June 29, 1979 (Friday)
Roxy Theater
West Hollywood, California, U.S.A.

Driving up from Orange County after work, I caught the Friday night show. The place was pretty empty at first, a few fans like myself chatting about how lucky we were to actually be seeing this warm, tragic, melancholy group with others who actually felt the same way. Growing up, Badfinger had never resonated with any of the others in my group, except my extraordinary and slightly eccentric guitarist friend; however, since the Magic Christian Music debuted, I held a fascination for their strumming combinations of guitar and piano rhythms and the somber tenor voice of Peter somehow evoking his Welshness into the mix (i.e. "Blodwyn").

Anyway, Joey strolls through the side door before the set began and we all said, 'Hi Joey' and he cheerfully said 'hi' back. He was not drunk. Onstage, the two strolled out with little ado, casual and joking around. Tom's hair was all fuzzy, giving him a burned-out look. Joey was standing with a slight bow, his hair long. Somewhere during the night, when a dismal attempt at the No Matter What drum solo concluded awkwardly, I noticed Molland shaking his head. On the "Airwaves" album, I had found Tom's music well sung and beautifully written and Joey's unpleasant. That night, I found Joey's vocals stronger than Tom's and his previous work on "Ass" and "Badfinger" driving and forceful. I sat very close, and when they got to the early stuff, Joey reverently stated they were going to do some by Pete. The pianist was very animated and talented giving it a very bouncy, bright, lively tone, somewhat missing the brooding feel of Pete's lamenting ballads and Tom's sad and pondering music. Tom's bass and Joey's driving, raw garage-band guitar kept everything moving and the vocals were rather belted out, splendidly at times (as on Suitcase), lending itself to their later style. We cheered energetically after each piece, though our relatively few numbers never really carried much enthusiasm or probably our feelings.

Tom O'Brien

I saw a later Badfinger version, with Tom, Joey, Tony Kaye (ex-Yes keyboards) and a drummer whose name I can't remember. This was at the Roxy Theatre in Los Angeles, after the Airwaves album. I actually have a tape of this and the show was very good. They played most of the Airwaves songs, a few from the original lineup, and a couple of Beatles songs too. The review of the show, in the Times, I think, said they played the songs twice as fast and three times as loud as on the Airwaves album. This was true, and it was a great, rocking show.

Steve Sage

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