:
Live, from New York,
the city whose landmarks
are familiar all over the world.
The world center
for shipping, transportation,
communication, finance, fashion,
and above all entertainment.
A city that pulsates always
because of the millions of people
who live here, work here, visit here.
And in the heart of the metropolis,
the great Arena, Madison Square Garden,
which has created and housed so many champions,
and which is why tonight from the Garden
the most enduring champion of them all,
Frank Sinatra comes
to the entire Western Hemisphere, Live,
with the Main Event - Frank Sinatra in Concert!
Madison Square Garden, October 13, 1974,
jam-packed with twenty thousand people plus;
just people, people from all walks of life
people who are young, people who are old.
Here to see, hear, pay homage to a man
who has bridged four generations,
and somehow never found a gap.
Hello, again, everyone.
I'm Howard Cassel
and I've been here so many times,
and in a curious way, this event, live,
with the king of entertainment carries with it
the breathless excitement and anticipation
of a heavyweight championship fight.
Celebrities are here in profusion,
one after another.
Rex Harrison, professor Higgins if you will,
Carol Channing, Hello Dolly,
Walter Cronkite, Mr. Believable,
and of course the great romantic hero
Robert Redford, but here,
coming through the same tunnel
as so many champions have walked before,
the great man, Frank Sinatra,
who has the phrasing,
who has the control,
who understands the composers,
who knows what losing means,
as so many have,
who made the great comeback,
who stands still, enduringly
on the top of the entertainment world.
Ladies and gentlemen,
from here on in
it's Frank Sinatra!
__________
Following the release of Some Nice Things I've Missed,
Frank Sinatra embarked on a six-concert tour in 1974,
working with Woody Herman & the Young Thundering Herd,
which was conducted by Bill Miller, Sinatra's longtime pianist.
Dubbed "The Main Event," the tour culminated
with a televised concert from Madison Square Garden
on October 13, 1974.
Subtitled "Live From Madison Square Garden,"
this album isn't an exact document of the concert.
Instead, it's a compilation taken from various shows
on "The Main Event" tour; on two songs,
"I Get a Kick Out of You" and "Let Me Try Again,"
two performances are spliced together.
Even if it constructs a concert
-- which the good majority of live albums
from the '70s tended to do --
The Main Event is a delight,
full of inspired performances.
While there are a couple
of contemporary numbers thrown in,
the majority of the songs are standards,
from "The Lady Is a Tramp"
to "I've Got You Under My Skin."
Both Sinatra and Herman's Herd are lively,
spurring each other on to consistently strong performances.
Sinatra's singing might be a little too loose for some tastes,
as he injects lyrical asides, impressions, and jokes
throughout the record, as well as occasionally
changing the lyrics by making them a little more "hip."
Nevertheless, his singing cannot be faulted.
Not only does he sound fine on his trademark numbers,
particularly a lovely piano duet on "Angel Eyes,"
but he brings the contemporary material to life,
which he failed to do in the studio.
Even with all of its pleasures,
The Main Event remains
a minor entry in Sinatra's canon
-- dedicated fans will certainly
find more to cherish here
than the casual listener
-- but it remains one
of his most enjoyable records of the '70s.
---
By the way,
the mantra outspoken by Howard Cosell in 1974
to announce the arrival of Frank Sinatra
in Madison Square Garden in New York City,
is the most beautiful and outstandig declaration
of love for a city I know.
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