Bands you've seen, concerts you've been to

Cafe Society
81

I don’t put them as ‘concerts’, I see them as ‘bands’. Concerts infers a single act playing an arena, and not caring about the support acts at all, and I’ve been going to all day festivals (or weekend ones) with 10 bands (or 20 over 2 stages), saw at least 200 bands last year, will be seeing my 24th this year tomorrow night. You will not have heard of any of them though. Dreadzone is tomorrow, a 90s electronic music band for instance.

Back in the day when I lived near London, I got to see Rush about four times, Dave :Lee Roth three times, Zappa twice (note:), Ozzy once (he was awful, I was there for Magnum and Wolfsbane), Grateful dead (didn’t know any of their music). All of these were Wembley Arena, and every single seat I got, by phone, was absolutely awful (note: except for second Zappa, I saw first and realised the second gig would be different and turned up without a ticket and bought one off a tout which was the only good seat I ever had at Wembley arena, and was cheaper than the normal ticket price). Saw some from there. Only saw one at the Stadium, I was there for Jethro Tull, Fleetwood Mac headlined, and apparently Hall and Oates were there (didn’t remember that), and probably missed River City. Walked away from Quo at Reading festival. Around London, I did see Blue Oyster Cult, and the likes of Dweezil Zappa at the Marquee.

Saw loads during the indy period of the 90s at Reading and Glastonbury (and others), Levellers, Pulp, New Model Army, Nirvana, Orbital, Hawkwind, Carter, PWEI, Prodigy, Velvet Underground, Primal Scream, Plant and Page, Rage against the Machine (forgot about that, got reminded from a lineup), Oasis (twice, both crap), Beastie Boys, Shamen, Verve, Dodgy, Chemical Brothers, Ani Difranco, Underworld, Tricky, Portishead, Spiritualized, and I’ll stop the festivals before 2000, when I went to less of them, but with festivals there were hundreds of bands playing, and I saw much more I can’t remember or confirm…

Things of note:

Saw Radiohead in the After Dark in Reading around 93, they supported everyone at that time, and were on every bill for the last six months. I’d heard creep and went to see them in 200 person venue which was half empty. Got a signed Anyone can play guitar single or CD, I can’t remember, somewhere. I think I caught them again half a mile away from the stage at Glastonbury.

Another: Lightning seeds, Alanis Morisette (before she was famous) and Tin Machine at the NEC, not a huge hall, not main one, so about 1000 people. I think I had her album and was there for her.

Saw Gong about 20 times in various configurations, they played as Mother Gong (Gilli Smiths variant), Gong Maison (Upbeat version), Acid Gong (Trance/Techno version) and I think just Gong once or twice. Seemed to be very local to Reading where I lived.

I’ve seen Chumbawamba so many times I can’t count. I’ve been a fan since about 1987, and they played a lot about the area. I still remember about 97 when they just release Tubthumper, and next they were huge. Still seen them loads of times after that, even down to the acapello version they ran with until split, I do still miss them, some of their last albums were even their best.

In recent years it’s few bands anyone will know (apart from occasional visits from the Levellers), oh but local rock venue has housed Graham Bonnet in a small room as well as Russ Ballard (writer of God Gave Rock and Roll to you, Since you’ve been gone and Hold your head up) in the same venue. I talk to and meet the small bands writing original music and see them sometimes rise up, or split, Empyre, Those Damn Crows, HEAT, Eclipse, South of Salem are the recent bigger acts, but my favourites of recent times have been Sam Millar, She Burns Red, Kinstrife, Baleful Creed and Ashen Reach, and nobody will know those.

So, concerts, vs bands… Well, just doesn’t work for me.

82

That happened to me once. There’s a documentary about Rodney Bingenheimer called Mayor of the Sunset Strip, that I saw at the Toronto Film Festival in 2003. It opens with Rodney introducing X in concert. That was the first X concert I saw, back in early 1998. I wasn’t expecting that.

She went to my high school, though we were a couple of years apart and I didn’t know her. I saw her sing in school assemblies, even after her first album was out and was a hit in Canada. Haven’t seen her in concert otherwise.

83

Too many to list . . .

But, some of the memorables:

Second Atlanta Pop Festival. Opened with the Allman Brothers (with Duane, they were just becoming known). Closed with Jimi (yes, he played the SSB - this was the summer after Woodstock). Some great and well-known acts in between including It’s a Beautiful Day - a group I feel is under appreciated).

The Who in November 1971. Pete yelled at Keith Moon for coming in late on the pre-recorded intro to Baba O’Riley (he said it was one the first times they had played it live).

Randy Newman. We were front-row center, about 15 feet away. You could see the spittle as he sang.

Crosby, Stills and Nash in the early 2000’s. I had never seen them - I admit my eyes welled up during most of the show.

The one I never got to see? Pink Floyd. Wish I had been there.

Many others . . .

84

The band I regret the most to never have seen are the Kinks. And Aretha Franklin, but she played so rarely in Europe because of her fear of flying that there never really was an opportunity anyway.

85

I saw the Wish You Were Here Tour which was really mind-blowing (still have the tour program/comic) I saw the next tour as well that showcased Animals, it has a very different vibe that came to a head at the final stop with the Roger Waters spitting incident.

I didn’t enjoy the one solo Roger Waters show that much. I think it was the Radio Radio K.A.O.S. tour. It was definitely an extravaganza but Roger’s solo stuff is too dark for my tastes.

On the other hand, David Gilmour’s About Face show was a lot of fun. Saw it in the Kabuki Theater, a 700-seat club. Dave was in a great mood. The memory that stands out for me is a song where he and Mick Ralphs were trading off solos. They went back and forth a couple of times and then Dave fired off a blistering lead and looked across the stage. Mick (not exactly a slouch when it comes to playing guitar) looked over at him and kind of shrugged with a “you expect me to top that!?” look on his face and went back to playing rhythm.

86

I never saw the Kinks either, but I did see Ray Davies, in about ‘78 or ‘79 I guess. We were right at the front and at the end, after encores, he ran along the front of the stage shaking hands. So no, I never saw the Kinks, but I did shake Ray’s hand.

j

87

To paraphrase a Zappa song title: Have you ever washed that thing? :wink:

88

Thinking about it now, that’s maybe the only famous hand I ever shook. So yeah, I guess washing it was a mistake. :wink:

j

89

I really wish I’d seen Sonic Youth. I always figured I’d get around to it, but an acrimonious ending quashed that.

There are a bunch of German bands I’d like to see, but some have broken up, and either way they aren’t touring the US.

90

I swear I was at this Go-Go’s gig at the Whiskey and have watched this video a million times trying to spot myself or someone I knew.

91

I’m on several tracks from Springsteen’s Live 1975 - 1985 album. The ones recorded at the LA Coliseum and Sports Arena.

I’m the guy yelling “Bruuuuuuuuce!!”

92

I saw quite a few bands in the 1980s and 1990s. I can’t say I garnered much enjoyment from them, though. The sound quality usually sucked, the playing seemed less impressive vs. the recorded albums, and I hate crowds. So I guess I am in the minority that I would much rather listen to an album than watch the band in concert.

93

The only musician’s hand that I shook but didn’t actually see them perform was Robert Goulet, who I met just walking down the street in Louisville, Kentucky.

I mentioned upthread about a friend who worked with touring productions of Broadway shows. Goulet was in town for that reason, and I just bumped into him out of sheer coincidence. We talked for about 10-15 minutes before going our separate ways.

94

I did see the Kinks, probably spring 81 at Starlight Theater (outdoors) in Kansas City. I didn’t know much about them at the time other than Lola and You Really Got Me, but a friend had tickets so I went along. I wish I had more memories of that show!

The only band I can remember shaking hands with (or probably more like high or low-fiving as they walked past) was Utopia. A friend and I had gone to see them at Kiel Opera House in St Louis, and after the show we noticed a bunch of people outside hanging around a side door. So we stuck around and pretty soon the band came out and walked through the crowd on their way to the bus.

95

I also saw the Kinks, back in 1982. Great show, with Ray teasing the crowd with the opening bars ol Lola several times before finally playing it towards the end of the gig.
I didn’t shake anybody’s hand but years later I did chat briefly to Jim Rodham their touring bass player when he was playing with the Zombies…

I saw Ray Davies as a solo performer doing a ‘songs and anecdotes’ sort of show, probably in the early 2000’s.
I expect I have both tickets somewhere!

96

Saw the Kinks a couple of times. In 1974 they were touring in support of the Preservation album and were very sloppy.(The opening acts were Aerosmith and The Climax Blues Band, both very good) In 1983 they were on top of their game and even had an MTV hit (Come Dancing) going for them.

Also had the pleasure of seeing Ray a couple of times, at the Warfield in San Francisco and the Mountain Winery in Saratoga. He put on a good show both times but he was looking pretty frail in 2012.

97

And those anecdotes are what make live music meaningful for me. I took my kid and his friends to see Interpol, and it was the exact same experience as putting in a CD. No patter, no comments, no interactions with the audience at all.

The opposite of the time that one of my students dragged me across Florida to a little bar to see a kid named Bruce. Who climbed a stack of amps to solo… and didn’t stop for three hours. But what I loved the most were his stories, often told while sitting on the edge of the stage.

98

Well, I didn’t see Cheap Trick. Drove to town, and the show was cancelled.

99

I saw them, they were okay. Mostly sounded like their albums.

100

I love Foufs.

Current tickets in hand are for Pouzzafest, where Foufs is one of the venues, and an August concert of The Satanic Surfers and No Fun At All. My husband and I do all three days of Pouzza and see so many artists; it’s a high point in our year!

Also have tickets for Bush/Filter and The Last Mile/Pace for different ends of the fame and venue size spectrum (Place Bell in Laval, and La Sotterenea on the Main).

Most recent concert was Catbite/The OBGMs/The Flatliners in December.

I haven’t missed a Strung Out show in the Montreal area since 2012.

More notable acts; I’ve seen Paul McCartney on the Plaines d’Abraham. Seen Nine Inch Nails a few times (3 or 4 I forget), also Foo Fighters (3x), Pearl Jam (4x), Tool (1), Tragically Hip (1), Bad Religion (2). Most of the bigger 90s epifat punk bands.

I’m in my 40s with a bad back but I’ll venture into the pit or get crushed against a barricade and be happy as a clam. With hearing protection, of course.