Favorite Legitimately Free Concert That You Attended

Rage Against The Machine in Finsbury Park, London 2010.

 

Marillion - Anoraknophobia tour, The Astoria London. Had free tickets and after shows.

Second to that The Chameleons, last 3 times I saw them I didn't pay as I know the guitarist.

 

Detroit has free concerts in the summer down by the river every year. Usually the standard old-rock-band-tour free shows, but one of the best I saw was The Romantics (with Brad Elvis on drums) as it was a home-town crowd.

I also saw Cheap Trick and The New Pornographers basically back-to-back at Detroit Tastefest one year. (Though I think seeing Cheap Trick for free is probably fairly common...)

And The Turtles/Flo & Eddie at Hart Plaza in the mid-80s! That was a trip -- they were doing a ton of solo material as well as the big Turtles hits.

 

1984: R.E.M. live on the beach in Daytona, FLA. In between Murmur and Reckoning. They were great. Also, saw Big Country & Wire Train, two days before.

 

1978: Talking Heads, Sproul Plaza, U.C. Berkeley

Insanely great show, also instant massive crush on Tina Weymouth.

 

Greg Kihn Band -- Justin Herman Plaza 1979

 

I didn't think of it as a concert, so it skipped my first post.

King's X 2003 Sirius XM (before they were combined) studio in NYC. I got a tip from their label's PR that they were doing an interview/acoustic performance, so I asked if I could go. They got my wife and I in and we were treated to what amounted to a private performance. It was the band, the interviewer, the engineer and Julie, Jerry's wife. The session was never broadcast for whatever reason. I know the band has a copy because I saw them hand a disc of it to Ty.

 

Rehearsals/sound checks at the Hollywood Bowl are free. I used to live within walking distance and saw many great performances. Tops would be Tony Bennett and Diana Krall (same bill).

 

Detroit also has a great free jazz fest. some i remember are
The Funk Bros
David Fathead Newman
Dave Brubeck
Sonny Rollins
Chic Corea and Stanley Clark

At the Detroit Autorama circa 1970, Alice Cooper

Won from the radio, The Rolling Stones, Trey Anastasio

 

Very envious of this. What a great band Bryndle were, and as you say, that first album is really tremendous. Loved to have seen them live.

 

Chronologically:

Van Halen - Golden Bear Club, Huntington Beach, CA, Jan 1977: Over a year before they were signed. My friend knew the guy who worked sound at the club and got us in early. I believe Y&T was the headliner but we left after VH's set because we were afraid of getting booted out due to being underage. My first live band and obviously remains my favorite "free" show.

The Tubes - Tiny dive bar in Anaheim (The Woodstock?), early 1982: Show was announced on the radio the day of. They did two shows there that afternoon and I remember they played a lot of covers, notably The Who's Baba O'Riley and Won't Get Fooled Again.

WASP - Trubador Club, Hollywood, early 1983: Technically not a concert, it was a film shoot for a movie advertising for unpaid extras for a cheesy sci-fi movie called Dungeon Master. My friend and I didn't stay the whole evening.

Rough Cutt/Nightranger - Santa Monica Civic, early 1984: Free show.

Holy Barbarians - Lava Bar in Costa Mesa, 2/26/96: The Cult's Ian Astbury's solo band. Bar was a converted industrial warehouse and there was no stage, band set up in a corner. Arrived late afternoon before they started charging a cover, got to talk very briefly with Ian at the bar.

Jane's Addiction - Echoplex club 2/16/09: one of several warm-up shows when the original line-up reunited.

Jane's Addiction - The Roxy, 7/2/10: My memory of whether there was a cover or not is hazy on this one, but it was basically announced the day of show and turned out to be bassist Duff's last show with the band.

 

Yes / Kansas - Summer 2000 - Taste Of Chicago
Hearing Yes perform "Ritual" "The Gates Of Delirium" "Close To The Edge" in front of tens of thousands of people [the largest crowd they had performed for in Chicago in almost a decade] was thrilling.
Renaissance - 1977 or 1978 - Gillson Beach, Wilmette Illinois
We used to party there. It is a natural small amphitheater, we would play our acoustic guitars there and suddenly here was Renaissance!

At the Chicago Jazz Fest over the years:
Carla Bley - Music Liberation Orchestra
Miles Davis
Sun Ra & Arkestra
Art Ensemble Of Chicago

 

Two day Savannah Jazz Festival is put on by the city and believe it or not, is free every year, I think it is on its 40th or so year! Seen Mose Allison, Kevin Mahogany, Maynard Ferguson, Lionel Hampton, plus after show jam sessions, also free! Lots of blues performers too. Really is pretty amazing.

 

You got to see him perform This Is Not America, I would have loved to have been there, he only played it 3 times live according to setlist.com.

 

DEVO 1980 at University of Florida. Great show.

 

I saw all three live performances of that song: two at Roseland Ballroom in NYC, plus the BBC Radio Theatre gig. I was also at Glastonbury that summer, and the TFI Friday television recording, but he didn’t play “This Is Not America” at those two.

 

Saw Eddie Money at Casino Aztar, Evansville a couple of times, once in 05' & again in 06'. 100% free!

 

I saw Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros for free. I don't have much expectation for some reason. He was superb. Classic after classic and the new stuff was great too.

 

U2-Justin Herman Plaza San Francisco. Had to run about 8 blocks to get there from work, South of Market. Great time!

 

I've only ever been to one free gig and that was The XX at Bridlington Spa. It was special show for BBC radio 1 and was simultaneously broadcast on TV and radio with a full orchestra. Was better than I thought it was gonna be.

 

I saw Cheap Trick for free in Dayton Ohio back in 2000. The gig was good , the rest of my adventures in Dayton were not as good.

 

Todd Rundgren in Pershing Square in Los Angeles in 2016, the "all hits" tour.
Also, when Yes played inside Tower Records in L.A.

 

Paul Simon Central Park-even though it was a bummer Artie never made an appearance.

 

I saw a free outdoor Bob Seger show at a community college right when he released Beautiful Loser

 

The Byrds at the old Maui Shopping Center, 1967, just before David Crosby "left" the group.
Los Straightjackets and Derek Trucks (separately), Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia, around 2001.
The Boston Pops on the Esplanade in the 80's.
I feel like there's at least one good one that I'm missing that will come to me later.