Cool Bands you've seen "Live"

[VinnyBass]

Deb surprised me with a black t-shirt the other day she got online with the above statement. While I personally never would have
bought a shirt like that, I thanked her and of course wore it around the house that night.
While all of us have a wide assortment of musical tastes and personal views of what musicians or bands that to them seen to
be cool... I started to think about it.
I am a lot older than most of you and not going to name a lifetime of people I have seen perform live or how many times I saw
them, but here are just some of the bands and musicians I was fortunate to see in my early years that at the moment
come to mind..........

The Beatles(Balboa Stadium.. I was 10 years old)
The Rolling Stones
Bob Dylan
Chuck Berry
Eric Clapton
Elton John
Deep Purple
Led Zeppelin
Van Halen
Ozzy Osborne
Ramones
etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.

A lot of you younger guys and gals, are probably laughing, (I actually have seen plenty of other bands through the years) and some
of the older folks may actually have listened or seen a few of the bands on the list.
Anyway, I wondered if any of you would like to share some of your favorite bands of musicians that you got to see perform live?

[Big C]

Allman Brothers, Lynryd Skynryd, Marshall Tucker Band, Outlaws, Charlie Daniels Band. I was a big southern rock guy. Also, the Who, Jethro Tull, Fleetwood Mac, Deep Purple, Santana, ELO, Doobie Brothers etc… Most recently and a bucket list concert for me was Bob Seger. However, I would rather catch a ten pound bass than see any of these again. Well, the Allman Brothers would be the exception.

[Early release]

I lived in Chicago, which was a great hub for music. So I have a lot of those mentioned, but my first concert was Pink Floyd for their Animals tour which was a lot of sensory input for a first concert.

Other big additions ( IMHO) , David Bowie, Genesis, Utopia, Yes, Kansas, Moody Blues, Steely Dan, Grateful Dead, The Cure, Stone Temple Pilots, Smashing Pumpkins, etc.. The one I missed and kept missing is the Eagles.

[foulhook]

Social Distortion
Offspring
Greenday
White Stripes
Violent Femmes
Wall of Voodoo
Pink Floyd
Grateful Dead
Just to name a few, I don't like country, but do lie old country so I also saw Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and Merle Hagard

[Big C]

Pretty darn cool that you got to see the Beatles Vinny. I only saw them on the Ed Sullivan show.

[sdjiricek]

Dio
The Cramps
The Cure
Love and Rockets
The Damned
Blondie
Oingo Boingo
Bauhaus
Tones on Tail
The Creepy Creeps
General Public
The English Beat
PIL
Souxsie and the Banshees
NIN
Janes Addiction
Alien Sex Fiend
Nirvana
Echo and the Bunnymen
Western Standard Time Orchestra
...and the list goes on

[VinnyBass]

Pretty darn cool that you got to see the Beatles Vinny. I only saw them on the Ed Sullivan show.

Lots of screaming fans and it was pretty darn cool. I was in the back of my parents car and on the radio they said the Beatles
were in town and of course I started getting all excited. I remember my dad telling my mom that he promised me that if the
Beatles ever came to San Diego they would take me and I could not believe it as my dad drove right to Balboa Stadium and
we got to see the Beatles. I have the ticket stubs somewhere and so happy that I saw them live.
I did watch them on Ed Sullivan many times also.

[VinnyBass]

Thanks everyone for your contributions......lots of great music!!!
Besides my original short list your guys comments reminded me of a
few other bands or musicians to add:
The Beatles
The Rolling Stones
Bob Dylan
Chuck Berry
Eric Clapton
Elton John
Deep Purple
Led Zeppelin
Van Halen
Ozzy Osborne
Ramones
and.............
AC/DC
Cannot Heat
BTO
ZZ Top
Cheap Trick
Pat Travers
Bob Seger
Sting
Tom Petty
Rod Stewart
The Cure
Blondie
Janes Addiction
Depeche Mode
Fleetwood Mac
Aerosmith
Beastie Boys
Run DMC
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Marshall Tucker Band
The Knack
Green Day
Social Distortion
Zack Brown Band(Deb won tickets so I had to go...they were pretty good!)
There are some more...but this update is for now.

[salt water guy]

Seen lotsa the big names in the arenas, but much prefer smaller venues. Remember Anthology in Little Italy? Awesome joint -- years ago took my aspiring sax playing son to see Count Basie's band, (speechless walking out of the place). Later my bro's and I enjoyed John Mayall and his latest line up, Robben Ford's threesome, last but not least, Duke Robillard, who was chillin' bar-side after the show. Cool dude and fun to talk to. Same deal with Ramona Main Stage... hung out briefly with long-time bassist for Rory Gallagher"s old band, Gerry Mc before their jam. Had to pinch myself... Poppa Chubby, Walter Trout -- killer shows. Appreciate what's available here in SD!

[VinnyBass]

Seen lotsa the big names in the arenas, but much prefer smaller venues. Remember Anthology in Little Italy? Awesome joint -- years ago took my aspiring sax playing son to see Count Basie's band, (speechless walking out of the place). Later my bro's and I enjoyed John Mayall and his latest line up, Robben Ford's threesome, last but not least, Duke Robillard, who was chillin' bar-side after the show. Cool dude and fun to talk to. Same deal with Ramona Main Stage... hung out briefly with long-time bassist for Rory Gallagher"s old band, Gerry Mc before their jam. Had to pinch myself... Poppa Chubby, Walter Trout -- killer shows. Appreciate what's available here in SD!

Wow! Count Basie, Robben Ford, John Mayall etc..... Some great music there.
You mentioned the bassist for Rory Gallagher and I forgot that I did see Rory in concert years ago.
A buddy of mine and me used to sit in his room many years ago and listen to John Mayall all the time.

[sawheeler52]

Vinny,
I've enjoyed your thread. Thanks for making me remember.
A few live dates from my experience to date:
Jimi at a small club in Schenectady, NY when in high school
Pink Floyd at Carnegie Hall (I challenge anyone to top this one)
Led Zeppelin
Jefferson Airplane
Bob Marley & the Wailers
Jeff Beck
Stevie Ray Vaughn, a lot
Pearl Jam
Neville Brothers
Van Halen (not exactly my cup of tea) on their first tour opening for the original Journey
Buddy Guy
Metallica - got dragged to this one by some younger colleagues. Hated them; but recognized they were likely at the top of their genre.
Peter, Paul & Mary
And let us not forget, from this Dead Head, the Grateful Dead a million times, twice at the Fillmore East in NYC; traveled cross-country in a van one year following the Rolling Stone Magazine concert calendar (when they used to do that)

Missed opportunities:
Stones
Red Hot Chili Peppers

[salt water guy]

Yes, Pink Floyd '72 at that venue -- must have been stoked, but "Jimi at a small club in Schenectady, NY..." Prop's to ya on that one!

[VinnyBass]

Yes, Pink Floyd '72 at that venue -- must have been stoked, but "Jimi at a small club in Schenectady, NY..." Prop's to ya on that one!

I was excited just to have a couple Jimi Hendrix bootlegs.
Amazing musician!!!!!!!!!! Heck, my first poster to hang in my room when I was a kid
was Jimi with a white Strat.
Wished I could have saw him live.

[Wackyrig]

Nirvana X2
Pearl Jam
Mudhoney
Supersuckers
The Cramps
Flogging Molly
Rancid
Dropkick murphys
Jesse Dayton
Willie Nelson
Recently I got to see;
Cattle decapitation
Carcass
Obituary
IMMOLATION
Hatebreed
Infest
Regional justice center

[Tailingloop]

I have seen quite a few but a couple of favorites that were assembled for specific tours:

Paul Simon's band for the "Born at the Right Time" tour in 1991-1992. The set list included classic Simon songs as well as some great stuff from "Graceland" and "Rhythm of the Saints". The band included a number of African and Brazilian musicians as well as American jazz trumpeter Chris Botti and the the late, great, saxaphonist Michael Brecker. They just rocked.

Steve Winwood and his band for his "Back in the High Life" tour in 1986.

Some other favorites:

Another favorite with their standard touring band was the Tom Tom Club (Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth from Talking heads plus others). Last time I saw them was in 1989 here in San Diego where they opened for Fine Young Cannibals. We went to see the Tom Tom Club, and a lot of folks left after they played, skipping the "main" attraction, though we stayed.

Oingo Boingo in 1982 at the gym at UCSD. Terrible accoustics. It didn't matter. It was great.

Suzanne Vega who I saw in a small, intimate venue at SD State after the release of her album 99ºF. Great show.

Count Basie Orchestra, lead by Count Basie. At Disneyland a couple of times in the late 1970s and early 1980's. Got me hooked on big band swing era music as a teenager.

Ray Charles - didn't matter who was in the band.

A host of small, mostly unknown or little known local or so cal bands at Drowsy Maggies which served food, non-alcholic drinks and good simple food in North Park during the 1980's. I don't think the musicians were paid but they were tipped by patrons. They hosted a very eclectic range of music: jazz, folk (American , Irish, and others) , klezmer, blues, various solo act, duos, trios. Alternative music.

[crawdadguy]

The Who/stones/ Aerosmith / ELO/ cal-jam1-2/
Elton John / Eric Clapton / incubus/ Partied w/ Bush several times/ ( brother in law is recording engineer)
Kiss/ clash/ Couple of blues festivals/ missing persons/B52’s/ the cure/ van hagar/ many many more they were cheap to go to in my day ( unlike now) I’d love to see
System of the down someday.

[Moose]

RUSH - numerous times. Always put on a phenomenal show

KISS always put on a great show as well