Who have you seen live?

[The Internet]

I'd love to see Sir Paul but my pocketbook would not love for me to see Sir Paul. If they had reasonable tickets or I had a benefactor...

You telling me. I was gifted tickets not once, but twice. The second time I was fourth row. I could never afford those tickets, or ANY tickets anymore.

I once asked my Dad, a musician and music freak, why he didn't go to many concerts? He said: "I saw the Beatles for five bucks. After that.....it's hard to justify paying so much money to see ANYBODY." lol.

My friends and I had waited through all the headlining bands so we could make it to a good spot by the front of the stage. It's kind of an unwritten code of concert conduct that you don't just show up at the end and try to weasel your way in front of everyone who waited for their spot. This person had me by at least 100 pounds and a good 3-4 inches of height. Her and her smaller, but still sizeable friend, decided to walk around the side edge of the crowd and then cut right in front of me. This was puzzling because this big bitch could see clear to Ohio from where she was standing probably. Some pushing ensued and she grabbed me by the back of the neck and held me down on the floor. It didn't hurt, but I was nervous about being stampeded. Luckily, another unwritten rule of concerts is that if someone falls, no matter if you know them or not, you help them up so they don't get trampled. When I stood up with the help of some kind strangers, she punched me in the face. I noticed very quickly that her punch didn't hurt due to the fact we were all so tightly crowded; she had no momentum to swing. This gave me the idea to dome-check her with my elbow about 5 times. We both got a talking to from security, but the crowd had my back so I was allowed to stay and Paulina Bunyon had to go. That said, I definitely went out the back way when the concert was over because, on level playing ground, I would need Thor's hammer or something to go against that monster and I was pretty sure she was waiting outside for me. Ultimately, was merely quick thinking that helped me in that scenario

Good going, you felled a bully!!! And escaped retaliation! Our sister was triumphant!!!!

80+ times? 😱 How did you manage to see them that much?

That's actually nothing! It's not uncommon to meet Deadheads who have 300+ shows under their belt. Every show was unique and different for so many reasons, and so if they came to your area for, say, three nights....or nine nights!....you'd go to every show. Lots of fans, including myself, sometimes traveled WITH the tour.

The Dead never went on with a setlist, they didn't even know what they were going to play. On top of that, they wouldn't repeat a song they had played the night before, or the night before that; they went through most of their entire 150 song repertoire before they'd repeat a song. Which means if you see the Dead play a song tonight, they won't play it again for three weeks, minimum. Some may never get played again, or reappear in the set for years, etc. It made every single song have a sense of occasion, that they were breaking it out just for this moment, just for this show.

On top of that, the Dead would start playing a song, and not stop. Instead of playing a song and ending, and starting another, they'd play a song and instead of ending, they would gradually "unfurl" out of the song into a unique style of "abstract" improvisation that's wholly their own, and then that would "land" on the next song, completely organically....and magically! As if the Gods had guided them to safety. So the second sets of most shows were just one long non-stop hour-and-a-half piece of continuous music.

Add to that the party that was going on in the audience, no matter how good or bad the Dead were playing that night (they could - and were encouraged to - take chances and make mistakes; they could be great, they could be awful, sometimes within the same show, lol), it was a concert experience unlike any other. No two shows were the same. It was more like going to a sporting event and/or a religious ritual ceremony (enhanced by the fact that most of the crowd is tripping on acid or mushrooms), and you get the age old saying: "There is nothing like a Grateful Dead concert."

They were terrible on record, though, don't even bother with most of their studio work. I hated them until I was dragged, kicking and screaming, to my first show. Was converted by the middle of the first set. 🙂 )


PS: Hey Cinderrr, YOU saw some great shows too. Which were your favorites?

 

[chicago]

You telling me. I was gifted tickets not once, but twice. The second time I was fourth row. I could never afford those tickets, or ANY tickets anymore.

I once asked my Dad, a musician and music freak, why he didn't go to many concerts? He said: "I saw the Beatles for five bucks. After that.....it's hard to justify paying so much money to see ANYBODY." lol.

A lot of the shows I saw including The Matches and The Donnas (which are not super well known anyway) were like $20 and under. Paramore I think at the time (before they got super huge) the tickets were like $30. Pretty sure the Macca tickets were a couple hundred (they were also a gift).

So, I'm with your dad on this one. I think I'd rather hear him tell the stories than pay to see some of these bands haha

 

[alwayslaughing]

Yeah - sometimes the bands or venues get the money and I guess that's okay...I understand the need to cover building and facilities costs and so forth, plus inflation... but Ticketmaster is a complete racket. Not just the taxes and fees, but the way they show/don't show tickets in a venue to drive up prices, and all their other shady practices. Of course as long as the bands let em do it, and as long as we let em do it, not much to be done.

All that said, I don't blame your dad at all.

 

[The Internet]

A lot of the shows I saw including The Matches and The Donnas (which are not super well known anyway) were like $20 and under. Paramore I think at the time (before they got super huge) the tickets were like $30. Pretty sure the Macca tickets were a couple hundred (they were also a gift).

So, I'm with your dad on this one. I think I'd rather hear him tell the stories than pay to see some of these bands haha

I remember The Donnas, definitely! I actually had the chance to see them years ago and I forgot what happened, but I ended up not going. Happy to hear they were good! (They do a great cover of "Drive My Car", like a note for note recreation...but with them singing it! It's funny how hearing a song with the gender switched can change a song's meaning. Like Aretha singing Otis' "Respect". Or The Raincoats singing "Lola"! There's a gender-bender for you! Anyways, The Donnas doing "Drive My Car" is one of those, to me anyways.)

Yeah, it sucks when you go see Dylan....and he starts a song......and you're leaning in, with your ear.....and it takes a full two-minutes before you can say: "I think.......I think he's playing......oh my god.....he's playing 'Blowing In The Wind'!" lol "I think he's singing Like A Rolling Stone....can't be sure!" lol

Chuck Berry - that's another one I'd love to see. I bet that was a fun show. He is/was a charming performer.

He was fun! A total mess, like all of his shows! He always played with a pick-up band, and just would march onstage, having never met any of 'em, tune up his guitar (onstage), and then launch right into song after song, not telling the band the key or the title, nothing, lol.

Years later, I worked with his niece. When she told me Chuck Berry was her uncle, I actually fell to my knees and kissed the ground. lol. Didn't think twice about it! 🙂

My list. I'm probably forgetting a few, will add those later.

Genesis. (with Peter Gabriel.)
Santana.
Mott the Hoople.
Uriah Heep.
The Doobie Brothers.
Electric Light Orchestra.
Styx.
Bob Seger.
Kansas.
Chicago.
The Beach Boys.
Peter Frampton.
Heart.
Fleetwood Mac.
REO Speedwagon.
Robin Trower.
Todd Rundgren.
Jethro Tull.
Stevie Ray Vaughn.
Albert Collins.
Roy Buchanan.
The Rolling Stones.
ZZ Top.
Arlo Guthrie.
Lightnin' Hopkins.
Leon McAuliffe.

Bugman! What a list!!!!

Genesis WITH Gabriel. Wow. That must have been amazing! Not to mention theatrical!

Roy Buchanan! Fuckin' A!

Some of these, I'm curious as to which tours/years you saw them on. Tull. Heart. Stones.

You saw Lightnin' Hopkins! You ARE a Texan! lol. And damn, Albert Collins, awesome!

Not many on the TMF can boast having seen Leon MaCullife, that's for sure! I would wager only Bugman can lay claim to that!

 

[tklee88]

Saw The Grateful Dead over 80 times, lol.
Sun Ra
The Ramones
Pete Seeger
Santana
Bob Dylan (on the same bill as Santana! lol)
Jane's Addiction
Ornette Coleman
Deerhoof
Deerhunter, lol
Paul Simon
Paul McCartney
Robyn Hitchcock
The Melvins
Bad Brains
H.R. (solo)
Fela
Iggy Pop
Ringo Starr with Jack Bruce and Dave Edmunds
Joe Walsh
Elvis Costello
Sonny Burgess
Bo Diddley
Chuck Berry
Bjork with Tricky
Alex Chilton
Richard Thompson (with David Byrne)
Marc Ribot
Larry Harlow
Eliot Smith (last ever show)
Grant Hart (from Husker Du)
Ginger Baker
Rick Danko & Levon Helm
The Meat Puppets
Bongwater
The Neville Brothers
Dr. John
Sting (opened for the Dead, lol)
The Violent Femmes (also opened for the Dead, if you can believe it, ha! Also saw them at The Pier with the next two acts)
The Pogues
Mojo Nixon
Sonny Sharrock
Elvin Jones
The Roches
Franz Ferdinand
Jonathan Richman
R.E.M. (at a Good Skates in 1984, lol)

Damn this list is long, I'll quit here, I know there's more.

Fun thread, though!

Oh my god, just stop 😛.

I’ve seen so many “indie” and “underground” people in my teens, I can’t even begin. My favorite performance was seeing my favorite band mewithoutyou.

 

[alwayslaughing]

mewithoutyou! I'd see them if they came round here again.

 

[tklee88]

mewithoutyou! I'd see them if they came round here again.

Word 🙂

 

[Huulle]

Bugman, your list is pretty amazing! And The Internet, 80 + Grateful Dead concerts? How in the world does someone see anything that often? 😀 it's pretty impressive, though!

My list would be mostly metal bands. I go to a lot of black/death metal concerts, all kinds of underground gigs and such that not many would most likely have heard of.
Of the bands that are more famous, though, some from the top of my head would go something like this:

Slayer (YAAAHHH SLAYEEERR!!!!)
Judas Priest
Death Angel
Kiss
Danzig
Anthrax
Lamb of God
Mark Knopfler (A bit different than the rest, but still amazing artist!)
Mastodon
Alice in Chains
Etc etc...

Currently I'm eagerly waiting for Diamond Head later this fall, I already got the tickets and couldn't be happier! I never thought I'd get to see them live! I hope they play a lot of the old stuff.

Damn, seeing Slayer for the last time late last year was a touching moment. The guys are doing their final tour and it was visible that they know how few gigs they have left. Especially their singer Tom Araya, who stayed behind on the stage after the show, just wandering around and looking at the audience. After a while, he stepped on the mic and just said "I'm gonna miss you guys" and walked away. I am pretty sure all of the audience knew they're going to miss seeing Slayer live too.

 

[alwayslaughing]

Mark Knopfler (A bit different than the rest, but still amazing artist!)

Of this, I'm jealous. He's an incredible musician but seems like the kind of guy that would be a great storyteller. So humble, but interesting.

 

[Huulle]

Of this, I'm jealous. He's an incredible musician but seems like the kind of guy that would be a great storyteller. So humble, but interesting.

He is pretty amazing. A lot of his work nowadays is more folk-oriented than blues rock, but he still gets out some really good stuff every now and then! I wish I could sit him down for a beer and have him tell me about making music. I'm sure it would be really educational!

 

[alwayslaughing]

No doubt! Guys like that: Knopfler, McCartney... guys who've been making music for 50+ years and who have so many stories to tell about recording, touring, playing... I'd love to just sit and listen to the stories for hours. I don't think it'd ever get old.

 

[Bugman]

Oh man, I'd love to have seen ELO...anything with Jeff Lynne.

It was a great show. I was a big ELO fan back then and still enjoy their old stuff.

 

[Bugman]

Bugman! What a list!!!!

Genesis WITH Gabriel. Wow. That must have been amazing! Not to mention theatrical!

Roy Buchanan! Fuckin' A!

Some of these, I'm curious as to which tours/years you saw them on. Tull. Heart. Stones.

You saw Lightnin' Hopkins! You ARE a Texan! lol. And damn, Albert Collins, awesome!

Not many on the TMF can boast having seen Leon MaCullife, that's for sure! I would wager only Bugman can lay claim to that!

Yeah, that was not long before Gabriel left the band.

Roy seemed to be sober that night but the venue stunk. It was a cavernous bar with terrible acoustics. The place wasn't built for live music.

Let's see, I saw Tull twice. The first show was 1975 I think. The second time they headlined a triple bill with Trower and Rundgren at Arrowhead Stadium. 1978 I think.

The Heart show was also a triple bill with the Mac and Frampton. He was touring to support that double live album which would have been '77 or so.

I saw ZZ Top and the Stones at the Astrodome in 1981.

Saw Lightnin' at a Blues Festival in Hermann Park south of downtown Houston. I'm pretty sure that was his last show because he died less than a year later. And to sweeten the pot he was followed by Koko Taylor. Can't believe I left her off my list.

Leon I saw at the Texas State Chili Championship in 1982 in San Marcos, about 30 miles south of Austin.

Two more I forgot - Manfred Mann's Earth Band, at a restored art deco theater in Kansas City. It was a pretty intimate venue, only seated around 300. Also saw Bob Welch with his band Paris at the same theater.

Oh yeah, Albert Collins - saw him three times at a bar on Washington Ave. in Houston. A cool old art deco building that had been a bank. At some point every show he would step off stage, walk down the aisle and out the door, jamming the entire time. People would follow him outside, dancing on the sidewalk and out in the street.

 

[The Internet]

The Heart show was also a triple bill with the Mac and Frampton. He was touring to support that double live album which would have been '77 or so.

.

Bugman, I just have to focus on ONE show:

So you saw Frampton, Heart AND Fleetwood Mac....all on the same bill....IN 1977. I mean, THAT'S the year you'd want to see ANY of those bands!!!! Frampton's doing "Comes Alive", Heart has their first great album, with "Magic Man", and Fleetwood Mac has just put out "Rumours". Wow. And you just KNOW that THOSE bands played ALL their biggest tunes. The only way it could be more '76/'77 was if Boston was added to the bill, lol.

Ok, so on THAT night, from where YOU were sitting....who was the best band of the night? And who was the weakest? (I have my guesses, but I shan't say!) 😉

Oh wow! Deadheads are incredibly dedicated aren't they? I'm not too familiar with The Grateful Dead but going by your description of their shows, maybe i'll give them a chance if they come near me. 😉

Alas they are no more since Jerry Garcia died. But Netflix has an EXCELLENT four-hour documentary about them that's so-far the best way to get a sense of them. It's called "A Long Strange Trip". Very well-done documentary.

I saw RHCP at a festival (as i did with most of my list). I didn't plan on seeing them at first but everyone i knew was talking about them coming. So i stayed the whole day at the fest waiting for them to come. I'm glad i chose to see them as they were really good live. I remember how they played Dani California and everyone sang along to the whole song. That part was the most memorable.

Great live band.

 

[spreadeaglenow]

Ramones
Misfits
Circle jerks
Robert plant
Jimmy page
Pink floyd
Rolling stones
The firm
Crosby stills nash and young
Santana
Chicago
Rush
Aerosmith
Deep purple
Guns and roses
Bob dillan
Tom Petty
Fleetwood Mac
Stevie nicks
Bad brains
Suicidal tendencies
Metallica
Slayer
Judas priest
Iron maiden
Ted Nugent
Frank Zappa
Roger waters
Dead Kennedys
Black flag
Ozzy
Ronnie James Dio
Motley Crue
Ac⚡dc
U2
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Boston
Al dimeola
Jeff beck
That's all I can think of for now but I know there's mor

 

[HallKogan]

Poison (3x, always a lot of fun)

Enuff Z’Nuff

Warrant

Quiet Riot (R.I.P. Frankie Banali)

Faster Pussycat

Winger

Cinderella

Skid Row

Vince Neil

Vains of Jenna

Ratt

Alice Cooper (my bachelor party)

I’m also on DeviantArt
https://www.deviantart.com/storyteller678


TMF Together 2019 [emoji486]

 

[chicago]

in no particular order -

The Donnas
The Matches
The Von Bondies
The Temptations
The Beach Boys
Paul McCartney
Paramore
Hot Hot Heat
Flogging Molly
The Casualties

think that's all I can remember now

 

[pacattack]

Primus
Phish
Ween
The Dead
Foo Foghters
POD
System of A Down
Papa Roach (lol)
Paul McCartney
Jack White
The Pixies
Keller Williams
The Red Elvises (sadly no longer the same member lineup)
Some pop/alternative band one hit wonder that was popular in middle school during the 90s... Everclear? Not Everlast... I think it was Everclear.
Numerous solo Les Claypool projects
David Grisman
George Clinton and P-Funk
Medeski Martin and Wood with and without John Scofield
Perry Ferrel (the lead from Jane's Addiction. So good)
Moe
Umphree's McGee
Lotus
Soundtribe Sector 9 (I think)
Disco Bisquits
Emancipator
The Allman Brothers (what was left of them. Still killed it)
Ummmm.... many others I can't remember...

And countless local musicians who want to be celebrities... :eyeroll: