Concerts you remember / Concerts you wish you had attended

Didn’t to see Led Zeppelin but I have seen Robert Plant live and the awesome concert with John Paul Jones and Diamanda Galas. What a show.

Here is what you missed…

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Lindsay….rubbing salt😉 some great ones there.

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What a voice…thanx @AndyP!

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This one
Went with a couple of very close freinds who are sadly no longer around ,
So remembered on many levels :heart:

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September 1975 went to see Santana at the Birmingham Hippodrome, the support act was Earth Wind and Fire…I’d never heard of them…they were amazing …blew away Santana.

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My very first concert (aged 17) was Zeppelin at the Kings Hall, Aberystwyth on January 16th, 1973. To be honest I don’t remember much about it!!

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One band I’ve never seen is Electric Light Orchestra and I love their music.
I finally booked to see Jeff Lynne’s ELO in Birmingham on 11th October a few years ago.
Then something called COVID-19 came along and the concert was cancelled…
Deeply disappointed.

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A great thread. It’s inspired me to begin creating today a spreadsheet of my rock (and jazz) concert-going. Most of my live music in the last few decades has been classical concerts and opera, and I already have a spreadsheet of several hundred classical gigs. But here’s my top ten most memorable rock gigs, at least the ones that came to mind this morning. In chronological order:

November 1974 - Queen (Sheer Heart Attack tour), Bournemouth Winter Gardens
June 1978 - Genesis, Knebworth
May 1981 - Bruce Springsteen, Wembley Arena
July 1982 - Rolling Stones, Juventus stadium Turin
May 1983 - Joni Mitchell, Palasport Genoa
July 1983 - Peter Gabriel, Stadio Communale Prato
November 1986 - The Fall, Southampton University
July 1991 - Miles Davis, Royal Festival Hall
February 1999 - Ani Di Franco, Shepherd’s Bush Empire
April 2007 - Rickie Lee Jones, Jazz Cafe London

And the missed concert… I had tickets to see the Genesis-Peter Gabriel-Steve Hackett reunion concert on 2 October 1982 at the Milton Keynes Bowl but was taking up a teaching job in Italy and had to pass on it… only to find when I reached the school that I could have postponed my arrival by a couple of days.

Joni Mitchell in a Genoa cafe on the day of her concert

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Ten days after your first concert… my first concert: 13 November 1974, Queen at the Winter Gardens Bournemouth

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The concert I most remember is not for how good it was but how awful it was.
It was the Gary Glitter Christmas show. He can’t sing,the backing was terrible plus the audience participation can only be classed as pissed out their heads waving big sponge hands etc.
We weren’t by the way.

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Did you think they would ever amount to anything… :smiley: :crazy_face:

I have really been enjoying the posts on this thread! So many good memories being shared.

I would have to say that my favorite concert experiences would be, in no particular order:

U2 - The Joshua Tree 30th Anniversary Tour - 2017 - Louisville, KY - a religious experience, as I grew up listening to the album, but was too young to see the tour

The Eagles - 2013 or so - Nashville, TN - they actually sounded better than on record

Jimmy Buffett - 2012 - Woldenburg Riverfront Park - New Orleans, LA - I know every Buffett concert was fun, but this one, right on the Mississippi River, was a free concert that my wife and I just stumbled upon. Also Doctor John and the Avett Brothers performed.

Garth Brooks - 2010 - Nashville, TN - the hardest working man in show business played 12 relief concerts for the 2010 Nashville flood in 6 days - all sold out. Incredible show.

Tony Bennett - 2006 or so - Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN - there was a moment where he let the band take a break, put down the microphone and sang “The Nearness of You” with just piano. The wonderful acoustics of the hall meant that all 2,500 in attendance heard every word. His artistry just grew and grew as he got older.

Chris Stapleton - 2015 - Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN - this was Chris Stapleton just before he blew up after the CMA performance where he performed “Tennessee Whiskey” with Justin Timberlake. The Steeldrivers were special guests. What an amazing artist. Probably the last time he plays a small venue.

Motley Crue - Girls, Girls, Girls Tour - 1987 - Louisville, KY - my first real rock concert - holy cow - it was intense. Fire, lasers, dancing girls in cages, smashed guitars, a rotating drum set, a 75-foot long, 10-foot high wall of Marshall amplifiers. No one puts on rock concerts like that anymore.

Guns N’ Roses and Metallica - 1992 - Indianapolis, IN - the tour where they cancelled a bunch of the dates due to rioting and interpersonal problems with the bands, and also the tour where they debuted most of the “Use Your Illusion” music. My ears are still ringing.

Joe Williams - 1996 - Singletary Center for the Arts - Lexington, KY - a Valentine’s Day I will never forget. What a singer.

Renee Fleming - 1999 - Storrs, CT - song recital - my favorite living soprano & the first of half a dozen times I have seen her in recital

Luciano Pavarotti - 1995 - Cincinnati, OH - song/aria concert with the Cincinnati Orchestra - my only chance to see the tenorissimo on stage

Der Rosenkavalier - Metropolitan Opera - 2017 - Renee Fleming and Elina Garanca - ravishing

La fille du Regiment - Metropolitan Opera - 2010 - opening night of this Laurent Pelly production with Juan Diego Florez and Diana Damrau - Florez made this memorable by giving only the second encore in modern Met history (he repeated the 9 high c’s of Pour mon ame after a 5-minute ovation).

Tosca - 1996 - Vienna Staatsoper - Eva Marton as Tosca - whew!

Die Walkure - 1996 - Vienna Staatsoper - Waltraud Meier/Placido Domingo/Daniel Baremboim - 'Nuff said.

Der Fliegende Hollander - 1995 - Cincinnati Opera - James Morris as the Dutchman

Richard Tucker Awards Gala - Avery Fisher Hall - 2000 - just a star-studded evening like you wouldn’t believe

Mahler Symphony No. 2 - “Resurrection” - Nashville Symphony Orchestra & Chorus - Frederica von Stade, Janice Chandler-Eteme, Leonard Slatkin conducting - I was on stage for this concert, which was the opening of the brand new $250 million Schermerhorn Symphony Hall, which is one of the finest symphony venues anywhere. Broadcast nationwide. Just a transcendent evening.

Bach Mass in B Minor - 2014 - Nashville Symphony Orchestra and Chorus - Helmuth Rilling - I was on stage for this one, too. Amazing opportunity to work with a legend in the Bach world.

Dolly Parton - 2008 or so - Wildhorse Saloon - Nashville, TN - unbelievable benefit concert for a local children’s musical charity in a tiny venue

There are others - including Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, AC/DC, Van Halen, numerous operas, classical concerts and recitals, jazz concerts, serendipitous nights in bars and clubs here and there, but I am running out of steam!

Regrets: I’ve had a few, but mostly because I was born too late to see the great bands of the 1960s and 1970s in their prime (or at all)!

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One concert I remember was seeing the Beatles at the local dance hall in Sheffield the Azena I think it was called, Now a Coop supermarket close to where I lived. It was just before they released Please Please Me.
Quite a small place but the atmosphere was electric, the music still quite raw.

Also seeing the Stones at Sheffield City Hall, seeing being the word because you couldn’t hear them for the screaming girls. One who ran towards the stage ,fainted and ended up in a heap in front of it and was carried out by security.

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I’m another one who’d have loved to see Zeppelin but was too young. I saw both Page and Plant reunion tours in the 90’s and have seen solo Plant numerous times.

Other I’d love to have seen….

The Firm (Page, Rodgers et al) when they toured in the mid 80’s. The nearest they played to me was Birmingham NEC and that would have meant a coach trip and returning to Manchester in the early hours. No way my parents were allowing early teenage me to do that.

Ditto Queen on The Works tour.

My first gig was meant to be Saxon at Manchester Apollo in ‘83 I think. I got a tennis ball in the eye in the school playground the week before and was still in the eye hospital the night of the gig. My class mates clubbed together to buy me a tour T shirt.

Nirvana, I had tickets for their gig at Manchester GMex a few weeks after Kurt’s untimely demise. As a side note me and my friend had tickets numbered 1 and 2 for that gig after being first in the queue when they went on sale (anyone else remember queuing at the venue rather than internet lotteries ?)

Other than those, I’ve been lucky enough to see most of my heroes live over the years including the top of my bucket list, Springsteen in New Jersey, last year.

Chuck berry . Little Richard. All their London gigs.
I miss these guys

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Why did he have bad reviews ?

A hit and miss in one band. Little Feat, too young for the original line up but saw them touring Let it Roll at Hammersmith. Hayward/Gradney/Clayton were unbelievable.

I never saw ZZ Top with Dusty and am wondering about their London date later this year.

I didn’t bother to see U2 while at Uni in Portsmouth when they were touring War. I think that was a mistake.

A few favourites
The first time I saw BB King at Hammersmith and when I got to shake his hand at Reading Hexagon (otherwise the worst of his gigs, at the end of a long tour and you could tell).
Texas - early days supporting Simple Minds at Cardiff Arms Park. Seen more recently and left early :frowning:
Ian Dury & the Blockheads at Southampton Gaumont. Everyone hollering F#cking Ada at the top of their lungs.
The Blues Band several times on the pub/student union circuit.
David Byrne at the New Theatre Oxford on his Eno songs tour.
Motorhead. Bomber tour at Ipswich Gaumont. I couldn’t hear people on the phone the next day!
Nile Rodgers at Henley Festival. An unexpected delight and a very close second to BB as the best live act I’ve experienced.

And one I really wish I hadn’t bothered with
Eric Clapton at the NEC. Boring, not a patch on BB.

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I’m unimpressed that you attended a concert given by a child abuser, it’s almost as bad as going to a Michael Jackson concert.

Not this again. He wouldn’t have known then.

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That was years before that came out.
I suppose you never watched Jimmy Saville in your life ?

Also there were rumours about a lot of the bands mentioned above and what they did with groupies backstage, many possibly underage

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