OT: Concerts

[AndyC]

Mr. Hockstatter wrote:
> Blue Oyster Cult played at a bar we went to, that was a
> fantastic show.  We were about 3 feet from the stage.

Was there enough cowbell?

[Mr_Vindictive]

AndyC,

You know, the same thing occured to me when I read that post.....

[peter johnson]

Blue Oyster Cult apparently had an agent who lived in Virginia in the '70's, thus almost every single touring band that came through the Delaware, Virginia, Maryland axis, otherwise known as Delmarva, had them as their opening act.
I saw Blue Oyster Cult open for Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, J. Geils Band, Rare Earth, 10 Years After, and others I forget.  I became a fan.  I would go to shows by people I'd never heard of just to see Oyster Cult open for them.
I saw a lot of the classic acts of the day, some in multiple incarnations.  Bands of my youth & approximate number of times seen, leaving out the ones mentioned above:
Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention -- 6 times
Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band -- once
Steppenwolf -- 3 times
Jefferson Airplane & Jefferson Starship -- 6 times
Allman Brothers -- twice
Grateful Dead -- 4 times.  I never got The Dead.  Kept going because all my friends loved them.  Still don't get them.
Todd Rundgren -- 1 time.  Loudest show ever.
Bruce Springsteen -- once.  I agree:  Worst show ever.
Doobie Brothers -- once.
Firesign Theatre -- twice.  Yeah, yeah, I know - not technically a band.
Sly and The Family Stone -- once
Joni Mitchell -- once
Santana -- once
I've left out a lot, I know, but these are the ones that stick with me, because I was lucky enough to see them either at the height of their creative powers, or as examples of extreme awfulness.  Now, as far as more modern fare goes:
Yonder Mountain String Band -- dozens.  Appear on one of their boot CDs.
Big Head Todd and The Monsters -- dozens.  Used to be the bar band/house band at a bar in Boulder called JJ McCabe's, since closed.
Project Object -- dozens.
Leftover Salmon -- dozens.  See Big Head Todd.  It pays to live in/near Boulder.
King Crimson -- 4 times.  This one should be in the "old" column, but I only ever saw them live in the '90's/'00's
Music be good --
peter johnson/denny crane

[Evan3]

Glad you agree with me on Bruce....

But I have a fever...
And the only perscription is...

more cowbell!

Greatest SNL skit ever.

[peter johnson]

Cowbell good . . .
I left out some other shows:
Tom Waits -- twice
Lou Reed -- just once, but one of the best damn things I've ever seen -- ever . . .
Mojo Nixon & Skid Roper!!
Slim Cessna's Auto Club -- at least 7 times -- maybe more.
Judy Collins
Gary Neuman
Bonny Raitt
Muddy Waters with Pinetop Perkins -- God was good to me that day . . .
Gentle Giant with Peter Frampton -- very strange . . .
The Who
Jethro Tull -- twice
Little Johnny Cougar -- what the now-named "John Mellencamp" used to go by.  He sucked then, too . . .
Starcastle!  -- one of the single cheesiest bands ever.  They were an imitation Yes band that released 2 albums on Epic in the '70's, at the height of Yes's popularity.  They sounded more like Yes than Yes did!!  Really blew . . .
Bobby Womack
peter johnson/denny crane

[Vermin Boy]

One of the best shows I've been to was the Red Elvises (of Six String Samurai fame) at TT the Bear's in Cambridge, MA. They are absolutely insane, and even better when you see them in a small venue like TT's, where they're right in your face.

Some others I've seen, in no order other than when they occur to me...

The Cramps
"Weird Al" Yankovic
Iggy Pop and the surviving Stooges, in a local record store the night of their latest CD release
Neil Innes (of the Bonzo Dog Band, the Rutles, and sometimes Monty Python)
Eric Idle
Presidents of the United States of America
The Eels
Thoth (bonus points if you know who this is)
BJ Snowden (ditto)
BB King
The Who (post-Entwistle, sadly)
The Strokes
The Sounds
Wille "Loco" Alexander & the Boom Boom Band/Unnatural Axe/Nervous Eaters (awesome, criminally obscure Boston punk bands from the 70s)
The Arrogant Worms
Jim's Big Ego (several times)
Ronnie Earl & Bruce Katz
Mark Hosler (of Negativland, though he was speaking rather than playing)
Cyrus Chestnut

...That's all I can think of for now, though there may be others.

[saintmort]

I'm a big Christian Music fan and have been to a few fests so I've got a list of those bands...so I'm not gonna post that but besides them...

Steve Miller
George Thurgood
Fenix TX

And I go to all the local shows here so there's a bunch of local bands I've seen

(I'd rather not spend too much money on concerts when Christian shows and local shows are basically $5-$20 and I'm a starving college student)

[peter johnson]

Vermin:
I forgot Neil Innes!!  Me too --
I know who Thoth is -- they play him semi-frequently out here on KVCU radio 1190am -- they also internet stream, so worth tuning in --
He's weeeiiirrrddd!!  Not that there's anything wrong with that . . . Didn't know he did live shows -- I thought he just lived in his Mom's basement & sent out these odd recordings to an adoring public.
I thought I & my poli-sci friend in Washington DC were the only people outside of Canada who knew who The Arrogant Worms were/are!  C'est Cheese!!  I'm gonna kill the dog next door . . .
Don't know BJ Snowden, so lose my bonus points . . .
I also saw The Steve Miller Band, once upon a time . . .
peter johnson/denny crane

[Vermin Boy]

Yeah, Thoth regularly performs in Central Park; I caught him on his first (and, to my knowledge, only) Boston area gig, at the Coolidge Corner Theater. If you've never seen a picture of him, or footage, I highly recommend it-- He wears a loincloth and headdress, dancing frenetically and wailing on his violin. You can check out his website (http://www.skthoth.com) for all the info you need; I also recommend the short documentary on him (which won a freakin' Oscar!). Seeing him in person was incredible; he literally ran up and down the aisles screaming during the climax of the show, and I got him to "autograph" a copy of his FAQ pamphlet (his signature is actually a bizarre series of symbols drawn with both hands at once).

BJ Snowden is a former Boston-area elementary school music teacher who sings off-key but endearing songs about Canada, her family, and other subjects. Very goofy, but she consistently sells out to crowds of jaded hipsters; Fred Schneider of the B-52s is an especially vocal fan. Check out her website at http://www.bjsnowdenmusic.com; her "In Canada" is an outsider classic not to be missed!

And yeah, the Arrogant Worms are amazing; I can't tell you how excited I was when I saw they were playing. Saw them at Club Passim, incidentally-- the old stomping grounds of Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, et al.