Season 4, Episode 13

Don Kirshner (born April 17, 1934), known as "The Man With the Golden Ear", was an American song publisher and rock producer who was best known for managing songwriting talent as well as successful pop groups such as The Monkees and The Archies.

Don Kirshner's Rock Concert was a television music variety show that ran during the 1970s and early 1980s, created and produced by Don Kirshner and syndicated to television stations. It premiered on 27 September  1973 with a performance by The Rolling Stones; its last episode was in 1981.

With its long-form live performances, as compared to canned, often lip-synched performances that were the staple of earlier TV shows like Shindig!, it was a real breakthrough. The program featured many of the popular performers of the day during its run. Other notable guests included The Eagles, KISS, Foghat, The Ramones, Kansas and The Allman Brothers Band. The total number of episodes was 230.

ABBA performed six songs (listed in order that they are listed in the US TV Archive): Rock Me, Dancing Queen, Fernando, Mamma Mia, Waterloo, SOS.  They wore the white Arrival jumpsuits throughout.

Running order for the programme:

1. Natural Gas (Comedy Troupe)
2. Ohio Players - Love Roller Coaster
3. Natural Gas
4. Ohio Players - Who'd She Coo
5. Natural Gas
6. ABBA - Waterloo and SOS
7. Natural Gas
8. ABBA - Rock Me and Dancing Queen
9. Mike Preminger (comedian)
10. ABBA - Fernando
11. Ohio Players - Fire
12. ABBA - Mamma Mia

Note that they had also performed Waterloo, SOS, Rock Me and Mamma Mia on their previous appearance a year earlier in 1975.

Don Kirshner died in 2011.

We may have an answer as to why Don Kirshner's Rock Concert has not been released on DVD. According to the website Historic Films, Don Kirshner sold all his masters to them company back in 2002. Historic Films licenses video footage out for any type of production. They operate as a stock video library/historical archive organization and have a treasure trove of stuff. The footage is made available for a fee to Film and Television Producers, Ad Agencies, Corporate Producers, Feature Film Producers and Documentary Filmmakers as stock footage. Don Kirshner's masters are allegedly in near pristine condition). So unless Historic Films agree to it, DVD releases of Rock Concert may never be released. However, the company also licences the Ed Sullivan Show and there are DVDs available for that so you never know.

You might find it on DVD Volume 35 here

Lyrics available on the Official ABBA site: Waterloo, SOS, Rock Me, Dancing Queen, Fernando, Mamma Mia

Don Kirshner's Rock Concert (SOS, Hey Hey Helen, Waterloo, Rock Me, Mamma Mia), 1975;
Don Kirshner's New Rock Concert (Rock Me, Dancing Queen, Fernando, Mamma Mia, Waterloo, SOS), 1976;

Archive data from historicfilms.com:

ROCK MUSIC
00 00 00 - 01 30 43 NATURAL GAS COMEDY TROUPE: VIC DUNLOP, WALTER DUNLOP, ANN KELLOGG, GLEN WARREN, RON JANCULA 00 02 54 NATURAL GAS COMEDY...
File VM-1904
Description: 00 00 00 - 01 30 43
NATURAL GAS COMEDY TROUPE: VIC DUNLOP, WALTER DUNLOP, ANN KELLOGG, GLEN WARREN, RON JANCULA
00 02 54 NATURAL GAS COMEDY TROUPE, MAD SCIENTIST & HUNCHBACK SKIT
00 06 38 NATURAL GAS COMEDY TROUPE, PANHANDLER HOMELESS MAN ON CITY STREET
00 07 41 OHIO PLAYERS - LOVE ROLLERCOASTER
00 09 24 CALIFORNIA POP-LOCKING, BREAK DANCING
00 17 28 NATURAL GAS COMEDY TROUPE, TOYOTA COMMERCIAL PARODY
PRE-ELVIRA CASSANDRA PETERSON IN BIKINI.
00 18 15 OHIO PLAYERS - WHO'D SHE COO
00 24 00 NATURAL GAS COMEDY TROUPE, SHOW BIZ TYPES AT UNEMPLOYMENT OFFICE.
00 29 53 NATURAL GAS COMEDY TROUPE, OFFICE SKETCH
00 30 43 ABBA - WATERLOO
00 33 38 - S.O.S.
00 39 10 NATURAL GAS COMEDY TROUPE, BARBERSHOP SHAVING SKETCH
00 40 47 ABBA - ROCK ME
00 43 55 - DANCING QUEEN
00 50 09 MICHAEL PREMINGER, STAND-UP COMIC
TOPICS: COMEDIANS WHO CAN'T TAKE A JOKE, PILGRIMS, CULTS, RELIGIONS
01 02 15 NATURAL GAS COMEDY TROUPE, JOGGING SKETCH
01 02 40 ABBA - FERNANDO
01 09 03 CROWD CLAPPING & CHANTING: WE WANT MORE!
01 09 39 OHIO PLAYERS - FIRE
01 20 20 GUITARIST SUGARFOOT BONNER DOES SOME SCATTING.
01 24 10 ABBA - MAMMA MIA
Genre ROCK MUSIC
Year 1976
Color COLOR
Length 1 HOUR, 30 MINUTES

Thanks to Lucas Gabriel, Philip Muytjens, Dustin, Stephen Cleary, Alexei Zviaguintsev, Harold Hanlon, Maria Nicholas, Dr Saqib, Erik Liebstaedter, Guido, Jozsef, Dario Briggman, Alexandre Carvalho, Sam Shervz and Yuri.
YouTube link c/o Andreee Agnetha I Love Abba