Greatest *FREE* concert you've ever attended

Several come to mind

Tommy James and the Shondells
Jefferson Starship (minus Grace Slick) The female vocalist replacing Grace was awesome.
The Animals (minus Eric Burdon) In fact, the guitar player was the only original member lol. They put on a helluva show. You could almost swear the lead singer was Eric himself. He was that good.

I saw all the performances for free at my home town's annual county fair. They always seem to bring in top notch entertainment.

 

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That must have been AWESOME! I watched Standing in the Shadows of Motown yesterday....for the 3rd time!!!!! Love it......those guys were REAL musicians!

 

The Ramones in City Hall Park in San Francisco, June 1979. A cheerleader passed out right on me(due to wearing a leather coat in 80 degree weather!), and someone(perhaps I)managed to cop a feel.....oh, and the music was killer, too!

 

A Beatles cover band called The Caverners at the CNE in Toronto while my wife was attending Micheal Bolton at Ontario Place.....they were incredible!They did everything and changed costumes to match the period of music. Nice Sgt Pepper outfits!

 

I was there! but paid for my tickets.

 

Paul McCartney backed by the Crickets. Small club in midtown Manhattan, summer, 1999. (He only played 1 song, but what the hell!)

 

my GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry for drooling.....I just hold all those guys up there as musical gods!
James Jamerson being THE head God!

 

Free Shows

Grateful Dead Fall '72 American University
Sea Level 7? University of MD
Romantics summer 8? George Washington Univeristy playing in ninety degree heat in full leather

Peace
Norm

 

Beginning around 1969, the Allman Brothers used to drive up from Macon and play regularly in Piedmont Park in Atlanta, usually on Sundays. As it evolved, the city Parks department began providing a portable stage and other acts would also play, starting in the afternoon & continuing into the evening. All these concerts were free and often the local underground newspaper, "The Great Speckled Bird", sponsored & advertised the events. One memorable day of music featured a line-up of local acts, along with Boz Scaggs, Tracy Nelson & Mother Earth and the Allmans, performing separately & jamming together!

 

JayHawks/Black Crowes - Sam Houston Coliseum 1993.
They came back for a free concert after they had security problems a few months earlier at a different venue(Astro Arena).
I was at the first show which was better because of the sound system and the venue.
When the Crowes announced they would be playing another free show I thought ticket holders of the first show would be let in. WRONG: Tickets were given away through radio promotions and a friend scored the free tickets for me.
Anyway two great shows!
Crowes touring on the "Souuthern Harmony" LP and the Jayhawks touring with"Hollywood Town Hall".

Joe

 

Excellent! Thanks for the heads up, Mike. I am going to be in Detroit on that Wednesday.

 

Supposed to be the Stones...Ac/Dc.....others!

 

Nightfall Series here has been going for about 12 yrs., w/$100,000 budget for about 12 dates each year. Excellent booking person, Carla Pritchard, who listens to fans and a well-versed committee. Just a few I've seen free:
John Hiatt, Lucinda Williams (pre-stardom), Jr. Walker, Percy Sledge, Don Dixon/Marti Jones, Sun Ra, Charles Brown, NRBQ, Flatlanders, Robert Earl Keen, Impressions, Joe Ely, Irma Thomas, Barenaked Ladies, Jesse Winchester, Mississippi All-Stars, Buddy Guy, Leo Nocentelli, John Prine, Nickel Creek . . . etc.

doug

 

Greatest free concert:

Little Richard outdoors at the Montreal Jazz Festival in 1996. Yes, it was a great concert...

Richard: Do you want to hear "Good Golly Miss Molly?"
Crowd: (whoops and hollers)
Richard: Shut Up! Shut Up! Shut Up!

 

I didn't go, but a friend of mine witness a surprise appearance by John Cale at Nevin's in Evanston, IL. She didn't even know who he was, but was pretty floored by the music.

 

I'd have to say the Grateful Dead in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park (1975 I think). Coming in at number two would be the Doors at the Cow Palace (snuck in); don't remember the year, but Morrison was in full beard. Also caught a free one by U2; but never cared much for their music.

 

I saw several free concerts at Disneyland if that counts. The best was Roy Orbison he played for a couple days so we went to several shows. Also that summer they had Frankie and the Four Seasons, Righteous Brothers, The Ventures, Buster Poindexter and several more. I think I made it to about all of them.

 

I've seen John Kay & Steppenwolf several times at free outdoor shows, my favorite performance being a summer fair/festival thing in Irving(?) Texas in the early 90's. Also, in the late 80's & early 90's in downtown Dallas almost evey weekend there'd be a free concert in the "Dallas Alley" - that's where I saw Steppenwolf with guest replacement guitarist Les Dudek perform and on another occasion an outstanding performance by Procol Harum.

If cover charge gigs also count, I saw SPIRIT with the late Randy California perform in a club gig in Dallas in the early 90's; attendance was only about 100 folks due to it being a very poorly advertised gig. The only reason I knew about it was through someone mentioning ihe appearance to my wife. It was the club's grand openning and I think we paid $5 or $10 each to get in, as a cover charge. My wife & I and a friend of ours that we'd brought along took a table right next to the stage, but location really didn't matter because once their set started Randy would walk up to each table in the room and let rip with great blues runs for folks! Great sound and an absolutely stunning show; I still have a signed tee shirt, which I'd imagine is extremely valuable now on the collector's market!


Cat

 

I just remembered another good one. It was a taping for the old Midnight Special TV show. The hosts were the BeeGees (they lipsynced all but one song). The others acts were Lee Michaels (great) and Chuck Berry. Chuck Berry was sick and had come out and done a mediocre set, everyone else finished and the lights came on and most people left. We were hanging around and Chuck Berry came back out and wanted to retape his set. So with very few of us left he played for about an hour and it was just a killer set.

 

More recently, I saw Little Richard, Ben E. King, and Sam Moore do one of those PBS-like retrospective shows at the Universal Amphitheater. Tix were free (for me at least), and the show was spectacular. Those ol' geezers can still do it! The highlight for me might have been Sam Moore covering "Rainy Night in Georgia." But otherwise all i can say is that i hope I have Richard's energy when I'm his age.

 

George Benson at Stern Grove in San Francisco, summer 1999 at a radio station sponsored event. People were packed wall to wall in the park and George was really on that day and played for a solid two hours, smiling and playing the guitar like nobody's business. One of the highlights and funniest moments was when he sang "Unforgettable" mimicking both Nat and Natalie Cole!! A great day overall.

 

A JVC Jazz Festival free concert in Bryant Park, NYC, with a killer Latin percussionist, a great local big band, and a surprise appearance by Michael Brecker to wrap up the evening, who I met later.