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Ok, How about shows that blew you away?


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Encouraged by the responses to my recent post about disappointing shows (I'm ever so happy to have contributed something useful) I'm now going to ask about shows that just blew you away. The kind of surprise show experience so amazing that you hope to remember it till yer dead.  Joyous level shit. 

 

For me...

 

ELP in '79. Unfucking believable wonderful show. Not just me, the band got a standing ovation form the sold out arena for every song. Saw lot of concerts in that venue, the Checkerdome (STL Blues arena in the 70's), but never once saw a crowd sit for every song and then go nuts cheering at the end of every song.  The band was stunning and I'm glad I was tripping on excellent acid for the show. Best non-Dead concert ever for me.

 

Rare Earth late 90s. The State Theatre, a small, elegant venue in Kalamazoo Michigan. Local radio station sold General Admission tickets for $0.97 each. So, a buck to see a band in a way cool venue that also had a great bar service. Almost free. No opening band, Rare Earth started on time and they were just amazing. First, the band members were having fun - it was easy to see that they were bright, happy, connected with each other and the crowd. Second, they sounded great; the sound quality was top notch and the band was tight as a duck's butt. Last, the setlist was excellent for waves of energy: chill to crescendo over a couple songs then start over. Get Ready and Celebrate both hit 20+ minutes and the jamming was funkaperfect.  The show felt like a fun party with cool people and the music just couldn't be any better.

Jackson Browne solo show, late 90s DeVos Hall, a small venue in Grand Rapids, Michigan. No opener, he played 3 songs and then asked for audience requests for the rest of the night. Just had to write in down and throw it on the stage. So so so cool night, the sound was great and he was full of fun and energy. Long show, too. I'm a big JB fan from way back. 

Britney Spears, late 90s Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, Michigan.  I include this one because I was chaperone for my daughter and her friend for the show. It was fucking crazy! First, I never would have expected to see so many young teen wanna-be Britneys in one place. Thousands of 13y/o girls dressed up like Vegas hookers. Second, the show was pretty damn great - the band was on, the dancers and Brittney were amazing in their moves and she sang very well. We were like 30th row and I had to sit most of the show to not block the sight of the kids behind me also supervised by a father who also sat thru the whole show because of the kids behind him.  Very cool experience.

 

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March 6th 1977... Winterland

Bill Graham presents 

Thin Lizzy and Queen... Fuck me!!

I've been to a lot of great shows but this one's will forever be embedded into my memory banks... Winterland is such a small venue and to have Thin Lizzy opening with their giant Marshalls and Les Paul's raging in your face!.. there was no one better than Thin Lizzy back in their heyday!.. it was Thin Lizzy's debut US tour, and trust me, they brought it!.. man, I get goosebumps just thinking about it 😂2XIxfpr.png

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& Queen on their Day at the Races tour... setlist from

Queen,

Queen II,

Sheer heart attack, 

Nght at the Opera

Day at the races... Whew!!acIydTk.jpg

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Blew me away!

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Reverse chronological order:

The 2015 Motley Crue All Bad Things Must Come To An End tour - wow!  Never saw them before, but I recall several times during the show regretting not having arranged to bring my nephews, poor sheltered souls, to show them what a real rocking show is.  Every concert afterward would have been a letdown for them.

U2 Joshua Tree tour 1987 - they sounded live just like the records!  Very impressive in a time where I had been going to Van Halen shows of varying quality (see other thread), etc.

Rush Moving Pictures tour 1981 - just incredible.  They were peaking.

Sammy Hagar All Night Long tour 1978 - my first rock concert and I had no basis of comparison.  It was basically a version of the live album he was supporting, which I immediately went out and bought and still love and play.  Sammy brings it!  I was there to see Boston, for which he was opening, and which turned out to be an unexpected disappointment (should see other thread) in comparison.

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Cream, 27 OCT 68

MC5 + Bob Seger System: Dec. 1970

Stevie Wonder 1971 (chronicled here before about his use of local musicians)

Elvis, spring 1974. This was not a concert; it was an experience

Elton John, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road tour, Oct. 1973

Huey Lewis & the News, 1988, on accounta this was a fave band of the Missus + they were abetted by the Tower of Power horns (Wow!) + Robert Cray opened

"A Walk Down Abbey Road" all-star tour. A year to the day before Entwistle died.

Styx, late 2010: The Grand Illusion and Pieces of Eight performed in their entirety 

 

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1. Pretenders, early 80s, Tower theater Philly.  Number Uno.  

Really have not been blown away (but enjoyed many) by the big bands - the Who, Stones, Clapton, U2, AC/DC, etc.  All were fun but Chrissy had it all going for her in that one.

 

2. NRBQ.  At some joint in Philly, cant recall.  Late 80s, probably.  Big Al and the boys were rocking every time I saw them there (prob 2-3 times).

 

3. Also like Lake Street Dive at an outdoor venue in NC a year or 2 ago.  Different kinda thing, though.

 

 

There is probably a great concert or 2 in my past that I have forgotten......

 

i temembered one, not for the music (it was polished and enjoyable) but for thr day. Michael Jacksons Victory tour, i think it was.  Soent the day hanging w the chief electrician drinking beer, wandering onstage at the ?Meadowlands.  Wee little amos (think they were Boogies) hidden under the stage and the various lifts and contraptions. But was fune to be on stage to look oit over 80k empty chairs. The band arrived via helicopter, and michael may have had his own last arriving ine if i recall, but even by late afternoon i knew the tour bus well and drank most of their beer. 
 

 

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I'm not gonna remember the exact years.. but here goes. 

Queen, early 80s..   Gulf Coast Colliseum.  Opened up w Flash Gordon..  amazing performance. 

Alice in Chains.   Baton Rouge.  early days.  '91.   as backup to Van Halen.   simple stage.   that was a treat. 

Rush.  79/80..  that led to me seeing pretty much the rest of their tours.   First show i was fairly close.. blown away.  

Cheap Trick..  correct.  Thibodaux LA.  early/mid 80's.  They played a small outdoor venue ..  it was like a massive party.

Doobie Brothers..  early 70s..  blown away .. first concert experience, and they played all the stuff I was struggling to learn on guitar.  

Al Di Meola..  early 80s if I recall.  His album "Casino" ..  my fav.  was just out a few years..  jazz fusion.   amazing performance. 

Steve Winwood.  Late 80's if I recall ..  I was always a fan of his music as well as Traffic..  Didn't realize the array of instruments he plays until that show.  

those quickly came to mind as the ones I talk about the most.  there's several "unique" concert experiences..  but don't necessarily qualify as blown away!   (like when someone in the row in front of me actually brought in that one particular Cheech & Chong album and used that giant paper to roll one up and...  )

I'm sure I've forgotten some and likely will be reminded of a few from some other posts!!!

 

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Dream Theater 1992 Images and Words Tour Berlin. Absolutely incredible, they sounded 100 % like the record plus a  stunning extra-solo of every instrumenalist. Nearly 100 % of the audience were musicians. No one danced or freaked out just looking - no one wanted to miss a single note. I'm not sure, if anybody ordered a beer during the show or risked a walk to the toilets...The whole "musician police" was overwhelmed by this perfection, what is nearly impossible in Berlin. Magic.

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Rush, Moving Pictures and Spirit of Radio tours.  Van Halen, don't recall which tour but it was 1981. Lately, Joe Bonamassa Three Kings (saw it at Red Rocks OMG what a venue) and Radiohead at TD Garden the summer before the world shut down.

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29 minutes ago, foodermon said:

I'm not gonna remember the exact years.. but here goes. 

Queen, early 80s..   Gulf Coast Colliseum.  Opened up w Flash Gordon..  amazing performance. 

Alice in Chains.   Baton Rouge.  early days.  '91.   as backup to Van Halen.   simple stage.   that was a treat. 

Rush.  79/80..  that led to me seeing pretty much the rest of their tours.   First show i was fairly close.. blown away.  

Cheap Trick..  correct.  Thibodaux LA.  early/mid 80's.  They played a small outdoor venue ..  it was like a massive party.

Doobie Brothers..  early 70s..  blown away .. first concert experience, and they played all the stuff I was struggling to learn on guitar.  

Al Di Meola..  early 80s if I recall.  His album "Casino" ..  my fav.  was just out a few years..  jazz fusion.   amazing performance. 

Steve Winwood.  Late 80's if I recall ..  I was always a fan of his music as well as Traffic..  Didn't realize the array of instruments he plays until that show.  

those quickly came to mind as the ones I talk about the most.  there's several "unique" concert experiences..  but don't necessarily qualify as blown away!   (like when someone in the row in front of me actually brought in that one particular Cheech & Chong album and used that giant paper to roll one up and...  )

I'm sure I've forgotten some and likely will be reminded of a few from some other posts!!!

 

Wow, Alice in chains? I looooove it, unfortunately I never had the chance to see them. 

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Dixie Dregs, 1981 at Fredonia (or Genessee?) State College, NY.   

Doc Watson, 1980 at State University of Buffalo, NY.  

Mark Knopfler, 2019 at Foxwoods Casino (I think), CT.  

Lloyd Cole, 2018 at the Narrows Center, Fall River MA.  

 

The cool thing about 1, 2, and 4:  I didn't expect them to be great (for different reasons) but they were. 

Now that I look at the list, it was basically 40 years between great shows.  I didn't get out enough. 

 

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Aerosmith made my worst list but they also make the best list. First time I saw them was about 2 weeks after Toys in the Attic came out. Absolutely firing on all cylinders. 
 

AC/DC, Thin Lizzy and BOC. It was AC/DC’s first American tour. I’ll say no more. 
 

Alice Cooper and Motörhead. Two veteran bands that were just happy doing what they do and at the top of their game. Loudest concert too. 
 

Whitesnake, Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. Early 8O’s when WS was still a blues based rock band.  

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Marshall Tucker Band and Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen ... Amarillo, Texas, 1974 ... Marshall Tucker was great, but the opener, Cody and the boys, were absolutely on fire and stole the show.


Merle Haggard ... Amarillo Tri-State Fair (1986 or 87, can't remember which ... Hag brought the A-Team for sure with the additions of James Burton and Johnny Gimble

Neil Young ... Denver 1973


Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band ... Ebbets Field in Denver ... 1973


Pink Floyd ... Denver ... 1973

Zappa/Mothers/Beefheart ... Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin ... 1975


Willie Nelson ... a gymnasium at West Texas State University in Canyon, Texas ... 1974 ... the vehicle pulling the equipment for both bands was involved in an accident, so the opener didn't play -- Willie and the family finally arrived and took the stage around 9 p.m. and proceeded to play past 3 a.m.

 

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Stevie Ray Vaughn & Double Trouble @ Lincoln Center Avery Fischer June 1985 Tribute to John Hammond. Oh yeah, this guy playing clarinet named  Benny Goodman led the Duke Ellington All Stars at the same tribute. Audience crammed with 20 to 80 year old industry insiders in black tie and ball gowns.

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Minor Threat gold lame show at Wilson Center. 

Johnny Thunders Sept 82, Peppermint Lounge. Mick Jones +Steve Jones came on for the encore. Show let out 3:50 AM. Skipped school that next day.

Shonen knife CBGB 89? So cute n rockin.

Dave Edmunds 1994 Toads Place, wow!

Stiff Little Fingers 1989 reunion show, beyond awesome.

Nikki Sudden Electric show at Maxwells 1986.

Tav Falco and the Panther Burns, El n Gee club, 1989 

Magnolias 1992 at the Tune Inn New Haven CT

Replacements Grotto in New Haven 

Public Image at La Mour east 1985

Johnny Thunders Limelight 1988

Richard Hell 1985 Grotto

Angry Samoans living room Providence 1987

Buzzcocks in SF in HS while on vacationbwith my parents.

Lots of Replacements shows, but blinding drinking, wow, how I ever worked the next day.

I am sure I am missing many great shows, but they all have Loud guitars

 

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The BEST, for me is a tie between four incredible shows:

Rainbow! Saw them three times, twice in the late '70s, and once in '82. First time I saw them AC/DC opened for them (Bon Scott!). What a show! The Scorpions opened for them the other two shows, the first show they were touring on Lovedrive, and the second show they'd just released Blackout. Yowza. Good times!

The Who. 1982, at the Tangerine Bowl.

Next would probably be Monsters of Rock in Karlsruhe, Germany in 1984. Van Halen, AC/DC, Dio, Ozzy, Gary Moore, Motley Crüe and I think Accept. That was an incredible DAY FULL OF MUSIC! 

Then of course there was Big Dick and The Extenders on Islamorada.

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I’ll be the only one to say this but voi-vod. I was in high school and these canucks that seemingly sounded strange over the radio did a killer show. Another, Night Ranger. Played outside In a field next to a local bar.  Those guys sounded like a CD playing in your ear with a high quality headset. I was completely blown away. Never will forget that show. Slaughter and quiet riot were there as well. Kevin dubrow gave me a good show as he got some girls to pull their shirts up 👍👍👍👍👍

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I’ll play...

Springsteen, The River Tour 8Dec 1980...the night John Lennon died. E Street played for 4 hours with one word minute break. A religious experience.

Springsteen, The River Tour 2017..,3.5 hours..,nearly as good as 1980. Pure, perfect, exuberant rock and roll.

Stones, 25 Sep 1981..,first date of the Tattoo You tour at JFK Stadium in Philly. Thorogood opened and killed, Journey then took the stage in pink coveralls and leopard jumpsuits and got booed off the stage. Stones showed why they were the greatest rock and roll band in the world. 
 

Joe Perry Project, spring 1983 at The Back of The Rack, in Ocean City, MD. Mach Bell on vocals, Ronnie Stewart on Drums, and Danny Hargrove on a Les Paul bass. So loud, so badass, and so absolutely rocking. I was tight against the stage with my wife...I still have the Fender USA Heavy pick that Joe threw to me. 
 

Tom Petty 2017 Farewell Tour. 2 1/2 hours of perfection. As good as Springsteen. Campbell and Petty JAMMED every song. The power and glory and total abandon of rock and roll was on full display.  The crowd was totally into it and the band knew it and responded.

Those are the standouts.....

So many other great ones...

Thorogood 1982 in Salisbury, MD. Killed it.

Heart and Ian Hunter Band with MICK RONSON on the Bebe Le Strange tour in 1981.  Awesomeness.

Howlin’ Wolf’s band, the Wolfpack at our local dive bar, Dickie Doo BBQ back in 2006.. Perfect blues and it was like they weren’t even trying...it was so ingrained. Eddie Shaw on sax was the best I have ever seen. What power!

So many others....BOC, Foghat, Aerosmith, Cheap Trick, Whitford St Holmes, Fleetwood Mac, etc., etc.

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13 hours ago, Ranger said:

Encouraged by the responses to my recent post about disappointing shows (I'm ever so happy to have contributed something useful) I'm now going to ask about shows that just blew you away. The kind of surprise show experience so amazing that you hope to remember it till yer dead.  Joyous level shit. 

 

For me...

 

ELP in '79. Unfucking believable wonderful show. Not just me, the band got a standing ovation form the sold out arena for every song. Saw lot of concerts in that venue, the Checkerdome (STL Blues arena in the 70's)...

The Checkerdome is a blast from my past. I saw Clapton there.

Other STL shows include Mountain opening for Triumph at Kiel Opera House and Allman Brothers at Chase Park Plaza of all places. Most memorable concert was Jeff Beck and SRV at the St Louis Fox Theater.    

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Kiel Opera House in STL had outstanding acoustics and some of the best shows I saw happened there, including one of my top handful.  The Band.  I don't remember much re: dates, but it's the concert that Levon Helm goes on at some length about in his book.  I was backstage for that one.  Every note  sounded like it was spit out of a fire hose.  Others included John Mayall (the drummerless band), Jethro Tull (Martin Barre playing a red Sunburst), the Ozark Mountain Daredevils, etc. etc.

ELO at the Checkerdome.  If memory serves, that was originally slated for the much smaller Ambassador Theatre. The staging wouldn't fit in there and the ticket demand was so great that they moved it.

Other tops:  Kiel Auditorium, Allman Bros right after Duane died.  They played like their lives depended on it.

Also Kiel Auditorium.  Pink Floyd doing Dark Side waaay before it was released.  In surround sound.  I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

Nutter Center, Beavercreek, OH, the echo palace from hell.  see the disappointing concerts thread.  Dire Straits touring "On Every Street".  Sponsored by Sony/Phillips on the 10th anniversary of the Compact Disc.  No expense spared in the sound and staging, Vince Gill on second guitar.

And my #1 fave, Grateful Dead May 23, 1970 at my alma mater, Meramec Community College  My first Dead show, my first acid dose too 🙄.  New Riders of the Purple Sage were on the bill too.  Unfortunately, the acoustic portions of both sets were marred by terrible sound problems.  Workingman's Dead and American Beauty were about to be released and songs from those albums kind of got lost in low levels and feedback.  What the hell, in 1970, the technology for hyper amplifying acoustic instruments just wasn't there yet.  But once they caught fire, the instrumental interplay and collective improvisation were like nothing I'd ever heard.  Hell, even the rent-a-cops were dancing. I went to work for them the next day, stayed on for about 6 months and got my degree in audio electronics and large scale sound reinforcement.  I've heard the tapes since then and, frankly, it was not a very good show.  But it was way beyond anything I'd heard before and it opened the doors to possibilities I hadn't even considered before.

 

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Most memorable would likely have been Kiss Reunion Tour at Core States Center 09/96. I was a huge fan as a kid but never got a chance to see them in their heyday (75-78) though, I did see them sans makeup (and Ace and Peter) in Pittsburgh in '87. But the '96 show was as good as it gets- they were reunited, energized, in their '76 era costumes and sounded f-ing great! It was filled with all the spectacle and bombast a former fanboy could hope for/expect.

Runners up would be Janes Addiction in Seattle '89, Type O Negative at the Troc Halloween (10/30 actually) '98 and Roger Waters doing the Wall in it's entirety Nov 2010.

 

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10 hours ago, tomteriffic said:

Kiel Opera House in STL had outstanding acoustics and some of the best shows I saw happened there, including one of my top handful.  The Band.  I don't remember much re: dates, but it's the concert that Levon Helm goes on at some length about in his book.  I was backstage for that one.  Every note  sounded like it was spit out of a fire hose.  Others included John Mayall (the drummerless band), Jethro Tull (Martin Barre playing a red Sunburst), the Ozark Mountain Daredevils, etc. etc.

ELO at the Checkerdome.  If memory serves, that was originally slated for the much smaller Ambassador Theatre. The staging wouldn't fit in there and the ticket demand was so great that they moved it.

Other tops:  Kiel Auditorium, Allman Bros right after Duane died.  They played like their lives depended on it.

Also Kiel Auditorium.  Pink Floyd doing Dark Side waaay before it was released.  In surround sound.  I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

Nutter Center, Beavercreek, OH, the echo palace from hell.  see the disappointing concerts thread.  Dire Straits touring "On Every Street".  Sponsored by Sony/Phillips on the 10th anniversary of the Compact Disc.  No expense spared in the sound and staging, Vince Gill on second guitar.

And my #1 fave, Grateful Dead May 23, 1970 at my alma mater, Meramec Community College  My first Dead show, my first acid dose too 🙄.  New Riders of the Purple Sage were on the bill too.  Unfortunately, the acoustic portions of both sets were marred by terrible sound problems.  Workingman's Dead and American Beauty were about to be released and songs from those albums kind of got lost in low levels and feedback.  What the hell, in 1970, the technology for hyper amplifying acoustic instruments just wasn't there yet.  But once they caught fire, the instrumental interplay and collective improvisation were like nothing I'd ever heard.  Hell, even the rent-a-cops were dancing. I went to work for them the next day, stayed on for about 6 months and got my degree in audio electronics and large scale sound reinforcement.  I've heard the tapes since then and, frankly, it was not a very good show.  But it was way beyond anything I'd heard before and it opened the doors to possibilities I hadn't even considered before.

 

Ha! I had a shitty quality tape of that Dead show back in the day. Meramec.... aka "BBU" (Big Bend University), "MIT" (Mom, I Tried), "MIT" (Meramec In Town) and last but not least "Webster Groves High School's Thirteenth Grade".  Half of my best friends went there (after flunking out at SEMO, party party party and no discipline).  Meramec is perfect for lots of people for lots of reasons. 

Yes, the Opera House was wonderful for sure, saw a bunch of shows there. One was Charlie Daniels Band, October 20, 1977.  An hour after the show was supposed to start Charlie came out and explained that they had just learned that the Lynyrd Skynyrd plane had crashed and friends were dead. The band came out later and played amazing. 

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joe pass, solo in a fla club when i was ~12, ~1979
(my pushy grandma marched me right backstage after and said "my grandson wants an autograph", wish i still had it).

thin lizzy, SMU auditioium dallas tx, 1980. scott gorham had a cast on his leg.

buddy rich big band, ft worth tx when i was ~17, ~1984
(buddy controlled the band w/ glances, they were all staring at him more than their charts).

several texxas jam's during the mid 80's, cotton bowl dallas, saw among others
gary moore, ozzy w/ jake, rush, dio, deep purple, metallica, van hagar, boston, aerosmith...

pantera dozens of times in clubs around dallas before they were signed, and a few times in arenas after. very cool to watch them go from cover tunes and hairspray to world domination.

metallica w/ cliff burton 1st opening for ozzy in ft worth, then a few months later headlining at the bronco bowl, dallas ~86
(after that show they went to europe and cliff died).

jeff beck & SRV, front row dallas ~88;
(terry bozzio was amazing, ). I gotta say that...
1) compared to blues, I'm way more into heavy rock and/or fusion in general (Jeff Beck in particular);
2) growing up in Dallas at the time, SRV was just a local blues guy, not the icon he became after his death.
An ex-coworker was with ticketmaster, so I got 2 front row tix to this show. My pal and I took our time driving down from school up in Denton Tx, as we assumed local guy SRV would be opening for living legend Jeff Beck. Much to our chagrin, we arrived late to find Beck already rawkin' onstage, w/ Terry Bozzio killing it on drums. We only caught 3 or 4 tunes, then the set change for SRV. SRV came out and did a 12 bar blues. Then another. By the 3rd tune, feeling disappointed, we left. Blues is just not my thing, and SRV seemed pedestrian after the firepower of Jeffs set, but of course YMMV.

john scofield maybe 1/2 dozen times, 1st at a clinic at U of north texas '87, last was w/ MMW in Durham a few years back on my Bday (met Sco at a restaurant before the gig).

wayne krantz on my 40th B-day, 55 bar NYC, 2006

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Same concert as the one I cited in the "meh" thread where Aerosmith underwhelmed about ninety-thousand people at the newly-erected Giants Stadium.
Neal Schon and Journey killed it, and as previously stated, Neal Schon melted faces that hot August day in 1978.

We've all made guitar faces, goofy and otherwise, but we don't always earn it.
Neal, though...  Neal busted out this extended guitar solo, standing on the very edge of the stage and if I could sum what his playing sounded like with a visual image, it is this.

oZj3ddwSUdBCMorUEaEnuQ-320-80.jpg

THAT's what his playing sounded like.

 

Then, Ted Nugent at the height of his powers swung out on to the stage on a rope in the pouring rain wearing only a loin cloth and tore the place apart.

The only thing that would have made that show better would have been if Aerosmith hadn't shown.

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4 hours ago, Brooks said:


joe pass, solo in a fla club when i was ~12, ~1979
(my pushy grandma marched me right backstage after and said "my grandson wants an autograph", wish i still had it).

thin lizzy, SMU auditioium dallas tx, 1980. scott gorham had a cast on his leg.

buddy rich big band, ft worth tx when i was ~17, ~1984
(buddy controlled the band w/ glances, they were all staring at him more than their charts).

several texxas jam's during the mid 80's, cotton bowl dallas, saw among others
gary moore, ozzy w/ jake, rush, dio, deep purple, metallica, van hagar, boston, aerosmith...

pantera dozens of times in clubs around dallas before they were signed, and a few times in arenas after. very cool to watch them go from cover tunes and hairspray to world domination.

metallica w/ cliff burton 1st opening for ozzy in ft worth, then a few months later headlining at the bronco bowl, dallas ~86
(after that show they went to europe and cliff died).

jeff beck & SRV, front row dallas ~88;
(terry bozzio was amazing, ). I gotta say that...
1) compared to blues, I'm way more into heavy rock and/or fusion in general (Jeff Beck in particular);
2) growing up in Dallas at the time, SRV was just a local blues guy, not the icon he became after his death.
An ex-coworker was with ticketmaster, so I got 2 front row tix to this show. My pal and I took our time driving down from school up in Denton Tx, as we assumed local guy SRV would be opening for living legend Jeff Beck. Much to our chagrin, we arrived late to find Beck already rawkin' onstage, w/ Terry Bozzio killing it on drums. We only caught 3 or 4 tunes, then the set change for SRV. SRV came out and did a 12 bar blues. Then another. By the 3rd tune, feeling disappointed, we left. Blues is just not my thing, and SRV seemed pedestrian after the firepower of Jeffs set, but of course YMMV.

john scofield maybe 1/2 dozen times, 1st at a clinic at U of north texas '87, last was w/ MMW in Durham a few years back on my Bday (met Sco at a restaurant before the gig).

wayne krantz on my 40th B-day, 55 bar NYC, 2006

Saw SRV in Pittsburgh at the Mosque Theater in '85 and he tore my head off!  And saw Pantera once on their Vulgar Display Tour and they crushed it! Everyone was in good form. The mix was so-so: Dime's guitars lost a bit of their sonic spectrum but that's to be expected at a live show, I guess.

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