During the 1970s, I remember staying up late on a Friday night to "The Midnight Special" on NBC-TV. Long before MTV and and the digital age, that show gave us a closer look at some of the top artists of the day, performing live on stage.

Here's more about the show, according to Wikipedia:

"The Midnight Special is an American late-night musical variety series that aired on NBC during the 1970s and early 1980s, created and produced by Burt Sugarman. It premiered as a special on August 19, 1972, then began its run as a regular series on February 2, 1973; its last episode was on May 1, 1981. The ninety-minute program followed the Friday night edition of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.

The Midnight Special was noted for featuring musical acts performing live, which was unusual since most television appearances during the era showed performers lip-synching to prerecorded music.

The program's theme song, a traditional folk song called "Midnight Special", was performed by Johnny Rivers."

Watch this video of Heart performing "Crazy On You" on a 1977 edition of "The Midnight Special". I was blown away watching the incredible ability of Nancy Wilson on the acoustic guitar.

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