The Who did a “kind of farewell” tour 4-5 years ago; daltrey was saying stuff like “yeah this is probably it” but everybody knew it was nonsense.

Went to a Stones concert in the early 80's in Philly. Huge sign before you got in, "FREE COKE!". Turned out it was you needed to sign up for a Mastercard and get a 2L bottle of coke.

Major disappointment.

LTG : )

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Ronnie and Keith did a tour in 1979 with Bobby Keyes and Ian McLagan from Faces and other great musicians to help with Keith's legal problems in Canada. They were called The New Barbarians. My friend was tour manager and told me stories years ago before people wrote books about it. They built a small room within each stage to do drugs so the audience couldn't see them. During songs. A short tour where the inmates ran the asylum. Someone described the tour to be similar to when the mental patients went on a field trip on One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest.

Hell yeah... you got to see my dream time travel show. Unfortunately I was four years old...
Black Sabbath with special guest Van Halen.

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Ticket stub below to the best concert seat I ever got. Front row for Van Halen for the 2007 reunion tour. It was to the right of center stage, so Diamond Dave was right in front of me for most of the show. Bought the ticket from a scalper out front for $240 while the opening act (Bob Marley's kid) was already playing. First saw VH 28 years earlier about 1/2 a mile away.

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They will always be one of the greatest rock bands ever. Pinball Wizard was on the radio forever and I enjoyed it every time I heard it. Still do. That said, if you have to tell people in the front rows of your rock concert to quit smoking weed, you should probably retire.

I was at the Milwaukee show when the crowd rioted and trashed the Mecca arena.

Incredible concert as it was, but the promoters had advertised “special guests” (Jagger etc.) who never appeared. They did Jumping Jack Flash as a last song and the crowd went nuts. Ive got picture’s I’ll share, but none of the riot. We hightailed it outta there as soon as things started going sideways.

I didn't know you were at that show? You will have to tell me about it next time we see each other.

1990 and 1991
This is a screenshot of the stub. I sold my stub on eBay years ago. Mine was pristine.

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I got spoiled. Back when 45rpm records were huge, I had a connection for many concerts. Front or 2nd row center. Great times.

One thing I enjoyed was when the warm up bands were great too. The Rolling Stones often had a great warm up band or two. The worst always seemed to be for The Who.

LTG : )

I doubt the band knew their promoters were doing that as they were pretty deep in the bag.

I laughed hard when I read their itinerary for Canada. Tour manager Richard didn't know how Canadian authorities would react so they were supposed to be "clean". The itinerary: "Toronto bound: Please take the time to assure that you will be clean upon arrival. Skip the soap and go right for the vacuum".

Richard is pretty funny.

Before a concert here. During that tour the Rolling Stones might pop into a bar and do a few numbers. When they appeared here, Billy Preston ( their opening act ) appeared at the Cabooze the night before the concert.

A huge crowd showed up so the Rolling Stones that showed up didn't acknowledge the crowd or perform. Because any problems they'd be responsible for.

LTG : )

My bro helped out on a night radio show in the 70's and one night he came home and gave me the 45 below. Only gold record I ever owned. Wore the grooves off that one.

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Great thread! Keep the stories coming!

Here are a few New Barbarian photos from the infamous Milwaukee show on 4/29/79.

It was essentially a Ronnie Wood solo tour. I’ve followed Ronnies music since the Faces and since Gimme some Neck was pretty darn good, I figured it would be a great concert. Ronnie, Keith, Bobby, Ian and F’n Stanley Clarke on bass!

It was a really great concert until Jumping Jack Flash ended, the lights came up and none of the special guests had appeared as advertised. The crowd started chanting and wouldn’t leave. About the time chairs started being thrown we decided to get outta there. Trashcans in the hallways were getting kicked over and I saw an exit light get smashed. The cops were going in as we were going out.

I don’t know why I didn’t get any riot photos, but am guessing I was out of film, in survival mode or both.

Good crazy memories!

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Was that at the old Auditorium or the Mecca?

Watching my sons crowd surf at Idles show at Coachella.

Tragically Hip in Salt Lake City during 2002 Olympics at an “athletes only” show …and their opening show on their last tour in Victoria up close Entire crowd exuding love and admiration for a dying man.

Hothouse Flowers playing a private set for my young family at slims in SF after my daughters brain surgery. Their song “feel like living” helped us through.

Daft punk at Coachella and Greek theater in Berkeley ….felt like the entire audience was pulsing together

Worst show: 17 years old. Had mono. Saw the Cure at an outdoor venue. It rained. Uninspired performance. Saw my recently ex girlfriend making out with another dude

Mecca arena. Lots of great concerts there way back when. The Auditorium too, which they did a nice job remodeling.
Interesting how some of these old arenas are still being used and perfectly good buildings like the Bradley Center get leveled after 30 years.

Yep... we lost Irvine Meadows Amphitheater.... just to build more condos... I think it was the best outdoor venue in SoCal.. . The Greek and Hollywood Bowl are great but the Parking and traffic is absolutely shit.

one great thing that happened here is someone bought the Los Angeles Forum and Dumped Millions into it ten years ago, it was a wreck after the Lakers bailed to Downtown.

Now it's a Gorgeous concert venue, all the walls have giant live photos from the history of concerts over the years.
Completely rebuilt Bathrooms.... they used to be a stinking swamp.
All new shiny Concession stands and carpet in the concourses.
Really nice.

Since the renovation I've seen David Gilmour, Heart, Cheap Trick, Joan Jett, the very last RUSH show, Slayer, Scorpions, ELO, Iron Maiden at the refurbished Forum.
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Been to a few hundred in my lifetime, and some amazing ones. I'll listen to just about anything, so there are some diverse entries here, in countdown order:

5. Taylor Swift, 1989 Tour. Outstanding performance. Super Bowl- quality production. Met her dad, who was super nice to my daughter. A bit of a shocker of a favorite.
4. John Melloncamp, 1988. Wasn't really interested in going, but knocked it out of the park.
3. INXS, 1988. Great performance, but it probably helped that some girl I met randomly dragged me to the concert floor to make out for nearly an hour.(Ahhh...high school...)
2. Dave Matthews Band, 9/11/2002, Hershey. His shows can be hit or miss. Best of his shows, with the best of his songs, with some amazing energy.
1. Live Earth, 7/7/07. I'm not a tree-hugger, but an Epic show from start to finish. First row seats, and got to witness an increasingly sloshed Alec Baldwin stumble around next to us. Roger Waters, Smashing Pumpkins, Police reunion almost ruined with Kanye West. And the best performance of a number I have ever seen: Keith Urban & Alecia Keys and a great band killing it with Gimme Shelter totally out of the blue. This clip doesn't completely capture to power of the performance, but turn it up to 11 and enjoy:

Honorable Mention: Genesis, Spectrum, 1986.

In '96, a local FM rock station announced that Metallica would do a free concert in the parking lot of the Tower Records near me the next day at noon. Me and my kids, daughter 13 and son 11, rode our bikes there. We stayed in the back at first, but my son said he wanted to get closer to the stage (big rig flatbed). I asked him if he was sure and he said yes. My daughter stayed back with some friends and the bikes and off we went. As we got closer to the stage, shopping carts were being passed over heads through the crowd towards the stage. My son saw one go over his head and that was enough. Wanted to go to the back. Crowd was estimated at ~5k people. Free concerts are the best possible kind of concerts.

The key to having a great nite.

They had a parking lot where you showed your tickets and drove past the gate. There were people who had to walk forever just to get to where you parked if you had access. The place was a wild animal park called Lion Country Safari before it was Irvine Meadows.

I saw Zeppelin back to back nites at the Forum in 70s. We had to thumb home one of the nites. Not a safe neighborhood then for a couple of dumb ass white guys. And it really is nice now.

I've reached a point in my life where I last saw John Fogerty at the Venitian in Vegas because I could walk from my room.

Ooooh worst show. Maybe we need to start a new thread.
My worst show was Savatage in 1994. We had just seen them a year or two before and they were great. Criss Oliva was amazing. But then he died and Alex Skolnick (Testament) took his place. Love Testament, so thought he would be a great addition to the band.
Boy was I wrong.
Alex was either high, drunk, or just couldn't play Criss' solos. The dude sucked. He kept laughing it up like the show was a big joke. They also had a new drummer and they made fun of the former drummer, who had been with the band for 15 years. It was so bad we left early.

I saw a lot of great shows at the Mecca. I do love what they have done to the Auditorium - looks great now and still used. That place has a lot of history in it.

I have no idea why the Bradley Center got demolished. Well - I do - but it makes no practical sense.

Genesis and Philly had a special connection. I saw them in Philly in 07 - was like no other city I saw them in.

I haven’t hit the redone Forum yet, but I have heard that it is nice. The last concert I went to in Irvine was Jack FMs 3rd show. It was pretty good. 2008.

War. This was an unannounced act that started the show. Excellent, Low Rider, Cisco Kid, etc.

Psychedelic Furs. Eh, OK.

Twisted Sister. They were pretty good. Must have played We’re Not Gonna Take It about 4 times. Crowd loved it.

REO Speedwagon. I was never a particular fan of their music. But wow the instrumental prowess of this band was 10/10. Just an amazing live performance. Those dudes can play their shit.

Blondie. She came out in a leather jacket and opened it up to reveal a nightie underneath. I’m glad I was sitting far away. It was good, I like Blondie songs and her singing was decent. The band was very good and I always remember the drummer ended a song with the most amazing drum solo I ever heard.

Billy Idol. Or, as he shouted about two dozen times (at the family friendly show benefiting kids with autism) “I’m Billy Fucking Idol!!”. Very good for a geezer, and band was top notch with Steve Stevens on guitar.

And finally: DEVO! This made the night for me. Always have been one of my top favorite bands ever. And they did not disappoint live. They were tight. The performance was awesome, the songs were awesome, and DEVO was awesome. I’m very grateful to have been able to see the original band perform, it was great. Definitely right up there with my most favorite concerts.

EDIT - I also remember, obviously this concert had a variety of band genres, and there were fans there to see their favorites. I like all sorts of music, but maybe Psychedelic Furs fans don't care to see Twisted Sister, or whatever. At any rate, Devo was last up, and quite of lot of the crowd had left, I presume after seeing their favorite and not being Devo fans. Dumbshits. All the better for me to enjoy it!

…and they weren’t even the headliner. This is one of the most memorable shows I’ve ever seen. Why they ever let a rock audience into a Broadway theater is beyond me. The other rock venue in NYC at the time was the complete opposite of the Uris theater: The Academy of Music.

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Did you guys destroy the theater?

I don’t think it’s there anymore. Or it’s got a new name.

It's now called the Gershwin Theatre and its definitely still there

Ah yes, Wicked has been running there forever.

Must have been a great place to see Queen and Hoople!

No destruction. The ushers were all over the crowd as soon as you entered the theater. They must have announced a no smoking policy one hundred times. It was fairly new and they were nuts about keeping it that way. To sit so close (7th row) was an amazing evening. I’ve seen the Stones, Zeppelin, Who and lots of others but it always gets peoples attention when I tell them about this show. Queen was supporting their just released second album. Still mostly unknown.

My cousins saw that Queen / Hoople tour in St Louis and said i5 was legendary.

People love saying they saw “relatively unknown” Queen!

Saw Mumford & Sons and Avett Brothers at the 2011 New Orleans Jazz Fest. Fantastic show. Arcade Fire, Bon Jovi, and Willie Nelson were also there at different days, but the Mumford really stole the show. They brought a ton of passion to their live performances.

Kings of Leon is another favorite that I've seen a few times at Cynthia Woods Pavilion just outside Houston. Always put on a great show.

Note the question is not "what all bands have you seen live?"

I want to say Rush, but I've seen them enough times that they blur together. Although what sadly turned out to be the last time I saw them I remember my companion backed out at the last minute and I was stuck going alone. I tried to look on the bright side, thinking how having two Marcus Amphitheater seats to myself would at least give me plenty of room for air drumming, but I still got crowded in on somehow, it was kind of aggravating.

Anyway, my actual most memorable concert was one of my first, when I was a still a kid and my mom took me to see Dr Hook and the Medicine Show in a church! (Lawrence University Chapel in Appleton)

Nature and concerts abhor a vacuum.

You can’t expect an empty seat to stay empty.

I have one for ya,1970,I was drafted, and went to a B.B.King show at the Fillmore west! On the display outside said "also tonite Elton John" ! Nobody had ever heard of this guy so we just went in and sat down! B.B.King came out and did a fantastic first set!! Then,on stage was a piano.And this guy came out and said"Hello,I'm Elton John! He played for the first time, the "Madman Across the water" tour.and completely killed the crowd there! Good memory before going into the service!!

Cool story! BTW back then they had the lottery system for the draft, mine was 362, so I was safe. What was yours?

Talking Heads Stop Making Sense tour.

What venue and what was it like? Was it similar to the movie?

Out of all of the tours/musicians I have missed, this was the big one....outside of The Beatles of course.

Hanging out with Taj Mahal before one of his concerts about 10 years ago.

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