Concerts

Easy Livin:

I'm an even older man!  I've seen all of the following, in NYC:

Every Gentle Giant concert from 1974 onward.

Every Genesis concert from Trick onward.  (Never got to see them with Gabriel.)

Every Yes concert from Tales onward.

Every King Crimson concert from "Red" through "Three of a Perfect Pair," plus the most recent tour.

Pink Floyd - "Animals," "The Wall," two others

Wakeman - "Myths" Tour

Moody Blues - "Octave" Tour

U.K. - "U.K." tour

Jethro Tull - (whichever show the "second" U.K. opened for)

Brand X - "Moroccan Roll" Tour (w/Collins)

Bruford - debut and second album tours; also w/Earthworks in 2003

The Church - "Holograms of Baal," "After Everything Now This" and "Forget Yourself" Tours

Nektar - "Recycled" and "Prodigal Son" Tours

Supertramp - "Crime" Tour

Zappa - 1977, 1978 (annual Halloween shows)

Mahavishnu Orchestra - 1975 (w/Narada Michael Walden on drums).  (This was a private concert for the children of the faculty of Adelphi University; only 200 people attended.  "Awesome" doesn't begin to describe it).

Other Non-Prog Faves:

Bob Marley and the Wailers  (1975)

10CC (1975, 1977, 1978)

Return to Forever (1975)

Queen - "Night at the Opera" Tour

Led Zep - "Physical Graffiti" and "Presence" Tours

Santana (1975)

Elton - Every concert from his first (1970) through 1981.

Steve Miller - "Fly Like an Eagle" Tour

Police/U2/Gabriel - Conspiracy of Hope Tour

Oregon - various (over 25 shows)

Plus various shows by The Allman Brothers, Blue Oyster Cult, Joe Cocker, Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, Hot Tuna, Billy Joel, Paul McCartney, Joni Mitchell, and many others.

All told, I've probably seen well over 400 concerts since 1971.

Peace.

My last post was about 1977 here is a list of shows I saw in my youth related to the prog bands not in any particular order:

ELP: 1973, 1977, 1984 or 5 with C. Powell, 89, 90  (3 to the power of 3) , 1994 and 1997

Yes: 1974, 1975, 1977, 1979

Gentle Giant 1975, 1976, 1977

Genesis, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980 (Saw two shows including one at the 400 seat Roxy in Hollywood, They played the Knife and The Enitre Mucical Box) 

Kansas, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1982

Peter Gabriel, 1977 At the Roxy again with R Fripp and Steve Hunter on guitars Pete sang Back in NY City as encore, 1978

Jethro Tull 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979 (This one had Star Castle if you consider them progressive I don't, 1997

Weather Report 1978

Dixie Dregs 1978, 1979

Jeff Beck with Jan Hammer 1978 (Don't tell this wasn't under the prog banner either)

Jeff Beck and Mahavishnu Orchestra 1975

I am sure there were more but that is all my aged mind can remember. You understand I spent all my money on albums, concerts, musical equipment and of course Beer

I've only ever attended two concerts.

1. Radiohead in Vancouver.  They were my first concert, and I had no idea what I was getting myself into before I arrived there that night.  The opening band was Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, and they sucked, which had me thinking "am I wasting my time being here"?  However, when Radiohead came on it took them about two minutes to make me realise that this was going to be an amazing experience.  Once they started rocking out during 2+2=5, I entered a trance of some sort, one that I would emerge from a couple hours later in complete awe.  If anyone has ever told you they have a great live show and you've disregarded it, go punch yourself in the face.

2. The Pixies in Victoria.  It was a fun show.  I'm not a HUGE Pixies fan, so it wasn't like this was an experience I had been wishing to have for ages.  They played well though, all the songs I wanted to hear were played, and there was tremendous energy.  Plus I was right up at the front of the venue, which made it even better.

I can remember three which that are very special for some circunstances:

1.- 1976 or early 77: Maybe some of you know about Frágil, a peruvian symphonic prog' band from the late 70's - early 80's, they have one great album "Avenida Larco", but back to the point.

This band started doing covers of Genesis, Yes, etc . Around 1977, when I was 13 only listened to radio music (and Roundabout), but a friend's older brother told me to go with a group of guys and see this progressive band that was the opener for the most popular pop band in Perú (You) who played Wings covers.

Honestly I went to see "You" but I noticed the audience was not normal for a POP concert, almost all were males with long beards and hair, almost as left oriented intelectuals.

The concert started with a guy dressed with a strange hat and a flower in his teeth singing a strange song named I Know What I Like, amazing a new world opened for me, then he started to tell stories while the other musicians tuned their instruments, the next songs were 11th Earl of Mar, Close to the Edge, Stairways to Heaven and Supper's Ready, the crowd was really thrilled.

After a couple of hours the lead singer from You (the Pop band) climbed the stage and said: "Well guys you are here to see us so give a warm applause to Frágil and let's Rock with YOU!!!!!!!.

Bad mistake....the crowd went mad, they started to throw objects to the stage like cans, beer bottles, etc everybody was shouting the name of Frágil.

The poor guy from You started to sing "Silly Love Songs" and it was worst, 50% of the audience went out (included myself) and the other 50% was shouting and throwing things, 2 or 3 blocks away I could listen the name Frágil shouted by the crowd.

This concert changed my life and my understanding of music.

2.- Sep. 1993 Lima - Perú, Rick Wakeman: This was the first important concert played in Lima, because we always get third class (or almost dead) artists. Rick was here at 10:00 in the morning, but the instruments were not. Because a confusion with Iatta codes the instruments went to Paraguay (Pa) instead of Perú (Pe).
The concert was programed for 9:00 pm, with a full auditorium of 7,000 thousand fans, but the concert started at 1:00 am, the incredible thing was that nobody left the hall, Rick was so moved that played extra time (until 4:00 am) , and surely gave his best, he was so happy that he came back two more times.

3.- Oct 1994? Lima - Perú, Jethro Tull: This was the group's second concert in less than a year, and as he always does, Ian started to jump and play around the stage, sudenly he vanished, the stage broke, and his leg also broke. We thought the concert was over, but he asked for a chair sat down and gave one more hour of music. He must have been in great pain but sung as if nothing had happened. Really I never saw such a demonstration of professionalism in my live.

Iván

Twelfth Night at the Target, Reading, 1979 (Yes, when they recorded THAT live album!!)

Twelfth Night at the Marquee 1983, (Yes, when they recorded THAT other live album!)

Marillion at the Top Rank, Reading, 1982 (No, they didn't record a live album of it, but the guys came out and chatted to those of us that didn't want to leave the bar). Also Reading Festival 1982 and 83, and Hammersmith Odeon 1984 and 85.

Hawkwind at Stonehenge, 1982, 83 and 84, Reading Hexagon, 1982 and Donington Monsters of Rock 1982 (Status Quo headlined).

Diamond Head Donington Monsters of Rock 1982, and supporting Metallica, Milton Keynes Bowl 1991.

All awesome shows - but I think the Stonehenge 1982 takes the trophy, as Hawkwind had an incredible laser show, and a white double-decker bus which was used as a projection screen. They played a set which must have lasted 3-4 hours until just before the sun came up, as far as I remember... a few hundred of us followed the druids and watched the ceremony as the sun rose over the stones. Incredible!