Iconic concerts attended.

The "Cougar" Mellencamp concert I attended was an eclectic crowd. As I mentioned above, it was a tour with Heart. It was just as he was starting to get really popular and had developed the biker following. As such, you had the bikers along with the Heart crowd. It was overall one of the politest concert crowds ever though certainly a diverse group. Heart was starting to drop off popularity wise while Mellencamp was getting huge so they were having disagreements as to who would lead off. The poster for the show below still refers to him as "Cougar."

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Back when I lived in Canton (moved to Grove City in 1987), I used to belong to
Belkin Productions preferred club. The little woman I caught lots of the
World Series of Rock shows at Cleveland's Municipal Stadium, the last one...

July 19, 1980
Def Leppard
Eddie Money
The J. Geils Band
Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band
<===the headliner

We saw Journey at The Richfield Colosseum also saw at the same venue
Billy Joel (twice) and The Commodores. Pat Benadar at
Blossom as well as The Captain and Tennille at the Front Row.

We saw The Eagles on their last tour here in Columbus before Glenn
Frey died.

:>---

SALT
 
Other than Queen, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Stills-Young Band and Led Zeppelin concerts that I posted earlier, here's a few more (though probably not as iconic):

Chicago. UD Arena. My first concert ever. Freshman or Sophomore in high school.
Joe Walsh and Barnstorm, with Argent opening at Dayton's Hara Arena. One of my very first concerts and one of my favorite ever.
Deep Purple at UD Arena. I don't remember a thing about this concert.
J. Geils Band. UD Arena?
Little Feat. Twice. Both were great shows.
Jimmy Buffet. Some little venue in Cincy.
Jethro Tull at Hara. Another great show.
Marshall Tucker Band. Hara maybe?
The Michael Stanley Band. Small venue in Oxford. We got to meet the MSB after the show. Really cool.
Blue Oyster Cult, with Montrose. Riverfront.

Many others that I can't remember.

My worst concert ever was Joni Mitchell at Miami U.'s Millett Hall. My friend had an extra ticket as he just broke up with his girlfriend, so I went with him. It's not that I hated Joni Mitchell...the concert was just not my cup of tea.
 
Yes
BB King
I heard Beach Boys at the Mall. Not sure "seeing" qualifies.

For me, rock concerts are not generally worth the time/money.
 
I won BB King tickets to see him at the Front Row back in the day and a snowstorm kept me from getting there.

I remember paying a whopping $25 to see the Stones at the Coliseum in the early 80's and that being what was considered an outrageous amount!
 
Maybe not rising to the level of "iconic" but I did go to and meet/ party with Greg Kihn, Pat Travers, The Outlaws and Head East one day... 1988?

Greg was finishing his show and said I need a Budweiser regular not this light crap somebody get me a real beer... So after his set it is raining and myself like most are wearing trash bags, I grab 6 buds and to get through security, I act like my back stage pass is under my trash bag while holding beers...it works! So I knock on Greg's trailer door his manager peaks out and I have a bunch of Bud's... he looks a Greg, Greg looks at me and says "come on in"...His manager is rolling a big fatty so we smoke that and drink the beers, laughing our asses off about the security story ect. Just then security knocks on the door and ask if everything is OK Greg says yes, the security guy says "hey were is your back stage pass?"As I'm getting escorted out Greg says "come back, I want to introduce you to the other bands and stuff, bring more Budweiser...I say "I can't no pass" He says," I have faith you will be back, you did it once just do it again"... LOL it worked again...so we partied the next hour or two and he introduced me to all the bands...then I'm on The outlaws bus, right before they go on they have a ritual involving "blow" ... they got a little paranoid and noticed I had no backstage pass...security gave me the final walk out and I said good by to my new friends.
 
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Maybe not rising to the level of "iconic" but I did go to and meet/ party with Greg Kihn, Pat Travers, The Outlaws and Head East one day... 1988?

Greg was finishing his show and said I need a Budweiser regular not this light crap somebody get me a real beer... So after his set it is raining and myself like most are wearing trash bags, I grab 6 buds and to get through security, I act like my back stage pass is under my trash bag while holding beers...it works! So I knock on Greg's trailer door his manager peaks out and I have a bunch of Bud's... he looks a Greg, Greg looks at me and says "come on in"...His manager is rolling a big fatty so we smoke that and drink the beers, laughing our asses off about the security story ect. Just then security knocks on the door and ask if everything is OK Greg says yes, the security guy says "hey were is your back stage pass?"As I'm getting escorted out Greg says "come back, I want to introduce you to the other bands and stuff, bring more Budweiser...I say "I can't no pass" He says," I have faith you will be back, you did it once just do it again"... LOL it worked again...so we partied the next hour or two and he introduced me to all the bands...then I'm on The outlaws bus, right before they go on they have a ritual involving "blow" ... they got a little paranoid and noticed I had no backstage pass...security gave me the final walk out and I said good by to my new friends.

Great story.

We came "sort of" close to partying with the Michael Stanley Band after a show in Oxford. We met them after the concert and gave them a big fatty, but didn't get invited to party with them. Fun though.
 
ACDC
Fleetwood Mac
The Runaways
Thin Lizzy
Stones
Bob Welch
The Ramones
Boston
Lindsey Buckingham
The Commodores
Doobie Bros
Eddie Money
Journey
Bob Seger
Judas Priest
ELO
Tom Petty
Styx
Earth Wind and Fire
Player
Elton John
Peter Frampton
Christopher Cross
Heart
Todd Rundgren
REO
Aerosmith
BOC
MSB
and some others
 
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Maybe not rising to the level of "iconic" but I did go to and meet/ party with Greg Kihn, Pat Travers, The Outlaws and Head East one day... 1988?

Greg was finishing his show and said I need a Budweiser regular not this light crap somebody get me a real beer... So after his set it is raining and myself like most are wearing trash bags, I grab 6 buds and to get through security, I act like my back stage pass is under my trash bag while holding beers...it works! So I knock on Greg's trailer door his manager peaks out and I have a bunch of Bud's... he looks a Greg, Greg looks at me and says "come on in"...His manager is rolling a big fatty so we smoke that and drink the beers, laughing our asses off about the security story ect. Just then security knocks on the door and ask if everything is OK Greg says yes, the security guy says "hey were is your back stage pass?"As I'm getting escorted out Greg says "come back, I want to introduce you to the other bands and stuff, bring more Budweiser...I say "I can't no pass" He says," I have faith you will be back, you did it once just do it again"... LOL it worked again...so we partied the next hour or two and he introduced me to all the bands...then I'm on The outlaws bus, right before they go on they have a ritual involving "blow" ... they got a little paranoid and noticed I had no backstage pass...security gave me the final walk out and I said good by to my new friends.
Not quite as cool but I ran into Darryl Hall and John Oaks at a club in Covington KY after a concert they gave at River Bend in Cincinnati, which I had not attended. People were kinda in awe of them and were keeping some distance. I backed into Darryl Hall before I knew they were there, apologized to him and then bought them both a beer. They could not have been more friendly or more down to earth. They were very interested in local beers and night life.
 
I saw the Ramones at Bogart's in Cincinnati in spring of 1980 ( may have been 1981). I had a friend who worked at Bogart's and he told us that the bands often went out the back stage door and sat on the steps after shows. As soon as the show was over, we went to the back steps. A few minutes later, Joey and Dee Dee came out the door. We sat and drank Little Kings with them for over two hours. A great night.
 
I saw the Ramones at Bogart's in Cincinnati in spring of 1980 ( may have been 1981). I had a friend who worked at Bogart's and he told us that the bands often went out the back stage door and sat on the steps after shows. As soon as the show was over, we went to the back steps. A few minutes later, Joey and Dee Dee came out the door. We sat and drank Little Kings with them for over two hours. A great night.
Damn, I am so jealous. Rock n Roll High School is one of my favorite low budget movies and I am a big Ramones fan. Can you imagine one family having so much talent (just kidding although I am a big fan). Gina is a Punk Rocker, Lobotomy, The KKK Took My Baby Away, Blitzkrieg Bop, great songs.
 
iconic:

Guns N Roses (twice) The 2nd was @ the Nutter Center the night Axl cut his hand on the mic stand. The 4 or 5 songs before that were incredible. After that not so much.

Def Leppard (twice)
Van Halen (twice)
Aerosmith
Eagles
Scorpions
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Journey
Poison
Motley Crue
Soundgarden
Kansas

Don't consider iconic but seen live:

Skid Row (twice)
Alice n Chains
Night Ranger
Tesla
Firehouse
Trixter
Jackyl
The Hooters
Warrant
Pantera

Acts I regret not seeing live:

Seger
Kiss
Bon Jovi
Green Day
Mellencamp
Pink Floyd
 
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iconic:

Guns N Roses (twice) The 2nd was @ the Nutter Center the night Axl cut his hand on the mic stand. The 4 or 5 songs before that were incredible. After that not so much.

Def Leppard (twice)
Van Halen (twice)
Aerosmith
Eagles
Scorpions
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Journey
Poison
Motley Crue
Soundgarden
Kansas

Don't consider iconic but seen live:

Skid Row (twice)
Alice n Chains
Night Ranger
Tesla
Firehouse
Trixter
Jackyl
The Hooters
Warrant

Acts I regret not seeing live:

Seger
Kiss
Bon Jovi
Green Day
Mellencamp
Pink Floyd
Kiss and Mellenkamp still tour..
.I'm going to add Toby Keith to my iconic list....

Seen many more, like jackyl that I don't consider iconic
 
Kiss and Mellenkamp still tour..
.I'm going to add Toby Keith to my iconic list....

Seen many more, like jackyl that I don't consider iconic

We were about to pull the trigger on Bryan Adams/Bon Jovi (Detroit) and ZZ Top/Def Leppard (Knoxville) when covid hit.
 
I have seen many of these bands listed already. They were mostly great shows. I have a fun little side gig where I work at a local concert venue so I normally get to see/hear 45-50 shows between April and September. A wide range of music and some of those mentioned have been there. But working there I get to hear and see acts I normally wouldn't even know about. There are a lot of great live bands out there if you get a chance to enjoy them.

A few notables that were there. Ziggy Marley. Excellent show if you like reggae. David Byrne who I think was already mentioned was awesome. Packed place and nobody ever sat down. ZZ Top can still bring it. Hank Jr. Stray cats were there That was a good show Then some folks like blackberry smoke, JJ Grey Mofro, tedeschi trucks band, and others that I didn't know until they were there. Not sure they are iconic but I love good music and I get to hear bunches of it under normal conditions.
 
I'd have to see how many acts I've seen at ten country concerts in fort loramie.

Said this a month ago......if I had to choose between a professional sporting event, a regular season game, or a concert of a band I love.....I'd choose the concert!

Few years ago I never woulda said that. A great concert everyone is enjoying it for a couple hours, a game.......not so much. Even if your team wins at times its not that exciting.
 
The Poe Ditch reference resonates with me. I really wanted to see that show, but the forecast seemed pretty ominous. Keep in mind that back in 1975 we lacked all the radar aps, sixty-trillion news stations, etc so you had to rely on the Toledo TV channels at 6 P.M. for updates. My buddies and I decided to see what was up with the weather on the day of the show, if it looked good we would drive down from Sandusky and try our luck. We decided not to and it turned out that it was the best choice. It was a great bill and it hurt not to see Johnny Winter.
 
The only 1970s festival I saw was a World Series of Rock show in 1978:

ELO1978.jpg


The ELO staging was fantastic, Pink Floyd like, and I liked their music at that time.

Foreigner was good, they were riding high with Double Vision and they had more energy in a life show than I thought this outfit would have.

Even though I was not a fan Journey was the best musically. This is when Steve Perry just joined the band and it was arguably their best line up; along with Perry they had Greg Rollie on keys and vocals, Neil Schon on lead guitar, Ross Valory on bass and the great Ansley Dunbar on drums. They jammed out Feeling That Way>Anytime and the crowd went wild.
 
Some great stories on these shows. I have never been back stage or had an encounter with an act but do have some unique stories>

Miles Davis Cleveland had a jazz festival in the mid '80s and Miles was the headliner. Some guys I hung with were way into him and said if you like the Dead you will like Miles so I decided to check out the show. Any way they wanted to get to the show early to check out the 2nd act on the bill and as we entered Blossom we are hearing this crazy trumpet coming from the stage, it seems Miles felt like playing early so he went on for the opening slot and played a headliner set to start the show. I heard 1 song and that was it. Maybe the place had 2,000 in it for a sold out show and as everyone started to arrive and found out Miles already went it was pandemonium.
JazzFest1985.jpg


U2 A friend was part of the security detail for the CLE 1987 Joshua Tree show and we met him before hand for a couple beers. Since he was alone we decided to walk with him early to the Stadium and check out the scene. So we get to where he was to report and this guy asked if we working, we said no so he then asked if we wanted front row tickets, only stipulation was that we could not sell them or else he would not pay our buddy and he would personally come out to make sure we were in the front row. Looked legit so we gave away our lousy seats and sure enough we were in the font row dead center. Dude came out minutes before the U2 set and stuck our friend as the bouncer right in front of us, not my all time favorite U2 show but still the coolest.
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P-Funk: Had tickets to the 1996 show, this was the last tour they brought along the physical Mothership as well as the final time that Bootsy and Bernie Worrell would play with George Clinton and it was a cluster-f pre show. They played Detroit the night before and went way over curfew, didn't show up at the Palace Theater in CLE until an hour before show time. Had to set up the stage and sound check, they were 2 hours late and the show was over sold. The crowd was eclectic with some going crazy when they heard the tunes start to play during sound check, there was a stampede to the doors and those old folks that usher at Playhouse Sq. had no clue what to do. Eventually the opened the doors while they were still setting up the stage and started off with roadies getting a chance to be a part of the show. They played a full 3 hours and it was well worth the wait: at any time there were 20+ folks on stage including a guitarists in a diaper, a dude dancing on the speaker cabinet, Bootsy shaking the rafters with a star bass, and George appearing out of the Mothership.
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I saw U2 at the Coliseum in 1985, the Unforgettable Fire tour. Outstanding show. I saw them again in 2017 for the Joshua Tree at First Energy. While I enjoyed the 2017 experience, it didn't have the energy of the 1985 show. I guess 32 years makes a difference!
 
I was still in HS...guessing '86 or '87...Sports Arena was a dive, but you could get really close to the band. I always regretted that I turned down a chance to see AC/DC. I had a summer league baseball game that I didn't want to miss, what the hell was I thinking?
I missed the DIO concert in 86 because the tickets were $12.50 each and I just bought a new car..didn't think I could afford it..lol.
 
Lynyrd Skynyrd/Hank Williams Jr./.38 Special
Eminem/Ludacris (Anger Management Tour)
Kid Rock/Hank Williams Jr.
Charlie Daniels Band/Hank Williams Jr.
Eric Church (Double Down Tour, 3 solid hours of music, no opening act, super impressed by the show)

Not a big fan of the band beforehand, but I saw The Zach Brown Band right before the shutdowns started got the tickets the day of for free from someone who couldn't go and it was one of the better shows I have been to. They put on a great "jam" band type show mixing a ton of covers with their own hits.
 
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