Posted on 03/08/2025 2:36:11 PM PST by Fuzz
Was compiling a list.
U2
Peter Gabriel
Tom Petty
The alarm
Squeeze
Miles Davis
Aretha Franklin
Hothouse flowers
The Ramones
Rush
Carlos Santana
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Roberta Flack
Primus
Georgia Satellites
Tito Puente
Screaming Blue messiahs
Rem
The Mighty Lemon Drops
Smashing Pumpkins Jeff Healey
10,000 maniacs
Primus
Little Richard
Ray Charles
Echo and the Bunny men
Miracle Legion
Bruce Cockburn
New Order
Sting
Public Image Limited
Joe Jackson
The Replacements
Paul Westerberg
The Cult
The Divynals
Spyro Gyra
Bella Fleck
Bo Diddley
Buddy Guy
Pat Metheny
Hiroshima
David Brubeck
Grover Washington Jr
BB King
Pat Metheny
Tower of Power
The Sundays
Lionel Hampton
Herbie Hancock
Mel Torme
David Sanborn
Natalie Cole
Hooters
Wilson Pickett
Branford Marsalis
The Temptations
Dizzy Gillespie
Kenny G
Fabulous Thunderbirds
Bonnie Raitt
Winton Marsalis
The Smitherines
James Taylor
That sounds great!
The one musician I regret never having gone to hear in concert is John Fahey, who passed away in 2001.
I can see making a thread of "Unlikely High School Gym Performers that Freepers have seen". For me it would be José Feliciano (1966?).
Re Lovin' Spoonful, back then I memorized the lyrics to some of their songs. These days, the lines for "Old Folks" sometimes surface from those depths!
I don’t remember them all, my concert days were somewhat earlier than yours. I grew up in SoCal in the 60s. What I remember:
Ike & Tina Turner
Supremes
Byrds
Spanky and Our Gang
Bee Gees
Jefferson Airplane
Grateful Dead
Jimi Hendrix
Temptations
Ventures
Neil Diamond
Beatles
Country Joe and the Fish
Sonny & Cher
Iron Butterfly
I’m sure there are others, but the biggest are in there.
The Lovin’ Spoonful and the Strawberry Alarm Clock concerts were put on by the Willimantic State Teacher’s College ( now Eastern CT State Univ. ) . Back in 1967/8 they didn’t have a large enough building to hold the concerts so they borrowed our gymnasium .
Rev. Billy Squires(?) "Baby got Dot" ?
https://www.westword.com/music/the-most-surreal-leo-kottke-interview-youll-ever-read-10856998
I searched on Leo Kottke and found the above interview. As you might guess he’s a funny and odd interview.
He talks about playing how in state prisons is different than federal prisons; but similar to playing in Yugoslavia - back when it was a country that is. And Colorado is different because there’s less air. (What a character - with a voice that sounds like goose farts on a foggy morning.)
Well I started trying to remember a few:
Chuck Berry
Moody Blues (Very early)
Eric Clapton
Willie Nelson (with Dallas Symphony LOL)
Toby Keith
Roberta Flack
Miranda Lambert
Carrie Underwood
Rolling Stones
Tom Paxton (College days)
Doc Watson
Doug Kershaw
Eric Clapton
Bob Dylan(Hello electric band)
Taylor Swift (with granddaughter)
Emmylou Harris & Linda Ronstadt
Probably a few more I’ll remember once I hit “post” on these :)
It wasn't a high school gym, but I went to the Grand Opening of the Park Shops Mall (aka The Shops in Houston Center, aka The Highlight at Houston Center) when it first opened in early 1983.
Their featured musical act was The Association. They played all their hits (Windy, Cherish, Along Comes Mary, Never My Love).
-PJ
1978:
Electric light Orchestra
Kansas/Thin Lizzy
Boston
Meatloaf
College:
ConFunShun
Pablo Cruise
1980s/1990s
Bangles
The Byrds
Mark Lindsay of Paul Reviere of the Raiders
The Turtles
2024:
Journey/Def Leppard/Steve Miller Band
Postmodern Jukebox
Electric Light Orchestra
The Concert: A Tribute To ABBA (ABBA Tribute band)
KC & The SunShine Band
Chicago/Earth Wind & Fire
Todd Rundgren
Probably a couple more I left off for last year.
Saw one of his first shows in the U.S. small club in upstate NY, sat in the front table 3 feet from him.
Can it actually be that I’m the ONLY person here that saw The Eurythmics, unless I missed it listed here :)
There are a few great DVDs on Cale and several bootleg live recordings floating around. Have you seen Paradise Studios? The songs are now on Spotify including a few I’ve not seen anywhere else.
I have not, but I’ll look into it. Thanks for the tip!
I love Steely Dan, but I have heard that they were very hit and miss in concert. I think touring wasn’t Fagan’s thing and Becker was up and down due to substance abuse. I think the backing band tended to vary, too. You had to catch them on a good night.
The only overlap between your list and mine was the Moody Blues. I saw them at least 3 times, possibly 4. The first time was on the Long Distance Voyager tour - my first concert, invited by friends, bad seats (3rd deck, side/behind the stage), I really didn’t know their music, and I wasn’t impressed. I did start listening to their music, however, and by the next tour (The Present was the album) I was a fan. I’m pretty sure I saw them on that tour, but I couldn’t find the date of the show.
I saw them twice on the Other Side of Life tour, and they were great both times. By that time I was a regular concert-goer and we didn’t do bad seats. We either camped out for tickets or bought from scalpers (who were the StubHub of the 80s.) The seats make a big difference in the experience.
I just thought of this- I saw Tom waits in I think 1976. He played ‘ole 55’. It was great. It was the first time I heard it. Very moving. When I heard the Eagles do it it’s like a cheap imitation and the Eagles did a very good job with it.
Great time to have seen him.
There is or was a video on YouTube from around that time of him solo on the piano on German tv.
Ol’55 is a song I used to play when in the car with my daughters. But not the eagles version which I actually don’t like. It’s a nice memory and they call out the name of the song as soon as they hear the first couple seconds.
In no particular order and probably forgetting quite a few:
Styx
Berlin
Billy Joel (x2)
Bob Seger
Beach Boys
Yes
George Duke/Stanley Clark
Clarence “Gate Mouth” Browne
Johnny Cougar (1st Iteration)
Billy Idol
Procul Harem
ELO
Blue Oyster Cult
Katy Perry (because of the wife)
Perry Como (Wife again)
Leon Russel
Mojo Nixon
The Dead Kennedys
The Dead Milkmen
Cheap Trick
Ted Nugent
Miles Davis
Woody Herman
and a bunch of Bluegrass and Jazz groups whose names I can’t recall...
Ya. It’s him alone the piano
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