Best Concert Experiences?

[custom55]

I'm old and saw just a ton of shows in the NY/NJ/Philly area during the 70's and 80's. He are just a few.

 

The Stones - Exile Tour NYC - 1972 - My beginnings with the Stones and haven't missed a tour that passed through NYC area since

Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars - Radio City NYC 1973 - Incredible

Pink Floyd - DSOTM tour NJ 1973 - WHAT ?!??! Quad sound !!!!!!!!!!!

ELP - BSS Tour NYC 1973 - more Quad sound

Yes - Close to the Edge / Tales tours NYC - 1973/4 - YES, what more could you ask for

The Who - Quadrophenia Tour Philly 1973 - sleeping out over night to buy tickets at the box office.

Genesis - Lamb Tour NJ 1974 - my first and last time experimenting with Lysergic acid diethylamide

Aerosmith - Schaefer Concert series in Central Park 1975 - a lot of drugs

Led Zeppelin - all 1973, 75, 77 shows in NYC and some in Philly ( for those of you who bad mouth live LZ shows, seeing is believing and I believe )

Pink Floyd - Animals Tour NYC 1977 - PIG !!!

Van Halen - 1st row 1984 tour NJ and my left ear still reminds me of that wonderful evening.

Rush - Signals Tour NYC 1982 - Took friends from work to that show and they were blown away and became instant Rush fans

 

blah blah blah...

Edited February 27, 2016 by custom55

[pjbear05]

Well the old coot hasn't gone too many shows of late, and he's not too sure of some of the earlier dates, but back in the day there were some winners. Most were at Detroit's Cobo Hall, or as I call it "The House That Rock Built." Among the most notables:

 

Jim Hendrix Experience, 11/30/1968. My first concert ever. Famous for Jimi's "we were gonna play All Along the Watchtower, but I forgot the words."

 

Yes, 2/271974, in support of TfTO, which was done in its entirety.

.

J Geils, Mountain & Golden Earring, 11/19/1975. Phew, I still get out of breath about how killer that night was. All 3 bands killed it, time between bands was super short, and part of Geils' show went on "Blow your Face Out."

 

Another sick triple play: Jethro Tull,Robin Trower & The Stampeders sometime in the early 80's-can't remember exact date.

 

Then there was Pine Knob-sorry, I'll never refer to it as the DTE Music Theater: a fair number, of which 2 stand out: A wild evening of Todd Rudngren and Utopia, and watching Gary Brooker start an inhuman crowd roar with the opening B-3 notes of "A Whiter Shade of Pale", and continuing the song to upstage the guitar player he was supporting-some bloke named Clapton.

 

Others at other venues two of which stand out:

 

6/1/75, Eastown Theatre; My first experience of 3 with Kraftwerk with stoned out idiots yelling "rock and roll" and Florian Schneider responding " Rock und roll, was is das?" (what is that?)

 

10/30/77 Fisher Theater, for Jon-Luc Ponty. Odd because the Fisher only did post Broadway plays and musicals. JLP does two tunes and everybody just sits and listens-then as the third song starts, like it was a pre-arranged signal people-yours truly included-fire 'em up. Bizarre to say the least.

Edited February 27, 2016 by pjbear05

[Jaminbenb]

Yeah, you have to miss those triple dates.... Got to see Gary Moore (with Ian Paice on drums) open for Krokus and Def Leppard back in the 80's.... Rainbow back up by Scorpions, and Riot...

 

Another one was Zebra opening for Quiet Riot and Loverboy...who was actually decent live...but Zebra was off the charts!

 

I miss the HORDE shows where there were a bunch of different bands playing all day while 90% of the crowd smoked serious amounts of weed! Got to see King Crimson on one of those, and Gov't Mule with Allen Woody on another one.

[apetersvt]

Seeing Rush for the first time (and my first concert) - Hampton Coliseum on the HYF tour.

 

Front row on the R30 tour (plus meet and great) - won a radio contest

 

Gov't Mule - at a small club in Richmond (4/28/99). Loudest show I ever attended. Probably cause I was on the floor right in front of the speakers (the song Bad Little Doggie was premiered that night so I have the claim to fame as the first person to hear that song as my ear was closest to the speakers.). Allen Woody was really something special.

 

Hearing 2112 live (the whole thing). Still can't believe they played the whole thing. This is why you avoid concert spoilers.

 

Getting to see Another One For Woody. Roseland Ballroom. Comprised of North Mississippi Allstars, Govt Mule, and the Allman Brothers (with special guests including: Artemis Pyle, Rich Robinson, Barry Oakley Jr) Savannah Woody (Allen's daughter) singing Soulshine is probably the most emotional thing I've ever seen live.

 

Getting to see all 3 Fare The Well shows in Chicago last summer. What a great experience when the whole city turns into a big Grateful Dead party. Such a great positive vibe.

 

Getting to see the final Allman Brothers show ever. Love the Beacon Theater.

 

Can't forget that Grateful Dead show at the Spectrum where I tried acid. That was intense.

[goose]

Yeah, you have to miss those triple dates.... Got to see Gary Moore (with Ian Paice on drums) open for Krokus and Def Leppard back in the 80's.... Rainbow back up by Scorpions, and Riot...

 

Another one was Zebra opening for Quiet Riot and Loverboy...who was actually decent live...but Zebra was off the charts!

 

I miss the HORDE shows where there were a bunch of different bands playing all day while 90% of the crowd smoked serious amounts of weed! Got to see King Crimson on one of those, and Gov't Mule with Allen Woody on another one.

Zebra was an excellent show! I saw them in Spokane, WA, circa 1985-6.

[Jaminbenb]

Seeing Rush for the first time (and my first concert) - Hampton Coliseum on the HYF tour.

 

Front row on the R30 tour (plus meet and great) - won a radio contest

 

Gov't Mule - at a small club in Richmond (4/28/99). Loudest show I ever attended. Probably cause I was on the floor right in front of the speakers (the song Bad Little Doggie was premiered that night so I have the claim to fame as the first person to hear that song as my ear was closest to the speakers.). Allen Woody was really something special.

 

Hearing 2112 live (the whole thing). Still can't believe they played the whole thing. This is why you avoid concert spoilers.

 

Getting to see Another One For Woody. Roseland Ballroom. Comprised of North Mississippi Allstars, Govt Mule, and the Allman Brothers (with special guests including: Artemis Pyle, Rich Robinson, Barry Oakley Jr) Savannah Woody (Allen's daughter) singing Soulshine is probably the most emotional thing I've ever seen live.

 

Getting to see all 3 Fare The Well shows in Chicago last summer. What a great experience when the whole city turns into a big Grateful Dead party. Such a great positive vibe.

 

Getting to see the final Allman Brothers show ever. Love the Beacon Theater.

 

Can't forget that Grateful Dead show at the Spectrum where I tried acid. That was intense.

 

Yeah....getting to see Woody was a special thing! But I can only imagine getting to see the Another One for Woody show was great! The Allman and Dead stuff is a great thing also!!

[Jaminbenb]

Yeah, you have to miss those triple dates.... Got to see Gary Moore (with Ian Paice on drums) open for Krokus and Def Leppard back in the 80's.... Rainbow back up by Scorpions, and Riot...

 

Another one was Zebra opening for Quiet Riot and Loverboy...who was actually decent live...but Zebra was off the charts!

 

I miss the HORDE shows where there were a bunch of different bands playing all day while 90% of the crowd smoked serious amounts of weed! Got to see King Crimson on one of those, and Gov't Mule with Allen Woody on another one.

Zebra was an excellent show! I saw them in Spokane, WA, circa 1985-6.

 

That was 99,9% why I went to that show....Loverboy and Quiet Riot weren't thrilling me when they announced it, (but as I said they weren't a bad live act....) I had a cousin that lived on Long Island who went to school with one of the Zebra guys, and saw them a LOT around her neck of the woods... she used to play stuff for me when she visited, and I was totally aware of them when Who's Behind the Door hit the national scene!

 

Her favorite tape was one where they did mostly Zeppelin and Rush stuff one night in a bar out there.