Posted on 03/08/2025 2:36:11 PM PST by Fuzz
I e always wanted to see ZZTop. Whenever they’ve been nearby, I was out of town. How sad.
I saw Clarence Gatemouth Brown at the Zoo Bar also. Hard to remember all those names after 40 years. Second time I saw Robert Cray he was the opening act for Clapton on an arena tour around 2007.
You saw JJ Cale?!
I’m envious.
I’d love to go to a show on his upcoming Bigger & Weirder Tour but everywhere I’ve looked the prices are crazy high. They’ve already sold out in a lot of places.
I attended a Fine Arts college from 1974 to 1979.
I loved my years in Columbus, Ohio.
This was during the days football coach Woody Hayes was the ultimate Mister Big at Ohio State.
Different than Ludwig...
Not too many for me.
Gordon Lightfoot
Fleetwood Mac
Rod Stewart
Doobie Brothers
Alabama
Toby Keith with Trace Adkins
Passed up seeing Harry Chapin around 1977 approx.
I may have forgotten something/someone?
My SIL and BIL shared Trucks Tedeschi Band with us. We’ve enjoyed them.
Oh.
Well, yeah.
Camper Van Beethoven.
College V B dorm. CVB
Santa Cruz.
Flying Burrito Brothers…that’s pretty cool.
Wow, nice long list!
Most of the acts I’ve seen have been folk acts in small venues.
First concert experience per se was my folks took me to see the Glenn(-less) Miller Orchestra (mostly they didn’t want me to stay at home along, I’m guessing).
Same venue a few years later (1974) Bill Cosby.
Jethro Tull, opening act was Gary Wright (1975). Saw Tull again probably 30 years later.
Todd and Utopia (three times, 1976, 1977, sometime in the early 80s).
When I got to college I used to walk the half mile or so to the local saloon when they’d bring in various acts — 1994, Tantrum, regional prog band Straight Light, a bar band called Ro Z, a bunch of others, all were either no cover or were really cheap).
My folk act experiences started in ‘77 or ‘78, went on until perhaps 15 years ago, 50 or so different acts. Peter ‘Madcat’ Ruth was among the first I saw, and I’ve seen him a LOT of times since then. Saw the late Stan Rogers (twice, the second time less than a year before his untimely) and years later his brother and former sideman, Garnet Rogers, in Ann Arbor (and I’ve seen Garnet a second time, probably late 80s?).
Leo Kottke (first time was 1978; have seen him about six times, in three different cities). One of his shows was during that Guitar Summit tour he organized; Joe Pass had fallen ill during that, so he wasn’t there, and in fact he died soon after).
Pat Metheny Group (opened for Leo in 1978, Kottke is huge around here; saw PMG perhaps five years later, when Naná Vasconcelos was in the lineup, and probably they’d changed bass players and/or drummers).
Also during my college years I saw Martin Mull (the opening act was something like the Reverend Billy Sheets?) and in a different time and place Steve Martin.
At the old auditorium (it’s been replaced) I saw Stevie Ray Vaughn (that guy was a stone killer) and later REM (the opening act was Camper Van Beethoven).
I used to have a connection through a co-worker who knew one of the local airfaces and got a lot of free tickets to sponsored shows at one of the mid-sized venues (it got demolished in the past 3-4 years). Saw DiVinyls, Diving for Pearls, Black Crowes, loads of others that slip my mind.
I’ve been to the Syracuse (NY) Blues Festival, those were all regional acts, in fact, one of the solo guitarists (okay, so he had backing musicians) smoked everyone else there, then wandered off to watch the rest of the show and his babe had set up their blanket right next to ours. :^)
Saw Johnny “Clyde” Copeland, Gatemouth Brown, and a bunch of other blues acts at different times and places over a period of 20-25 years. There use to be free concerts in the summers, “Blues on the Mall”, and while I’ve rarely watched a complete show, I’ve seen 20 or 30 acts, one time hanging out with a retired pimp I know a little. Hey, he saw me and waved me over to where he was sitting, what was I supposed to do, be impolite?
At DeVos Hall in Grand Rapids:
Bruce Hornsby and the Range (twice, about a year apart).
Black Crowes (a second time).
Joe Satriani.
Sam Kinison, and later the Diceman, plus their opening acts.
The aforementioned second Tull experience.
Tommy Emmanuel.
In the late 1990s I saw Jeff Beck (IMHO the best ever), the opening act was Johnny something, at VanAndel Arena. Also saw AC/DC (and some opening act) there around 2008 or something.
I’ve seen some better-known folk acts, including Roger McGuinn (one of his solo tours; that was in the 1990s, in Ann Arbor), and Chris Hillman and whomever he duos with (circa 2006, down by Kalamazoo somewhere).
Okay, so, I didn’t know until I got started how long and boring this was going to be. These started to come back to me. And I don’t count the Grand Rapids Festival of the Arts, that’s mostly ballet class recitals or some other locals, but I do count The Willeys, I’ve seen them there a few times, and one of my roommates (lead guitarist) in the 1980s did a fine job in the bivocational band he was in at the time.
Paul Whiteman’s Band
We saw The Outfield play at a UF Frathouse.
I saw XTC on what was probably their last tour. It was memorable. Got my ticket stub from that one.
My son sings a great version of “Wish You Were Here”. I get it. So sorry for your loss. I’d be a basket case without my hubby.
Barnum and Bailey Circus Orchestra 1943
Roger McGuinn is a great one.
1944 too the year Barnum n bailey it burned up I was in that fire but rescued d by my mom
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