72CalBear;842117842 said:

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if someone were to smoke some leaves my memory might respond..

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:p Rolled you a fat one. Continue please...

I've seen a lot of great- and I mean the Ramones!

but the very best?

Stones 1973 in LA- there is a reason they are the greatest rock n roll band in the world and they were at their best to wow the LA crowd.

AC DC- at the Waldorf- 1977- beyond awesome- Angus Young on a table right in front of me- school boy outfit- best riffs in all of rock...

davetdds;842117843 said:

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I went to most of the Day on the Green Concerts that CalFan2 went to. ( seeing I was with him at the time.) The best ones to me Heart, Peter Frampton, and Led Zeplins last USA concert. I have seen America at Chronicle Pavilion, The Eagles like 3 times Elton John and Billy Joel couple a years ago, and believe it or not Barry Manilow at the Shark Tank also a couple a years ago. Good times

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How was the Frampton show?

The Bacchanal, San Diego, 1978 or so. The Dead, Baltimore War Memorial, Fall, 1972. U2, SF War Memorial, 1983?. THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA MARCHING BAND--any Saturday in the fall at Memorial Stadium!! GO BEARS!!!

XXXBEAR;842117849 said:

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Stones 1973 in LA- there is a reason they are the greatest rock n roll band in the world and they were at their best to wow the LA crowd.

AC DC- at the Waldorf- 1977- beyond awesome- Angus Young on a table right in front of me- school boy outfit- best riffs in all of rock...

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Wow. Now these make me very jealous... Two of my absolute all-time favorites at just about the perfect time for both.

Saw AC/DC at San Jose Arena and Shorline in the 90s...always a good show.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers at the Greek in 1979 (I think Greg Kihn opened) was good as was Elvis Costello in later years at the same place. I still remember him introducing a song as, "This is for all of the lovers up there in the high seats telling one another lies in the dark called 'Torn Between Two Lovers'" and then singing "Alison".

But my personal favorite was The Replacements at Tipitina's in New Orleans in 1991. Husker Du at McAlister Auditorium at Tulane around the same time was good. Big Audio Dynamite at Storyville was also good.

The best show I saw at Storyville was Warren Zevon with X as the opening act. X was amazing, touring in support of "See How We Are."

Jazzfest when I was there had many gems including Lucinda Williams, Kanda Bongo Band and Fats Domino.

liverflukes;842117850 said:

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How was the Frampton show?

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That's when he was at the top. " Show me the way ", " Do you feel like I do " etc... He was the top dog then. Good concert.

A concert at Harmon Gym, of all places in the fall of 1966.

First band was Jefferson Airplane when the lead singer was Seine Anderson, not Grace Slick. Anderson was pregnant at the time and left the band to have her baby and never came back.

The other band was the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Both bands were super and there were no seats! Just a stage and the open gym floor, where people wandered around, danced, etc. You could go up and lean on the stage if you wanted, and I did.

Actually, there were bleacher seats around the outside of the BB court where some people sat for a while.

There was also the first light show I ever saw -- and one of the best. A huge screen above the stage showing colored circles of light pulsing to the beat of the music. also several screens around the outside showing odd movies.

=======================

Also can't forget Bob Dylan at the Berkeley Community Theater (row 20) with a surprise appearance by Joan Baez -- wearing a skirt and makeup! I am not making this up. This was a few days before she played on the steps of Sproul during FSM.

Dylan played the best harmonica solo I have ever heard in the middle of Don't Think Twice.

I think the Airplane/Butterfield concert was about five dollars and Dylan was eight.

bearister;842117371 said:

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They played a dance at St. Elizabeth's High School before they hit it big. Eddie Money played dances at our frat. Fee: $500. He was great and a good guy.

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When he wasn't playing frats, he played at Jerry's Stop Sign on University... man those were good days.

bearister;842117410 said:

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1971 Slim Whitman at Whiskey a Go Go. During a particularly robust yodel, everyone's eyeglasses shattered.

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You'll like this video

SCTV was so funny.

As for the best concert:

GoBears58;842117637 said:

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I also forgot that Echo and the Bunnymen and New Order played the Greek my first week in school back in '87. Was wild walking from the dorms at Clark Kerr to such a great concert and venue.

X also played live in the Sproul ballroom that year too..

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I was at that one too. Gene Loves Jezebel opened and warmed up the crowd by saying, "It's great to be in San Francisco!" Echo and the Bunnymen were great. That was before Ian McCulloch lost his voice. New Order, my favorite group at the time, was disappointing as usual.

OldBlue1999;842117344 said:

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BB King at some tiny little auditorium in downtown Berkeley. Don't remember the name, might've even been BHS gym? Many years ago when I was in HS. Unreal. So small and intimate and informal. Just sat in awe and soaked it all in. One of my treasured memories, and I'm not really a concert guy (but then again this was not really a concert per se, that's one of the reasons I enjoyed it so much).

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Yep....Berkeley Community Theater, on campus of BHS. It's a GREAT venue..... Saw BB King, Herbie Hancock, Billy Cobham, KC Sunshine Band, Genesis, Elton, Grateful Dead, Huey Lewis, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jimmy Cliff, Van Morrison, Bonnie Raitt,Weather Report, Chick Corea I'm sure I saw others as well.

MoragaBear;842117351 said:

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Day on the Green freshman year at Cal with the Police, The Fixx, Thompson Twins, Madness and Oingo Boingo in '83. The Police were incredible. I actually picked up a dvd recently of them at that concert behind the scenes. Wish they had the other acts, too.

Miss the old Day on the Greens. They had some amazing lineups.

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No f'n way! I was there, too!
Is this youtube link the same as the dvd you mentioned?
Yes, that was lots of fun. Great weather that day, too!

Stuart Copeland was the bomb!

Been to so many, too many to recall.
Once we had 2nd row to the Stones at RFK in DC. Not that I'm a big stones fan, but it was raining (summer rain back east not cold) super hard and someone in our group (bro's friend) was smart to bring some Glad trash bags, so we ripped a hole in the bottom and wore them like a poncho. Worked great. The stadium was awash, but our bodies were dry.

Since we were so far away from the lieu, we just emptied all our beverages right there in the 2nd row, on the lawn, in the rain, while the band played on.
Several times. Who wants to miss any of the show when you've got 2nd row?

I can still feel the blinding heat from the fire explosion to start the show!
1989.

In 94, saw the Eagles Hell Freezes Over, same place. 4th row.
Awesome.

Page and Plant at Concord Pavilion in about 98 was great and disappointing at the same time. Led Zepplin at least in my lifetime (too young for when they were going before), but Plant's voice was already gone, so.... those soaring vocals on the tapes just wasn't there.

Guns N Roses in Prague in 92 was pretty cool. Axel threw a fit and dumped a speaker on the crowd, threw his mic and stormed off. Slash and the bassist rushed in to the spot where Rose had vacated and jammed to soothe the crowd. I was laughing. Typical dumbass! Afterwards, when I hung out for picks or sticks the roadie was like, "Whoa, what are you doing here?" (American, english speaker...) Euro-slumming, what else?!
Eastern Europe had JUST opened. I was there 2 years prior when they carted off Checkpoint Charlie and the wave of people pored thru the border gates unchecked. Two days before we had to buy visas.

But I digress...

Cal_Fan2;842117357 said:

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God, I went to so many concerts in my youth it would be hard to pick. Some were crazy, some loud, some energetic, some more fun cause of the friends I was with and some just cause of the music and vibe. Most of my concert going was in the mid 70s and 80s so not as much current groups. Stones at the Cow Palace was awesome and I know this will sound weird, but Elton John puts on one of the best concerts for a solo act. I have to admit, during my high school years and after, I went to pretty much all the initial years of the "Day on the Green" at the Oakland Coliseum put on by Bill Graham, where 2-4 mainstream bands played every summer. Not the best venue but I had a blast rocking out and getting wasted in those early days of summer...... Some of the groups totally didn't go with each other but no one cared...I mean, who would think the Dead would be playing with the Beach Boys....LOL

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Cal Fan2, we seem to have the same tastes. I saw many, if not most of the DOG shows .......
1976
Day On The Green # 1 & 2: Peter Frampton, Fleetwood Mac, Gary Wright, Status Quo (4/25 only), UFO (5/1 only) (April 25, 1976 / May 1, 1976)
Day On The Green #3: Boz Scaggs, Tower of Power, Santana, Jeff Beck, Journey, Nils Lofgren (June 5, 1976)
Day On The Green #5: The Beach Boys, America, Elvin Bishop, John Sebastian (July 2, 1976)
Day On The Green #6: Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, Loggins and Messina, Renaissance (August 3, 1976)
Day on the Green #7): The Who, Grateful Dead (October 9 & 10, 1976)
1977
Day On The Green #1: Fleetwood Mac, The Doobie Brothers, Gary Wright, Steve Gibbons Band (May 7, 1977).
978
Day On The Green #1: The Beach Boys, Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton, Elvin Bishop, Norton Buffalo (May 28, 1978)
Day On The Green #4: The Rolling Stones, Santana, Eddie Money, Peter Tosh, Toots and the Maytals (July 26, 1978)

1979
Day On The Green #1: Boston, Sammy Hagar, Eddie Money, Robert Fleischman (May 6, 1979)
1982
Day On The Green #1: Journey, Santana, Toto, Gamma, The Tubes (June 26,
1983
Day On The Green #2: Simon & Garfunkel (August 20, 1983)
1987
Day On The Green #1: Bob Dylan, Grateful Dead (July 24, 1987).
1988
Day On The Green # 2: Pink Floyd (April 21, 1988).
1989
In Concert Against AIDS Benefit: Grateful Dead, Tracy Chapman, John Fogerty, Los Lobos, Joe Satriani, Tower Of Power (May 27, 1989)
Day On The Green 2: The Who (August30, 1989)

A lot of dead shows...had great opening acts. Los Lobos, Jimmy Cliff, Dylan and the Dead wad great. The Boreal Concerts were tons of fun (stayed at the Cal Ski Lodge and hiked over) and the Ventura shows in the mid 80s with Jimmy Cliff opening. They were playing the typical pre-dead stuff over the PA, and they started cranking "willing" by Little Feat and the crowd went nuts. Then Jimmy Cliff came out and gave the show of a lifetime. THat was a show that I got in for free on a "miracle" ticket.

The best small show was The Band at Larry Blakes (no Robbie Robertson) in the mid 80's. Right before Richard Manual killed himself.

Pink Floyd at the Coliseum in 88, the stones in 83, and the talking heads and the pretenders at the greek in 83/84.

bearister;842117410 said:

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1971 Slim Whitman at Whiskey a Go Go. During a particularly robust yodel, everyone's eyeglasses shattered.

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Only been to Whiskey once.....saw my roommates band Buggs Tomorrow.. anybody here seen them?


Getting tired....
Of course saw Greg Kihn at Keystone, Dylan, Santana, Gypsy Kings, George Benson, Dead, Nora Jones, Doobie Bros, Peter Gabriel, Boz Scaggs. Earth Wind Fire, Bonnie Raitt, TOP.....and the Dali Lama at the Greek.

Then there's the Concord Pavillion Summer shows when you could bring in your own wine and beer.

My first "rock concert" was Haymarket Riot, John Muir School Auditorium, Dads and Sons Dinner, circa 1964-65. Peter Barsotti went on to become Bill Graham's right hand man.....RIP Bill and Pete.

But if I had to pick one, ok 3, shows they would have to be........Bob Marley at the Paramount Theater in 1976, Greek Theater 1978 and Oakland Arena 1979.

oobay;842117905 said:

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I was at that one too. Gene Loves Jezebel opened and warmed up the crowd by saying, "It's great to be in San Francisco!" Echo and the Bunnymen were great. That was before Ian McCulloch lost his voice. New Order, my favorite group at the time, was disappointing as usual.

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too funny.. did you see NO and Chemical Brothers at Kaiser in '04 or '05? that was an awesome show.

Bauhaus reunion at the Warfield in '97 was also amazing...

Just took my son to see the Specials last month at the Warfield too. Passing the torch to the next generation.

This is a great thread, if for nothing else to bring back memories of music long forgotten.

My wife was telling me about when she saw Tower of Power at the Paramount in Oakland. She, a girlfriend and 4 other white women, total of 6 in the crowd. She loved it! First time she lied to her mother about where she was going, because her mother would have freaked at the situation.

Took my 10 year old son to Gypsy kings at the Greek for his 1st concert. He kept on asking us about that 'funny' smell in the air. That was an intersting conversation.

GoBears58;842117928 said:

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too funny.. did you see NO and Chemical Brothers at Kaiser in '04 or '05? that was an awesome show.

Bauhaus reunion at the Warfield in '97 was also amazing...

Just took my son to see the Specials last month at the Warfield too. Passing the torch to the next generation.

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I saw the Specials in a small club in Burlington, VT in 1997. The show was amazing - really a good time.

I am very excited to see the Eagles this summer for the first time.

The most awesome set of concerts I have ever attended were at the Berkeley Jazz Festival in 1967 and I think 1969. The first one I attended was in Harmon Gym but the other at the Greek Theater.

These concerts were like a jazz education and included great performances by the likes of Miles Davis (brooding at the side of the stage), Herbie Hancock, the Modern Jazz quartet, the Gerald Wilson Big Band, Bill Evans, John Handy and Big Mama Thornton, among others. That's the first year I attended.

The second time: Charlie Mingus, Cannonball Adderly Quintet, Sonny Rollins, Nina Simone, Max Roach, Albert King, Pharaoh Sanders and others.
Among the others was a very young Roberta Flack and the Edwin Hawkins Singers (Oh Happy Day!).

I was very indifferent to jazz before attending these, but I quickly became hooked and gained a lifetime respect and love for Jazz and these
musicians.

The Grateful Dead concerts are all pretty much a blur, but some memorable ones:

- 20th anniversary concert at the Greek in Berkeley. The sets were ok, but my girlfriend and I had flown into town from Boston for the weekend and we miraculously found two tickets.

- Worchester, Mass. in the 80s. Bill Walton brought Larry Bird and Danny Ainge to that one. Weird to see them onstage with Jerry, Bob and the band.

-RFK stadium in D.C. Interesting venue. If you go up to the top of the stadium, you can view the Washington Monument and the Capitol while a haze of smoke wafts up from the field.

The list is long, but some memorable ones (in no particular order):

Paul McCartney - RFK Stadium in DC on the 4th of Jul. Quite a birthday party.

Pink FLoyd - RFK Stadium in DC. That was the tour that they filmed "Delicate Sound Of Thunder". Maybe the best light show I've seen.

The Police - The Cow Palace. "Walking On The Moon" was surreal.

Talking Heads - A small club in Boston. Crazy times.

The B52s & The Pretenders - Coors Ampitheater (now Cricket Wireless) in Chula Vista. A strange venue. It is right on the border with Mexico and in the distance you can see the massive border fence, lighted up like daylight with Border Patrol vehicles cruising back and forth. Great concert, though.

Bonnie Raitte & Chris Isaak - Great Woods, Mass. We had corporate sponsor tickets & sat in the second row.

Robert Plant & Jimmy Paige - An indoor rodeo arena in Albuquerque. A gritty, sweaty, wild skankfest.

The Eurythmics - A small club in Boston, so we were five feet from the stage. Annie Lennox is one wild, crazy woman.

Peter Gabriel - Irvine Meadows Ampitheater. I took my friend and her three kids, ages 10, 12 & 14 to their first concert. "What's that funny smell?"

Sade - Coors Ampitheater, Chula Vista. I took my friend and her 12 year old daughter as a birthday present. They loved it.

George Thorogood - House Of Blues, Aneheim. I took a friend who was originally from Costa Rica. Afterwards, she told me it was the first time she understood what it felt like to be an American citizen. We danced until we were soaked with sweat.

Roger Waters - Coachella Music Festival. For the second set, they performed the entire "Dark Side Of The Moon" album. That was the concert where the giant floating pig broke free and drifted off into the night sky. It was found a couple of days later in someone's front yard in Palm Desert.

Good Times.

The memory of attending super-group concerts at low ticket prices could be one of the only advantages of age.

Two I can recall:

Crosby Stills & Nash at a free concert in Golden Gate Park in October 1969.

Les McCann at the Berkeley Jazz Festival at the Greek Theatre in May 1974. I can still hear "Compared to What"

BGolden;842118034 said:

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The Grateful Dead concerts are all pretty much a blur, but some memorable ones:

- 20th anniversary concert at the Greek in Berkeley. The sets were ok, but my girlfriend and I had flown into town from Boston for the weekend and we miraculously found two tickets.

- Worchester, Mass. in the 80s. Bill Walton brought Larry Bird and Danny Ainge to that one. Weird to see them onstage with Jerry, Bob and the band.

-RFK stadium in D.C. Interesting venue. If you go up to the top of the stadium, you can view the Washington Monument and the Capitol while a haze of smoke wafts up from the field.

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I saw The Dead in 1972 at the Berkeley Community Theater. I believe they played for 4 hours. The days when Garcia's hair and beard were jet black.

1. Ray Charles in a little cowboy bar in Modesto
2. Led Zeppelin at Day on the Green in '77
3. Neil Young and Crazy Horse at an unannounced show at the Trocadero
4. Cold Chisel with Jimmy Barnes in Canberra Australia
5. Edgar Winter in Modesto in '77 I think
And
6. Elvis Costello with opener Flock of Seagulls (really) at Wolftrap
And
7. Rush opening for Ted Nugent at Winterland

liverflukes;842117850 said:

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How was the Frampton show?

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In 1974 I went to see Texas blues man Johnny Winter at Winterland. The warm up band was an unknown band by the name of Frampton's Camel. I was thinking here we go again, some mediocre English rock band wasting my time. Frampton blew the roof off the place. I felt sorry for Mr. Winter. He had been upstaged and I 'm not sure he wanted to even take the stage. The rest is history. Two years later Frampton sold out the LA Coliseum 3 days in a row. Then over exposure, being forced by his record label to release albums before he had written good material, and a drug problem ended his career at the same speed it took off. He was a quadruple threat: looks, good song writer, good guitar player and good singer. Today he is still very good and has not lost it like many of his peers.

bigtuba1;842117595 said:

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The Who LA Coliseum 1982, Oakland 1992 (Both Shows)

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How dare you, Sir, fail to mention that The Clash was the opening act for that tour or that Bishop O' Dowd graduate Tim Gorman was the keyboardist for The Who for that tour. When they played at the Oakland Coliseum I had chance to go but passed to attend a Cal v Ucla football game. Perhaps one of the dumbest moves of my life.

It's really interesting to see all the stories so far and I hope this thread goes on awhile longer with more contributions and other tales as they come to mind.

I had no idea this board was so united by music and the shows we all saw in our lifetimes. :beer: Thanks for all the kind words and private messages. In case anyone was wondering what the song was that set off this thread, here you go :acclaim:


Jimi Hendix Woodstock 1969

http://vimeo.com/12762009






GO BEARS!

Steel Pulse, the Greek
Depeche Mode, LA Coliseum
Blink-182, Shoreline

Aww I forgot, Neil Young many times at The Catalyst in Santa Cruz. And Elvis Costello with Nick Lowe at the Louie Armstrong in New Orleans sometime in the late 1980's. Great thread by the way.

WoodlandBear;842118165 said:

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Aww I forgot, Neil Young many times at The Catalyst in Santa Cruz. And Elvis Costello with Nick Lowe at the Louie Armstrong in New Orleans sometime in the late 1980's. Great thread by the way.

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It never got any better than Neil Young in the early 70's at Winterland with his long hair down his back, patched torn jeans, lumberjack shirt, work boots and playing Cinnamon Girl on his Gibson Flying V cranked full volume.

Ella Fitzgerald with the The Toshiko Akiyoshi – Lew Tabackin Big Band, Greek, '77

Oscar Petersen with Count Basie, SF, '77 (can't remember the venue- it was a club)

Ray Charles at the Paramount, '76

Stones with Metallica opening for them, AT&T, '05

Maria Muldaur and the Blues Broads at Rancho Nicasio, maybe '06 or so?

Manhattan Transfer at the San Jose Jazz Festival, '08

Preservation Hall Jazz Band & Arlo Guthrie- 4th of July at the Marin County Fair, 2000
(That one was such pure Americana. Something about watching the quite old crowd for Preservation, then all the aging hippies singing along to their aging memories of "Alice's Restaurant," but then seeing so many of both groups join Woody Guthrie's son for a rousing, "This Land in Your Land," right before the 4th of July fireworks..... it was just so, so Marin- but nice.)

bearister;842118172 said:

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It never got any better than Neil Young in the early 70's at Winterland with his long hair down his back, patched torn jeans, lumberjack shirt, work boots and playing Cinnamon Girl on his Gibson Flying V cranked full volume.

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Plus he's a San Jose Shark season ticket holder.