A friend of mine (Young Laura Durava, bless her rockin' little heart!) and I were recently chatting about the rock groups we've seen over the years. I'm a self-confessed Dead Head, and went to about 50 Grateful Dead shows in my time. Not all of them were great, but some were literally
OTHERWORLDLY, depending on what sacraments were available to me ...
Some of my favorites? Springsteen of course -- the first time I saw him in '74 I could
not believe my eyes or ears -- NO ONE HAS THAT MUCH ENERGY! This was
back when I was in college in AusTex at a cool small venue called The
Armadillo World Headquarters. Saw a lot of great shows there,
including ZZ Top (before they were famous they were just a lil' old
band from Texas), Van Morrison, Commander Cody and His Lost Planet
Airmen (absolutely raucous!), and a great bluesman named Freddie King.
I saw a lot of good music in Austin from '70 - '74: My first Dead show
in '71 (I think I liked it, but wasn't totally sure -- it was so different
...), The Moody Blues in their prime, The Allman's with Duane, It's A Beautiful Day, The
Guess Who, Steve Miller Band, the legendary Chuck Berry and even Willie
Nelson before he became a household name.
Saw several great Who shows with their original drummer, Keith Moon --
boy, did HE kick some ass on drums.
Pink Floyd at the Cow Palace in SF -- psycho-delic, baby!
Page and Plant (after Led Zeppelin) still had plenty of swagger.
Bob Dylan rocked splendidly hard a number of times I saw him, despite his aloof stage demeanor. He
was great with Tom Petty at Alpine Valley (East Troy, WI) in the 80's somewhere back there. I
loved all the Alpine Dead shows -- that was where the hard core freaks
REALLY came out of the woodwork and it was always a "twirl-city"
dance-a-ton. (The action in the parking lot was almost as hot as the
concerts, depending on what the vendors were hawking and if there were
any "tanks 'n hoses" out ...) But I also really liked Aerosmith there
too.
Here's a list of other shows I've been to -- in no particular order I've seen: The Band,
Clapton (once in Blind Faith), the Pretenders, Los Lobos, Three Dog
NIght, Grand Funk Railroad, Lou Reed, the Kinks, the Cars, the Police,
The New Riders of the Purple Sage, Jefferson Airplane (not Starship),
Hot Tuna, BoDeans, Jerry Lee Lewis, Deep Purple, Mott the Hoople (All
the Young Dudes), the Ramones, Prince (who could really shake a tail
feather -- great show!), Styx (rather forgettable, since they opened
for the Who), Lynyrd Skynyrd (who were memorable despite opening for
the Who), Jethro Tull, Ten Years After, Mitch Ryder, Buddy Guy (who
taught Jimi Hendrix a thing or two), the Clash, Phil Collins and Jackson Brown. (Forgive me for boring ya -- I'm on a roll here ...)
I was a big Little Feat fan back when their fearless leader Lowell
George was still kickin' -- he died of a heart attack at age 37 --
translation: too much cocaine.
And most Rolling Stones shows were also
outstanding -- I saw them in the '60's, the 70's, the 80"s, the 90's
and last summer at Soldiers Field.
So I know it's only rock'n roll, but I like it like it yes I do.
Now you've REALLY got me thinkin' -- I've also seen the Talking Heads,
Boz Scaggs, Dave
Edmunds with (and without) Rockpile, Traffic w/Steve Winwood, Jimmy
Vaughn (Fabulous Thunderbirds), Ray Charles (while he still had it),
Robert
Palmer, The Jerry
Garcia Band (not the same as the Dead), Phil 'n Friends (Phil Lesh's band), Rat Dog (Bob Weir's band), Dark Star Orchestra (my favorite Dead cover band -- you MUST see 'em if you like the shows from the 70's) Sir Paul McCartney in the 90's, George Harrison solo tour in the mid-70's, BB King,
Cat Stevens, Neil Young, Mountain, Buckwheat Zydeco, JC Mellencamp, Joe Ely, George Thorogood & the Destroyers, The Blasters, Leon
Russell, Dire Straits, Black Sabbath (before
anybody heard of Ozzie!), The Beach
Boys, The Cars, Mink DeVille, Amazing Rhythm Aces ("Third Rate Romance"), John
Mayall, John Prine, Love, String Cheese Incident (a
newer jam band), Pacific Gas
& Electric ("Are You Ready?") and Bonnie Raitt.
When you mention the band Chicago -- in the early 70's they were great
in concert,
but
then sold out to the record industry's standard "hit making" formula
and grew
stale. (Springsteen reportedly opened for them early on, then swore
he'd never take second billing again.)
That's what killed so many
bands, starting with the Beatles,
who stopped doing concerts by the end of 1966 because of the musical
boredom of playing the same songs over and
over again. (Goes to show anything can get boring if it gets
too routine,
even being a Beatle ...)
I guess that explains why I gravitated to the Dead. They held up their
collective middle
finger to Warner Brothers Records, saying to their fans, "Go ahead
people -- you can just
record our music at our concerts FOR FREE. If we release a studio
album,
well -- we may (or may not) play a song from it. We're gonna mix it up
and
improvise at every concert, so each song is a 'work in progress' --
hang
in there with us as we try to make something unique happen. AND --
we'll most likely be at least
as
stoned as you are ..." So you could go to 3
shows in a row and hear about 75 different songs in 3 nights, with
rarely a repeat.
Besides, ya gotta love a group that went on a hippie whim to play at The
Pyramids in Egypt ...

Jimbo -
I see no mention of Hawkwind, Nektar, or Captain Beyond -
What gives???
Posted by: audioproducer | May 11, 2006 at 01:54 PM
My Friendt --
Who's blog is this exactly -- YOURS, or MINE???
By the way, can you guess who the "friend" is who prompted this discussion? (Hint: That person roves the halls of the friendly confines of NC ...)
Posted by: Da Coach | May 11, 2006 at 04:03 PM
That still don't answer the question -
Posted by: audioproducer | May 25, 2006 at 11:52 AM
They didn't make the cut ...
Posted by: | May 25, 2006 at 05:31 PM
Wow... I'm impressed. In my 37 years in radio I've introduced more than my share of rock stars. From The Stones to The Doobie Brother's. You've topped me my friend!
Gary Kelley
Posted by: Gary Kelley | February 08, 2007 at 09:58 AM
What about big boy pants?
Posted by: Rock | March 01, 2007 at 04:12 PM
I saw somebody here mention the group Nektar...without doubt one of the best bands I ever saw, saw them here in Chicago twice, once at the Aragon Ballroom, and once at place called the Night Gallery, Roy Albrighton on guitar...wow!
Posted by: Dan Cusack | October 30, 2007 at 09:50 PM
Yes, Nektar was a great band! I saw them also at the Aragon (the Down to Earth Tour) and of all places the Randhurst Ice Area touring on Recycled. The Randhurst Ice Arena was short lived, but some great bands played there - Nektar, Wishbone Ash, Rush, Ted Nugent, Kansas, BOC. If you google Nektar, they have a website and some of the original members are still doing some shows. Incredible!
Posted by: dave kuenstle | November 01, 2007 at 04:25 PM
Having had a job at the Richfield Coliseum during college I had three years of seeing every touring band in the early 80's.
Most impressive: Bob Seger, Bruce Springsteen, and Van Halen.
the Who--Final concert, yeah right, they're back. But it was cool to see rock legends.
Eagles. Jimmy Buffett. Beach Boys (before they started dying) on a night of a major Cleveland Blizzard.
Bryan Adams opening for Journey. I thought he was better than Journey--genuine, unknown and extremely cute as I found out when I literally ran into him backstage .
Out of dozens of shows, these were the ones I remember most. I think if I had one show to choose to do over it would be Bob Seger. Amazing performer, 3 night gig, and every concert was like it was his first concert of the year and had nowhere else to go except perform.
Posted by: Mo Baby | January 03, 2008 at 09:14 PM
You have seen some great stuff in your time and you "felt" the vibes as we used to say!
I grew up in NYC. Was in High School 1970-1973.
They were times of war rallies, peace, drugs and you know the rest.
I have seen at least 2/3 of your listings. My fav was the Airaplane with Jack, Jorma and Poppa John. The of course late shows at the Academy of Music on 14th Street NYC. They would play from 1 AM until 4 or 5 AM. Then they would open the doors and let the SUNSHINE in, say good night and leave. Interesting times!
There is more. Later for that!
Posted by: Steven | November 05, 2008 at 04:06 PM
Coach...
Growing up in California in the 'roaring-acid filled/psychedelic 60's', I have seen my share of bands from LA, Fresno to SF, the Filmore, Winterland and even Altamont.
Problem was and is, that because I was, how you say..."in the moment?...part of the scene?...oh heck...I was usually blasted out of my mind", I don't recall who all I ever saw.
I do remember seeing Santana, Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Winter (awesome) Credence Clearwater Revival, Janis Joplin and Big Brother and the Holding Company, BB King, Jefferson Airplane, Greatful Dead, The Stones et al at Altamont (although I was pretty wiped).
My thoughts on your concert goings....If you remembered all those bands etc, you were able to drive home afterwards and have no fear of being stopped or searched as I was.
Thanks for your blog.
Your fan.
Jeff Nickel
Posted by: Jeff Nickel | May 26, 2009 at 08:58 PM
I saw Nektar at the Aragon as well, one of the best light shows as well as concerts. As a youngster, my friend Mark and i used to hang out in the alley behind our house and listen to Jim play his guitar in his bedroom. He sounded like Eric Clapton to us!
Posted by: Ross Waxman | June 03, 2009 at 05:34 AM
Hello, glad that I sign up on this forum very usefull
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peace!
Posted by: BroombByperor | September 08, 2009 at 10:33 PM