Your 5 top gigs. As audience

aydee

Platinum Member
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Your 5 top gigs. As audience.

As in not the biggest, baddest gigs you ever saw but gigs that grabbed you by your musician cohones and opened up a new world for you and helped define you as the musician you are today.

( notice I said musician not drummer. Important difference )
Im also excluding club gigs where one usually goes to hear the kind of music one likes.
5 because its nice to concise rather than expansive

I'll start by revealing my Palaeolithic timeline.

1) Weather Report ( Avery Fisher Hall, 1981 )
2) Police ( Bottom Line, NYC 1979 )
3) Return To Forever ( Beacon Theatre, NYC 2013 )
4) Pink Floyd ( Concert by the Pier NYC 1985 )
5) Dire Straits ( Philly, 1984 )

Go ahead....



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Hi Aydee, here are my top five.

Little Big Town 2016

Eric Church 2014

Alabama 1987

The Kinks 1984

Supertramp 1984
 
Fab Faux
Dave Mason
Grand Funk
Kansas
Bad Company/Black Oak Arkansas/Lynyrd Skynyrd all on the same bill
 
Crazy World of Arthur Brown
David Jaxon (saxophonist from Van der Graaf)
Peter Hammill (singer from Van der Graaf)
Kansas
Three Friends (with Kerry Minnear + some more from Gentle Giant)
 
Thats some great old 'Footstompin music, Larry! : ))

( boy, did I wear out the Mark, Don & Mel album )

Ah Mark Don and Mel. Loved "Inside Looking Out" and others. What a great memory that concert was. It was my 2nd concert, 1974 I think, the first being Johnny Winter in 73. We all went in a big group. I predicted GFR would open with "Footstompin Music". I also remember being under the influence of an amphetamine called robins eggs. When they actually did start with "Footstompin Music" that was it. I was gone. It was a really great time.

I still bear a scar from that concert. I made a hash pipe out by retrofitting a guitar slide onto a metal home made pipe, then loading it with like 7 grams of black hash, (the kind that was green in the middle and smooth black on the outside) and passing it around the Philadelphia Spectrum to about 9 of my close friends. After it was all done, the last guy touches the guitar slide part to my bare forearm to give me my pipe back. My skin just vaporized lol.

I have to try really hard to remember all the concerts I saw. I mean it was the 70's lol.
 
1) Queen 76
2) Frampton 76
3) Pink Floyd 76
4) Buddy Rich w/ Boston Pops 81
5) Allman Bros w/ Jaimo 80ish a few different shows
6) Lenny Kravitz about two years ago
 
1. Led Zeppelin 1977
2. Wilco 2010
3. The Talking Heads 1982
4. David Bowie 1983
5. Elton John 1984
 
I've seen somewhere around 5000 bands (that's a guess, it could be more). It's impossible to say. Aerosmith? Seen them five times and always flawless. A local Syracuse band in the early 90's named Dracula Jones. They expanded my horizon. Taught me what it means to be a professional. I've seen a lot of bands, good and bad, and I feel that they all taught me something. Some shows seemed magical. I saw Tommy Lee play drums upside down above me. A piece of his Dentine gum (wrapped) fell in my shirt! I saw SRV before his untimely demise. Hell, he was only 27 then. I watched Dokken wear make-up, hairspray, and spandex (morons) in Rich Stadium following a jeans and t-shirts Metallica, who absolutely shredded everyone that day. Some people here think Lars can't play. Ha! I saw Rick Allen when he still had two arms. I was one of the "mud people" at the Nine Inch Nails Woodstock ll show. I saw Axl Rose sing with Tom Petty. I have a bloody dolls body from Alice Cooper. I watched a security guy punch a girl to get Slash's top hat back after it blew off. Beck in Vernon NY in 97. Beck in Tucson 2014. Ben Folds Five......insane! I'd love to sit down and have a couple beers and reminisce with you all.
 
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James Taylor
Ringo Starr
Billy Joel
Wierd Al (2)
Mindy Abair, Euge Groove, Boney James...one gig
Lyle Lovett
...in no particular order.

5 0r 6 metric
 
I'm 'younger' (30) so I never saw all these great bands in their prime, but I have seen them later on. Also including touring acts and not strictly local bands/shows.

1. The Who (2006)
2. Paul McCartney (2002) also saw him in 2005 and 2016
3. Storm Large and the Balls (2007) saw them/her many times
4. Rush (2008) saw them in 2013 as well
5. Metallica (2008)
 
these stand out

Clapton (w Knopfler) '88
U2 '92
Steve Miller Band '93
Hillsong United '15
Gregory Alan Isakov (backed by the NSO at Kennedy Center) '16
 
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Been to hundreds of unmemorable concerts, many by big name acts. Here are the one's that just cant forget:

Social Distortion 1984 (small club, just blew me away)
The Who 1979 (yes, Cincinnati. I was in high school)
Tower of Power 1996
Pink Floyd 1994
Grateful Dead 6/11/1993 (just because I went to my College graduation commencement in the afternoon, and the Dead that night)
 
Downtown Faction, later to become Lindisfarne, early 1968. Inspired my early love of Blues.

Jethro Tull, 1970. Ian Anderson, the consumate front man.

Yes, 1973, truly inspirational musicians.

The Police, first album tour, got me back into music. Still the best gig I have ever attended.

Deacon Blue reunion tour early 2000s. Sang myself into a coma. Pure nostalgia but brilliant.
 
1. Incubus - 7/14/2004 - Allstate Arena ( The only band to fill that room that I've seen)
2. Rush - 6/16/90 - Alpine Valley
3. Lenny Kravitz - 5/8/99 - Rosemont Horizon W/The Black Crowes
4. Plant & Page - 4/29/95 - Rosemont Horizon
5. Winery Dogs - 10/18/13 - Durty Nellies palantine IL
 
Well, since you said concerts that helped define the kind of musician that I am today, here are my picks. In no particular order:

- The Atlanta Rhythm Section. Saw them in Memphis in 1976 or 1977 sandwiched between Wet Willie and The Outlaws.

- Peter Frampton: The Frampton Comes Alive tour.

- Queen. The Sheer Heart Attack tour.

- The Beach Boys: Sometime during the nid-70s.

- Ringo Starr: 2012
 
Maynard Ferguson 1977 (Peter Erskine on drums)
Dixie Dregs 1980/1983
Jackson Browne 1980
U2 1985
Rush 1981/2015
 
Wow, this is cool. Lots of ol skool alley cats rummaging in this neighborhood aye! Larry, we share some common 'growing up' it seems.Andy, I could've guessed you're a Slade man, and I saw Grunter's Ringo coming from a mile away! : ))
Keep em coming folks.. this is fun

PS- Mikel, I saw Police open for Cobham! 79, I think..
 
Slade - 74
Max Webster - 79
Sad Cafe - 79
It Bites - 88
The Tubes - 2001
I could have killed to see that Slade gig, well maybe not but you know what I mean...
I was about 10 at that time and a member in their fan club.
Did Noddy have his mirrored hat, and was Dave Hill dressed up as the Electric nun?
Actually I'm Reading "the World according to Noddy" at the moment, there's some funny stuff in there!
 
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