What Live Bands Have You Seen in Your Lifetime?

PeppermintPatty

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Leaving home at 16 had its advantages. When I was younger, I had a lot of friends. Living close to Toronto offered many places to see live bands : The CNE, Ontario Place, The Toronto Hockey Arena, Canadas Wonderland and I literally saw hundreds of them.

Did I remember all of these? No! I had to look up popular bands from those decades. Some jazz bands and certain pop singers I’ve probably forgotten about but writing out this list brought back a lot of happy memories. Some memories were with my brother who I lost far too early in life but I still have those wonderful memories.

Apparently music is the last memory the human brain hangs onto.

Here is the list of bands I’ve seen live in my life.


I’ve seen Boston, Rush 3 times, Fleetwood Mac, Count Basey, Pink Floyd, Yes 3 times, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, AC/DC, Eagles, Aerosmith, ZZ Top, Genesis, Peter Gabriel, Alanis Morrisette, Amanda Marshall, Journey, The Allmond Brothers, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Heart, Van Halen, Aerosmith x 2, Blondie, Bon Jovi, Duran Duran, The Police, R.E.M., Earth Wind & Fire, U2, Hootie & the Blowfish, Guns & Roses, Peter Gabriel, The Doors, Kansas, Blue Oyster Cult, Styx x 2, Jethro Tull , Bad Company, Blood, Sweat and Tears x2, Chicago x2, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Bee Gees wasn’t really a fan of the Bee Gees but my best friend was ), Grateful Dead, Nazareth, The Moody Blues, Steely Dan, Electric Light Orchestra, Supertramp x 3, Bread, Uriah Heap, Santana, Foreigner , Steve Miller Band, REO Speedwagon, The Doobie Brothers, Hall & Oates, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Alice Cooper, ( not really a fan.. he was a start band ), Talking Heads, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, The Police, The Cars, Seals & Croft, The Clash, Dire Straits, The Guess Who, Three Dog Night, Steppenwolf, Jefferson Starship, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers , Bay City Rollers , ( not a fan of these guys but the were at the CNE when we were there) Derek and the Dominos, The Jeff Beck, ( loved this guy ) Little River Band, The Alan Parsons, Iron Butterfly, The Hollies, The B-52’s, Atlanta Rhythm Section, Little Feat, Nazareth, King Crimson, Kansas, Toto, Metallica, Tears for Fears, Tears for Fears, . A Flock of Seagulls, Triumph, Thin Lizzy, Little River Band,Mike and the Mechanics, 10 cc, Simple Minds, Def Leppard, Eurythmics, Depeche Mode, The Bangles, Wham, Thompson Twins, MaDonna. Level 42, Robbie Robertson, Mike and the Mechanics, Chuck Mangeoni, Bob Dylan, April Wine

Some of these bands were front bands for the bands I chose to see

I sound like a groupie but I can assure you that I wasn’t.

What live bands did you see? Any particular favourites?
 

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So a vaguely posed music thread to generate conversation.

Are older threads over last couple years with same essential subject. The last such thread was only answered directly by those that have seen a few bands since such tends to be easy to recall, while those that have seen many bands almost never keep a log. Even a decade later unlikely to recall much. And yeah have likely seen more classic rock era bands than any other members because of where I've lived and when.
 
Iron Butterfly. They played In-A_Gadda-Da-Vida. The whole ampitheater was mesmerized and when the song was over, there was a few seconds of complete silence and then the place exploded. It was kind of eerie in a way.
For those of you that have the time (17 minutes):
 

Paul McCartney and Wings

1989 I think it was in summer in Toronto, Ontario. Babysitter and daughter stayed at hotel while hubby and I enjoyed the show.

Don't remember the year for the one at the National Art Centre by a copycat group called BEATLEMANIA. Had the best ticket, I was right on the front row. When the one signing Yesterday as Paul McCartney lookalike was done. He jumped off stage and I was the first one to get a kiss and a rose. Swoon!
 
I will start by saying that I don't like big crowds so going to concerts was not my favorite thing, I went to make the boyfriend/later husband happy. He was a big concert fan. That said, I saw, Aerosmith, Boston, Journey, Jethro Tull, Judas Priest, Bad Company, Foreigner, Heart, ACDC. There might be a couple of others, I can't remember, I was so overwhelmed by the crowd I kind of shut down. He attended many, many more but went with friends when he realized how uncomfortable concerts made me. I still have a problem with crowds so I don't think I will ever go to another.

Okay, don't laugh but my son was in marching band playing the trumpet. I did go to those competitions. They did well and performed at state, regionals and national competitions. That I would be happy to attend again.
 
So a vaguely posed music thread to generate conversation.

Are older threads over last couple years with same essential subject. The last such thread was only answered directly by those that have seen a few bands since such tends to be easy to recall, while those that have seen many bands almost never keep a log. Even a decade later unlikely to recall much. And yeah have likely seen more classic rock era bands than any other members because of where I've lived and when.
Is this a complaint about the thread or do you have any bands you’ve seen that you’d like to post about? šŸ¤·ā€ā™€ļø
 
I will start by saying that I don't like big crowds so going to concerts was not my favorite thing, I went to make the boyfriend/later husband happy. He was a big concert fan. That said, I saw, Aerosmith, Boston, Journey, Jethro Tull, Judas Priest, Bad Company, Foreigner, Heart, ACDC. There might be a couple of others, I can't remember, I was so overwhelmed by the crowd I kind of shut down. He attended many, many more but went with friends when he realized how uncomfortable concerts made me. I still have a problem with crowds so I don't think I will ever go to another.

Okay, don't laugh but my son was in marching band playing the trumpet. I did go to those competitions. They did well and performed at state, regionals and national competitions. That I would be happy to attend again.
Oddly enough, I absolutely hate crowds now. There’s no way you’d get me to a concert. I went to one about 4 years ago with my brother. It was a jazz concert with a famous saxophone player in a really fancy place and my heart raced the entire time. When I was younger I always went to concerts with a huge group of friends and my fear of crowds wasn’t bad back then.
IMG_0787.jpegIMG_0751.jpeg
 
I will start by saying that I don't like big crowds so going to concerts was not my favorite thing, I went to make the boyfriend/later husband happy. He was a big concert fan. That said, I saw, Aerosmith, Boston, Journey, Jethro Tull, Judas Priest, Bad Company, Foreigner, Heart, ACDC. There might be a couple of others, I can't remember, I was so overwhelmed by the crowd I kind of shut down. He attended many, many more but went with friends when he realized how uncomfortable concerts made me. I still have a problem with crowds so I don't think I will ever go to another.

Okay, don't laugh but my son was in marching band playing the trumpet. I did go to those competitions. They did well and performed at state, regionals and national competitions. That I would be happy to attend again.
P.S. I played in the marching band at school so don’t laugh at that at all. In fact, I find it impressive. Learning an instrument takes skill and adds character.

Which of those bands did you like the most?
 
Paul McCartney and Wings

1989 I think it was in summer in Toronto, Ontario. Babysitter and daughter stayed at hotel while hubby and I enjoyed the show.

Don't remember the year for the one at the National Art Centre by a copycat group called BEATLEMANIA. Had the best ticket, I was right on the front row. When the one signing Yesterday as Paul McCartney lookalike was done. He jumped off stage and I was the first one to get a kiss and a rose. Swoon!
Well? Was it a ā€˜good’ kiss? 🫠
 
Oddly enough, I absolutely hate crowds now. There’s no way you’d get me to a concert. I went to one about 4 years ago with my brother. It was a jazz concert with a famous saxophone player in a really fancy place and my heart raced the entire time. When I was younger I always went to concerts with a huge group of friends and my fear of crowds wasn’t bad back then.
View attachment 291452View attachment 291453
i'm with you on the crowds, tho when there were performances in a park i often strolled around the outer edges
 
The only one that stands out is Sly and Family Stone at Honolulu Arena. Friends took me for my 26th Birthday. Afterwards we took a cab to a small club near UH campus but detoured home (one of the friends was a housemate of mine)--turned out she was picking up my birthday cake. The club was not very crowded cause between summer and fall classes. Instead of candles she stuck a several sparklers in the cake, we shared the cake with the staff, had a blast dancing.
 
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The biggies for me are four times at Rolling Stones concerts. In 1964 in Detroit with opening act Herman's Hermits, in Detroit again in 1966 with The Animals, in 1997 50 yards from the stage at Giant Stadium (NJ) with the Foo Fighters opening, and last was 1999 at Hartford Arena (CT) with Goo Goo Dolls opening. I got free tickets for the last two times. I was the IT guy for a oldies rock FM radio station in my town and the station manager and I became friends.
 
i'm with you on the crowds, tho when there were performances in a park i often strolled around the outer edges
We’d always sit at the back where there was room to breathe and move around. At CNE you could actually walk around the park listening to the bands without actually sitting down. The same with Wonderland however there was more of an amphitheatre. I saw Madonna there and Alanis Morrestte but at Ontario place there amphitheater had large hills all around it . That was actually comfortable since you could get up and move around whenever . I saw a lot of bands there.
Chuck Mangione, Chicago, Lighthouse, Blood, Sweat & Tears , BB King, Little Feat, max Webster, Maynard Ferguson, triumph, stampeders, April wine, Ray Charles etc
IMG_0206.jpeg
It probably was the best place for concerts I’ve ever been too
 
Most were in the 70's and mostly all forgotten now.
Dylan and the Dead in Oakland Coliseum late 80's may have been the most recent.
That’s Dylan and the Grateful Dead?
That must have been a good concert.
I saw Dylan on his own in the mid 70’s. He’s a very good song writer. Many musicians never write their own songs whereas he wrote his own songs and wrote many popular songs for other artists.
 
I was never much of a concert goer. If I went to a concert it was at the behest of someone else.
I listen to music as a kind of meditative thing. usually when I'm doing some kind of work like drawing or sketching.


I've seen John Denver, Gordon Lightfoot, Fish (former lead singer for 1980's band Marillion).

Those are the bigger names.

I've seen The Fab Faux Beatles Tribute band.

I once saw some guy who's band did Billy Joel and Elton John songs. That was one of my favorite shows because those songs are better done live.

I saw Australian Pink Floyd. Didn't care much for them. They played too many of the songs I don't care for.

I attended a performance of Riverdance.

I attended a performance of Mary Poppins as a live musical. That's a good show.

Every concert I attended was held in a small venue. John Denver was in a professional hockey arena but he had a way to make the concert feel small and more intimate.
 
After a summer 1970 HD from the USAF, lived in The City most of a year a few blocks from the Carousel Ballroom on Market Street aka Fillmore West, in its famous heydays. As shown, concerts were nearly every night of the week for months. Saw many on multiple nights. Tickets were usually $7 (?), with 3 touring bands most nights playing into wee hours. People in that hazy place were NOT consuming alcohol and many like this person danced a lot. In 1971 Bill Graham begin using the much larger Winterland arena as I saw many shows there too. Graham loved giving we counterculture young people a wide range of music genre experiences, not just classic rock. The two famous bands I missed in the 1970's were The Doors and Beatles. Below is from listings on this website.

https://concerts.fandom.com/wiki/Fillmore_West

August 13-16, 1970 Byrds, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Commander Cody.
August 17-19, 1970 Grateful Dead, New Riders Of The Purple Sage
August 20-23, 1970 Albert King, Cold Blood, Mason Profitt.
August 24-26, 1970 Iron Butterfly, AUM, Black Arkansas.
August 27-29, 1970 John Mayall, Elvin Bishop, Herbie Hancock.
August 30-September 1, 1970 Savoy Brown, Fairport Convention, Chicken Shack.
September 3-6, 1970 Johnny Winter, Boz Scaggs, Freddie King.
September 10-13, 1970 Santana, Dr. John, Luther Allison.
September 14-15, 1970 Jefferson Airplane, Dry Creek Road, Black Ghost.
September 17-20, 1970 Quicksilver, Buddy Miles, Robert Savage Group.

September 24-27, 1970 Chuck Berry, Buddy Miles, Loading Zone.
October 1-4, 1970 Eric Burdon & War, Seals And Crofts, Clover.
6-Oct-70 Salt of the Earth, Quebec, Passion, Crystal, Auditions
October 8-11, 1970 Van Morrison, Captain Beefheart, Jerry Hahn Brotherhood.
October 15-18, 1970 Leon Russell, Miles Davis, Sea Train.
21-Oct-70 Pink Floyd
October 22-25, 1970 Bo Diddley, New York Rock And Roll Ensemble, Lightnin' Hopkins, Beefy Red.
26-Oct-70 Equinox. Dave Van Ronk, Fourth Way, Victoria
28-Oct-70 Small Faces with Rod Stewart
October 29-November 1, 1970 Procol Harum, Poco, Mungo Jerry.

November 5-8, 1970 Mothers Of Invention (5-7 only, Boz Scaggs, Ashton Gardner & Dyke, Skid Row.
November 12-15, 1970 Kinks & Elton John (12th-14th only, Ballin' Jack, Juicy Lucy.
November 19-22, 1970 Love/Arthur Lee, The James Gang, Black Sabbath.
November 26-29, 1970 Sha Na Na, Elvin Bishop, Tower Of Power.
December 3-6, 1970 Savoy Brown, Sea Train, Ry Cooder, Humble Pie.
7-Dec-70 Tom Paxton
December 10-13, 1970 Lee Michaels, Albert King, Atlee.
14-Dec-70 Incredible String Band
16-Dec-70 Ravi Shankar & Alla Rakha
December 17-20, 1970 Butterfield Blues Band, Buddy Miles, Quartermass.

December 26-29, 1970 Delaney & Bonnie, Voices Of East Harlem, Jam Factory.
December 31, 1970-January 3, 1971 Cold Blood, Boz Scaggs, Voices Of East Harlem, Stoneground, (31st Elvin Bishop.
January 7-10, 1971 Spirit (7th-10th, Hot Tuna (11th, Elvin Bishop, Kwane & The Kwanditos.
January 14-17, 1971 Free, Blood Rock, Fox.
January 21-24, 1971 Spencer Davis, Taj Mahal, Little Feat.
January 28-31, 1971 Hot Tuna, Allman Brothers, Trinidad Tripoli Steel Band.
February 4-7, 1971 B.B. King, Ball 'N Jack, Christian Rapid Group.
February 11-14, 1971 Fleetwood Mac, Tom Rush, Clover.
February 18-21, 1971 It's A Beautiful Day, Blues Image, Tower Of Power.
23-Feb-71 Cypress, Dono, Ship Of The Sun

February 25-28, 1971 New Riders Of The Purple Sage, Boz Scaggs, James & The Good Brothers.
March 5-7, 1971 Aretha Franklin, King Curtis & The Kingpins, Tower Of Power/James Anderson.
March 11-14, 1971 Poco, Siegal Schwall Blues Band, Wishbone Ash.
March 18-21, 1971 Sons Of Champlin, Mark/Almond Band, Commander Cody, Melting Pot.
March 25-28, 1971 Eric Burdon & War, J. Geils Band.
April 1-4, 1971 Buddy Miles, Wayne Cochran & The C.C. Riders, Sugarloaf.
April 8-11, 1971 Johnny Winter, J. Geils Band, Dreams.
April 15-18, 1971 Van Morrison (replacing Dave Mason, Isley Brothers, Fanny.
April 22-25, 1971 Taj Mahal, Stoneground, (22-24 Trapeze, (25th Gold.
April 29-May 2, 1971 Mike Bloomfield/Chicago Slim, Bola Sete, Mike Finnigan, Gold.

5-May-71 Goodbye V.D. Benefit. Eric Burdon, Stoneground, Cockettes, Uncle Vinty
May 6-9, 1971 Miles Davis, Elvin Bishop, Mandrill.
May 13-16, 1971 Humble Pie, Swamp Dogg, Shanti.
May 20-23, 1971 Rascals, Grootna, Grin.
May 27-30, 1971 Cold Blood, Joy Of Cooking, Sweathog/Frosty.
1-Jun-71 Trans Atlantic Train, Bloodworth, Straight Phonk Unlimited
June 3-6, 1971 Albert King, Mott The Hoople, Freddie King.
June 10-13, 1971 Cactus, Flamin' Groovies, Redeye.
14-Jun-71 Warner Brothers Presents! Mother Earth, Doobie Brothers, Long John Baldry
June 17-20, 1971 Boz Scaggs, Tower Of Power, Mason Profitt.

June 24-27, 1971 Moby Grape, Spencer Davis/Peter Jameson, Flash Cadillac
29-Jun-71 Sawbuck, Malo, Kwane & The Kwanditos
30-Jun-71 Boz Scaggs, Cold Blood, Flamin' Groovies, Stoneground.
1-Jul-71 It's A Beautiful Day, Elvin Bishop, Grootna, Lamb.
2-Jul-71 Grateful Dead, New Riders Of The Purple Sage, Rowan Brothers.
3-Jul-71 Quicksilver, Hot Tuna, Yogi Phlegm.
4-Jul-71 Santana, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Tower Of Power. Mike Bloomfield Sits In with Santana
 
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The only one that stands out is Sly and Family Stone at Honolulu Arena. Friends took me for my 26th Birthday. Afterwards we took a cab to a small club near UH campus but detoured home (one of the friends was a housemate of mine)--turned out she was picking up my birthday cake. The club was not very crowded cause between summer and fall classes. Instead of candles she stuck a several sparklers in the cake, we shared the cake with the staff, had a blast dancing.
That sounds like a really good birthday. It’s nice to have to considerate friends. I had some really good friends in my earlier years. It’s priceless stuff
 
Leaving home at 16 had its advantages. When I was younger, I had a lot of friends. Living close to Toronto offered many places to see live bands : The CNE, Ontario Place, The Toronto Hockey Arena, Canadas Wonderland and I literally saw hundreds of them.

Did I remember all of these? No! I had to look up popular bands from those decades. Some jazz bands and certain pop singers I’ve probably forgotten about but writing out this list brought back a lot of happy memories. Some memories were with my brother who I lost far too early in life but I still have those wonderful memories.

Apparently music is the last memory the human brain hangs onto.

Here is the list of bands I’ve seen live in my life.


I’ve seen Boston, Rush 3 times, Fleetwood Mac, Count Basey, Pink Floyd, Yes 3 times, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, AC/DC, Eagles, Aerosmith, ZZ Top, Genesis, Peter Gabriel, Alanis Morrisette, Amanda Marshall, Journey, The Allmond Brothers, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Heart, Van Halen, Aerosmith x 2, Blondie, Bon Jovi, Duran Duran, The Police, R.E.M., Earth Wind & Fire, U2, Hootie & the Blowfish, Guns & Roses, Peter Gabriel, The Doors, Kansas, Blue Oyster Cult, Styx x 2, Jethro Tull , Bad Company, Blood, Sweat and Tears x2, Chicago x2, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Bee Gees wasn’t really a fan of the Bee Gees but my best friend was ), Grateful Dead, Nazareth, The Moody Blues, Steely Dan, Electric Light Orchestra, Supertramp x 3, Bread, Uriah Heap, Santana, Foreigner , Steve Miller Band, REO Speedwagon, The Doobie Brothers, Hall & Oates, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Alice Cooper, ( not really a fan.. he was a start band ), Talking Heads, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, The Police, The Cars, Seals & Croft, The Clash, Dire Straits, The Guess Who, Three Dog Night, Steppenwolf, Jefferson Starship, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers , Bay City Rollers , ( not a fan of these guys but the were at the CNE when we were there) Derek and the Dominos, The Jeff Beck, ( loved this guy ) Little River Band, The Alan Parsons, Iron Butterfly, The Hollies, The B-52’s, Atlanta Rhythm Section, Little Feat, Nazareth, King Crimson, Kansas, Toto, Metallica, Tears for Fears, Tears for Fears, . A Flock of Seagulls, Triumph, Thin Lizzy, Little River Band,Mike and the Mechanics, 10 cc, Simple Minds, Def Leppard, Eurythmics, Depeche Mode, The Bangles, Wham, Thompson Twins, MaDonna. Level 42, Robbie Robertson, Mike and the Mechanics, Chuck Mangeoni, Bob Dylan, April Wine

Some of these bands were front bands for the bands I chose to see

I sound like a groupie but I can assure you that I wasn’t.

What live bands did you see? Any particular favourites?
Wow! You must have worked at your local auditorium?
 


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