Tonight, it’s Medium Cool, hold the BGinCHI.
BG will return to Medium Cool on January 17. I’ll be holding down the fort in the meantime. Ideas for Sunday evening culture posts? Let us know in the comments.
Tonight, let’s talk about MUSIC!
– What music do you listen to when you are celebrating?
– When you want something calming?
– When you want to turn off your brain and just be in the moment?
– What’s the best live concert you ever got to see?
– What’s the one person/group that you regret never getting to see live?
– When you picture yourself hearing Prince or Bowie – or some other artist who was important to you– for the first time, where were you and what were you doing?
Anything music, here’s your chance to talk about it. And share it, if you like.
JanieM
This one is easy: Peter, Paul, and Mary. The other ones I might come back to if I have time.
Could have seen them at Boston’s Symphony Hall when I was, I think, a sophomore in college. Skipped it for some other stupid thing, then they broke up for many years. Saw Peter and Paul at a small event a few years ago, several years after Mary died
ETA:
Well, might as well answer this one too. I first heard PPM on the record player at my friend’s house when I was a freshman in high school: Stewball was a racehorse, and I wish he were mine….
My first introduction not only to PPM but to folk music.
zhena gogolia
I wish I could have seen Hvorostovsky in Eugene Onegin or Queen of Spades.
Omnes Omnibus
I never saw The Clash live. I did get to see Joe Strummer with the and the Mescaleros.
raven
In the fall of 69 the Stones came to the University of Illinois and I had to go on a stupid field trip that ended up the only course I passed with a D! I’d seen them in 65 on my 16th but it still pisses me off. I missed Woodstock because my sorry ass was defending our freedoms in a far away land!
raven
@JanieM: Mine too, and they were the first Dylan I heard too!
Ever hear Willie Watson do Stewball? Totally different but fun.
Emma
For points 2 and 3, I have to go with the first movement of Schubert’s piano sonata D. 960, especially if I’m playing rather than listening. There are a billion renditions of it out there, but here’s one by Tatiana Nikolayeva, whose interpretation I find very interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjsMtOTobMw&ab_channel=FirstPublicChannel
For point 4, I attended a concert by the orchestra of Oberlin Conservatory some years ago in Singapore. I don’t even remember what they played, besides something from Porgy and Bess, but they were having so much fun twirling their instruments on stage and giving us such a good show that the audience had no choice but to stan. And live music culture in Singapore is such that NO ONE gets a standing ovation, we’re all too paiseh, but everyone stood and cheered the moment these kids finished their program. (Honorable mention goes to The Temptations, who were still going strong with a few different members when I saw them a few years ago. They’ve still got the groove at 70+ years old, lol.)
Baud
@raven:
Thank you for your service?
raven
@Baud: HAHAHAHAHA!!!
zhena gogolia
In 1975 when I got back from a 3-month camping trip in the USSR and Eastern Europe (college-sponsored — I’ve never camped since), my brother said, “We have tickets to see Bruce Springsteen.” I was like, who? But that was the best (non-classical) concert I’ve ever been to. Next would be Bruce Springsteen in 1981. And I’m not even that big a fan. But he puts on a great show.
raven
No me but my sis was in Colorado in 69, dropped and missed Hendrix because they were riding bicycles.
The Thin Black Duke
If I may, allow me to proudly introduce my newest discovery and latest musical obsession. Joan Shelley is f*cking amazing.
Matt McIrvin
I regret never seeing Talking Heads.
I saw Tom Tom Club (in their heyday). I saw David Byrne (recent amazing tour). Never saw them all together, live, and that’s clearly never going to happen.
My other favorite band, They Might Be Giants, I have seen live many times, but the best of all was the first one, in 1990, when it was just Johns Linnell and Flansburgh and they were touring for Flood. Wonderful, bizarre, theatrical show, lots of deep tracks from the three albums that were all they had at the time.
My second favorite concert ever might be the David Byrne tour, at the waterfront pavilion in Boston in 2018. He took it to Broadway later.
MattF
I recall a Gillian Welch concert— there was a passage they were playing very slowly and very intensely, and everyone in the audience was listening very carefully— and it occurred to me that if someone just walked in at that moment, they’d wonder what on earth was going on. Great concert, needless to say.
Scout211
What is the one person/group that you regret never getting to see live ?
When I was a college student, we had tickets to see Jim Croce. Then he tragically died. It was (of course) way more upsetting that he died than I missed him in concert.
What is the best live concert you ever got to see?
I saw some great concerts during my college years (Bob Dylan, James Taylor, Chick Corea) and as an adult I was impressed with the Dixie Chicks and U2, but the most fun I ever had at a concert was The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band back in my college days. What a fun show.
narya
Celebrating: BRUUUUUCE. One of the live shows, generally. (and, when I am in A Mood, one of the live instances of either Wrecking Ball or Darkness)
Calming: Krishna Das (kirtan)
Best live concert: a performance of “Congo Square,” complete with the African drummers/vocalists (also a couple of Bruce shows)
Wish I’d seen: Talking Heads, in a 1000-seat venue (TWO years I didn’t go)
Honorable mention: acoustic Dead/Garcia, and/or some of the live shows
Matt McIrvin
…third favorite: Boston Symphony Orchestra playing Vaughan Williams’ “Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis”.
ThresherK
When I’m ill, I like The Blue Nile, especially Hats.
To wind down I like Sigur Ros, especially their series celebrating the longest day of the year in Iceland. Route One
prostratedragon
What’s the one person/group that you regret never getting to see live?
This one has an easy answer, though hardly the only possibility:
Miles Davis. Had for several years found some slapstick reason, frequently involving bank accounts, to miss his regular engagements around NYC. Finally got tickets to see him at The Bottom Line in early 1975. As we walked in I think they were playing “Maiyisha” –it was the band from that era anyway. After playing some bars on a keyboard, someone in the from row got Miles’s attention and he jumped down off the stage to talk to them. Apparently, his hip gave way and he had to end the show due to the pain. Soon after that his long hiatus from music was under way …
Some things just aren’t meant to be.
Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA)
Best concert was Kate Bush in September 2014. First time I ever heard her was watching the Kenny Everett show, which used to air on channel 4 in New York after Saturday Night Live.
I first heard artists like REM and Robyn Hitchcock while listening to WNEW-FM late at night, nocturnal teen that I was. Does the radio matter like that to anyone anymore? I haven’t listened in ages.
I used to regret not seeing Roxy Music in concert, until I saw Bryan Ferry at the art man a couple of years ago and it occurred to me that he’s pretty much been re-recording Avalon for the last 35 years, so seeing him live was close enough.
JanieM
@raven: Thanks for that Willie Watson link — different and fun and… I didn’t know there were a gazillion versions of Stewball — now I’m at risk of spending the rest of the evening listening to them. ;-)
The Thin Black Duke
@Matt McIrvin: You too? I never saw Talking Heads, but I saw Jerry, Tom Tom and David by themselves when I lived in CT.
arrieve
@Omnes Omnibus: I was just going to answer that I saw the Clash at Shea Stadium, opening for the Who. I hadn’t been a huge fan before and Shea Stadium is not the best place to see anyone, but that was amazing.
The best concerts were at Winterland in San Francisco. Not too big, grungy but not disgusting. I also saw the Who there. And the Kinks. And Springsteen. All wonderful shows.
I have no desire to see big rock concerts any more. The only regret I have is that I had tickets for Joni Mitchell’s comeback, probably 20 years ago now, and my mom had an emergency and I had to give the tickets away.
I’m quite happy listening to the amazing variety of music now available via streaming. My favorites change week by week, but I’ve surprised myself by loving Taylor Swift’s pandemic release Folklore. I play it over and over again.
Martin
@zhena gogolia: I went to see U2 in Philly in the 80s, and Bono had a broken arm, so they called up a fan to play one song, and Bruce to play a bunch others. To say the crowd lost their fucking mind when Bruce showed up out of the blue is a bit of an understatement.
Matt McIrvin
@Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA): When I had a looong car commute, WERS (Emerson College’s public rock station) was my refuge.
The car wore out from years of heavy use and died from pandemic non-use and it’s about time to get a new one anyway, and the thing is unlikely to fetch more than scrap value, so… I donated it to WERS. Did it for rock and roll.
Dave P
– What music do you listen to when you are celebrating?
Old Motown.
– When you want something calming?
Antonin Dvorak’s Serenade for Strings in E Major.
– What’s the best live concert you ever got to see?
Peter Frampton and Rory Gallagher in 1975. Peter Frampton was on the tour where he recorded “Frampton Comes Alive” but it hadn’t been released yet. Rory Gallagher was on fire–he played some absolutely incredible licks from his beat-up Stratocaster and played two encores (something I’d never seen a warm-up act do before or since). If you’ve listened to “Frampton Comes Alive”, that was basically the set he played and he and his band were in top form.
Craig
Me and a friend were bored at our parents houses home from school for some holiday. We went down to the local crappy 80s rock and stumbled into some band called The Pixies on their first tour. Absolutely stunned.
zhena gogolia
@prostratedragon:
Wow, that is frustrating.
Uncle Omar
Calming…Pastoral
Best Concert…The Dead in early ’71, when Garcia was also playing pedal steel for the New Riders of the Purple Sage
Act I never saw live…Dylan, how bad is that?
Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA)
@Matt McIrvin: College radio and WLIR got me through my teens.
zhena gogolia
@Martin:
Sounds great.
The Thin Black Duke
@arrieve: Taylor Swift is an Artist who is also immensely Popular, and that confuses some people. But I’m liking her music more and more these days.
SFBayAreaGal
– What music do you listen to when you are celebrating?
Classical Rock and Roll
– When you want something calming?
Classical Music
– When you want to turn off your brain and just be in the moment?
Classical Music
– What’s the best live concert you ever got to see?
Bill Graham Day on the Green, the groups that day were Lynard Skinner, Peter Frampton, Santana, and the Outlaws
A Rolling Stones concert in the early 2000s
– What’s the one person/group that you regret never getting to see live?
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Frosty Fred
I missed Laura Nyro when she performed at an intime local venue that would have been perfect for her late-career style. It was a shock when I heard she had died not long after that (probably a couple of years, I don’t mean days or weeks, but still).
Wag
Best concert is a tough question. Easier question is best venue for a show. And my hands down winner for that, and site of many of the best shows I have seen, is Red Rocks Amphitheater outside of Denver.
as far as best show? I guess it’s be a tossup between Bruce Springsteen at Red Rocks, summer of ‘81, first night of his two night stand, and David Byrne’s American Utopia tour, again at Red Rocks, summer of 2018
The Springsteen show was in the days when red rocks was 100% general admissions, and you could camp out the night before the concert to get the best seats. We camped out before the show, and got third row seats. It was a beautiful day hanging out in the sun until 4 o’clock, when Bruce came out for a fourth song sound check. It’s in clouded up, and begin to rain like hell. Bruce and the band came out at 7o’clockin their first song was the old Creedence Clearwater Revival song, Who’ll Stop The Rain. Bruce, Miami Steve, Clarence, and the bass player Gary all came out from under the roof into the rain with your instruments create in a joyful noise in the rain. After about five or six songs, Bruce offered to stop the show and give us a free show 2 nights later, but the audience demanded he continue 20 minutes later, the rain stopped, a full moon was rising behind the stage, and they played for a total of four hours.
The David Byrne show was a very different experience, but was spectacular. If you’ve seen the movie on HBO, you know that the American utopia show has fantastic music, completely choreographed with a band that is able to move and dance at will, including drummers and keyboard players. It is quite possibly the most intricate marching band routine ever, it was magical
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Rocks_Amphitheatre
JanieM
Can I add another question to the list?
Q: Who would you most still like to see in concert that you haven’t seen live?
A: Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris. (Not actually sure I’m up for huge concert venues anymore, but I might make an exception for them if they came within reach, separately or together.)
Wag
@Omnes Omnibus: I got to see The Clash at Red Rocks on the Combat Rock your. A great show
Mo MacArbie
It’s my generation’s “I Wanna Hold Your Hand”; I remember the streetlights glowing in the night where the highway passed under State St. as I drove hearing “Smells Like Teen Spirit” for the first time. Radio hadn’t sounded like that before.
Craig
I saw Ronnie Wood and Bo Diddley play at the Bayou Club in DC forever ago. Incredible love between those guys. They played forever.
Brachiator
Went to a Stevie Wonder concert in New Haven. He started to do a run of his hits and I remember thinking “That’s a great song! Wait, that’s another great song. Wait. I love that song.” The energy level was amazing. And the playlist was chosen for maximum impact.
Saw jazz musician Sam Rivers and his group. A challenging concert. College days. Some who came to prove how hip they were walked out. But the music was bracing and the performance was transcendent.
Saw Frank Sinatra in Hollywood for my birthday. He really was not my kind of music. And he was no longer in his prime. But damn a hell of a showman. And I got to hear with my own ears his mastery of phrasing and how his voice was an instrument.
Tito Puente in a small club in New York. Effortlessly masterful. No a wasted motion as he summoned the gods of African rhythm to play through him.
I would have loved to have seen the young Elton John at the Troubadour.
Would have enjoyed seeing James Brown and Sly Stone.
Would have enjoyed seeing Leonard Bernstein conduct.
SFBayAreaGal
I did get to see Paul McCartney play the last concert at Candlestick. That was a great concert.
Matt McIrvin
In the past couple of years Sam and I resolved to see way way more live music, particularly more rock/pop music (we’d always gone to classical concerts a lot), and it’s been fantastic. It’s easier now that our daughter is old enough that child care is less of a problem and she can actually come along to some shows.
Favorite ones in the past few years, aside from the David Byrne… Trombone Shorty at the Orpheum, a hilariously huge show by Muse at TD Garden, and Jain at the Paradise (Sam won free tickets to see Jain in two separate radio-station contests on two consecutive tours, but I only went along on the second one, for the first she went with our daughter).
But the pandemic canceled so many plans. We bailed on a Nathaniel Rateliff concert when things started to get scary in March, and we had tickets to see Lake Street Dive, TMBG again, I don’t even remember what else. The last one we actually went to was a fun show by Saint Motel on Valentine’s Day.
sab
@raven: I went to boarding school for one year back in 1968-1969. My sophomore year. My roommate, well-connected in DC, had front row center tickets to a Rolling Stones concert in or near DC and gave them up because she didn’t want to miss the Kentucky Derby.
I liked her a lot, but I decided I was a fish out of water and went home to public school in Ohio where people face more normal choices.
raven
As much of a horrible person that he was Zevon and one other guy at the Georgia Theater was stunning. The best mixed crowd I ever saw in Athens was War, they blew the top off and, as War say,
raven
@sab: Lawd!
Delk
Glad I saw The The with Johnny Marr
Sad I missed The Jam.
debbie
I regret not being able to see Hendrix or Joplin. Not many bands had Columbus on their schedules, but Jethro Tull, Mountain, and The Byrds did manage to show up and we’re great to see. But the best concert wasn’t really a concert. I count it as my best because it changed everything about music for me: Muddy Waters in a small basement blues club in Boston.
Montanareddog
Best gig?: no gigs this year, of course. Last year, 2 top 10 lifetime gigs: Garbage and Britney Howard. Seen a few legends who were not a disappointment: James Brown, Prince, Talking Heads, Joy Division, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. But the absolute top 2 for me are The Ramones and k. d. lang ( it was the last night of the Ingénue tour and the band had a great time and played and played and played).
Biggest regret: tickets for Dick Dale about 10 years ago, but it was cancelled because he was sick and I never got the chance again
Wyatt Salamanca
It’s a toss-up between Paul McCartney during his Flowers in the Dirt Tour and the Rolling Stones during their Steel Wheels Tour.
Tie between Jimi Hendrix and Bob Marley.
Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Blue Danube Waltz, Rhapsody in Blue, Miles Davis and John Coltrane live in Stockholm, Benny Goodman’s Carnegie Hall concert, Rock and Roll Animal by Lou Reed.
Anything by Joni Mitchell or Joan Baez, The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys by Traffic, I Talk to the Wind by King Crimson, The Gnossiennes by Erik Satie, Welcome by the Who. Water Song by Hot Tuna, No Woman, No Cry (live version) by Bob Marley, Eyes of the World and Dark Star by the Grateful Dead
Kattails
Well I’m old enough to have seen the Beatles at Shea Stadium– twice. My dad lived in Jackson Heights. He was a waiter at a posh restaurant. I have no idea how he scored the tickets. Saw The Dead at RFK stadium, Procol Harum at a tiny venue in New Jersey. Probably the most amazing show was Pink Floyd in Jersey City. Then, Bonnie Raitt in this small local town when she came by to start a career revival, and The Anonymous Four (on a different note) before they broke up. Remarkable voices.
Now it’s classical and I would love to be able to get to the BSO now and again. Vaughan Williams– When I need to concentrate/create and my mind is buzzing, The Lark Ascending and Thomas Tallis are on the same CD and will get me centered. If I want to be cheered up, Saint-Saens’ Piano Concerto No. 5 (Egyptian) is a delight, played by Thibaudet at the Concertgebouw on Youtube. Andris Nelsons is a hoot to watch conduct. And I would dearly love to see Hillary Hahn do Mendelssohn live. You can find it on Youtube, and also her doing The Lark Ascending.
OK I gotta go make Xmas stuff now.
raven
The Allman Brothers Boston Common 8/17/71 (Live) and they released the audio!
raven
@Kattails: Bonnie is on the fundraiser for Georgia Dems tonite.
Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA)
@raven: When did you see Warren Zevon? I saw him do an acoustic show in the early 90s. One of my top five concerts.
Martin
Seeing Radiohead in concert is on my list. They fill a lot of categories for what I reach for music-wise.
In terms of memorable moments – Radiohead on SNL in 2000 was one. The performance was great, the house band handled The National Anthem really well (there’s a section that mimics crowd noise which consists of the horns each playing individual solos over top of each other) and watching Jonny Greenwood fuck around with equipment on the floor during the song was fascinating. Been a fan ever since.
The others are a bit different. In late 70s early 80s there were a lot of late nights listening to the local NYC radio shows that showcased new artists. Run-DMC, Beastie Boys, Madonna all before they became known out of NYC. I’d sit in my room, headphones in, lights off (since I was supposed to be in bed) and get a steady dose of new music.
raven
As far as rock festivals, this was November after Woodstock. We froze our asses off but, damn!
Musically, the Palm Beach Pop Festival boasted a host of A-listers. The Rolling Stones performed there the day after a Madison Square Garden gig immortalized on the group’s live album Get Yer Ya Yas Out. Aside from the notorious Altamont gig a month later, it was the Stones’ only U.S. festival appearance that year.
Other bands included the Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, Johnny Winter, Spirit, the Byrds, Grand Funk Railroad, Iron Butterfly, Country Joe & the Fish, Chicago Transit Authority, the Chambers Brothers, Vanilla Fudge, King Crimson, Sly & the Family Stone, and the Moody Blues. It was an absolutely brilliant line-up of bands.
FelonyGovt
I saw the Beatles at Shea Stadium in 1965. I didn’t hear a thing, but it was great. Since then I’ve enjoyed seeing Cream, Tom Petty, Springsteen and various others.
In I think 2000 I was recovering from cancer radiation and was very tired when a title rep I worked with invited me to a Prince concert. I didn’t know her well and it would have been with 2 other women I didn’t know at all. I passed. Have kicked myself ever since.
dimmsdale
– When you want something calming?
John field’s Nocturnes; he supposedly was a big influence on Chopin in writing HIS nocturnes. Beautiful, smooth, symmetry and harmony and equanimity of the celestial variety (at least, that’s MY uncultured take). Here’s a link, apologies for the god-damn ads YouTube is saturating its channel with. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPFv7FyuSlI
– What’s the best live concert you ever got to see?
Hands down, Bruce and E Street in a pre-“Born to Run” warmup concert at the Carlton Theatre in Red Bank NJ. He levitated the entire town at least 3 feet off the ground that night. Bonus post-concert encounter across the table from Bruce at a steak house on Route 35, while he waited for his then-girlfriend to get off her waitress gig. I basically sat there numb, completely overwhelmed by what I’d just heard, and let the normal folks around the table carry the conversational ball.
– What’s the one person/group that you regret never getting to see live?
Zoot Sims, Clark Terry, Bob Brookmeyer, Phil Woods at the old Half Note on Spring Street, NYC: I lived (still do) literally walking distance from the club, but what can I say: I was listening to the Stones at that point and missed those four gents at their very best.
– When you picture yourself hearing Prince or Bowie – or some other artist who was important to you– for the first time, where were you and what were you doing?
That would be Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd, “Jazz Samba”, which I listened to repeatedly in my folks’ basement, all the while plotting how to become half the tenor player Getz was.
Craig
@Mo MacArbie: Saw Nirvana open for English drug band Loop at the old 9:30 in DC. Kurt was super friendly and just bouncing around in the crowd during Loop, and Kris just hung out talking to people. They weren’t ready to be super stars.
narya
Slightly tangential: saw Widespread Panic and ABB do two shows–NIght 1, ABB opened, WSP closed, Night 2, reversed. I work for an org that serves LGBTQ folks, and I remember thinking, “this is a really straight crowd.” And then I inhaled, and remembered that the meaning of “straight” evolved quite a bit over time, and it was NOT a straight crowd, given the old meaning.
randy khan
Calming music usually will be classical for me. Maybe Bach (not the organ pieces, which are awesome but not calming) or Eric Satie.
Best live concert is pretty hard, especially because it cuts across a lot of genres for me. I’ll cheat and say that the best place I’ve been to for a concert (and I’ve been there a fair bit) is the Birchmere in Alexandria, Virginia. The room holds maybe 500, so you’re close to the performers, and concerts there have a much more personal feel than at most other places. The vibe is just great.
I think the first time I saw Suzanne Vega – my favorite artist – would have been at Constitution Hall in D.C. which is an old pile of a place (the auditorium is square) in the D.A.R.’s headquarters building* with my then-girlfriend, now wife. I know where we sat and remember a bit of the banter – she told a kind of disturbing story about the lyrics of one song. I regret not seeing her earlier in her career, particularly because I lived in New York when she was just starting out and I used to walk past a place she played pretty often all the time. I actually knew her name well before I knew her music, and it would have been great to see her then in a really small venue.
raven
@Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA): At the Ga Theater? I think that was the show, I was still drinking so it was most def 90’s.
Here’s a pic with him and REM when they were recording the Hindu Love Gods up the street.
raven
@narya: I was a blink away from becoming Panic’s road manager once upon a time.
Montanareddog
@Martin: Fuck. I forgot about listing Radiohead. Great band live and Jonny is indeed someone unique. And if he keeps it up, he could go down as one of the great film score composers, too.
raven
@FelonyGovt: The show that is in The Electric Kool-Aid Acid test I would suppose.
Wyatt Salamanca
Anyone here ever get to see Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, The Velvet Underground, or Frank Zappa?
NotMax
For quite some years (before Lincoln Center arose) seasonal tradition was to head to City Center for the Nutcracker. Recall that sitting up in the nosebleed seats included the ritual of popping coins into the little box affixed to the back of the seat directly ahead to unlock it in order to rent the opera glasses inside.
Most enjoyable concert was probably one of Peter Schickele’s annual shows at Town Hall.
raven
@Wyatt Salamanca: I saw Ziggy and the Melody Makers!
narya
@raven: Ohhhh, fun! They aren’t necessarily my jam, so to speak, but I’ve seen them five times (those two shows and a three-night stand) and enjoyed them.
This whole thread is making me think of all kinds of live shows I’ve seen. Bruce I’ve seen the most–30 times or so, in three different cities–and also variations of the Dead (including one show w/ Jerry and the 3 nights of the 50th anniversary tour), but I’ve really seen a lot of folks.
Kattails
@raven: Argh, I noticed that. Damn, I really really need to get some Christmas stuff done to ship to FL & the computer is upstairs, with just a funky little speaker so don’t know how I can manage both.
Too damned much time spent on politics nowadays, not enough time for pure recreation.
Wyatt Salamanca
@FelonyGovt:
What year did your ears finally stop ringing?
narya
@Wyatt Salamanca: I saw Dweezil during the can’t-fit-anyone-else-on-stage tour, in a tiny venue. It was a lot of fun–multiple members of Frank’s band.
hueyplong
@Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA): Was your Warren Zevon acoustic at an odd church off Claremont in the Decatur area?
If so, I was there.
prostratedragon
@raven: War! Now there’s another group I’d have loved to see, one of my favorites. I have seen great concerts by James Brown (Apollo no less), Aretha Franklin (Hill Auditorium), Stevie Wonder, and Bob Marley. Farewell tour appearances by Marian Anderson and Leontyne Price. Carlos Montoya, Andres Segovia, and Paco de Lucia. Rahsaan Roland Kirk at the Beacon, making his great comeback from a stroke. McCoy Tyner several times. Ahmad Jamal Trio and Elvin Jones Quartet in nearly deserted nightclubs. Up close to Herbie Hancock at the Vanguard. Alberta Hunter and Helen Humes at The Cookery (somehow missed Sarah Vaughn) …
Standouts: Freddie Hubbard one night at Slug’s absolutely blowing the roof off. LaBelle at the Harkness, ditto.
FelonyGovt
@raven: Yes, I think so.
Kattails
@FelonyGovt: I have a few very tiny photos taken with a brownie camera of the Shea Stadium concert. They were using pretty much the same amps they used in bars, I think. And the screaming!!!
FelonyGovt
@Kattails: I had my ticket stub (I want to say that tickets were $15?) in a scrapbook, but alas it is long gone.
raven
@prostratedragon: Hell of a lineup!
raven
@Kattails: Earphones?
narya
Here’s another concert that was kinda mind boggling: some rando opening, then Elvis Costello, THEN Bob Dylan. That was the same year we saw B.B, King and Aretha Franklin (the “see-them-before-they’re-dead” year . . . ).
Martin
Best concerts had to be Simon and Garfunkel and Elton John in Central Park. Not that they were exceptional concerts on their own but they were lovely days in NYC at a time when things in NYC were not generally very good.
UncleEbeneezer
Celebrating: I can’t think of any particular artist for this.
Calming/Mentally Disconnecting (for me the same): The band “Air” is really good for this. They did the soundtrack for the Virgin Suicides. Either that or “10,000 Hz” are great chill music.
Best Live Concert: The Great Wendt, 3-day Phish festival in Limestone, Maine. First time seeing them live. Drove 15 hours from Philly. Completely changed my understanding of what is possible in live musical performance. Trampolines, Japanese lyrics, glow-stick wars, and absolutely jaw-dropping light show. Say what you will about their music, they know how to put on a show!!
Regret Not-Seeing: Prince at Inglewood Forum. He did a run of like 10 shows there and I could’ve totally gone but didn’t :(
First Time Memory: Gosh so many. But one that was huge: listening to Dave Matthews Band circa live album “Remember Two Things” for the first time in ’94ish. We were playing Sega Golf and done numerous bong hits so I was already stoned as hell. Anyways, the opening track is my favorite version of “Ants Marching” and as a drummer, it just blew my mind and changed the way I looked at drumming. On the flipside, musically, around the same time was the first time listening to Soundgarden’s “SuperUnknown” for the first time. I remember it especially well since during a break from the cd, the radio told us Kurt Cobain had just been found dead.
raven
I also saw Mose Allison in a tiny joint in Boston.
Everybody’s Cryin Mercy and they Don’t Know the Meaning of the Word.
Montanareddog
@FelonyGovt: TP & The Heartbreakers: what surprised me was that in the main part of the gig I saw (let’s be conservative and say 20 songs) all but 1 of them were well known enough that you recognised them in the first couple of bars. When they came back for the encores, my mate said what else can they play? I replied they have not played Mary Jane’s Last Dance and American Girl, yet, which they duly played. Tldr: I knew their back catalogue more than I expected; and TP was a hell of a classical songwriter
debbie
@Martin:
I was there for both. Considering the size of the crowds, it was impressive that everyone seemed to get along.
brendancalling
This is a difficult series of questions, because as a musician, I have very very very broad tastes. I am particularly proud of the fact that a lot of the stuff I listen to, nobody else has ever heard.
– What music do you listen to when you are celebrating? I will translate “celebrating” to include “running” Phish, SLAYER, Motorhead. I’ve also really been enjoying Nat Freedberg (fomerly of the Upper Crust, the Flies, and the Ttitanics/Satanics. I play and enjoy a LOT of honky tonk country—I miss two-stepping more than I miss some girlfriends, so let me also add Pat Reedy, the magnificent Josh Hedley, and of course Rebecca Jed, who is a real-deal outlaw (and one of the best moms I’ve ever had the pleasure of sharing a stage with).
– When you want something calming? That’s not a thing with me. Music only excites me. Even mellow stuff. Although when I need to sleep and my brain isn’t cooperating, I tap into some of those 963Hz ambient sounds.
– When you want to turn off your brain and just be in the moment? That’s running music, so lots of 1970s-80s metal (Slayer, Gong, Judas Priest, Sabbath, Motorhead, the Bags, the Upper Crust, AC/DC, etc) or real country music (IE, Buck Owens, Sierra Ferrell, Merle Haggard, Pat Reedy, Bekah Rae Cope, Bobby Flores, Terry Allen, Leo Rondeau, Hank, Hank 2, Hank 3, Margo Price, Jimmy Martin, the list goes on and on forever).
– What’s the best live concert you ever got to see? I honestly can’t answer that question. Was it all those 1990s Phish shows? Bad Brains on the “I Against I” tour? Was it Ronnie Spector at the 2019 Nashville Boogie, who left the whole room bawling like babies? Was it the B-52s the same night? Was it Emmylou Harris and Vince Gill at an American Legion in Nashville for $5.00? That one was pretty damned amazing. James Brown on the steps of the Philly Art Museum? How’s Your News (a band made up entirely of developmentally delayed adults) live in Holland with David Byrne as their guest? I can’t even start to discuss that.
– What’s the one person/group that you regret never getting to see live? Motorhead. I wish I saw them so badly. I will also add John Prine, who I miss every single day (warning: If you’re like me, and I know I am, the reaction video I posted will make you cry).
– When you picture yourself hearing Prince or Bowie – or some other artist who was important to you– for the first time, where were you and what were you doing? The first time I heard Minor Threat, I was an awkward 15 year old punk rocker trying to figure my shit out. That album hit me like a cannonball. It was all I listened to for a long time. Don’t even get me started on Bad Brains, the DKs, 7 Seconds, or Black Flag. The 1980s was a great time for music.
In closing, I’d like to share two albums I’ve really been enjoying lately. My son’s guitar player, Matheus Canteri (who plays in the Royal Hounds) just re-released his first album, “Instrumental de Granja,” which is an insane combination of chicken pickin’, jazz, and math rock. It’s incredible. Also, I have really been on a Mel McDaniels kick, specifically the Countrified album. Mel likes to say his songs are light and he doesn’t go for sad stuff, but this album has destroyed me on several occasions.
Sorry for the long comment. I like a lot of music, and caring is sharing as they say. Also, Ice T, “No Lives Matter” and Anti-Flag, Emigre (my teenager got me into these guys): both of these songs make my head explode.
I suspect a lot of people here won’t share my tastes, lol.
brendancalling
hey mods, y’all asked for sharing, and now I’m awaiting approval, because I took that seriously. They’re good links to great tunes too.
trollhattan
Regret never having seen Muddy Waters. Will ponder the others separately. My sister did see the Beatles–I was too wee to either go or understand what a rare opportunity that was.
brendancalling
@UncleEbeneezer: Phish is so so so good live. I used to see them in the early 1990s, and recently found my tape collection. The tapes were great, and got my kid into Phish as well.
Martin
@Montanareddog: Jonny’s a straight up genius.
WaterGirl
@brendancalling: You went into moderation for too many links, but you are good now.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@randy khan:
A fair bit of darkness in her lyrics…
And you remind me of when she was best known, probably around the time of Luka, she was walking into some event for Madonna with a red carpet, and some Entertainment Tonight type reporter asked, “Suzanne, what do you admire most about Madonna”? And Vega gave a half-smile and answered, “that’s assuming a lot”. I always wondered if the reporter got that. I’d bet not.
NotMax
@Wyatt Salamanca
Was there as well. May as well have been staring at four ants atop an egg carton as far as what there was to see.
Was dragged along as a reluctant substitute because someone else, who had intensely wanted to go, came down with severe flu.
;)
trollhattan
@Wyatt Salamanca:
I saw Frank Zappa here in Sacramento and heard Jimi from outside the venue (baseball stadium in Seattle). It was his last show in CONUS before leaving for Hawaii and then Europe. And that was that.
WaterGirl
Kattails just send me this. Beatles at Shea Stadium.
Kattails
@raven: ? do not have technology. Mac mini with screen, itty bitty plug in speaker that’s OK for listening at a foot away but won’t carry that far. No fancy phone. Mom’s going to be 92 at the end of the month and is crazy about Christmas, i really want her stuff down there on time.
@FelonyGovt: My sister might still have hers. I think my ears are still ringing, but that might have been the Yes concert in Philly come to think of it.
Martin
@WaterGirl: Boy, stagecraft has come a long way since then.
Sallycat
I have seen a number of groups live over the years–but the best was when I saw the Beatles at the Gator Bowl in 1964. I was thirteen and went to Jax on a train. We were in the fourth row. I was one of those highly annoying people who screamed the whole time. After the concert, my friends and I were ready to die, because what other experience could be better?
I have seen other performers who were transfixing: Iris DeMent, Robert Thompson, and Ani DiFranco.
Drdavechemist
For chilling, I can either go with instrumental jazz or really good choral music, depending on whether the lyrics will be a distraction.
Great live performances (in no particular order):
Pat Metheny “Unity Band” tour in Lowell, MA (I have listened to him forever and wish I had seen the tour where they recorded Travels)
Chanticleer in the church I used to attend in Bloomington, IN
John Mellencamp in the Indiana University football stadium
Chris Botti at a Providence College fundraising event
The Sixteen and the King’s College choir in separate Christmas concerts in London
Lyle Lovett and the Large Band at Great Woods (or whatever they call it these days) outside Boston
Jimmy Buffet at some outdoor venue north of Indianapolis with an all-female Cajun band called Evangeline as the opening act
I regret that I was such a square in high school that I didn’t take advantage of the chance to see any number of popular ‘70s acts when they played the Richfield Coliseum (exurban home of the Cavaliers), though I did see Chicago and James Taylor at the Blossom Music Center during my college years.
ETA Martin reminds me that I saw Simon and Garfunkel touring after Central Park when I was an exchange grad student in Brisbane, Australia.
raven
@Sallycat: Richard Thompson?
Wyatt Salamanca
@trollhattan:
You were blessed. I recommend you check out Zappa, the new documentary film, directed by Alex Winter.
raven
@Montanareddog: Oh My My, Oh Hell Yes. . .
Jeffery
Best live concert: David Bowie doing Ziggy Stardust February 1973 the Tower Theater – Upper Darby, PA.
WaterGirl
@Martin: laughing. No kidding!
Wyatt Salamanca
@prostratedragon:
That’s an incredible roster of musicians you were fortunate enough to see.
Do you recall the years you saw Rahsaan Roland Kirk and Bob Marley?
WaterGirl
@Jeffery: Wish I could have seen that.
WaterGirl
I’m gonna move the Georgia fundraiser comment to the top since it’s almost showtime. In case anyone wants to watch it “together”. Didn’t want anyone to be confused.
dexwood
@Sallycat: Right there with you. The Beatles, Baltimore Civic Center, September ’64. An older cousin made it happen. Three dollar ticket. I was 13. I credit my hearing loss to that night ( and so many others ).
Just Chuck
Best concert I saw was Modest Mouse at Red Rocks. They played something like a five hour set. Plus it was fucking Red Rocks. Though the problem with that venue is since it’s all steps, you really can’t dance except in-place, so I just jumped up and down a whole lot.
Second best was also an outdoor concert, namely Marilyn Manson at Paso Robles Amphitheater in CA. High energy crowd throwing bras and lunchboxes (it’s a MM thing) on the stage, and of course he loves his props, did the four-legged stilts thing and all. And when the crowd started crushing me too hard, I went up and sat on the grass with my beer. Snagged a set list after the show too.
Huh, two bands abbreviated MM. Go fig.
raven
Leon Russell and the Shelter People at Huff Gym, U of I. The band was Cocker’s Mad Dogs and Englishmen except for Cocker.
raven
@WaterGirl: I was able to load the youtube.
trollhattan
@Wyatt Salamanca:
Thanks, I will watch for that.
There are those who call me...tim... (Still posh)
@Omnes Omnibus: Dig: a sailor, I was reassigned from west coast to east, in God’s perfect timing, able to catch Combat Rock tour in San Diego and at William & Mary college.
WaterGirl
@raven: Yeah, I updated the post a few minutes ago, and I just moved the post to the top in case folks want to watch it “together”.
It starts in 12 minutes. I think everyone has probably gotten better at these, so I think there’s a good chance that it might actually start on time!
NotMax
Tradition chez NotMax is to set aside time around New Year’s to enjoy a performance of Die Fledermaus taped when it ran on PBS decades ago. Nowadays can watch it via the computer since downloading it from a YouTube posting of the whole thing.
Kattails
@Martin: “stagecraft has come a long way”–so have cameras ;-)
Amir Khalid
This past week, I’ve been listening to a fair bit of music about loss and bereavement. It’s where my head is at right now.
Craig
Probably the greatest show I ever saw was being around 17, sneaking into a shitty punk rock dive in Richmond VA and seeing one of the first GWAR shows. I’ll never see that kind of thing again: punk/metal band in crazy art school costumes, decapitated GWAR Slaves shooting fake blood all over the crowd, fire, dancing girl, just nothing but rocknroll excess. Mind Blown.
trollhattan
@There are those who call me…tim… (Still posh):
The Combat Rock tour came through Sac and I was lucky enough to go, good seats, too. The were all that.
Funny story–the kid seized my tshirt from the show and some rich friend offered two-hundred bucks for it when she wore it to high school.
There are those who call me...tim... (Still posh)
Was stationed in Norfolk VA long enough to catch Psych Furs, GoGos, U2 War Tour, Dave Edmunds, and David Johansen, among others, but managed to miss the Serious Moonlight tour. I think I had the watch that night.
John Revolta
@Wyatt Salamanca: I saw Marley twice in Chicago. The first time was in a club called the Quiet Knight, it was his first US tour, only a few hundred people in there. On their break I hurried back to the dressing room, got to talk to Carlie and Family Man and almost got to talk to Marley who was standing about four feet away but he was busy asking some guy where the food was. They still had Bunny in the band then. Amazing show.
The next time I saw them was the next year at The Auditorium Theater. They had the backup singers by then and were on their way to being legends. Also a great show.
There are those who call me...tim... (Still posh)
@trollhattan: trying to remember the openers. Believe Diego was English Beat and UB40 the other time.
Wyatt Salamanca
Anyone here ever see the Art Ensemble of Chicago, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Soft Machine, Sun Ra, Tangerine Dream, Traffic, or Weather Report?
zhena gogolia
@Wyatt Salamanca:
I saw Zappa in Oshkosh in 1975 or 76.
Blackcatsrule
@Kattails: If you’re willing to share I’d love to know the restaurant your dad worked at…had a friend whose father worked at several NYC area restaurants as a chef back then….including at the country club that William Shea…the Shea in Shea Stadium ? belonged to!
Dan B
@Wyatt Salamanca: I heard the Velvet Underground at a club in Chicago. It was 40 below. We had a table. There was one other group at a table. That was the audience. Too freaking cold for Chicagoans. Between sets the Velvet Underground sat at the next table. It was sorta dial it in to satisfy the contract. Very strange evening with a very edgy band in a very disconsolate mood. Winter 1970 / 71.
Wyatt Salamanca
@John Revolta:
That’s fantastic, thanks for sharing those memories. I’ll always regret not seeing Bob Marley, but fortunately there’s plenty of audio and video of his live performances.
raven
@Wyatt Salamanca: The DVD of his show in Santa Barbara is awesome.
zhena gogolia
I saw Hot Tuna! I think that’s why I now have tinnitus. It was in a very small venue.
I’ve also seen (but none of these was a particularly transcendent experience:
Sweathog / Black Sabbath
SteeleyeSpan / Jethro Tull
The Grateful Dead
Springsteen and Clemons were far better than any of those.
ETA: Zappa and Napoleon Murphy Brock were quite good too.
Delk
@John Revolta: The Quiet Knight became Tut’s. I had tickets to see Joy Division there but the tour obviously never happened. We just drove by there last Thursday on the way to a dr. appointment.
dimmsdale
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: hah–how about when Suzanne Vega was LEAST known? I used to do advertising for book publishers, and had to call each of them repeatedly for artwork, galleys, OK’d copy and so forth. Usual contact at all of them was a temp or an assistant to the assistant-of. My contact at one such publisher….SV.
There are those who call me...tim... (Still posh)
A mere broth of a boy, I caught Bruce in Charlotte on Darkness tour. 4 hours of pure intensity, and I later learned Boss had the flu that night. If that was an off night, peak Bruce might’ve murdered me.
The other time was 1999, I recall. I went with a pal who was more of a cool jazz fan. Bruce introduced each member with a long, rambling rapping sermon. My pal said “Miles would hold up a sign with the soloist’s name on it.” Leaving, he was holding his head, muttering “Fenders. Four hours. Three screaming Fenders…” Still a good time was had by all.
raven
@zhena gogolia: And it was Electric Hot Tuna, no? We saw them do a wooden show and it was great!
Sallycat
Yes Richard Thompson; don’t know Robert. I love Richard Thompson and beg his forgiveness.
TomatoQueen
What music do you listen to when you are celebrating? Often this is the Clancy Brothers. At Xmas, it’s the Robert Shaw Chorale doing the 1752 version of Messiah.
– When you want something calming? Satie
– When you want to turn off your brain and just be in the moment? At the moment, Swedish Xmas Carols
– What’s the best live concert you ever got to see?This is a tie between Bonnie Raitt at the Hammersmith Odeon in London (summer, 1977), with Elton John just popping in, and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band on tour in New Haven, CT in the winter of say 1971, complete with Alan Jaffe on flugelhorn.
– What’s the one person/group that you regret never getting to see live? Steve Goodman
– When you picture yourself hearing Prince or Bowie – or some other artist who was important to you– for the first time, where were you and what were you doing? It was John Hartford, Steam Powered Aereoplane, and my close friend of now 50 years said to me, a week after we had met, “you’re going to like this.” He was right.
WaterGirl
The Georgia concert is starting, if anyone is interested.
Pro tip, which you all may know by now: If you click play in the post, open another version of the post that you can comment in and not interrupt the concert when the page refreshes.
zhena gogolia
@raven:
The one I saw was electric. Kansas City, MO, probably 1970 or 1971.
Wyatt Salamanca
@zhena gogolia:
Were you satisfied with Zappa’s performance?
@Dan B:
Thanks for that anecdote. A little over a year ago, I saw a cool pop up exhibition about the Velvet Underground in Greenwich Village.
raven
@zhena gogolia: Jorma and Jack would blow those eardrums away! You weren’t at the Kansas City Art Institute were you?
zhena gogolia
@Wyatt Salamanca:
I thoroughly enjoyed the Zappa concert. It was very funny and entertaining. I’m no connoisseur, though.
trollhattan
@TomatoQueen:
Have seen Bonnie a couple times and the time Mavis Staples opened is definitely among my best-ever shows. Two consummate pros, doing what they love.
Craig
@Wyatt Salamanca: I stood next to John McLaughlin while he was ripping it on stage at Monterey Jazz Fest. Dude can shred.
Armadillo
I’ll put up a little right now and hopefully circle back later with more. Very much enjoying the comments, especially the few from my generation :)
– When you want something calming?
There were times in college where I would listen to Lush Sweetness and Light on infinite repeat until I could sleep.
– What’s the best live concert you ever got to see?
Many choices. Pearl Jam at Axis in Boston. I think in 1991, just before they got big. The most crowded show I have ever been to. Could literally feel the people around me breathing. Was probably massively unsafe. I couldn’t raise my arms to protect myself from crowdsurfers, and came home with bootprints all over my shoulders.
Janes’ Addiction at Worcester Civic Center. Got down near the stage and danced the whole way through. It was a wintertime show and when the show was over, I had steam radiating off me.
Tool at Avalon, in Boston. Probably around 1993-1994.
– What’s the one person/group that you regret never getting to see live?
Nirvana. I could have gone to see them for free around 1989-1990, but wanted to hang out drinking with some friends. Not the right choice.
zhena gogolia
@raven:
No, I was born and grew up in Kansas City. This was when I was in high school. I can’t remember the name of the venue. It wasn’t very large, so everybody was right on top of the stage. My ears rang all night long after I got home.
Delk
@dimmsdale: when I had my hip replaced the various nurses and physical therapy people would ask if I had any stairs at home. I’d say I live on the second floor but my name is not Luka. None of them got it, lol.
Benw
I love music!
Of the musicians/bands that existed when I could have seen them live, my two biggest regrets are not seeing Prince or Op Ivy.
I don’t even know how I’d define a best show. I’ve been very very lucky to see some very cool shows, sometimes by total accident. But the one that means the most lately is seeing Slash plus the Conspirators in 2015, which was an amazing show and kicked off a renaissance in finding out about new young rock bands and seeing rock shows.
trollhattan
@zhena gogolia:
For every “Yellow Snow” there’s a “Peaches En Regalia.”
zhena gogolia
@Craig:
Wow. I love Birds of Fire.
zhena gogolia
@trollhattan:
Which do you prefer? I prefer the latter.
I want to say they played “Peaches en Regalia” that night, but I can’t trust my memory that far back!
Wyatt Salamanca
Anyone ever see any of these bands with remarkably short recording careers?
Blind Faith, Buffalo Springfield, Go, MC5, Modern Lovers, New York Dolls, or Television
Dan B
Best concert was Pink Floyd at Hec Edmondson Pavilion at the University of Washington. 11,000 people. The first half of the show was Dark Side of the Moon in full – before the album was released. We had no idea what we were hearing. It was far ahead of what they had done or what anyone was doing.
Then they did an hour of their hits with speakers all around the auditorium swirling the sound around. One moody piece they filled the stage and the entire floor waist deep in fog. Later I overheard at a dry ice supplier that “some band had ordered 16 tons!”.
For encode they did ‘Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun’ . It rises and falls to many crescendoes. At the final Roger Waters threw the gong at the 10 foot gong he was beating and ducked. The back of the gong erupted in a blinding flash. After our eyes cleared we saw the ring around the gong in flames while the wildest psychedelic music played and dancers in gold lame writhed behind the stage.
Finally they grew quiet with just the circle of flames. When the house houselights came on we were standing in a sea of smoke. There was not a sound from the crowd- stunned silence. I’ve never seen that before or since.
Wyatt Salamanca
@Craig:
That’s a great memory to have. He’s another genius I wish I’d seen.
Kattails
@Blackcatsrule: There was a hotel, the Wellington, quite the place back then; but the place I remember was the Tower Suite, in the Time Life building. He wore a tux to work. I can’t imagine–waitering is damned hard work. But when kids, we’d go to see him and see Rockefeller Center, all the wonderful window displays, it was amazing stuff for a kid (we were raised by our grandparents in NJ).
Benw
@Armadillo: I went to see RHCP in 1991. The second opener I’d kinda heard of just getting some MTV airtime called Pearl Jam. The first opener was a bunch of nobodies called Nirvana.
All three bands were great but Pearl Jam and Nirvana were HUNGRY. :)
Wyatt Salamanca
@Jeffery:
For reasons unknown, Jeff Beck insisted that D.A. Pennebaker remove his cameo performance from Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. It’s still a great film even without Beck
John Revolta
@Delk: Played at Tut’s a few times myself with various bands in the late ’70s.
trollhattan
@zhena gogolia:
Right? Self-promises made, “I’ll remember every second.” prove darn hollow.
Wish every group I really like had had the Dead’s commitment to taping their gigs. TBF there are a lot of Zappa live collections. Best title: “Shut Up and Play Your Guitar.”
Matt McIrvin
@Drdavechemist:
I saw him there too, sometime in the 90s. Fantastic show! Maybe it was the same show!
Ceci n est pas mon nym
Well, here’s some from my celebration playlist: Celebration (Kool & the Gang), Dancing in the Moonlight (King Harvest), Dancing in the Street (Martha & the Vandellas), Oh Happy Day (Edwin Hawkins Singers)
I don’t often put on music for background, probably classical guitar fits that description best. Followed by chamber music, esp piano & strings.
See above. I’d rather have silence. My wife and I are both musicians, she’s a pro and I’m an amateur, and she has a saying that for a musician there’s no such thing as background music. I agree.
I was never a big concertgoer, so all the times I got to see a big name stand out in my memory. Top 3 I can think of right now: Arlo Guthrie, Dan Fogelburg, and Mandy Patinkin (a vocal concert). Patinkin was doing an all-Sondheim program which is not my favorite but hey, it was Mandy freaking Patinkin, and in a pretty small intimate theater too.
Edit: I’d have to put the one time I saw Billy Joel live in there too.
Simon & Garfunkel. This is a sad story. They were doing a reunion concert, and it was something outrageous like $90-100 a ticket at a time we didn’t have much money. So I was sure that after discussion my wife and I had decided not to splurge on the tickets. Months later I was sorting papers, opened an envelope and discovered that I had actually bought and received tickets for that concert. Still gives me a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach remembering that discovery and the feelings of regret.
I was going to say I have no stories like this, but I have one. I was a kid, like 16, and I had a job helping out the grad students in a physics research lab. So I was doing this one job that was going to take hours all alone in one lab and the grad student told me they had it wired for sound, and what kind of music did I like? He mentioned a number of genres, none of which I knew the definition of, but one of them was “easy listening” and I thought that sounded good so I chose that one.
I heard something from the Carpenters (hokey, I know) and instantly developed a life long love for the sound of Karen Carpenter’s voice.
There’s also a bunch of music I first heard around age 12-13 from the transistor radio of the school bus driver.
Also I remember a friend in college once played me a record by some guy named Bob Dylan, and my friend was just going on and on about how this guy was the greatest poet who’d ever lived, and I was just shrugging and saying that it was OK but I didn’t see what he was on about. I heard that guy went on to some degree of fame.
zhena gogolia
@zhena gogolia:
Google has helped me discover that it was the Cowtown Ballroom
May 6, 1972
trollhattan
@Wyatt Salamanca:
Have you ever seen Antonioni’s “Blow-Up”? The Beck and Page edition of the Yardbirds play in it.*
*Obscure movie trivia for a Sunday night.
debbie
@Wyatt Salamanca:
I had the oddest luck with concerts. I saw Byrds after Graham Parsons left, Fairport Convention right after Sandy Denny left, Traffic just after Dave Mason left, Allman Brothers just after Dwayne died. I’m kind of surprised I wasn’t banned altogether.
Blackcatsrule
@Kattails: Thanks! I miss the NYC of those years.
Kattails
@Dan B: That must have been awesome. I caught them a bit later, Dark Side was out by then; we got lost on the way to the stadium & the show had just started. You could smell the weed from outside. But remembering the show they put on was one reason I sent WaterGirl the Beatles pic, things had changed so radically in what, 10 years? WTF is the song, name just lost, that sounds like a plane circling then crashing–they sent one from the upper press box shooting over our heads to crash behind the stage.
trollhattan
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
Karen Carpenter is someone I would have loved to hear singing something other than Carpenters songs. Rumer is the only singer I’ve heard with similar voice and talent.
Wyatt Salamanca
@Dan B:
That’s a great story! I can’t count how many times I’ve listened to Dark Side of the Moon. It sounds as vibrant and fresh to me today as when I heard it for the first time.
trollhattan
@debbie:
Bet you’re glad you didn’t get on that plane with Skynard. :-p
[Too soon?]
Ceci n est pas mon nym
Was that on 7th avenue right near the Carnegie Deli? If so, that was a family favorite (my parents and some of my sibs) for years.
Kattails
@Blackcatsrule: I really should go back some Christmas just to see the lights and take in the smells. I haven’t been in years, Dad had moved back to Jersey and we could stay with him, hop over to the city.
John Revolta
@Wyatt Salamanca: Yeah, I saw Blind Faith. It was at Chicago’s International Amphitheater, a horrible venue but it was okay because I somehow managed to get sixth-row seats. I was the world’s biggest Ginger Baker fan so I was in heaven. Opening up for them were Delaney & Bonnie, who of course had the drummer and bass player that would go on to play in Derek and the Dominoes (I saw them as well). And opening up for THEM was a band I’d never heard of called Taste, which was a three-piece band fronted by a guy named Rory Gallagher. I went out the next day and bought their album.
Riodawg
@Martin: Saw Radiohead open for Belly at the 40 Watt in Athens, Ga. Belly was great but Radiohead blew everyone away!
zhena gogolia
@Kattails:
Well, I never heard them play, but I was in a private room in a restaurant with a bunch of people I’d just met in a bar (long story), and Pink Floyd got seated at the next table after they’d played a concert in KCMO, must have been 1981. Someone at our table sent over their cloth napkin, and all the band members signed it. Not my napkin, alas. They were quite nice.
NotMax
Memory cell fired up. Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury live in Sweeney Todd blew my mind.
Wyatt Salamanca
@trollhattan:
That’s my favorite scene in the film!
@debbie:
You certainly have an incredible knack for timing. The only band on your list that I saw was the Allman Brothers Band.
zhena gogolia
@zhena gogolia:
Wow, google is telling me it must have been 1977.
pika
I never got to see Prince live. That is a regret, rare in a life I don’t regret. I am grateful beyond measure to have seen The Decemberists in Buffalo perform a rendition of Heart’s “Crazy On You” with My Brightest Diamond’s Shara Nova!
Wyatt Salamanca
@trollhattan:
I once heard an interview with Zappa in which someone asked him how he felt about individuals who made bootleg recordings of his concerts and he said he hoped they would experience a slow and painful death.
Craig
Dang, I keep remembering things. A few years ago I saw Roger Waters at Oakland Arena. Stunning production, sound, and performance. Had an intermission and a whole new set descended from the ceiling: a representation of the Battersea Power Plant splitting the audience down the middle with giant moving screens and really sophisticated projection mapping. They played a bunch of songs from Animals. For Pigs there was a giant orange Pig drone flying around the crowd with Trump’s face and TRUMP painted on the side. They played Another Brick in the Wall, and a chorus of kids came out in orange jumpsuits to sing the child chorus part. Later Waters told us that the kids were from Oakland Performing Arts school and they’d trained them that afternoon. He was doing that with local schools for every stop on the Tour. Really amazing night.
oatler.
@John Revolta:
Check out Taste in the Isle of Wight movie where the naked girl jumps onto the stage and dances before being pulled off by roadies.
Wyatt Salamanca
@John Revolta:
You clearly hit the jackpot on that night.
John Revolta
@trollhattan: With all due respect I would say the better title would be “Shut Up and Play Yer Guitar Some More”.
cope
@raven: That didn’t happen to be the Geology 101 weekend field trip to Baraboo, did it?
Craig
@trollhattan: that’s brilliant stuff. It took me years and years to finally find the soundtrack to Blow Up, cause I needed that Yardbirds Stroll On song. Herbie Hancock produced the soundtrack.
trollhattan
@John Revolta:
That has to be super rare, didn’t Blind Faith last for about a month?
Dan B
@trollhattan: I remember the Yardbirds segment in Blowup!
In college I discovered Led Zeppelin’s debut album. Played it on a great turntable and excellent headphones at high volume in the library with another architecture student who was obviously interested in me. She endured the worst of an 18 year old gay boy for naught. In 69 I saw Zep on a big bill in Chicago. Spooky Tooth, Jethro Tull, and a British electric boogie band. Their speakers were not loud enough for the venue – disappointing.
In the 70’s friends in a neighboring gay collective house to our gay collective house befriended Led Zeppelin. They went to parties at this collective house whenever they were in Seattle. We never were invited.
Wyatt Salamanca
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
Unfortunately, I missed out on attending a Simon and Garfunkel concert, but did see Simon perform without Garfunkel in Central Park. I was about a million miles away from the stage, but he put on a great show.
brantl
I got to see the Blues Brothers, with John Belushi, at Pine Knob, and they were spectacular. I saw Bob Dylan at the Fox Theater, and it was something I will never forget. I would have loved to see the Moody Blues, and I expect I never will.
WaterGirl
@brantl: Jealous!
Wyatt Salamanca
@trollhattan:
Of all the bands I know of, I believe Blind Faith had the shortest touring schedule by a considerable margin.
UncleEbeneezer
@brendancalling: My tastes are all over the map. Some of the best live artists I’ve ever seen (all styles, no particular order):
Phish
Living Colour
Primus
TOOL
Wilco
Tank & The Bangas
The Codetalkers
Kurt Rosenwinkel (jazz guitar)
Julian Lage Trio (jazz, country, blues guitarist)
Femi Kuti
Gregory Porter (jazz vocalist)
Brad Mehldau Trio
Joshua Redman Quartet
Sharon Jones & Dap Kings
Devotchka
Rob
@Riodawg: That must have been amazing to be there! This is making my Radiohead fanatic wife jealous. Me, I’m more of a Belly fan.
Zelma
@Wyatt Salamanca:
I saw Frank Zappa in New Haven around 1968. Still haven’t recovered from it.
brantl
@WaterGirl: for which?
brantl
@Zelma: No one ever did. Frank bent a lot of heads.
NotMax
@Zelma
Yeah, New Haven will do that to ya.
:)
Brachiator
OT RIP Smiley and all his people. From BBC News.
Real name, David Cornwell. Master storyteller.
Steeplejack
@NotMax:
Just a note to thank you for the gift suggestions in the thread last night. I ordered that vacuum/blower for myself and also sent the XTorch flashlight/lantern to my RWNJ brother.
Rob
Inspired by Uncle Ebeneezer, here are some bands that put on stellar shows:
Värttinä (Finnish folk group) at a Scandinavian folk festival in Minneapolis
The Clash
Steeleye Span
David Bowie
Bruce Springsteen
Dan B
@Kattails: ‘On the Run’ is the “song”. There’s a YouTube with a guy on a Gurney taxiing down a runway and the airplane crashing in flames behind the stage.
Wyatt Salamanca
TV clip of Jimmy Page from 1957
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewNLaBhPRY8
David Bowie tv appearance from 1964 where he defends men who choose to let their hair grow long
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVM8vMSqRrs
A clean shaven Frank Zappa with short hair wearing a suit and tie and playing a bicycle on the Steve Allen show
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QF0PYQ8IOL4
WaterGirl
@brantl: Blues Brothers and Dylan.
trollhattan
@UncleEbeneezer:
Saw Julian Lage and Chris Eldgridge open for Aoife O’Donovan. Super impressed at the talent, doubly because I had not heard of him before. Saw Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings at the same venue on what was her final tour. Sublime show and not a little heartbreaking, because we knew that would be our only opportunity to see her.
Spanish Moss
Crosby, Stills, and Nash in the early 80s. One of my college roommates and I decided to go at the last minute, the afternoon of the concert. Hearing those harmonies and crescendos in “Winchester Cathedral” live, nothing like it.
Blackcatsrule
@Kattails: I went back last year for Christmas and stayed through the first week of January, which seems like an eternity ago now. Loved every second of it.
Wyatt Salamanca
@Brachiator:
Thanks, I was about to put in a link to that. CBS Sunday Morning aired 2 interesting segments about him that I recently re-watched.
Dan B
I would have loved to hear the Chicago Symphony under Sir George Solti performing Beethoven’s Ninth and/or Carmina Burana – plus Stravinsky, please, please!
And: Prince, Jimi, Buffalo Springfield, Bruce, Bonnie.
My cousin was Sir George Solti’s personal assistant. She managed their tour of Europe. She has stories.
John Revolta
@trollhattan: They did one tour which lasted from June through August 1969. Clapton didn’t like playing with Baker and felt it was just Cream Vol.2. He ended up touring with Delaney & Bonnie for a while after that.
Blackcatsrule
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: Not Kattails but yes that’s it.
trollhattan
From the ’70s to the ’90s had many opportunities to see the David Grisman quintet, who always put on an excellent show while showcasing a continual stream of top talent breaking into their careers. The best, though, was in SF when they shared the stage with Stephane Grappelli.
Wyatt Salamanca
@Zelma:
If I had access to a time machine, one of my first destinations would be to a Zappa concert prior to 1970.
NotMax
@Steeplejack
Hope you both find them useful.
zhena gogolia
@Dan B:
I heard the Chicago Symphony under Solti play La Mer. I know it’s not Beethoven’s Ninth. He was very elegant on the podium.
John Revolta
@Wyatt Salamanca: Were you at the 1991 PS concert in Central Park or the 1981? I was at the one in ’91.
trollhattan
@Wyatt Salamanca:
Would have loved to see them when Flo and Eddie were in the band.
“200 Motels” blew my high school mind.
Steeplejack
@prostratedragon:
I happened to see (most of) the two-hour American Masters documentary on Miles Davis late last night. Very informative: it filled in a lot of gaps in my knowledge. The hip thing, which went on for quite a while, was a big contributor to Davis’s drinking and drug abuse.
Wyatt Salamanca
@John Revolta:
In the Zappa documentary, there was a scene where Frank gave a tour of his archive and came across a recording of Eric Clapton’s visit to his home. Unfortunately, he didn’t play a clip from it.
raven
@cope: No it was to Starved Rock for a recreation class.
Wyatt Salamanca
@John Revolta:
I went to the 1991 Paul Simon concert.
cope
I’ve copied a huge chunk of text from blues blogger “The Silver Eagle”. This is what he had to say about this 1975 concert that I consider to be there very best I ever attended. I drove down to Macomb from Champaign for that one. Words don’t do it justice.
“The show consisted of Bukka White, Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters and BB King (whew!!). Either Willie or Muddy (I don’t remember which) had played Detroit the night before and had stopped in Chicago at 5:00 AM to pick up master harp player Carry Bell, just to add a little ‘weight’ to his set. I have never seen musicians so psyched to play a gig as these guys were when they showed up. Bob Margolin, Muddy’s guitar player for almost a decade, remembers it to this day – ask him, he’s on Facebook, that playground of the middle aged (I’m there, too…) or his website, bobmargolin.com.
Bukka opened the show, followed by Willie, then Muddy and BB closed. The show started at 8:00 and BB finally came down from the stage at 1:00 AM. There were some 3,500 people in the audience, and NO ONE LEFT. At the close of the show, BB called Bukka up to acknowledge him. Bukka grabbed the mic and began to talk. He reminded BB of his first guitar, a Stella, given him by Bukka.
“You remember, B, you was so little, next to that big red Stella.” There was absolute silence. BB was looking at the tops of his shoes. His eyes were filling. He looked, for all the world, like a nine- year-old boy, standing on that stage. “Yeah…I sure do remember.” he finally said, and threw his arms around Bukka. The audience erupted.”
I got to see Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters and several other great blues greats multiple times over the years while in college and grad school in Illinois.
arrieve
@John Revolta: I was at the one in ’91 too! I was dancing in the trees at the very back of the crowd.
raven
@zhena gogolia: Ah, a friend of mine was a student there in 68. She and I were writing while I was in Korea and she offhandedly said “why don’t you come see me when you are on leave”. Unfortunately I did and it was REALLY awkward. A young art undergrad with this GI crashing on her couch. Poor thing.
Wyatt Salamanca
@Steeplejack:
Prior to COVID, I saw that Miles Davis documentary at a sold out screening at a NY arthouse theater.
NotMax
@NotMax
One other minor thing, Steeplejack. It took trial and error for me to discover a long press of the power button turns the vacuum thingy on and a short press shuts it off. Nothing to that effect was included with any info it came with at the time I ordered it.
Dan B
@zhena gogolia: La Mer would acceptable, especially as a female to my exhausting lineup.
raven
@cope: Oh, it was in Macomb! Damn, we’d go through there on the way to fish at Keokuk.
Wyatt Salamanca
@trollhattan:
I would have loved being at the Fillmore concert when they played Happy Together.
The thing I love about both Frank Zappa and the Grateful Dead is their incredible range.
I heard a Zappa performance where he segued from Stravinsky into the Bristol Stomp.
And the Grateful Dead could go from a Johnny Cash cover into Dark Star or drums/space.
Gin & Tonic
Some time in the early 70’s I went to a Keith Jarrett solo concert at Sanders Theater (Harvard.) I remember we stood outside for what seemed like an hour past the scheduled start time because Keith needed the piano re-tuned, and the tuner would only work in an empty hall. But eventually we went in, and Keith played so brilliant;y and mesmerizingly that when he stopped, the audience just sat in stunned disbelief. Quite a while before the applause started.
Dan B
@cope: Great story! As are many others in this thread. I didn’t get into the original black blues masters but I think I would have enjoyed it if I had – circumstances.
laura
This is the must not topic – there are simply too many amazing music experiences because music has been so intentionally ever present in my life. So many live shows and so many moments at shows with family, friends and various loved ones.
However, I have only two regrets in my entire life. The first was not calling in sick to Safeway sacking groceries to go with my two brothers to Winterland to see the final Sex Pistols show. It fundamentally changed their lives. Each has had a 3 decade plus career as rock roadies and studio techs for so very many amazing artists and have seen the world and got the tee shirt.
The second was passing on a pair of tickets to the Last Waltz – also at Winterland because my best friend’s mom didn’t like her attitude and refused to let her go. I had a 3 piece, baby wale bell bottom corderoy pumpkin colored suit to wear! but passed because I stood in solidarity with an idiot and became one myself.
dimmsdale
Music for celebrating?? I almost forgot this–the night Biden clearly, CLEARLY won, I pulled up the YT channel run by a guy who calls himself Mosogotam, who somehow has access to ALL the tracks that went into individual recordings of some of my all time faves. He very respectfully remixes / deconstructs them so you can hear all the elements…and his stuff is just great.
So of course, with Trumples going down to defeat, I looped his version of Martha and the VD’s Dancing in the Street. Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8R-rFgmqxZg
seriously check out his channel!!
Gin & Tonic
Also saw Pat Metheny a few times at the Jazz Workshop in Boston while he was an undergrad at Berklee. Lots of interesting music there – saw Anthony Braxton with a contrabass saxophone which must have cleared the ceiling by an inch. If memory serves he played with a young trombonist named George Lewis, then an undergrad at Yale, who went on to earn a MacArthur Fellowship.
raven
@laura: Deep in the heart of a lonely kid, suffering so much for what (S)he did. . .
John Revolta
@Wyatt Salamanca: @arrieve: Yeah I was there and way in the back too! But the cool part was, the day before, I was riding my bike through the Park and I heard something going on, so I went over to check it out. They were doing the sound check! The whole band was there, with the drummers and all, and only maybe a hundred people standing around watching! I stayed for 4 or 5 songs before I had to go………….I really miss NY because magic stuff like that used to happen.
raven
Did we, or did we not, used to have Friday afternoon music threads? Maybe it was FDL.
trollhattan
@cope:
Got to see Willie Dixon and band at Bumbershoot in Seattle. Until he came on I had no idea he played stand-up bass. Lots of history on that stage.
A buddy who lived in SF at the time was walking past a club late at night back in the day, and hearing music popped in to see John Lee Hooker and Van Morrison just jamming. I’ll always hate him for that. :-)
Was lucky enough to see John Lee a couple years before he passed. Played an outdoor show at a local resort; at the time he lived on the Peninsula and wouldn’t go more than a hundred miles to a gig, so we were right at the edge.
trollhattan
@laura:
I passed on the chance to see that Sex Pistols show, damnit. Was more intent in pursuing a young lady that night (was it Halloween?), which didn’t work out so there ya go.
Funny that the Sex Pistols and Beatles both ended their touring careers in SF. Must be the water.
ETA somewhere I have a cassette with an aircheck of the show, broadcast by KSAN.
laura
@raven: I suffer for what I didn’t -and am the poorer for it. Had a brief chat with Al Franken and confessed the Last Waltz err with him. He sadly agreed it was a total boner move (but he did not use those words).
raven
@Gin & Tonic: Any idea where in Boston I would have seen Mose? I know it was really little and I was crashing with a friend who was at a Harvard summer program so I had to have walked.
Gin & Tonic
@Wyatt Salamanca: Reading the thread backwards – saw Television at CBGB in 1976(?)
raven
@laura: Well I though the opening lyrics of Stage Fright fit pretty well so. . . what you did was NOT go!
Gin & Tonic
@raven: Had to have been the Jazz Workshop. Downstairs, low ceiling, very small place. I saw him there a couple of times, don’t think he played anywhere else in town.
ETA: Fairly easy walk from Harvard.
Steeplejack
@NotMax:
Thanks for the tip.
laura
@trollhattan: KSAN! I still have a handful of 45’s from Terry McGovern of Pacalofaga amongst the vinyl. Thim’s was the days I tells ya, thim’s was the days.
raven
@Gin & Tonic: Cool! I was at a conference in Boston a couple of years back and it was around the corner from Berklee. It was summer and I went out walking and seeing all those kids out in on the sidewalk just having such fun was really cool
I think Carolyn Leonhart, one of Steely’s singers, teach there now.
Gin & Tonic
@Wyatt Salamanca: Going more backwards, yes, Mahavishnu Orchestra at the Orpheum in Boston, 1973.
laura
@raven: no I did not. Tickets were $25.00 and it was Thanksgiving but in our family a live show was “A Thing” that dad started-what with his unquenchable love of bebop and west coast cool…..
It is a regret I will never stop regretting. That and the Pistols.
raven
@Gin & Tonic: Con Santana?
Gin & Tonic
@raven: At the Hynes Convention Center, probably? It’s a couple of blocks away.
raven
@laura: I saw Santana at the Fillmore the day I got out. I’d never heard of him but, damn! $3!!!
Gin & Tonic
@raven: No, unfortunately.
laura
@raven: that’s good value for your entertainment dollar. Former bil was his tour manager. He is a lovely man in every regard. I should stop commenting or it’s going to be a night of six degrees of Johnny Rotten.
Wyatt Salamanca
@Gin & Tonic:
That’s cool. I once bumped into Tom Verlaine while walking down a street in midtown Manhattan.
If I were making a list of the best songs with the least amount of airplay on the radio, Venus would be in my top five.
raven
@Gin & Tonic: Yea, I think we roomed at the Hilton
BretH
First concert: Jethro Tull – Songs from the Wood tour at the old Capitol Center. There’s a Youtube of it which is amazing because I can actually recall some of it.
John McLaughlin, Al DiMiola and Paco de Lucia at the DAR center in D.
David Bromberg – How Late’ll You Play Till tour in New Orleans.
But my first night in New Orleans, 1979?, 20 yrs old, seeing the Neville Brothers and staying so late my housemate had to leave to get up for work the next day stying until 2 and hitching a ride home with a guy who was happy to share the hash in his glove box. Thinking I LIKE THIS CITY!!
Gin & Tonic
@Wyatt Salamanca: And reading even further backwards, have been to a half-dozen Zappa shows.
trollhattan
@laura:
KSAN had no small role informing my musical upbringing. Was hunkered in Stockton being higherly educated and through the miracle of radio, the signal made it into the Valley.
Them’s was the days, fersure!
Wyatt Salamanca
@John Revolta:
As a native New Yorker, I second your comment.
When the COVID-19 pandemic began, one of my first thoughts was John Perry Barlow’s description of New York as “the capital of experiences”.
Unfortunately, New York is now the capital of vacant retail space and I don’t know how the Hell we’ll ever recover.
At least I have plenty of great memories of moments like the one you described.
trollhattan
@BretH:
One of my first shows was Tull. Opening band, new group, The Eagles.
trollhattan
@raven:
Kind of mind-blowing Santana played Woodstock before releasing their first album. Their set is one of the best in the whole film.
trollhattan
@Gin & Tonic:
Tom Verlaine is one of my guitar heroes. Just wanted to note that.
Wyatt Salamanca
@Gin & Tonic:
That’s great. You should check out that Zappa documentary I cited in a previous comment and a few years back there was another documentary called Eat That Question.
In addition to his music, I could listen to Zappa interviews for several hours. I think he was one of the most interesting and engaging interviewees of all-time.
Jager
@raven:
Has to have been Pall’s Mall and the Jazz Workshop on Boylston. I Saw BB King there several times and then one night Charlie Rich, who was so shit-faced he couldn’t speak, but he could still sing. Plant and Page, the first music night at the New Boston Garden, great show. Sones at the Staples Center in 13, Van Morrison and Tom Jones at the Hollywood Bowl.
Gin & Tonic
@Wyatt Salamanca: The first record I bought with my own money was Freak Out. My musical tastes did not coincide with those of my peers.
John Revolta
@Wyatt Salamanca: It’ll come back. It always does. (There’s a song called “New York Ain’t New York Anymore” from 1925!)
P.S. I saw Weather Report in a jazz club in Chicago…………..must’ve been around ’72. Mostly remember being amazed by the percussionist. I’ve got my Miles story too………….I was in NY for the Newport Jazz Festival in July ’72 and had tickets to see Miles at Carnegie Hall. He didn’t show. :^( Freddie Hubbard filled in which was still pretty good but………
debbie
@trollhattan:
Watch the episode of PBS’s American Experience about Carlos Santana and the section where he describes his experience at Woodstock. Hilarious.
Wyatt Salamanca
@John Revolta:
That’s too bad about Miles Davis, but otherwise you’ve attended a mother lode of great concerts.
@Gin & Tonic:
That’s a great first record for building a collection. The first record I bought with my own money was The Beatles 1967-1970.
Gin & Tonic
@John Revolta: Saw Miles at the Newport Jazz Festival (NY) in ’75. Showed up an hour and a half late and played with his back to the audience the whole time.
stinger
@The Thin Black Duke: Oh, very nice.
Riodawg
@Rob: Love them both! Always thought Tanya Donnelly was a great writer, but Radiohead just puts out such consistently brilliant stuff it’s crazy.
kokanee
celebrating- Traffic Woodstock ’94, Jon Cleary and the Monster Gentlemen, Ian Drury and the Blockheads
calming- Bobby Timmons
best show- in Chicago Rolling Stones with Stevie Wonder opening ’72
in the moment- Roseanne Cash and John Leventhal [Acoustic Guitar Sessions]
regrets- J J Cale
first time seeing- Reno outdoor Brews and Blues Festival, on the Eldorado Showroom Marquee,
Canned Heat at 2PM it was 100+ degrees that day
smike
When I was stationed in Germany, a small group of us went to hear Count Basie and his band, which turned out to be a great concert. As we walked in the hall there was a warm-up act already in progress, but we did not know who is was. We could just hear a guitar wailing. After getting situated (probably getting brews, etc.), we made it back to the hall, but the opener was finished. Turned out to be Jimmy Hendrix on stage, doing a solo gig. I was never in the same location as Hendrix again.
randy khan
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Indeed. And the song she was talking about was The Queen and the Soldier, which was dark enough already.
I love the Madonna anecdote. It’s a lot like her lyrics. (And somehow it reminds me of something I heard a DJ say about Luka when it was a hit, along the lines of “such a catchy song about a very serious topic.”)
Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA)
@hueyplong: I’m a little late, but no, it was a few years before I moved to Georgia. I saw him at Tramps in NYC.
JOHN MANCHESTER
@Wyatt Salamanca: Saw Hendrix at Hunter College in early 1968. The papers said he had an off night. It’s frightening to imagine what an on night would have been like.
JOHN MANCHESTER
Best concerts:
Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Cafe a Go Go, early 1968
Hendrix at Hunter College, early 1968
Joni Mitchell at Wesleyan University, early spring 1969
Grateful Dead doing a set of Live/Dead at the Boston Tea Party, late 1969
The Band, The Dead and Janis Joplin at Festival Express summer 1970
Michael Tilson Thomas conducting Beethoven’s 9th, Tanglewood (2000’s)
Brendan in NC
@Martin: Same here, although no Bruce, when U2 played in Rochester on that tour.
Wyatt Salamanca
@JOHN MANCHESTER:
Awesome list you’ve got there!
Joni Mitchell’s full performance from the Isle of Wight Festival
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpLO96_9Qwc
kokanee
celebrate Traffic Woodstock ’94, Jon Cleary and the Monster Gentlemen, Ian Drury and the Blockheads
calming Bobby Timmons
in the moment Roseann Cash and John Leventhal [Acoustic Guitar Sessions]
best ’72 Rolling Stones Stevie Wonder Chicago
Regrets J J Cale
first time seeing Reno Brews and Blues Festival outdoor temps 100+ Canned Heat for free in the Eldorado Showroom.
cleek
mind if i toot my own (digital) horn?
http://ok-cleek.com/blogs/?p=30647
WaterGirl
@cleek: That’s you playing? Wow.
mad citizen
@Omnes Omnibus: I missed this thread, but love some music. Given my age (just six-o) I did see the Clash, twice, which took some effort and driving since they were not coming to podunk indiana. First time at the Aurora Ballroom (I think) in Chicago on the Combat Rock tour–from the floor fairly close to the stage. Second time I saw the watered down, sans Mick Jones version in Columbus Ohio and some little university place (I think). That was not a great show; the sideman Strummer had hired just didn’t make it. Mick Jones of course was a huge part of the band.
(Off to read the rest of the thread but saw this straight off).
Let’s see, above all others I guess I would love to go back in time and see Robert Johnson at his last performance and if possible bring him some bottle water so get wouldn’t get poisoned. Also Howlin’ Wolf and Led Zeppelin.
BigJimSlade
@Wyatt Salamanca: I saw the Art Ensemble of Chicago at UC Berkeley in the late 80s. I had been listening to Mingus, Coltrane and related 60s jazz and really enjoyed their use of space in music, adventurousness in sound, and even grooves here and there.
Saw Zappa Plays Zappa a couple of times. The first time in Boston with all the awesome stars / guest stars (Napoleon Murphy Brock, Zai, Bozzio), even Frank on the big screen.
One of my favorite shows was at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston where Alejandro Escovedo had his string outfit play – his voice was booming in this little lecture hall, and everybody had their space for solos – it was quite the performance!