thanks, awesome

Not Long Beach. 74-01-26 New York, New York, Academy of Music, Chuck Pulin photographer.

Ros, I will not argue with you, since...the reasons are obvious; you have the better sources etc etc, so please don't get me wrong, brother, BUT:

as you can see in the pictures from 1974-01-26 (Paul has the bandit make up and the "half-glittery-hot pants", right?), the middle one of the three Marshall stacks is being mic'ed in the lower right corner of the lower cabinet. Here they mic the upper left speaker of the lower cabinet of the middle stack. Do you say they changed the mic position during the show? Also, the flight case next to the far right Marshall stack (far away from drums) is positioned exactly like the one in the pictures from mentioned Long Beach concert. Also, I do not see Ace wearing a big-ass ring on the right hand middle finger, like in the other photos from Academy from JAN 26th. Further, the curtains in the background match exactly those in the long angle shots from the Long Beach gig. Thus, please support your claim - I am genuinely intrigued and open to correction. Thank you so much! (PS. looking forward to "Magic" so much!!!!)

paulaucoin,
You are absolutely correct. I was mistaken.
That photo was part of a collection of photos by Chuck Pulin with the same angles and lighting as pix from 1/26/74 Academy and I didn't examine it closely enough to spot the differences.
Interestingly, the road case next to the amps in this photo appears to be black while the one in the Jeffrey Mayer pix from Long Beach is clearly maroon/purple. I believe that is due to the lighting.
All the clues in this photo match those from Long Beach. In addition to the ones you listed, another clue is the type of cable jack Ace is using. It's a right angle jack instead of his normal straight jack as seen in other photos from Academy.

I really appreciate you speaking up and correcting me on this. I try very hard to be accurate but I am not infallible. It's very helpful to have other sharp eyes on these photos to more clearly tell the story of those MAGIC years. Also, thank you for your support for my book.

Ros, thank you so very much - you just made my day...and know that a couple of really sweet things happened to me today already!

You're very welcome.