The "I was there" thread. A discussion about concerts you've attended.

[Herb Stoner]

Where to begin! Led Zeppelin at the Forum, Pink Floyd's original The Wall shows, Sabbath with Ozzie and an opening act most didn't know (Van who??? - these guys rock!), Fleetwood Mac performing with the USC Marching Band on the Tusk tour, Dylan with the Dead. Between the Grateful Dead / Dead & Co. and their various solo and side projects I've seen a good 100 shows with a highlight being the kickoff to their '77 Tour with 1st performance of a couple future classics. ZZ Top, Bowie, Foreigner, Journey, Cheap Trick, The Who, Stones, Prince, Eagles, Wings, Doors, Yes, Supertramp, Elton, Kiss, Willie, Tom Petty, and on and on - many more than once. Saw the Ramones get driven off the stage by a crowd that wasn't into punk.

The clubs - Guns and Roses in a club as well as Black Flag, TSOL, Van Halen, Crue, Social D, B-52s, Flogging Molly, X, and others - club and bar shows were awesome! Was there for Monte Python at the Hollywood Bowl. Hit the bay area for some shows at the Warfield, Fillmore, and barely caught the very end of Winterland. My wife lived a few blocks from The Fillmore for a while when were were dating and she was doing post-grad research at UCSF so saw quite a few bands there and in the neighborhood. Such a great place back then. Rolled into John Lee Hookers bar up the street on a lazy Sunday - only the bartender and 3-4 people and Mr. Hooker jamming away with BB King right in front of us - awesome afternoon!

I grew up on a ranch in Southern California so had great access to shows with an iconic venue that was off the beaten track about 10 miles away. Many bands would play the arenas in LA and come out and do a night locally. LA was maybe an hour away so hit a lot of shows there and the clubs in hollywood were fun even if hair bands and metal weren't really my thing. I have some friends that are still going as musicians - bands you've heard of that have toured the world and have plently of gold records on their walls. Playing huge venues like Wembly was both awesome and maddening and they have great tales of debauchery.

We still go to shows regularly and have really enjoyed the music scene around SLC - great venues large and small with bands. Recent years are more Supersuckers, Old 97s, Drive by Truckers, Jason Isbell, Dead South, Willie, Gary Clark Jr., Dead & Co., Goose, and so many others. Visited LA this summer for 3 nights of Phish at the Hollywood Bowl - such an awesome venue and outstanding shows and crowd as always.

 

[Fx51LP308]

Frankly, I don't do concerts. Can't stand 'em. Haven't been to one in decades. I did do some big band jazz concerts in my younger days (my undergraduate Alma Mater had some fantastic big band Jazz ensembles), and my very first concert at (then) Philharmonic Hall (now) Avery Fischer Hall, Lincoln Center, was a classical concert to listen to the NY Philharmonic do Beethoven's 5th, etc. I think the one and only Rock concert I ever went to was when my cousin took me to see Stevie Ray Vaughn in Providence, RI while she was attending school there. He died shortly after that concert.

As to the reason why, very simply, I find all the audience "Chaos" at a concert extremely distracting to my enjoyment of the music. I guess I'm a "purist" when it comes to music. I just want to hear that, and nothing else. Just me and my Bose QC2s in a nice chair enjoying my favorite artist.

Still, continuing my love of Jazz and jazz fusion, one of my most favorite musicians is Pat Metheny and all of his groups, derivatives, etc. Still love his music. But I cannot attend his concerts. His playing style when live is extremely emotional and very distracting to my understanding of the music. If I can't attend one of his concerts, NFW I'd be able to attend any others, especially hard rock stuff with the mosh pits, etc.

 

[GreenGO Juan]

How was Santana? I was planning on catching a concert with him in 2007 or so but I got deployed to Iraq ahead of schedule and missed the opportunity. I bet it was incredible though.

-LD

Santana, about half the show is him droning on about leftist politics between songs. Music is top notch though.

Seen a been to a bunch of Festivals. Voodoo multiple years, Jazz Festival , Family values, Warped, Hulaween, bear creek… Primus multiple times Tool, Black Sabbath on the reunion tour with OG members.

Oddly enough some of the most memorable moments are small side stage acts that catch u off guard.

One the funniest things I saw was in between Snoop Dogg and Beastie Boys at voodoo fest there was a sideshow where people were impaling themselves with hooks and hanging each other up and doing all sorts of weird as fuck shit. They were in the same stage area as the Beastie Boys. Well, they didn’t end their show as Beastie Boys were playing their first song and a large portion of the crowd there to see the Beastie Boys turned on them and made them stop and turn their shit off. Funny thing was I was telling one of my buddies about it. His father used to own Fort Walton Beach machine shop, turns out one of the employees there was one of the hang myself from hook guys, Anyway, it’s a small world.

 

[Glowworm]

I went to a lot of concerts so have a bunch of stories. Saw Linkin Park in Chicago sometime in the mid 2000s. Was one of those 12 hour shows with 30K people. LP was headlining, the opening band came on around noon. The singer of the opening band was having a baby that day and couldn't be there. Chester Bennington came out and sang their whole set for them. Did a bad-ass job of it too.

 

[Bantam1]

My parents took me with them to see Pink Floyd at the Hollywood Bowl back in the 80's. I don't remember what year but I was pretty young. I got to see Page & Plant in 95? while I was in automotive school in Phoenix. One of the guys I worked with had someone back out on his second ticket so I worked a shit ton of OT to afford to go.

Lots of small punk bands in the early 90's.
No Doubt when the singer was a smelly lesbian at her parents house in Anaheim
Sublime at one of their houses in Long Beach in 93 or 94. The singer was so fucked up he kept blending lyrics from multiple songs while they were playing a different one.
Some hip hop shows like the Roots, Beatnuts etc. Never got to see WuTang while they were touring with Rage Against the Machine. They dropped out right before they came to my area. The Roots filled in.
Beastie Boys at the Forum and a few other places

 

[Ronws]

My concerts started in 1982. I saw Kansas right after Steve Walsh had left the band and they hired John Elefante.

Then, I saw the Who at the Cotton Bowl on their first Final World Tour. (The reason they kept having final tours was that bassist John Entwistle would burn through his money.)

I saw the original line-up of Bad Company reunite and their opener was David Lee Roth after he left Van Halen.

Been to Oldies Fest in the DFW area (courtesy of KVLU "K-LUV".) Little Richard. Chuck Berry. The Monkees when it was down to Mickey Dolenz and Davey Jones. Eric Burden. CCR (Creedence Clearwater Revival without John Fogerty.) The Nelsons. The Grass Roots. Steppenwolf (they were down to just the keyboardist and singer and John Kay with a hired road band.)

Three Dog Night. "Road to Shambalah" is my favorite of theirs.

In the late 90s, a friend who worked at the Dallas Morning News got a press kit but could not make it. So, we got tickets to see Ted Nugent at what was then the Coca-Cola Starplex (amphitheater.) 13th row, center stage. VIP parking and a pass to the Ice House, which we did not use. I took ear plugs and was glad I did.

Later, I would get to meet Ted Nugent briefly at a book signing. I have signed copies of "God, Guns, and Rock and Roll!" and his cookbook with his wife, Shemane, "Kill it and Grill it!"

I am sure I will remember some others.