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Excerpt from And Party Every Day: The Inside Story of Casablanca Records:
For those of you who have never attended an Angel concert, here’s how it went down. The house lights would go out, and a lengthy taped introduction based on the end-credits music from Ben-Hur would begin to play over the PA. A huge 3-D prop of a hollow-faced Gabriel (the angel from Angel’s debut album cover) would rise into place atop the backline of the stage. Reaching his zenith, Gabriel would seemingly come alive and begin to address the stoned audience in a booming, God-like voice. Everyone thought the angel’s face was a hologram, but it was actually a rear-projection film of the face of Warren Entner, former guitarist for The Grass Roots, in gold makeup. The voice-over was provided by famous voice actor Paul Frees, who would solemnly intone: “And it came to pass one day in Heaven that Gabriel summoned his flock of angels unto him and spoke thus, ‘I have watched my children on Earth at play, and I am saddened that they know not the pleasures of our music. Who of you will go forth and let the music of Heaven echo throughout the lands on Earth?’”
While this was going on, roadies above the stage dressed in black jumpsuits were setting up five mirrored Plexiglas cubes downstage. These were maybe two and half feet wide by two and a half feet tall. They would then stack three additional cubes atop the first one, which created futuristic portals that looked like mirrored doorways. As each band member was introduced, smoke from a fog machine would be released, a spotlight would hit the mirrors, chaser lights would begin revolving around the doorway, and each of the five musicians would seem to materialize inside his cubicle.
And the first Angel stepped forward and spoke thus, “I will go to Earth,” and Gabriel rejoiced and said, “Go forth my son and sound your drum throughout the land, and from this very day be known as Barry Brandt.”
Angel drummer Barry Brandt would emerge from the lighted doorway, go slap some quick high fives with fans in the first row and then run over to join his drums as similarly imposing scripts were spoken for Gregg, Punky, Mickie, and, finally, lead vocalist Frank DiMino.
“And thus it came to pass that there was music on Earth as there was in Heaven.” As Gabriel finished speaking to the crowd, the band members would take their places and start the show with their signature song, “Tower.” Of course, if you had an amazing entrance, you had to have an even better exit. So a giant Angel LP cover would descend from above the lighting rig to the center rear of the set. The five Angels would walk into it and begin beating on the sides so you could see they were actually inside. Suddenly, the giant LP would begin to rise above the stage, as if it were ascending to Heaven. And then . . . BOOM! It would explode into pieces. All the spotlights would then go black and, with the crowd clamoring for more, the houselights would go up. By then, the band would already be miles away from the venue. Pure showmanship: always leave them wanting more.
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