I was able to attend ten of the World Series of Rock shows in Cleveland. They were massive affairs since they allowed seating (?) on the playing field, some were incredible and some were the type of show you came away glad you went.
August 4, 1974 - ELP, James Gang, Climax Blues Band. I always found ELP great live. The James Gang was wonderful, Joe Walsh cut loose. CBB was better than I expected.
August 31, 1974 - CSN&Y, The Band, Jesse Colin Young, Santana.
June 1975 - Rolling Stones, J. Geils, Tower of Power and another band I don't recall, perhaps the Damnation of Adam Blessing who was a local favorite. First time ever seeing the Stones but came away of the opinion that Peter Wolf was a better front man than Jagger.
July 1975 - Yes, Joe Walsh, Michael Stanley Band, Ace.
August 1975 - Rod Stewart and the Faces, Aerosmith, Blue Oyster Cult, Uriah Heep, Mahogany Rush and a few others I don't remember. I seem to think that Michael Quatro (Suzie's brother) was part of the show. This one was off the hook.
Early June 1977 - Ted Nugent, Utopia, Southside Johnny, Nazareth and a couple of others.
Late June 1977 - Pink Floyd. The only time I was able to see Floyd. Unbelievable.
August 1977 - Frampton, Seger and the Silver Bullet Band, J. Geils, Derringer and a couple others. Starz was everywhere during this time so they might have been on this bill. I was already on fire to see J. Geils again and they never disappoint. Seger began the show with "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man" and Seger stood there swaying back and forth with a Cheshire Cat grin on his face probably thinking we had no idea what was about to hit us. He was right.
July 1978 - The Stones, Kansas, and Peter Tosh. Plenty of rain and it was the right environment for Tosh to open the show. Kansas was good. They "blew up" the stage at the end of their set, when the smoke cleared they had completely vacated the stage. Kerry Livgren can flat out sing, he made the show. The Stones are the Stones but I liked them better in 1975. I spent most of the time watching Richards and Woods play off of each other. They were seamless and I'm not sure I've ever seen two guys do it was well. Wyman didn't move much.
July 1979 - Just graduated college and was ready. Aerosmith, Nugent, AC/DC, Scorpions, Thin Lizzy, and Journey. Probably a couple others, I just don't remember. Journey had added Steve Perry. I was more into the earlier progressive-type stuff. They did play "Look into the Future" but the poppy Journey didn't do much for me. The rest of the show was astounding. IIRC, there was a lot of violence in Cleveland that day with a bunch of people shot.
I grew up in Sandusky and was blessed to be within a reasonable distance of cities that were on flame with quality shows (h/t to BOC). Toledo had great shows even if the Sports Arena reeked of urine and Mad Dog. Columbus had great venues. Detroit and Cleveland were in a parallel dimension in the 70's.