Some of my more memorable concerts:
First concert: James Taylor, early/mid 70's
Seals and Croft (1975?)
Aerosmith (1975)
(My 21 YO niece went to see Aerosmith just this past summer. Where does the time go?)
Saw Queen four times. Always a great show, but I did like their earlier stuff much better.
World Series of Rock: Cleveland Stadium. Bob Seeger, Foghat, J. Giles Band, Peter Frampton, and another act I don't recall. Huge show, perfect weather. (1975? Around that time, anyway.)
Led Zeppelin, April 28, 1977. The date is etched in my mind. By all accounts, it wasn't one of their better tours, but it's still one of the two or three best shows I've seen.
Yes (opening with Donovan, of all people). Good show, crappy seats. It was an in-the-round show, and we were on the wong side of the round.
Eagles (Hotel California tour)
Inxs - 1988?
Another very memorable show was seeing Ron Wood and the New Barbarians in Chicago, at the Amphitheatre. (1978) Lousy place for a show, poor acoustics and many bad seats (obstructed views, etc.) Fantastic show, though. Ron Wood and Keith Richards, Stanley Clarke on bass, and Junior Wells as special guest. Among my top three.
Heart, with Ian Hunter - Chicago. Another Amphitheatre show. Floor seats, about halfway back. OK show, nothing to write home about.
Tina Turner, with Wang Chung - Chicago (1987) TT is an amazing performer. Great show, excellent seats.
Quite a few live jazz shows. I lived in Chicago for a number of years, and did professional photography on the side during that time. I regularly shot the Chicago Jazz Festival, when it was five nights. Five acts appeared each night. Highlights: Cab Calloway, Winton Marsalis, Bradford Marsalis, George Benson, Sarah Vaughn, Ray Charles, Stephane Grappelli, Jack McDuff, Woody Herman, Art Blakey, and literally too many others to even name. And the best seats ever - the shooters pit at the foot of the stage
Steely Dan, Buffalo, NY. (1993) I never expected to see these guys play live, so this was a must-see event. Awsome show, OK seats.
Cheap Trick: They were playing at the NY State Fair a couple years ago. I have a Rick Nielsen guitar pick from the show. He playes like three notes, and flings the pick into the crowd.
Michael Hedges. I saw him twice, 1994 and 1996. The first time, he had Michael Manring on bass with him, and he did a lot of his keyboard stuff, which I'm not real crazy about. The venue wasn't real good, small club, everyone moshed together (no seating, except at the bar).
The second time (November 1996), was the exact opposite. Smaller club, with seating only. No crowds, no elbows and trying to see over heads. We had fifth row center, and the show was all guitar. (I really love his harp guitar work.) Probably the best show I've ever seen, or could hope to see. I bought a CD at the show (Oracle), and had it autographed, which I had never done before.
Sadly, he died in a car accident almost exactly one year later.
Richard Thompson, maybe five or so years ago. Good show, small club.
Sting, with Lyell Lovett. Lyle blew Sting away. He had his Large Band, and they were smokin'!
(I think this is my longest post ever. Pardon my bandwidth
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