Iconic concerts attended.

I'm an old timer and '80s hair metal is not my thing, pass.

Greta Van Fleet? So they have been called a Led Zepplin rip off. Led Zeppelin was a well know rip off artist, guess that makes Greta Van Fleet the ultimate rip off artist.

If looking for legit active blues based rock I would have said go see Alabama Shakes but it appears Brittany Howard wants to have a go at it on her own.
Did not know that about Zeppelin! I don't listen to GVF, though. They were at a music festival I was at a few years ago. Just wanted to see how people who grew up with or listened to that kind of 80's music thought of them as a modern day comparison.
 
Presume your in the Cincy area...if so, head north about 75 miles to Hickory Hills in Ft Loramie for their Country Concert each July, sans 2020. Wed night through Saturday night. Bring in your own booze, food, and can come and go as you please all day long.

Its a blast, and yeah........drunkards galore.
We went from 2002 to 2007 or 2008. They started limiting who could visit your camper and charging way too much cash for camping. Had a great permanent site too. Quit going. But it was a blast!
 
We went from 2002 to 2007 or 2008. They started limiting who could visit your camper and charging way too much cash for camping. Had a great permanent site too. Quit going. But it was a blast!
Yeah, I could see that. ONly camped once, would have a DD drive us home.
I was happy to see that for ice and drinks inside they dont really gouge at all.

Got the platinum seats a few years ago.......NOT worth th $$ but the 'private' bathrooms made it much nicer.........
 
I enjoy it, started to REALLY get into Merle Haggard, Cash, Alan Jackson, etc since the boogie man showed up and forced us into quarantine!

Garth puts on one HELLUVA show!

If you like those guys, check out Cody Jinks, Tyler Childers, Ward Davis, The Steel Woods and Whiskey Myers (Myers is more southern rock than country). You won't hear them on the radio but they are really popular in a lot of circles. Definitely have the more traditional, outlaw country sound than the big names from the radio (most of which I don't really consider country). I've seen all those guys live, except for Childers, and they are all great and all sold out their shows even though they were at smaller venues.
 
Now that the hillbillys have taken over the thread, I hate new country, with very few exceptions. I do like traditional country, bluegrass and alternative country however. The "country" acts I have seen are; Ralph Stanley (as I had mentioned before), BR549 and Southern Culture on the Skids, twice.

Of the three, Ralph has now passed away and BR549 broke up six or seven years ago. Southern Culture on the Skids (SCOTS to their fans) are still together and give a kickass show. I would highly recommend them to "country" fans.

I have always been a fan of Dwight Yoacum but have never been able to see him on the few occasions he has made it near me. Guitars and Cadillac was a great album. I also hope to see Earl Scruggs someday.

Oh yeah, I saw Mary Chapin Carpenter once, but I consider her folk rather than country.

Of all of the above, I would only consider Ralph Stanley "iconic". It is a shame that I never got to see Bill Monroe or Johnny Cash. Those would have been iconic.
 
Now that the hillbillys have taken over the thread, I hate new country, with very few exceptions. I do like traditional country, bluegrass and alternative country however. The "country" acts I have seen are; Ralph Stanley (as I had mentioned before), BR549 and Southern Culture on the Skids, twice.

Of the three, Ralph has now passed away and BR549 broke up six or seven years ago. Southern Culture on the Skids (SCOTS to their fans) are still together and give a kickass show. I would highly recommend them to "country" fans.

I have always been a fan of Dwight Yoacum but have never been able to see him on the few occasions he has made it near me. Guitars and Cadillac was a great album. I also hope to see Earl Scruggs someday.

Oh yeah, I saw Mary Chapin Carpenter once, but I consider her folk rather than country.

Of all of the above, I would only consider Ralph Stanley "iconic". It is a shame that I never got to see Bill Monroe or Johnny Cash. Those would have been iconic.
The correct term is REDNECK.

RLM!!!!!
 
Yeah, I could see that. ONly camped once, would have a DD drive us home.
I was happy to see that for ice and drinks inside they dont really gouge at all.

Got the platinum seats a few years ago.......NOT worth th $$ but the 'private' bathrooms made it much nicer.........
Yeah, it's sad. It was a great party and lots of fun. Too bad they were greedy and now want way too much money and them telling you who you could have over to your camper was the last straw for me.
 
Still, getting to see Keith Partr---- I mean, David Cassady was impressive. I peaked too young by seeing Bo Donaldson & The Heywoods at the state fair in '74.

Yeah, I could only think of iconic performers. Never went to a festival or otherwise infamous concert. But a HS buddy of mine recently lost his wife of 30-some years. She was 15 years his senior, and is the only person I personally knew who claimed to have attended Woodstock, and had the pictures to prove it.



It was supposed to be The Partridge Family but only Keit...David showed up. Mom escorted me to the event.
I did see Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods at Castle Skateland '74 Loveland Ohio. It was the night before our Ohio State Roller Speed Skating Championships. I think they played Billy a few times.

I would consider Woodstock the epitome of Iconic concerts. Wow, what a ride that would have been!
 
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.
 
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.

That '77 Pink Floyd show is legendary and if there was one single show I wish I can go back in time and see this would be it. The stage show was one of the best of all time and brought us the giant floating pig. From what my best friends brother tells me the crowd was off the hook, a fan was tripping and jumped from the 2nd deck onto the baseball netting behind home plate not realizing that it was metal and not nylon he suffered multiple fratcures. This is one of the shows though that Rodger Waters cited as his disillusionment with massive touring and helped inspire the Wall.

But even more crazy was the '79 show you went to, there are many stories around the 'net on the day and the WS of Rock was basically KOed because of this one. AC/DC was pumped when they heard of the line up and decided they wanted to blow everyone off the stage that day. They were just gaining traction in the US and the CLE crowd showed up early to check them out as the announced opener, the Scorpians were an unbilled added act making their US debut, and had a packed stadium show up to greet them. AC/DC basically owned the day>

On the flip side this is the show that lead to the 1st breakup of Aerosmith. There were fights by band members wives backstage to the point they were throwing glasses and bottles of booze at each other. Afterall these other bands ripped it up they bascially stunk the place out and Steven Tyler was so drunk that he forgot lyrics to songs he wrote. After the show he got into a huge fight with Joe Perry who quit on the spot and didn't play with them again until '84.
 
I spoke to a friend who fronts a couple bands. One is a roots rock band and the other is a alternative country/western swing/honky tonk band. I asked him about the future and he told me he never expects to get a national label and that it is nearly impossible for a new band to make it in rock these days. That is why the average age of big venue concert performers has to be in the early 60's.

What's the solution? All you can do is to support the music community in your own towns. Rock has reinvented itself at least four times during my life and I believe it has a few more evolutions to go. Maybe it will be more latin tinged rock. I have been a big fan of Los Lobos for years, having seen them twice in person. They are no spring chickens themselves but their music is fresh and exciting.
 
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How is this for iconic? I saw Leon Redbone back in the late 80's. Great talent and the most unconventional showman (for the late 20th century anyway) I have ever seen. Great concert.

 
Saw the premiere of a video this AM on CMT of an iconic song.
On the road again, with dozens and dozens of country acts, obviously about missing being out on the road.
 
A couple guys have mentioned Woodstock. I was 20 at the time and a group of us talked about going but it didn't go further than that. After it was over, we couldn't believe we'd missed it. When I see pictures of it now, 5 decades later, it does look as much fun as it did then.
 
In no particular order and from what I can remember:

Springsteen (8 times)
REO Speedwagon (5 times)
Boston
The Clash (twice)
The Who
Meatloaf
Beach Boys (twice)
Eagles
Aerosmith
Led Zeppelin
The Band
Foreigner
Charlie Daniels
Kiss
Raspberries
Deep Purple

Not so Iconic or just plain weird or those nobody ever heard of:
Good Rats (10 times)
Chuck Mangione (3 times)
Cheech & Chong (twice)
Frank Zappa
Black Sheep (lead singer became lead singer of Foreigner)
South Side Johnny and Asbury Dukes
John Valby (20 or more times. Most vulgar musician on earth)
 
Zappa qualifies easily, put him in the top column. I'd probably put SSJ&AD up there too. Closely tied to Springstein and The Band. If you saw them at The Stone Pony then it would be the definition of "iconic concert."

Being picky I suppose, a lot of these are iconic bands but fewer listed in the thread are iconic concerts. I saw Yes in the Round. I think that would qualify, even though they might not be an iconic band.
 
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Zappa qualifies easily, put him in the top column. I'd probably put SSJ&AD up there too. Closely tied to Springstein and The Band. If you saw them at The Stone Pony then it would be the definition of "iconic concert."

Wasn't lucky enough to see them there. They played the University of Buffalo and put on a hell of a show.

Curious if you have ever heard of the Good Rats or John Valby. The Rats IMO were the greatest NY Metro based band to never become famous and Valby...............has to be seen to be believed!
 
Beating ohiopup to it. :)


 
Beating ohiopup to it. :)



Valby's "There's a Skeeter on my Peter, Wack it off" is truly iconic!
 
Beating ohiopup to it. :)



The Good Rats came through in the mid-to-late 70's, as an opening act for whom....I can't now remember. But I do recall, though, that they (The Good Rats) were from Jersey, and they were a wild and angry and rowdy bunch that night at the old original State Theater in downtown Youngstown, which had become The Tomorrow Club, which then later became the Agora. They didn't open for Rush, but I attended at least one of these Rush concerts in Youngstown:
IMG_2656.PNG
 
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The Good Rats came through in the mid-to-late 70's, as an opening act for whom....I can't now remember. But I do recall, though, that they (The Good Rats) were from Jersey, and they were a wild and angry and rowdy bunch that night at the old original State Theater in downtown Youngstown, which had become The Tomorrow Club, which then later became the Agora. They didn't open for Rush, but I attended at least one of these Rush concerts in Youngstown:View attachment 9159
That's awesome!!!!!!!!
 
In no particular order and from what I can remember:

Springsteen (8 times)
REO Speedwagon (5 times)
Boston
The Clash (twice)
The Who
Meatloaf
Beach Boys (twice)
Eagles
Aerosmith
Led Zeppelin
The Band
Foreigner
Charlie Daniels
Kiss
Raspberries
Deep Purple

Not so Iconic or just plain weird or those nobody ever heard of:
Good Rats (10 times)
Chuck Mangione (3 times)
Cheech & Chong (twice)
Frank Zappa
Black Sheep (lead singer became lead singer of Foreigner)
South Side Johnny and Asbury Dukes
John Valby (20 or more times. Most vulgar musician on earth)
Frank Zappa and Chuck should have been in your iconic lists. Good list here....
 
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.


"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. "



I remember seeing you there.
 
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