I am listening to Tift Merritt.
Quote:
That sounds like a much better time to live in the islands than when I grew up there. We had no one. If anyone did show up, it sold out immediately. Always on Oahu, too. They had Britney Spears play a free show when I was In high school. Who else...Janet Jackson? I think Pantera played there once. Bands have started playing there again recently, but it was pretty bad there for awhile.
Back then most tours ended in Hawaii so it would have been their last concert on that tour. So most of the time they would play for free the next day--usually a Sunday. I worked for a Records Hawaii and my boss was the promoter like Hawaii's Bill Graham so I always would get free tickets too. The concerts I saw weren't many because I just couldn't go to every one of them. Some nights I had to work. It was a cool job being 16 years old and working in a record store and going to concerts. My dad used to pick me up after work because I lived in Pearl City and the concerts were at the HIC (Honolulu International Center). What is it called now? It looked like a flying saucer. Is it still there?
Over a period of 3 years I saw:
Lee Michaels
The Rolling Stones
Blind Faith
Blue Cheer without Leigh Stephens
Blue Cheer with Randy Holden
Spirit
Jefferson Airplane
Quicksilver Messenger Service
Jimi Hendrix (about 5 times) one evening he didn't like the sound system so he didn't even perform. He did invite everyone back for a free concert the next day. It was at the Shell.
Big Brother and the Holding Company (without Janis)
Janis Joplin with the Full Tilt Boogie Band
Jethro Tull
Led Zeppelin (2x. Once when their first LP came out and the second time was when Black Dog was just about to be released. They opened with Black Dog. And get this, the opening act was Yvonne Elliman)
The Doors (opened with: The Crazy World of
Arthur Brown)
Santana
Carlos Santana with Buddy Miles and Neil Schon
Linda Ronstadt and the Stoned Poneys
Peter, Paul, and Mary (okay, I was in grade school then. My parents took me to see them.)
Black Sabbath
Guess Who
Grand Funk Railroad
That's all I can remember. Very foggy memory. I think my hearing suffered the most with Blue Cheer and Grand Funk Railroad. Led Zeppelin had the best sound across the sound spectrum. Fortunately I had my hearing tested and only my left ear is slightly below normal in the upper frequencies.