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Concert Memories


Jahfin

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Millie Jefferson

Jim Gates

In the 70s, when I lived in Austin, Texas, some friends and I drove to San Antonio to see Frank Zappa. San Antonio is a confusing city, and we got very lost trying to find the auditorium (it didn't help that we were very stoned.) We saw a skinny little guy with wild hair walking down the street with a guitar, and we stopped and asked him for directions. "Give me a ride and I'll show you there," he said, so he hopped in and directed us to the auditorium. He got out, said "thanks" and went in. It wasn't until he came out on stage that we realized we had given Frank Zappa a ride to his own concert!

Bobbye Larson

Duluth, Minn.

For more concert memories click here:

http://weekendamerica.publicradio.org/disp...8/02/08/concert

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This isn't a fond concert memory but it is a funny one. If I remember correctly it was 1974 at the Gardens Aud. in Vancouver. Kiss were on the same bill as Savoy Brown and Manfred Manns Earth Band. The crowd was booing Kiss throughout they're set and they had the nerve to come back on for an encore. At the end of the number they were doing, the drum set started to raise from the stage. As it did, it started to tilt and the drum kit along with Peter Criss started to slide.... Kit everywhere, and Criss on the floor. The crowd erupted in cheers and laughter. A fitting end to a horrible performance. I could never again hear a Kiss song without thinking of that night

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This isn't a fond concert memory but it is a funny one. If I remember correctly it was 1974 at the Gardens Aud. in Vancouver. Kiss were on the same bill as Savoy Brown and Manfred Manns Earth Band. The crowd was booing Kiss throughout they're set and they had the nerve to come back on for an encore. At the end of the number they were doing, the drum set started to raise from the stage. As it did, it started to tilt and the drum kit along with Peter Criss started to slide.... Kit everywhere, and Criss on the floor. The crowd erupted in cheers and laughter. A fitting end to a horrible performance. I could never again hear a Kiss song without thinking of that night

Despite being a fan since the 70s I never saw Rush until the Roll the Bones Tour in the 90s. During one of the songs from Presto they brought out a giant bunny. Not long into the song one of it's ears broke, causing it to flop about during the song with the bunny itself being rather unbalanced. It doesn't get much more "Spinal Tap" than moments like that.

Speaking of Kiss, I saw them on the Rock n' Roll Over Tour way back in the late 70s. When it came time for Peter Criss' drum stand to rise, everything worked perfectly. In fact, it was the opening band (the Raisin Band) that got booed off the stage. Knowing Gene Simmon's knack for marketing, I'm sure that was planned as well, "let's get a shitty band to open for us so we'll go over that much better".

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Gotta give Simmonds credit for his marketing alright. Kiss were just upstarts when I saw them in 74 and as you've probably guessed , I'm not a fan. It is clear however that plenty of people are. Like you Jahfin ( From previous posts ) I don't measure a band by it's commercial success. I do however have to give them credit for it

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Like I've said Kiss haven't stood the test of time for me, at least not enough for me to ever purchase any CDs of old albums, yet. Back then they were perfect for me in my teenage years and seeing them in concert as one of my first ever rock shows has definitely stayed in my memory all of these years. It was a spectacle; can't say I've seen anything like it before or since, and I mean that in a good way.

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Like I've said Kiss haven't stood the test of time for me, at least not enough for me to ever purchase any CDs of old albums, yet. Back then they were perfect for me in my teenage years and seeing them in concert as one of my first ever rock shows has definitely stayed in my memory all of these years. It was a spectacle; can't say I've seen anything like it before or since, and I mean that in a good way.

I hear ya. If my first experiece with them had been better... I would more than likely have been less critical. They became a much more polished act as the years went by. Anyway's, I think people should feel free to listen to what they like. :)

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Fond concert memories would have to include both Johhny and Edgar Winter. I'd been listening to both for a lengthy period of time before seeing them live. Johnny in 71 and Edgar in 72. Both shows before they're famous live albums had been released. The irony with both gigs was that they were not the headline acts. Johnny was opening for John Mayall. He blew the place apart. He and Rick Derringer were as good a duelling combination as I have ever seen. Gotta say that only Zeppelin and the Stones could get a Vancouver crowd moving like Johnny could in those day's. Hope to get to The Yale Hotel to see him in a couple of weeks. Edgar's story is similar, opening for Yes. Ronnie Montrose took Derringer's mantle and ran even further with it. I was a big Yes fan at the time and all though they put on a great show, everyone was rocked out by the time they hit the stage. Would loved to have seen Johnny and Edgar together :)

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ok, linda ronstadt, early 80's, 3 bud's and i pull into the spectum parking lot like it was a hard core rock show, windows down, pot smoke pouring out. we each had our own case of beer. dressed in jeans and tee shirts. black sabbeth BLASTING full volume!! we only half noticed the families, dressed in their Sunday best,( i mean suits and dresses!) walking past. we had Floor sets!!!! we got lots of beer before we sat down. the seats where the folding type, all lined up on the sporting floor. the bus boys(remember them?) opened , great show. by now we had lit up, spilled beer, got more, lit up some more. some people started to complain , to the ushers, about us partying, in the end at least 10 people moved or left, but not us!! there was guy's standing on those folding chairs, screaming" linda, i love you, and i want to marry you!" she was hot back then. we did'nt know it was family oriented.. what a blast...

Edited by boogie
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