Live shows

The live music list at Uncertain Principles got me thinking about shows that I've attended. At one point I had written down a running list but God knows where it is now so it's likely I've forgotten a few. Like the list at Uncertain Priciples, this one has a distinctive Capital District/Berkshire County flavor (the dates run from 1989 to 2004). Noteworthy is the fact that during this time the foul business of naming rights started to become popular as the Knickerbocker Arena is now Pepsi Arena and Great Woods is now the Tweeter Center (for all I know these could be different now):

- Iron Maiden, Ace Frehley (RPI Fieldhouse) My first concert. I was a big Maiden fan in high school and my ears rang for days afterwords.
- AC/DC (Springfield Civic Center) This was sometime in the late 80's, early 90's. I hesitate to mention it, but it may help to date it if I state that White Lion opened for them. So yes, I've seen White Lion live.
- B.B. King, John Mayall (Lenox Music Center)
I'm not sure this place exists anymore. B.B. kicked ass. I remember this big huge guy slept through all of John Mayall and instantly awoke when B.B. came on.
- Rush (Knickerbocker Arena)
I was also a big Rush fan in high school.
- Red Hot Chili Peppers, Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam (RPI Fieldhouse)
I was there to see the RHCP and had never heard of Smashing Pumpkins or of the unbilled opening act (whom I later found out was Pearl Jam). Great show.
- Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Bim Skala Bim (Siena College)
Few styles beat ska for pure live fun.
- Alice in Chains, Rage Against the Machine, Fishbone, Primus, Tool, Arrested Development, et al. (somewhere in Rhode Island)
Awesome day. Hotter than hell, but a hell of a time. During Fishbone, some guy was pushed from behind into me and his two front teeth hit me right in the forehead. He seemed fine, but I got a nice little gash.
- Arrested Development, Peter Gabriel, Live, et al. (SPAC)
No strong opinions about this show. It was a nice sunny summer day at SPAC though.
- Blues Traveler, Phish, Allman Brothers (SPAC)
Allmans kicked ass (although my appreciation was um, chemically enhanced)
- Grateful Dead (Knickerbocker Arena)
My one and only time seeing the Dead. It was miserable and raining outside the arena and my glasses happened to break before we went in. We had seats in the back on the upper deck and I couldn't see anything clearly. It occasionally helped when I held my left lens up to my eye like a monacle.
- Sonny Rollins (Troy Music Hall)
My first live jazz show, and for that you can't do much better than Sonny.
- Beastie Boys, Smashing Pumpkins, Parliament Funkadelic, et al. (Some racetrack in Saratoga)
For some reason, I can't remember the other bands. P-Funk was well, seriously funky.
- Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Primus, Santana, Green Day, Allman Brothers, Bob Dylan, Henry Rollins, et al. (Woodstock '94)
Surely there are some bands I'm forgetting mostly due to the fact that there were so many of them, and also due to my lack of sleep. Primus, Santana, and the RHCP stick in my mind as being especially good times.
- Ornette Coleman (Berklee College)
Ornette with his Prime Time band.
- Ani DiFranco (Great Woods)
Not really a big fan, Ani but played with a kick-ass brass band.
- Fishbone, Maceo Parker (The Roxy)
Funk heaven.
- Junior Brown (Johnny D's)
Good stuff. Highly recommended.
- Iron Maiden, Dio, Motorhead (Worcester Centrum)
Coming full circle, my brother and I couldn't resist this one. We came a bit late and just missed Lemmy. Maiden still rocked.