Concerts thread: Best/Worst/Next/Last one you attended?

This brought me back to my teenage days...saw dozens upon dozens of shows, most of them at amusement park amphitheaters, without anyone possessing a cell phone or ever worrying we all wouldn't find one another at the end of the day. Me and my buddies bought general admission tickets to a Motley Crue show in 1990 and ended up hanging with a couple other groups of kids from our town at the show. About five seconds into Motley Crue's first song, those of us in GA surged and toppled the flimsy fence separating the GA seats from the reserved chairbacks. We all scattered in different directions but I, of course, somehow ended up further back while the rest of my buddies got to the edge of the stage. Jerks. I found another girl I knew who'd been left back *bow chic a bow wow* and we waded our way closer to the stage throughout the show and then had absolutely no trouble finding our jerk friends once the show ended.

There was also a time the previous summer where we were driven to a show by another friend's parents, who said they'd pick us up when it ended. We came out there afterward and they were nowhere to be found. I think they went to the wrong lot or something. Anyway, we ended up finding a pay phone to call my parents and my Mom came to pick us up from about 40 minutes away. Pretty sure my Dad is still mad about that one (my Mom having to go out in the middle of the night to pick us up, not her actually picking us up).

 

Buffett last night for a concert postponed from last year. It took me 45 minutes to find the tickets - because the venue printed and mailed them.

Good show, as usual. But the sound mix was a bit off. When he was talking, it was difficult to understand at times.

 

Chicago and Brian Wilson/Al Jardine tonight!!!

 

Sorry to have to write this, but Brian Wilson should know enough to give it up and enjoy accolades as he rides off into the sunset. He is 79. The Beach Boys portion of this concert was not very good. A month ago, we saw Al Jardine and his son Matt at the Coach House and that was better than the whole Beach Boys band they put together for this concert. Brian was front and center behind a piano. He didn't move for the first three songs. My wife said he looked like a mummy. There was a curtain from the bottom of the keyboard to the floor, hiding his legs, so he probably was not using them. They added a feature performer Blondie Chaplin. Supposedly, he had toured with the Stones. He was awful. Couldn't sing. His guitar work was just to see how loud and crazy he could play. After the band did a few songs, he came out and did three songs, then left. He came back later and joined the group. It seemed like the band never rehearsed, not together, not tight. At the end, they had to bring out a walker for Brian to exit the stage. It is so sad when these premier performers can't do it anymore.

Chicago, on the other hand, positively cooked. They have three originals -- Jim Pankow (trombone), Robert Lamm (keyboards) and Lee Loughnane (trumpet) -- and supplemented them with other outstanding musicians, including Canadian Neil Donell on lead vocals. Pankow seemed to be in charge. They played all the original songs that I love. The drum/percussion segment in "I'm A Man" was awesome, with the guys trading places at one point. They did the entire "Make Me Smile" medley, which is about 6 songs, 13 minutes, starting and ending with "Make Me Smile." This is the song that first turned me on to Chicago. They played for nearly two hours. When they came back for an encore, wife said, "Haven't they played everything." I laughed and said, "Probably not, they have something like 22 albums." What they hadn't played, which they did in the encore, was "To Be Free" and "25 or 6 to 4."

 

Damn. Terry Kath's been gone 44 years. My parents bought me the Silver Album (Chicago II) for my 13th birthday, the first real album I ever owned. "Wake Up Sunshine" should have been released as a single. The rest of Side Two was the "Ballet For A Girl in Buchannon." So even though I loved "25 or 6 to 4," that side was the one I played over and over. And then somebody told Peter Cetera that ballads would sell more records.

I saw Brian with the original members plus Bruce Johnston in 1982 and he was barely conscious that night, too. To think he's outlived both Carl and Dennis.

 

If you haven't seen the documentary Terry Kath's daughter did on him, you should look it up. She made it in order to try to raise the level of appreciation for her dad, who is regarded as one of the greatest guitar players ever, but hasn't been so recognized. She runs through the documentary, trying to find his original guitar, traveling far and wide to see people who might have it or know where is it. Very cool movie.

 

The Brian thing is tricky. He hasn’t been able to perform for a long, long time. I think these days he’ll maybe sing two or three songs during a show, but even the people on stage aren’t really sure when he’ll join in.

Ultimately these shows are more of a tribute to Brian than a concert by Brian. It seems borderline abusive to roll him out there but from what I have heard he genuinely enjoys the “performance,” even if he’s just sitting there not doing anything. As an audience member it might be enjoyable if you know that going in. If you are expecting Brian to be an active participant it’s going to be jarring. Jardine’s kid seems to be doing all the heavy lifting these days.

By the way, Blondie Chaplin was a member of The Beach Boys in the 70s. He’s the singer on “Sail On, Sailor.”

 

Not a concert, but a concert film. I ran up on a Rolling Stones filmed concert from their first date on the 2015 tour. They played the entire Sticky Fingers album in a small theater in L.A. and filmed it. While this is the elderly Stones they give a credible performance, and I found it an enjoyable time filler. The only false note that it really hit for me is the absence of Bobby Keys and Jim Price on horns, who are spectacular on the LP. The players sitting in are quite good, but I found it akin to watching Springsteen after Clarence Clemons' death - you really miss them, but they're dead, so... It's on Amazon. It's pretty good.

The Rolling Stones: From the Vault - Sticky Fingers Live at the Fonda Theatre 2015 (2017) - IMDb

 

Just watched that concert film from Prince’s 1985 tour. Good gosh, the talent of that man. Also, good gosh, how did we actually enjoy such shitty video quality!?!

 

The Purple Rain tour PBS had been showing? I saw it too, what an otherworldly talent. I'm not a player but as a guy who appreciates guitarists his ability was astonishing, that's in addition to everything else he could do.

 

This afternoon, a friend unexpectedly gave us tickets to Brandi Carlile’s show in Austin tonight, and it was really good. I wish she would have sung some of the Highwomen stuff, but that’s my only gripe about the performance.

We sat in the lawn section, and the woman right in front of us stood for the whole show, and with her short shorts, we saw more of her ass than we really needed to.

 

Speaking of Austin, I'm watching Charley Crockett on Austin City Limits. He's playing a festival here at the end of the month, with Lukas Nelson and the Promise of the Real as the headliner.