Was anyone here at the Pittsburgh Blues Festival at Iron City Brewing in 2011?
I was, and saw Johnny Winter in one of his final live performances (he died in 2014). I worked stage crew for the festival and was tasked with helping Johnny get from his tour bus to the stage, an approximate 50 yard walk.
I carried his folding chair in one hand and steadied him with my other hand. Every ten or so steps he’d stop and I’d open his chair so he could sit a moment to catch his breath and mop his brow. Then we moved on, rinse, repeat style. It was very hot and he had some trouble breathing.
Once we reached the stage I helped him up the steps. He asked me if I could stay with him, fetch water, rearrange his mic, etc. Just before he started, I helped him get to the VIP PortaPotty to take a leak (I stayed outside). Very cool guy and put on a helluva show.
I saw Mel C in London in 2012. She didn’t have a new album or anything, I gathered it was just a show for hell of it. I got a ticket on a whim; I’d wanted to see Amy MacDonald that night but her gig was sold out. It was surprisingly excellent. Emma Bunton joined her onstage for a duet of “I Know Him So Well” from the musical Chess. One of those weird shrugging gambles that paid off.
I also saw Stereolab in a tiny club in Montreal before they blew up, and Cowboy Junkies when they played a high school auditorium in Ottawa on one of their earliest tours. The Trinity Session was just starting to take off, and they had to move from the Great Canadian Theatre Company’s tiny stage to the auditorium of Ottawa Tech to accommodate the demand. The next time they played Ottawa, I’m sure it was at the National Arts Centre or someplace similarly huge. Years later they did a late-night in-store show/signing at the Tower Records on the Sunset Strip and I caught that show as well.
I saw BB King perform at the State Theater in Kalamazoo back in 1992.
Saw The Residents at the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor maybe 20 years ago. I knew I was getting close to the concert venue when I saw people filtering into the building wearing a fez or dressed as Little Bo Peep.
As I said, forgettable and besides this was back in the 90s. I’m can’t remember the date I saw David Crosby there and that show was one of my favorites.
Any other fans of Jason and the Scorchers? Their cover of “Absolutely Sweet Marie” was modestly popular. From southern IL, so I saw them often when in college in Champaign Urbana in the 80s, and was fortunate to see them (w/ new drummer/bassist) when in DC for some work training around 2012.
As someone who has long loved rock guitar, Warner Hodges is one of my favorite rock guitarists ever. They put on a fantastic live show. If you haven’t given them a listen, you oughta.
Saw Johnny Winter at Chicagofest on Navy pier in the late 70s. (Did I mention I LOVE guitar gods?! :D)
Didn’t look through all of the posts. Tubes and Runaways were 2 of the many bands that rotated through the Aragon, Uptown, etc in Chicago in the 70s. Wish I remembers half of half the shows I went to…
X was another score for DC training maybe 12 yrs ago.
Albert King put on an amazing show Champaign back in late 70s. Hell, from 78-82, I pretty much saw everyone worth seing who came through C-U. And while in high school before that, I probably averaged a show every other week in Chicago. But I know there are many around here who’ve seen way more than I…
Just last Monday I saw Edgar Meyer in downtown Chicago, Millenium Park. May not be terrible exaggeration to say he’s the most amazing musician I’ve ever seen. He sure is up there! (Of course, as an upright bassist, I MAY be a tad biased!)
I’ve seen X four times, six if you count Knitters shows. Sadly, I’m too young to have seen their first era; all of the gigs I’ve seen have been since the original lineup reunited in '97. I was at the L.A. show at the Palladium; you can see Rodney Bingenheimer’s band introduction at the beginning of the Mayor of the Sunset Strip documentary (and I got my X tattoo shortly thereafter, my first-ever ink). I feel like I told this story in another thread at some point, but anyway…the second time I saw X was at the Viper Room in the fall of 1999. It was a benefit show to raise money for medical bills for…I want to say Keith Morris? There was a Theloneous Monster reunion on the bill, and I forget who was up first. Another band was introduced with “one of these guys is from Tool” and I guess I saw the first live performance of A Perfect Circle. Then as the night was wrapping up, Exene said “Don’t leave yet, guys, we’ve got a surprise for you.” and out came Johnny Depp and his band P. I can’t for the life of me remember what they sounded like, though I remember thinking that Depp looked very greasy and unkempt in person.
Saw him at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival sometime back in the 90s. That may have been with Bela Fleck and Mark O’Connor, but my memory’s blurry on that.
Many years ago a friend who owns a blues club told me he had a “new kid” playing his bar. He said he was going to be big one day and I had to come see him. So of course, I did.
I thought he was going to be just gimmicky, setting up this rack with ten or twelve guitars….i mean, really? But he played every one of them and was breathtaking.
Just the name - as in - he played w/ everyone. Thx. I’ll give him a listen.
(Last decade or so I’ve been listening nearly exclusively to acoustic oldtime/bluegrass. So my electric/rock/punk/blues listening has been limited. Added benefit is the acoustic performers tend to play in smaller venues. So many greats - Bruce Molsky, Doc Watson, Brittany/Natalie Haas, Del McCoury, Sierra Farrell, Rhiannon Giddens, Bela Fleck/Abigail Washburn, etc. ad infinitum.)
Gong
The Blind Boys of Alabama
Los Lonely Boys (Their studio albums are not really anything special, in my opinion, but those guys can seriously PLAY a live show.)
Pat Metheny (I’m not going to say I would have made a proactive effort to go, but the wife won tickets by calling in to a radio station. I’m in for that.)
Duran Duran (Given the demographic I perceive, there might not be anyone else here who’s seen them.)
Mentioned upthread: BB King, a couple of times. Johnny Winter.
A couple dozen years ago I saw blues great Tommy Castro play a bar in Ohio that was in the basement of a building. I just searched for the bar and can’t find any references to it. I’m 5’ 11” and my head was maybe two inches from the ceiling.
I went with a group of guys. We each threw in $5 for the driver, who stayed sober. I’m not claustrophobic in the least, but it was a creepy vibe.
I did see The Band twice but this was post-Robbie. The first time they opened for CSN. The second time was at the Rogers Waters at the Berlin Wall concert. They were one of the opening bands and then backed him up on “Mother” with Sinaed on lead vocals. During their opening set there was no Robbie but Ronnie Hawkins came out for a few songs.
One of the other opening acts was The Chieftains with James Galway. During the main concert Galway also played during “Goodbye Blue Sky.” Oh and Joni Mitchell on vocals.
