Lots of concerts over the years starting with Peter, Paul, and Mary in the early '60s. (Yes, I’m old.) One fun recollection: seeing the Blues Brothers at Universal Amphitheater in the '70s. They were the warm-up act for Steve Martin.
Saw SRV and Double Trouble two different times in 1983 and 1984 at the Steamboat in Austin TX. Probably fewer than 100 people in the bar. GGOAT!!
The Steamboat. That brings back memories. Stevie was already dead by the time I was stationed at Fort Hood. I did see the Arc Angels play there which was where Double Trouble first ended up. I haven’t been to Austin in decades but I know all the good old music venues on 6th have gone away. Joe’s Generic Bar was my favorite.
Was at school in Austin both those years, and somehow never saw him.
The are indeed, saw them last year or the year before. The Road of Bones albums, a recent release was also excellent.
Y’know what’s embarrassing? When your kids ask you who you saw back in the day, and you stammer “Well, not completely sure…”
See, I grew up going to Summerfest every day, every summer (well, wasn’t interested in the first year, when it was mostly German Oom-Pah polka bands… hey, it was Milwaukee in the '60s).
Huge group of high school friends, picnicking and partying (and not always paying attention), as one band after another played from morning 'til after midnight.
I tried to look up who played and it’s almost impossible to find (because Summerfest published a coffeetable book that had the list, but that was $60).
But I do remember that after BS&T and The Doors, we watched George Carlin keep going on and on 'til the wee hours, because the cops were waiting for him to walk offstage… so they could arrest him for explaining The Seven Words You Can’t Say On Television.
Uhhh…
Back in April 1978 The Anti-Nazi League Carnival in Victoria Park, London was the place to be on the entire planet. I was there.
Patrick Fitzgerald, X-Ray-Spex ,The Clash ,Tom Robinson Band, Steel Pulse…
I don’t even know who Patrick Fitzgerald is/was. Steel Pulse were just about my favorite band at the time. I have no recollection of them even being there…
I have three vague memories of the show. Poly Styrene was very squawky. Tom Robinson had more presence on stage than anyone I have ever seen. And within ten seconds of the Clash starting up, the girl in front of me started leaning back heavily against me. It transpired that she had fainted, but we were so tightly packed she simply couldn’t fall down. (We sorted it out in the end.)
That, my friends, is what I recall. I only found out where Victoria Park is a couple of years ago, when we were walking London’s canals.
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I saw the first concert on Kraftwerk’s inaugural 1975 U.S. tour. (I think this was the first ever in the U.S. but a one-off might have happened in 1974).
Autobahn was playing regularly on FM radio, sounding like nothing else. They were a must see, and had a good sell at a 2500-seat auditorium. They came out to four synths and four light boxes on the floor spelling out their names. A group of teens sitting behind us who obviously went out to every concert whether they knew the band or not could barely stop giggling at names like Rolf, Florian, Wolfgang, and Kurt. They didn’t talk, or dance, or move at any time during the music. It was a piece of art.
Fortunately, the teens shut up enough to allow us to enjoy the music. I don’t remember much else about the concert, but I know I really liked it and continued to hunt down what little was available by them and other electronic music groups.
For their 30th anniversary tour Blues Traveller played in a club called Havanas in New Hope PA. It’s very much smaller than the venues they normally play at but they were there because their very first gig as a band was in New Hope. It was phenomenal to see them in such an intimate setting. Great show.
Funny, I’ve got tickets to see Kraftwerk in April, on their US tour. They’re still around, though not with the original four members.
Right, it’s their celebratory 50th anniversay tour. Sadly, it’s not coming within hundreds of miles of me.
In my teenage years, my “cool” aunt (she’s only 13 years older than me, so we could kinda connect on things like music and movies) had a best friend who was a local disc jockey. For the local rock station. This gave me a certain bit of reverence and adulation among my friends.
I remember my aunt calling me out of the blue one afternoon, and she told me to turn on the radio at a specific time that I can’t remember.
When I did, my DJ friend was on the air. She announced that they were giving away tickets to see Ozzy Osbourne to the Xth caller. About 10 minutes later, she announced me as the winner. Of a contest that I honestly didn’t even enter.
I’ve never been a huge Ozzy fan, but I understood what he meant to the rock world, and it was worth seeing. But I was really into one of the opening acts, so I was in heaven.
You see the good Ozzy (*) or the bad Ozzy. I saw the bad one in the early 90s at what people referred to as Ozzfest at Wembley arena (I don’t think it was that, that was just fans being fans).
He was drunk out of his face, could barely stand, spent most of his time saying “everybody clap your hands” while staggering around the stage while his backing singers sang for him. It was awful. It goes to show that this didn’t make a damn difference to most of the fans too.
(*) I’ve only been told there is a good Ozzy.
It would have been the 1992-1993 era Ozzy, so it was after the “good” Ozzy (if such a thing exists), but before the “bad” Ozzy. So, I guess it would have been his “not the greatest, but not the worst I’ve ever seen” phase.
The one time I saw Cheap Trick, it was at a college gym with terrible acoustics. I’ve always heard that they put on a live show, and maybe this just wasn’t their night.
Oops, left out a critical word.
A GREAT live show.
I saw them around 1992-1993, and they were great. I even enjoyed both of the opening acts (which was a rarity. I usually like either the opener or the feature act before the headliner), which were Joan Jett & the Blackhearts and the Greg Giuffria-led band House of Lords.
ETA: reading the Wiki article on House of Lords, it may have been earlier than 1992.
The one time I saw Cheap Trick was when they did a concert at “Fourth Street Live” in Louisville. It’s a section of a street that was turned into a tourist type place. I worked in a skyscraper on the street (third floor). So, I went into the office, went to the window and watched the concert. There were a few of us up there and someone in the band noticed us and waved at us. The sound was muffled by the windows, but I got a good unobstructed view of the band, from up above.
I was kicked out of a Jesus and Mary Chain concert in 1990.
Last year I saw Le Tigre and they were really good. Their opener was Man on Man and I did not realize that I would love seeing Man on Man as much as I did. Man on Man is Joey Holdman and Roddy Bottum, who are boyfriends and decided to start playing together. They’re really good, imo, and even though of their content isn’t about me, I really appreciated their music when I saw them.
I’ve seen Richie Ramone twice and he does a great show, mixing Ramones songs with some of his current stuff. He’s a really good frontman for his band and his voice isn’t that great, it works for singing punk songs. He’s also really appreciative of his audience and he spent a lot of time after the show talking with people and taking pics. He is one artist who I would see any time I could.
My wife and I saw Modest Mouse and the Pixies last year. Good show and both bands sounded really good. I wish I had seen the Pixies in their prime though.
I took my teen to see Green Day at Wrigely Field last year as well. Their openers were the Linda Lindas, Rancid, and Smashing Pumpkins.
Last year was my “year of concerts” for some reason and I saw a bunch more artists. I missed a bunch “back in the day” so I was happy to see them this time around.