Ritz Theatre

My husband Rocky started the Music Column for the SI Advance, and interviewed alot of them…then Chuck Schmidt took it over.

A Deep Purple bootleg album was recorded at the Ritz, which the album cover calls the Riz.

Some Ritz concert dates for somoman…

Date Band(s)
2/13/1970 Mountain
10/31/1970 MC5/Stooges
1/25/1971 Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
7/3/1971 Mountain
8/14/1971 Black Sabbath/Sweathog
11/26/1971 Allman Brothers
11/27/1971 The Kinks/Yes
12/6/1971 Humble Pie/King Crimson
2/14/1972 King Crimson
2/25/1972 Yes/Sweathog
3/17/1972 Badfinger
3/28/1972 Deep Purple
3/29/1972 Deep Purple
6/24/1972 Badfinger
7/29/1972 Uriah Heep
8/15/1972 The Doors
10/xx/1971 Captain Beefheart & his Magic Band
4/xx/1972 Alice Cooper

I saw Yes and Badfinger at the Ritz. Maybe you can go on the bands web sites and see if they have a list of places they played.

Oh man here is another blast from my past. I also saw YES there and was almost caught up in a riot when Badfinger was playing there and the Pagans MC threatened to destroy the place if they let the late show go on. That is where I met my friend “Jersey Joe” Sciorintino. He owned a piano and organ rental company as well as being the house PA for the Ritz hired by Gus Ungano. Joe has since passed on in 2001 but his piano and organ rental company is still there in Highland park NJ run by his son Russel.

I started in the concert business in my teens in 1971. As far as the 50 mile radius in the riders depended on who was booking the shows. If you look at the logistics Bill Graham had the Fillmore. Howard Stien had the Capitol Theatre in Portchester NY and John Scheer aka Metropolitiain Entertainment had the old Capitol in Pasaic NJ. All within 50 miles of each other. For a short time there was also the shows at the Lowes 46th street in Brooklyn. I recal when I went to see the Dead at the 46th street they had played the Fillmore for 4 days as well as the Capitols in NY and NJ all within 2 weeks of each other. Then again the Dead at that time could sell out any place they played. They also hold the record for the most sold out shows at madison Square garden up until the death of Jerry Garcia.

I thought so too at the time… but this was a period right before these bands played arenas like MSG & Nassau Coliseum. I remember the Yes LP “Fragile” had just been released, and Sabbath’s 2nd LP, “Paranoid” was new at the time of their tour stop in SI. Most of these bands also played at the academy of music (AKA: the paladium on 14th st.)in manhattan. The Ritz concerts did not last to due “contract riders” put into place in the early seventies by NYC concert promoters. They insisted that the musicians performing at their place could not book additional shows within a 50 mile radius of the venue nor within a month surrrounding the show. This essentially killed the bookings for national recording acts at the Ritz Theater. During that time it was run by a pair called “The Ungano brothers”, whom had previous success with a manhattan club bearing their name. Interestingly, I never seen a movie at the Ritz, only concerts!

at the time of that ticket, the ritz was hosting rock concerts (up to about 73, I think) back in the 70’s (when i was just a wee sprite…) they used to have national acts play at the Ritz Theater in Port Richmond. Alice Cooper, Mountain, Black Sabbath, Yes, Capt. Beefheart, MC5, King Crimson, The Kinks, Fleetwood Mac, Deep Purple, …even Vanilla Fudge! I was too ingnorant of a lot of those bands and only got to see the 1st four on that list….but isn’t it amazing? I also remember (vaguely) whenever there was a concert, the streets absolutely packed like Greenwich Village, stores open past midnight, everyone partying…incredible.

for a photo go to oldstatenisland.tripod.com

The theatre STILL retains its' original look outside…without the marquee.