(at left- Brother Bruce and Sister Soozie tearing it up in Cincy!)
Ok, this is a straight up request from Mr. Pogue...
Last weekend I was lucky enough to get to see the Boss for the 7th time in the last 28 years. Granted, that hardly qualifies me for the title of SUPER FAN, but I does what I can for Mr Springsteen. And anyone who knows me knows of my love for all things BOSS (except the GHOST OF TOM JOAD! I agree with my buddy Ryan on that one- listening to that album feels like doing homework!)
Of all the (literally) hundreds of concert events I've been to, no one even comes close to the power of a Springsteen show. Last week's show, while not quite up to the roof-raising we've all come to expect from the E streeters, was still pretty damned good! (The Boss at half speed is better than anyone else at 110%, for my dinero!) I just wish I could explain the splendor that is the moment when the house lights come up, the Boss counts off into the mike , and the familiar strains of BORN TO RUN begin to rumble through the auditorium. It's one of the greatest thrills I've ever known... as the dude standing next to me in CIncy yelled to me over the din of the first chorus "THIS SHIT NEVER GETS OLD!"
I consider myself lucky every chance I get to see him lately, as the man is nearing 60 and CAN'T possibly do this type of show for much longer. But by God while he can, I'll find a way to get there at least once a tour.
Soooooooooo- what's the GREATEST live music experience you've ever had???
And remember- it ain't no sin to be glad your alive!
16 comments:
Brian Setzer Orchestra...Bogarts in Cincinatti....standing right up on the stage, leaning on it, actually...it was INCREDIBLE. Mr. Setzer never seemed to wear out. I think I got sweat on me once but it was perfectly fine.
I've never been much of a live concert person, particularly rock concert. Don't want to fight the crowds or the noise.
I've had the pleasure of seeing the great cabaret/cafe singer, interpreter of the great American songbook, Bobby Short twice in concert.
I saw Anthony Newley once, in a supper club venue, which was pretty amazing.
When in LA, the Hollywood Bowl was simply the best entertainment ticket in town, for two or three bucks one could get a ticket to the nose-bleed section, take your picnic basket, and a bottle of wine (as the bowl was close enough for us to walk many of the years we lived in LA, Julieanne and I always took a couple of bottles of wine)and see (a good pair of binocs helped) and hear the likes of Tony Bennett, Rosemary Clooney, Ella Fitzgerald, and many other greats. Including Pavarotti in box seats up close. I'm not a huge Opera fan, but hey, it was Pavarotti!
But my favourite live music event and maybe my best single day in Hollywood was attending Miklos Rozsa's memorial service. Rozsa was the greatest film composer ever...3 Academy Awards for the scores of SPELLBOUND, A DOUBLE LIFE, & BEN-HUR, plus eighteen AA noms total and great scores for Ivanhoe, Quo Vadis, Julius Caesar, El Cid, Lust For Life, The Thief of Baghdad, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, Providence, Time After Time, Knights of the Round Table, Moonfleet, and many, many others. He also composed terrific symphonic and concert pieces. I write to his music constantly.
Through the auspices of my pal, film historian Rudy Behlmer, I wrangled an invite to Dr. Rozsa's memorial service at The Bel-Air Hotel. As it was, I got the time wrong and we got there an hour and a half early, so we had a champagne brunch at the hotel restaurant. Feeling blissfully mellow and well-fed, we proceeded to The Garden Room, where there was more wine and mingled with a crowd of film notables in the music world. Jerry Goldsmith told me how he wished he had gotten the chance to do the score for DRAGONHEART (I had lobbied hard for him) and what a great script it had been. He introduced me to John Maceri, conductor of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, legendary composer David Raskin (Laura), and others. All these guys spoke warmly of Dr. Rozsa when it came time for remembrances, but the speeches were interpersed with performances of Rozsa soaring, exquisite compositions...some on the piano, some on guitar, some piano and violin. It's music that just tears into your soul. Maybe it was the wine, but morely like the music, but I was a puddle by the end of the day...incredibly moved and weeping copiously.
No particular order (that would be too difficult)
Jason and the Scorchers- Cat's lot
U2-Murphy Center
Stones- St. Louis. The Memphis gig gets special mention just from the sheer thrill of hearing "Honky Tonk Woman" sung there-God I love gin-soaked barroom queens!
Clapton- nothing but the blues in Memphis.
Plant-Starwood
Fletch, the SCORCHERS show it the CATS lot was one for the ages! (as was their renunion show this summer, which I did a big post on in July). The U2 show also ranks up there with me (I'd put them second only to the Boss).
Chuck, the event you describe sounds sublime. I think an experience like that would be one to remember (and Tony Bennett at the Hollywood Bowl? Fergitaboutit!!!! How awesome would THAT have been!)
So...where the hell's all my music folks? Mikey? Missy? Millsy? Bueller...Bueller????
Okay, since X asked, I guess I'd have to say it was seeing The Who perform Tommy in its entirety in Charlotte, NC; or maybe it was the Allman Brothers/Grateful Dead show at JFK Stadium in 1974; or The Stones and Bob Marley in about 1975. I'm not so much a fan of the big, loud stuff these days; tend to prefer singer-songwriters like Patty Griffin (amazing in concert)and James Taylor (still too many drunkards at Riverbend to spoil the sublime tunes). Of course, my fave rave at the moment is The Belleville Outfit, who is more fun in concert than anyone I've seen in awhile. And their independent CD, "Wanderin'," is now #17 on the Americana charts.
Did I mention Lyle Lovette and The Large Band? Great live. Oh, and Eric Johnson doesn't suck, either.
This may not be as sexy-sounding as some, but I saw Sheryl Crow in Memphis at a festival by the river. It was one of those transcendent events where everyone knew the words and howled like road poets. Saw the Allman Bros at the exact same spot the next year and, though it was good (and I was high-er), it did not lift me to quite the same level.
I've seen quite a few other festivals and a fair number of acts, but my second favorite live act ever was right in Lexington at South Hill Station in a long-gone club called Crazy Jacks. WKQQ (when it was still at 98.1) had their annual Decent Exposure contest rounds there. Several bands played, and a few were good. One little band from Winchester took the stage and mopped the floor with everyone. It was so much better that it just plain floored me and bolstered my faith in what a little band actually can do. I heard others standing around me making similar remarks. They won the contest easily. I've followed Lark Watts career ever since.
I take exception to that, Sirrah! the Lark Watts band hails from great city of Murfreesboro, and I'll bide no denay!!! (or somethin' Shakespearian...)
So, my most favorite of all is seeing The Talking Heads in 1983 on the Stop Making Sense tour (See the Jonathan Demme film version) Not only was it a truly fabulous music concert, but very theatrical and a great spectacle. It was also my first venture into hallucineogenics. I tripped my balls off. I also was in attendance at the U2 show at Murphy Center. That was a very good show. A couple of years ago I saw Erica Badu at The Ryaman Auditorium. This was also a really great show. the best I've seen in several years. Oh, and last but not least Daniel Lanois at the Exit/In about five years ago. I wondered if the influence on him was the Edge or if the Edge's influence stems from Lanois' guitar playing.
Honorable Mention
The Police Ghosts in the Machine tour
R.E.M. at Murphy Center
Van Halen 1984 tour
AC/DC For Those About to Rock tour
Worst Music experience
Ozzie Osbourne Diary of a Madman tour.
Peace, D$
$, i , too, was at that same HEADS show in Nash-vegas. (without the hallucineogenics, mind you) and it was STILL a fabulous concert! Jimmy Cunningham and I danced our asses off at that show...and the U2 at Murphy was phenominal!
I might also throw in a club show I saw of the Dream Syndicate at Eliston Square. Me and the boys from Word Uprising took in that show and it was an hour and fifteen minutes of pure Rock and Roll! Great, tight performance.
Lark Watts and Co. worked in Murfreesboro, indeed. However, they officially listed Winchester (the hometown of several members) as their base. (To participate in Decent Exposure, the band had to be from within the WKQQ listening area. We'll call this one a draw, eh?) Besides, Lark says he avoided Davis Market like the plague. ;-)
By the way, I have an interesting track by Lark from back in his MTSU days, apparently recorded on campus. He doesn't even know I've got this. You should hear it sometime.
I know of at least a couple of times when as a neighbor of Lark's at the old U.P., I saw him at Davis market. You can run, but you can't hide!!
Flwtch, did Lark live at UP during our early 90's MELROSE PLACE phase when it seemed everyone we knew lived there?
...or FLETCH as the case may be...
Yes, he did.
Ok - I know I"m going to catch hell for this. Duran Duran, in Memphis summer of 2005. This was the 13th time I've seen them and it was the fourth time I saw this particular tour. But, it was the first time I had ever seen them in my hometown. The show was at the Orpheum - - a beautiful old opera house and I had great seats. And, I head a song that I'd never heard before. As a matter of fact, it was the first time they had ever added it to the setlist.
After the show, we went out for drinks and ended up running into the band. I got to meet Andy Hamilton (who played sax on their first four albums) and we had drinks with Simon and Roger. I got a great photo with Nick -- he even fixed my friend's digital camera when it crapped out. It wasn't the first time I'd met them, but there was something special about it being in my city.
Make all the jokes you want.
:)
Other than that, I'd say REM on the Life's Rich Pageant and Green tours, Billy Joel in 1987 and The Ramones, Tom Tom Club and Debbie Harry in 1989.
David Lee Roth's all Van Halen set in 2000 gets an honorable mention.
Jennywood- is that you ? :)
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