ABC In Concert 91 promo 1991

 

Commercial for the In Concert 91 broadcast on ABC 

Acts included Poison, Slaughter,  Bullet Boys

The In Concert series premiered on November 24, 1972, preempting The Dick Cavett Show. The first episode was the broadcast of a concert taped at Hofstra University on September 21, 1972, with Alice Cooper, Bo Diddley, Curtis Mayfield, and Seals & Crofts. The second episode, broadcast on December 8, 1972, and again preempting Cavett, featured The Allman Brothers Band and Chuck Berry. David Sontag became the executive producer of In Concert starting with the 3rd show and for the rest of the first season. Don Kirshner had no direct connection with the show after the second episode except that the production credits listed In Concert as a "David Sontag Production" and a "Don Kirshner Production". Starting with the 3rd episode there was no host; Joshua White (Joshua Lightshow) became the director and the voice-over announcing the acts and serving as the production stage manager was Chip Monk, often known as the voice of Woodstock.

In January 1973, both The Dick Cavett Show and In Concert became part of ABC's Wide World of Entertainment programming block. Kirshner left in late 1973 to produce the syndicated series Don Kirshner's Rock Concert. In Concert continued to appear approximately every other Friday night until it left the ABC schedule on April 25, 1975.

During its three seasons on the air, the series received four Primetime Emmy Awards.

The series was revived on June 7, 1991, under the name In Concert '91. It was intended to be a summer replacement for Rick Dees' late-night series Into The Night. In Concert '91 proved to be more popular and achieved high ratings for a late-night show on Fridays. Into the Night was consequently not brought back for the next season. In Concert '91 featured both newer performers (e.g. Alice in Chains, Poison) and more established acts (e.g. David Bowie, Cher, Judas Priest, Phil Collins), and was simulcast in stereo on ABC radio stations. It was renamed ABC In Concert in January 1992 and aired its final episode on September 11, 1998.