bitflipper Posted July 15 Share Posted July 15 In 1969 I got dragged to a live play in London's West End. It was a revisionist interpretation of Macbeth, with a live rock band on risers above the stage. It really opened my eyes to the possibilities of multi-media presentation, with its gorgeous saturated lighting. The anonymous band was really, really good. Made me realize how crappy live sound reinforcement was at most rock concerts. In 1970, I got dragged to a nightclub in Frankfurt, Germany, to hear B.B. King. I honestly did not know who he was - it was just before "The Thrill is Gone" would turn him into an overnight pop star. It was a small room, and my buddy and I were sitting in comfy overstuffed chairs with only a small dance floor separating us from Mr. King. He didn't seem to be fazed by the small weeknight crowd, and talked to us as if we were chilling in his living room. He talked about his car, a Cadillac land yacht that he described as being just like him: "built for comfort, not for speed". Later that year, we went to see another new band, except this time I was familiar with the individual members. That was ELP. It was only their second performance, after their debut at a free concert in Hyde Park the weekend prior. The performance was a little ragged, but they did the entire first ELP album (which we hadn't heard prior), including crowd-favorite Lucky Man. It was my first time seeing a Moog synthesizer in person. The synth was attended by a technician in a lab coat, who was responsible for setting up patches and keeping the thing in tune - with a frickin' oscilloscope. Nobody complained about the pace of the show, as it had been delayed 4 hours during which time the audience patiently sat on the floor and passed joints around. That was a Friday night on what would be a truly memorable weekend. On Saturday night we saw Deep Purple, where they covered the entire Deep Purple in Rock album and brought the house down with Sweet Child in Time. Jon Lord became one of my heroes that night, but I was most impressed by Blackmore's effortless virtuosity and their new singer's (Ian GIllan) incredible vocal range. We'd each eaten a gram of hashish in preparation, and wound down afterward by parking at the end of the Frankfurt airport's runway to admire the strobe lights. I don't remember what admission prices were in those days, but they must have been dirt cheap because otherwise we wouldn't have been able to afford it. We'd go almost every weekend while I lived in Munich, usually to Circus Krone, where we saw the likes of Moody Blues, Mothers of Invention and my favorite, the jazz/blues/rock fusion band Colosseum. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bapu Posted July 15 Share Posted July 15 (edited) Yes @ the Los Angeles Forum in the 5th row on the floor directly in front of Rick Wakeman and Chris Squire. This was the "prime" lineup. I honestly don't remember who opened the show. Wild Turkey opening for Black Sabbath. Also @ the Los Angeles Forum. And the third entry is Cat Mother and The All Night Newsboys, Chicago Transit Authority & Jimi Hendrix, once again @ the Los Angeles Forum. Some two decades later I was given the Jimi Hendrix Box Set (CD) which included the show from that same night, so I can relive it anytime I want. Edited July 16 by Bapu 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bapu Posted July 15 Share Posted July 15 (edited) Oh Pasadena Rose Palace. The Chambers Brothers, Brian Auger and Trinity, Elvin Bishop Blues Band & Led Zepplin (touring their first album). Open stage, no curtains, no "back stage". Open floor seating. My buddy and I got right up to the stage for the whole show. Best part of that concert & lineup: all four bands played one set, and then came back for the same rotation and did a completely different set. Zep debuted several numbers from their (not yet released) 2nd album. Most memorable was Heartbreaker and Moby Dick. In between the two sets Robert Plant came down to the front of the stage and a very polite with two 15.5 year old fans (me and my buddy Dave). Edited July 16 by Bapu 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Oakes Posted July 15 Share Posted July 15 1975 was a good year for me - the highlight being Led Zeppelin at Earls Court - Saturday night concert that was released officially. I remember lighting up during the drum solo……. J 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mettelus Posted July 15 Share Posted July 15 Not that it was spectacular, but the sheer duration stunned me. Each year there are 2 concerts at USNA (seating capacity of only like 5700), so often older bands would come. Senior year we all voted for one concert... "Nine Inch Nails" won, but then backed out at the last last minute. Tesla said, "You need us, we will be there," and they kept their word. Opening set went an hour (Firehouse), then Tesla went on to play 2 1/2 hours. I was never a big Tesla fan before that, but afterwards told someone, "What made that truly impessive for me was they get 'stuck' with a concert to maybe 4000 people and poured their all into a 2.5 hour concert." Never seen anything like that before or since. The singular one-off comment that was memorable came from working the crowd... Bangles show and Susanna Hoffs comes out wearing a midshipman cover. Plebes were required to attend in uniform, so she comes out, surveys the crowd and the first thing out of her mouth, "Ooooh, we just LOVE seamen!!" That play on words was priceless. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigb Posted July 15 Share Posted July 15 Snitched this from your Oingo Boingo thread from a while back Dave! Quote I actually ended up working with a IT consultant named Jorge who was both Danny's neighbor in Malibu and good friend of his. Ironically, although they both shared a love for B-movies, Jorge didn't like his music much! ? The best part was when Jorge told Danny I was a big fan (and a member of Steve Bartek's forum; who was their guitarist). Danny gave him two upfront tickets to one of their famous Halloween shows at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheater (I lived in Irvine) to give to me! I got to take the hottest girl in the office and we sat right next to Danny's wife and kid. ? Needless to say, that was one memorable concert for me! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henkejs Posted July 15 Share Posted July 15 I've seen a fair number of big name performers, but my most enjoyable concert was the most unexpected. In the early 1990s a friend said we should go hear South African performers Malathini and the Mahotella Queens at First Avenue, a Minneapolis club. I didn't know anything about them at the time. When we got to the show, they told us that Malathini (Simon Nkabinde) was sick and couldn't perform. We had the option of getting our money back or staying for a show by the three women of the Mahotella Queens with the backing band. We stayed and were treated to a fantastic show with a mixture of African popular songs and unique covers of American music. Just remembering the powerful voices and energy of those women, not young by any means, sends a shiver up my spine. The band was terrific too. It was a great evening. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ptheisen Posted July 16 Share Posted July 16 Yes is my favorite band, I've seen them a number of times. The best was in April 1979: Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Chris Squire, Rick Wakeman and Alan White all in their prime playing from a round and slowly rotating stage, with a great light show. But as usual with Yes, the highlight was the music itself. They played songs from their earliest albums all the way through their latest at the time, Tormato, including a 25 minute medley comprised of Time and a Word, Long Distance Runaround, Survival, The Fish, Perpetual Change and Soon. They also gave a beautiful performance of my all-time favorite song, Awaken. Sadly, their are no videos of the "in the round" performances containing good quality sound. However, Hed Gilboa has done a remarkable job of piecing together a lot of different"in the round" videos and syncing them to the excellent quality soundboard recording of the October 1978 Wembley Stadium concert, which was not "in the round" but had a set list very similar to the show I saw. Check it out if you haven't already! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
57Gregy Posted July 16 Share Posted July 16 (edited) 22 hours ago, bitflipper said: I don't remember what admission prices were in those days, but they must have been dirt cheap because otherwise we wouldn't have been able to afford it. Bitflipper and I were both in Frankfurt at the same time, and that's where I saw my first concerts, at 14 years old. Grand Funk, still one of my favorite bands, with Mott the Hoople opening for them at the Messe in Dec. 1971. Then, Ten Tears After a month later at the same venue. The GF tickets were 14 DM, about 3.5 USD at that time. I haven't been to a lot of concerts, due to a problem with large crowds, so all of the ones I have seen are memorable. Jeff Beck at the Santa Barbara County Bowl, ~1981, David Gilmour around 1987? The 'Blue Light Tour I think it was, in southern Florida. The North Carolina Symphony Orchestra doing Beethoven's last symphony a few years ago. Edited July 16 by 57Gregy Misspelled 'Gilmour'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bitflipper Posted July 16 Author Share Posted July 16 I saw Grand Funk that same tour. It was a free concert in Hyde Park, the band's European debut. No one in the audience seemed to have any idea who they were, me included. But their performance was so tight and so energetic and their songs so instantly catchy that everybody was immediately on board. I was blown away when the amazing organist got up from the Hammond, strapped on a guitar, and played just as amazingly on that instrument. What I didn't know was that the band had already been very successful in America and had accrued lots of stage time to polish their set. They were primed and ready to storm Europe, and the Brits welcomed them enthusiastically. I never saw them in Germany, but I imagine they were a hit there, too. Germans love high-energy rock 'n roll and would applaud with their feet, in unison, which made me fear for the architectural integrity of the venue. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
57Gregy Posted July 16 Share Posted July 16 The afternoon before the concert that I attended, they gave a free concert for the GIs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bitflipper Posted July 16 Author Share Posted July 16 Back in the day, Seattle's premier rock 'n roll venue wasn't a concert hall but an enormous beer hall called the Aquarius Tavern. On Wednesdays a pitcher of beer cost $1 and admission was also $1. Having a seating capacity of only 1,000, it didn't have the budget to compete with arenas, but they always managed to land the highest quality acts. Sometimes, that would be a national touring act that just needed to fill a week in their calendar. Sometimes, it'd be a local band on their way up in the world. Heart was one such favorite - the best cover bar band ever, and fearless. But sometimes, it'd be a major act on their way down. My most memorable experience there was seeing Badfinger. They were in decline at that point, hadn't had a hit in a while, and clearly felt they were slumming. Everybody in the band was extremely drunk. But they sounded amazing. Best-sounding drums I'd ever heard. Perfectly balanced vocal harmonies. It must have been one of their last performances because, sadly, Pete would be dead not long after. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Kelley Posted July 18 Share Posted July 18 (edited) Gentle Giant as the back-up band to Alvin Lee and Company in Fresno, CA - Warners Theater. Can't remember the exact year in the 70's. The crowd was mostly Alvin Lee fans. The concerted started with the crowd shouting for Alvin Lee during Gentle Giant's set. Gentle Giant's set ended with EVERYONE dancing in the isles and seats. A weird sight to behold. Gentle Giant owned the night. The Alvin Lee set started with everyone shouting for Gentle Giant to come back. We stayed for a bit but left mid-way through Alvin Lee's set as did many others. A lot of new fans that night. As a side note I did get to enjoy the crowd screaming to turn down the volume at a 1995 King Crimson concert in SF. We were about to leave in the middle when someone behind us saw that we had our fingers in our ears and handed us some ear plugs. That made it marginally bearable. In between songs, everyone was screaming to turn it down. They never did. I skipped any future King Crimson shows. Even Deep Purple was "quiet" compared to this. Totally unnecessary and irresponsible. Edited July 18 by Terry Kelley 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pragi Posted July 18 Share Posted July 18 (edited) -Gary Moore /Jon Hiseman , Coloseum 2 ,around 1977 ? - Mic Mac in Moisburg. - Magma 1983 Fabrik, Hamburg - Them Crroked Vultures 2009 Columbiahalle, Berlin Edited July 19 by Pragi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xoo Posted July 18 Share Posted July 18 Hawkwind (no surprise, eh?) Electric Tepee tour, 1992, Brighton. I think it was the second night of the tour, and a friend and I had gone - we were somewhat disappointed when they came out as a three piece, expecting a lacklustre performance. Then the opened with Right to Decide off the album, which we'd never heard, and within seconds we were blown away - the sound was amazing, they were incredibly tight and seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely, and the song was catchy as all hell. The rest of the gig was great, but the first minute or so was mind-blowing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bitflipper Posted July 18 Author Share Posted July 18 14 hours ago, Terry Kelley said: ...The Alvin Lee set started with everyone shouting for Gentle Giant to come back. I think it's entertaining when the supporting act commandeers the whole show. Usually, it's because promoters ignorantly put together a bill without regard to whether the participating bands complemented one another or were even of comparable skill. Think Jimi Hendrix opening for the Monkees. I witnessed such an embarrassment c. 1971 in a concert that saw Free paired with Colosseum. That package began in Frankfurt, with Free billed as the headliner because they had a current hit single ("All Right Now"). We heard that in Frankfurt Free got booed off the stage with the crowd demanding Colosseum come back up. German audiences do not hold back, be it praise or disapproval. So when I saw them the following week in Munich, Free opened instead - to polite applause. Then Colosseum brought the house down with one of the most powerful displays of god-level musicianship I've ever seen. Free wasn't awful, it was just a bad pairing. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JnTuneTech Posted July 18 Share Posted July 18 It is a given that "most memorable" impressions will change with time, and of course that some of us haven't really had all that much of a history with concerts. But it's really fun to hear everyone's story here, and it helps me imagine what I certainly have missed over the years! So - The most constantly repeated live concert experience I can relate, is always: Being at one of the initial LA performances of Pink Floyd presenting The Wall. And from the seats my friend and I had, I was able to look down through the stands to watch as the 4 main members queued up (after coming from the central massive command & control pit in the middle of the floor of the arena, which we could also see fairly well). and then marched back to stage in front of the then "torn down" wall blocks to play the end coda (which on the album cycles around to become the intro). And Dave's solos from atop the wall, with backlighting beams were spellbinding in retrospect. Most of it all just flew by at the time. Probably the other concert memory I hold most valuable was in LA as well, and was simply an early-80s Halloween concert headlined by Pat Benatar & her band (and hubby lead guitarist). The whole experience was actually what makes it work - driving some female college friends and myself there, trying to dress & act "punk" (as if) and walking along some of Hollywood Blvd. before the show... the mix tapes in the "SuperTuner" in my beat-up old GTO junker on the way & back, the Police tunes I had never heard, etc. -The actual concert was good, to be sure, and I thought that the Halloween mood and decorations really fit some of the showy pop rock of the time. The drummer really surprised me with how much he could get away with practically dancing off his throne, whilst still keeping time! And for some reason, I always think back to the way getting tickets always seemed to be such a scam, I was really nervous about whether the Floyd tickets would actually show up in the mail. -Some things still haven't changed, I hear! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Maar Posted July 19 Share Posted July 19 On 7/15/2024 at 7:56 PM, bitflipper said: ... Later that year, we went to see another new band, except this time I was familiar with the individual members. That was ELP. It was only their second performance, after their debut at a free concert in Hyde Park the weekend prior. The performance was a little ragged, but they did the entire first ELP album (which we hadn't heard prior), including crowd-favorite Lucky Man. It was my first time seeing a Moog synthesizer in person. The synth was attended by a technician in a lab coat, who was responsible for setting up patches and keeping the thing in tune - with a frickin' oscilloscope. Nobody complained about the pace of the show, as it had been delayed 4 hours during which time the audience patiently sat on the floor and passed joints around. ... So many to choose from, but for shear uniqueness, I'll nominate the ELP concert at the Dane County Coliseum in Madison, WI when they were touring the Works albums with a 51 piece orchestra. Each orchestra instrument had a custom contact mic made for it. The orchestra was up on a C-shaped 2nd floor level stage that surrounded ELP's stage. The conductor came out at ELP level and then was raised on one of those scissor platforms up to the orchestra level. ELP's stage was tall enough to accommodate an elevator for Keith Emerson's various synths and grand piano. The appropriate instrument was brought up for each song. The sound system was SUPERB! They played a fantastic show. I still have the LP-sized program I bought at the show. Sadly, that tour was cancelled after only 3 shows. ELP had four large outdoor concerts that would have paid for the expense of touring with the orchestra cancelled on them. They came back to Madison 6 months later. They announced on stage before they started the show that they were touring as a trio to recover the money they lost on the orchestra tour. They thanked us for being such a great audience the first time around. They then played one LONG, awesome show. Much respect! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grem Posted July 19 Share Posted July 19 (edited) Saw the Floyd in Baton Rouge at the LSU Assembly Center (now known as the Pete Maravich Assembly Center). Great show. My best friend and I had tickets. We both were working the day of the show until 6pm. Our plan was to get cleaned up and have our girlfriends pick us up in the car and take off straight from work. Well on the way the car started overheating. It got so bad we had to stop and we determined that the car needed water. We were in the middle of nowhere so we pulled over and dumped our coke cans out to fill them with water out of the ditch. My buddy and I was frantic!! Was we really going to miss the Floyd!!? The two girls were pretty non-chalant about the situation and couldn't understand why we were so uptight. They reasoned just slow down and we will make it. So what if we missed the concert. Who in the hell was Pink Floyd anyway!! My buddy and I, told them in no uncertain terms, if they didn't start helping they wouldn't be riding!! We made the concert and was the most memorable concert I ever went to. They played all of Animals, WYWH, and a lot of DSOTM for encore, with a break in between each. The girls couldn't believe how great the concert was. They couldn't stop talking about it for a long time after. The original Floyd never came back to this area. Edited July 19 by Grem 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigb Posted July 19 Share Posted July 19 On 7/18/2024 at 10:35 AM, bitflipper said: I think it's entertaining when the supporting act commandeers the whole show. Usually, it's because promoters ignorantly put together a bill without regard to whether the participating bands complemented one another or were even of comparable skill. Think Jimi Hendrix opening for the Monkees. I witnessed such an embarrassment c. 1971 in a concert that saw Free paired with Colosseum. That package began in Frankfurt, with Free billed as the headliner because they had a current hit single ("All Right Now"). We heard that in Frankfurt Free got booed off the stage with the crowd demanding Colosseum come back up. German audiences do not hold back, be it praise or disapproval. So when I saw them the following week in Munich, Free opened instead - to polite applause. Then Colosseum brought the house down with one of the most powerful displays of god-level musicianship I've ever seen. Free wasn't awful, it was just a bad pairing. Not sure why, but I can't even recall the last time I listened to Colosseum! (Decades???) Just made a playlist of all eleven albums I have from them... Already sounding great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now