Favorite Concert Memories?

Good ones, Ben.

I'm at a Billy Idol concert during his Rebel Yell tour and Billy's up there doing his thing for maybe half a dozen songs or so, spitting on the stage, etc., and the crowd is diggin' it, including myself. Then, in a rare moment of silence between songs, comes a single voice heard throughout the arena:

"You're an asshole, Billy!"

Billy looks out into the audience in the general direction the voice came from and says into his mic:

"Well, I'm not the one who paid good fuckin' money to come see an asshole now, am I?"

Gotta love Billy.

Ziggy Marley, down in Florida.
He and his brother, Stephen, introduced me to jerk chicken...laughed when it burned my mouth, shared Stephen's coke, and made them laugh more as Zig had to keep translating everything Stephen said in his thick accent.
Ah. Youth.
And then, as with ALL Reggae concerts....the wafting aromas of the smoke filled...er...what, mohn, you really 'tink I'm gowin' to post it 'ere mohn?

Sheesh, all mine are so boring in comparison. I gotta get out more.


1) Crowdsurfing at a Bosstones (yes, really; the Bosstones) concert and getting thrown onto the stage, where security - um - "helped" me down. With great flair and force, so I ended up back on top of the crowd. The lead singer....ack! can't remember his name...hollered "Nice dive!" in the middle of the song.

2) My very first concert: Indigo Girls, '97, in Portland, ME. It was fun and fairly tame until me and my friends, in the middle section and tired of being blocked from the the stage by building security, threw our coats over the heads of the security guys blocking the aisle and sprinted for the front, sparking a small stampede. Never did get that coat back.

That kiss from Tom Jones back in the '80s...

On stage during one of his concerts? Wow!

Another memory ... this was before a Peter Gabriel concert. We were fairly early and in our seats about forty five minutes before Gabriel was due to come on stage. It had rained heavily all day, but stopped just before we got to the stadium. Anyway, the crew were rushing around, pulling tarps off gear and doing all manner of last minute things.

Well, we hear this loud poing and one of the lighting trusses starts to fall. The cables or whatever they had holding it up had snapped on one end and it swung down in a big arc ... missing everyone and everything on the stage, some not by much at all. Talk about a scare, we're talking a twenty foot truss with perhaps two dozen heavy lamps on it. If it had hit someone, they very likely wouldn't have got up again.

The crew got it rehung, and the show went off without a hitch. Gabriel was amazing.

When I was 16 we saw Kix and Stryper at the Warner Theater in D.C. The concert was great, but even better was the fact that we rode the Metro down there and back by ourselves, which was a major step towards independence.

The first G3 concert with Vai / Satch / EJ ('97ish?). I thought I'd never feel worthy to pick up a guitar again.

Seeing Tommy Emmanuel in concert in a small Unitarian Chapel. It was the most magical concert of my life.

Seeing King's X at a small club for the first time and standing right in front of Dug Pinnick.

But the most fun ones have been when I was on the stage cuttin' loose .

III said:

But the most fun ones have been when I was on the stage cuttin' loose .

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I hear you, brother.

Back in October 1989 - The Rolling Stones were in the midst of their "Steel Wheels" tour. I saw them at Shea Stadium... Living Colour opened for them. When they finished, the entire stadium went dark and the crowd just held its breath...

Then came the opening riff of Start Me Up and fireworks went off as the stage erupted in lights and Mick and Keith...

That was cool.

It got cooler still when they did Satisfaction. We were in the mezzanine level, under the tier for the next level. As the Stones played and everyone was on their feet, my then-boyfriend and I both looked up to see the concrete actually rising and falling under the weight of the crowd. Kevin looks over at me and serious as anything says, "We're gonna die."

Needless to say, the stadium held up, the crowd was nicely stoned on the air alone (I've never smelled so much pot in one place before, ever). Best. Concert. Ever.

Next to seeing Bruce at the Meadowlands in '99... that defies description...

Slow dancing with my husband while Eric Clapton sang Beautiful Tonight . . .yeah, I'm easy.

How the most embarrassing concert ever?

1976, Fort Worth and Neil Diamond. My girlfriend and I were sitting second mezzanine right stage. Neil's sung several songs already then the band goes into a loud intro to Sweet Caroline. Neil is swaying to the music facing the audience then turns and faces the band...still swaying now giving us ladies a nice butt moment.

I scream so my girlfriend can hear me, and at the same time, Neil turns to face the audience, the music drops and the whole convention center, as well as Neil himself, heard me yell, "NICE AZZ!" People below us look up, Neil looks up and smiles, I'm still standing while Kathy quickly hides in her chair, everyone around me is laughing or chuckling then a short round of applause went out for me.

Out in the Public:

I met Boz Scaggs while he was still in high school, before he became THE Boz Scaggs.

I met Trini Lopaz while he was wrapping a big red ribbon on the black Cadallac he gave his father for Christmas in 1966 (the write-up in Parade two days later convenced my mother I did in fact meet him), while I was out for a walk.

When I was sixteen or so, I got a hookup through a friend to usher at Bill Graham shows in Berkeley and around the Bay Area. My first concert was Bette Middler at Berkeley Community Theater, followed closely by Cheech and Chong. I was hooked and ushered two or three shows every weekend for the next five or so years. So I've got a few good memories floating around in a smokey blur of memory....

I got to go backstage at an Earth Wind and Fire concert at the Oakland Arena. Met some guys in Ramsay's Lewis's band, but declined to go to a party with them after the show....

Ushered for the Grateful Dead at the Orpheum in San Francisco every show for a week. One night one of the ushers heard a rattling at the Venetian blinds. We were about four stories up. He pulled back the blinds and a guy scrambled in the window. The usher just said, "You earned it, buddy" and looked the other way.

Ushered at Bimbo's 365 Club in SF for the Tubes every night for a month. Got my mom's car towed once for parking in the Doggie Diner lot. At the end of the run, we all played a softball game together and I caught Fee Waybill's girlfriend's fly ball.

Robert Plant stepped on my foot at the Berkeley Community Theater.

I went to a Lily Tomlin show instead of my senior prom, but I don't remember a minute of it.

Bruce Springsteen, New Year's Eve at the Paramount in Oakland. That was during the phase when Boz Scaggs was showing up as a "Surprise Guest" at every concert I ushered. He was there that night too.

I went to several Days on the Green at the Oakland Coliseum...Santana, Peter Frampton, I don't even remember who else I saw. Those concerts were endurance tests: How long can you pay attention to very loud sounds while surrounded by thousands of people, at least half of whom are offering you dope?

Saw Deborah Harry at the Greek Theater. She was the first artist who really seemed bombed on stage.

Another concert at the Greek Theater, I don't remember who was performing, but they had a horn section that was in silouhette on the side of the stage, and when I looked away, up and toward the back of the theater, I could see a couple dancing -- really dancing -- under a light, also in silouhette. I don't remember the band or the music, but I remember feeling I was experiencing a Perfect Moment.

Later in life, I was fortunate enough to see Ella Fitzgerald at the Davies Symphony Hall. It was a beautiful, moving performance. The audience loved her so much, and she returned it in full force, weak as she was by that time.

Back in '84 some friends and I went and saw Rush at the Tacoma Dome. Scary Gary Moore opened up for them. (Damn, I still love his version of the Yardbirds tune Shapes of Things. That boy can play!)

Part way into Rush's set, my buddy and I wandered down from our seats and ventured into the festival seating. We were 15, young, and felt like we did something incredibly illegal by escaping the safety of our seats up above the arena. We passed a small crowd of guys, huddled together and not paying any attention to the band. I mean, what idiot goes to a Rush concert and ignores one of the best drummers in the business? Sheesh! As we got closer we could see they were passing around a small, wooden pipe. We were young but not stupid. We watched as one guy after the next lit up, coughed, and then passed it around to the next guy.

The last one in line took the pipe and sucked in a huge hit. He tilited his head back and held the smoke as long as he could. His eyes rolled up and then he exhaled high above him. He then, with a sudden burst of paranoia, jerked his head around to make sure no one was watching him smoke the weed.

Yeah, it's always good to check two minutes after the fact. That's vigilance at its finest.

Outside of that the music was phenominal, but I'm just an other middle-aged fanatic.

Pike

Public Enemy in South Carolina.

They lynched an effigy of a klansman on stage. IN SOUTH CAROLINA! It was effin brilliant.

Pirate's World.

Oh, THOSE kind of concerts.

I have memories of playing concerts, but those are of the classical (or at least symphonic, as it wasn't all classical) variety, where no one ever holds up their lighter or shouts out things that get posted to YouTube or wherever.

Always thought it would be cool to BE a rock star and give a concert, though.

Memories!

When I was 19, I went to an outdoor arena, Poplar Creek, which is no longer there to see Gene Loves Jezebel, Echo & the Bunnymen and New Order. My boyfriend at the time came to pick me up, but I was still getting ready. After keeping him company for a few minutes, my mom left and called my sister asking if she should let me go with him. He had a Mohawk, a leather Chicago police jacket, handcuffs on his jeans, a bullet bracelet and several bandanas wrapped around his leg. At that age, I had a bad attitude and refused to listen to anyone.

We arrived at the gates and they told my boyfriend he couldn’t bring in the steel tipped umbrella (it was supposed to rain that night). He ran back to the car to drop off the umbrella and came back. Then they told him he couldn’t come in with the bullet bracelet. He ran back to the car to put it in the glove compartment. Again, they wouldn’t let him in until he took off the handcuffs. By this time he was pissed, so he gave the guard his handcuffs and told him he has several others at home.

We had lawn seats and it began to pour when the first band, Gene Loves Jezebel started to play. My boyfriend grabbed someone’s plastic garbage bag, pulled me close and held it over us while people slid down the hill splashing mud everywhere. We were cold and wet, but my little punker kept me warm.

Ol' Fashioned Girl said:

That kiss from Tom Jones back in the '80s...

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This kiss, this kiss! We need details Jen, I've been hearing about it since 1980, so how's about a kiss scene? Dont tell us SHOW us!