Ok. You’ve got 2 tickets to 2 concerts

[The Big Ragu]

I saw that tour in Toronto as well as the War tour (with, I think, The Waterboys) in 1983.

I actually knew they had a really big following in Canada in their early days. I am not sure how it started, but before they were really well known, they'd always include Buffalo and then Toronto on their tours.

I grew up within the listening area of a really good alternative radio station (WLIR) that was the first to play a lot of European bands in the U.S., It included U2, but also a lot of "New Music," ... The Cure, New Order, The Smiths, etc. That's what I was listening to in high school. I really loved U2 when I was in my teens. Boy, October, War, The Unforgettable Fire, the live album from Red Rocks. I wore those records out. The Joshua Tree came out my freshman year of college, they had taken close to 3 years on it, and it put them toward pop superstardom, but for me it felt like everything I had loved about them was tossed, and I moved on around then. It's a bit backward, but they will always be my first concert.

 

[ChrisLong]

I like the quaint clubs, too.

The Coach House in San Juan Capistrano seats around 300, and another 150 or so can stand around in the back, but it's small enough to feel you're right with the band. The first time I was there in 1987, we saw David Clayton-Thomas. I was a huge BS&T fan. I was able to get a word with him and told him I was sad that he was performing in such a tiny venue when he had the ability to fill up a stadium. He said he loved the smallness because he liked people and being close to them. More recently, we've seen Peter Noone, Justin Hayward, Jim Messina, Al Jardine, Leonid and Friends (Chicago cover band), and others.

The best one was Stages Music Hall in Chicago. It was just a block away from Wrigley Field (if Sammy Sosa had hooked a 500-foot shot that went foul, it might have hit the awning at Stages). We got tickets for Clarence Clemons and The Red Bank Rockers. There were only standup tables for about 200, surrounded by about six bars. It was incredible. He had a reasonable singer to cover Bruce songs.

 

[dixiehack]

I saw maybe half of a Tom Petty concert as part of a doomed double date at homecoming. The prominent smoke from the tokers around us triggered an asthma attack for the other girl with us and we had to take her to the ER.

I follow many of my fave artists on Instagram and Twitter and that's usually how I find out about upcoming shows. The 800-seat theatre in my part of the burbs releases their season schedule on their website, I can usually find a decent show or two to go to. In the old days here in Toronto I'd find out through ads in Rolling Stone or the local paper or announcements on the local rock stations.

If you scroll down on Spotify while a song is playing, it will alert you if they have a tour stop nearby and have a link you can follow to look at their schedule. YouTube has something similar.

 

[SixToe]

Only two? Dang. Tough choice.

I'd love to see John Lee Hooker in his prime, in a smoky joint jammin' along at about 2 a.m. with everyone having a grand time.

No. 2 would be Pavarotti. My wife and I saw Renee Flemming several years ago and she was fantastic. I don't know squat about opera but I appreciate what the singers do.

 

[Neutral Corner]

One other time machine show: Pink Floyd in Atlanta Symphony Hall, on the Meddle tour, with a Quadraphonic PA. I'd kill to have seen that show. I was a little too young to make that one.

 

[Huggy]

I actually knew they had a really big following in Canada in their early days. I am not sure how it started, but before they were really well known, they'd always include Buffalo and then Toronto on their tours.

I grew up within the listening area of a really good alternative radio station (WLIR) that was the first to play a lot of European bands in the U.S., It included U2, but also a lot of "New Music," ... The Cure, New Order, The Smiths, etc. That's what I was listening to in high school. I really loved U2 when I was in my teens. Boy, October, War, The Unforgettable Fire, the live album from Red Rocks. I wore those records out. The Joshua Tree came out my freshman year of college, they had taken close to 3 years on it, and it put them toward pop superstardom, but for me it felt like everything I had loved about them was tossed, and I moved on around then. It's a bit backward, but they will always be my first concert.

U2 was like a lot of bands from the UK (or Ireland, in their case) like The Who, Genesis, The Police and Supertramp who were big in Canada long before they had any kind of success in the US.

I am also a huge fan of U2's work through Joshua Tree, Boy is still my fave album of theirs (I remember being knocked out by "I Will Follow" when I first heard it in the long gone dear departed Record Peddler in downtown Toronto). Their live album from that early era, Under a Blood Red Sky, is incredible. I played that to death too.

 

[The Big Ragu]

U2 was like a lot of bands from the UK (or Ireland, in their case) like The Who, Genesis, The Police and Supertramp who were big in Canada long before they had any kind of success in the US.

I am also a huge fan of U2's work through Joshua Tree, Boy is still my fave album of theirs (I remember being knocked out by "I Will Follow" when I first heard it in the long gone dear departed Record peddler in downtown Toronto). Their live album from that early era, Under a Blood Red Sky, is incredible. I played that to death too.

You sound like you were living the Canadian version of me, probably a little less dorky, though. I probably listened to Under a Blood Red Sky more than any other album I owned. I still have it in a storage bin in the basement. I haven't listened to the actual album in at least 25 years, but I can still do all of the Bono intros word for word with a horrible Irish accent, if you pushed me: "Ladies and gentlemen. Let me tell you. I Will Followwwwwwww!" "There's been a lot of talk about this next song, maybe, maybe too much talk. This song is not a rebel song. This song is Sunday Bloody Sunday." "Sing this with me. This is 40."

 

[Driftwood]

Riding home from school yesterday, listening to the same radio station I listened to riding home from school 35 years ago, I head "Major concert announcement!" about a show coming to where I went to concerts in the '80s.
Warrant, Winger, Lita Ford, Twisted Sister's Dee Snider, and Molly Hatchet all together in one night!
Saw them all there back in the '80s.

 

[Captain_Kirk]

Late to the party, but here's my two:

The Who on the Quadrophenia tour. At the height of their musical prowess and before Keith Moon started to lose some of his fastball due to drinking and weight.

The Pretenders on the Pretenders II tour. The original lineup with a set list made up of two great albums.

 

[Huggy]

You sound like you were living the Canadian version of me, probably a little less dorky, though. I probably listened to Under a Blood Red Sky more than any other album I owned. I still have it in a storage bin in the basement. I haven't listened to the actual album in at least 25 years, but I can still do all of the Bono intros word for word with a horrible Irish accent, if you pushed me: "Ladies and gentlemen. Let me tell you. I Will Followwwwwwww!" "There's been a lot of talk about this next song, maybe, maybe too much talk. This song is not a rebel song. This song is Sunday Bloody Sunday." "Sing this with me. This is 40."

I'm pretty sure the last song of their 1985 show in Toronto was "40" and I can still remember the crowd streaming out of Maple Leaf Gardens singing "How long must we sing this song....". Badash version of "The Electric Co." on there too.

 

[wchDr]

A little late to the game here, but seeing the Avett Brothers NYE show in Charlotte was a highlight for me (they rotate Charlotte-Raleigh-Greensboro every year).

But if we are talking about things I wish I had seen, Elvis Costello anytime anywhere in the early 80s. Partly just to be that young again.

 

[Liut]

Motley Crue and Van Halen ... in that order.