John Hall - guitar, vocals; Larry Hoppen - guitar, vocals, keyboards, horn; Lance Hoppen - bass, vocals; Wells Kelly - drums, percussion, keyboards, vocals; Jerry Marotta - drums, percussion, horn, vocals
Taken from the Dawson Sound audio archives, this is a classic Orleans show captured when the band was at their artistic peak. The group was still promoting Waking & Dreaming, the 1976 breakthrough album that spawned their biggest hit single, "You're Still The One," and they worked nearly nonstop through 1977. Their hard work and rise to more commercial prominence shines through in this recording and the others available here at Wolfgang's Vault.
When they were in their prime, Larry Hopper and John Hall had a vocal blend that was on par with the Everly Brothers or Lennon and McCartney—that chemistry is evident here on "Still The One," "Waking and Dreaming," and "Let There Be Music." The group was having so much fun at this show, they even break into a special, impromptu medley of British Invasion classics, "You Really Got Me / I Want to Hold Your Hand" (made famous by the Kinks and the Beatles, respectively) as the show's closer.
John Hall (along with his wife and co-songwriter, Johanna Hall) remained part of the Orleans team through 1977, but by the middle of 1978, he departed to pursue a solo career and become politically active over the issue of nuclear power. In 1979, with Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, and Graham Nash, Hall launched the No Nukes benefit concerts to raise awareness against nuclear power plants.
Orleans would carry on with brothers Larry and Lance Hopper at the helm. They actually scored one the band's biggest hits, "Love Takes Time," after Hall left. Hall's solo career stalled and he returned to Orleans in the early 1990s. By the late 1990s, he again followed his political aspirations, eventually winning a seat in Congress. Orleans (with and without Hall) continue to work sporadically, as does Hall with a solo band. "Don't Throw Our Love Away," captured here, would resurface years later on a studio album released after the band reformed.