First, Best, and Worst music concert

Just paid over 350$ this week for two tickets to see Tony Bennett ... it literally hurt but then I figure there probably aren't too many more years to see him left...
Two years ago they wanted that much EACH to see Van Morrison. Yeah, don't think so. Stayed home, had a gourmet dinner, fine wine and put the CD in the player instead. Still came out about $600 ahead.
 
We've been to our share of concerts, haven't we... :)

When we went to see the Eagles in '77, we bought six tickets {for us and our friends). The lady at the ticket sales booth said, 'You do know that's gonna be $42 plus tax, right :eek:?'

:LOL:

Ticket prices have changed a bit...

...and HFWR, dewd, you be one concert goin' fool! :D


When I saw Yes in 73 or 74 it was five bucks, not bad, not bad at all.

T-bird
 
First- Hank Williams Jr - Mid '60's we were both kids

Best - Bruce- 1975 Solid nonstop three hour show

Worst - One of several in the '70's - can't recall exactly
 
Snip...

Probably more than I can remember. There was a thread on that in the past.

In some order: Steppenwolf, Grand Funk, Bloodrock, Chicago, ELP, Yes, Humble Pie, King Crimson, Gentle Giant, McKendree Spring, Dr. John, Larry Coryell, Siegal-Schwall Band, Allman Bros, Marshall Tucker, Charlie Daniels, Mac Davis, ZZ Top, Blue Oyster Cult, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Jefferson Starship, Earl Scruggs, Kiss, Grinder's Switch, Golden Earring, Thin Lizzy, Roy Buchanan, BB King, REO Speedwagon, Bob Seger, Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, Frank Zappa, Aerosmith, Foghat, The Outlaws, Bob Dylan, Steve Winwood, Peter Gabriel, Don Henley, John Hartford, Brewer and Shipley, Billy Cobham, Paul McCartney, Al DiMeola, Jean-Luc Ponty, Stanley Clarke, Eric Johnson, Steve Vai, Loudon Wainwright, Jr. Brown, Steve Miller, Jimmy Buffett, Toby Keith, James Taylor, John McLaughlin, Johnny Winter, Robert Earl Keen, Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, John Prine, Kenny Chesney, Sugarland, Pat Brown, Dierks Bentley, [-]Taylor Swift[/-], Kansas, America, Jerry Jeff Walker, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Dweezil Zappa, Jackson Browne, Steely Dan, Return To Forever...

Probably left out some/many?
That's an impressive list. I couldn't even begin to remember all the shows I've seen. Not because they were so many, it's just the buffers are rusty and overflowing with useless scatological matter.

My first concert, as told before, was Jimi Hendrix in '68 in Chicago.

So many shows have been so good, none stands out as best. Only a few were bad, and they are forgotten. One show I remember because it was a small coffeehouse setting was Joan Baez and John Wesley Harding.

To quote Joe Walsh, life's been good to me so far.
 
HFWR said:
Snip...

Probably more than I can remember. There was a thread on that in the past.

In some order: Steppenwolf, Grand Funk, Bloodrock, Chicago, ELP, Yes, Humble Pie, King Crimson, Gentle Giant, McKendree Spring, Dr. John, Larry Coryell, Siegal-Schwall Band, Allman Bros, Marshall Tucker, Charlie Daniels, Mac Davis, ZZ Top, Blue Oyster Cult, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Jefferson Starship, Earl Scruggs, Kiss, Grinder's Switch, Golden Earring, Thin Lizzy, Roy Buchanan, BB King, REO Speedwagon, Bob Seger, Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, Frank Zappa, Aerosmith, Foghat, The Outlaws, Bob Dylan, Steve Winwood, Peter Gabriel, Don Henley, John Hartford, Brewer and Shipley, Billy Cobham, Paul McCartney, Al DiMeola, Jean-Luc Ponty, Stanley Clarke, Eric Johnson, Steve Vai, Loudon Wainwright, Jr. Brown, Steve Miller, Jimmy Buffett, Toby Keith, James Taylor, John McLaughlin, Johnny Winter, Robert Earl Keen, Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, John Prine, Kenny Chesney, Sugarland, Pat Brown, Dierks Bentley, [-]Taylor Swift[/-], Kansas, America, Jerry Jeff Walker, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Dweezil Zappa, Jackson Browne, Steely Dan, Return To Forever...

Probably left out some/many?

Rolling Stones, Orleans, Jeff Beck, Eagles, CSNY, CSN, Stills and Young, Mahogany Rush, Moody Blues, Monkees, Lynyrd Skynyrd, JD Souther...

The oldest ticket stub I have is Yes, July '72, but the price was torn away. Zappa in '77 was $6. Steve Winwood in'86 was $14.50...
 
I started trying to think of all of them, but threw my hands up. But I will say that the best was Frank Sinatra, still swinging in his 70s. The guy was just one cool customer, and he was singing to a huge (and packed) arena. The way it felt was not too different from a concert available on CD - '57 in Concert - except it was many years later.

One of my favorite Sinatra/Rat Pack lines was:

"How did all these people get in my room??"

Not too far behind (ready to roll your eyes?) was Shania Twain - the most energetic show I've ever seen. I think it was that they weren't wasted (or maybe that was me :) ). They released a DVD of that tour, I think around 1999.
 
Last edited:
Went to see Grand Funk Railroad and the opening act was Little Eva. You all remember her right! Locomotion
 
First: Santana at the Spectrum in Philadelphia 1972 (as mentioned on the other thread). Probably the loudest concert I've ever been to.

Best: The Police at outdoors Wrigley Field Chicago 2007 (incredible, though Sting's son opened and he was awful, awful, awful), Brian Adams Dallas late 70's (he put on a good show when he first started touring), Jethro Tull Passion Play tour San Antonio mid 70's (magical), The Who 25th anniversary tour outdoors Cleveland 1989, just to name a few that come to mind. No way I could pick one best...

Worst: Phil Collins Richland Coliseum Cleveland mid-80's, I suspect he was probably excellent, but the acoustics where we sat were absolutely awful. Stephen Stills at Purdue University mid 70's, a skuffle broke out in the audience (that probably would have gone unnoticed by 99%) and Stephen threw down his guitar and just went apesh!t, started lecturing the whole crowd and was angry the rest of the night. Get over yourself...
 
Last edited:
Slight revision, not the worst concert, but by far worst performer, at Survival Sunday with a ton of great acts including the Boss, was Yoko Ono. Oh my, what a wailer, and I don't mean as in Bob Marley & the ...
 
First: Beach Boys. My girlfriend got so excited that she fainted - and got her pic. taken as they carried her out!

Best: Hard to say, but I saw "It's a Beautiful Day," and there were birds flying overhead into the audience...or was it just me?

Worst: Rolling Stones at Altamont. They were so drunk & stoned that they could hardly play. Turned out to be the beginning of the end of my carefree life!
 
Worst: Rolling Stones at Altamont. They were so drunk & stoned that they could hardly play. Turned out to be the beginning of the end of my carefree life!

antmary, I was there too, up in the front by the stage and a little to the right between the Hell's Angels bus and the fight/stabbing. What a nightmare. That was definitely the worst concert of my life. I thought I would be trampled/smashed/squashed by all those people, and no way to possibly get out. After that, I never again went to a concert without assigned seats. :(

Mick Jagger scared me silly when he sang Sympathy for the Devil, with that big cape. But he calmed people around me when he said, "Brothers and Sisters! Brothers and sisters..." and whatever else he said trying to get people to calm down when things were getting wildly out of hand.
 
Last edited:
I don't remember my first concert. But I did see the Beach Boys this summer for their 50th anniversary tour and they still sounded very good. Was great to see the three living original members of the band perform.
 
First: Jethro Tull - 1971?
Best: This is hard - Ten Years After + Edger Winter 1974 comes to mind.
Worst: Iron Butterfly at a Woodstock reunion concert in CA. They became some Brazilian dance band or something. So disappointing.
 
Concerts that I never saw, but always wanted to:

The Beatles at Shea Stadium 1965
Monterey Pop Festival 1967
Woodstock 1969
George Harrison concert for Bangladesh 1971
Summer Jam at Watkins Glen 1973
Simon & Garfunkel at Central Park 1981
 
First Ten Years After Boston 1972
Best Rolling Stones 1975 Roxie Music (Brian Ferry) 2001 and many others
Can't remember a bad show
Also, saw the original Doors a few years back minus Jim Morrison
 
First: Linda Ronstadt, circa 1974

Worst opening act: Flock of Seagulls - dumb songs, bad hair and the singer had no voice. They were booed off the stage. (Best was Van Halen, 1978, for Journey)

Worst headliner: The Beach Boys at an amusement park show in the late 70's. They went through the motions for a few songs, then it got really bad. (It's interesting to me how they are appearing on both best and worst lists here.)

"Best" is too tough. I'll try it by venue size:

Nightclub: Pretenders. Chrissie Hynde and the boys, early 80's and looking to prove they were for real...wow.

Small Theater: Little Feat, 90's. Especially fine because I was long overdue in seeing them after being a fan for years.

Larger Theater: Neil Young and Crazy Horse. Acoustic solo for an hour, then a break, then 1-1/2 hours of non-stop power chords and screaming hot guitar solos. Took a buddy who didn't know Neil Young from Neil Armstrong. I think he bought the entire NY & CH catalog over the next few months.

Arena: Springsteen (x3, so far)

Stadium: Fleetwood Mac (Tusk tour)

Festival: Buddy Guy, two years ago. Still a wild man.

My list, no order: Linda Ronstadt, ZZ Top, Fleetwood Mac, Steve Miller Band, Yes ,Jethro Tull ,America, Elvis Costello, Charlie Daniels, Buddy Guy, Counting Crows, Martina McBride, The Who, The Rolling Stones, The Beach Boys, Flock of Seagulls, Van Halen, Journey, Kansas, Patti Smith, Bruce Springsteen, Prince, Alicia Keys, Little Feat, Montrose, Journey, David Bowie, Tom Petty, Arc Angels, Supertramp, Neil Young; Crosby, Stills and Nash; Los Lobos; Bob Seger, George Thorogood, Kinks, Billy Joel, Eric Clapton, Squeeze, Eagles, The Police, Genesis, Phil Collins, Boston, John Hiatt, Guy Clark, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Doobie Brothers, Chuck Berry, Rodney Crowell, Melissa Etheridge, Pretenders, Todd Rundgren, The Civil Wars, The Cars, Cheap Trick
 
Last edited:
First: The Who in Fargo late 67
Best: Probably the Grateful Dead at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis about 72
Worst: Cream at a small venue in Minneapolis in 1968. They arrived late played about 30 minutes and left.

Here's my list of groups in no order:
The Association
Guess Who
The Who
Jefferson Airplane
Grateful Dead
BB King
Cream
Sweetwater
Johnny Winter
Edgar Winter
America
Moody Blues
The Doors
Taj Mahal
10 Years After
Savoy Brown
Fleetwood Mac
Country Joe and the Fish
Steppenwolf
Canned Heat
Big Brother & the Holding Company (Janis Joplin)
Howlin’ Wolf
Joe Cocker
Flaming Groovies
Youngbloods
ZZ Top
Santana
 
Last edited:
First - Buddy Holly & yes I was very young . I also saw Jerry Lee Lewis , Chubby Checker , Frankie Avalon, Bobby Vinton , Freddie Cannon ( those were the days when concerts were cheap )
Best -Willie Nelson
Worst - The Doors
 
Last edited:
Hey... thinking about it.... I guess I have seen a lot more than I first thought...

We go to the Rodeo here in Houston and there is a concert... so I have seen a number of these....


I just remembered seeing the Charlies Daniels Band and they played The Devil Went Down to Georgia.... man, that was some fiddle playing.....
 
Back in the day, Marshall Tucker and Charlie Daniels were great live. Saw the modern version of Marshall Tucker a while back. Kinda sucked. Delbert McClinton opened the show and was outstanding. Almost everyone walked out on MT. Pretty embarrassing. Got to move to the front row though.
 
First: Scorpions Winds of Change tour (Mr Bigg and Great White opened)

Best: 3 way tie: Roger Waters-The Wall last year, Fish-Sunsets on Empire tour, and Little Elmo and the Mambo Kings. Who are they? A Montana bar band! Blues, Boogie Woogie and Swing as they say. And were they ON one night. Wow! They had a great set, and wireless hook ups for all but the drummer. Picture the band going full throttle as they go out and mingle with the crowd. Sax solo behind you as the guy jumps up on a table, guitarist walks by and launches into a solo. Singer belting out while he stands next to you. Freakin' incredible. I saw them a few other times and they were good, really good. But they didn't catch that fire again while I was watching.

Worst: Probably REO Speedwagon. They were having an off night. Or Bush. They flat out sucked.

Big name bands I've seen:
Scorpions (Great White, Mr. Bigg opened)
REO Speedwagon
Buddy Guy
Indigo Girls
Fish
Queensryche (Mindcrime and American Soldier TOurs) (Lita Ford played with them)
Garth Brooks
Clay Walker (twice) (Diamond Rio opened)
Bad Co (DL Roth opened)
Paul Rodgers
Dennis DeYoung
Rick Springfield
Yes
John Mayer
Def Leppard
George Michael
Roger Waters (In the Flesh and The Wall tours)
Billy Joel
Elton John
Huey Lewis
Brandi Carlile (Justin Townes Earle and Jason Isbell opened)
Bush (No Doubt and Goo Goo Dolls opened)
Steve Miller (Curtis Salgado opened, and was better!)
Survivor
Wilco (The Whole Love and Sky Blue Sky tours) (Fleet Foxes opened)
Son Volt (The Cowboy Junkies opened)
Allison Krauss and Union Station
Laura Love (twice)
Bobby McFerrin (The Monty Alexander Trio Opened-I am fortunate to live in the same town as the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival. We get some good ones thru every year, but I can't remember names.)
John Clayton
Had tix to see Oingo Boingo on their BOINGO tour. Broke my arm and couldn't drive the 6 hours to get there-dammit!

I think that's it.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom