Grand Funk Railroad
Florida
Summer of 1970


  1.    Introduction > Are You Ready
  2.    Paranoid
  3.    In Need
  4.    Heartbreaker
  5.    Inside Looking Out
  6.    Words of Wisdom
  7.    Intro to Mean Mistreater
  8.    Mean Mistreater
  9.    Mark Say's Alright > T.N.U.C.
10.    Into the Sun


This date and location of this show is in dispute with some fans. The songs on this cd were clearly lifted from GFR's 4th album Grand Funk: Live Album which was commercially released in November 1970. (This is why it's not available from me as a trade.) Anyway, the album art had photographs referencing the 1970 Atlanta Pop Festival. So case closed - it's 1970 in Atlanta,  right? Not quite so fast.

GFR were supposed to play the 1970 Atlanta Pop Festival but none of the members, including the manager Terry Knight, remember making the trip. They were no-shows by many accounts. However, it's a historical fact that GFR played the 1st APF for free on 4 Jul 69. This by the way, was their first major gig as a band and only 6 weeks after their first ever gig as a power trio.  Shortly after, they were signed by Capitol Records and they quickly released 2 albums in 1969 (On Time, and Grand Funk aka Red).  

Grand Funk's official web site timeline indicates that  Closer To Home was released in July 1970. The Grand Funk: Live Album was recorded in the summer of 1970 in Florida and then released in November 1970.  The only song to make it to Live Album show from Closer To Home was "Mean Mistreater". Farner introduces the song by referencing the "new record in a couple of weeks". SO - it's most probable that most of this material was circa 1970, summertime.

The confusing part for many fans is that GFR was playing many songs from Closer To Home as early as January 1970 (see the Anaheim show setlist). The Closer To Home material was becoming staples in their live act. So if this show really was from the summer of 1970, why didn't it include more songs from Closer To Home?  And surely "I'm Your Captain" would have been included? This was the height off the war era and no band would miss that chance. It was one of the best Vietnam war songs of all time and an instantly recognizable classic. My guess is they wanted to highlight the early material, not the new material. Too bad.

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