In case you’re new to Medium Cool, BGinCHI is here once a week to offer a thread on culture, mainly film & books, with some TV thrown in.
In this week’s MC, let’s talk about live performances.
We’re all tired of being cooped up, and while things are slowly starting to open up in many parts of the country, live shows are still pretty rare.
So let’s talk about memorable live performances you’ve seen. Not just concerts, but lectures, standup comedy, readings, recitals. Maybe even puppets. The more profound and unusual the better.
American Aid To India
Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA)
Kate Bush in London in 2014. Part concert, part strange musical theater (a tree bursting through her piano, her turning into a bird and flying out towards the audience a split second before the theater went dark to end the second half of the show, fish skeletons, and more of her glorious, 100% committed flaky genius), and her voice sounded better than it ever had. I know it was recorded for a video release, but it looks like the footage will never see the light of day.
BGinCHI
The summer before my final year in college, I moved to Boston, slept on a friend’s floor (later, a couch when he bought one), got a job, and pretty much devoted myself to soaking up all the culture I could. Which meant Brattle Theater almost every weeknight (great film series, you could bring your own food & drink), bands at small venues on the weekend (TT the Bears, The Channel, many other places), Newbury Comics, Grolier Bookshop, etc.
My buddy and I once got thrown out of The Rathskeller, along with the band and the rest of the crowd. Whereupon the band started playing an acoustic show in front of the club, until the cops came.
Barbara
D.C. Shakespeare Theatre production of Dog in a Manger. So outstanding I took my daughter and her friends to see it again.
Two productions of relatively lightweight fare but included in one Maggie Smith and in the other Mark Rylance. They were both just wow.
BGinCHI
@Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA):
She’s not really my style, but I can really appreciate her, and I bet the shows at her peak were especially amazing.
Villago Delenda Est
Hey! I actually saw that guy in a live performance! He was terrific.
I’ve seen Robin Williams live, too, who was just outstanding, because, well, Robin Williams, riffing on whatever was floating through the room.
The Boss, CSNY, The Police, Boston, ELO, Simon and Garfunkle, Sir Paul, yup, seen them all live.
BGinCHI
@Barbara: This, nonsensically, reminds me of something I’ve been meaning to reread for ages: Tom Stoppard’s Dogg’s Hamlet, Cahoot’s Macbeth.
Barbara
@Villago Delenda Est: I saw Paul Simon live in his last tour. The caliber of the musicians and the performance was first rate. I didn’t want it to end.
Sandia Blanca
I saw Spalding Gray perform his monologue, “Monster in a Box,” in Honolulu, probably in late 1990. I’d heard of him, had probably seen him on TV, but didn’t really know what to expect. I don’t remember much of the substance (although Wikipedia has refreshed my memory), but I remember how compelling his presence was. His stories were hilarious, but the anxiety and sadness in him underlay much of the performance. Most of all I remember his voice.
H.E.Wolf
One of the most memorable live theatre events I’ve attended was a production by The Caravan Stage Company in 1984. The troupe was traveling down the West Coast (from Canada to southern California) in their horse-drawn caravans. They stopped nightly, raised a circus-style tent, performed their show, sold horse manure the next morning to eager local gardeners, and moved on. The performers were also responsible for caring for the horses; and the performers’ children handed out programmes to the audience members.
https://blog.nfb.ca/blog/2013/07/25/horse-drawn-magic/
Raven
We went to “The Black Comedy Show” at the university and we were the only white folks in the crowd. Before the show I got up from my seat and the back and went to get a drink. When I got to the bottom of the stairs an African-American woman who I officiated hoops with jumped up and said “Johnson my brother” and gave me a big hug!!! It was a nice moment. The first performer did the “well, we got some whole folks here” and then the show went on. It was great.
TheOtherHank
I have this theory about live performances. As long as the performer(s) are competent, proximity makes up for awesomeness. When my boys were small, a traveling circus came and set up in an open field a couple blocks from our house. We went to one of their performances and were only a few feet away from all the action. It was amazing. Way better than going to see Barnum and Bailey when I was a kid, even though technically they weren’t in the same league as the B&B performers.
In the same vein, going to a minor league baseball game (Saint Paul Saints!) and being right next to the game is way more fun than watching a major league game from top deck.
BGinCHI
@Sandia Blanca: I wish I’d seen one of those performances. I only know him from the films, my favorite of which is Steven Soderbergh’s “Gray’s Anatomy.”
BGinCHI
@TheOtherHank:
This is an excellent take, and I think we especially appreciate this when we’re really young, and when we’ve gotten older.
I can’t imagine going to a big stadium concert now. Just too damn many people.
tallred
When Jesse Jackson ran for President back in the 80’s (I think ’84), he spoke on campus at our outdoor stage, and was absolutely captivating. What made it more memorable was that the area that they used for a green room before and a press room after was our space. As soon as he was out of the public view, he lit a cigarette, then chain smoked about five of them in a brief span, using the lit one to light the fresh one.
On that same stage in ’92, we had Bill Clinton, Bill Bradley, and Jerry Brown (all on different dates). None of them were as memorable as Rev. Jackson.
The same stage has hosted lots of up and coming (The Roots were memorable before they hit it big) and past their prime acts (Run DMC, Parliament, Tower of Power). Funny, I run the basketball arena on campus, but the open to whoever shows up shows have been by and large more memorable than the ticketed gigs (give or take Jay Z’s college tour), probably because the audience at the free ones are almost all students, who make a much better audience than people with money.
joel hanes
Allen Ginsberg reciting “Birdbrain” at Stanford, ca 1986
The Grateful Dead, Iowa City Fieldhouse spring 1970, festival seating.
Ben Sidran in The Maintenance Shop, Iowa State University Memorial Union, 1980
Haydnseek
Well, there are all the live concerts: Stones, Who, Led Zep, Hendrix, Allmans, Van Halen, ELP, etc.etc. but a lot of us have seen a lot of great shows. I already told the story about the time Los Lobos played in the driveway of my friends in-laws house at his wedding reception. That one stands out. There was the time my girlfriend at the time had tickets to see the traveling company of the Bolshoi Ballet. Swan Lake at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. I was mostly interested in seeing the orchestra. I didn’t think the dancing was going to be interesting. I was very, very wrong. It was unforgettable, in the good way. I”m sure there were other events but I’m in the mood to hear more stories from the other jackals.
BGinCHI
@H.E.Wolf:
This sounds almost too good to be true. I love it.
Reminds me a little of when I was a kid and my dad took me to see The King & His Court, who were these Harlem Globe-style guys who beat everyone is softball with like a 4-man team (going from memory and not googling or I’ll go down a huge rabbit hole).
Falling Diphthong
The Alvin Ailey Company. Just incredibly beautiful. A celebration of life and art and the human body as an expressive instrument.
Revelations is incredible, but the one that lingers is a piece that started with a bunch of dancers sitting in a circle (on chairs) and got faster and faster, evolved through a few things, and then finished with audience members on stage for Over the Rainbow. Unfortunately I can’t remember the name of the piece, but it was an incredible example of pushing the boundaries and absolutely nailing the result. We were agog.
UncleEbeneezer
Best Concerts:
Living Colour– The African-american rock band, not to be confused with tv show IN Living Color: My first REAL concert at the Orpheum in Boston circa 1989. I’ve seen them several times and they are hands-down one of the best live bands out there. All 4 members are virtuoso musicians, and they never play songs the same way. There’s a healthy amount of improv to go with amazing, social justice oriented lyrics that were calling out shit like racist policing 30 years ago.
Phish– The Great Wendt (Festival in Limestone, ME). Sorry haters, they really are every bit as good live as their annoying fans claim. Obviously you need to be able to hang with very long songs and solos etc., but they are truly unrivaled in pop/rock/jam music at creating a 3 hour journey of musical energy complete with trampolines, crazy onstage antics, fireworks etc. You really never know what you are going to get at a show.
TOOL– Seen them several times. Favorite show was probably The Electric Factory in Philly in ’96. Amazing, hallucinogenic, and HEAVY. They create a wall of sound that is LOUD and rocking and accentuated by lasers and incredible visual imagery.
Billy Joel at Yankee Stadium. As a Sox fan, F*** the Yankees, but this concert was really awesome especially since my late Mom was a huge fan.
The Codetalkers at Vegoose- The Codetalkers were a short-lived jam/funk/bluegrass band centered around guitarist Bobby Lee Rodgers and Col. Bruce Hampton. I had no idea what to expect when I caught their afternoon set at a music festival and they absolutely blew me away. One of the best rhythm sections I’ve ever seen.
Tank & The Bangas- I’ve seen them several times and they are positively amazing every time. Tank, the front-woman, is one of the best lead performers I have ever seen. Her mix of singing, poetry, rap and incredibly animated antics, make it impossible to look away.
Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings– RIP Miss Jones. One of the funkiest/grooviest bands you could ever witness.
Femi Kuti at the Hollywood Bowl- With a heavily Nigerian crowd. Talk about ENERGY!!!
Jazz artists: Gregory Porter, Julian Lage Trio, Brad Mehldau Trio, Josh Redman Trio, Bad Plus (with Josh Redman), Kurt Rosenwinkel Quartet.
Jon Brion at the original Largo. His one-man shows where he plays every instrument and takes audience suggestions to make on-the-fly mashups varying the musical styles, were legendary.
BGinCHI
@Haydnseek:
I went to see U2 at the hockey stadium in Buffalo (probably 1996), and was especially psyched that Los Lobos was opening.
They came out in big sombreros and ponchos, and played strange versions of their songs.
Turns out they had transport problems and couldn’t make it in time, so U2 dressed up as them and played their “set.”
Kind of racist and kind of cool, I guess? I’d rather have seen Los Lobos in a club, which I did not long after.
BGinCHI
@Raven:
Fabulous!
Falling Diphthong
Small scale: When my daughter was a baby, I discovered the Museum of Fine Arts as a spot to practice our walking more visually interesting for me than going up and down our small apartment. Then we discovered that one day a week the Ladies’ Auxillary hosted a tea with live music, which was just lovely for her–she loved watching the music, and it was so much calmer and less chaotic than the mass things designed for large numbers of children. She would dance to the harpist or pianist or what have you, eat a cookie, and consume a sippy cup of milk. I would have tea and a cookie.
So I miss the big live performances for which I bought tickets in advance–but I also miss little found bits of culture popping up around a corner where you didn’t expect them.
Old Dan and Little Ann
In college I saw Barry Williams, aka Greg Brady. I also saw Carrot Top. Memorable? Yes. Good? No.
Rob
I don’t remember too many details, but in the mid-80s I attended a performance at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC when Peter Sellars was the artistic director at the American National Theater. It involved, in part at least, people on stage reading different passages at the same time from ?Arthur Miller’s play “The Crucible” (and possibly something else?). The acoustics were such that people sitting next to each other would and could not hear the same thing. So I would hear actor A reading her piece, and the person I was there with would hear actor B reading his piece.
Mike E
Stephen Stills opened, and BB King closed, Walter Mondale’s campaign rally near Philadelphia City Hall in ’84…my first time I could vote for president. Stills caught the red eye for the event and it clearly took a toll on his voice but I was impressed he had made it out. Then, Fritz started to give his stump speech when, a few minutes in, an anti abortion heckler behind me started screaming, “Baby killer!” and we had ourselves quite a scene: people trying to stop him, others defending his ‘1A rights’ while a few more were about to get physical with him… thinking quick, I started a counter chant, to coincide with his, by timing, “Babies for Mondale!” and pretty soon we drowned him out and he slinked away. I can only imagine what was going on in the candidate’s head while all of this was going down, heh.
When the speech ended BB King and his band *threw down* for just me and maybe a few dozen others since it was a weekday lunchtime rally and everybody else had to get back to the office. He was a true professional, just an amazing moment for me.
Fair Economist
Einstein on the Beach at the LA Opera, 2013. One of the “arias” is about 25 repetitions of an insipid text, a paragraph long, starting with “I was at a prematurely air-conditioned supermarket.” But every repetition they changed the emphasis and intonation of the words, so the meaning of the text changed, sometimes pretty significantly. I was really stunned to realize how much meaning is in *how* we say words as opposed to the actual words themselves.
I have a recording and after seeing the performance I hear some of that in the recording, but the effect is much less marked and I hadn’t noticed it before.
Haydnseek
@BGinCHI: That’s a great story! Kind of weird, but still……….
They’re absolutely killer in smaller venues. Not that they lose much in larger spaces but for me the intimacy of the emotional connection they establish with their fans isn’t quite as concentrated. Glad you got to see them.
BGinCHI
@Old Dan and Little Ann: Your memoirs are gonna be something.
West of the Rockies
I will open with the worst live performance I’ve seen, John Waite. It was the night his big hit “Missing You” went number one. He was about 45 minutes late, played 11 songs, had zero between-songs patter, and stalked off stage. Dreary.
Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy in The Gin Game 40+ years ago at The Kennedy Center were great.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
At first I thought you meant during lockdown. We’ve seen some great zoom-based theater but my favorite might be how local improv troupe Comedy Sportz Philly has adapted their show to virtual performance.
More generally? We’ve been lucky to see some great theater. Whoopi Goldberg doing her one-woman show, Lily Tomlin in “The Search for Intelligent Life in the Universe”, Frank Langella as Salieri in “Amadeus”. I’ve never seen an actor dominate an entire Broadway stage all alone the way Langella did.
I have really fond memories of live shows by Bob Newhart and (sigh) Bill Cosby at Wolf Trap (outdoor venue near DC). Saw Peter Paul and Mary there as well.
One of our favorite theater things to do in recent years is to attend staged readings of plays in progress. Amazing how effective good actors can be reading scripts on a music stand with just a handful of props.
BGinCHI
@West of the Rockies:
Worst concert ever?
The Cars.
Great songs, zero delivery. Like robots.
Haydnseek
……….and speaking of The Shrine in Los Angeles…….
King Crimson in their prime, and how could I forget Laurie Anderson. Her show was absolutely spellbinding. I’ve searched far and wide for video of that show, but no luck. Not even an audio CD. There were just so many great shows. Oh yeah, The Jam at Perkins Palace in Old Town Pasadena. All the fancy scooters lined up out front. Every British 60’s era mod-loving kid in L.A. County was there. It looked like a remake of Quadrophenia. The show was incredible, not least because of the great crowd.
Sure Lurkalot
I saw Buckminster Fuller lecture a couple of times in the 70’s in Boulder. The talks mostly centered on his ideas of doing more with less (ephemeralization), started out concretely and then took a turn to the conceptual, wandering back and forth in stream of consciousness such that I thought…am I the only one who has no freaking clue what he’s talking about? Then after a half hour or so, he’d round the corner and come back to the concrete applications of his meanderings and everything connected and made perfect sense.
Now my spouse likes to recount how during a post lecture reception, he went to the head and there was his great idol Bucky right next to him at the urinal.
Lacuna Synecdoche
BGinCHI:
Apropos of the Carlin photo up top, I’ve always thought it ironic that the first time I saw/heard Carlin’s routine about the 7 Words You Can Never Say On TV (article), on TV – on HBO specifically. My grandmother – oh, yeah, I forgot to mention, it was at my grandmother’s home – was part of the early HBO beta in the 70’s.
So, anyway, it was New Year’s Eve, going from ’77 to ’78, and I was wee lad of 12 years. There was a New Year’s Eve party/family gathering at my grandmother’s place. All of her 7 children were there, the youngest, aged 18, to the oldest, my mother, at 30. And, near midnight, on the TV was a replay of HBO’s first Carlin special, which had first aired the previous April on Good Friday.
And that’s how I first saw a live performance – at my very Catholic, no-cussing-allowed, grandmother’s home – of George Carlin’s 7 Words You Can Never Say On TV (video) … on TV.
topclimber
A great show that also helped me overcome prejudice was the Moscow Circus at Madison Square Garden, 20+ years ago.
I especially liked the performing cats. Smart, quick, funny–they helped me see that my dog-centrism needed moderating. Who knew those snobby, finicky felines could put on a show?
This enlightenment paid off recently when we foster-failed our way into housing a mostly Russian Blue. It helps that he is the best cat ever. Thank you, circus comrades!
Don’t even try to argue the last point, jackals.
debbie
I know I have shared this before, but tough: Front row table at Paul’s Mall. 1971. Muddy Waters. It changed everything for this yokel from Ohio.
Brachiator
Live performances
I saw Patrick Stewart do his one man production of A Christmas Carol at a theater on the campus of Cal State Los Angeles. It was not just a captivating performance. I’ve seen many movie versions of the story. But there was something about the humanity and sincerity of his performance that created a space where I thought about some of my own family Christmas celebrations. It felt wild to feel a connection brought about through the drama. And Stewart found a way to magically fill the stage with all of Dickens’s character.
I saw Frank Sinatra at the Universal Amphitheater. He was not my generation, but I love jazz and this was a birthday treat. Even though he may have been past his vocal prime, he still had great stage presence and was a master of lyrical phrasing. I learned what a great showman is in any musical genre.
Saxophonist Sam Rivers and his band performed the greatest jazz concert I have ever seen. New Haven, CT, I think in 1974.
I saw Tito Puente in a small club in New York years ago. While other members in his band played strenuously, Puente was a calm center of musical power, effortlessly guiding the band while playing the hell out of his timbales.
Productions of August Wilson’s “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone,” once in New York and another time in Los Angeles. I think Delroy Lindo starred in the New York production.
Warren Senders
In 1986 I attended a private concert by the Hindustani classical singer Bhimsen Joshi, in the penthouse concert hall of a Bombay (now Mumbai) gazillionaire. The room held about 100 people, and the acoustics were absolutely perfect. Bhimsen sang with incredible inspiration and fervor for over five hours; the listeners called out encouragement and verbal applause (customary at Hindustani concerts) and he responded with outrageous flights of virtuosity. It remains one of the most exciting and memorable concerts I’ve heard, in a long lifetime of concerts.
Other great ones include:
Tom Lehrer in a living-room fundraiser for Eugene McCarthy, in 1967 (I was 9!);
Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra at Scullers in Cambridge, MA, including the riveting and stunningly beautiful trumpet soloing of Tom Harrell, whom we’d never heard before — he is severely bipolar and was on very powerful meds, looking like absolute death…until it was time for a solo, and he stood up, put his horn to his lips, and became a Divinity, full of light and beauty;
Sun Ra’s Arkestra at the Boston Cyclorama in 1977 — a four-hour extravaganza culminating in a drumming marathon that included dancers and a fire-eater;
Pete Seeger at the People’s Bicentennial in Concord, MA, 1976 — Phil Ochs was also on the bill that day, but Pete’s set was wonderful;
Mallikarjun Mansur singing a morning concert of Hindustani khyal at the Siri Fort Auditorium in Delhi, 1985 — a tiny man whose raspy tenor took flight that day along imaginative pathways I’d never even dreamed existed.
God, I’ve seen a lot of ’em.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Lily Tomlin in The Search For Signs of Intelligent Life in the late 80s. She must’ve been exhausted at the end of it
John Prine– my brother who saw him a lot said it was a very scripted show, but you wouldn’t have known it, and he had the audience in the palm of his hand. Didn’t know it was my last chance to see him and wish I had made more effort to see him again.
Molly Ivins speaking and doing a Q&A in ’04 or ’05 (?), but she had me, and probably everybody in the room, before I walked in the door
Springsteen’s Born in the USA tour (whattaya want from me? I’m an aging suburban Gen-Xer)
A stage version of Moby Dick at the Lookingglass in Chicago.
BGinCHI
@Lacuna Synecdoche: That routine was a formative experience for me, as I memorized it and could recite it on command.
My old man was a huge comedy record fan/listener, and for the dirty ones he’d make me leave the room, but I’d just go around the corner and hide, listen, and memorize.
Once it was clear I wasn’t gonna stop, he just let me listen. I can still do all the old Pryor routines too.
zhena gogolia
Best rock concert: Bruce Springsteen, about 1973 or 74
Worst rock concert: Sweathog and Black Sabbath, 1970 or so
Best play: Gogol’s Marriage in Moscow with Evgenii Leonov, 1988
Worst play: God, anything at the Yale Rep
Biggest thrill to this day: My mother took me to see Edward Villella when I was 12 or so. I was in heaven.
billcinsd
Let’s see,
Musically, I’m going with Guadalcanal Diary at Chuys in Tempe AZ. It was 150 people that were friends with the opening band and me. The opening band was playing their last show before hanging it up. The scene was joyous and GD was incredible for a Tuesday night far from home.
Talk
Beck Weathers talking about nearly dying on Mt. Everest
BGinCHI
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Great list.
I saw Prine in the late 90s in Syracuse, at a gorgeous old theater. A set with his band, then a solo acoustic set, then another set with the band. It was brilliant and maximal, like a Springsteen show but more intimate.
Warren Senders
@Brachiator:
Sam Rivers was fantastic live. I heard his trio with Dave Holland and Barry Altschul several times and they were absolutely enthralling. We talked with him a little after the show and he was extremely gracious and friendly.
And Sinatra…we heard him sing in the late 80s and it was just great. He did “Soliloquy” from “Carousel,” and that’s a whole lifetime’s worth of interpretive singing right there. Just wonderful.
zhena gogolia
@BGinCHI:
Did he have Knockers Up with Rusty Warren? That was the forbidden fruit around our house.
Warren Senders
@debbie:
I listened to that Muddy Waters show; it was streamed live on WBCN! Paul’s Mall was a trip.
BGinCHI
@Brachiator:
Can’t think of Tito Puente without thinking about Bill Murray’s rave about him in “Stripes.”
craigie
I saw the Sex Pistols at Winterland in SF in 1976 or 77 – their last performance before Sid died.
Do I win?
zhena gogolia
My brother took me to see Carousel at Lincoln Center, and it was lovely, but best of all was a singer who I think was just out of conservatory at the time, a young woman named Audra Ann McDonald, whose “Mr. Snow” made me gush tears.
Emma from Miami
First live performance: Ben Vereen and William Katt in Pippin. It was the most magical thing I had ever seen.
First live opera performance: the Met, The Magic Flute. I had just arrived in New York, and walked into the Met and bought one of the available ticket, expecting standing room. Someone had returned a ticket so I lucked out and got a fifth row seat. I didn’t know it was the annual gala performance. I was wearing a nice gypsy skirt and a navy sweater. There were enough diamonds around me to wipe out the national debt.
First small concert venue: Vivaldi by candlelight, played on period instruments, Saint Martin in the Fields, London. I still dream about it.
Still to be a first: London Proms. Any, though I’d love Beethoven.
Old Dan and Little Ann
@BGinCHI: lol… I didn’t even mention Screech from Saved by The Bell. He was rather raunchy.
trollhattan
Before I say something banal, important news. TBogg has himself a new rescue basset!
Shows and performances… problem is having been to lots, they blur into a pleasant stew from which it’s hard to pick favorites. Also are not instantly retrievable.
When a wee lad the family went to see Victor Borge with the symphony, and he permanently unstuffed the stuffy world of classic music for me. Wonderful performer and genuinely funny (as Danes are famous for).
David Sedaris was a lot funnier than I expected, was glad to have gone to that show and maybe that’s one of the pleasant surprises of going things you’re skeptical of, sometimes you’re delighted.
Mavis Staples opened for Bonnie Raitt and bowled us over. Wanted to scoop her up, take her home, install her as Our New Nana and tell us stories all night. We’d make cocoa. And that Bonnie, she’s a consummate professional and they bookended a perfect night.
Elvis Costello decades apart, from second-album era Attractions to solo three or so years ago was like catching up with an old, extremely talented friend.
Richard Thompson is among the best musicians I’ve seen, regardless of category, and for someone with such dark vision in some of his music is a charmer on stage. One is surely an outlet for the other. Crawl on glass to see him, if you must. Otherwise, a ticket will do.
Etta James, force of nature. Saw her three times–lucky me.
More will come to me but I’ll stop.
rivers
I saw the Stones in 1965 at the Academy of Music on 14th Street NYC. Incredibly loud and intense and of course we felt so cool. It was the year I graduated from high school. Even the shows at Filmore East weren’t as exciting.
Warren Senders
@Sure Lurkalot:
I heard Bucky talk at the Harvard Science Center in 1979, and to my absolute astonishment wound up on stage, playing percussion while he and Brother Blue, a Boston-area storyteller, danced a duet. Bucky was a pretty good dancer for an old dude!
Haydnseek
@zhena gogolia: I still have the copy of that LP my parents bought all those years ago.
RaflW
I can think of several, including the time DEVO swung from ropes off the balcony of Cullen Auditorium to start a show.
But since you asked about things beyond concerts, he’s one that sort-of fits the bill:
I’ve long been a fan of the Flaming Lips. I’ve seen them several times, but in some ways the most memorable was at First Ave in Minneapolis, when Wayne Coyne and Steven Drozd toured “The Boom Box Experiments”, a set of CDs and boom boxes ‘played’ by people brought up from the audience, seated in chairs like an orchestra, and conducted to press play and pause at the pointing of the baton.
It sort of didn’t work, but I appreciated their attempt to try new things.
West of the Rockies
This is making me long for live music and an evening at the Elizabethan Theater in Ashland, OR
I was 15 in 1977 when my summer school class on Shakespeare went for three days and nights to see half a dozen plays. It was magical.
And while I was a nerd and future English major, the real reason I took the class was because I was madly in love with an older student, a beautiful girl from Tennessee who I knew was taking the class.
BGinCHI
@zhena gogolia:
I don’t think so, but I’m surprised we didn’t have it!
Firesign Theater, Redd Foxx, Cosby, Pryor, Carlin, Jonathan Winters, Bob Newhart, and so on.
Phylllis
Two wildly divergent performances at Spoleto in Charleston. Aurelia’s Oratorio, created and performed by Aurelia Thierree (Charlie Chaplin’s granddaughter) in 2007 I think. And Baryshnikov performing for the 10th anniversary closing festival in 1986.
Also saw Ray Price live at the Newberry Opera House in Newberry SC. Terrific venue and great show.
NotMax
A few which immediately come to mind.
• P.D.Q. Bach at Town Hall.
• Emerson, Lake & Palmer at the Spectrum in Philly; opening act a then unknown band – Yes.
• Every year over Christmas holiday break there was a series of science lectures at Rockefeller University. Although ostensibly for graduate students, due to the family knowing someone there who had some pull, was given tickets to attend them all through the years I was in junior and senior high school, which myself plus two friends did frequently.
• Ethel Merman in Annie Get Your Gun.
• Zero Mostel, Jack Gilford and John Carradine in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, also Zero in Fiddler on the Roof.
• Harvey Fierstein in Torch Song Trilogy.
• Richard Kiley in Man of La Mancha.
• Christopher Plummer and David Carradine in The Royal Hunt of the Sun.
• Frank Langella in Dracula.
• James Earl Jones and Mark Linn-Baker in You Can’t Take It With You.
• Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury in Sweeney Todd.
• Madeline Kahn, Imogene Coca, John Cullum and Kevin Kline in On the Twentieth Century.
• Pearl Bailey in Hello, Dolly!
• Alastair Sim in Dandy Dick.
.
trollhattan
@craigie:
Was torn between going to that show or a party where I knew a girl I was interested would be. “I can always catch them another time.” Did not work out with her, so I was 0 for 0. Quite a few friends went, and somewhere I have the concert taped off KSAN.
Not the same.
Saw The Clash though, so there’s that.
Scout211
The worst live concert for me was Bob Dylan at the Stockton (California) arena in 2006. It was so awful, there are no words to describe just how awful his off-key, screechy, mumbly performance was. I did not recognize a single song he “sang.” So many people started leaving early, including us. It was just sad. Sadly memorable.
I was so looking forward to seeing him in concert again, too. I saw him in concert at Chicago Stadium in 1974. That was great.
I guess the two performances were a study in contrasts.
Warren Senders
@Rob: I worked with Peter Sellars when he was still at Harvard. He put on a production of King Lear at the Loeb Drama Center and I was part of the “band” — we played giant sheets of steel which made huge droning noises when stroked with a bow. In the final act, while everyone is dying, Peter opened the skylight and all the heat left the room. Did I mention it was in February?
The actors are all dying on stage, the sheets of steel are going “BRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWW,” a phalanx of follow-spots are aimed directly at the audience (so they can’t see for nuts), and everyone who was still left in the theater after 3 hours of this was shivering with the cold.
Man, Peter was a weird dude.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Lily Tomlin’s show made my list too.
A show I didn’t see: Simon and Garfunkel were doing a reunion concert. It was way out of our price range and so I opted not to buy tickets. Or so I thought. But months later I was going through old mail and found concert tickets which I’d apparently ordered after all. It still gives me a knot in my stomach to remember.
And one we did attend: Dan Fogelburg. Must have been shortly before he was diagnosed with the prostate cancer that killed him.
West of the Rockies
@trollhattan:
I saw Victor Borge, too, and yes, he was a hoot!
Felanius Kootea
@UncleEbeneezer:
Femi Kuti at the Hollywood Bowl was fire. Seun Kuti and Egypt 80 at the California Plaza was also great.
Fela the musical was amazing – I saw it three times. Once in New York (I flew from LA to NY to see that) and twice at the Ahmanson Theater (or was it Dorothy Chandler – I forget now).
@Falling Diphthong:
Pre-pandemic, I went to see Alvin Ailey perform every year without fail. First in Boston and then across Southern California. Really miss that. I love, love, love Revelations.
Youssou N’Dour at UMass Amherst years ago was great but the best live performance for me was Prince at the Forum. Oh my god!
debbie
@Warren Senders:
It was a week night, which is what got us the front row table.
debbie
@trollhattan:
I saw Thompson with Fairport Convention in 1971 at the Boston Music Hall. Loved him ever since, but wish he hadn’t been such a dick to Linda.
billcinsd
@craigie: did you feel like you’d been cheated?
Brantl
The only concert I ever got to see was the original Blues Brothers in 1980, they were freaking terrific .
craigie
@trollhattan:
Points for The Clash, for sure. Also points for mentioning KSAN :-)
I saw Bowie in Oakland in 77 or 78, one of those. Also Dave Mason in Sacramento.
Weirdest double bill I ever saw was The Grateful Dead open for The Who at Oakland Coliseum.
piratedan
well as much fun as it is to attend a live show (Rockpile, Elvis Costello, B-52’s, Stevie Wonder, Southern Culture on the Skids, et al) nothing quite matches the rush of actually doing/being in a performance. I might have gone down a completely different career path with parental encouragement of said interest.
mrmoshpotato
Liquid Tension Experiment – When The Keyboard Broke (Live in Chicago)
One-of-a-kind show on their 2008 reunion tour because Oops! Jordan’s keyboard broke! (Every fourth key was a half note off if I remember)
And Park West is a really cool venue to boot.
NotMax
Have never been able to tease out of memory her name but one night at The Improv saw the single funniest stand-up routine have ever witnessed live.
It must have been about 1:30 a.m. The audience was down to a handful or two of well-lubricated diehards, and (IIRC) the last set of the evening.
She came out and in a NFLTG performance just let ‘er rip. Absolutely hilarious.
billcinsd
@billcinsd: I should also include an organ performance by the top organist of the Hungarian National Symphony at the church of the Tihany Abbey in Tihany Hungary (before Orban). The Church is nearly 1000 years old and had the tomb of King Andrew who was killed battling with his brother Bela in 1060. This was put on by a small, international conference I attended in Balatonfured Hungary.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tihany_Abbey
Suzanne
So many.
But one recent one stands out: Mr. Suzanne and I saw Bob Dylan perform about three days after his Nobel was announced. The show started at 8. He walked out on stage at the stroke of 8, played excellent music without a pause for 1 hour and 45 minutes, and then walked off. Not a single word of banter, no encore. Mr. Suzanne was, like, thrilled: no rock bullshit, and he got to sit down and enjoy the show the entire time.
Mr. Suzanne and I have also attended the opera a few times in recent years, and he is surprised by how much he enjoys it.
There are those who call me...tim... (Still posh)
Charlotte’s Milestone Club was a stop on the 80s tour circuit blazed by REM, Black Flag, and others. While I was Navy on the West Coast, I missed some raw shows by the GoGos, Circle Jerks, Minor Threat, etc. Moved back in ’83 and caught up quickly. Love Tractor, Dream Syndicate, Divine Horsemen and many others. The Charlotte and Piedmont punk scenes made it headquarters and proving ground. It was a lucky time.
lgerard
Best:
About 50 years ago when I was in high school we were loaded on a bus and sent to a local college for a special event. We sat at the top of a dark, packed gym looking almost straight down at a tiny stage. At the very bottom of what seemed like a well stood James Earl Jones reading the poetry of Edgar Allan Poe.
It was mesmerizing
Worst:
Blind Faith at Madison Square Garden. Someone had the genius idea to use a revolving stage so they could sell more tickets. Every 2 minutes you could hear 30 seconds of music. We were so bummed that we went down to the Fillmore East to catch the late show and try to salvage something. It was the night that John Mayall recorded the Turning Point album
Craig
@RaflW: I saw that Flaming Lips gig at Bimbo’s in SF. Trippy. We were just standing listening and watching the people on stage, and then Wayne Coyne was walking through the crowd listening, and he just walked up to me and my lady and asked what we thought, we just stood around talking for 10 minutes or so. We were telling him about The Audium, an experimental sound installation on Bush street. It’s a 70s experiment in multi track playback and surround. You sit in the dark in the theater with, like 20-30 other people, usually half the audience is tripping, and the sound just happens around you. Pretty cool. Wayne wrote it down and eventually excused himself to wander back to the stage and talk to other people.
H.E.Wolf
It was one of a kind. I still have the programme, and the local-news article which prompted me to attend the show….
Salty Sam
Although I am obviously biased in this, some of the best improv comedy I’ve ever seen was when my younger son was learning his chops at Coldtowne in Austin. He and three buddies formed the “Bad Boys” troupe, and they were amazing. Young, brash, and NHAFTGITFP (Never Had Any FucksTo Give In The First Place). He has since gone on to do improv at Second City in Chicago (gave it up because it was too “corporate”), self produce a few shows, and is now in LA pitching his writing for when production starts back up in earnest post-pandemic.
Again, I know I’m biased, but his early work was over-the-top good.
trollhattan
@craigie:
The Dead opening for The Who?
“Can we come on now, mate?”
“Dave’s not here, man.”
Bill Graham was not shy about mixing musical forms, that’s for sure.
Bruuuuce
As awesome as large stadium shows can be (Billy Joel at the Nassau Colosseum, Bruce Springsteen in the Meadowlands, the Grateful Dead anywhere), my favorite shows were at smaller venues, including especially the late and very lamented Bottom Line in New York City. I saw a lot of shows there, though perhaps the most memorable were with a band called Uncle Bonsai in IIRC 1987 and the Barenaked Ladies in 1994. We were at a table directly contacting the stage (there were three or four running perpendicular to the stage, and we were at the center one), and the bands were at or near the beginnings of their careers, with one or two albums each. Truly excellent stuff.
Other memorable shows include seeing Renaissance at My Father’s Place on Long Island, with a group of folks in SCA garb, which got us admitted backstage after the show. It’s where I got the only band autograph I ever tried to get, and still have, tucked into their Live at Carnegie Hall album.
Most memorable entrance was Peter Schickele, who descended on a rope from the balcony to the stage for his recital of PDQ Bach’s compositions.
Barbara
@Warren Senders: I swear there are directors who just get bored with Shakespeare and decide to test their own ideas. I sat through a miserable performance of As You Like It, in which the director decided to portray every act in a different Hollywood studio production style. When we got to the roaring 20s I really wanted to leave.
Josie
I grew up and lived most of my adult life in the southernmost tip of Texas, about 15 miles from the border. Not many live shows were willing to travel to such an outpost. The two I remember fondly were Willie Nelson and ZZ Top. Both gave great shows with few breaks and lots of wonderful music.
geg6
Saw Chris Rock live a few years ago. He was great and very provocative. Not in a sex way but socially. I’ve seen quite a bit of comedy shows, but that’s one I still think about, especially these days.
I saw a talk by Anthony Bourdain and Eric Ripert about five or six years ago. They were wonderful and you could tell how much they loved and enjoyed hanging out witheach other. Real brotherly love. Such great stories.
Every year (in before times), big name Pittsburgh rockers (Donnie Iris, Joe Grusheky, several of the Clarks, several of the Granati Brothers, etc., if you know Pittsburgh music) get together and do a concert for charity. It’s always them playing an entire iconic rock album. I saw the show where they did Exile on Main Street. Jesus, that was an almost orgasmic experience. They rocked it so hard.
SiubhanDuinne
I’ve been lucky enough over the course of my life to see countless great orchestral performances, recitals and chamber music, plays and ballets, so I will mention the very first “big” musical event I remember. I was maybe four years old; the opera was Hansel and Gretel; and my father was a cellist in the pit orchestra at the Chicago Lyric Opera. From the minute the orchestra started tuning to the final curtain call, I was utterly transported. I already knew most of the songs from listening to records, but until that night I had never heard the full glory of the Overture or the Witches’ Ride or the Dream Pantomime. Couldn’t begin to tell you the names of any of the singers, but the entire thing was magical and I still revisit it from time to time in my dreams.
Craig
I used to work at the Monterey Jazz Fest. I was the camera tech on the Lyons stage, so I could just hang out on stage during rehearsals and chill in the wings during shows. Herbie Hancock is really chill. One year,2006?, we were going to have Oscar Peterson, McCoy Tuner, and Dave Brubeck play with 3 grand pianos. The piano tuner lost his mind. No one could find Brubeck, so Clint Eastwood sat in his chair and ad libbed, and they riffed on chopsticks for 10 minutes till Brubeck showed up.
Standing next to John Mclaughlin while he straight shredded through his rehearsal was pretty intense.
trollhattan
Listening to a Turlock college station on Highway 99 last night (which almost necessarily is a line in either a country or blues song, depending on whether I was driving my pickup) and the DJ was spinning concert stories. Saw the Butterfield Blues Band open for Richard Pryor, only Pryor blew off the show so Butterfield came back out and did an entire second set. Claimed it was the best he’d ever seen them play.
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
Big – caught Bob Dylan and Paul Simon when they toured together back circa Y2K give or take a year. Dylan was better, at least that night.
Medium, Elvis Costello on the Spike tour in Dayton. Just him and a guitar except a couple songs where he switched to the piano. Also Wilco live in Champaign in the campus concert hall – what a great venue that is and the band was great too.
Small – both at the Birchmere in Alexandria VA – Doc Watson was one. The other was The Jayhawks. I’ve always loved their brand of country folk rock with Byrds-esque harmonies and they were great the night I saw them.
craigie
@trollhattan:
Yes, it was like two separate concerts. While the Dead performed, the Who folks sat way up high and ignored the whole thing, and when the Who came on, all the Deadheads just left (or passed out).
Ceci n est pas mon nym
I keep remembering things. I saw Mandy Patinkin singing in a small intimate venue here in Philly, which was pretty great. On the one hand it was all-Sondheim, and most of Sondheim is not really my taste. But on the other hand it was Mandy Freakin’ Patinkin!!
NotMax
@trollhattan
Hey, stranger things have happened. Jimi Hendrix toured for a while as the opening act for The Monkees.
Mary G
My ex and I went to see Andy Kaufmann in a smallish theater in LA sometime in the late 70s. Almost the entire cast of Taxi v.1 was sitting in the row in front of us, plus James L. Brooks and some writers. At the beginning of the show, Andy announced that we were all going to have chocolate chip cookies and milk afterwards. We came out after it was over and there was a fleet of yellow school buses to take us for the treat. The ex refused to get on a bus built for children (he was 6’5) but we followed in the car and went to the Old Spaghetti Factory where we did indeed have cookies and milk.
craigie
Almost forgot – saw George Carlin live in the gym on campus. He just sat in a chair and talked, and I laughed so hard I thought I might forget to breathe.
Come to think of it, saw the Police and XTC in that same gym.
HRA
I have seen a lot of performances with movie stars and singers downtown in Buffalo. The one that is most memorable happened in Toronto when I was a chaperone for my middle school daughter’s trip there with her class and 3 teachers. On the last day e went to a Hungarian restaurant for dinner where they had a violinist going around the room playing at tables. Then we went to a concert hall that has gone from my memory. We were cutting it thin in re to time. I had to rush a few girls from the ladies room and hoped to get to my seat in time. Well I failed and as I looked at the stage while going down the balcony stairs this man who was talking said wait wait hold it. OMG it was Harry Belafonte. “Hello young lady” I smiled and waved at him. He laughed. One more wave and I was at the row and in my seat.
Wyatt Salamanca
I saw Brian Dennehy, Vanessa Redgrave, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Robert Sean Leonard in a revival of Long Day’s Journey Into Night, Natalie Portman in The Diary of Anne Frank, Billy Crystal in 700 Sundays, and Alan Alda as Richard Feynman in QED.
As for concerts, the Rolling Stones at Shea Stadium on their Steel Wheels tour, Paul McCartney at Madison Square Garden on his Flowers in the Dirt Tour, the Grateful Dead several times at Madison Square Garden in the late 1980’s, Paul Simon without Art Garfunkel in Central Park, the Allman Brothers Band at the Beacon Theater in the late 1980’s, and on separate occasions Herbie Hancock and Wynton Marsalis at the Blue Note.
Bruuuuce
Oh! Just remembered two spectacular musicals I saw when quite young.
My school took us on a field trip to see 1776 on Broadway. I wish I had been five years older, so I could have appreciated it better.
Later, saw Fiddler on the Roof in the round. Theodore Bikel as Tevye. Wonderful, and the openness of the stage in the round meant a very different staging from the usual (but the turntable greatly facilitated Tevye pulling his dairy cart :-)
ETA: And looking up the cast, I had utterly forgotten Fyvush Finkel was Lazar Wolf. He was terrific (as was the whole cast), though at the time I didn’t know him.
zhena gogolia
@NotMax:
I saw PDQ Bach in Oshkosh — it was great!
SiubhanDuinne
@Craig:
Did he talk to it?
Haydnseek
Just one more. Leo Kottke in the crappy old gym at Cal State Long Beach. Oh yeah, the opening act. Emmylou Harris. Kottke was very funny between songs in his deadpan way, which made the punchlines all the better. The gym is long gone but the memories remain…….
Wyatt Salamanca
@geg6:
There’s a new documentary about Anthony Bourdain coming to theaters in July.
h/t https://variety.com/2021/film/news/anthony-bourdain-documentary-roadrunner-release-date-1234958823/
Bruuuuce
And as I sit thinking of performances, more come back. Two from my days at SUNY Stony Brook (spelling as it was then, not now):
Hot Tuna in the gym, with special guest Papa John Creech. The band was super, but what I’ll take away was Papa John, then in his 70s or so, playing the fiddle, standing straight and his bow extended so he used just the tip while accompanying the boys — then taking a solo, bending at the waist, swirling and dipping, his bow slashing the strings.
Robert Fripp gave us a night demonstrating Frippertronics at a small auditorium in the Student Union, and it was fascinating. And cut short by some putz who pulled a fire alarm, clearing the building. Since the show was half an hour from its end, we never did see the rest of it. That was a damned shame.
Craig
I also used to work at an infamous all mens summer camp in NorCal. Weird place. I ran the audio crew there, so we could go anywhere we wanted whenever we wanted, we stayed on site in the woods. Some of their big pageants are pretty damn crazy, everybody is wasted all the time. They bring in ringers to perform every year, or Supreme Court Justices, or Titans of Industry. I saw former MPAA head Jack Valenti speak during the Iraq war. I hated that guy cause of his lobbying for MPAA against VHS, and DVDs, etc.. One of the best speeches I’ve ever seen. Talked about how unAmerican the whole thing was. It was intense.
Saw Randy Hansen do his Hendrix thing with Bobbie Wier, Michael Carrabello, and Mike Varney.
Sat around the woods talking with Billy Gibbons when he borrowed my pen to rewrite some horn charts for the pickup soul band. Standing next to that guy working out the arrangements to Thank You in a redwood forest was sublime.
Craig
@Mary G: Awesome.
Wyatt Salamanca
@craigie:
The Who and the Grateful Dead together in Germany in 1981
h/t https://livemusicnewsandreview.com/2020/04/concert-memory-the-who-and-the-grateful-dead/
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@Emma from Miami: Listening to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons played in Sainte Chapelle in Paris, watching the setting sun’s rays illuminate the Rose window. Fabulous.
Craig
@SiubhanDuinne: I believe it was pre chair talk. I remember he got heckled about it a different year.
Rob
@Warren Senders: He was. The biggest single I reason I recall now for seeing that performance was that Eszter Balint (who had recently starred in the Jim Jarmusch film “Stranger Than Paradise” that I had loved) was one of the performers. I didn’t see another Sellars production and he didn’t stay in DC too long after.
Craig
I used to see GWAR when they’d just transformed from Death Piggy. They lived and created all their props and costumes across the street from the dirtbag rock club in Richmond VA. Watching them invent themselves back then was really amazing. Watching crazy artists metamorphosing. Never would have thought they’d go on to do that crazy performance art metal for 30 years.
pajaro
Three events while I was coming of age in Chicago
1. Sometime when I was in High School in the early 60’s, during the summer, I went to Ravinia (the suburban venue where the Chicago Symphony played, and saw and heard Igor Stravinsky conduct a rehearsal of the Rite of Spring.
2. In 1966, I heard Martin Luther King Jr. speak at the International Amphitheater, at the stockyards, on the South Side
3. In 1969 I attended an all-day concert at Grant Park, near downtown, called “bringing the blues back home.” I didn’t actually know the blues that well, so it wasn’t until sometime later that I realized that I had heard EVERYONE that day–BB King, Buddy Guy and Junior Wells, Big Mama Thorton, Lightning Hopkins, Howlin Wolf, and Muddy Waters, and others that are now lost in my addled brain.
The Golux
dnfree
I saw Bob Dylan at the Arie Crown theater in Chicago in 1965. The first set was the acoustic music we were familiar with, and the second set was electric, which astounded and delighted my friends and me. We didn’t know what was happening, like Mr. Jones.
Also saw Leonard Cohen in Chicago in 2009. What a wonderful concert. Every musician was superb.
https://m.riverfronttimes.com/musicblog/2009/05/07/review-setlist-leonard-cohen-at-the-chicago-theatre-wednesday-may-6
Ivan X
Sometime in the 90’s I saw an industrial/experimental band called Crash Worship in San Francisco at a club called the Trocadero Transfer that specialized in my kinda music. The band had something like 20 performers both on stage and in and over the audience, most of them 3/4 naked, banging on drums, blowing strange horns, swinging on trapezes, dousing the audience with bladders of wine, setting a huge bonfire in the middle of the floor, et cetera. It was one of the most amazing, sensory-overwhelming, and yes, even profound experiences I’d ever had before or since.
Barbara
@Craig: Herbie Hancock gave the commencement address at my daughter’s college. Did you know he was a double major in electrical engineering? It was a great address, far and away better than the usual fare.
Anotherlurker
I have been very fortunate to have worked some amazing shows.
Tied for 1st place are Pavarotti in Central Park, NYC and “The Mother” starring Anne Bancroft. “The Mother ” was taped for the BBC at Kaufman Astoria Studios in Astoria, Queens. It is a very historical studio complex. “The Coconuts” w as shot there in 1929.
Pavarotti’s performance left me speechless and watching Bancroft’s performance left me either laughing out loud or sobbing uncontrollably. You know an actor is at the top of her craft when you see jaded, tough as nails Local 1 Stagehands with tears streaming down their cheeks.
Drdavechemist
Late to the party as usual, but it would be hard to top seeing Les Mis in the West End at the end of the week in August 1991 when Yeltsin faced down the attempted coup in Moscow. Some dear friends had gotten us a box above the stage and it was an evening I will never forget. I choke up every single time I listen to the soundtrack.
AliceBlue
Nureyev at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta; I believe the ballet was La Bayadere.
Ramones in 1977, also at the Fox
Talking Heads at the Capri Ballroom
TomatoQueen
The back of Artur Rubinstein’s head, cheap seats “parquet terrace”, New Haven, I was 8, maybe a little older.
Among many others, at the same venue (Woolsey Hall) the first time I experienced shit acoustics and knew it was Richard Tucker, who was unintelligble while speaking but glorious while singing.
Then it began to be useful to pay for the first balcony front and center, Rostrapovich, Last concert there was one of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band’s touring groups, but with the sacred and holy Alan Jaffee on tuba. Of course they played “Saints” and of course there was a pair of girls on roller skates leading staid old New Haven around the hall.
Next door and across the way at Sprague Hall, the same year, Eubie Blake.
Sam Waterston, Much Ado, St James Theatre, a little jewel box with a balcony seat just above stage right all for me.This crush has been going ever since.
Kennedy Center, Joshua Rifkin, with dinner at the HoJo across from the Watergate. Gone now.
In Annapolis, at various times Barney Kessel, Charlie Byrd, Herb Ellis, in various conformations at the Maryland Inn.
At the Naval Academy, the men’s chorus several times, and a matinee concert in the gym, Sly and the Family Stone.
Doc Watson at Wolf Trap, once with Merle and once afterward.
The Country Gentlemen and the Seldom Scene at the Birchmere
The Boston Pops at the Esplanade, once with Arthur Fiedler, and once with Keith Lockhart, Joan Baez, soloist.
“Private Lives,” starring Maggie Smith, at a theatre very near the Combat Zone. I was shitfaced on bad brandy so only remember “Heaven Preserve Us From Nice Women,” and have been doing my best not to be one ever since .
Then I went all the way to London to see Bonnie Raitt at the Hammersmith Odeon. Elton John joined her at half-time.
There must’ve been some culture in the 10 years I lived in Florida, but all I can remember now is Dr John at the bandshell down by the river in Fort Myers.
Arsenic and Old Lace, Long Wharf Theatre, New Haven, starring Joanne Woodward, and Paul Newman as a corpse.
The best one tho is seeing Hal Holbrook twice, once when I was about five, at the auditorium at Indiana University (Bloomington), and then again when I was about 22 or 23, at the Kennedy Center. It was never the same show twice.
There’s other stuff that sort of runs together, and the local oddment of live music at the Inauguration carried on local news, which anyone who feels the cold and lives here enjoys from the comfort of one’s easy chair. Except for standing up for Pete Seeger on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, which was the most wonderful thing I ever saw.
Craig
@Ivan X: Yes! I saw Crash Worship a couple of times. Once in a warehouse in the Mission where I was sure the place was going to burn down. Truly singular transcendent experiences.
Ruckus
Had a relative whose name I can not remember as it was only about 60 or more yrs ago but she was an actress and played the lead in a presentation of Oklahoma! and it was very good. Live bands, I’ve heard a few, mostly small time but the best was at a small bar with a raised stage a buddy and I used to go to on occasion. A rock band with the lead a violin player/singer who was quite tall, barely had room to stand up fully. The act was amazing, songs you knew but presented far differently than the originals with such amazing violin playing. That would be late 73-74 time wise, just discharged from the navy.
MizPurple
If you live near Washington DC, you should try to catch Faction of Fools. They are a commedia del’arte troupe that uses the commedia sensibilities and characters to interpret a variety of classic works. They are incredibly incentive and hilarious. I first saw them do a Romeo and Juliet using a rolling stack of wooden boxes that could be arranged in many configurations as the only scenery. They also tackled Titus Andronicus using an all white set and costumes, which by the end were liberally splashed with stage blood. It was amazing and horrifying. That troupe, as well as the entire vibrant theater scene in that area, was my biggest regret when I moved to Colorado five years ago. So many great performances.
Craig
@Barbara: He’s amazing. I had another job where he was performing and I had an office in one of the green rooms. He knocked on the open door and asked if he could come in and chill while he worked on some arrangements. My voice broke like I was a 12 year old boy as I said, Sure thing Mr. Hancock. Of course he said, Call me Herbie. He just sat working on his Mac for 30min. then asked if he could use my printer. Uh, yes. Then asked me, Hey, does this thing print double sided?, and I told him No I don’t think so. He fiddled with his Mac for a bit, then said, Yeah it does, and printed out the music on both sides. He said Here, check this out, and showed me the page/printer setup with a checkbox for dual sided printing. Such a badass, he was just chuckling. I have no doubt he was an engineer. What a great graduation speaker he must have been.
Gin & Tonic
Way late, but some time in the early 70’s I went to see Keith Jarrett play a solo concert at Sanders Theater in Cambridge. The audience waited outside probably an hour beyond scheduled starting time because the piano was not tuned to Jarrett’s satisfaction and the tuner would only work in an empty hall. Eventually we went in, Jarrett played an uninterrupted improvisation for well over an hour, and when he stopped, the hall just sat in stunned, awed silence for what seemed a very long time before the applause started. Nearly a half century on, I still vividly remember that silence.
Uncle Omar
At the New Moon (?) in Berkeley in the summer of 1971, Commander Cody (and the Lost Planet Airmen) opening for The New Riders of the Purple Sage, while Garcia was still playing pedal steel for the New Riders. There were about 20 people in the place, not including bands and wait staff. Commander Cody closed with Hot Rod Lincoln then the New Riders went on for at least an hour. I got to meet Garcia after and I shook the hand that shook the hand of P.T Barnum and Charlie Chan.
Earlier in ’71 I attended the worst/most boring lecture ever…Huey Newton explaining Marxism for two hours. The Panthers made us white folks sit in the balcony, which was cool by us, and searched us for weapons, which was okay, too. Since we were all pretty familiar with Marx by that time, we really didn’t need a lecture, so left early. A few years later in Ann Arbor I got conned into attending a debate between William Fcuking Buckley and the local State Legislator. All Buckley wanted to talk about was rent control in NYC which was of no interest to anyone in Ann Arbor. He was an asswipe. But he showed the rubes and cashed the check so he was happy.
citizen dave
@BGinCHI: “Reminds me a little of when I was a kid and my dad took me to see The King & His Court, who were these Harlem Globe-style guys who beat everyone is softball with like a 4-man team (going from memory and not googling or I’ll go down a huge rabbit hole).”
I can’t even make it 1/3 of the way through the thread without replying to this one. Same, when I was in Little League The King and His Court played at my little league diamond (which was pretty nice–sodded infield). If I recall correctly I think they happened to lose that night. The King was this flattop haircut dude who could fast-pitch like few others. I may still have the program some 48 years later…
One unique thing I’m recalling is when I was around 14 or so (1973-75 period), for some reason basketball great Bill Russell was doing a lecture tour, and he did an event at our local college–in Fort Wayne Indiana. A small room, not overflowing by any means IIRC. I believe his message was about racism, justice, etc.
Another cool one was one year at Neil Young’s daylong Bridge show (Mountain View CA) the set changes were taking forever, and Robin Williams came out and did a 15-20 minute “set”.
“I seen the Brooklyn Dodgers
Playin at Ebbets Field
Seen the Kentucky Derby too
It’s fast women, slow horses, I’m reliable sources
And I’m holding up a lamp post
If you want to know
I seen the Wabash Cannonball,
Buddy, I’ve done it all
Beause I slept with the lions
And Marilyn Monroe
Had breakfast in the eye
Of a hurricane
Fought Rocky Marciano,
Played Minnesota Fats
Burned hundred-dollar bills,
I eaten Mulligan stew
Got drunk with Louis Armstrong
What’s that old song?
I taught Mickey Mantle
Everything that he knows”
wait–that’s a Tom Waits song…
cope
In the summer of 1971, I attended a performance of “King Lear” in the courtyard of Beaumaris Castle on the Isle of Anglesey, North Wales. It is not a lie that during the Storm Scenes (1 and 2) of Act 3, a real, cold, wet, thundery storm opened up above us. Sadly, Mother Nature did not know her lines and the rain continued for some time beyond the stage instructions. It did stop toward the end, though, as most of the audience huddled in the front gate area of the castle while a few brave and properly equipped people continued to sit on folding chairs in the courtyard.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Beaumaris_aerial.jpg
J R in WV
We saw Judy Collins at the Cafe Carlyle, a very small supper club on the upper East Side of Manhattan. She and a piano player, maybe 20 feet away from us. Amazing show, she chatted as if it was her living room about the early days of her career.
Tinsley Ellis at a low dive blues club in the meat packing district of Manhattan, our seats were right by the stage, I could put my hand on the stage. Several jazz acts at the Village Vanguard and the Iridium Club, Blues Alley, too, up towards Harlem. I saw “Wicked” at the Schubert theater on Broadway a few years later with good friends, an amazing show.
We also saw a revival of South Pacific, which I saw as a touring show many years ago, but the performance at Lincoln Center much more recently was a real eye-opener, as the racial issues were more clear to us. A hugely great cast, too. When it first opened on Broadway in the late 1940s, the race thing was a sensational controversy. Too complex to describe here and now.
ETA: I got to see Pink Floyd twice, once at the beginning of the tour at Rupp Arena in Lexington, KY and then towards the end of the tour at tOSU stadium in Columbus. A great stadium Rock Show. Flying beds, giant cows, the works!
Here in W Va we have had a ton of great musical performances thanks to Mountain Stage and the other show halls in town. Los Lobos, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Buddy Guy several times, Arlo Guthrie, Keb Mo’, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Pinetop Perkins, Gov’t Mule, so many more I can’t recall all the names right now. Oh, yeah, Tina Turner, Bob Dylan, ZZ Top… Los Lobos is one of those bands you really need to see live. Amazing performers, really in tune with their audiences.
We saw a show in Akron OH with Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, and the Greatful Dead, was a wonderful show. Many years ago now… obviously. We saw Bob Weir at the Beacon Theater in Manhattan as well just a couple of years ago — just him, a bass player and a drummer. Another Great Show!
We saw a great Mariachi Band in Tucson years ago, we were seated right by the stage at a great Mexican restaurant, and at one point in the evening the band leader asked us if we had any requests. Of course being from WV I didn’t know the name of any famous Mexican songs, so I described the blues genre and asked them to do a sad border love song. They got together and discussed what to do for quite a while.
Then the leader put his fiddle under his arm, they did this wonderful song, he sang right at Wife, they were a great talented group and he nailed that song. Was amazing, wonderful, tearful performance. Huge tip!!! Was so glad to be able to reward the band for an unbelievable performance.
So many great experiences. Many in our next door neighbor’s living room. He’s a musician and instrument rebuilder, has so many friends who play with him at dinner parties. Old Time Mountain Music from the roots of the Hills. There are contests in the normal summertimes, and P has many ribbons on a bass leaning in a corner of the room.
I have to stop now. The last year… not so much. We’ve lost so many great people…
Ivan X
@Craig: Welp, I did not have “also saw Crash Worship” on my Sunday nite bingo card. Nice to be here with someone who understands, since it defies description!
citizen dave
@Suzanne: I’ve seen Bob Dylan several times in the 2000s. One was around Sept. 1, 2006 (at the minor league ballpark in my hometown), and his Modern Times album was out a couple days before. It was #1 for that week. Of course there was no mention of that, and I don’t think he played any songs from it either.
Would like to see him at least once more. Always fun to spy the Oscar sitting on a cabinet on stage.
A memorable show was J Geils Band at this large room in the Indiana (Indianapolis) Convection Center–no seats, just a large room–no seats. U2 opened and was on the 2nd album (October) then. Bono had the reddish curly hair and Dave Evans (the Edge) had hair and no hat. Bono climbed up on the speaker stack at one point.
Ivan X
@Craig: I have an issue of Softalk Magazine from 1982 from my childhood with Herbie on the cover, because of course that guy was all over early personal computers (Softalk was an Apple II magazine). What a cool cool cool dude.
Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)
Roger Troutman and Zapp played at my alma mater (as a last-minute fill in for Stacy Lattisaw!) I worked the stage crew for the show and got docked an hour’s pay because Roger struck up a conversation in the dressing room. Worth it!
Saw what had to have been the worst show the Isley Brothers ever did at the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center in either 82 or 83. It was so bad people started wandering out in the middle of “Don’t Say Goodnight” thinking that it was the last song. Sadly, it was not.
Omnes Omnibus
@Emma from Miami:
Saw the same thing there in 2010. Candlelight show, but it was June so lighting didn’t matter much until after the intermission. I turn down a chance to see a West End play for that. I stand by my choice.
Omnes Omnibus
@NotMax:
Was it Midge Maisel?
citizen dave
@dnfree: “I saw Bob Dylan at the Arie Crown theater in Chicago in 1965. The first set was the acoustic music we were familiar with, and the second set was electric, which astounded and delighted my friends and me. We didn’t know what was happening, like Mr. Jones.”
Lucky Bastard!
My wife and saw Dylan around 2001 in Dayton at the basketball arena. Pre-show there was this Barney Fife security guy really hassling people. Dylan played Ballad of a Thin Man (the “Mr. Jones” song) that night even though it had not shown up in setlists that year/tour. It was also the same show I was snapping some pics from mid-floor with a flash of Dylan playing Neil Young’s “Old Man” and was nabbed by security and taken out in the hall and had to erase/lose the film (actually forget the deal now, but it might have been a disposable film camera). Certainly learned that night not to take photos of Mr. Dylan.
Omnes Omnibus
Since I seem to have become the thread killer, I will say that I have seen a metric ton of good concerts one that stands out for me is David Byrne in Columbus in late September 2001. It was the first event for a lot of us after 9/11 and I think it may have been his first show too. Everyone was charged up, and Byrne and company gave everyone the chance just release joy in the music. Cathartic.
Barbara
@J R in WV: Mariachi bands must be seen live. My kid’s high school dance club somehow raised money to bring a mariachi band from Mexico to accompany them for a traditional Mexican dance performance. I guess the stars were aligned. They were such wonderful musicians, and so much more engaging live than on the recordings I bought.
K488
I saw Jonathan Powell play one of Sorabji’s eight-hour piano compositions, this a set of variations on the Dies Irae. There were all of 9 people in the audience by the end (two left part-way through) and it was absolutely life-changing. A year later I turned pages for a partial performance of his 2nd organ symphony, which in this performance lasted 7 hours. Again, a life-changing experience. And worrying that I’d blow a page-turn just added to the excitement.
J R in WV
Talking with wife… remembering. So one more time…
As a small kid, back in the early 1960s, the family had gone to St Pete Beach over the Christmas holidays. Dad of course had a morning newspaper every morning, and I saw an ad for a Louis Armstrong show at a big Deco theater in St Petersburg. I begged and pleaded, and eventually they agreed to go to that show.
Louie and Pearl doing Broadway songs. Louis doing New Orleans music. We sat way up in a balcony with a mostly black crowd all dressed up to the nines, and we were on vacation, no suit or tie. But it was a great show. The band was a thousand miles away, but right there with us!!!
Wife and I went to a Lily Tomlin reprise of one of her one-woman shows at a Broadway theater, were way down front, but also way over to the side. But Lily played to everyone, it was a great evening.
Many years ago I lived in Philly briefly, and saw the Chambers Brothers opening for the Kinks. The Chambers Brothers were great. I left after the Kinks started, just a couple of songs I was outta there. No comparison, the Chambers Brothers left them with no way to win.
And back in 1968 I got to go to the Newport Folk Festival and it was a blues weekend. Janis, BB King, Albert Collins, Buddy Guy (who was young then!) a great weekend. Maybe the most amazing this was Saturday afternoon on a tiny stage, little old men from the Delta doing whistle and drum blues — straight outta Africa…
I was able to see Janis several times, actually, what a loss. She was amazing~!~
Villago Delenda Est
While reading through all the various remembrances, I too remembered another memorable performance: Emo Phillips in a little comedy club in Augusta, GA in 1983 before he broke out to the big time. All the quirkiness that was to make famous was there. He told his great encounter with another believer joke, too.
Warren Senders
@Wyatt Salamanca: Weirdest double bill I ever saw was Sapo’s Trained Chimps (an actual trained-chimp act), opening for Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band.
Good times!
Warren Senders
@K488: I would have loved to hear that. I’ve read about Sorabji but have never heard his music. Quite a character, wasn’t he?
Floridan
By far the funniest live comedy performance I’ve seen was by Wanda Sykes at the Olympia Theater in Miami.
Craig
@Ivan X: same here.
BGinCHI
This thread is a brilliant time capsule of experiences, esp 20th C.
Thanks to ALL.
prostratedragon
Late, I know … Most unusual, The Gospel at Colonus, seen during its national tour in the late eighties I think.
cope
@Omnes Omnibus: Oh no, I’m sorry, I believe I was killing threads long before you and so I will now.
Rereading this post, I remembered a live speech by Everett Dirksen from the steps of the Congregational Church in Galesburg, Illinois in 1968 or 69. I can still hear his stentorian voice booming across the plaza. A single TV station was covering the event and he made a joke about a dairy farmer milking a cow by first grabbing her “lacteal conduit”. His politics were not mine but the power of the moment was memorable.
deekaa6
@BGinCHI:
My Dad would take my sisters and I to see the King and his Court every summer on Long Island. They would dismantle the local fire department’s softball team every time.
bluefoot
@Ivan X:
Crash Worship! A friend was totally into them, so I went to a few shows with her. Always a fun time. We always got looks coming home – covered in wine, sweat, etc.
I love live performances, be they music, dance, theater, readings, lectures, whatever. I really, really miss live performance.
One of my most memorable:
The San Francisco Symphony playing Mahler’s 6th on Sept 13, 2001. They just….left it all on stage. People, including some of the musicians, were openly weeping during the performance. We had all just witnessed a national tragedy, and the SF Symphony was opening their season with what is essentially a requiem.
Warren Senders
@Gin & Tonic: I was at that concert and in fact have photographs of Jarrett performing!
fuckwit
I miss George Carlin so much these days. He was so right about just about everything.