This was near the end of what would be the last tour by Rod Stewart and the Faces! Not only did I, nor anyone else for that matter, know this at the time, but I also didn’t know until I did some research before reminiscing about this great night out on the Island.

Despite being a bit jealous since sometimes I thought my girlfriend liked Stewart more than she did me, I faithfully followed Rod and the Faces through every record. Back in those days, they alternated between Stewart records on Mercury and Faces discs on Warner Brothers. And, what a great string of hits and classic album cuts they made together.

So, waning to see the Faces was an easy call made even easier by the opener, Peter Frampton. Still not having yet “come alive,” he did have a back catalog of four great LPs and his latest, Frampton, was the most played 8-track tape in my car.

That said car, a lime green Pinto, made the journey out to the Nassau Coliseum after I of course made sure to vacuum the carpets. In those days, this venue had made a name for itself with the Long Island police chalking up big numbers of pot busts pulling over unsuspecting concert goers on the highway.

Frampton, who I believe was living in Long Island at the time, kicked off with a great set. Around this time, I went to see him every chance I could. He wisely took many support slots with big name artists which was a big contributor to his success story. 

UPDATE: Peter Frampton was nice enough to tweet yesterday and point out that this was the show at which the late photographer Richard Aaron took the cover shot for the “Frampton Comes Alive” LP.

And what can I say about the Faces other than I was so glad that I got to see them at least once. They were fantastic and not horribly drunk or sloppy as they had become known for in their earlier days. By this time, bassist Ronnie Lane was gone (replaced by Tetsu Yamauchi) as was guitarist Ronnie Wood who was now a Rolling Stone. But fortunately, Woodie came along for this one last tour with the Faces.

Funny, how sometimes you witness rock history and don’t even know it!

Here’s the set list for the Faces from that night:

Memphis, Tennessee
It’s All Over Now
Three Time Loser
Miss Judy’s Farm
I’d Rather Go Blind
Sweet Little Rock ‘n’ Roller
(I Know) I’m Losing You
Big Bayou
Angel
Bring It on Home to Me / You Send Me
You Wear It Well
Maggie May
Stay with Me
Twistin’ The Night Away