Exceptional musical experiences

[islandguitar]

A few great ones come to mind....over many years......
Was in the house the night "Dylan went electric".........wow.......what a night.
PP&M concerts over the years........including one fairly close to when Mary stopped performing shortly before her death. As Peter said that evening...."every concert is a gift".
James Taylor, John Denver, Judy Collins, Joni Mitchell........Oh yes, Tommy E.!!
Perhaps the most phenomenal concert was a "Rythm and Roots" concert held at Ft. Adams, Newport (folk festival location). It was the first of just two and designed to help support some of the old artists whose music was taken from them with no royalties. Now these legends are in old age with little support, so this was a fund raiser.
Hosted by Don Henley and Bonnie Raitt, MC was Ed Bradley from CBS 60 Minutes......it was the most extraordinary group of artists I"ve ever seen. Not all headliners, but amazing. I'll put it this way, IMO, Don Henley was the least talented guy there!!! The second half of the concert was all the artists being accompanied by a New Orleans full jazz band which backed up their individual numbers....everything pre arranged to fit their songs.

Toward the close of the concert, on a wonderful summer afternoon in Newport, a surprise. Billy Joel.......turns out he'd pulled into the area on his boat, not realizing what was happening. He'd gone back stage to say "hi" to some folks (literally pulling his boat to the docks). They talked him into doing a song right there..........and he played, "Newport" State of Mind (inserted instead of New York state of Mind). The crowd loved it.......spontaneous and magical. Will never forget it!! To this day, the finest large concert I've ever been to.
Lots of memories!!

[M19]

Yes at the St Paul Civic Center, 1976. Lasers. Ritual and Gates of Delirium. Nirvana! (The state of mind, not the band).

[SCVJ]

1971, lying on my back on the carpet-remnant covered cement floor at Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin, TX. I swear, when the music ended I felt like I had levitated about three feet, and slowly sank back down to the floor as the last notes faded out. No, there were no hallucinogens involved, just a little weak Mexican weed that I'm sure had worn off by then.

I saw so many great concerts there from 1970-74. Freddy King, Leo Kottke, Lightnin' Hopkins, Doug Sahm, Van Morrison, Willie Nelson jump into my mind first. I was in my early 20's - what a time and place!!!

Also, the Allman Brothers in 1970, several months after their 1st album came out. They weren't that well known then, and they were the 2nd group to play at an outdoor concert in the baseball field at he Univ. of Texas. Very powerful set. Leon Russell played next, then It's a Beautiful Day closed the show.

[SCVJ]

More I have to add:

Muddy Waters at a tiny club in '72 or so

Little Feat and Ry Cooder in about '76 (with Lowell George)

Stevie Ray Vaughan several times in small clubs before he had a record contract (usually for $2-5). Also The Fabulous Thunderbirds, who I liked better at the time (included Jimmie, SRV's brother)

Albert King in about 1980, small club.

All of the above is the great thing about being so freakin' old!!

[davidbeinct]

Just got home from seeing Corey Harris at a couple hundred seat theater. Really good acoustic blues player but really his voice is the thing. Absolutely amazing blues belter. Opening up and accompanying him was a young fiddle and accordion player named Cedric Watson. They played for not quite three hours but it felt like half that.

[DCCougar]

Hollywood Bowl. Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. Opened by Joni Mitchell. Remarkably, just as Joni started to play, a large FIREBALL broke up in the atmosphere above the Bowl. The crowd went nuts. Joni stopped mid-intro and asked what was going on. "Wow! Crazy!"

[Deliberate1]

Originally Posted by 121

17 years old and seeing Jimi Hendrix play,
March 16, 1968 in Lewiston, Maine

Dang. I grew up in Lewiston, but was 11 at the time. I am quite sure that my mom and dad would not have driven me to the concert. I was more into the Monkees at the time, anyways.
David

[Deliberate1]

I'll share.
Back in the early 80's I saw Dan Hicks at a small venue in Portland, Maine. By small, I mean there were maybe 25 people there. He played with two other musicians and put on a great show despite the paltry crowd. And I thought, that is the sign of a pro - gives the goods, whether 25 or 25,000.
Saw the Rolling Stones in Earls Court, London in 1976. Spent the night on the street in the ticket line. At some point deep in the night, a limo pulled up. Mick got out, popped the trunk (AKA boot) and handed out hamburgers to the crowd. Very classy.
In 1979 I was traveling in the Soviet Union with a college group. It so happened that we were staying at the same hotel as Elton John who was putting on a series of concerts - the first of their kind in the USSR (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elton_...ion#Tour_dates). We found out what room he was in, bought a bottle of champagne from the hotel resturaunt, and headed up to his floor. When we knocked, a fellow came to the door and we told him that we had some bubbly and would like to share with EJ. He called EJ over to the door and we had a brief but lovely conversation. EJ was a total gentleman, and expressed regrets that he could not have the drink with us because he had to go on some museum tour. Mission accomplished, we went back to the restaurant where we got the bubbly, and sold it back. That is a good memory of youthful exuberance and naivete that has faded with time.
David

[Mr. Paul]

Elton John, Madman tour
Springsteen at Red Rocks, Darkness and River tours
Jerry Garcia Band in '79, best Jerry ever
Jorma at the Blue Note in Boulder
Tom Rush, backyard house concert last summer

[rjathon]

In 1978 I saw Roy Clark perform at a small tavern in rural Indiana. I sat about 20 feet from him. He was amazing.

Russ