The Rolling Stones, "Some Girls" tour live in Minneapolis. Peter Tosh was the opening act. 1975 I think. We had great seats because my friends uncle was a big shot DJ in the Twin Cites back then. About 20 feet from stage.
2nd would be Led Zeppelin, again in the twin Cites during the Physical Graffiti tour. I think that was 1975 too. good year for concerts. Again, I was dead center, maybe 30 rows back. Boy, John Bonham could hit those skins. |
Dick Dale wailing on his guitar 4 feet in front of me in a small venue a few years back and then staying after the shoe to chat for 20 minutes with those who stuck around.
Almost getting trampled outside a Rolling Stones concert in Philly in 1978 (SOme Girls) when people started throwing things at police vehicles doing crowd control for the 100,000+ open seating event.
First Moody Blues concert years ago. That was heaven!
The Church, Savoy Brown, Porcupine Tree and others I have seen in excellent sounding smaller local venues in recent years.
Finally seeing a Beatle live just a few years back, Paul McCartney at Fed Ex Field, with seats dead center one section back right in the SWEET SPOT.
Too many other Yes and Moodies concerts over the years to list out. Always fantastic.
Genesis years ago was really good also but Gabriel and Hackett were already gone by then ("Duke" tour).
Seeing "The Musical Box" perform the entire Genesis "Foxtrot" album live a couple years back was a nice substitute! |
My wife and kids went to see Neil Young unplugged.
We were dead center and maybe 5 rows back from the stage.
Neil asked the audience what they would like to hear.
My wife shouted out "A Horse With No Name".
Neil Looked at her and said nothing, you could hear a pin drop in that place.
My wife said,"what's the matter". I said Neil did not do that song it was by America.
She said oh, I thought he did that one. Still everyone could here us.
Ole' Neil looked like perhaps he would do that song anyway but, he grabbed another guitar and played another Neil tune.
I bet if I could corner Neil he might remember it.
I know I will. |
Tie between passing out during a Led Zeppelin concert at the old Boston Garden and seeing the Grateful Dead at the Melkweg (or Milky Way) coffee house in Amsterdam. |
Elton John with unannounced visit by John Lennon at MSG Thanksgiving 1974 |
Slaw...excellent way to start the thread! I also saw the master Mr. Trower in 2012 in a small venue.....WOW! Many classics played including my 2 favs fool in me and little bit of sympathy....incredible. |
Pops,I am a R T fan! The Fool and Me, one of my favorites as well! Yes ,incredible stuff indeed |
Jimi Hendrix concert at Merriweather Post in MD, he played during a driving rainstorm. At one point his guitar picked up a local station playing Purple Haze and he held the guitar up to the mic so everyone could hear it. |
... has nothing to do with the music which was blasting ...
Back in the day, in Detroit, I witnessed many crazy sights at rock concerts: open, spewing, beer bottles flying about overhead; fights; controlled substances freely shared among patrons as well as security; usual various teenage boy hijinx; etc.; but one show was particularly interesting. Iggy and the Stooges - Windsor Ice Arena – 1972(?). Iggy wore a sliver glitter g-string - NOT a common sight back in those days, especially for a man - and flailed about the stage like a mad man - he really was a "wild one". Throughout the show, Ron (guitar) and his brother Scott (drums) were arguing back and forth. They eventually got into a knock-down, drag-out, fist fight on stage during a song. All the while, the other two band members attempted to continue playing/singing while these two rolled around on the stage doing what brothers sometimes do, wildly punching each other. Never before, or since, have I seen the band break into a brawl. LMAO hilarious! |
I have many concert memories, but two intimate experiences that were the result of dumb luck. The first was in Atlanta around 1980 when a friend and I went to the Moonshadow Saloon to have a few beers. We walked in to a bar with about 30 people in it and the band setting up was called BHLT (Dicky Betts, Jimmy Hall, Chuck Leavell, and Butch Trucks). They proceeded to play about two hours of Sea Level type fusion jazz. The second serendipity was in Nashville in 1984. I was with my sister,who was at Vanderbilt at the time, and we went to the Exit/In for a few beers (there seems to be a pattern here!). It was about 3:00 in the afternoon and we were the only people in the bar besides the staff. In walks Jeff Beck carrying a guitar case. He was in town recording with Rod Stewart. He asked the manager if he could plug in and play for awhile. He used a Heineken bottle as a slide and the sounds he created were incredibly melodic. In the hands of a master, a guitar and beer bottle made beautiful music, whereas most people would merely produce noise with the same accoutrements. Someone called a local radio station and by 5:00 there were 200 people there. Like Beck, Trower and the old Allman Bros. guys are iconic artists that frankly won't be able to tour too much longer. We should all support and enjoy them while we can. |
The Dead at Melkweg would have been huge!
For me, I think it was the Jimi Hendrix Experience at Winterland in 1967 or 68. The actual moment was Jimi crouching down to hit the opening chords of Foxy Lady. Left an indelible impression in my young mind.
There were others. |
This one may seem unbelievable,but it's true.My friend and I saw The Jimi Hendrix Experience at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium (now torn down)in 1967.The concert was truely amazing in sights and sound.As we were leaving the show through the interior tunneling system of the building.Who do we come upon but Jimi and bandmates in full flowering stage garb trying to find their way out of the building to their limo.We stopped to talk with them.They asked us how to get out of the building as they got lost.After helping them out with directions,we went on our way,never once considering to ask for autographs.From the Aud,we went to the Statler hotel to a restaurant there that served great burgers.As we were leaving via the main lobby,there's the Experience again still dressed in their show apparel waiting for the elevator to their rooms.So we stopped and chatted with them about the show,and of course being the dumb asses we were never asked for autographs again.They were very polite,but obviously looked very spent from the evening show.Looking back,what really seemed odd was that in both instances they were alone with no security escort and yet no one was bothering to pay much attention to them.An experience I will remember the rest of my life. |
Went to a Byrds concert at the Ohio Theatre in '71. The opening act was an unknown piano player by the name of Elton John. Needless to say..... |
Which reminds me, I went to an Emmylou Harris concert at the Circle Star Theater in San Carlos, CA in around 1977. Opening act was someone I'd never heard of called Willie Nelson. Great show, both bands. |
I'll go with three categories:
Per Rockadanny, memorable fistfights.
Two fights - one on stage (Ray Davies and Dave Davies of The Kinks swinging away at each other before an almost totally empty Capitol Theater in Passaic, NJ) and one in the crowd. I was way back near the door at a Shirts concert at CBGB when a brawl started up front and began working its way back toward me. I squeezed out the door just before a guy came flying out to the street.
Small venues:
Genesis at the Bergen Community College gymnasium in November 1971 was my first full-on theatrical rock show. Flash pots concealing Peter Gabriel costume changes in a local gym were almost too much for a 14 year-old substance altered mind to handle. Won't forget that one any time soon.
Another unforgettable moment; my friend Randy Hill had Chuck Berry play in his backyard for a birthday celebration. CB more or less phoned it in for all of an hour, but it was still pretty startling to see him in that setting.
Musically:
There are a whole bunch of 'em, but Fleetwood Mac on the Tusk tour combined perfect pop, crunching punk, acoustic guitar workouts, and extended blues rock in a startling display of range. The crowd was so pissed when they didn't do an encore, that no one left for what seemed like a half hour. Just 20,000 people screaming "More!" |
Wow. Hendrix, the Dead in Amsterdam, the Stooges in a fist fight, Chuck Berry at a birthday party? Although I have seen countless arena tours with most of the big name acts over the past 40 years, this thread makes me want to see even more. The problem I have is one of simple economics. Is it really worth $250 for me to go see the Stones or U2 again? At this stage of the game, I would rather go to a smaller venue and see someone like Big Head Todd or Railroad Earth for $30- especially if I don't have to stand up the whole time- except to dance of course. |
Cheers to your health. Some of you guys were at a Hendrix concert the year I was born and I'm 46 now. |
Who says God's Waiting Room is Florida?
Welcome to Audiogon, LOL. |
Seeing Linda Ronstadt open at the greek theater. Her back up band were a bunch of guys she was living with in a house right down the road. That back up band went on to be The Eagles.
Saw U2 at The Country Club in Reseda which held only 300 people on their first U.S. tour.
Saw Gentle Giant at The Whiskey in Hollwood and sat on the floor literaly in front of the acoustic stand up bass. It was like being in their living room. Octopus had just been released.
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Further to comments about seeing great bands when they were somewhat unknown, I saw The Talking Heads at the Berklee Performance Center in Boston when their only well-known song was Psycho Killer (ca. 1976); the opening act was a band from Athens, GA called the B-52s. Great show. I also saw U2 at a rock club that seated about 400 just when they started getting alternative radio station airplay in the US and they were terrific as well. |
How about Billy Joel in a high school auditorium in 1974 with an opening act on his first tour----a comedian named Billy Crystal. |
How about Billy Joel in a high school auditorium in 1974 with an opening act on his first tour----a comedian named Billy Crystal. Both were great.
BTW that was long before BJ turned into a joke himself. |
Pink Floyd, "The Wall" concert. Bruce Springsteen and the E street band some time in the 80's. Rock Nirvana. |
Stevie Ray Vaughan at Fitzgerald's, in Houston.
If your standard for "great" is arena rock, you missed the boat. There is no way a great player can really stretch out in an arena. Many times I heard Albert Collins, Lightin' Hopkins, BB King, John Lee Hooker, Albert King, and Alan Haynes in small clubs. Far more enjoyable and amazing than the Who, Stones, Led Zep, Eric Clapton etc. in big arenas, great as some of those shows were. I only wish I could have heard those guys before they made it big. John Lee Hooker, in particular, could get the place going so that every single person in the joint was boogieing along.
Some Grateful Dead shows were great. To the extent I remember them... |
Led Zep, jethro Tull Vanilla Fudge in in 1969 in a small venue in Chicago All in one night....a mind blower |
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New Year's Eve, 1999>2000. Phish held a festival for 80,000 on a Seminole reservation in the Everglades. The band played Auld Lang Syne at midnight, and kept going until the sun came up at 7:15. No breaks.
I was never the same. |
The Soft White Underbelly. Small clubs in the late 70's, early 80's. The Bloom boys never sounded so good. |
Most recent was LOW shows in Duluth. 7 Thursdays in a row, the last one Feb 27. All at Fitgers brewhouse, A small brewpub. In the course of 7 weeks they played every song in their catalog of 20 years. A Duluth band that gave the hometown folks a treat. |
