We’d Follow Grand Funk Railroad Anywhere After This Performance Of “I’m Your Captain”

We’d Follow Grand Funk Railroad Anywhere After This Performance Of “I’m Your Captain” | Society Of Rock Videos

photo credit: fanart.tv

GFR Hit Shea Stadium

Running at close to 10 minutes in length, Grand Funk Railroad’s epic “I’m Your Captain (Closer To Home)” is as about as classic as a song can get, its story of a troubled captain trying to maintain enough law and order on his ship to make it back home again, one that we’ve sung and screamed along to for decades.

Radio stations still play it, fans still can’t get enough of it and in 1971, Shea Stadium rocked with the power of 55,000 strong as Grand Funk Railroad brought “I’m Your Captain” to the stage during a concert that until 2008 held the record for the fastest selling concert at Shea Stadium.

UNITED STATES – JULY 09: Grand Funk Railroad took over Shea Stadium last night in probably the noisiest concert ever to surface in Queens. (Photo by Charles Ruppmann/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)

Grand Funk Railroad’s explosive performance that night immortalized on film, footage of the crowd at Shea Stadium visibly rocking their bench seats peppers shots of the band itself onstage as singer Mark Farner, bathed in spotlight commands the stage like the captain in his tale and with a vocal performance like this, it’s pretty safe to say we’d follow him anywhere and judging by the sound of the crowd, we’re not the only ones!

UNSPECIFIED – CIRCA 1970: Photo of Grand Funk Railroad Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Fun Fact: Grand Funk Railroad broke The Beatles’ 1965 record for the fastest selling concert in rock history, selling out the 55,000 seat Shea Stadium in 72 hours.

Grand Funk Railroad legendary live at Korakuen Stadium hit by torrential rain, Tokyo, July 17, 1971. (Photo by Koh Hasebe/Shinko Music/Getty Images)

If you listen closely, Grand Funk Railroad’s fans can be heard quite audibly screaming and singing along with Farner, actually even drowning his voice out at times; I don’t know about you, but I sure do miss the days when rockstars were these larger than life figures that inspired that kind of insane passion from their fans. Those days may be long gone but lucky for us, we can relive them through killer video footage like this – happy viewing!

 

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