History of Great Rock Concerts

[JD Spydo]

On another thread I just made reference to a historic concert tour here in the USA in the year 1977 that I was privileged to attend. It was arguably the very best tour of British rock group Led Zeppelin and the 1977 USA tour is still evidenced by memorabilia that still pops up from time to time. I still to this very day run into people in grocery stores, shopping malls and movie theatres and still see folks wearing T-Shirts from that 1977 tour. Needless to say most of them are younger people who freak out when I tell them that I was at one of those concerts from that tour.

I know that I'm dating myself being at that show in St. Louis, Missouri USA in April of 1977. But even 5 years before that great show I got to see possibly the Rolling Stones greatest USA tour in the summer of 1972 which was their "Exile On Main Street" tour and it was the debut of the now famous Rolling Stone's "Tongue Emblem" which is still being used in this present time. The history of rock band tours in the USA is most interesting.

But I'm also sure that many of you here on the Forum have been to famous tours of the great Rock Bands here in the USA. I would love to hear your testimonies of which tours of great rock bands you've got to attend over the years. Or even solo artists for that matter of that genre like Janis Joplin, Joe Cocker, Neil Young ect. So let's chat about our great past rock concert experiences here in the USA or even overseas for that matter.

[dsvirsky]

Rolling Stones on that same 1972 tour, at Winterland in San Francisco. Led Zeppelin at Kezar Stadium (San Francisco) in 1973. The Sex Pistols for their very last show in January 1978, again at Winterland.

[Airlsee]

Two iconic tours from my two favorite Brit rock bands; I'm looking forward to the replies in this thread. Kudos.

I was born in '86...so had to find greatness past tense.

ETA: I've been to many shows, but my favorite Rock concert undoubtedly must be Modest Mouse! They may not belong in this thread, but it was a fantastic show that went longer than expected, hit tons of songs you would expect to hear and sounded spot on with tons of energy. That show stands out in my memory of Rock concerts...

[Manixguy@1994]

I have been to so many concerts over the years I don’t know where to start . My favorite times seeing bands were always in a night club bar setting , Cheap Trick , Ted Nugent , Van Halen , Greg Allman ( met him before concert ) , REO Speed Wagon, Luther Allison , Chaka Khan , and Head East . Joe , I did see Led Zeppelin in St.Louis but was an earlier concert at auditorium for the IV tour . In St. Louis besides Zep , I saw Rod Stewart , Lynard Skynard , and Yes many years ago . I did see The Rolling Stones in concert in 68 with BB King in Champaign and part of footage in the movie captures a friend of mine at the concert just missing me . In what are you listening to thread I usually post albums of artists and background stories if I saw them perform it in concert . Multiple shows of artists would be ZZTop , David Bowie , BB King, Leon Russell , Frank Zappa , and Fleetwood Mac . MG2

[TkoK83Spy]

I actually watched a documentary on WoodStock '99 just the other day...talk about the OPPOSITE of a great rock concert!!

[Doc Dan]

In my youth I went to so many concerts I can't remember them all. I went to Rock and Roll, Country, Classical concerts.

Some of the Rock concerts I can immediately recall are Lynyrd Skynyrd, ZZ Top, Eric Clapton, Steppenwolf (one member lived across the street from me), The Grass Roots, Three Dog Night, Alice Cooper, Kiss, Black Oak Arkansas, Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show, The Guess Who, Bachman Turner Overdrive, Rush, Wet Willie, Molly Hatchet, Styx, Allman Brothers, Chicago, Jethro Tull, Eagles, Suzi Quatro (with Alice Cooper), Foghat, and Deep Purple. I will probably think of some more.

[Manixguy@1994]

In my youth I went to so many concerts I can't remember them all. I went to Rock and Roll, Country, Classical concerts.

Some of the Rock concerts I can immediately recall are Lynyrd Skynyrd, ZZ Top, Eric Clapton, Steppenwolf (one member lived across the street from me), The Grass Roots, Three Dog Night, Alice Cooper, Kiss, Black Oak Arkansas, Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show, The Guess Who, Bachman Turner Overdrive, Rush, Wet Willie, Molly Hatchet, Styx, Allman Brothers, Chicago, Jethro Tull, Eagles, Suzi Quatro (with Alice Cooper), Foghat, and Deep Purple. I will probably think of some more.

Good ones Doc , I’ve seen almost all of your list in concert .

[Manixguy@1994]

I actually watched a documentary on WoodStock '99 just the other day...talk about the OPPOSITE of a great rock concert!!

I was coming home from Alaska at OHare airport before the festival and there were hippies everywhere . I casually asked a guy what was going on . He laughed and said where have you been ? Woodstock is happening in a couple days . I had no idea what he was talking about . Dan

[JonLeBlanc]

Not that I was anywhere near old enough to see it, but Depeche Mode 101 in Pasadena, CA

https://www.youtube.com/embed/ejGeIRYNM3M

Midge Ure was a genius

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JLTC1_Rv4k

and of course, Eric Clapton, 24 Nights

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=576CyE6AGMU

[rangefinder]

I go to very few concerts -- I don't like crowds, and I want to preserve my hearing. (Even "mild" artists like Paul Simon crank up the volume so loud that I wore earplugs when I saw him.) But I do go to a show if the artist is important. e.g., the already mentioned Paul Simon, and I got to see John Lee Hooker before he passed.

The biggest/best rock concert I saw was Pink Floyd at the Kingdome (Seattle) in 1987. This was probably not their best tour, since by this point Roger Waters had left the band. (Although in some ways that might have helped, because the rest of the band was in a "we'll show everyone we don't need him" mode and were playing really good.) But Pink Floyd doesn't tour a lot, and hadn't been to Seattle in years, so I didn't want to miss the chance to see them live.

Good grief that show was loud. I was sitting waaay back from the stage and had ear plugs, and my ear drums still went into shock. For several hours after the show, I basically couldn't hear anything.

Biggest regret about a show I missed: Stevie Ray Vaughn used to tour a lot, and would play the Seattle area at least once and some times several times each year. And each time he came through, I'd think about going and put it off. Then he died suddenly, so I never got to see SRV live.

[Manixguy@1994]

I saw Pink Floyd Pigs tour in Chicago at Bears stadium. Parts I liked and parts I didn’t . That happens sometimes .

[The Mastiff]

I remember my first concert. It was Seals and Crofts at Blossum Music Center in Ohio. It was a strange one. The bathrooms were flooded in 3 inches of nasty water. There were women in there hanging out with their boyfriends. To top it all off I was sitting on the lawn on a blanket and looked over next door and saw my uncle under a blanket going to town on a girl. I was 13 maybe?

The biggest was Pink Floyd during the Animals tour. That was a long day. My favorite concerts were Blue Oyster Cult, ZZ Top ( during the Texas tour with all the animals on stage) and another one I thought was very good live was Thin Lizzy.

Ones I thought sucked were Foreigner and Journey. Just didn't like them. I forget which concert it was now but I'll always remember one in Flint Michigan in which some *** threw a cherry bomb from the second floor down into the first floor crowd. It was like a grenade going off. One girl had to be passed on top of the crowd to security on the side who took her for medical care. For the life of me I can't imagine what would be going through someones mind to think that was a good idea. That was back in the day where they called M80's and Cherry bombs equiv. to a quarter stick of dynamite. I don't know if that is true or not but I know they were dangerous.

The Tubes were like watching a concert version of something like Rocky Horror Picture Show with " Fee" Waybill dressed up as "Quay Lewd" in drag, or when he was simulating sex with Re Styles on a motorcycle with women dancers wearing pretty much only electrical tape for a top.

The Pink Floyd show was over 60,000 people at Cleveland Lakefront Stadium and I'll always remember at one point they had what I think was a Boeing 707 buzz over the top of the stadium during a crescendo and it was so surprising that a couple hundred people fell over at the surprise of the planes appearance. I got to see Cleveland Metropolitan s horse riot squad teach a few people lessons with the horse. The horse actually shouldered one guy who was running and sent him flying like he was hit by a car. I got the impression the horse was trained to do that.

[James Y]

I'm enjoying reading these old-school concert stories.

Unfortunately, although I love music, I never attended rock concerts (and this is gonna sound weird), because my ears are too sensitive. I don't do well with extremely loud, sustained sounds. Never did, and still don't. So I missed out on that experience.

However, to this day, my hearing is still very sharp. OTOH, my brother, a lifelong guitarist who also attended countless concerts back in the day, has very poor hearing. When we talk, I have to speak louder and enunciate more clearly than I normally would.

Jim

[ladybug93]

my first concert was in '91 and it was the beach boys. if i recall correctly, the whole band was still alive and there. it may have been one of the last tours where that was the case because i remember they band members started dying off over the next few years. it was a really great show out on a baseball field near the central florida fairgrounds. i've seen a lot of shows since, but that will always be the most memorable. well, besides the three times i've seen my favorite band, explosions in the sky.

[James Y]

my first concert was in '91 and it was the beach boys. if i recall correctly, the whole band was still alive and there. it may have been one of the last tours where that was the case because i remember they band members started dying off over the next few years. it was a really great show out on a baseball field near the central florida fairgrounds. i've seen a lot of shows since, but that will always be the most memorable. well, besides the three times i've seen my favorite band, explosions in the sky.

The Beach Boys would have been short at least one member in 1991, as Dennis Wilson died by drowning in 1983.

Jim

[The Mastiff]

However, to this day, my hearing is still very sharp. OTOH, my brother, a lifelong guitarist who also attended countless concerts back in the day, has very poor hearing. When we talk, I have to speak louder and enunciate more clearly than I normally would.

You are smart. Loud music and shooting without adequate hearing protection damaged mine somewhat. I don't need a hearing aid yet but I do often have to tell people to repeat something and I try to watch them to help make out what they are saying. If I was married perhaps a wife would insist I got a hearing aid as constantly being asked "Huh?" gets tiresome.

[Manixguy@1994]

However, to this day, my hearing is still very sharp. OTOH, my brother, a lifelong guitarist who also attended countless concerts back in the day, has very poor hearing. When we talk, I have to speak louder and enunciate more clearly than I normally would.

You are smart. Loud music and shooting without adequate hearing protection damaged mine somewhat. I don't need a hearing aid yet but I do often have to tell people to repeat something and I try to watch them to help make out what they are saying. If I was married perhaps a wife would insist I got a hearing aid as constantly being asked "Huh?" gets tiresome.

Hi Mastiff , the ZZ Top concert with the animals in Chicago were stuffed and they wore retro C/W suits with big ten gallon hats . I saw ZZ play there and the Cheap Sunglasses and Eliminator tours . Really like three piece bands only saw Rush play once on Fly by Night tour . Dan

[Sharp Guy]

I have been to so many concerts over the years I don’t know where to start . My favorite times seeing bands were always in a night club bar setting , Cheap Trick , Ted Nugent , Van Halen , Greg Allman ( met him before concert ) , REO Speed Wagon, Luther Allison , Chaka Khan , and Head East . Joe , I did see Led Zeppelin in St.Louis but was an earlier concert at auditorium for the IV tour . In St. Louis besides Zep , I saw Rod Stewart , Lynard Skynard , and Yes many years ago . I did see The Rolling Stones in concert in 68 with BB King in Champaign and part of footage in the movie captures a friend of mine at the concert just missing me . In what are you listening to thread I usually post albums of artists and background stories if I saw them perform it in concert . Multiple shows of artists would be ZZTop , David Bowie , BB King, Leon Russell , Frank Zappa , and Fleetwood Mac . MG2

I've been to a whole bunch myself. None were really iconic except to me. One regret was that I never got to see a show at Soldier Field. I used hear stories from an older brother about seeing epic show there but never made to a concert there myself. Most were at Rosemont Horizon, Poplar Creek Music Theater (long gone), Alpine Valley, WI, and some smaller venues like the Arygon Ballroom in Chicago. My first concert was on July 4th at Alpine Valley. Scorpions headlined with Iron Maiden and Girlschool opening. Like I said, I've seen a lot of shows but that was by far my most memorable. Another good one was Monsters of Rock also at Alpine Valley, WI. One of the coolest things that happened to me was when we saw Eric Clapton at the Rockford Metro Center. After the show we were walking out next to Robyn Zander of Cheap Trick. As you probably know CT is from Rockford. He was walking along like the rest of. Rockford's kind of a neat small city IMO. I've seen some pretty good shows since I moved to DFW too. I've probably seen more live music since I moved here that I did back in IL in the years between my teens and 50 yrs old when I moved away. I was raising a family during those years. So concerts were few and far between

[Halfneck]

Saw a lot of concerts in the 80s and 90s. Kind of slowed down once I got married. Some notable standout concerts:

Drivin N Cryin at the Cavern in Atlanta sometime in the late 80s? Small venue that they tried to keep secret. Just a great show by a band that should of been more popular.
The Grateful Dead in Atlanta at the Omni around 1990 after Bruce Hornsby joined them on the keyboard. I'm a Deadhead & the addition of Bruce Hornsby just seemed to add some new energy to the band.
Tom Petty with Chris Whitley opening at Lakewood Ampitheatre in 1991. Went to see Chris Whitley & was impressed with Tom Petty live.
The Radiators at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta sometime in the late 90s? Saw a lot of good shows by them at various festivals, but this was the best.
Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit at Track 49 in Chattanooga in 2015. Great songwriter that the wife & I both enjoy and this was our 1st show.
Richard Thompson opening for Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit at the Tivoli Theatre in 2018. Before the wife & I were fans of Jason Isbell we both enjoyed Richard Thompson. All around great show.

[Fireman]

New year’s eve 1991, Cow Palace, SF. Opening band, Pearljam with the 10 album, Next Nirvana with Nevermind tour and Red Hot Chili Peppers with the Blood Sugar Sex Magic tour. That was epic. There was a write up about it in Rolling stone magazine and you can find footage on youtube