Why it was easier to see lots of acts in the 70's. For example, ZZ Top's Worldwide Texas Tour of 1976.
1. Point Blank
2. Blue Oyster Cult
3. The Outlaws
4. Lynyrd Skynyrd
5. ZZ Top
My general admission ticket (which was all you could get) was $10 ($55.25 today) plus about $3 (at least $25 today) in fees. Sometime in the past 48 years I found out that the lineup rotated except ZZ Top was always the headliner. About 10 of us went to the show armed with some blankets along with 250 bottle rocket and a quart of 151 rum that we snuck in. The show started at 4 and we got on the field an hour before that which means it was hot and sticky in Memphis. Shirts off for the guys and bikini tops for the girls was the rule of the day, As expected every band played their hits of the day With The Outlaws being the surprise, they were just so tight that day you could hear the difference. Skynyrd came out and did a good show, one that anyone would be happy with if they hadn't heard The Outlaw a few minutes earlier.
At about 9:15 ZZ Top hits the stage, by this time the rum was gone and we had passed out most of the bottle rockets By the time the announcer finishes "That Little Ol Band From Texas" 100 bottle rockets are in the sky from all over the field. So you can say they started off with a bang. One of the guys in our group was about as small as you could be and still get in the Corps. Maybe 115 lbs soaking wet. Some time during the set we decide to throw him up in the air with one of the blankets. Once we got the hang of it he was easily going up 15 feet. So we decide to used 2 blanket figuring we could throw harder and catch him without the blanket ripping. By now there is a good part of the audience going "WHOA" om every toss up and Eddie is probably hitting 25 feet on some throws and being right on the edge if having the blanket being ripped out of our hands on the catch. Out from the stage Billy Gibbons tells us "You boys be careful, we don't want anyone hurt" and launches into the next song.
Even with our sideshow distraction ZZ Top crushed it, head and shoulders above the other 4 bands and they did 2 encore making it almost a 2 hour set. How they played that hard and yet looked so cool in those Purdy suits was beyond me. Beards, spinning guitars and hot rods would come later. This was hardcore party music that left you wanting more.