To:  arnold@reluctant.com
      From:  RNewell344@aol.com
   Subject:  ELP Opening Night
      Date:  8/2/98 5:30 PM

     I was at the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom last night for opening night 
     of the ELP tour. This was an ELP only show. This is a small place, holds
     about 1500 people. We were 15 feet from the stage. After a very good
     opening act (Brian Maes), Keith Carl and Greg started at about 9:05.
     I was so close I could actually walk up to the stage and look at the
     monitor that had the set list written on it. This seemed like a very
     informal gathering and it was a great experience.

     The set list was as follows:

     1. A new instrumental called Crossing the Rubicon (Editor's Note: I verified the
	"real" name of this when talking to Keith Emerson after the 8/8 show at
	Great Woods - John - ]
     2. Karn Evil 9 1st impression part 2
     3. Hoedown - Keith on harmonica during the solo
     4. The Sheriff - during the ending honky tonk solo, the piano was 
        horribly, I mean horribly out of tune. Upon finishing, Keith said
        "did I do that? Some kind of new western tuning?" His keyboard tech
        jumped on stage and fixed the problem. So Keith played the solo again
        and announced "there, it sounds much better when it's in tune."
     5. Touch and Go
     6. Last movement of his Piano Concerto
     7. C'est la Vie
     8. Time and a Place - great surprise
     9. Knife Edge - They really hit stride here. Up until then it had been 
        a little rough but still with all the energy you would expect. This being 
        the first night, they just weren't tight until now.
     10. Lucky Man - 3 piece
     11. ALL of Tarkus - Tremendous
        Encore
     12. 21st Century Schizoid Man
     13. Fanfare for the Common Man including Rondo and drum solo

     It was a great experience to see them this close and in such an 
     informal setting. This was my 5th ELP show and I have certainly seen them in 
     better form but nothing as memorable as this. They played about an hour and 
     forty five minutes.