May 9, 1971 (Sunday)
Stroudsburg High School
East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.

My band (called Mass Confusion at the time) opened for them in East Stroudsburg, PA in May of '71. The program I still have from the concert doesn't have the date printed anywhere or the venue, but I know it was the high school auditorium. I checked with the other guys in my band (we're still playing out regularly), and they all concur that it was in May, and that Badfinger had just played on Long Island the night before. My wife recollects that it was a Sunday as we couldn't stay for the party that Peter invited her to because we had to drive back to Long Island in time to go to work the next day.

I remember My Dark Hour, Feelin' Alright, Midnight Sun, No Matter What (brought the house down), Blodwyn (with a little spoken intro from Joey), I Can't Take It, and a medley of Rock 'N' Roll tunes. I'm sure there were more but I can't recall which ones they were. We wondered why they didn't do more of their own material instead of the covers they did, but they were great. Pete's voice was so powerful, it seemed like he didn't even need a mike!

Our remembrance of the gig was good with a couple of things we still sometimes bring up. We just can't forget when their bus pulled in and some guy got out wearing these Kelly Green shoes! I think he was one of the roadies. Later on, he approached my drummer to see if Mike could borrow a pair of drumsticks as they had no time to pick up spares. We're still waiting for Mike to return them!

The gig was a benefit for Monroe County Retarded Youth Services through P.A.R.C. I used to have a bootleg tape we made from the side of the stage but sadly, it was destroyed in a house fire in 1973.

John Loeffler



What I recall is they played in the auditorium of Stroudsburg High School - that's the name of a town here in Pennsylvania - Northeast Pennsylvania. They were top of the bill to a bunch of local folk singer/songwriter types.

They opened with Watford John and then No Matter What which was topping the charts then I think. I recall they did a Little Richard medley. I think that was part of the encore, but I may be wrong. I can't remember much else about the song list.

I couldn't believe how tight they sounded and how clear the sound was (no easy thing back then). After the show we walked backstage figuring we'd get an autograph, but of course, none of us has paper or pens, so we stood right next to them as they chatted to some giggling girls and I remember going through a trash barrel looking for some paper--we must have looked like Beavis and Butthead. We were shocked that they were so short! We stared at them like a nun looks at the Cross, then we left.
I saw Joey at a local bar a couple of years ago - sounded great. I told him I saw Badfinger play Stroudsburg and some girl turned around and said, "oh, I was at that concert." It's weird that it doesn't seem to be listed on any tour lists I ever saw.

Lee Shafer

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