Steppenwolf will rock the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville Saturday night as the "Born to be Wild" band celebrates its 50th anniversary. Frontman John Kay lived in Nashville for many years and grew to appreciate the Ryman. He says it ranks with the world's greatest theaters:
"We played Carnegie Hall, we have played the Royal Albert Hall, London. Iconic venues. The Ryman has something very special. It's a very special. It has its own aura and history. The way it's built and laid out, with the arched, kind of horseshoe arrangement of a large balcony, protrudes over the lower level seats and everything else. It's almost like a very very large club."
John Kay is proud that Steppenwolf appealed to different groups of fans, from "teenagers who saw us on the Ed Sullivan Show" to soldiers who bought cassettes of their music "at the PXs and took them tapes with them" onto the battlefields of Vietnam, as well as ones who took the band's Monster album to heart at time America was rocked by protests.
Though only the band's current lineup will play at Saturday night's anniversary show, Kay says several original and past members, such as Michael Monarch and Larry Byrom, will be introduced to the audience. As we've reported, original keyboardist Goldy McJohn passed away this week.