Reply #9: Saw him in 1972 at the Boston Music Hall, opening for Frank Zappa

[Amerigo Vespucci]

It was the "Flo & Eddie" edition of The Mothers, filthiest show I've ever seen in my life.

Berry opened. He closed his set with "Johnny B. Goode." It was like anything you could possibly imagine it to be....he did the splits, he did the duck walk, he hit every note to perfection. Amazing, true "rock legend" stuff.

A couple of years later I saw him opening for Little Richard at the Circle Star Theater in San Carlos, CA. At this point, Chuck really didn't give a shit about himself or (especially) his audience. He did a 20 minute set, which included a 12-minute "My Ding A Ling," a painfully botched and horrendously off-key "Roll Over Beethoven," and the closer, "School Days." To call the set sloppy would be to give him far too much praise. Then Little Richard came out and played for an hour, giving it everything he had, which wiped away the memory of Berry in short order.

Supposedly the time spent behind bard made him bitter. I don't know where his head's at these days.