Wayne Kramer and Fred Sonic Smith. R.I.P

One of the most influential bands of the 60's era. Constantly overlooked. The Who refused to play with them because whenever they did they blew the Who off the stage. Should of been in the RnR Hall of Fame years ago but are ignored. They invented the "Garage Rock" sound. Were influential in being an early Punk style band.

Not sure what everybody's complaining about here. Seems O.K. to me. Plus, just having this film from a half century ago at all is amazing in itself.

The mc5 were the very first punk rock group the were awesome and way ahead of there time.

MC5 formed when I was 4 years old. And I am still listening to them!

The dude on drums is havin a ball with Fred and Wayne! ✊✊✊✊

i got to tell ya brothers and sisters saw em in an city 68 at the foxy lady. then north of flint in 69 sherwood forrest. then in a little bar in flint there were the men the legands of rock themself's. brorher wayne and john sinclair (holder of the holy grail). what fanatasic prople. its amazing when you met heros and they are many times nicer than u could hope for. then at the majestic in detroit whwn the last 3 got back together. maaaaaannnn, they were playing kick out the jam's. and i keep fleeing myself raise above the floor. un-fucking real! but let's get to the pt' its 2017 and i want to hear some revolution out there. i'm i the only one who's sick of this police state. i've heard bout freedom and liberty for 65 fucking years in this country. god damnit i like to see just a little piece of it before i die it must be buried with hoffa. "fuck the pigs" STAY ALIVE WITH THE 5

"The tour was a disaster. Dates canceled one after the other. The two weeks of Italian dates canceled. Everybody was angry and dis appointed in us. And onstage, we sucked. There were no rehearsals, sO we had to comne up with material that we could play that every body might already know. Singing MC5 songs was almost com pletely out of the question. Neither Fred nor I had ever attempted to sing these songs, and had no idea how to go about it. We didn't actually even know the lyrics to some of them. The material we plaved was simple three-or four-chord vamps with extended solos. We just tried as best we could to play for the contracted amount of time, to ensure we'd get paid. The performances had almost nothing to do with the MC5. We were a terrible representation of our former powerful stage show. Fred and I would have long talks in our hotel room, in which we tried to envision a future band with new plavers. We put on a brave face, but it was over. Hope is a great breaktast, but a lousy dinner. " Wayne Kramer "The hard Stuff" / chapter "The Last Leg"

Last song "Let It Rock" with Fred singing is awesome - best version of this tune EVER!!!

Kramer is in pain singing I want you rock on Kramer !! Great contribution to rock n roll

A long way from Tartar Field. But interesting interplay between Wayne and Fred. Part Spinal Tap, part psych rock, part train wreck, part cool and nasty. A real blender. Thanks all for the back stories on this, which provided the proper lens. Keep kickin'.

Ah, the more innocent days of when people were asked to applaud for the road manager and they complied!!

I thought for sure this was a cover of 'Wild Thing' as soon as I heard the chords. can't get enough of the MC5.

Two smokin' hot guitar players here. and ...Sonic Smith kills that Chuck Berry number with swagger!

Sonic has a great voice ..

Thank you for this. R.I.P. Wayne Kramer.

How they do I Want You is out of this world. Thats surreal.

Thanks for uploading! I never knew these recordings existed. Despite being on the decline, they still rocked.

This what soul and guitar skills give you.A masteroiece from a master chef. Played it almost as well as Chuck himself let it rock

I am diggin this!!!!

These guys rocked

Man,they sound grate .I can't believe ,they was not capable to move on. That could only be because thiere was no good management for them.It's great live.Imagine in the studio.shame..Love is the key...

Wayne is on the top of his game

The MC5 were like 🍕. Even when they sucked they were great

POWER TO THE PEOPLE! !!!!!!!

I was there, I was disapointed, Rob was not there, I payed lots of money, 25 marks if I remember, my whole month 's incomig . Still, I WAS THERE AND SAW HURRIGANES feat. Kari Kuuva supporting them.

E= MC5 🔥🇺🇸✌❤🙂

I would pay money just for a recording of these two men tuning...

Dudes were junked up .....One of the GOAT pure rock and roll bands EVER

Chuck Berry was like "Damn...I wish I could do it that good!"

The end of the end

on sent bien que l'energie n'est plus la !

"On bass, Derek Smalls. He wrote this."

I beg to differ with a lot of comments here and say that the version of ‘let it rock’ near the end is one of the finest moments in rock n roll history..check out other uploads of same version (better sound)..phenomenal playing by Smith!

phenomenal

Really sad that the MC5 had to go out like this...Ive been reading Waynes auto-bio & he said the last couple of configurations of the band were really quite embarrassing & didnt do their legacy any justice.

That drummer kicked fucking ass.

I would be proud of this work MC5.It’s Hollywood Casablanca stuff.

❤👍📀🏆🇧🇾thenks. B.T.O. - отдыхает!!

Good soundtrack!! And video. Too bad it’s so dark. Thanks!

Damn that rickenbacker twelve string sounds great

Fred "Sonic" Smith, the only guitar player who can make those cheesy Rickenbacker guitars sound like a monster.

Zahvaljujem se! Samo napred care!!!

Only 516 people know about this video... Wow... Guess its our secret y'all... Mc2 were jamming there asses off

great tx for upload

Thanks for uploading really

now it is clear why the Finnish people love the black metal sound.

Merci!

They were wasted and at the end of the road...sad.

Wild Things

these guy's invented rock music.........f**k yeah........

Yea !;!;!!; There was a band called death from Detroit in the late 60;s they actually hit on the rock / punk sound before the Ramones. Check it out. Talk to ya.

RIP

Love that S#!T,Should have been the 1st band inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.Not that means anything to me.The MC5 mean something to me

No doubt Rob Tyner is missed along with his swag, but this is a lot better than I was led to believe from how history tells it. MC5 or 4 or 2 or now 50 can do no wrong!

wow

ma bravo za upload

Listen to Gloria 19:50 into the video. And then listen to Patti's live versions of the song. No wonder they were married....;-)

Wayne singin' some Reggae on "Looking at You."

In a True Testimonial Wayne talks about how bad he performed when there was only him and Sonic left. But this show is absolutely cracking! 💜

Tyner's absence just saps their spirit... but I can't blame them for trying to forge on. Compare this video with the videos from the same tour, before Tyner split (Beat Club, Paris, etc), and notice the difference in the energy level! But Kramer and Sonic were still kick ass guitarists here. I read an old Rolling Stone story the other day, written just before this European tour... and they all had the sense that this was their last chance of making it or breaking it. The story deals with their rift with John Sinclair, and his bullshit political and social community, which MC5 basically funded with their concerts and records. Once they broke away from Sinclair, their "fans" in Detroit/Ann Arbor turned on them, and considered them sell outs. Ironic, considering that it was their relationship with Sinclair that probably kept them from the stardom they deserved!

the drummer seems to be into it

Too bad that the MC5 magic is simply not here... This proves that without a proper drummer to provide the basic energy behind a band, the sound does not takes off. Dennis Thompson was the key to MC5's power !

Merry Christmas a day before Thanksgiving.Someone tell me they didn’t invent grunge 20 years before grunge happy as fuck

If I hadn't been shooting heroin at the start of this tour I would have been shooting it by the time I got this far.

Some of these bands are worth their weight in uranium.

❤️❤️💕🎀🎀💞💞🌹🌷🌺🌷

Both were doing what they do best; playing guitar at loud volume :-) But, obviously Tyner is missing here...

Why are these guys not in the rock hall of fame.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Done to fulfil a contract - Still sounds good considering, Kramer's guitar work is about as good as rock guitar gets...

Song list for the show...anyone?

Drummer looks like Sam Gopal. I know it's not, but he reminds me of him. Great alternate version of Looking at You. Contrast this with the original single, not John Landau abortion, and I like the feel of this. Too bad they did not go farther with this. I grew up in Detroit in 60's & 70's and caught Wayne every time he played in Detroit, also Fred when he backed Iggy with what was Sonic's Rendezvous Band. SRB was a big Ann Arbor MI draw when Fred was living in St. Clair Shores w Patty Smith & children. On a further note, Patty Smith would later cover Gloria and Hometown Rival Bob Seger would cover Let It Rock to great success on his Live Bullet album. Interested in a Detroit offspring of scene that spawned MC5 and Stooges? Check out band called Death from Detroit, not the death metal death the proto punk Death. In the mid 1970's there was a saying on Detroit FM radio " If you think the Rolling Stones are the best band live, you've never seen the MC5".

Sadly, this is the last gasp of the MC5. This is one of the, if not -the- last show of the MC5, which was at that point reduced to Fred Smith and Wayne Kramer as the only original members... The band fell apart during that last tour of Europe. The rhythm section has no clue about MC5 music, and it shows. A great document on the death of a great band, if only we had more actual MC5 footage of that quality...

'looking at you' is a shadow of it's former self. why they aren't tearing the roof right off the joint is puzzling. it's like watching a movie and realizing half way thru that it's never gonna make sense and turn into a good/great film. anyone familiar w/ the studio track would agree. this was lame. full of possibilities, but even the crowd barely applauds them. that tune is supposed to be riveting! w/ or w/ out the late great Rob Tyner(alive at the time), it's when he doesn't sing (during the breaks), that these 2 should come alive!

Haha what's up with the camera at certain parts where it's focused on nothing?

i must admit, if i came thinking i was going to see the 68' mc5, i probably would have been disapointed. ramblin rose lacked the energy. when i got over this isn't the original band, i must admit i like these different versions of the songs. a bit of a punk edge, feel some early floyd and maybe quicksilver too. i like both bands. tarter field is a favorite when i want to go, but i really like this also. thanks for sharing!

Seriously ?.....It's fucking hard to critisize these two legends, but this sounds tired....which ofcourse is no wonder with the amounts of high grade smack going round....Just going through the motions momma....

this looks like it was recorded in my garage with my grandmas camera

This must have been filmed by the drummer's dad

The MC4

Most MC5 songs are too slow. Seems they are fed up playing them.

I hope the camera men didn’t pay to learn how to camera. If they did, they should probably ask for a refund.

Piece of vinyl of a late MC5 gig from '72 that's titled 'DO IT'. Amazing gig tho' sound is not perfect but there are songs on it I've never heard on any other MC5 product, both original and covers. The energy and riffing etc, are as close to their first record as you'll hear. Try n find it cos real fans will not be disappointed at all I promise yz! Rama Lama Fa Fa Fa people

Who is the drummer please ? I love his groove and energy.

MC-2

Taken for what it is, a last minute attempt to fulfill obligations and earn cash after Tyner and Thompson backed out on the European tour, this is pretty good. Having Fred sing more than the bass player would have helped tremendously

Man, this is hard to watch... it's so friggin BAD... but so friggin GOOD at the same time considering the circumstances. You gotta give them a lot of credit. Without Tyner and Thompson, Kramer and Smith know they're up the creek without a paddle. You can tell from the glances going between them that they're wondering if the gig's gonna fly.... or crash and burn like a torched bag of dogshit dropped off a ten story building.

did the band break up prior to this gig? where was Rob and Machine Gun ?

MC2

wtf kinda intro was that ,,

Who's singing Gloria!

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somebody is crying bout their friend....

Wine Kramer😅😂🤣

The way the riff gets like an empty hearted slow key too it as they just...start, ”I Want You” from silence there, and it is so damn hard and far as it wanders away like the pain from a lost life. That they are right within, Sonic and Kramer, 1972, in Finland. In front of what seems to be as far from Detroit or Ann Harbour as you can ever get. I am sad on the song choices and screwed zooming. But this bleeds and there is a story to be told, on what was to happen and what had been going on the past years of these icons as they will write City Slang, and team up as Sonics Rendesvouz Band, or, use JD and coke to end up in jail for a long time. A time Wayne now has surpassed his old partner Sonic with, since of the loss of Fred ”Sonic” Smith in late 1994. This is not at all the best mc5 lineup or gig, in a classical way. But how they perform it and under the circumstances that are Hollywood stuff plots, it is a huge document of a short frame of time that also saw the last great acts of the Detroit era end or form. As the industri looked elsewhere, we had SRB. And. I could go on. You know what I mean or not. // Fundraise Scott morgan btw, check it out

wAYNE WITH HIS mc5 TOUR WAS OK BUT TO NOT DENNIS THOMPSON ON BOARD WAS REALLY BAD. THE DKT TOUR WITH ALL THOSE BOYS HELELECOPTERES LEMMY WAS SO GOOD SHIT i AM OLD THAT HAD TO BE 25 YEARS AGO AT LEAST hAVE THE FULL VIDEO WITH A LOT OF INTERESTING HISTORY OF JAIL CELLS & LIKE! jUST ENJOY THE MUSIC NOT THE FALL OUT I MSAY!

I adore MC5 but this is spooky

As they say, "Bloody awful". Whatever this is, it ain't the MC5. Maybe the MC2 plus a hired drummer and bass player. I'd give them an E for effort but the magic is gone here.

Punk before punk, metal before metal, the high tide (and time) of rock n roll, period. And waayyyy to cool for any watered down RNR HOF nonsense... 🐒