I was listening to Ali Farka Toure this morning and thinking “I’ll bet nobody else on this board ever saw him live”.
I’ve also seen:
Salif Keita
Habib Koite
Amalia Rodrigues
Ray Charles
Sonny Rollins (playing with Wynton Marsalis)
Dave Brubeck
Prove me wrong and name your claim to fame.
For starters:
The Velvet Underground.
Sun Ra.
Alice Coltrane.
Gram Parsons.
When I saw Sonny Rollins, he had Rufus Harley with him, who played bagpipes.
Harry Chapin?
I saw Danny Gatton a whole bunch of times. He had a regular gig at a club called Tornado Alley in Wheaton, Maryland. I was too young to get in but I had a friend who worked there who would let me in.
I was at the taping of Robin Williams’ last HBO comedy special, Weapons of Self Destruction. I hadn’t even planned on going but my friend was a local producer for the show and needed some seat fillers so he called a bunch of his friends and we all got in for free, and got pretty good seats too.
I went to an album release party at a small club in New Jersey for blues great Johnny Copeland. I believe he was in the state for medical treatment and eventually got a heart transplant. He was too weak to continue his last song and his maybe 16 year old daughter stepped in to finish singing. That was Shemeka Copeland who has become a great blues artist herself.
The Dixie Dregs
Flying Colors
If you are asking specific one time events I don’t know if anyone else here was at Roger Waters performing The Wall at the Berlin Wall. There were certainly a lot of people in the audience.
I was also at the 121212 Sandy relief concert.
Well, I could name some German acts, even big ones, that nobody here would have seen, but that feels like cheating, but has anybody here seen:
Motorpsycho (Psychedelic prog/hard rock band from Norway)?
Teenage Fanclub (Indie power pop band from Glasgow)?
Townes Van Zandt (okay, I’m sure some people have, but I’m so proud to have seen him in 1994 in Lüdenscheid, Germany of all places)?
ETA: well, I just remembered a collaboration that no one outside Europe could have seen, and that was Neil Young with Booker T and the MG’s on their short exclusively European festival tour in 1994. Saw them at Schüttorf, Germany (of all places, again). It was great.
I’ve seen both Brubeck and Charles in concert.
I’m pretty sure nobody on this board was at the Steve Goodman Benefit concert held right after his death at the Pacific Amphitheater. George Carlin, Jimmy Buffett, Jackson Browne, Wille Nelson, Martin Mull, Rosanne Cash, Randy Newman, John Prine(!), Emmylou Harris and a host of others under the stars.
Same same for the ARMS Benefit concert at the Forum in Inglewood - Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Joe Cocker, a couple of Stones, etc.
While there are a bunch of Renaissance fans on this board, I have no idea how many have seen Annie from 2’ away.
Let me go ahead and win this thread:
Corey Feldman w/Corey’s Angels
Kenny Loggins at the Stanley Theater the night that Pittsburgh won the 1979 World Series.
Was a real blast driving through the city.
King Sunny Ade with both his African Beats and the Golden Mercury of Africa
Thought of another one:
Bob Geldof is world famous for Live Aid and quite famous for the Boomtown Rats, but I saw him solo at a festival in Olpe, Germany (very close to my home) in 1990 (at the time, he had a solo album out that my girlfriend owned and we both liked very much). Also on the bill was Dave Stewart of Eurythmics fame.
Bob Marley
John Mayal
Stephon Grapelli
We saw him in NYC.
My wife’s claim to fame is that she was at the Shea Stadium Beatles concert in 1965. She and her friend told the nuns that they were going away with parents for the weekend and took the train from Buffalo to NYC. She says she doesn’t remember even hearing any music, as the fans drowned out the cheesy sound system.
I saw The Doors in a small concert hall at Berklee School of Music in Boston before they became famous. Had second-row seats. Helluva show.
Very cool. I was stationed right down the highway from Ventura, CA in 1967, but had zero dollars and no transportation. Missed out on a lot of music.
Daft Punk, pre-mask personas, at a camping rave in Wisconsin in 1996.
I’ve seen dozens of concerts with artists nobody else here has seen, I’m sure. Many of them are superstars in other countries, but pretty much unknown in the English speaking world. Here’s a sample:
Mamamoo
Bebe Rexha
Twice
Mylène Farmer
(G)-IDLE
Blackpink
Maisie Peters
Chai
Lauren Mayberry
STAYC
Isiliel
Atarashii Gakko!
Everglow
Odd Eye Circle
The Beaches
IVE
YOASOBI
Belanova
Babymetal
Whee In
This is all within the last few years.
As we’re doing specific concerts and not just performers, probably a lot here. I’ll start with one of these.
Paul Simon’s Concert in the Park: August 15, 1991. I went by hydrofoil shuttle to Manhattan and met my Girlfriend (now wife) and we walked up to Central Park from around Wall St. It was great. I barely saw the stage, but the music was incredible.
I saw the Page and Plant tour with the Newark something Chorus and a Hurdy Gurdy Man at the Continental Arena in Newark, NJ.
In 2009 we saw The Pete Seeger 90th Birthday Celebration headlined by Bruce Springsteen at Madison Square Gardens. Being members of Clearwater, we were able to get floor seats (under $100). It was raising money for Hudson River Sloop Clearwater. Others performing were: John Mellencamp, Arlo Guthrie, Joan Baez, Kris Kristofferson, Richie Havens, Roger McGuinn, Ani DiFranco, Taj Mahal, Ben Harper, Dave Matthews
I saw Bruce at the Stone Pony in 1989 starting around 1am on December 26th. In fact I was part of a security wall around the stage.
I also saw Bruce play with Ringo’s All Stars at the Garden State Art Center. Clarence Clemons and Max were with Ringo on that tour.
Speaking of which, at the Stone Pony starting in 1989 and until maybe 1996 I saw David Crosby, John Entwistle, Ginger Baker, Both Electric and Acoustic Hot Tuna with Jorma Kaukonen (of Jefferson Airplane) and I’m forgetting a few.
Anyone else see B.B. King live? I saw him at the Count Basie in Red Bank, NJ.
The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking was my second Concert. Roger Waters and Eric Clapton.
I feel like both of my rest were either very common to see or very minor performers.
I saw Sam the Sham & The Pharaohs at the armory in Anchorage in '64 or '65. They sang Wooly Bully. I remember they had a drummer with crazy eyes.
So a drummer? 