I was greatly impressed with Renaissance while in high school, and was able to see them at the Minnesota State Fair playing in a small pavilion to only about 25 people. I couldn’t believe my eyes, standing right in front of one of the greatest bands and most people just kept walking down the path without coming inside — for free.
Jon Camp is still my favorite bass player — having such a soaring, majestic style — a one-of-a-kind! Some compare him to Chris Squire of ‘YES,’ but Jon has always moved me more.
Annie Haslam has a 5-octave voice, and still sings incredibly at age-70: (music video) Renaissance – ‘Carpet of the Sun’ with Chamber Orchestra
Renaissance’s style was elegance, standing tall like the Redwoods; though, some of the lyrics were a bit dark, and were written by another lady, who seemed to be occult influenced. This concert has a great, upbeat feel, unlike some of their studio LP albums, like “Turn of the Cards,” which I still remember buying at the record store at 66th St. and Penn Ave. in Richfield, MN, while living in nearby Bloomington.
I must have heard them on KQRS, the progressive rock FM station that I was often glued to. They never played the same song in a 24 hour period, and had real DJs playing real vinyl LP records, sometimes entire albums. What a treat!
I’ve always been impressed with their song, “Mother Russia,” but didn’t know until hearing Jon Camp’s intro here that it’s about Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the imprisoned truther, author.
Uplifting concert here!
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