Alvin Lee Message & Discussion Board
I would love to have seen Janis and Jimi live, not to mention the Doors, and never did. All my friends here went to a Janis gig in Des Moines the summer of '69, but I was out of town. Hers was a flame that blazed so incredibly brightly before it died. I still miss her.
Jimi
Ike & Tina
Otis Redding with either The Stones or Tina, I forget.
Janis & Big Brother in a small club in Hollywood probably 1968. Killer!
Actually, Rory should be number one on the list. I'm just a sucker for a great front man. Jim Dandy, my son talked to him after a gig, and now he's a pro! Gives credit to the Dandy man. And nobody knows the band LSD, but Stanley, the front man, who looked like Buddy Holly just crawled out of his grave! Great singer, writer, keyboardist, he just did it all! And he reeked!! He was filthy dirty, he slapped me on the shoulder, and the stench is STILL on my jacket! This is 2012, the concert was in 1995!
I saw Black Oak Arkansas at a "love-in", may have been Griffith Park. Those were such fun times. Again-- too ripped to remember anything except that they were very good.
Whew. I'm beat from being out running around all day on short sleep. Still trying to decide which hippie-era concerts other than Alvin were my faves. He WAS my fave! In the meantime, here are a few more recent performances: 1. Paul McCartney, Wells Fargo Arena, Des Moines, Iowa, October 2007. 2. Robert Plant, Veterans Memorial Auditorium, Des Moines, Iowa, "Manic Nirvana" tour, mid-'90s. 3. Steve Vai and Billy Sheehan (with the DLR Band, but forget DLR, if at all possible! I went to see them!), Cedar Rapids, Iowa, late '80s.
Steppenwolf 1969 Carousel Theater
The Faces 1969 or 1970 Boston Common
ELP, Pictures at an Exhibition Tour..
1.Johnny Winter with Rick Derringer
2.The Blasters
3.Stevie Ray -Rotterdam very stoned but incredible fast
I can't narrow it to three, but these spring to mind in a virtual tie and no particular order:
Janis Joplin w/ Full Tilt Boogie - what a shame she died, because she finally had a band that could make the stage BURN like she could. Scr*w Cosmic Blues and Big Brother.
Lynyrd Skynyrd - WITH Ronnie Van Zant and Steve Gaines - the best version of one of my favorite southern bands
The Allman Brothers - WITH Duane - my other favorite southern band
The Who - with a HEALTHY Keith Moon
B.B. King - mid 70s at a small, smokey, sweltering club in Reno, NV. The crowd was overwhelmingly black and were cool with an underaged white kid hanging out drinking, flirting with older women, and listening to Lucille testify. B.B. was in his prime with one hot mofo of a band backing him. A true blues legend in the type of environment all great blues should be heard in.
The list may change hourly as I think about it. So many great shows - such a bad memory!
Hi Dave!
Iggy Pop in Boston
The Who Quadraphenia Tour Madison Square Garden
Neil Young/Crazy Horse Fillmore West Neil's 40th B Day
Rory Gallagher Boston
****..that's four
Hey Don, all those shows sound great but as a kid in a the small club seeing BB that's gotta be tops.
Yeah, it was pretty heady stuff - totally out of my white middle-class suburban environment. I stumbled across the gig totally by accident, went into the club in the afternoon, and told the bartender I wanted to see B.B. King. He was pretty amused and had some customers look out for the white boy and keep me out of (too much) trouble.
Wishbone Ash 1973 London Alexandra Palace. Maggie Bell Glasgow 2009 Jethro Tull Edinburgh around 1972
I saw Wishbone Ash, I think also in 1973, at the Des Moines Ice Arena opening for Taj Mahal, the act I'd really gone to see. The entire show was a catastrophe from start to finish. WA launched into the same opening song three times in a row, and at the same place each time, their power blew. Then Taj came out in African garb and proceeded to play a quiet opening number on a little thumb harp, which caused some rude and restless audience members to start calling out "Play the blues!" Admittedly I myself was eager to hear him play stuff like "Stagger Lee" and "Candy Man", but kept silent out of respect for artistic prerogative. There was plenty of time for the other songs later-- or so I thought. Taj took offense at the noisy blues-inciters, cut the African harp number short, and stalked off the stage, never to return. That was all, folks! Later that night I got reeeally sick on something I'd eaten at some point from the concessions stand while waiting for some actual music to start happening, and was violently ill well into the next day. Definitely NOT my fave concert!!
P.S. Anybody else have any concert horror stories?
Yes, Mike Oldfield at Edinburgh Castle playing Tubular Bells in it's entirety. it may be clever witting and all that but I was bored out my skin. just to make matters worse the warm up act,a lady from Canada I think was dreadful and was booed off the stage.
Go Sox!,,
I would pick Janis with Full Tilt Boogie as one of my favorites too, Don....but oddly enough one of the worst shows I ever saw was the Allmans in 1969 or 1970. Van Morrison opened and never even managed to get the audience's attention; Delaney & Bonnie came up next and were on fire, except for when Delaney got pis.sed at some people calling out "Clapton" and stopped playing to yell at them, and then the Allmans...who I loved then and love now - were so dam*ed tedious I actually fell asleep!
Janis Joplin w/ Full Tilt Boogie - what a shame she died, because she finally had a band that could make the stage BURN like she could. Scr*w Cosmic Blues and Big Brother.
Lynyrd Skynyrd - WITH Ronnie Van Zant and Steve Gaines - the best version of one of my favorite southern bands
The Allman Brothers - WITH Duane - my other favorite southern band
The Who - with a HEALTHY Keith Moon
B.B. King - mid 70s at a small, smokey, sweltering club in Reno, NV. The crowd was overwhelmingly black and were cool with an underaged white kid hanging out drinking, flirting with older women, and listening to Lucille testify. B.B. was in his prime with one hot mofo of a band backing him. A true blues legend in the type of environment all great blues should be heard in.
The list may change hourly as I think about it. So many great shows - such a bad memory!
Yikes, Graeme! Even READING the title "Tubular Bells" makes me paranoid I'll get the melody stuck in my head for the next seven lifetimes!! Eek! Anything but that! Quick, Laur, put on some Alvin! ;-) Hmmm...the lady from Canada CAN'T have been Joni Mitchell... I can't imagine her getting booed off any stage, unless it was at the Annual Convention for the Tone-Deaf, Clueless, & Aesthetically-Challenged! Right, Dale? ;-) (EDIT: Just teasing you for your recent criticism in another thread of Joni's guitar-playing, by implying you'd agree with me here that she'd never get booed off the stage... NOT implying you'd belong at such a fanciful convention!!) I wonder who it was? What style of music was it?
I loved the Allmans WITH Duane too, Toni and Don. Their style was distinctive and unique. I used to have the LP with "Whipping Post" et al (their first?) but somehow someone else ended up with it along the way. Wanna get it on CD now I'm reminded of it. As for Co-Queen Janis (HER ruling partner was Co-Queen Joni, in my view, albeit admittedly an odd couple!), I didn't mind Big Brother & the Holding Co. . Their guitarwork was scarcely the world's greatest, but to me it was fun for being (on record, at least) more or less the epitome of a certain generic hippie guitar stereotype, ha. Ah, those were the days! I feel young again just thinking about them and hearing the music in my head. There just isn't the wide and fabulous array of superior talent and even brilliance in the current crop of musicians on today's scene. So much jaded, narcissistic, self-impressed, mediocre, unmelodic, overblown, heartless, commercialized, mechanical-sounding crap, with a handful of exceptions. One of them as I see and hear it is Jack White (born Gillis, as you Scots over there may be aware). He has so much raw and electric energy, he just goes ballistic and stratospheric when he rocks out. Watch the video online of his Grammy Awards show performance with his ex Meg of "Seven Nation Army" from several years ago. Talk about on fire! Check out his new CD *Blunderbuss*, especially the cut "Sixteen Saltines", which he performed on SNL several weeks ago. Can you tell I'm a fan, gang? ;-) I could fill all three slots of the non-Alvin concert construct with him, actually, come to think of it!! But only the non-Alvin portion. In other words, no one touches the Maestro, even now. Especially now.
Gotta admit I'd add Grace Slick to the "queen" list Laurie. And now that I think of it, one of the best shows I ever saw was the Airplane at the Fillmore East a week or so after the Kent State murders. The lady was furious and the band's rendition of "Revolution" that night was almost a real call to arms!
I'd almost forgotten your affinity for Jack White! Glad to hear it's still going strong...and that he hasn't surpassed Alvin!
Yeah, Gracie does belong on the Hippie Rocker Queen list, Toni, you're right. What a peerless set of lungs-- and what a gorgeous pure icy tone! Yowee! And yeah, as to my "affinity" for the Jackmeister, let's just say it's going strong AGAIN. Admittedly it got sidetracked in other directions for awhile. Eh bien, c'est la guerre, et aussi c'est la vie! ;-)
I'd almost forgotten your affinity for Jack White! Glad to hear it's still going strong...and that he hasn't surpassed Alvin!
Stones at Knebworth '76 ; Nightmare
But Lynyrd Skynyrd blew them anyway
Why was the Stones gig a nightmare, Jeremy? That wasn't the one when people got stomped to death, was it? Wasn't that at Altamont? It's all a blur...
Stones at Knebworth '76 ; Nightmare
But Lynyrd Skynyrd blew them anyway
Stones at Knebworth '76 ; Nightmare
But Lynyrd Skynyrd blew them anyway
Laurie, I meant soundwise, plus wait was very long
http://www.ukrockfestivals.com/76-Knebworth-festival.html
No mention of Santana...
Ah, OK, I get it. Sound problems at large venues are the worst. Too bad. Did you get to see the Stones another time or times in (a) better setting(s)?
Laurie, I meant soundwise, plus wait was very long
http://www.ukrockfestivals.com/76-Knebworth-festival.html
Hey , Jeremy. I recall way back in the day some of my friends saying Santana was disappointing live, but I don't remember why.
I like Jack White too, Laurie. Have you seen " It Might Get Loud" ? It features JW,The Edge and Jimmy Page. I t has been criticized but I liked it. The part that featured JW was pretty cool.
I haven't seen that yet, Brian, but I was just recently thinking about it, so will catch it ASAP. Looking forward to it!
Dave, May I submit an entirely new list given that one of my choices is very likely a false memory? I remember that I loved the Jimi , Janis, and Tina concerts but honestly I don't remember the concerts themselves.
So, although my list will probably make some people laugh and some people cringe, the following shows gave me great pleasure. These were all about 15 years ago:
Sepultura
Ozzie
Pantera
Pardon my addressing you directly again, Robin, but I'm a bit curious about something, and I'm just no good at pretending somebody's not in the same room, so to speak. I must admit, I was surprised by your rock concert list of Ozzy, etc. from 15 years ago. When you joined the board awhile back, you said you had quit listening to rock & roll over 40 years ago when you discovered classical, and had only recently gotten back into Alvin's music as the exception. Am I mistaking something? Hey, it's fine with me however much rock music you listen to when, and by whom, but what you wrote originally seems at odds with your latest. I admit, I'm the sort of person who likes to clear up any discrepancies and misunderstandings, and I'm still hoping we can move past our recent upset. Just wondering, if you care to clarify!
So, although my list will probably make some people laugh and some people cringe, the following shows gave me great pleasure. These were all about 15 years ago:
Sepultura
Ozzie
Pantera
OH, YOU POOR, POOR, GIRL... . Ozzie? Nelson? Or Ozzy Osboune?
Ozzie Osbourne. To make matters worse, Dave, I also loved Megadeth, Slayer, and Metallica.
Another incredible live band was the mariachi group behind Pepi Aguilar. Someone did some amazing R&R / Blues style guitar solos in a couple of his songs and tore the roof off the place.
Don't feel too sorry for me though because my first love is opera and my son is an opera singer so I get live performances from my very favorite artist.
I've also wondered about that "40 years of never listening to rock music" Robin. I mean, not even on the radio? In someone else's car? What did your kids listen to growing up? I can't imagine having an entire genre of music just be shut down somehow. Now, with your recent posts about Ozzie & Megadeth etc and seeing some concerts 15 years ago, it seems the 40 year stretch wasn't really true. I actually feel better knowing that.
No freakin' WAY!!! ASK BRIAN! HE'S A SOX FAN, I'M A YANKS FAN SINCE '60, when they lost the WS to Pittsburgh. I'm from the Midwest my dad Cubs fan (son too), my grandfther, Cardinals fan. Great-grandfather, W.Sox fan. Older bro Pirate fan in '60, me, a Yankee fan. Chin up, Laurie, only three back, and our sluggers have warmed up.
It's cool Robin. When Megadeth were playing some outdoor dump in Iowa, I think, ( Hi Laurie! ), newly divorced I copped Dave's girl for the tour. She said he was weird, but she liked me because she wouldn't have to learn a new name! , ! Also she said our guitar styles were the same. They're NOT, but the rest of the band played along! Michelle was her name......Oh, and BTW, it's great to listen to all types of music! Opera, I wouldn't have the lack of ego to sit in the pit for a couple of bows. Side's I's plays the geetar!
Dave M is a little freak but the concert I attended was killer. They played only the songs I loved and it was perfection. I was very into speed metal. I think it is my love of Vivaldi that prepared me for it. I never listen to that stuff now but I rally did dig it for about 3 years.
Oh ,and if you are interested, opera singers are promiscuous too so if you do play with them it will be a cinch for you to cop again. My son said it is very annoying to have to be sensitive while evading all the women who are looking for a "good time". Apparently the artistic temperament is complex.
Yeah, saw them at Wembley Empire Pool '73 and Munich Olympic Stadium 82 with the Center Fold Girls opening
Again, I have to bring up the 40 years of never listening to rock and exclusively listening to classical music - did you not consider speed metal rock music? True, it doesn't do much for me, but I honestly think it falls under the rock music banner. So what's up, Robin?
Oh ,and if you are interested, opera singers are promiscuous too so if you do play with them it will be a cinch for you to cop again. My son said it is very annoying to have to be sensitive while evading all the women who are looking for a "good time". Apparently the artistic temperament is complex.
Mustaine was so out of it two hours before, and he was hitting her! All I did was take his scrawny a$$ & dip his head into the beer ice water tub. He sort of came
out of it, cussed him me so I B-slapped him... hard! No retort, he just slinked away. If that makes me a little (I'm 5'9), freak, a little freak I is!
I meant mustaine is a little freak, not you, Baby.
Don't you know that you are quite the romantic hero after all you did for your ex and for all the trials you have had to endure?
BTW -- 5'9" is an excellent height.
Oh, and for the record, I am not flirting with you, Dave, just telling it like it is. :)
If you're a big, or small Heep fan, could you find a record released by them in late '83-4?
I don't know the name, but if you see that singer is either Steve, Stefan, or Stefone Fontaine, please buy it! I will gladly Give you a generous reward, as well as buy the record from you. I got a phone call from Steve at 4a.m., He's calling from Gdansk, saying "I'm good for it bro, I need three grand to get home. Think I got the money back?
He was fired, on tour, in Poland. At 8a.m. They went in, took him and his stuff, and put him in the street. In December, 1984. Have seen him twice since then, he's broke. I guess he doesn't know that I know that A&M sent him a 5g check the same day!
Brothers, till the contract runs out,
Dave
Many a time during soundcheck, when we would do songs like "The Banana Splitz" theme song , or "Let's Go To The Hop" by Danny & Jr.s, but with perverted lyrics, of course.The sound would slap off the back of the arena, round ones better, rectangular ones, death! Then 45 min. Later, we go on, opening act, and no one can hear us! Why, the place is now full! Our bass player would automatically turn up, as we all did, till I could see poor people in the back holding their ears! Not exactly what you like to see. Culprit, bass! It takes a very long sound cycle for the bass notes to travel. Fix was to turn him up in his monitor, he was a happy guy. Took us 3 gigs to figure that one out. Talk to the Headlining group's sound guy? He's harder to find than Bigfoot until 5 min. Before they went on!
YES freakin' way, Dave!! Been a fan of da Bombers since a babe in the cradle, same as my bro. Our dad was born and raised in NYC, and we all lived on Long Island for awhile when my bro and I were kids, so the Yankees were a fate we couldn't escape! Not that we ever wanted to. I'm glad the Yanks won the Series, after a bit of a dry spell, the month after my dad died, in 2009. They just HADDA win it, "for him". It helped a lot. Now, time for an encore, Joltin' Jeter & Co.!!
Curiouser and curiouser, Toni. I guess Robin's ignoring both of us now. She had chances to reply on here yesterday, to you at least, and instead, kept chatting with Dave about Megadeth. So much for the 40-year hiatus from rock! Also for the "recent" return to Alvin's music-- I see there are posts from her in the board archives from several years ago, albeit just a couple. Why all the subterfuge? I don't get it. Good grief, T. I can't recall any other time when you've been snubbed on your own board! I'm trying to be patient about all this, but the whole thing is just becoming way too silly. Robin, you were flirting and being pretty insensitive when I'd just confided something extremely painful on the board. I was straight with you that it hurt my feelings, and I got over it. I'm pretty sure my directness hurt your feelings, and the truth in what I said embarrassed you, but now I hope *you'll* get over it. If you're going to continue openly prolonging a senseless feud on the board like this, it's no fair and no fun for anybody else. Don't expect me to ignore it as if it's not happening when it is. I refuse to play games like that.
Oh ,and if you are interested, opera singers are promiscuous too so if you do play with them it will be a cinch for you to cop again. My son said it is very annoying to have to be sensitive while evading all the women who are looking for a "good time". Apparently the artistic temperament is complex.
Re: Best Live Band (not with Alvin) Top 3