DCC Archive What was your favorite concert?

Most disapointing: Chuck Berry at Santa Monica Civic. The man was 45 minutes late then came out bitching that they didn't have the amp that he was promised and wasn't gonna play.

 

Gotta be Lonnie Mack at the Stabilizer in West Lafayette, IN around 1985; my nose was about 6 inches from that amazing Flying V - loud??? - whoooooo, doggies, my ears are still ringing. Had his keyboard player Dumpy Rice with him (kinda looks like Johnny Fever, been with Lonnie bout as long as the Flying V) - that man wailed on the keyboards, looked like he was about to pass out. Memphis closed the first set, played at about triple time - I nearly had a heart attack trying to dance! Had such a good time I bought the band a round of cold ones - gotta love those smoky dives where you can rub shoulders with the band. Useta love seeing Kool Ray and the Polaroidz, too - cover band that hit the Big 10 schools and did a swell Beatles/Who/Kinks repertoire; I wouldn't give up my copy of their LP and 45 for nothin!!! Too bad my phono section went south or I'd go listen to Kool Ray (big sigh by me at the keyboard)...

 

First concert: Paul McCartney in Rupp Arena (Hiya Patrick. Don't know ya, but I saw Metallica and Kiss there, as well)

Best arena show: Roger Waters, IN THE FLESH, Gund Arena, Cleveland, Ohio. Best concert sound I've heard.

Seen the most times: KISS, making up for the fact that I didn't see them when I was young, I guess. Always a fun show, if musically sloppy.

Loudest show: I wore earplugs at both shows but KISS in Louisville and Prince in RUPP, of all people. Extremely loud, and he would do condensed versions of his classics and full length jams of his new stuff (Jam of The Year, which was just okay).

Best small venue shows: Shaver at Lynagh's Pub. Twice, both before Eddy died. At the first, I got them both to sign my Classic Records 150g copy of Tramp on Your Street. Good stuff.

Time Machine Show: If we can ever travel through time, I'm going to see Pink Floyd perform THE WALL live.

 

Wow. Ummm, I'm assuming you didn't come down from Detroit for all these?

Metallica in '93, right? I have really positive memories of that show overall. It seems like it drug until a certain point, then it clicked and was great from there on out. I don't remember exactly when, tho.

KISS in '98? Ugh. Boomy as hell. Really loud and bad-sounding.

I didn't see Prince at Rupp, but did you go the time he came to A1A afterwards and charged the fans for his 5 second cameo, surrounded by bodyguards?

And Lynagh's? I just saw Mike Keneally there a few weeks ago. I've also seen Los Straitjackets there twice, Victor Wooten, Ray's Music Exchange, Catawampus, other local yokels, et al.

 

Strangest Show:

Robert Fripp, George Washington University ballroom around 1985. There was no stage or lights or amplifiers or anything. Just 9 folding chairs at one end of the room, formed in a semi-circle facing the audience. There were no chairs for the audience. A nice carpet was rolled out on the floor and comfy pillows were strewn about.

Fripp invited us (maybe 100-150 people) to make ourselves comfortable on the floor and we did. Then he explained that he was teaching guitar to first time students at a school in West Virginia. They had lessons for 6 or 8 weeks and now this concert was the final exam.

The band was 8 or 9 acoustic guitar players sitting in the chairs forming a semi-circle and Fripp sat in the middle chair. The music was your typical kind of Fripp music with each guitarist playing a metronomic type guitar line and all the different guitar parts interwove to form a tapestry. Every once in a while Fripp would stand up from his chair and play this great melodic solo. I was lounging on a comfy pillow on the floor like 5 feet in front of him!

Between songs he would read articles by critics bashing him or King Crimson and then he would explain in his scholarly manner why they were wrong. He was very funny and intelligent, of course. A very strange an interesting concert. I think it was called Robert Fripp & the Crafty Guitarists.

 

Nah, never been to Detroit. Yeah, saw Metallica in '93. I had seen them earlier in Louisville, and both times I thought they were very good, but 10 minutes of SEEK AND DESTROY and endless poor solos kinda drug everything to a halt. Other than that, good stuff. Saw the KISS 3-D Psycho Circus show in '98, and video taped it. Had ear plugs in and the video (which sounds bad) probably sounds better than the show itself did. Lynaghs wouldn't let me tape the Shaver show, too bad, it was excellent. A friend of mine taped a 16Horsepower show there, turned out pretty well. We also had a copy of Derek Trucks at Lynaghs, don't know if it's still floating around or not. Anywhoo, have a happy new year.

 

Mine would be an Oingo Boingo concert here in So. Cal. I went with two guy friends and one friend's 20 year-old sister (it was my first time meeting her). We get to our seats and there is an amazing girl sitting behind me who was a solid 10. She was painted into her black dress and it was very apparent she wasn't wearing a stitch of underwear. All three of us guys looked at each other like "oh my!" She talks to us a couple of times briefly, and I can tell she's been drinking.

The concert starts and everyone in the audience jumps up and starts dancing. Just as this happens I feel a hand on my back and it's this girl climbing over my seat and she's using my shoulder to balance herself. I help her down and my friends are giving me the Evil Eye. I laugh as she begins to dance with me. I'm thinking that I cannot believe my luck-- this girl is WAAAAYYYY out of my league. I look at my friends... and I can see the entire row on both sides are all bending their heads to watch this girl! I'm feeling uncomfortable by the attention, but it's also so strange that I can't stop laughing.

Well, she's got her arms on my shoulder dancing and she wants to kiss me I can see. Maybe I'm an idiot-- but I keep thinking that she's drunk and not thinking straight. She slides her hands down and she starts to attempt to unbuckle my pants. The music is LOUD, but even over the music I hear someone in the row gasp! I'm trying to look calm, and I take her and spin her around so she's looking out at the band. She reaches around and she starts to grab me. Now I'm wrestling with her and I'm starting to doubt my own sanity, I look at my friends and like a scene out of a comedy movie they are standing there with their jaw hanging open.

I wrestled with this incredible looking girl for about an hour and finally she went back to her seat where she passed out almost instantly.

I really enjoyed the band for the next hour and when the concert was over, I turned to discover the girl and her friend had gone. On the way home I received the most intense ribbing of my life because I chose to be a gentleman.

Maybe I shoulda started out this post with "I never thought I'd be writing a letter to the Forum like this, but..."

 

Lovin' Spoonful with Jerry Butler...my first concert and a totally enjoyable musical experience. Loved "Full Measure" and still do. "Summer in the City" actually blistered !

Donovan...the cafcan, flowers in your hair period. It was to be a concert with Janis Ian supporting but she cancelled out. I didn't miss her at all !

Jimi Hendrix Experience the day after his Toronto Canada bust....playing to a half filled auditorium I just sat back and listened to his genius...especially "Red House". He was completely at ease and confident on the stage by this time, and he just took your breath away.

The Who on the first leg of their US "Tommy" tour...completely blown away by the spectacle of it all, hearing it for the first time is always the best. Keith Moon could knock the hat off of a clunky ticket taker at 40 feet, with his drum stick !!!

Led Zeppelin, after the release of the third album...11th row seats...opened with "Immigrant Song" completely carried away and knew I was experiencing something special...couldn't hear clearly for the next two days. What more can you ask for ?

Lou Reed, 1974 at the Rainbow Theater, London...I was a converted fan by this time, even if he did have bleached iron crosses in his hair! I owned two copies of his first solo album and "Berlin" by this time and wore out both!!!! The first solo album is an overlooked classic.

 

Mike,

You can listen to an audience tape of that Toronto '69 Jimi show at www.jimi-hendrix.com, the site is kida of hard to navigate but it's there. I have a CDR of the show as well. Great playing. Only live performance of Little Miss Lover EVER!! I can't believe the auditorium was only 1/2 full??

Chris

 

For me the best arena show has to be Rush: Hemispheres tour (I think?) and their back up band was Max Webster promoting their Universal Juvenilles album. After a 30+min. encore by Rush, out comes Kim Mitchell and they all, both bands, close the show with the title track. They brought the freakin' house down with that one!

Smaller venue, under 2,000 patrons has to be Joe Satriani at our formerly 86th st.pub. Man can he cook on a smaller venue and a nice guy to boot.

Even smaller still, 200 patron max., there are just too many to list but here's a few.
Heart, Prism, BTO, Doucette, Chilliwack, Streetheart and Bryan Adams, all before mega publicity and all very good.

I know I've been to two out-door shows, just wish I could remember what they were called. The head liners were Heart 1978 and Supertramp 1979. Both extremely good shows, from what I remember of them anyways (I was a lot younger in those days and one hell of a lot more durable ).

The absolute worst/loudest show I've been to is David Lee Roth 1987. Yeah I went willingly!

[ December 31, 2001: Message edited by: Dave ]

 

Any of the seven times I have seen Neil Young, but if forced to choose - 1971 show in the Coliseum/Seattle. Runner-up: Dylan and the Band, same venue a couple of years later. I still get goose bumps every time I hear "Like a Rolling Stone". Third place, probably The Who in 1970 (don't remember much of it though.

 

Hmmm. Doobie Brothers in 1980 on the tour just before announcing they were breaking up and went on their "farewell" tour. I also loved James Taylor in 1985 outdoors at Kings Island.

And BOSTON- sat in the 10th row in an outdoor venue so I was even with the stage. Only took my earplugs out for certain songs, but it was the coolest.

I also vote for using earplugs, but as I said above, I do take them out for certain songs.

 

My best (all in Detroit/metro area):

Springsteen, July 1984 (my first time seeing him live) and then the six other times I have seen him since.

U2 on War tour and in the early first (small hall) stage of Unforgettable Fire tour. Honorable mention to the Waterboys opening up on U2's UF tour.

REM on Lifes Rich Pageant and Document tours.

Rolling Stones - No Security tour (first and only time I've seen them, was fantastic and apparently an uncommonly long show).

Worst:

REM on Fables of the Reconstruction tour (dark, murky, dispirited show). The Replacements opened up, but were drunk and incomprehensible.

Peter Gabriel - Us tour (somehow left me cold).

U2 - Joshua Tree tour - still were learning how to translate show to stadiums - did not work well in the Silverdome.

CM Wolff

 

Best gig/memory: Black Flag at Cal State Northridge circa 1981. Best part was shag with punk-rock-girl date afterwards.


Worst: Graham Parker & the Rumour, some barn in NYC during the Sparks tour. Couldn't see and the sound sucked!

 

No contest:

The ORIGINAL VENTURES, all four of them, in NYC in 1984 at the Mudd Club.

They blew the ROOF off of the place.
The most amazing thing was that they had been playing "Walk Dont Run", "WipeOut", "Hawaai -5-0" for 25 years by that time and yet they STILL sounded fantastic. No "oldies" band her...these guys rocked!! Plus I got to meet Mel Taylor, my drum mentor.

 

wow so many shows and memories...let's see....Andrea Bocelli, U.S. debut 4/98 @ Kennedy Ctr, D.C., and 10 more shows of his since then,
Fleetwood Mac final live show, '97
Queen both 76 and 77 tours
Chicago '72 Baltimore
Alice Cooper '73 Baltimore
Johnny Cash 8/90 Cumberland MD
Paul McCartney/Wings '76 Lanham MD
David Bowie, Serious Moonlight Tour
Jefferson Airplane reunion tour
Emerson Lake and Palmer Works tour
B 52's 1980 tour
Pretenders Learning To Crawl tour
The Cars-1984 tour
Yes-the day elvis died
w/Donovan
Yoko Ono '96 D.C.
Simon and Garfunkel '84
Julian Lennon '84
Village People w/Gloria Gaynor '79
Ringo 1st 2 allstarr tours
Mamas and Papas reunion tour
Judy Collins 1985
Mary Chapin Carpenter 1988
Pink Floyd '87 tour
Elton John solo tour and the previous one
Heart 1977 tour
Gong Festival 1977
that's what comes to mind
and I enjoyed every one of those

 

One of my most memorable concerts was seeing Rahsaan Roland Kirk in 1977 shortly before his death. It was in the lounge of the Holiday Inn across the street from Univ of PA in Philadelphia. The first set was kind of sad, he came onstage in a wheelchair as a stroke had paralyzed one side (tough for a blind saxophonist). Between sets a lot of the Philadelphia Jazz notables came up to pay their respects, including Grover Washington, Jr. After the intermission, he did a 15 min rant on the evils of Disco and selling out. He then proceeded to blow the roof off the place for the 2nd set.

Anothe memorable concert for me was seeing Billy Joel at Rutgers University in 1973 or so. Billy played great, but, for the encore, he brought on an up and coming local musician out of the audience- Bruce Springsteen. They did a duet of "Twist and Shout" and Bruce was just electrifying and stole the show. I have seen him at least a dozen times since then and he never fails to amaze me with the sheer energy of his performances.

 

1.Link Wray and the Wraymen late 1964 at Marumsco Plaza in Woodbridge VA. Being only 13 at the time I was unaware of who he was and that he was a recording star. But the British Invasion was in full swing and his style of instrumental rock was on the way out. After the show I got his autograph and I lost it some years later.

2.Aerosmith, Bob Seger, Jeff Beck w/Jan Hammer, Black Oak Arkansas July 4th 1976 Bicentennial celebration at Groves Stadium in Winston-Salem NC. My friends and I camped out with a large tent attached to my 1958 Cadillac Coupe DeVille. A pot-filled haze covered the city...

3.Donovan 1987? at the Pier in Raleigh NC. Amazing how beautiful this guys voice is. But most impressive of all was how he used nothing but an acoustic guitar to entertain the audience, no band, no amps, just him and a guitar in pristine mono.

I went to many concerts through the years but these 3 are the most memorable.

 

Telefunken,
I've read a bunch of great shows on here...but I think I would have liked to have been with you at number 2 on your list!! (Of course I was only 13 at the time...but still)

 

Simply put The Band at New Yorks Academy of Music October 1976. It was the first time that I saw them and realized what a monster guitar player Robbie Robertson is.

Just for the record the worst show of all times was Talking Heads at CBGB's had to walk out they were so bad.

 

Hi,

Gotta list mine by band b/c me can't start to compare the 500 or so shows all together.

Warlocks Hampton, VA 10/89- This was the Good Ole' Grateful Dead under their pre-Dead name b/c they got kicked outta Hampton and hadda come in the backdoor. Of the 200 or so GD shows I saw this was the one. Could write 5 pages on why but mercy is shown.

Santana Richmond Mosque Spring 1981- 3500 seats w/ killer sound. Santana played bout 3 hrs. w/ 5 different encores.

Dylan Summer 1987 in Philly- Grateful Dead as his back-up band, Dylan played about 75 mins. w/ great vocal/jam coordination.

Favorite Place- The Barnes of Wolftrap. 350 seats (250 floor/100 balcony). Some shows there were: Chick Corea, John Gorka, Stanley Clarke, Al Dimeola, David Grisman, Rowan Brothers, John McLaughlin, Billy Cobham & bunches of Blues masters.

Let It Rock,
Jeffrey

[ January 02, 2002: Message edited by: Jeffrey ]

 

Though, very tough!

How about every BB King concert I have ever been to.
After that 1980- Moody Blues Long Distance Voyager tour
Patti Smith 2000 in Denver
Gordon Lightfoot- Just LAst year
Rolling Stones- many many tours
Neil Young- again many many tours
And the best over all concert: The Rock and Roll hall of fame concert in Clevelnad Ohio, 1995, it had every body who was anybody! No great performances, but it was a great show due to who was there, who jammed with who. It was more of an event!

 

Jeff:

Which show was this? I think I was at all of the Hampton Coliseum shows around this time, but I don't remember a Warlocks concert. It wasn't the Box of Rain show was it? Were you at that show? When they played that song, it was the loudest noise I have ever heard made by a crowd. Louder than Van Halen at the Garden when DLR would stare at the crowd with a look of mock suprise and say: "Look at all these f***kin' people!"

Mike

 

Hi Mike,

Sweet, sweet Hampton. Jerry loved the place. The Dead played Hampton 21 times & yea they were special shows. Box of Rain was played to end a 1st set in 1986 for the 1st time in 15yrs. Yea, I was one of the melters while wiping away the tears. Gotta ok vid of that show that I watch every now & then. 1986's run included Roadrunner, Visions of Johanna and a couple other rare jams. 1989 was two shows w/ the 2nd one (10-9-89) being one of the best 2nd set the Dead played. Something like Playin'-Uncle John's-Playin' then the 1st Dark Star since 1984 (and the response to that made the 1986 Box seem quiet). After the drums the boys played Death Don't Have No Mercy and the encore was the 1st Attic's of My Life in 17 yrs. After the show Healy cut up the lites and nobody did the normal dash to the lot, people stayed and clapped for 5-10 mins. straight (well of course we weren't). In over 200 Dead shows, I never saw a crowd respond the way we did. It was a very very special nite and the reason we went coast-to-coast show-to-show.

How Sweet It Was,
Jeffrey

 

I love those things DLR would say over and over, but always to great response:

"Look at all the people here tooooooooonight."

"Don't stick that tongue out unless you gonna use it."

And various comments about what he was going to do to some guy's girlfriend backstage, how he really did have Jack Daniels in the bottle (unlike Quiet Riot), etc.