Your Favorite Concert Experience
 

Taking my son to see Radiohead in St. Louis in 2001...we were in the pit..6 feet away from the stage...he turned to me and said, "Thanks Dad." It was that moment when I knew he got difficult music.

Runners up - hanging out with the Eagles on the weekend of my 21st birthday and watching their show backstage with Cameron Crowe who became a pal.

The Ramones in a gym.

Paul McCartney's soundcheck at Wrigley last year.

Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young at the Auditorium Theater in 1970 while they were recoding 4 Way Street.

Front row center for Derek and the Dominos with a new guy from England openning...Elton John.

The Airplane, the Jam and the Smiths at the Aragon (over many decades).

Yoko Ono with Sonic Youth at Pitckfork.

Oh - and there was that show where I got to hang out and make out with Joni Mitchell in 1973.

MJs row 6 thirty ish years ago

Moody Blues
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Lynyrd Skynyrd
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Grace Slick ( a while ago)
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The Diamonds


Hard to recall others, we attend many.

Pavarotti
 

Luciano Pavarotti in concert at the Hartford Civic Center in 1988

Favorite concert experience, there are 2 that stand out for me:

1. Jimmy Buffett (numerous times) The tailgating before the concert and the 3-4 hour concert is the best ever experience.

2. ZZTop with their Eliminator and Afterburner album tours. The music, the way the stage morphed from the car from the Eliminator Album to the Spaceship when they played the Afterburner songs.

Never appreciated it at the time but a group of us zipped up to Toronto in the 60's to see the Beatles. They weren't too well known at the time. I never took photos or made a big deal of it. Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

My favorite concert was Roy Orbison. The venue was very small, and he was terrific.

In the late '60's, Bob Hope and the Four Seasons at the same concert; in the '70's Chuck Mangione. In recent years, Neil Diamond; Rod Stewart.

Haven't been to a lot of big name concerts, but Sue and I saw McCartney in Boston in 2001 which would pretty much eclipse anything else. My other favorite memory is when my son and I saw Huey Lewis and the News. Great concert and wonderful musical bonding.

B.

Percy Sledge....Bonita Springs, Fl, summer 2009, singing my favorite song "When A Man Loves A Woman".

2nd favorite was Simon and Garfunkel, Milwaukee county stadium, July 27 1983

Memories.......

It was 2002 and I was sitting in the 11th row. That was possibly the best concert that I've ever seen except for when I saw Paul when he was with another band back in 1966.

Wow..This Is Tough!!
 

Back in 86 Billy Joel came to my hometown in a blizzard, delayed the concert an hour, came out on stage to a full house,called us all crazy & proceeded to rock the house!

If you never got the chance to see Garth Brooks in concert then you missed probably one of the most energetic shows you could imagine.


The Eagles I saw twice ...first time when Hotel California was a hit & Joe Walsh had just joined the band...Amazing!


Saw Elton John & Billy Joel together at Gillette Stadium...Great!!


And I'll never forget my first big time concert when I was 17 back in 1974 I saw Grand Funk at the old Boston Garden!

Stones, 1978, Soldier Field, Chicago

Stones, 1980, Candlestick, San Francisco

Bruce Springsteen, 1983, Oakland Coliseum

Eagles, Hell Freezes Over Tour, 1992, Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mtn View, CA

Paul McCartney, abt 1995, Memorial Stadium, UC Berkeley




.

...this is easy...only been to three live concerts...best by far was Bonnie Raitt, Indianapolis, May '02...was on my feet cheering. My hubby had a great time watching me.

my favs
 

Elton John in Chicago about 1976

Beach Boys at State Fair in Indiana about 1973!

The Gaither's 2006 with the Cathedrals

Phillips Craig and Dean 2010

Beatlemaina 1980 Chicago

I can't say I have one favorite concert experience. It would have to be concert expierences. Spending almost every weekend at the Fillmore East in NY would be it for me. From 1968 to 1971 I think I saw every top band that was touring. It was a great venue to see bands. Less than 3000 seats.

MinnieM

Eric Clapton July 18, 1974 Tempe, AZ.
 

Bob Dylan- he had such a big influence in my life and thinking- he was a profound poet and philosopher.

Likewise Jim Morrison

Motown review,Fox theater,Detroit Mi. Stevie Wonder, Temptations,Miracles, Contours,Marvalettes......................

He still working on it. Heard some songs of his in Strike Back episodes. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/ne...nemax-20120818

Strike Back is way too violent for TOTV though, so I put up a much tamer clip.

1. Peter Paul and Mary 1964, Missouri University
2. Brothers Four 1968 Northwest Mo. State University
3. New Christy Minstrals 1964 Missouri University
4. The Eagles 2010 Kansas City Sprint Center
5. Elton John 2001 Las Vegas MGM Grand

The first four are the best as I was in the first five or six rows for each. I would not waste my money on anything in the back of the auditorium, might as well buy the DVD. We also saw Jersey Boys at the Kansas City Music Hall in May and were in the front row - WOWSER!

Led Zeppelin and Three Dog Night together at Seattle's Green Lake Park amphitheater in 1969. LZ actually was the opening act, as Three Dog Night was at the height of its fame. We listened and watched from the lawn (free), and the local paper later wrote that the lawn was a wall to wall carpet of human bodies.

I have been to many concerts but my favorite was Neil Diamond in Washington, DC -- probably in the early 80s. A friend and I sat in the 2nd row and Diamond teased me throughout the concert because I brought binoculars!! We saw him in the same arena a couple of years later. This time we sat a long ways from the stage and it wasn't the same!

I love piano. I saw Liberace years ago and he was terrific!! It shocked me how much I enjoyed his concert!

Both of these guys really knew how to entertain an audience!

I was invited to an Elvis concert in Detroit in the 70s. Like a dummy, I turned it down. I'm sure I missed a great concert. He died about 8 months later and I always regretted missing that concert!

To understand why my most memorable was a 1970 concert in St. Louis, you have to know the back story. From the beginning.

One day in 1970, I was driving home from a shopping mall when I heard on the radio a song so smart, so deep and so different than any music I had ever heard, that I actually pulled over into a gas station, put a dime (imagine!) into a booth phone (imagine!), called the radio station and asked what the song was.

It was Question, from the album A Question of Balance, by The Moody Blues, a group I was unfamiliar with at the time. I turned around, drove back to the mall and bought the album. Got home and discovered that every song on the album was smart, deep and different than any music I had ever heard. Next day, I went back to the record shop and purchased every Moody Blues album. (Question of Balance turned out to be their 6th.) Same experience with each album. I was hooked.

Began college that fall at University of Denver. Was planning a trip home in December for winter break. My older brother, who attended Washington U. in St. Louis, called to ask if I would consider a stay over in St. Louis on way home to ATL. After agreeing to do this, I learned that Moody Blues was coming to Denver on the Saturday after I was supposed to fly to St. Louis on Thursday.

If I went to St. Louis, I'd miss the concert of my dreams. But... he was so excited when I told him I was coming and had already started making plans with friends. Let him down or miss the concert. Let him down or miss the concert. I agonized-- and finally decided not to let him down. I would miss the concert of my dreams. I booked the flight.

Two days later, he called to tell me: "Oh by the way, the Moody Blues will be here Friday night and I got you tickets".

So yes, that concert in St. Louis was my most memorable.

Justin Hayward, John Lodge, and Graham Edge are still performing and knocking it out of the park. Saw them in Fargo in 1994 with the Fargo symphony orchestra. I Know You're Out There Somewhere is now in my head for the rest of the day - thanks Phyllis!

Moody Blues
 

...and they still put on a great show. We saw them several months ago in a very small venue in southern CA. Their voices sounded just as I remember from the 70's.

I think he is better looking and cooler now than he was 40 years ago.

Frank Sinatra at MSG in New York.

I got Joe Fraziers autograph and was standing behing Joe Louis. My cousin lunged at Robert Redford.

Great night in a great venue.

I agree and am not surprised. With beauty that deep, how could he not?

September 2, 1964 "The Beatles" at the Convention Center in Philadelphia, PA
has to rank way up there as one of my best concert experiences and there have been many.

I said this somewhere else but
1) McCartney October 2005 Air Canada Center in Toronto. Nearly three hours of McCartney including Mull of Kintyre with a bagpipe band.
2) Elvis July 1976 Rochester Community War Memorial. That might have been "Fat Elvis", but he could still bring down the house.
3) John Sebastian May 1971 Kleinhans Music Hall in Buffalo. It was a very special night in a very special venue. John does the first half solo with an acoustic guitar. The sound was so pure he kept saying "Where did you get this f***kin' place?" Then he brings out Paul Harris, Ken Altman and Dallas Taylor and they work as a rock band. Never forget it. And yes, there was a whiff of canibus in the air.

Aside from McCartney in 2002, concerts from Billy Joel and Meatloaf were one I'd never forget. I also remember, how short concerts used to be before Bruce set a new standard. Although I wasn't there (my wife went twice) I believe The Beatles at Shea was only 40 minutes long. I remember see The Young Rascals in 67 or 68 and the show was less than an hour. Same with Grand Funk Railroad and J. Giels. I also remember Morrison being either drunk, stoned or stupid at Madison Square Garden when he couldn't remember the words.

1. Van Cliburn in Grant Park, Chicago after he won Tchaikovsky Piano
Competition. 1960?

2. Three day Playboy Jazz Festival Chicago. 1958?

3. Harry Belafonte in Palace Theater NYC. Sally Winters was in the audience
after shooting "Suddenly Last Summer" with Montgomery Clift, Liz Taylor

4. Michael Jackson in Singapore. 1996

5. Ray Charles at the Newport Jazz Festival 1993? Listening with my son

Wow I forgot about them, I used to see them at "the barge" in Westhampton beach, before they made it, used to see them on the beach just hanging out easy to talk to etc.

In the early 80's I was in the Oakland Coliseum walking around an Auto Show and stopped near the back to listen to a small band playing. Other people were also walking by and not paying much attention to the band. I stayed for a few minutes and realized that the singer was Ricky Nelson.

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Felix played at The Savannah Center last year. Although the seats were half empty those who were in attendance loved the show. I hope he returns