The Vulcan Gas Company was the most memorable psychedelic venue in Austin, Texas. Texas and particularly Austin has a rich rock history, featuring rock bands with light shows in late 1965, contemporary to events in San Francisco. The history of the Vulcan Gas Company is not hard to retrieve, and the posters are very nice and eminently collectible. Nonetheless, from the very narrow perspective of rock prosopography, there is no list of concert performances at the Vulcan.
I am posting this list as an aid to prosopographical scholarship. I am not attempting to write another history of the Vulcan, as that seems to have been covered in various sources, just a list of concerts. I compiled this list almost exclusively from the posters. This means that some weekends may be missing, and other performances may be different than what was actually advertised. I have included events promoted by the Vulcan Gas Company itself even when other venues were used. Anyone with additional information or corrections please put it in the Comments or email me.
Part I-1967
Part II-1968
Part III-1969
January 17-18, 1969 Big Joe Williams
All shows were at the Vulcan Gas Company venue at 316 Congress Avenue in Austin, TX unless otherwise noted.
January 30-31, February 1, 1969 John Lee Hooker/Shiva’s Head Band
February 21-22, 1969 The Fugs/Shiva’s Head Band
February 28-March 1, 1969 Texas
March 7-8, 1969 New Atlantis/Untouchables/Texas Rangers
March 14-15, 1969 Jimmy Reed/Onion Creek
The calendar is very hard to read in the tiny reproduction.
March 21-22, 1969 Big Mama Thornton/New Atlantis
March 28-29, April 4-5, 1969 Mustangs/Georgetown Medical Band
April 11-12, 1969 Shiva’s Head Band/Sunnyland Special
April 18-19, 1969 Fred McDowell/Texas Rangers
April 25-26, 1969 Muddy Waters/Sunnyland Special
May 2-3, 1969 Shiva’s Head Band/Sherwood
May 8, 1969 Shiva’s Head Band/Sunnyland Special/Mustangs
Benefit for the Vulcan Gas Company
May 9-10, 1969 Mance Lipscomb/Onion Creek
May 16-17, 1969 Georgetown Medical Band/Sherwood
The poster says “If you toke, don’t tote,” a sign the venue was under significant pressure from the police.
May 23-24, 1969 Shiva’s Head Band/Texas Rangers
May 30-31, 1969 Big Joe Williams/Georgetown Medical Band
June 13-14-15, 1969 Texas/Fat Emma/Shiva’s Head Band
June 20-21, 1969 Shiva’s Head Band/Georgetown Medical Band/Ramon Ramon and The Daddy-O’s
To my knowledge, this was the last show at the Vulcan Gas Company at 316 Congress Avenue.
This completes my working list of shows at (or promoted by) Austin's Vulcan Gas Company. Anyone who can add additional dates or correct information about which bands played on which nights (as opposed to who might have been advertised) please Comment or email me.
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There seems to be an excellent recording of the band Sherwood at Vulcan Gas Company from May 3, 1969.
ReplyDeletehttp://tela.sugarmegs.org/_asxtela/SherwoodVulcanGasCompany1969-05-03Austin.asx
I remember seeing Mother Earth with Tracy Nelson and Boz Scaggs at least once at Vulcan. As for the date - no idea. I believe the second time I saw Mother Earth was also at Vulcan, but without Scaggs in the band.
ReplyDeleteBoz Scagg's activities from late 1968 through early 1970 are a bit vague, and playing with Mother Earth would make a lot of sense. Boz's last date with the Steve Miller Band seems to be September, 1968, and while he recorded an album in 1969 (in Muscle Shoals with Duane Allman) he didn't play many or any gigs under his own name.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting indeed.
The Vulcan continued through mid-1970. Here is a complete list: https://concerts.fandom.com/wiki/Vulcan_Gas_Company
ReplyDelete-Terry, in Onion Creek
I have a Vulcan poster from 1969-02-07 and 08 featuring New Atlantis and Texas Pacific
ReplyDelete