Memorable Concert Moments
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So I was thinking about some of the most memorable moments I have witnessed during live concerts and I will offer a few and would love to hear some of yours.
They could be great moments- or horrendous moments- but they just have to be memorable.
Here are four:
Most Memorable: Seeing REM in a small club- Toad's Place in New Haven- circa 1984. It was pretty packed but, back then (before the club expanded, doubling its size), that meant maybe 450 people. Jodie Foster, who was attending Yale at the time, was there in a simple t-shirt and jeans, but I spotted her immediately, having had Taxi Driver indelibly etched in my brain. I just smiled at her and she smiled back and, on that night, that was enough. But that isn't even the most memorable moment.
That happened during the show: Every time the band stopped playing at the end of a song, some young guy would jump and scream at the top of his lungs, "Play 8 Miles High!!!" He did it every single time they stopped and the entire show Michael Stipe- who had a pretty full head of hair (back then) that he kept flipping out of his eyes- ignored him (or pretended to). It struck me odd that was actually the first time I realized how similar R.E.M. sounded to some of the Byrds material.
Anyway, when they came out for their second encore, Stipe looks out into the crowd, shielding his eyes from the stage lights, points at the guy and yells out, "This is for you, asshole!" And they played it! And it was absolutely amazing! The crowd went wild and Stipe appeared to be both pleased and disgusted at the same time. Pleased that they did such a great job on the song and the crowd just loved it- but disgusted that they got their biggest hand for a cover song when they were trying to establish themselves with their original material. I never forgot that moment or the look on his face.
Other memorable moments: Peter Frampton, at the height of his "Comes Alive" 15-minutes of fame around 1977 or 1978. Two moments from that show- outdoors at a stadium (since closed) in Hartford, CT. First, after the warm up act but before Peter Came Alive: Two pretty girls, who werre very drunk, at the top of a lighting scaffold, removing their tops and dancing, bare breasted, while their boyfriends- who didn't know they were up there until they saw everybody staring up at them- climbed up the scaffolding screaming at them to put their tops back on. It was really funny watching them scream at the girls until the cops climbed up because they were worried that someone could fall- or get pushed- off.
Then, when Frampton came onstage he immediately went right down- into a hole that he failed to see. He cracked a rib and we all (around 20,000 of us) had to wait to see if he would, indeed, come back alive. After about 20 minutes, a taped up Frampton came back on and played a full set. I give him a lot of credit for that. We didn't know he cracked a rib until the news reported it the next day.
Aerosmith at the Syracuse Area Landmark Theater, 1980 (I think). I was a student at Syracuse and on the Concert Board. So I got to go to all the shows for free- as an usher. And I was one of about 10 people who got to see Aerosmith do their sound check. One song: "Rats in the Cellar." Steven Tyler walked through the choreography while he sang it, including an intricatre step-over-and-around-the-mic-stand maneuver. Problem was, when they did the song in front of the 2500 in the crowd during the actual concert, Tyler was high, drunk or both. (Remeber this was the B.S. era for them: Before Sobriety.) So, when they did it during the show, Tyler tripped over the mic and landed flat on his back. Joe Perry was playing and looking at him like, "Are you gonna get up?" Tyler lay there a few seconds and then, in perfect time to the music, bounced up and into his moves like nothing happened and ended up putting on a great show. I actually think the fall woke- or sobered- him up.
Finally, seeing Cheap Trick a few years ago doing "Surrender" live on Long Island in front of about 5000 people and, towards the end of the song, Rick Nielsen yelling into the mic, "Ed's alright" and pointing at me standing to the side of the stage and beaning me with his accurately flung guitar picks.
If there is a nicer rock star out there, I'd love to hear about it.
But, good or bad, better or worse, I'd love to hear some other Memorable Concert Moments.
Locating MOG account...
Comments (7)
Way too many to single out just one. Going by Bay Area concerts alone, there was Roxy Music reunited at the glorious Deco-styled Paramount Theater in Oakland; Talking Heads on their "Stop Making Sense" tour, performing a flawless and stunning show at the Greek Theater in Berkeley; a career-retrospective gig by Ray Davies of the Kinks (plus a single guitarist) at San Francisco's Warfield Theater; Prince playing one of his unannounced post-midnight jams at the DNA and going into the wee hours; Yellow Magic Orchestra's inspired S.F. multi-media debut at the old Kabuki Theater, etc., etc., etc.
Hi and thanks for this post.. a great read!!! :-)
Great post -- sparked some similar memories!
R.E.M. I too saw R.E.M. early -- this was summer 1983 (I think) and they played outdoors at Navy Island in the Twin Cities. Memorable because -- my little sister showed up with her (barely) teenage friends and my buddies started hitting on them, which made me a little sick. Also, R.E.M played before local legends, The Suburbs -- and of course Mike Stipe's hair was a highlight.
Movie Star Sighting! The biggest Hollywood buzz I saw was during a World Party show with Brooke Shields in attendance in the early 90s at GW's Lisner Auditorium. Evidenty, she was dating somebody who went there at the time. I think every guy in the place craned their necks at the same time to check her out.
Drunk/Drugged Performers! Hands down, the highest performance I ever saw was Steve Earle at the old Birchmere in Alexandria, VA. This was mid-90s and he had disappeared for awhile (for now well-documented heroin issues). That he was even doing a show was a surprise because he had no new record out. He showed up more than an hour late and blamed the cab driver for taking him to Mount Vernon (George Washington's House) instead of the Birchmere on Mount Vernon AVENUE. Yeahhh riiiight, Steve. He played by himself, looked skinnier that I had ever seen him, and banged out oldies from Guitar Town and Exit 0. He sobered up as the show went on, but that was after some really ham-handed playing and spilling his "coffee" cup all over the stage!
funoka: I love The Suburbs! I saw them many years ago at a large club in NYC (I think it was The Ritz). The best moment was when the singer drop- kicked a full cup of liquid into the crowd, soaking those in the first rows.
I saw Brooke Shields about 6 years ago at the NBC upfront party in NYC. She acted like a drunk schoolgirl as she was giggling with some friends and checking out some NBC male tv star. The only person who should be more embarrassed than her that night was Rob Lowe as he had to hold up and escort out the woman he was with because she was about to either pass out or get sick in public.
The 2 nicest stars I met that night were Kelsey Grammar ("Frasier") and Melina Kanakarides. Oh, yeah, she was also absolutely gorgeous in person.
Mike: Saw The Kinks twice- liked them both times. Never got to see Roxy Music- I would have loved that, though, I am sure.
Zen: Glad you liked them!
Excellent story, especially the "asshole" part. I've got a couple for you...
The Stooges, 1969: No, I wasn't cool enough to know who they were, they just happened to be one of about 2 dozen acts on an indoor "festival" bill in St. Louis. But, they were memorable. The first time in my life I ever stood on a chair to see what was happening when Iggy dove into the crowd (also a first for me).
Weather Report (in a club): This was post-Jaco & "Birdland" and the place barely held 300 people. These guys had just finished a stadium tour in Japan. I was in the front row and was resting my feet on the rim of the stage. With a drink, no less.
Lords Of The New Church: In a club with about 25 people. There wasn't even a stage, they played in the corner of the place. Dead Boy Stiv Bator was so drunk he fell down a couple of times, THOUGHT he was singing into the mic but was singing into thin air and eventually dropped his pants. Someone had to come out and pull them up for him.
The Kinks: Ray butt-bumped Dave off the stage and into the crowd. Dave acted like he did it on purpose. No fisticuffs, though.
I might have more if I had a memory left.
Willard- Good stories! I did not see the Stooges but I did see Iggy Pop at a fairly packed Toad's Place in New Haven, CT with about 500- 600 people. This was just after he hit the charts with Blah Blah Blah and Real Wild Child and Cry For Love were getting AOR airplay. He was stripped to the waist and grabbed his crotch a few times but he kept it in his pants.
I enjoyed seeing the manic look in his eyes while he played the cello (sawed away on, is a more apt description). He was funny because he was so serious and intense. And loud. One of the loudest shows I ever saw- along with Rick Derringer and Aerosmith.