Emptywheel Blog Live Music II: Electric Bugaloo
So, last weekend we did a live music discussion that turned out to be unexpectedly wildly popular. So, this weekend, we will do a related followup as to the concerts we have all been to. This was suggested by our Roving Reporter Rosalind and, trust me, she has some heavy experience with concerts.
So, here we go. What was your:
First concert you attended:
Stadium:
Arena:
Club:
When:
Favorite Concert:
Stadium:
Arena:
Club:
When:
Last concert you attended pre quarantine:
Stadium:
Arena:
Club:
When:
Bonus Question!
Concert/Artist you most want to see once quarantine is lifted:
Post music today is the Monkees with I’m Not Your Stepping Stone. And, yeah, that is one of my answers. Specifically the first concert I ever attended. It was on January 21, 1967, at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix. It was fine, but you could barely hear the music because of the crowd screaming (a problem with the Beatles first forays into the US too). I was a little kid, but the senior in high school across the street from us agreed to take me. It was pretty fun. But there is a sad turn here too. My mother promised me a concert for my birthday. I really wanted to see The Doors, but they were not scheduled for Phoenix yet. The Monkees were, and I figured there would be time later to see the Doors, so I went to the Monkees. The Doors came the next year, I didn’t get to go, and then Morrison died a couple of years later. I finally caught the Doors in college, but was just not the same without Morrison. Ah well, regrets I have a few.
Okay, you mopes know exactly what to do. Let’s rip this joint.
I saw Paul Revere and the Raiders at Hampton Beach NH in the 60’s.
Right now, I crave Lola from the Kinks.
Be safe.
First concert you attended: 1965, local pop artist who sang english hits that had been translated.
Stadium: 1975, Pink Floyd, Autostade, Montréal. They played Dark Side of the moon and a few animals songs.
Arena: 1971, Grand Funk Railroad, Montréal Forum,
Club: 1967, Thelenious Monk, Expo 67 pre-show at the town hall.
Favorite Concert:
Stadium: 1992, U2, Zoo tv, Olympic Stadium
Arena: Peter Gabriel, 1993, Secret World tour, Bell Center
Club: Laurie Anderson, 1984, Spectrum montréal, David Bowie was sitting next to me taking notes.
Last concert you attended pre quarantine:
Stadium: U2, 2010, Pop mart, Blue bonnets horse track, Montréal
Arena: U2, last tour, Centre Bell, I was shooting that day.
Club: Wonder Trois Quatre, Genius musical improv, Petit Campus, march 14. 15 days earlier, I had my tumerous right kidney removed, made it through half the show, I’m lucky.
Bonus Question!
Concert/Artist you most want to see once quarantine is lifted: Bowie but that won’t happen.
I saw David Bowie twice. I would probably trade at least one of those experiences to have sat next to him while he was studying another artist. That sounds pretty great.
1st concert 1974 Pablo Cruise opened for Boz Scaggs, California Theatre, Santa Rosa
Favorite concert – besides the next one coming up was the private party for the opening of the Hard Rock in Las Vegas in The Joint
Last preCV19 concert(s) stones at San Jose sat in the sound booth watching David mix the show on a 70’s analog mixing board/Hardly, Strictly Bluegrass Golden Gate Park/X, Ace of Spades Sacramento. It was one hell of a fall 2019 was.
Concert/artist to see Grace Potter since John Prine has died.
The 2 I missed and greatly regret: The Last Waltz and the last Sex Pistols show, Winterland San Francisco
Oooh. I’m a huge Grace Potter fan. I had been monitoring her website to see if tours were coming up, but hadn’t seen anything before things shut down.
Grace Potter is an immense talent; she gives a great show.
First Concert
Simon & Garfunkel
Washington University Field House
March 1967
was a senior in high school
Favorite Concert (a)
The Band
Mississippi River Festival
Edwardsville, Ill.
July 1969
Bob Dylan—who checked into a local hotel as “Elmer Johnson”—made a surprise appearance during the first encore, and a Charlie Chaplin short was put up to let everyone know the concert was indeed over.
Favorite Concert (b)
John Hammond, Jr, opening for Frank Zappa and the Mothers, who gave way to The Mahavishnu Orchestra
Milwaukee Arena
Milwaukee, Wis.
May 1973
John Hammond says, “I feel like a French fry in a bowl of caviar.”
Favorite Concert (c)—kidding!
Last pre-quarantine concert
I’m in a village in NE Thailand and technically not under quarantine.
Nevertheless (I think)
Bob Dylan
Patriot Center
George Mason University
Fairfax, Va.
November 2002
Some reviews describing the crazy shenanigans during “Summer Days:”
http://www.boblinks.com/112202r.html
Oh yeah on the John Hammond!! I saw him on Kodiak back in the 80’s and he blew me awayyyyy. I’ve never seen anyone play the entire guitar, body and all, the way he did.
An oh yeah again, Carsie is live streaming from her face book page right now!
Dylan and The Band at Cap Center 3 nights in a row in ‘76 (if I can remember correctly). Brilliant.
First: Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, small auditorium: Will the Circle Be Unbroken era, Mr. Bojangles, early Kenny Loggins set, with House at Pooh Corner.
Favorite: James Taylor, amphitheater, post-Carly Simon, Only a Dream in Rio era, the early favorites with a mature, mellow, drug-free voice.
Last: But for a fluke, it would be Yanni Live at the Forbidden City. Saved by a friend, it was Flushing Meadows, 2018, a short guy with a sweet guitar and great back-up, saying goodbye.
Post-Trump, post-Covid-19: Colin Hay.
Colin is fun; his wife has some singing talent, as well. Still, not a giant in the pantheon. Have seen Kenny Loggins in 200 seat room twice, and he was inspired and truly humble. Short guy with a guitar at Flushing Meadows? Do you mean Forest Hills? Paul Simon?
Last show. that would not have been paul simon, eh?
I was a later starter to concerts compared to High School friends, but my first was Journey in 1980 at Hara Arena. After the Steel Wheels tour, I vowed never to pay big money to see a big band at a huge venue and I kept that promise.
Most impactful single concert for me was Rodger Water’s Wall Tour in Columbus, Ohio in 2009?
While I wasn’t much of a Police guy in high school: I was lucky enough to see them at one of the best lineups (IMHO) that Bonnaroo ever offered in 2007. Sting is a fantastic bassist and those 4 days were a blazing hot dirty marathon of great bands, great people watching and great moments. John Paul Jones playing at the Super Jam with Ben Harper with Questlove was as close as I got to a Led Zeppelin concert. John Paul also stepped in to play Mandolin with Gillian Welch for Miss Ohio…I sung every word.
Best 3 Band lineup….STP, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Pearl Jam at Riverbend.
Numerous Honorable mentions, but Bruce Springsteen’s final show of the River Tour in 1981 at Riverfront Coliseum was a classic.
heh, me and bmaz:
First: Monkees with Jimi Hendrix opening, Forest Hills, New York, 1967
Favorite: Grateful Dead, Allman Bothers, Love, Fillmore East, Feb. 13, 1970
Favorite 2: Rolling Stones, Madison Sq Garden, 1972
Last: Paul Simon, Greek Theater, Berkeley, 2016 (yeah, don’t go much anymore)
Post quarantine: SF Airship, anywhere
Hahaha, that was undoubtedly the same Monkees tour I saw, and yes Hendrix did open several of the shows. I was not that lucky. The opening act here was a group featuring a couple of girls called “The Apollos”. They were actually pretty good, but the crowd gave them little respect.
Byrds and Commander Cody at SUNY Stony Brook…1967?
First concert: Roxy Music
Uptown Theater, Chicago
When: 1979
Favorite Concert: Talking Heads
Where: Arragon Ballroom, Chicago
When: 1980
Last Concert: Adam Ant
Where: The Vic, Chicago
When: 2019
Yeah, I’m an MTV kinda guy.
I was at that Talking Heads concert in 1980! It was great!
I wrote elsewhere about seeing that tour in Champaign, Byrne dancing backwards almost the whole show, shaking his sweat all over – I was about 4th row and, yeah, he got some on me. “I’ve changed my hairstyle, so many times now …”
First concert: Chambers Bros and Steve Miller Blues Band with Boz Skaggs and Ben Sidran @ San Francisco State U Feb. 1967
Favorite was an impromptu performance by The Jimmy Hendrix Experience in SF Pan Handle on a flat-bed truck, June 1967.
Ben Sidran! When I was just a stupid teen, I asked him if he’d heard of Mose Allison; apologized 30 years later. He was gracious. Played with so many great jazz musicians and is a true scholar.
Okay, I’ll take my best shot at filling out the grid. The Monkees thing was a real concert, say what you will, but I was just a young kid.
The first show I actually drove to, with a carful of friends in tow, was Rod Stewart and Faces in Phoenix in 1973 or so. Can’t remember exactly where. For anybody that didn’t see Rod the Mod back in the 70’s, you missed out. He and Faces were incredible.
My favorite concert is impossible to answer. I’ll give a few that are tied for favorites, pretty much all in Phoenix: The Stones in Tucson featuring Linda Ronstadt (speaks for itself), Bowie, still in Ziggy mode early 1976 (WOW!), Floyd 1975 Wish You Were Here Tour (most surreal and incredible thing ever), Blue Oyster Cult Secret Treaties Tour (Jesus, they blew the place up), Springsteen at Grady Gammage Auditorium at ASU in 75 (he almost collapsed the Frank Lloyd Wright place), Wings at the Fabulous Forum in 1976 (Don’t laugh, they were great). Lou Reed in the Celebrity Theater (Played basically the Rock and Roll Animal set. Lou was so jonesed out that the roadies basically carried him on to the stage, where he proceeded to totally rip, and then came out and carried him off. It was ridiculously good) There are so many more, but those really stand out.
For smaller venues etc: Spirit in a huge bar in Tempe known as Dooleys (I was pretty close to the stage), was insanely good. The Tubes in the aforementioned Celebrity Theater were amazing. INXS at an old high school gym (Holy crap were they incredible). Linda Ronstadt at a private party at the Colony in Malibu (nuff said). Again, there are so many, this is a tough quiz.
The last concert I saw before Covid quarantine: That’s easy, and would be the Stones at the end of last August in Phoenix. Yes, they are still fantastic.
Act I would like to see once this hell is over: I’m not sure. I am getting too long in the tooth for the stadium and arena shows. And I no longer have the friends in the business that gave me all the free badges and passes. So, I don’t know, probably somebody emerging and playing a small venue.
When anybody but Bernie Mac says, “‘Nuff said,” it usually means there’s enough story there to keep Mikael Blomkvist busy all winter. Do tell. I assume that music at the Colony was during the peak of your motor racing heyday.
I was in Santa Monica for the summer restoring classic cars. One of my co-worker’s parents had a “rental property” (they rented the joint to Led Zep one summer) in the Colony, so he had gate privileges. He took me with him.
“He took me with him.” I’m rereading Raymond Chandler as we speak. What sort of classic cars? Muscle, Brit?
Rolls Royce, Packards, Pierce Arrows, Bentleys, Cadillacs, Alfa Romeos, etc.
Mod Rod with Ron Wood’s Faces were truly great, but what I would give to see Steve Marriott’s small face any day over Rod’s.
Spirit is one that i really would love to have seen.
There is no way to describe just how great it was.
No laughing-Wings Over America tour was incredible. Again, 3 nights at Cap Center.
First Concert:
?/?/1954, Marian Anderson @ Lyric Theater in Baltimore, MD
This concert broke the color barrier: she was the first African-American to perform at that venue. I was 12 and attended with my parents and grandparents, who had helped to arrange it.
Most Memorable Concert
8/1/1971 The Concert for Bangladesh @ Madison Square Garden, NYC
Need I say more?
Last Concert (not just “the most recent”)
7/15/2017 Jackson Brown & Willie Nelson @ Merriweather Pavilion Columbia, MD
Jackson Browne @ Merriweather had special meaning for me & my wife but we found the (primo) seating so uncomfortable (oddly, we seem not as limber as we were 40 years ago) that we left just as Willie was getting started.
Bless you, BroD. I’ve been to Merriweather only once and the seating and venue sucked so bad I don’t even remember who I went to see. lolol
Of course, back in the day, we were on the lawn.
Beatles at Candlestick.
WHOA!
What BMAZ said.
P J wins!!
First, last, and only rock concert – the only other one I’ve been to was a symphonic concert/light show at the Concord Pavilion, where I discovered I can’t handle the “smoke” they use.
Unless somebody here was on the roof at Apple for Get Back in 1969, P J clearly wins. As Wayne and Garth once said, “We’re not worthy!”
First Concert: Herb Albert and the Tijuana Brass in San Francisco
Bonus points: Opening Act: George Carlin in suit and tie
Shortest Concert: Janis Joplin, Oklahoma City 1969 (arrested on stage)
Wait, what was Janis arrested?
If memory serves, it was an indecent exposure charge..
The OKC police took her off the stage but she may not have been charged. It was a long time ago and I don’t recall the particulars.
First concert: Chambers Brothers ( With 100 homemade counterfeit tickets we perforated with a serrated kitchen knife) Guessing it was 1969
Spectrum in Philadelphia where I later worked for 20 years as bar back/bartender. The roadies from Zappa came into the Ovations club where we were setting up for Brunch for eagles game who played across the Street. Zappa was playing spectrum later that night. we weren’t open yet but I got them coffee and croissants. When we did open, they ordered bloody Mary’s and started hub bubbin with the eagles fans. Their flute player’s name was Napolean. My brother and his friend came in who is about as wing- tipped as you can get. But now they are all drinking and yukking it up.
It’s 11AM .My brother goes over to the game, and the Zappetes go down the concourse to set up. When the games over my brother comes back, and the zappetes come in too. My brother and his friend are mangled.
It’s 4:30 PM. The club closes at 6:30. Napoleon had put 2 tickets in my brothers shirt pocket earlier. When club closes we waddle down the concourse ( security isn’t on yet) and into the Flyers dressing room where there is food and booze. Now security comes on. I’m dressed in black pants white shirt no tie. Suddenly as it getting close to curtain time the group starts moving from that hospitality room to visitors dressing room next door being . I hear a commotion outside the door. I look out and see security has my brother and his friend by the scruff of the neck carting them away. Screams of ‘We with him. We’re with him!” is all I hear as distance grows. They had no lanyard badges and security wung them.
I had no lanyard either but in the commotion I squeezed in with the group next thing I know Im in the dressing room. I was hanging tight to the one roadie ( I thought) who I had got coffee for that morning. He walks into the trainers room off to the side and I saunter in with him
There 2 women, two us us , and sitting playing guitar with a mini amp is Zappa. So far so good. There’s chit chat for a minute or two. Then’s there’s a suspicious glance thrown my way by Zappa. I’m like 22, short haircut.
Realizing I will be joining my brother shortly I looked Mr Zappa in the eyes and asked him calmly, ‘Mr Zappa, have you ever accepted Jesus into your heart? He laughed and motioned to my sponsor to boot me.
As I was leaving , I heart another commotion in the hallway.
Now there’s guards and cops manhandling tow guys. My brother and his buddy went outside and use the tickets Napoleon had given them to come back in to fight the ushers who had tossed them.
True Story. I also bullshitted my way backstage at a WHO Concert in Brussels in 1972 . I had a beer with Keith Moon but that’s a different story.
Last Pre-Q concert- New Sound Brass Band- 2nd Street January 1, Philadelphia 9 AM . See tape.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esqU_YbCScI
First Concert: Police on Zenyatta Mondatta tour 1981 at Oakland Colliseum. Iggy Pop opened. He was doing his Iggy dance and swinging his black t-shirt which a girl from the audience grabbed. He screamed “hey let go of my t-shirt, I paid 20 bucks for this thing”.
Favorite Concert: Fugazi 1989 at Columbia University NYC
Last Pre Quarantine Concert: Duran Duran at Barkley’s Center 2017. Chic opened up and blew them out of the water, just before Nile Rogers died.
Quarantine-lift artist must see: Paul Weller formerly of the Jam playing everything from “Setting Sons”
I think you mean Bernard Edwards?
No, I meant Nile. I thought he had died but he’s still here with us. At the time, he announced that he had prostate cancer. My bad, sorry.
Read Niles’ biography; he’s a genius and a mensch. The Material album with him, Tony Thompson, Nona Hendrix, and a very young Whitney Houston is a must. As for Weller, I have seen him more than 20 times, and he is absolutely a transcendent rocker.
First concert you attended:
Stadium: The Who, USC/LA Stadium, 1982
Arena: The Who, Portland, OR, 1976
Club: Ron Steen Trio, Brasserie Montmartre, Portland, OR, 1979 The best excuse for underage drinking, ever.
Favorite Concert:
Stadium: An oxymoron — I can’t stand stadium concerts. The Who was the first and only one I ever went to.
Arena: Fleetwood Mac, Verizon Center, 2015. They put the drama away just enough to let their professional genius show through on this tour. I’m truly grateful we were able to see the Fleetwood – McVies – Buckingham – Nicks configuration live.
Club: Three, because why not:
Cassandra Wilson, 930 Club, Washington, DC, 1996. Just after New Moon Daughter and Blue Lights Until Dawn. An absolutely mesmerizing performance.
LCD Soundsystem, Crystal Ballroom, Portland, OR, 2010 I’ve seen LCD Soundsystem more than any other act, and this was my favorite performance because “This is Happening” had just been release, the band was blowing up, and they were both ready for and completely not expecting the response. Also, Nancy Whang’s mother was in the audience, so there’s that.
Yola, 930 Club, Washington DC, January 2020 Yola is a force of nature, and her debut album deserved all the attention it received, and more. Her performance was magical, musical, and she owned the room — which may be one of the best places to see a band perform live, anywhere.
Last concert you attended pre quarantine:
Arena: Michael Kiwanuka, February 2020
Club: Raphael Saadiq, February 2020
Yes, Yola is amazing. Her life story is amazing and she is a very emotional singer with something to say. I confess, the original 930 was the room, even though the ‘new’ one has better sound. One of ‘my’ acts, Joydrop, had one of their early shows there. Haven’t been back in about 15 years. The Mac in 1974-5 (can’t recall) with Jefferson Starship opening was pretty amazing. We older folks are fortunate to be able to say, with a tip o’ the hat to James Murphy: I was there!
I had to think long and hard about that first concert and I am still not exactly sure which came first– Sonny and Cher at the Chicago theater or Herman’s Hermit’s at the Amphitheatre.
Both were in Chicago in 1966…. that being said it is possible that Herman was in early 67.
I think Sonny and Cher were promoting a movie they made. My best friend and I were allowed to take the train downtown at night (that was a biggie). We were both 12! It was the old Illinois Central which was the commuter train on the south side. We both polished our go-go boots and off we went. Herman’s Hermits was memorable mostly because I met Eric Clapton. Same friend and I went to hang out at the hotel where the Herman and group were staying- with our autograph books! We never met Herman et al but this nice young man chatted with us about why we were hanging out. His band was just getting ready to release an album “sour cream” — but because we liked Herman’s Hermits we would not like his music. I just want to add he was not creepy and was not trying to pick us up- he was just curious. We talked for along time and I watched for the album for months– determined that I was going to like it. When it came out the title was changed to Fresh Crème and I have to admit it took me a while to like it.
Most memorable concert was in 1969 or 70- Blues night at the Kinetic Playground on Chicago’s north side. I had to sneak to go there because we were south siders and the northside was dangerous. The headliners were BB King, Albert King and Janis Joplin. The starting band was an unheard of band called “Santana.” Turns out I only heard Santana. Albert King was too drunk to come on stage and BB King got pissed and left. Santana graciously kept playing but then a rumor started that the police were outside busting kids for curfew. I snuck out in a group of “old” people. Never got to see Janis. In typical chicago fashion it turned out the cops were only busting kids of color so I was safe anyway.
Funny but the last concert I saw is also the one I most want to see if we ever get to go to concerts again. Gordon Lightfoot! He played at a venue on the northside of Chicago (its not so dangerous now on the northside!) a few years ago – I think it is called the Copernicus theater. He was supposed to come back and play again last fall and he was injured and it was rescheduled for the end of March. Sigh.
Spell check got fancy — it was Fresh Cream.
Spell check sucks. It probably kills me more on Twitter than here, but still. Also, too, if I am not filing it with a court, I am a truly horrible proofreader.
The worst is when it changes the name of the judge! One of my favorite judges, the late Judge Moran…. (NDIL) became Judge Moron.
Fortunately he had a sense of humor.
Lol. I am the last proofreader of my filings. In the old days, I just dictated all of it on a Lanier and seeing the output from my secretary was almost like seeing it the first time. Easy to see the errors. But in later years I actually type most of it myself. And after you have spent that much time with the pleading, it is WAY too easy to gloss by errors in it. Progress is funny.
Dead on analysis…I have to read it out loud so my brain does not insert what I thought I wrote.
Exactly. Your eyes alone will just blithely blow along.
To check spelling read the document backwards. Boring but effective.
I know far too many called that … by others, of course.
OMG, Sonny & Cher!! After mucho begging my mom took me to see them at the Circle Star Theatre in San Carlos. The intertoobz tell me that was in August 1972. Have to revise my first concert to elementary school. LOL.
Firsts –
Stadium: Beach Boys/Chicago, Oakland Stadium 1975 Day on the Green
Arena: Queen, Oakland Coliseum, 1977 “News of the World” tour
Club: Greg Kihn, Catalyst, Santa Cruz
Favs –
Stadium: the first remains my fav…started me down my RnR path.
Arena: too many to choose, but many Cow Palace memories are flooding back: Fleetwood Mac “Tusk” tour 1979, Tom Petty & Heartbreakers 1979ish, U2 “Unforgettable Fire” tour 1985, The Police “Ghost In The Machine” tour 1982, …
Club: tied between The Blasters w/Los Lobos opening @ Catalyst, 1983 and Stevie Ray Vaughan @ Keystone Palo Alto, 1983
Last Show attended: Rodney Crowell at Lincoln Theatre, Mt Vernon WA, Fall 2019
Most want to see post-lockdown: Tom Jones!!! (a link in last week’s post reminded me of his awesome TV show duet w/Janis Joplin – got to see this true living legend)
The Monkees: a tribute to the now late Adam Schlesinger (coronavirus), who wrote and produced much of the music on the Monkees great CD “Good Times” – my fav song: https://youtu.be/FfruDTmFDUA
First concert you attended:
J.Geils Band
Surf Nantasket, MA
met J. Geils before performance.
Fav: Pink Floyd
Stadium: Boston Garden
When: 1973+/-
2nd: Bryan Ferry
Stadium: Great Woods Performing Arts Center, Mansfield, MA (now Xfinity)
When: 1989
3rd: James Taylor
Great Woods
c: 1987
4th: Little Feat
Stadium: Great Woods
When: 1989
5th: Van Morrison
Arena: Avalon, Landsdowne St, Boston
When: 1992
6th: Stevie Ray Vaughn
Arena: Channel, Fort Pt Channel, Boston
When: 1989ish
Last: Sawyer Fredericks band
Arena: Schoharie County Fairgrounds, NY
When: 2016
Concert/Artist you most want to see once quarantine is lifted:
Gary Clarke, Jr
Whoa, as we discussed on last weekend’s thread, early Geils was as good as it gets. Too many people only know that Centerfold crap, and not how unbelievably incredible they were live.
Great harmonica, high energy. Lotta fun.
I saw Van Morrison that same year in Berkeley. I think it was when he came back to touring after getting clean.
He had recently released Poetic Champions Compose. I was able to get right up against the stage, standing room only. He played sax and harmonica.
add: Emerson Lake & Palmer
Arena: Cape Cod Coliseum
When: 1971
i believe J. Geils open for Emerson, Lake and Palmer at Madison Square Garden around 1974-5 iirc
After checking, realize the date for the Boston Garden Pink Floyd concert was June 18, 1975.
Found a link to a decent live recording of that event. Amazing experience.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHJob9qx2M8
00:00:00 Raving And Drooling (Sheep);
00:12:45 You’ve Gotta Be Crazy (Dogs);
00:26:00 Shine On You Crazy Diamond I-V;
00:38:15 Have A Cigar;
00:42:45 Shine On You Crazy Diamond VI-IX;
00:54:32 Speak To Me;
01:00:10 Breathe;
01:02:50 On The Run;
01:07:35 Time;
01:13:37 The Great Gig In The Sky;
01:19:30 Money;
01:27:30 Us And Them;
01:34:46 Any Colour You Like;
01:42:57 Brain Damage;
01:46:43 Eclipse;
01:51:00 Echoes
you’ve gotta hear the recording…esp from 38:00 Have a Cigar…
“come in here, dear boy, have a cigar, you’re gonna go far,
you’re gonna fly high, you’re never gonna die, you’re gonna make if you try, they’re gonna love you.
I’ve always had the deep respect,I mean that most sincere
the band is just fantastic that is really what I think,
oh, by the way, which one is Pink?
we’re just knocked out
we heard about the sellout
we’ve gotta get an album out
you owe it to the people
we’re so happy we can hardly count
every one else is just greeedy
have you seen the charts?
It’s a helluva start
and if we tell you the name of the game, boy
we call it riding the gravy train.
First concert you attended: Irma Thomas
Club: F & M Patio, New Orleans
When: 1966
Favorite Concert: The Who
Stadium: Somewhere in Memphis
When: 1971?
Last concert you attended pre quarantine: Zakir Hussain
Stadium: The Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco
When: 2000
Everything is mushy in my brain from 1969 to 1973.
First: Paul Revere and the Raiders at the Oakland Coliseum
Small venue: Jerry Lee Lewis at a Holiday Inn in Sacramento, sat 10′ from his piano
Unexpected: Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen at a party in Piedmont
High School All Night Graduation Party: Tower of Power (Manager’s brother in my class) at a bowling alley the day “You’re Still A Young Man” went #1
Physically beautiful: Paul Simon at the Hollywood Bowl with a HUGE moon rising early 70’s
Blur: Grateful Dead at Winterland and Fillmore, San Francisco
Favorite: Willie Nelson at the Greek, Berkeley couple years ago
Last Concert: John Stone from Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge Nashville at my daughter’s wedding last summer in Franklin, Tennessee
Looking forward to: being outside with friends and family listening to someone good with a cocktail in my hand…not gonna be picky
First concert attended: Moody Blues, LA Forum 1970 (mom drove, I was in junior high)
Stadium: The Who & Grateful Dead, Oakland Coliseum October 1976. One of my buddies (a dedicated Deadhead) turned to me after Pete Townsend did a scissors kick on stage and scoffed “is that any way for a 35 year old man to act?” I’m hoping to catch that slightly older Mr. Townsend once more pretty soon.
Club: Jackson Browne, UCDavis 1974
Favorite Concert: Rolling Stones, LA Forum July 11, 1975. Nothing comes close, including the other half dozen+ live Stones shows I’ve seen. Honorable mention to Bruce Springsteen at Sacramento Memorial Auditorium, October 29, 1975 — for two reasons, (1) the show took place two days after both Time and Newsweek put Bruce on their covers and well, it was an electrified environment that the band fully actualized and (2) in what remains the best encore I’ve ever had the good fortune to see, Bruce took the stage alone at the piano after completely blowing away everyone and played, for the evening’s fourth and final encore, “For You”. You could hear a pin drop, it was like everyone held their breath through the whole performance. Mesmerizing.
Stadium: Grateful Dead & Jefferson Starship, Lindley Meadows (Golden Gate Park) September 28, 1975. Free show coinciding with Blues for Allah release. Not a stadium per se, but it was unbelievable. For sheer “wow, I was there” grandeur, The Jacksons’ Victory Tour at Fulton County Stadium, Atlanta, October 1984.
Arena: Four of the Grateful Dead’s group of five shows at Winterland in 1974 (the source of The Grateful Dead Movie). Also featured the second best encore I’ve seen: GD playing Johnny B. Goode — at the time, I think most believed The Dead were about to hang it up, and everybody thought they were hearing one final homage to Rock and Roll. Honorable mention to Lou Reed’s Winterland show for Rock’N’Roll Animal, Bob Dylan at Universal Amphitheater 1978.
Club: Simon & Garfunkle with Neil Young, Dorothy Chandler Pavillion (LA) 1993.
And yes, I checked before pushing send — all these really did happen.
Bonus Question!
Concert/Artist you most want to see once quarantine is lifted: James Taylor. Never have had the pleasure.
And before anybody scoffs at Starship, the early version What Constitution saw was absolutely killer.
Grace Slick, a Bay Area institution.
Forgot one for “club” — Cheap Trick at The Roxy in LA in April 1998 for the 20th Anniversary performance of Live at Budokan. Only time I’ve ever been to The Roxy, but worth remembering. Greatest cover ever of Ain’t That a Shame. Except the wife didn’t really buy into it and then some dude in a leather jacket flicked his cigarette ash on her as she sat balled up in a corner hiding from the noise. But we laugh about it today. Maybe just I do. Maybe that’s why it didn’t register before.
The Roxy was classic. So was the Whiskey in the day.
I saw Cheap Trick for that anniversary show at the Metro in Chicago. I also saw them on the original Budokan tour back in U.S. in Chicago in 79. One of my favorite bands!
i saved some old stubs and backstage passes and put a few online a while back https://archive.org/details/ticketstubs
Great to see those stubs. wish I’d done this.
loudest show: front row in front of the mains for Hot Tuna at The Academy of Music, 1973. my ears are still ringing.
“Baby What You Want Me to Do?” was built for volume.Was Papa John Creach still with them on electric violin at that show?
yup. loved that guy.
I saw a great bumper sticker, modeled after the Got Milk? campaign: Got Jorma?
My wife has something similar in our kitchen.
First: Zappa/Mothers with the LA Philharmonic conducted by Zubin Mehta at Pauley Pavilion UCLA in 1970. I remember Zappa was wearing bright yellow pants…
Favorite #1: John McLaughlin with Shakti at Zellerbach Auditorium in Berkeley in 1977
Favorite #2: McCoy Tyner trio, Great American Music Hall, San Francisco 1979. Opening
act was Bill Evans on solo piano, a few months before he died.
Stadium: Bruce Springsteen at LA Sports Arena 1981. Never was a Bruce fan, but the tix were free…
Last Pre-Q show: Gerald Clayton solo piano at Sam First jazz club in L.A., March 12. They squirted hand sanitizer on everybody’s hands entering the club, next day the club shut down, along with everything else…
First concert: National Symphony Orchestra, Constitution Hall, grade school visit c. 1954
First Arena concert: Dylan and the Hawks, Uline Arena, Washington DC, 1965 (I remember the boo’s well)
First Club: Dave Holland Band, Village Vanguard, c. 1971
All-time Favorite God-damndest concert of any kind I have ever seen in my life or ever hope to, for that matter: Bruce and the E Street Band, pre-Born to Run Tour warmup concert, Carlton Theatre, Red Bank NJ 1975
i was at the Carleton Theater shows. Great shows.
Dimmsdale, I will make a pretty easy bet that is the tour I described in Tempe at Grady Gammage where he damn near destroyed the joint because people in the balconies were jumping so much they were swaying wildly. Just incredible.
Yeah, bmaz, I was completely unprepared. He lifted that joint 50 feet off the ground and didn’t let it back down again until he was good & damn ready. Foggycoast, bonus for me was sitting at a near-empty table with Bruce post-concert, at the Rosie O’Grady’s steakhouse by Ft. Monmouth, as he waited for his then-girlfriend to come off-shift. I couldn’t speak; I had no intellectual equipment left. Just sat quietly with this immense energy still lit inside.
I was completely unprepared too. It was my freshman year, and several people from Jersey were on the same floor of the dorm. They played Bruce relentlessly. I thought it was good, but not all that. Then they dragged me to that show and HOLY FUCK!
It’s noteworthy that as great as the albums are, so many are – including, BTW, *Western Star* – the concerts are just out there on their own as a unique and unforgettable communal experience. I saw him 5x in the ’80’s and truly don’t know where I’d find the energy to see him again as we did then, camping out, etc., but I will, yes.
yeah, that’s where i’m from. grew up in Asbury Park in that era. Know people in the band and all. Spent alot of time on the boardwalk in the 70’s. worked there, played alot of pinball in Convention Hall, spent alot of nights at the Stone Pony.
Okay, as to band I would like to next see after the hell virus passes: There is a local band that is fantastic, though I have never seen them live. Black Bottom Lighters. They have been around for years, always meant to go see them, think they will still be around, but who knows. They are great. Here is a live track. Here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvBMDcXFOtw is a studio one.
Weren’t they formerly The Black Bottom Lickers?
No. And why would you say such a jackass racist thing? Get the fuck out of this thread or I will insure you never come back.
WTF, man? I’ve been fighting racist arseholes on the local news website all week – I sure didn’t expect that here. You better go think about what you posted, and how to make amends. Not to us – we can see what you are and I, at least, won’t forget. Fuck you.
You better figure out how save your own life.
I know I’ve always loathed the bigger shows, but this post made me aware that I haven’t been to a show at a venue larger than a theater in more than 30 years.
First concert you attended:
Stadium: David Bowie – Glass Spider – 1987
Arena: Kiss – 1979 (cut me some slack – I was 9)
Club: the Lords of the New Church – 1987
Favorite Concert:
Stadium: Public Image Limited at Red Rocks (with the great John McGeoch on guitar) – 1989
Arena: the Cars – 1984
Club: the Church – 1998
Last concert you attended pre quarantine:
Stadium: Lollapalooza – 1991
Arena: Depeche Mode – 1988
Club: Heilung – 2020
Had tix, missed a Church show earlier this year, bought a cuppla DVD’s – my bucket list, for sure. And the Lords! Played inna band they were an influence on … and that I’ll never see Bowie except on DVD makes me as sad as anything.
The Lords show was fun. It was on a Sunday night, back when you couldn’t buy alcohol here in Colorado on Sundays. The band didn’t know that. After soundcheck, they drove to Wyoming to get booze and were drinking all the way back. As a result, the show started two hours late and the band was drunk as hell, but somehow better for it. Stiv fell off the stage about halfway through the show and had to be helped back up.
I was too young to fully appreciate my first Bowie show. I didn’t realize Peter Frampton was playing guitar for him on that tour until late in the set, when he riffed the melody from “Do You Feel Like We Do?” into one of the songs.
Thanks for making it come alive for me!
First concert: Leon Redbone opened for Tom Waits, 1978. The Beacon Theater. One of the most memorable: Joan Armatrading, 1983? Mann Music Center, Philly. Who would I love to see in the future? Something funky. Tank and the Bangas.
My kingdom for a brain. Van Morrison at the Royal Albert Hall, 1981. He was miraculous and his band was beyond tight-full horn section. That. Was truly one of the best shows I’ve ever witnessed, hands down.
First concert was at the outdoor theater/bowl at Barbers Point Naval Air Station. Oahu, Christmas season 1956. The warm-up act was a youth chorale from Kauai singing in English and Hawaiian carols. The main act was an Elvis impersonator probably backed up by on-base musicians. My favorite concert experience was in the Santa Barbara County Fairgrounds. The Flying Burrito Brothers opened for Jefferson Airplane, probably spring 1969. The best three act concert was at the UCSB gymnasium spring of ’68: Mike Bloomfield and the Electric Flag Orchestra warmed us up, Janis Joplin and Big Brother blew us apart then Cream delivered a sonic fusion. Our last show was Tommy Emmanuel at the Midland Theater in KC, MO perhaps 2 or 3 years ago.
High points ’63 to date include: Victor Borge and Sunny Terry/Brownie McGee at the Circle Star theater in San Carlos CA; the Byrds at Santa Barbara High School auditorium spring of 66; Jefferson Airplane at Fillmore West fall of 65 where I mistook Jack Cassady for a woman coming up the stairs; Jackson Browne in various mid-west venues ’70s-’10s with large band (David Lindley) and solo, James McMurtry at the Bottleneck in Lawrence KS and at Dogstock in the KS boondocks SW of KC MO in the ’10s; Guster opening for Bare Naked Ladies at Memorial Hall in KC MO in the ’00s. And so much more
First concert was probably Sugarloaf in the Coffeyville Community Junior College auditorium around 1973. They were a one-hit wonder (Green Eyed Lady), but were really pretty good. Shortly after I made the one hour trek to Tulsa to catch Leon Russell at the fairgrounds auditorium. Progressed to larger venues at KU (and one of my first dates with Lisa) was the Beach Boys in Allen Fieldhouse. Would have been 1977 or so, followed by Leon Russell there. For club scene, there was a small upstairs jazz club in Lawrence and we caught Claude Williams several times. He was a pioneer of electric violin, and I was never able to get into Jean-Luc Ponty after several live session with Williams. We also caught Neil Diamond in KC sometime while at KU.
One of my favorite events was an outdoor music festival in St. Augustine. The first night was my introduction to JJ Grey and Mofro. They tore the place up and the crowd was filled with their groupies since they’re from Jacksonville. The sequencing for that night was all wrong, as that was followed by Emmylou Harris (Lisa swears Mark Knopfler was there, too, but I really don’t remember him being there). After the sustained loud energy from JJ Grey and the incredible musicians in his group, we just couldn’t settle down to listen to Harris. We love her, too, but it just didn’t work for us that night and we wandered off early. The next night, Mavis Staples blew everyone away. One of the very best individual performances I’ve ever seen.
Not on bmaz’s request list but should be is your biggest regret for a show you didn’t see. In my case, I can’t believe we didn’t get tickets when Tom Petty played the O’Connell center here in 2006. I’ve watched the concert on YouTube a couple of times and kicked myself for not going. We did make it to the O’Dome for Elton John’s acoustic tour, which I think was on the heels of his detox. It was a really special night.
In competition for my favorite concert ever was when Keb Mo and Taj Mahal brought TajMo to UF. Even though there were issues with the sound system most of the evening, it was an experience never to forget. I fear we won’t have Taj Mahal around much longer, so if you get a chance to see him, don’t pass it.
Last concert we went to that wasn’t in UF Performing Arts series was last year we went to the Asheville area for July 4 and caught Balsam Range in their home environment at Lake Junaluska. They are an incredible talent and must be seen live for full appreciation.
As for who I want to see after concerts start again, I’d have to say it’s most likely Mary Gauthier, although as I mentioned earlier, I’ve been wanting to catch Grace Potter for a while, too.
ah, regrets, i have a few. the one that stings: senior year college, just graduated, had the choice of a) going to see a new band out of Athens, GA at the local club or b) packing up my casa to be ready for my dad to pick me up the next day.
i chose packing, and missed REM’s first tour. gah. (the $10 ticket price was the deciding factor).
I saw that tour; I was writing as a music critic for a little college paper and got comped, I think Screams (local college band that kinda morphed into Elvis Bros.) and Let’s Active opened. The jangle, oh, the jangle. Guadalcanal Diary, Let’s Active, Game Theory, glory daze.
First: Newport 69. Saturday and Sunday.
LA )music venue unknown) 1971?: Miles Davis.
Favorite: Talking Heads, 1983.
Smallest venue Carnegie music hall in Pittsburgh: Patti Smith
First Concert:
Dan Fogelberg Opening act- Pure Prairie League
Miami Univeristy Millet Hall 1979
Last Concert:
The Struts, Churches and AJR
Indianapolis, Coliseum 2018
With My Daughter-
Oh god, saw Dan Fogelberg at the Pioneer up in Nederlands on Holloween in 79 i think it was. The Rooty Toots were playing and he got on and started jammin with them. I was standing on an old seat-attached-to-desk pushed to the very edges of the room, and a friend started tugging on my farmer jeans saying look who’s playing. He played my 21st birthday later that year at the Auditorium on campus. one of my all time favs. Still mulling over my list.
I have to amend upon reflection.
IN 1977 In Las Vegas I saw two shows-
Lola Falana
Gordon Lightfoot with David Brenner as the opener. Gordon was great and I really liked his show. But while i was in Vegas sitting by the pool, I met Daryl Dragon, more commonly known as “the Captain” of Captain and Tennille. He was really nice. we talked maybe 20 minutes or so. He had just signed his first contract to appear at the MGM. I did not recognize him at first as he did not wear his trademark hat. I learned he only wore it on stage. At Farm Aid 1987 I met Jackson Brown. He was chill. Most memorable concert was Lyle Lovett and Rickie Lee Jones. what made that so memorable i that Ricky Lee Jones requested no one talk or move around during her set. Two guest got up and threw their tickets at her feet while she at the piano and she flipped them off as they walked.
Last concert attended pre-quarantine: Woodyfest 2018. Arlo was there with his daughters.
First: Foghat/Montrose/Rush, Capitol Theater (Passaic, NJ) 12/10/1976
Favorite: Frank Zappa, Palladium (New York, NY) 10/31/1980
Last pre quarantine: Torche/Pinkish Black/SRSQ, Sister Bar (Albuquerque NM) 9/7/2019
Once quarantine is lifted: If that’s by 6/3/2020, Windhand/Serial Hark/The Body, Sister Bar (Albuquerque, NM).
Oh man, “Foghat/Montrose/Rush”. That is incredible for a single big show. People forget about Foghat, but they were really really good. So was Montrose, was Sammy Hagar still with them then? I am going to bet yes. And….Rush too? Wow.
It’s still in my top 10. Foghat were the headliners, touring on the “Night Shift” album & were a well-oiled Boogie Machine—Rod “The Bottle” Price and Lonesome Dave Peverett (RIP) just tore it up on the guitars.
Hagar was out by 1976; that night it was his replacement Bob James, who would soon be history.
Rush (who were my favorite band at the time) were touring on the 2112 album. They opened and played for about half an hour. About 10 years ago I found a video of the the whole set on Youtube—searching “Rush Capitol Theater” will get you there.
First concert you attended: M&R Rush
Stadium:
Arena:
Club: well, a town festival, actually, S. Suburb, Chicago
When: 1972?
First FORMAL concert you attended: Superbowl of Rock; .38 Special, Journey, REO Shitewagon, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Ted Nugent
Stadium: Soldier Field
Arena:
Club:
When: 1976
Favorite Concert: every single one
Stadium: yes, but Police, Bad Co., Cougar, Little Feat in Champaign in 80’s; SRV, Petty/Dylan-Poplar Creek, Clapton-Rosemont, Springsteen (5 shows, various) in the 80’s, Neil Young/Soundgarden -Tinley in ’90’s, George Strait-Soldier Field ’98, Pretenders/Stones-Sox Park vs. Plant/Who -Tinley Park circa early ’00’s stand out
Arena: yes, but Brecker Bros/Jaco, Scorps, T-Heads, U2, Pretenders, Ministry, Joe Jackson, Psych Furs, Willie Dixon, REM, Dream Syndicate, ‘Mats in 80’s – heard the ‘Mats last show while handcuffed under arrest nearby at The Taste (I now have it on CD) – Plant in the 90’s – Steely Dan ’10-ish stand out
Club: yes, but Motorhead, Joan Jett, David Jo, Alvin Lee in the 80’s; Billy Joe Shaver, Morphine, Pumpkins, Jane’s Addiction, RHCP, Iggy, Soundgarden, Furs, Living Color, Cowboy Junkies, Dino, Jr. in the ’90’s, David Lindley, Dick Dale, Al DiMeola ’17, Ronnie Baker Brooks/Source One ’20 stand out
When: as listed
Last concert you attended pre quarantine: SuperFrye and the Valiant 72’s
Stadium:
Arena:
Club: Montrose Saloon, Chicago
When: January 20, 2020
Bonus Question!
Concert/Artist you most want to see once quarantine is lifted: any band I’m in – and I mean it, man! Also, The Church, Mark Lanegan, Slotthrust, Ride, Psych Furs, Bruce, QOTSA, Scofield, Thundercat
Wooooow. My still-husband and I attended a Ramones/Clash show at Cole Field House at the U of MD in 1980. He has a show resume much like yours . . . his first show was Traffic when Dave Mason was still with them-1971ish-Capital Center. Says one of the best show he ever saw was Jeff Beck, late 1970s, small venue in DC.
Bonnie Raitt-Wolf Trap, Vienna, Virginia.
I regret never seeing the Clash, one of my faves. I did see the Ramones in Chanpaign at the Aud, can’t believe I forgot to list them. My overriding memory is Johnny all spread-legged and windmilling; good times!
Now I think onnit, Midnight Oil was pretty great too, with an opening didgeridoo player …
Soft Cell, not so much, altho’ “Tainted Love” remains a fave cover by them. I think they opened for the Pretenders – with all original players, “Sobbing” had just broke … Always amused Hynde ended up marrying the song’s writer (Ray Davies of the Kinks, later marrying Kerr from Simple Minds).
I have an admitted weakness for Tainted Love. I also, in light of Pandemic Times don’t mind sharing-admittedly somewhat shamefaced-I have absolutely no recollection of the Ramones/Clash show because the hub and I made out the entire show. I am slightly embarrassed by the fact, but then we have been together for 40 years. So there’s that. Chortle.
Chrissie Hynde is a boss. I’ve done a lot of catering and we did food for a bunch of Boomer acts (forgive me all), Three Dog Night, B52s, Chris Isak, Bruce Hornsby, to name a few. The B52s were a hoot, Chris Isak couldn’t have been nicer, blah-blah). I did see an ironic scenario unspool while the band played Love Shack. Tee-hee.
First concert: Harry Chapin
Date: 1974
Where; Mendham HS Mendham NJ auditorium
Best Concert: Stevie Ray Vaughan
Date: 1986
Where: Sunrise Musical Theater, Sunrise,FL
6th row center
Opened with a face melting Voodoo Chile!
I saw that tour at Poplar Creek.
Opening acts were the fabulous T-Birds, and ’til Tuesday, Aimee Mann’s band (“Hush, hush, voices carry”).
SRV was great, but I truly believe that Double Trouble is one of the best rhythm sections ever.
And the amps – I never saw so many amps on stage – did SRV do that when you saw him?
in complete agreement re. Double Trouble. i had the privilege of seeing Stevie Ray & DT three times, twice in clubs, once with Jeff Beck. a few years after Stevie’s death I went to a blues festival and an act I’d never heard of began to play. I was blown away by the rhythm section and made a comment to my friend seated next to me. A man behind tapped my shoulder and went: “That’s Double Trouble”. I hadn’t physically recognized them, but by god I recognized them musically.
Who was that band? What was their name?
I’m gonna guess Arc Angels – pretty great on album with with Charlie Sexton and Doyle Bramhall Jr. doing a kinda rockin’ Texas blues.
But they did a lot of back-up work with like Malford Milligan’s Storyville – what a great voice that guy has.
yup, internet confirms it was a group called “Storyville”. also on the bill: Jimmie Vaughan, Dr. John and BB King. a very fun day.
Ugh. The only recently departed Dr. John. What a musician and what a character. Here is a good something different than that one song people think they know by the Dr.
Okay, if that one song needs to be acknowledged, the version with Slowhand working should be it.
I am not a Black Keys fan, but Auerbach has done some good production work (including Prine’s last, and a Pretenders record). I believe Dr. John’s “Locked Down” to be a masterwork of writing, arrangement, performance and production – even the cover is cool. I saw Dr. John once at Taste of Chi one year, outdoors. Walking up on him and not knowing he was there, I actually recognized his piano playing. What a character …
How’s about the Pie coverin’ Dr. J.:
ht tps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnI6W3l_1Oo
I actually heard their version first.
Had a chance to see Stevie Ray at the Greek Theater in LA. Decided I would catch him “next time”. Of course there was no next time. Biggest regret of my life.
Stevie Ray?!! I was just listening to Riviera Paradise which weirdly always segues in my head with B52’s Follow Your Bliss.
told this story before, but it IS Stevie so: went to Austin w/a friend. While she attended to something else I made a pilgrimage to Antones to see Roomful of Blues, where I found myself hiding out stage right to avoid a PITA drunk guy. Suddenly I became aware of someone coming & standing right next to me, and all the energy in the room focused on us. Freaked the drunk guy was back, I peeked down and saw gleaming white boots, then pressed white linen pants, then white duster coat…up to Stevie Ray and his white cowboy hat holding tight to his guitar case. I froze, then forced my attention back to the stage.
As soon as the band wrapped up, Stevie grabbed his guitar and joined Double Trouble up on stage where they worked up the songs for their upcoming tour long into the early morning hours. Fucking magical.
First concert: Rush/Memorial Arena/Victoria, British Columbia, Canada 1977
Favourite concert: A tie between many, including Rush, STP, Earth, Wind & Fire, Devo (an amazingly entertaining event), Sir Elton, McCartney, Pearl Jam…lots of others.
Last concert: U2 Joshua Tree anniversary, BC Place Stadium, Vancouver B.C.
Late to the party, but it seems to still be rocking . . .
First concert: Heart – on Valentine’s Day.
Stadium: SIU Arena, Carbondale IL
When this concert was announced, it immediately became The Date Concert. I was in high school, and some college friends were supposed to get tickets for me, but they got shut out with the lines. I had another friend who managed to get tickets, only to have his girlfriend dump him three days before the concert. He called me to vent, and said I could have the tickets. “Both of them? You’re not going?” I asked. “Yeah, take ’em both.”
The day before the concert, my then-girlfriend dumped me.
I called my buddy back to vent, and we decided “screw ’em both – we’re going to the concert.” Even surrounded by all these couples, we had a blast.
Best concert . . . Two come to mind:
1) James Taylor, Fox Theater in St. Louis, early 90s – What a voice, and what songwriting chops.
2) Jimmy Buffet, Riverport amphitheater outside St. Louis, early 90s. Warm summer night with thousands of parrotheads!
But neither of those compare with the three days of music at the Chicago Blues Fest in the week between my senior year final exams and the college graduation ceremony.
That’s one of the best high school stories I’ve heard in a really long time.
Chicago Blues Fest is always a trip. I’m here, and I’ve been to at least 10, altho’ I skipped mebbe the last 5.
If ever anyone has the chance, and wants a cool festival – highly reco’d.
As my brothers liked to tell me when I was young, by the time I was born “the mold was broke.” So, this isn’t exactly what the assignment required. But some memorable occasions still accessible in my gray matter are:
1971 – Hanna Theater (Cleveland) – Hair:American Tribal Love-Rock Musical
Sometime in the 70s:
Blossom Music Center (between Akron and Cleveland):
Four Saints in Three Acts
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Saints_in_Three_Acts
Also at Blossom in the early to mid 70s:
Judy Collins – ( the time the bumblebee flew down her dress & she had to stop for just a moment to chase it away)
Bette Midler – I only remember the “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” part.
Also in the 70s in NOLA, in a very tiny basement in the French Quarter was the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. Fantastic!
And I mentioned before that I loved seeing Koko Taylor in a couple of clubs in Kent and Akron.
As an introvert, I find small clubs, small theaters and outside natural settings to
be the most appealing. Mostly, concerts were not copacetic with my budget. So, it was pretty much radio, TV or vinyl.
She no longer performs, so after the Trump Plague, if I wasn’t such an introvert, I’d love to meet Joni Mitchell. Once I had an artist friend in Morgantown WV who told me that Joni had dated her brother.
Joni Mitchell – Morning Morgantown
https://youtu.be/DawDAQyZ1GQ
I’d also like to hear Joni Mitchell and Buffy Sainte Marie talk about Leonard Cohen’s lyrics, “ God Is Alive, Magic Is Afoot.”
God Is Alive Magic Is Afoot –
Buffy Sainte-Marie
https://youtu.be/FhmeroR20lc
Oh, I also heard a spectacular Ravi Shankar concert in a very small setting in or near Akron I think, maybe at the university.
You and me both, SL.
I don’t think I’ll be able to make it work in September, but I’d love to see John McCutcheon at the Walnut Valley Music Festival in Winfield KS.
Dylan at the Royal Albert Hall, May 10, 1965 – his last all acoustic concert. Just him with no opener and no band. It’s been all downhill ever since.
Gonna add early Bob Seger with the Silver Bullet Band 75/76 era was ridiculously good. Also Elton who I saw in Tempe about the same time. Jesus, Elton was soooo good, and his band VERY underrated.
Your access to tix/passes back in the day is inspiring truly unhealthy amounts of jealousy here.
In the early days, tickets were cheap and I paid regular freight. Was fortunate that about the time I graduated law school, when tix started skyrocketing, I had good friends in the concert business that gave me badges or put me on the guest list. And for a couple of Stones and Floyd shows, I actually got the gig as “local counsel” for the tour, yes they really do that (including one trip up to Salt Lake for the Stones). I have been stupid lucky in all that regard. For the last decade or so though that has been all gone, back to regular freight, and man is it a LOT these days! Ooof!
I’m picturing your business card . . .
of counsel to The Rolling Stones
of counsel to Pink Floyd . . .
Oh no, it was the promoters on behalf of the band’s tours, not the bands. Still fun.
I’m sure you used very small print for “(the promoters of)” in both those lines.
“Regular freight” was around three or four dollars for general admission for some of the first concerts I saw.
The Grass Roots and Ides of March are a couple that come to mind.
Exactly. The more expensive ones were all the way up $25. That $25 ticket is now probably $260-$300 or even more. And that is assuming you get through before the scalpers scoop them all up. It is not as easy or fun as it used to be. But smaller acts in smaller venues still good though.
A lot of my most memorable music experiences came when I tended bar at a small club, about 200 people, during the nineties.
Imagine being paid while getting to see Matt “Guitar” Murphy from 30 feet away.
Very cool!
My husband had a ticket stub to the Stones for $7.50. Capital Center, late 1970s. At that time in the DC are, there was so much music. I saw a lot of of jazz and blues in Annapolis during the 1970s. The King of France Tavern saw performers like Charlie Byrd . . .
Mention of Bob Seger brings to mind Alto Reed on a flying trapeze blowing the hell out that sax, Toronto Gardens, sometime in the seventies. J.J Cale at the plush NAC in Ottawa about the same time, way different vibe but great show too.
First concert you attended: Ides of March
Arena: EA Diddle Arena, Western Kentucky
When: 9/70
Saturday night a week a month into the freshman year.
Favorite Concert: Bob Marley & the Wailers “Reggae from 4PM to Sunset”
Stadium: Waikiki Shell Honolulu, HI
When: May 1979
Sunday afternoon. We had our beach mats, towels, beach backgammon set, & about a dozen nicely rolled pakalolo to coast through the afternoon. Finest Kine!
Last concert you attended pre quarantine: Firefall & Pure Prairie League
Arena: Ruth Eckerd Hall St Petersburg, FL
When: August 2011
Bonus Question!
Concert/Artist you most want to see once quarantine is lifted: Let me think on it some
Pure Prairie League was truly awesome. Then their singer…can’t remember his name…left to sing for Little Feat after Lowell George’s demise. BTW, Little Feat with that guy singing was still REALLY good.
Craig Fuller was the original Pure Prairie League singer and he did some time as a conscientious objector which broke up his music career but he was amazing with Little Feat.
He was back playing with Pure Prairie League at the show. Firefall was missing Rick Roberts
They even let him do Amie and maybe one other song too. Feat really were still seriously good with him on vocals post George.
I saw the Feat with him at Utica’s War Memorial Auditorium opening for the Allmans.
He had left the Feat the next time I saw them & they were the worse for it
I saw the Feat mebbe 1980 on the Waitin’ …” tour (“Spanish Moon” and “Willin’ are still faves), opening was The Fuller-Kaz Band. Apparently, they couldn’t get everyone so they called it that.
I must say, “Amy, whatcha’ gonna do” is one of the top 10 shiver-my-spine singalongs, ever.
A few concert occurrences from over the years:
I got stoned with Charlie Daniels. He was playing a beer bar in Bowling Green, KY called The Yellow Hydren. He was the 1st band to play there, $2 cover (He played with Dylan!) & I smoked with him & the bar owner on a break one time.
Bob Seger as opening act in a tobacco warehouse with Cactus, Bloodrock, & Goose Creek Symphony
Gregg Allman jamming with Lynyrd Skynnyrd during Free Bird (Clapton headlined the day)
Worst pairings:
Rick Derringer opening for BB King
Junior Brown opening Blues show with John Mayall, Koko Taylor, & Buddy Guy
Most shows same artist:
Jimmy Buffett: ’73, ’79, ’81, ’84, ’95, ’96
Allman Brothers: ’90, ’97
Little Feat: ’90, ’95
Delbert McClinton: ’95, ’96
BB King: ’94, ’96
Neville Brothers: ’95, ’96
Lynyrd Skynyrd: ’74, ’75
A few multi-act shows
Ross/Foghat/Skynyrd/Clapton Memphis Memorial Stadium, 7/74
Tom Rush, Bo Diddly, John Hammond, Jr, Chris Lavin. Patty Larkin Orpheum Theater Boston 1/84
Junior Brown, John Mayall, Koko Taylor Buddy Guy, Oakdale Theater Wallingford, CT
Guy Clark, Leon Redbone, Holly Near, The Roches, De Cordova Museum Amphitheater, Lincoln, MA 7/87
That last show sounds incredible. I’ve seen Leon Redbone, Holly Near, and the Roches, but never Guy Clark — but all together? Wow.
It was a Sunday afternoon in late June or July. There were actually 2 shows; the first starting at Noon & the 2nd at 6PM. Open air, in the woods, picnic lunch with fried chicken, salad, & wine while the artists played for our enjoyment
Those worst pairings . . . shudder.
I know exactly how they happened as well. For the first one, someone said, “Hey, Rick Derringer has played with & produced both of the Winter Brothers. They play Blues; we’ll get him to open for BB King”
The other was similar, “He’s from Austin, TX. They play a lot of blues there. We’ll get him to open a Blues Show with Buddy, Koko, & Mayall”
Either this or something very close had to have happened for those pairings to occur
Fun trivia: Derringer played in The McCoys, whose hit “Hang On, Sloopy” morphed into many others, ex., “Louie Louie”. Or mebbe that’s vice-versa …
3 chords and the truth.
Yeah, the Kingsmen version of Louie, Louie was before Hang On Sloopy by a year but the song itself is mid-50s & Hang On Sloopy was ’64. Don’t recall if it was THE summer song that year but it was around
There is a reason I try and write only 2 chord or 4 and 4+ chord songs … ;-D
As much as I respect Rick Derringer, and I know that he wrote “Rock and Roll Hootchie Koo”, Winter’s version is just light-years better.
First concert you attended: The Who
Stadium:
Arena: Fabulous Forum
Club:
When: Thanksgiving Day, 1972
Favorite Concert: Grand Funk Railroad
Stadium:
Arena: Fabulous Forum
Club:
When: 1975ish
Last concert you attended pre quarantine: B-52s
Stadium:
Arena: Foxwoods
Club:
When: 2009?
Bonus Question!
Concert/Artist you most want to see once quarantine is lifted: Stones, without question. Before Jagger or Richards croaks.
I don’t know if they will tour again, but, if you can, suck up the cost and go. As of very late last August, they were still extremely killer. Seriously good.
I will. Still a point of contention with my wife of 40 years. She is all about the Beatles. And I remember the Stones doing “Paint It Black” while the Beatles were doing “I Wanna Hold Your Hand”.
They always said I had an attitude problem.
Lol, as much as I loved the Beatles, and I did, I was always more of a Stones fan. I, too, have been accused of having an attitude problem. Probably a fair accusation.
*snort!* Can’t imagine why…LOL
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
That’s the visual for “nolo contendere,” right?
I make no further implications nor admissions.
Back in the day:
Beatles = Pot/LSD
Stones = Coke/Smack
Just sayin’…
One of the most mystical experiences I have ever had involved having just finished reading two books: Connectome by Sebastian Seung and A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler. I was pet/house sitting for friends, on the river with gorgeous oak trees.
In a feeble attempt to capture the beauty of the trees, I used my mother’s old pastels to try to draw them. But I tossed the results in the circular bin where they belonged. As I settled into a comfy chair to finish reading, the dog ran frantically to the glass door and began barking. Looking out, I saw something about the size of a cat lurching oddly across the lawn.
When I went out, I saw that it was an old, beat-up mylar balloon with the words, “Happy Mother’s Day.” Later I learned that it had been stuck up in one of the trees for a year.
As it happened, it was on Mother’s Day that this experience occurred. And I had been thinking of my own mother who had passed not long before that. She was an exceptionally talented amateur artist and creative spirit in my life.
It was as if the trees, my mother, the authors of the books (there are very specific things in each book that correlate to each other and to this experience as a whole) and the universe had just miraculously conspired together to convey a magical, mystical message to me. No drugs or alcohol involved.
But if I were to try to guess what drugs might have this same kind of effect, I would say psilocybin might. Seriously, I think clinical trials have been done in the recent past with this to assist people with serious terminal illnesses in the process of dying. And, honestly, I think we could be a more compassionate society if we were to enable a kinder process with respect to reducing fear and promoting some kind of connectivity with universality.
The Stones are The greatest Rolling Stones cover band in the world! They’ve been playing the same 18 songs for 35 years, and boy do they know those. But, even I know that Mick Jagger is lying when he sings that he can’t get no satisfaction. Geez, his youngest son is younger than his youngest grandchild. They used to do 6 deep catalogue songs per show; now it’s two.
First concert as a child, Serendipity Singers around 1964 at Union College. My parents took me so I could hear my favorite song “Beans in my Ears”. First concert as a teenager, Richie Havens as the warm up for Vanilla Fudge at SPAC in Saratoga in 1969. My favorite song by this time was the Fudge doing “You Keep Me Hanging On”. Best concert was Pink Floyd at SPAC in the summer of 1973, at the time when “Money” was a top 40 hit, tied with Sly and the Family Stone in 1970 at Tanglewood. A memorable small venue show was Poco at the Union College Chapel in 1971. The crowd was standing on the wooden pews and bouncing up and down in unison, getting some spring up from the pews. Also Tim Buckley and Frank Zappa at SUNY Binghamton in 1972 and Yo La Tengo at the Boulder Theater around 2006. Last concert was Hot Tuna a couple months ago at the Boulder Theater. I was looking forward to the Stereolab reunion tour before the lockdown.
First Concert: James Taylor, Frankfurt, Germany 1971 – Sweet Baby James!!!
First? Hell, it was the early ’70’s. Who knows? Allmans, I guess, Duane alive; later, them again at Watkins Glen with the Dead and Band, Duane dead.
Now that was a weekend.
Best? Maybe Pink Floyd at the Music Hall in Boston, ’72 or ’73, Meddle and Dark side set, also memorable as someone plummeted from the balcony into the seats. What a great show.
Missed? Doors and Buffalo Springfield, Miami, way back when. My cousin went, I was not allowed. The night Jim got busted for the amp-side blowjob, I think.
Backstage? Aerosmith At Cape Cod, Tubes at the Orpheum (thanks, Gerry!).
Best club? Devo at Mabuhay Gardens, en route to get their record contract in LA; then returning home they passed through again. So whack!
Most seen? Dead, Ramones x3 each.
After the Covid hiatus? Anyone, please.
Rolling Stones right now live (on zoom)
Comedy Central
First concert
Cheap Trick, Chicago Fest, early 80’s
Favorite Concert (partial list):
Rollins Band w Lydia Lunch, Exit Lounge, Chicago mid 80’s
Mike Watt & The Missing Men, Redwood Tavern, mid 90’s
Theaster Gates & The Black Monks, Union Station/Station to Station, 2013
Last concert you attended pre quarantine:
Mike Stinson, Continental Club
Feb.11
Bonus Question! Concert/Artist you most want to see once quarantine is lifted:
Buddy Guy, Black Pumas, Rob Baird
I played the old Exit when it was on Wells near North Ave a cuppla times. We played a week after GG Allin and the stories about what went on around that show were hilarious and scary. If ever you were there before they moved, they hadda re-bar kinda Thunderdome construct over the stage; I jumped off the stage during rehearsal and hit my head and damn near got knocked out. Now I think onnit, that was about the last show I did with that band as the rhythm section (and we were a 3-piece) tuned up on ‘shrooms before the set. I think we opened for Willard …
First: Hall and Oates
Last: Sir Elton John — Farewell Yellow Brick Road, Tuesday September 11th of 2018. Philadelphia Freedom.
Wishlist: Gotta think on that one
Favorite: going to concerts like they were they the air, period — facilitated by location to venues, and having teenager-work spending money in the era before ticket prices skyrocketed.
I’m with SL, you can’t leave out the musicals. And on that one I can pick a single favorite: Les Miserables, original run at the Broadway Theatre.
Memorable (small sample):
The Who — The Kids are Alright Tour in 89. It was a Big Deal that they were coming back for the first tour since 82 (and then not to tour again until 96). It was three hours, starting with a nearly-full Tommy. I remember being impressed that Daltrey was rockin’ like he still had it as a front man (lol I was young and thought 45 was very old for a rocker. Speaking of same, I was impressed decades later that Joe Elliot of Def Leppard could really command a crowd. Saw them ~ incidentally and found them to be a great live act. Hand it to the Brits for longevity.)
Bad English (also in 89, as it turns out). OK so this is more of a story. There was so much exciting promise: The Babys-Santana-Journey roots, what will this band do? A friend and I saw them early on at a roadhouse in Albany, right up front by the stage, SRO. Best vantage point ever. Old songs from the old bands mixed with the new. As we’re celebrating our great fortune, the crowd heat starts getting to me; I drop to the floor before I can even get my coat off. Back on my feet again, my friend helps me out to the fresh air, gets me a cold drink. I am apologizing profusely, in the naïve way of broadly expressing regret; he’s like Why are you apologizing?, expressing his worry, making sure I was OK. And so we head back in to our new spot — at the back of a very deep crowd. Show over, fade to black.
And that about matches the arc of the band.
I’ll save the story of how I saw Jimi Hendrix Purple Haze for another time, given I was but a haploid when he left us.
1) First Concert:
Peter, Paul, and Mary
Late 1968
Sacramento Memorial Auditorium
2) Favorite Concert
Ian Hunter
September 2017
The Fillmore, San Francisco
2a) Bonus Second Favorite Concert
T.Rex
February 1972
Constitution Hall, Washington D.C.
3) Last concert pre quarantine
Patti Smith
March 8, 2020
The Fillmore, San Francisco
(Bucket list……..)
4) Post Quarantine Dream Concert
The Raveonettes
In 1972 wasn’t Ian Hunter still in Mott the Hoople? Either way, fantastic. I did not see him live until a few years later when it was just the Ian Hunter Band. But seriously great.
Yes, Ian Hunter was with Mott the Hoople in 1972.
T.Rex was my favorite group when I was in college, Marc Bolan lead that group.
I think Mott, lead by Ian Hunter, broke up in 1974.
But Ian Hunter has gone on to a pretty remarkable solo career since 1975, when you saw him, consistently releasing albums with songs of depth (and a good beat), most famous song Once Bitten Twice Shy, most famous album You’re Never Alone With a Schizophrenic.
On stage; at 78 years old, trademark sunglasses on, he had a glass of champagne and played guitar and piano through about 20 songs, some Mott, most his solo work. A night my wife and I will never forget…..
Oh no, I did not see Mott, but did see the Ian Hunter Band with Mick Ronson not too much later. Great. And the double live album Welcome To The Club is really great. And good grief, I would kill to have seen that show you described in your last. Was Ariel Bender (real name Luther Grosvenor) still with him?
I don’t think Ariel Bender was there. He did introduce his backup band (which complemented him perfectly) and I would have recognized either name, but the crowd was pretty loud.
Pretty sure Ariel replaced Mick (“Ready for Love” – Bad Co., supposedly quit Mott partly because Hunter couldn’t sing the high notes) Ralphs. And Ronson – what a story, Ian Hunter and Bowie …
Naw, that was Ronson post Mott. Ralphs was with Mott earlier before leaving for Bad Co. There was a lot shared between Hunter and Bowie, Ronson part of that.
There was a hilarious story told by Ronson about the first time Bowie did what he was doing in the famous photo that was taken of him on his knees in front of Ronson, what became a regular part of the act, but Ronson was kinda freaked the first Bowie did it, wish I could find that to read again … Can’t help it but “5 Years” has been going through my mind too often, lately.
Ian Hunter was solo by the mid-seventies, although Mott the Hoople had two reunions in this century, in which he took part. He did his first solo album, “Ian Hunter,” in 1975, working with Mick Ronson, Bowie’s guitarist and arranger from “The Man Who Sold The World” through “Pinups,” a cover album Bowie released after “Aladdin Sane>”
Thanks,
Mick Robson was my favorite guitarist in those days; from his Man Who Sold the World work with Bowie to many, many great songs (Life After Death for example) with Ian Hunter. Died way too early of cancer in 1993.
Bonus points: Mott the Hoople, Ian Hunter lead singer, mentioned T.Rex in their song All theYoung Dudes (written by Bowie).
Old man Tyler had a crash in his car down on the fortune highway
Doctor said it was his cruel sick heart didn’t go to church on Sunday
Oh your pace is going to knock you dead
Out of the race you got time to spare
Nice……
On the very first decade that we got to dream in
Our Fathers were angry, our Mothers were screamin’
At the clothes we were wearin’ and the music we got off on
Hitler was dead, welcome to Babylon……..
Wash Us Away
Ian Hunter
Rant
Very moving song about his move to Rock n Roll
Rant was / is (I guess) his backup band (no Ariel Bender)
Jerkin’ Crocus
Mott the Hoople
Yes, that was it.
Okay, here is a sleeper you might not know if never went down to the Sunset Strip in the day. Arthur Lee and Love. Between Clark and Hilldale.
And, yes, it is really that good. Take a listen.
You have excellent taste! Just a perfect song – music and lyrics!
Also, further along you mention an It’s A Beautiful Day concert — White Bird has a similar quality to Between Clark and Hilldale, imo.
Sunny SoCal street festival.
First: B.B. King and Ike & Tina Turner Revue. The when and where is fuzzy (and maybe even whether I saw both at the same time. I’m old!), but it would have been between 1967 and 1970, most likely in Washington, D.C.
Favorite: Springsteen in the Auditorium Theater, Chicago, 1975. The only time I was on my feet for the whole show. Best. Concert. Ever.
Last: Tedeschi Trucks Band, Count Basie Theater, Red Bank, NJ.
Want to see: Anyone live!
Man, I feel like with all these, I’ve got nothing. Love seeing them all.
Still, here goes:
1st;
Rolling Stones, Steel Wheels tour, 1989, Pontiac, MI Silverdome. I know, not even close to their best, but as a 9th-grader, made me a live-music obsessive for life.
Best: Widespread Panic, Oak Mt. Theater, 3rd of a 3-night run. WP is not for everyone, I know, but holy high, were they on fire that night.
Last I saw: Father John Misty / Jason Isbell, August 2019, Whitehall amphitheater, Houston, TX.
Addendum:
1. last I was supposed to see, but missed for stupid reasons: Amanda Shires, Antone’s, Austin, TX.
2. First I missed due to virus cancellation: Drive-By-Truckers, the Scoot Inn, Austin, TX.
Who do I want to see when the shit dies down? The first interesting acts that come near me, when we can all gather for music again.
Stay safe, everyone.
I rarely post here, although I visit every day. So grateful for this site and everybody’s contributions.
First concert you attended:
Stadium: Can’t remember, the seventies are foggy :) – went to a few Days On The Green
Arena: David Bowie, Cow Palace, 1976 Station To Station Tour (Thin White Duke)
Club: Fillmore Auditorium, SF, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Charles Lloyd Quartet, and I vaguely recall the opening act was called the Krome Circus or something like that.
When: That was January 1967
Favorite Concert:
Stadium: David Bowie, Serious Moonlight Tour, Oakland Coliseum, 1983 or ’84
Arena: Toss-up: David Bowie, Winterland, SF, October 1972, Ziggy Stardust Tour or Jimi Hendrix, Winterland, December 1968 or thereabouts
Club: Kraftwerk, Keystone Korner, Berkeley, 1974. They had an album, “Autobahn,” in the Billboard top ten, and there were less that 100 people in the club.
Last concert you attended pre quarantine:
Stadium:
Arena:
Club: Bryan Ferry, Fox Theater, Oakland
When: August, 2019
Bonus Question!
Concert/Artist you most want to see once quarantine is lifted: Kraftwerk or Run The Jewels
Hi there Knox…Please join in more often, and not just on the music posts. The bigger subjects are not easy, but they are important. Please lend your voice.
bmaz, are you watching the Stones right now on the WHO concert on the networks ?
No, where is it??
can’t say which was best, Pavoritti in the late 1970s in Vancouver or the Four Tops in the 1980s in Vancouver, omg, THEY WERE too die for. Had dress circle seats for Pavoritti, and it was amazing. Saw him 3 times.
Joe Cocker with Stevie Ravon in Vancouver, not too long before the plane crash in which he was killed. amazing of course Bob Seger when he young and amazing. well he’s old an amazing. I was planning on seeing the Maverick, in Vancouver, but then we were placed in lock down. haven’t been to a concert in 20 yrs, sitting on Vancouver Island does that to you.
Not a big concert goer, but have some experiences from the old days.
First Concert: Cream Anaheim Convention Center 1968, summer before junior year HS.
Best Show: Pure Prairie League at small club in Augusta Georgia mid 1980’s. Leon Russell at same club, same timeframe very close.
Last show: Have lived in SEA since mid 1990, so David Lee Roth opening for Heart at Augusta, Georgia late 1980’s.
Other memorable shows:
Both of these as draftee in Army assigned to 140th MP company Fort Gordon, Augusta Georgia. Was actually AWOL for Humble Pie show but didn’t get caught.
Mott the Google opening for Humble Pie Savannah Georgia 1974
August Jam Charlotte Motor Speedway 1974. Allmann Bros, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Foghat, Black Oak Arkansas, Marshall Tucker Band, The Ozark Mountain Daredevils, etc. My sargent at the time was from Charlotte and read about the concert, which basicly had turned into a huge mess, was very unhappy he gave me leave to go.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Jam
Returning to California after Army saw Boz Skaggs pre-tour warm-up show at the Golden Bear Huntington Beach 1975.
“Mott the Google” ;-D
Yah, I liked that too!
Autocorrection strikes again! Both the greatest and worst invention of the computer age.
First Genesis in 1981. Was hoping to catch Steve Hackett recreating the venues for the Seconds Out tour but the virus has put paid to that.
Last big concert Springsteen in Manchester 2003.
Saw Hawkwind in about 1982 and was deaf for three days from sitting about five rows back from one of the main speakers.
Never was a big concert-goer. The noise and the crush didn’t appeal to me.
But for non-concert experiences, there was that time in the Casino of Salzburg, me and Entwhistle playing roulette for a couple hours, the two of us at the same table, hanging and betting. He was using bigger chips.
Now now, it is not the size of your chips, but the quality of your game! Also, that sounds like a seriously fun night.
Question…how did you know it was Entwhistle? Introduced yourselves? Recognized him? I gotta honestly say, I wouldn’t recognize him if he was sitting next to me. Hell, probably wouldn’t immediately recognize Townsend or Daltrey either, I am kind of oblivious.
Recognized him. The nose. Hair. Reserved conduct. Deferential casino staff, esp. the croupier, “Mr. Entwhistle”. Insanely hot rock-star-grade chick on his arm.
Figured he was more interested in playing roulette and hanging with his date than talking to some fan, so I just played, too. Him and me at a table.
Even famous people deserve some space.
Cool way to deal.
So who did better at the table – you or Entwhistle?
Judging by the description of his date, I’m gonna guess The Ox.
The first concert I ever attended was probably something with my Mum in it because she was part of the local am-dram.
The first gig I chose to attend, however, was Runrig playing our local town hall. They were huge in Scotland in the 80s although I don’t know if anyone in the States will have heard of them.
Then (1986) I went to university in London and we had The Damned play Fresher’s Week. The person commenting above who got splattered with David Byrne’s sweat was lucky because Captain Sensible was roaring drunk, took all his clothes off, and pissed on the first row of the audience.
Apparently he was in the habit of doing this.
Despite the Captain’s best efforts, my gig-going took off after that.
My favourite concert? Horrible question but I did list a few of them in the other thread. One I forgot to mention was Babes in Toyland at a small club in London. They were pretty fucking intense.
Rock ‘n’ roll :-)
But that is the thing about rock’n roll, isn’t it? It stretches across all kinds of acts and boundaries. One of the best small shows I ever saw was David LaFlamme and It’s A Beautiful Day. Crazy good and led by….a violinist. The guy played in San Francisco with the Dead and Janis Joplin, but this was his band, and they were fantastic.
‘But that is the thing about rock’n roll, isn’t it? It stretches across all kinds of acts and boundaries.’
Absolutely. And thanks for the link, I hadn’t heard that song before.
Well, on the bodily “fluids” part, look up GG Allin. Better, don’t.
You have to see this compelling song about online learning during the Corona virus pandemic.
ht tps://www.tiktok.com/@makeshift.macaroni/video/6811322581883440390
[FYI, link ‘broken’ with space inserted to prevent unintentional clickthrough by community members. Please keep in mind that TikTok is a Chinese-owned company and all traffic to its site is monitored. It would be better to host this link at a different site like Twitter and then point to the host site. /~Rayne]
sorry. didn’t know that. appreciate the tip. thought the clip was hilarious and simply wanted to share.
Thank god for u Rayne…I know all too well! :-)
Ironically, my mom took my sister and I to the Hollywood bowl on July 25, 1966 for my first concert as a newly minted teenager.
I remember that funny smell… Of course, who could ever forget a 23 year old Mick Jagger and his band mates including Brian Jones?
Asbury Park institution, The Saint, up for sale.
https://www.nj.com/entertainment/2020/04/an-iconic-nj-rock-club-is-for-sale-amid-coronavirus-crisis.html
thanks for the link to the article…. it includes a link to a documentary by the BBC on Springsteen.
https://vimeo.com/15912504
[FYI, link edited to remove tracking. /~Rayne]
thank you, wasn’t sure how best to include link
my ad blocker won’t let me see article, but a documentary called “Asbury Park: Riot Redemption Rock ‘n Roll” was released last year. it has great photos of early Bruuce in action playing the all-night teen clubs, but its main focus is on all the other Asbury Park characters that were Bruce’s contemporaries but whose stories have gotten lost in his shadow.
1st – either Elvis or Emmylou Harris, 1975+/-, both in Richmond VA
Favorite – actually my last is my favorite, but second favorite is Red Hot Chili Peppers & STP, Sept 2000 at the Sacramento Valley Amphitheater – took my oldest son and his high school friends.
Last (and favorite) – Cris Williamson, January 2020 at the wonderful Freight & Salvage in Berkeley CA – the 45th anniversary of the Changer and the Changed. Sat about 20 feet from her. Vickie Randle and everyone else were insanely good also.
Who do I want to see after quarantine? Just praying that one October in the future Hardly Strictly Bluegrass returns and all 700,000 of us can hang out in Golden Gate Park for three days again.
Freight & Salvage is a great place! One of the things I miss after leaving the Bay Area.
Your mention of GGP makes me think of September and Opera in the Park, which is another thing I miss.
Peterr – I will have to add Opera in the Park to my list! I usually take the train or Bart into the City and stay at a hostel (LOVE the Green Tortoise). Now you’ve given me a reason to go in September as well as October!
I saw a ton of shows between 1970-1992. Vermont was near enough to Montreal, New York and Boston.
The best show I’ve seen since moving back to Cleveland was Marti Jones/Don Dixon, Randy Weston
First concert you attended:
Arena: Dave Brubeck Quartet, 1967?, Adelbert Gym, CWRU, Cleveland, I was 13
Cleveland Music Hall (typical all-over-the-map hippie-era lineup): ELP, John Mayall, Mother Earth, Poco 1971? came to see Poco
Club: Larry Coryell, 1973? Smiling Dog Saloon
Favorite Concert: many many too many possibilities
Arena: Little Feat/Bonnie Raitt, Adelbert Gym, 1972, Bonnie was the headliner, Little Feat were her band, she had them
play after she opened
Club: Abdullah Ibrahim & Ekaya, Sweet Basil, 1987
Last concert you attended pre quarantine: Club: Paul Barrere/Fred Tackett, Kent Stage , 2017
Bonus Question! Concert/Artist you most want to see once quarantine is lifted:
Wussy / Tedeschi-Trucks Band
Me and our little country rock coterie worshipped The Byrds. We waited outside the gym door after a stirring performance at Oberlin College, Fall 1970(?) to thank the band. It was cold and drizzly. They came out and everybody was gruff except for Clarence White. He stopped, shook everybody’s hands, told us how much he appreciated our own appreciation. His human touch is my top memory among many.
First off, let me just say thanks to this community, for many many reasons. To bmaz and roalind, this was quite the homework assignment, jogged the bits and pieces to the point I had to call old friends, thanks for that! So without further ado, here’s my list: (I have always done homework assignments my own way) TeHe
First concert-Well after reading through I’d really have to say…Madame Butterfly. See I was a ballet dancer and my teacher made me go. I didn’t know it then,(I fell asleep) but I now have full appreciation of what a human voice can do. But as to rock concerts well, at first I thought it was Grand Funk at the Area in the burgh, 72, but now after calling one of my old best friends it might be Ritchie Havens at the Syria Mosque in 72. Jeebus I was 14, but even at that age, I had tears streamin when he played, Just Like a Woman. Her brothers opened for him that night, Black Street, and I had a major crush on the one brother Timmy.
Club first- That was easy. My friends back in jr. and high school, Rock N Rye-(Bluegrass and serious deadheads) played at a place called Mondays.A real, local dive. An that brought back fond memories of keggers out in the woods, pickin, grinnin, dancin, campin, with a great bunch called the 5th warders.
Stadium- Well, didn’t much like that scene but went to see Led Zeplin at Three Rivers Stadium and not sure when. I probably shouldn’t share this, but what the hell…It was the first and only time I ever creamed my pants at a show! Oh God!!!
Ok, now onto favs–
Stadium- Obviously Led Zeplin.
Arena– Pink Flyoid Dark Side of the Moon Tour 73 Pittsburgh Civic Area. When they played Breath they opened the arena dome and this huge cloud of smoke went up and everyone there “breathed” sweet fresh air. Incredible memory! I think it was the first time they had opened the dome in years. By the way, they tore down the old gal some years ago, to make way for parking.
Club– Maynard Ferguson Nov.5 2004 Dowdes on 9th the burgh. He transported me that night to India, where he had lived and wrote music. The bonus was Mavis Staples opened for him. That’s when I realized Aretha maybe Queen, but she is the Empress due to her humility.
Honorable mention–Livingston Taylor St Vincent College 70’s, just as good as his brother. After the show got to meet him with a girl friend and he actually wrote to her.
Last shows–Tedesky Trucks Robert Morris College Feb 2020 Damn what a perfect pair!
Fortunately, John Prine and Patty Griffin Roots and Blues Festival Columbus. MO. first night of the festival last Sept. My daughter and her husband live there. Unfortunately, Ben Harper and the Little Criminals got cancelled the next night due to big storm, but I got to see my son-in law play at a bar down by the river. Very good I will, not must say. Then, last night Amanda Shire, Jason Isabell. and last but by no means least Del McCoury Band. Didn’t play “Get In the Boat” but oh well. Let me tell you that is one fine festival, and oohhh the BBQ is divine!
Post covid–Me and the old man have tixs for James Taylor and Jackson Browne, should be great, but Ouch spendy. Dream show would be Loudin Wainwright,
fuck he’s funny, and knows humanity so well!
Shit, just showed it to the old man and his comment was,”the Little Criminals?” Crap, that would be The Innocent Criminals, sorry guys!
First concert, Bob Seger mid 70s I think
best show tie Floyd in 77 at KC and Tedeshi/Trucks At the Ryman in 2018..the sat nite show
last show Allman/Betts band at a smal venue in StL
after pandemic wish list TTB again and Liston Bros in STL
Tedeschi Trucks! Cool!
This post will confirm all bmaz’s suspicions that, to bastardize Sir Benedict Domdaniel, some people call themselves music lovers but are really Billboard chart lovers.
The first concert I ever went to was Born in the USA tour at the old St. Louis Arena. After that, since my uncle has been Bruce’s booking agent for about 50 years, we went to almost every Bruce show in St. Louis except for one year when the Sabbath intervened. The last before COVID-19 I suspect was a Bruce show around 2010 at I believe Scottrade Center (the Blues have played there since it was built) whose set list is memorialized in the innards of Balloon Juice. Even before my husband got sick(with Parkinson’s–2012), he wouldn’t go to a live show unless there was a comfortable seat and it was the kind of mega-act where you would pay $100 for a ticket. Other shows I vividly remember having seen are John Hiatt at First Avenue and Lucinda Williams at the Pageant.
Lucinda Williams is killer.
your favorite foia terrorist and mine treated me to a lucinda williams show at a small club in h’wood a while back. so so so good.
First concert you attended: Led Zeppelin, Musicarnival, Cleveland, OH, July 20, 1969
Press Review: Zeppelin Lands To Big Cheers At Musicarnival
CLEVELAND – The Led Zeppelin made a four-point landing at Musicarnival here during the Eagle movement on the moon. The British quartet had a sold-out audience of 2,574 stomping, clapping and dancing in the aisles during their five song stint. (It was theater in the round so we were really close).
Jimmy Page, former anchor man for the Yardbirds, received a standing ovation for his bluesy solo “White Summer.” But the group hit their highest stride in the last part of their 10-minute “Dazed and Confused” when Page, singer Robert Plant, drummer John Bonham and bass guitarist John Paul Jones sailed in a tight, together jam.
Plant shakes and bumps like a burlesque headliner, swings the mike like a lariat, comes across with the funky finesse of a male Janis Joplin.
The Atlantic group scored with encore “Communication Breakdown.” A local group, the James Gang, also received a standing ovation. (JANE SCOTT / Billboard)
Favorite Concert: David Bowie (Ziggy Stardust tour), Cleveland Music Hall, Cleveland, OH, Sept. 22, 1972
Never saw such a thing in my damn life. I’ll never forget the opening in the dark when Beethoven starts playing and the strobes started flashing. Such showmanship…
Last concert you attended pre quarantine: Pink Floyd, Tampa Stadium, May 5, 1994
Bonus Question!
Concert/Artist you most want to see once quarantine is lifted: Always wanted to see Van Morrison in a small venue.
Thanks for the memories!!!
I just started reading this and I hit a mention of the Sex Pistols and had a Flashback. I need to write before I forget or get sidetracked, please excuse the breach of format, CRS and age. The Sex Pistols were coming, I headed down to my local ticketron outlet, a local independent record store, and checked price. It was only $10, I had sixty bucks in my pocket so I bought six. I passed them out to some friends. Day of show arrived, cold gloomy and maybe rain. Paul drove to SF with 4 of us in his ’68 Barracuda Convertable with usual shitty top, holes and oxidised rear window. We arrived at Winterland and headed in. I do not remember a lot of the precoursers to the main event, if you were there you know why. What I do remember is The Pistols walking on Stage. I think we were stage left. Sid Vicious walked out to the edge of stage, guitar slung, a mug or pitcher of beer in his hand, walked to the edge of stage and spit beer all over the audience in front of him. The tone was set for the remainder of the show. The audience spit back. By the end of the night he was covered with loogies, very nasty. As they started playing the rest of the audience got into the act, throwing stuff at the band, I remember shoes, umbrellas. Johnny Rotten was running around collecting umbrellas and exhorting the audience to throw good stuff, wallets, purses and cameras. The toilet paper from the bathrooms came out. Next were the paper towels. I will never forget the towels unraveling as they flew. We had no idea we witnessing history that night, the Pistols last show. I really don’t think that it was a good show musically but definitely an event. The only time I saw a spitting contest between audience and band followed by wholesale throwing of stuff. I saw quite a few shows at Winterland, My experiences there were nearly always good, well mannered crowd and great bands. I really miss Winterland, torn down for apartments.
How did I forget John Hiatt? I saw him 4x! *Riding with the King*, *Ice Age*, *Bring the Family* and *Perfectly Good* guitar tours, he was bloozy on the 1st and roots-rock on the 3rd and rock on the 2nd and 4th – Jessie Gress, Sonny Landreth, Michael Ward – he had great guitar players and such a story-telling ability … sure as I’m sittin’ here.
John Hiatt is great. Icy Blue Heart is one of the best songs ever written.
This is for bmaz:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg3_C7BwcV0kBlJbBFHTPJQ
Thank you!
My first concert was Richie Havens, Arlo Guthrie & John Prine. Would’ve been about 1987 or so. As for arena shows – I grew up near SPAC, the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, which is an outdoor ‘shed’ in the parlance. Saw lots of classic rock veterans there as a teen. CSN, Clapton, Santana, Skynryd, but the first was the goddamn Grateful Dead, 6/28/88 – the show where fence jumping really became a problem, and which got the band blacklisted from the venue.
Favorite Concert – December 1990, at The Chance in Poughkeepsie, NY. A regional jam band from Vermont whose name I’d been seeing on bumperstickers. Walked up to the door, bought a ticket, and took the ride, as HST tells us we must. I had wiggled my way to the stage rail, and was desperately hot and thirsty. Somebody had abandoned a half-full Rolling Rock on the stage, but I was 18 and didn’t dare take it. The drummer dude was wearing a dress, the bassist and keyboard player looked like they’d stepped out of the original preppie handbook. The guy with the guitar, he rolled his head back, looked up to the rafters, smiled, and they proceeded to set the gearshift to the high gear of our souls. In those early years, Phish was unspeakably awesome.
Second favorite – 1993 or so; Portland Oregon. Yo La Tengo was playing at the Reed Student Union, which was a big drafty room with no stage and dodgy electrics. The band was about 45 minutes deep into a feedback blitz of noise, spinning out massive sheets of shimmering electric fuzz, these huge arpeggios of skronk. They were building to this big climactic howl and then BANG! The main electrical breaker in the building tripped. Silence. Blackness. A heartbeat, and then the emergency lights kicked on. Everybody, all at once, had awoken from this wild fever dream. Even the band were looking kind of stunned. I don’t really even recall what happened afterwards; I suppose somebody must’ve found the electrical subpanel and they finished the gig without leaning quite so hard on the amplifiers. Metaphorically, I don’t think YLT had intended to cover the Beatles’ “Day in the Life” that night, but by sheer happenstance it happened, and it was glorious.
One of my greatest regrets: One summer in highschool, or maybe college, I remember a lazy afternoon sitting at my buddy’s dining room table, reading the newspaper looking for things to do that night. “Hey, do you want to go drive over to the Career-Lowpoint Theater? It looks like James Brown is playing tonight. “Nah, I don’t feel like driving 45 minutes, and that place sucks” We two hambones were too lazy and foolish to go see the Godfather of Soul, Mr Please Please Please, The Hardest Working Man In Show Business, JAMES BROWN. It was probably a $20 ticket. What a fool I was.
These days, about the only live music I get to see is at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival; I’m remaining hopeful that I will see my 200,000+ good friends again this October.
@Eureka “at a roadhouse in Albany…” Was that at Saratoga Winners?
Saw Linda Rondstat at the SPAC in 78. Great show.
OT check out 2 things for me que, Donna Gates and Richard Wolff. Covid homework.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pwVeZmkoWE
Sorry didn’t edit
BMAZ,
Shit, I forgot this one. I was with my friend “Big Beat”. We went because it was only 10 miles from my home. Manning Bowl is where they play the annual Harry Agganis All Star High School Football game. Harry was a left-handed first baseman for the Red Sox who died suddenly at age 25. Agganis was a star at Lynn Classical HS and then Boston University. He was also a tremendous football great, a first round draft choice but chose baseball over football. When I was seven or eight, I saw him play at Fenway. He died so young.
On June 24, 1966, the Rolling Stones rock band performed at Manning Bowl, in Lynn, Massachusetts, as the opening stop of The Rolling Stones American Tour 1966. The venue in Lynn was selected at the last minute, as the original concert location in Boston was suddenly unavailable and the show promoters had to find an emergency alternative
Not sure why it is in moderation
That 1966 Stones tour was my first concert at the (now defunct) DC Coliseum. Stones were more than 2 hours late. I cried (hot, crowded, my mother took me, and I know she wasn’t happy), and we left after 2 songs, as the sound was entirely unintelligible. Knowing Lynn, MA. I suspect the situation was the same there.
Heh, I will bet at least a significant part of the problem was the proclivity of audiences back then to wildly scream t heir asses off. I mentioned earlier this was my biggest complaint about the stupid Monkees concert I went to as a kid. The sound system was fine for the warmup act, but, jesus, when the Monkees were onstage the screaming was just plain insane. I have seen that in footage of early Beatles and Stones shows in the US. It was just ridiculous.
I agree. The noise was deafening. To misquote Billy Joel, “We didn’t start the music, it was already blasting…”
1st concert: Elton John Nassau Colliseum ~1974, then Yes “in the round” same year at Madison Square Garden.
Fav Stadium Concert: Jethro Tull – Passion Play – Hartford Civic Center ~1976
Also got to see ELP with their 80 piece orchestra at MSG, but from one of the Corporate Boxes. Much easier to fill the pipe there!
Club: U2 – BOY Tour – Uncle Sam’s Buffalo NY – 1981
Also Club: 5 or 6 Tubes shows at BB Kings NYC.
I “saw” Frank Zappa at the Palladium for his Halloween show at least twice in the late 70s, but alas, the drugs have fuzzed the memories.
I remember cutting class at SUNY Stony Brook in 1976 or 77 and walking into a Jean Luc Ponty concert on accident. It was awesome.
Disappointment: Finally getting to see The Who at the Aud in Buffalo, but Keith Moon had died earlier in the year (god, I love Keith’s drums)
God, am I jealous of some of the shows you guys have seen.
Last show I saw was Raul Malo, singer for the Mavericks. His solo stuff is way different from their songs. Unbelievable vocals. Saw him in a former movie theater that had been converted to a live music venue with great acoustics.
Glad I caught the show because the mayor and governor shut things down a few days later.
Two additional memorable, great concerts:
1) Peter Frampton
Spring 1976
Blaisdell Arena, Honolulu
At the height of Frampton Comes Alive mania
2) Leonard Cohen
November 2009
HP Pavilion, San Jose CA
Towards the end of his touring career, he was perfect
Okay, I was not at this show, but it was a seriously bad omission from our list of greatest live albums we did last week. 11-17-70 by Elton in NYC. It is early, it is raw, and it is beyond awesome. Here is a taste. And, yeah, the whole album is that good.
Always late to these parties. I actually don’t have vivid “best ofs” and never attended a stadium show.
First concert: Dave Mason at San Jose Civic Auditorium in about 1974-5
(Our buddy’s mom dropped us off and picked us up, we tried to slink into the crowd unobserved)
Favorite Concert:
Arena: Quite possibly Elvis Costello at the Greek Theater in Berkeley, the Imperial Bedroom 25th anniversary tour. Saw the original tour at the Catalyst in Santa Cruz.
Club: Beck at the Fillmore in SF, Midnight Vultures tour … late 1990s
But this is short shrift to some fine Peter Gabriel shows, Talking Heads at UC Davis (Stop Making Sense tour), Joni Mitchell in Milan in 1983, and one of those big -Aid concerts in the late 80s, Paris.
Last concert you attended pre quarantine:
Club: English Beat at the Cornerstone in Berkeley, Nov. 2019.
It would have been Carsie Blanton at the Ivy Room in Albany, CA, but we went to Reno that weekend instead (but not to watch a man die). Friends who went said it was a great show.
Two concerts that got postponed just as shelter-in-place was looming:
The Lone Bellow at The Warfield in SF
Wilco at the Fox Theater in Oakland
Daniel Lanois in early May will surely be cancelled as well.
Concert/Artist you most want to see once quarantine is lifted: Vagabon (very much not rock and roll) or Radiohead, how is it that I never saw them perform live?
Dave Mason was great. As was Mason and his constant guitarist Jim Krueger. I understand there are some wild stories about them out on tour as The Dave Mason Band.
Every now and then a presumably much tamer Mason comes through the Bay Area, playing smallish venues. I should catch one of those shows.
I have never seen a bad show by Mason, though have not seen in a long time. After one show here I partied with Mason and his guitar player Jim Krueger after the show and most of the rest of the night. My friend the sound guy invited me and my roommate over. There are some wild stories, but they are not for here. I do heartily suggest checking him out if comes around to a small local venue.
one can only imagine.. I’m sure you were on your best behavior!
Forgot: I actually did see a stadium-ish show a few years ago: Bonnie Raitt and James Taylor at PacBell/AT&T Park in SF (where the Giants play). Not particularly memorable, but pleasant enough.
Some honorable mentions in my collection:
Husker Du: The Living End – pretty outta control
Iggy: Search and Destroy, Live in Chicago 1988 – I was there, *really outta control*. Iggy was, too.
Hendrix: Radio One – seminal, and a guitar lesson, or 17.
John Hiatt Comes Alive at Budokan – Michael Ward (School of Fish) on guitar
Heartbreakers: Live at Max’s KC; LAMF – no, not *those* Heartbreakers, and these are druggy-intense and pretty raw but if you wanna hear “Chinese Rocks” as it was meant to be heard; I think LAMF is just a little better …
Ramones: Loco Live – surprisingly good sound, and the more well-known version of “Chinese Rocks”
Bob Marley and the Wailers, 1978, Miami jai alai fronton was my best and most memorable. Got the tickets a year earlier, concert was postponed several times. Nobody sat. It was so great. Peter Tosh was with the band, not always the case at the time. A couple other favorites, James Taylor and Santana, both in the 80’s at Sunrise musical theatre.
Love the music topics, I read here all the time, rarely confident enough to comment.
Hot live album (not personally attended, missed the closing of that thread):
Joe Ely: “Live Shots”
F’ing incredible show. Modernish, or “mod” C & W, honky-tonk, with an incredibly tight band in front of a small but deliriously appreciative British audience. If you like Steve Earle, Jimmie Dale Gilmore-type stuff, check it out!
Believe it or not, I think Joe Ely was a warm up act for a Stones show I went to in the late 70’s or early 80’s. He was really good. George Thorogood on same bill.
Joe Ely! *Live Shots!* from the Clash tour is really good – “Fingernails” is unforgettable – but *Live from Liberty Lunch* has awesome sound and performance, the great David Grissom on guitar and the stunning epic version of the Stones-cop, “Letter to LA” (altho’ it’s missing Bobby Keys who is on the studio version from *Lord of the Highway*).
I should mention that this thread has me stacking up about 15 CD’s to listen to for the first time in a while …
Pretty sure this was the show. Not positive because there was an earlier show at Sun Devil Stadium I went to as well, but pretty sure (Also a far later one, but the Joe Ely one was either 79 or 81).
Check out “Live Shots,” then for a memory refresher!
BTW, Bmaz, saw you caught the New Barbarians in the day, you dirty dog! What a band! They toured just the once (’77-78ish) cuz Ronnie was bored and Keith wanted to play. I’ve got some bootlegs, but too young to go. One was Keith’s court-ordered benefit concert for the blind in Canada, a half Barbarians, half Stones show, with John Belushi as MC. Strangely, it’s the only Stones concert I’ve ever heard, or even heard of, where Mick was F’ed up to the point of impairment. Prolly just drunk or maybe downers (Remember ‘ludes,, anyone?), but he’s wasted!
My fist concert: Jefferson Starship, “Red Octopus,” tour. Then quickly saw Boston, touring behind their debut album, Steve Miller for “Fly Like an Eagle,” and (I think!?) Peter Frampton for “Frampton Comes Alive.
Among my faves: Etta James at Clinton’s first inauguration, Ravi Shankar at Chrysler Hall, Hampton, Va., Sonny Rollins at Wolf Trip, Stones in ’89 in Raleigh and DC in ’19 (plus Charlottesville sometime in the early ‘aughts), Prince in downtown DC with his small, tight super funky working band (NRG??) for my daughter’s first-ever concert (early, early teens), Bowie (maybe Glass Spiders tour, I think Carlos Alomar on guitar — I think my brother saw him with either Stevie Ray Vaughn or Frampton), Yes, Ramones, Iggy, etc. Saw Hot Tuna electric once at the Birchmere, then hung out drinking with Jorma and Jack! (My brother completely separately saw them in London and also hung out with them after).
I saw Billy Joe Shaver with his son (Eddie, RIP) back around ’94 (the ’95 album *Live at Smithe’s Bar* is close to that set, but with Pearl Jam’s producer Brendan O’Brian on second guitar), and even got his autograph on a shirt I still have. Billy is a total character – you might recall him from movies like *The Apostle* where he was the dirty preacher, Robert Duvall’s best friend – and we talked for a few minutes; he seemed an authentic Jesus-fearin’ Texas bad-ass (known a few, having been married for a few years to one). Anywhat, the music was Texas and outlaw country with EVH-style guitar and the terrific Keith Christopher (Westerberg, Dan Baird) on bass and I hadda write this after reading about Joe Ely above, with my straight up Crown Royal Texas Mesquite right here by my side, because I absolutely want to go see him play again.