I discovered U2 after reading a record review of the album “October” in Esquire magazine which basically made the band sound like the next big thing. I purchased the album and found that they were indeed different than anything else out there at the time. I do not remember how we actually ended up at The Ritz in New York City on Saint Patrick Day to see this up and coming rock and roll band from Ireland, but I do remember seeing them on stage that night in this very cool club downtown that is now Webster Hall. For some reason I kept missing the band for many years after that night on tours that followed, but I have always thought it was cool that I did see the great arena, then stadium, act U2 in a club on a Saint Patrick Day in Manhattan. I did catch their most recent U.S. tour at the Nassau Coliseum; the band performed on a stage that cut right down the middle of the orchestra with an elaborate high tech screen set up quite different then the low tech Ritz show when they were still evolving from a punk act to rock stars.

I do like this one joke about Bono that I will share:

What’s the difference between Bono and God?

Answer: God does not want to be Bono

Songs of Innocence

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GQ

This was a case of seeing a relatively unknown, for me, act at a venue I liked on a Saturday night on Long Island. Mink DeVille was a name I recognized from the ads in the Village Voice which advertised many of the shows in the great New York City club scene and occasionally with a full page spread for a big show at Madison Square Garden or other large scale venue. For a kid from Queens, reading the Village Voice was like taking a sneak peek into the Manhattan cultural scene with a decidedly different political spin than could be found in mainstream media outlets. I have no particular recollection of the Mink DeVille concert at My Father’s Place but this may give you an idea of the diversity of acts and variety of venues I am constantly looking to experience on my journey down the sonic exploration highway.

Mixed Up, Shook Up Girl

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GQ

What better way to close out 1981, or ant year for that matter, with an Allman Brothers Band concert at the Nassau Coliseum. After the show, my future bride and I were traveling westbound on the Northern State Parkway heading back to Queens when a young reveler, wearing his finest New Year’s Eve cardboard party hat, was seen walking the white striped line in the middle of the roadway with cars passing on either side of him. I have often wondered if the young man made it safely home that night and further considered whether or not hitting the road on a New Year’s Eve was really worth it. In any event, the excellent Molly Hatchet opened for the Enlightened Rogues and a festive audience welcomed 1982 in fitting rock and roll fashion.

Can’t Take It With You

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GQ

What were the odds that after lead singer Bon Scott passed on February 19, 1980 legendary band AC/DC would achieve even greater heights with Brian Johnson on the stick, “Back in Black” and beyond. I have had the good fortune of seeing both versions of the band in concert through the years, from opening for other acts to headlining arenas, with the hard rock legends never wavering on their iconic sound. When Brian Johnson need a break from years of thunderous music damaging his ears, I also saw Axel Rose fill in for a different twist on a successful formula, and it worked.
Hey Hey, My My, AC/DC may never die.

For Those About to Rock

FIRE!

GQ

You can find my thoughts on the latest Genesis tour tickets going on sale in the blog titled-

“Ticketmaster Still Sucks”.

In any event, I managed to find a pair of reasonably priced tickets for the second night at Madison Square Garden in early December, 2021.
It is funny that I have no particular recollection of any of the Genesis concerts I have attended except for the fact they have two drum sets for when Phil Collins stops playing frontman and occasionally bangs on the drums. It is a night out, with many familiar tunes, so the shows serve a purpose I suppose.
Land of Confusion

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GQ

Hall & Oates toured in support of the album “Private Eyes” with a stop at New York City’s Palladium in November, 1981. The only particular memory I have for this concert was that when the band came out to play the title cut from the new material, Mr. Hall and Mr. Oates came out dressed in trench coats like……private eyes!

I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do)

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GQ

As. I recall, there was a mail in lottery to request tickets for The Rolling Stones November, 1981 stint at the Brenden Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands Complex in New Jersey. I had “Exile on Main Street” postcards that came with the double album and I thought it might increase my odds to mail in the distinctive picture cards for the much desired tickets (in retrospect, I wish I had held on to the Exile postcards as they might be worth something today, but I did manage to obtain tickets so maybe it worked after all). Charlie Watts’ drum kit sat in front of a white rectangular backdrop which at some point during the two nights I attended, Ronnie Wood appeared playing guitar while staggering perilously above Mr. Watts’ head. Ronnie was apparently so legless I thought for awhile he might fall right off of the backdrop onto the stage and I could say “I was there!” Somehow miraculously Mr. Wood did not fall off, but found his way back onstage where, at some point, Mick Jagger was facing the orchestra section singing to the audience when out of nowhere Ron Wood jumped on Jagger’s back. Without missing a beat, Mick proceeded to flip Wood over his shoulder landing Ronnie flat on his back laughing hysterically. There was a photo in a Rolling Stone magazine sometime later of Keith Richards asleep backstage at Byrne Arena holding a bottle of Wild Turkey in his hand.
Now, THAT’S rock and roll.
Following one of the two shows I attended, after the lights came on, I saw Mick Jagger’s then wife Jerry Hall sitting in one of the glass enclosed luxury boxes at the top of my aisle on the left side of the stage.
I went to at least one of the two shows with my childhood buddy Mike who drove us there. We got separated at some point (I am prone to wandering off) and I could not locate the car after the concert. The parking lot was near empty when Mike drove up along side me and I hopped in for the happy ride home.

Gimme Shelter

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GQ

The day after attending Foreigner and Billy Squier at Madison Square Garden, my future bride and I drove to Roslyn to see Jorma Kaukonen at the intimate My Father’s Place where there was table seating. My wife has never been a Hot Tuna, or even Jefferson Airplane, fan so in retrospect this was probably a pretty excruciating concert for her (but perhaps it was a quid pro quo for the Foreigner concert the night before). In any event, I have no particular recollection of this Jorma concert and, as I have seen Kaukonen so many times through the years, much of it has become s blur.

Good Shepherd

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GQ

Last week the first big arena tour in the hopefully post-pandemic era went on sale. Genesis has apparently been rejuvenated and are touring the United States after a European trek this fall. Ticket prices are obscene, but I get that these long dormant acts are going to try and cash in, and that a starved for live music fan base are willing to purchase tickets for said now geriatric bands.

I prefer Peter Gabriel but I do like the Phil Collins version of Genesis (by the way, I listened to Collins “Hits” cd recently and it is not holding up well). I attempted to obtain tickets for the concert at the new UBS arena being built for the Islanders at Belmont Park. I found a somewhat reasonable pair, in comparison to what was being offered, in the rear orchestra for $240 a piece. I decided to pull the trigger and then noticed that there was a 94 dollar Ticketmaster surcharge for each ticket. Add on a couple of other miscellaneous charges and the $480 pair totaled almost $700 bucks. Sorry, not doing it. I understand Ticketmaster took a hit during the pandemic but these charges are obscene. Another first in my ticket search was that while I was about to order a different pair of Genesis tickets a warning popped up to check ticket price before placing order as prices could change. Sure enough, in the time it took to select the tickets and place the order the price had gone up! CANCEL ORDER- the “dynamic pricing on these shows was out of control and changing by the minute and day. I was going to give up on these shows but just now found $131 dollar seats at Madison Square Garden with somewhat more reasonable surcharges bring the total to $326.70. The return of live music is going to be a bumpy and expensive ride.

A Wonderful Day in a One-Way World

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GQ

After the humongous Simon and Garfunkel free concert in Central Park, next up for me was to see Twisted Sister at the Queens College Student Union; talk about your extreme dichotomies on just about every level. Twisted Sister was our favorite band on the Long Island club circuit and were on the cusp of breaking through to the big time and a mass audience. The 4th floor of the Student Union was not ideal for a headlining gig as it was just a big empty space and not ordinarily utilized for musical acts (the college’s Colden Auditorium was the venue for more established mainstream acts). Many years later, while working in the police department, I met a gentleman with the New York State Police who looked vaguely familiar but with an interesting goatee, definitely not your ordinary law enforcement dude. I had heard or read somewhere that Mark “The Animal” Mendoza worked for the State Police under his given name in order to keep a low profile, and here he was sitting in front of me. I called Mark into my office and asked him to close the door. He looked slightly uncomfortable as if he thought he may have done something wrong during the training he was providing our officers. I asked him if he was, in fact, the bass player for Twisted Sister as I suspected; he took a deep breath and laughed. I told him that my S.M.F. Friend of Twisted Sister card that I had kept in my wallet for years had been removed when the wallet was lost on Queens Boulevard and returned by mail. A little bit of cash and my prized possession cracked plastic S.M.F. card were all that was missing. A couple of days later I missed a text from my buddy Sandy who was going with his son to catch Twisted Sister perform their holiday concert at The Paramount in Huntington with backstage access. I missed his text, and the show, thereby also missing an opportunity to reconnect with my law enforcement colleague at his side gig as rock star!

I Wanna Rock (on)

GQ