Alvin Lee Message & Discussion Board
Thanks for joining in the conversation!
LOL!! This is totally crackin' me up, Dave. I wouldn't disagree that Ian Anderson could come off as pompous, but I supposed it was all part of his "charm". I didn't find him a sexy figure AT all, though the concert pose on one leg was appealingly eccentric. His lyrics were imaginative and provocative, and seemed to show intellectual depth. Didn't realize he was *quite* that short, though, ha. What a farcical spectacle the below almost-altercation woulda been! Some of Tull's music *was* actually pretty heavy, though. Just because there was flute in it didn't make it all tra la la and airy-fairy, y'know. ;-) Take a song like "New Day"...that was a strikingly heavy riff. I thought. Tull weren't exactly formula rockers. So much for labels-- all that really matters is the music itself, anyway, right? Though obviously Tull's music doesn't matter at all to you, heh. What can I say, I do especially love their first couple of albums. Also *Aqualung* and *Songs from the Wood*. Tull weren't my fave, and they weren't my least fave. Variety is the spice, and all, eh? :-)
All circa 1969/70 at the L.A.Forum:
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!
You know, we may have met at one of those Forum gigs
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!
Dave, Did you see TYA in 1970? If so I was the hippie chick in row 3 swooning over Alvin and continually falling into the lap of the guy sitting next to me. I was so ripped I don't remember anything else about that night.
Robin, I think Otis Redding died in 1967
Peace,
DLM
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.
Then I saw him in 67 -- **** did I dream it? He sang "try a little tenderness" and "I've been loving you too long." But wait -- I was not allowed to go out at night in 67.
Dale, I think one of my best memories from back in the day is a figment of my imagination. I am freaking out! I wonder what other memories are only hallucinations of my substance fried brain???
Ahh, I think I was being crushed at the front. Hard to breathe, but I didn't care! And I didn't take advantage of a ripped hippie chick that night, so I didn't see ya!
He was touring when his plane went down, so you may have seen him right before his demise. So don't freak out, you probably saw him in '67.
Ah Dave, he didn't take advantage , he was very nice about my falling on him. He was only a little reluctant to let me up. :)
I won't freak but I do suspect my memories are faulty because I was so sure I saw him with either the Stones in '69 or Tina around that time. What a shocking development this turned out to be. DLM has single-handedly killed off one of my happiest memories. LOL.
He died on tour in Dec. 1967. The Stones had a mega U.S. Tour in 67. You might have seen him then
. I remember it very well, as I came to Long Beach, Ca. In June, '67. Sometime either before or after my arrival, the Stones played So. Cal. Hope this helps your freak out!
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.
Thanks Dave, it does help. I remember that my friend and I were in the very last row at the Stones concert. since you know the forum, you know we had to have binoculars to see anything. My computer is packed away and I am using the one-finger typing ordeal on my Iphone to write this. So, I am just going to hope Otis and the Stones played together at the Forum in '67, but I will check it out when I return. I need to stop talking about seeing Otis, if I never saw him. . 
Wow, I'd forgotten that's how Otis died. Such a shame. I loved his songs. How many musicians and sports figures have died in plane crashes? Too many, all told.
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!
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
Re: Best Live Band (not with Alvin) Top 3
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!