I vaguely remember attending this Santana and Bob Dylan concert at the Jones Beach Theatre in September of 1993 with seats in the orchestra to the left side of the outdoor venue’s stage. Truth be told, I am a somewhat casual fan of Santana, and while I have been a fan of Bob Dylan through the years, I only more recently truly appreciate his genius, now finding myself playing catch up, obsessed with listening to all of the numerous phases of Dylan’s extraordinary career. Bob Dylan performed at the Beacon Theatre this past November and Santana is on tour this summer with Earth, Wind & Fire after last year’s Covid postponements. Some of the best, and most fun, Chicago concerts that I have attended through the years were when they toured with EWF and joined forces on songs from each other’s catalogues throughout the shows. While the bands are fundamentally different stylistically, they complimented each other magnificently, particularly the horn sections, making for a crowd pleasing joyous night of entertainment.

Black Magic Woman

Rock on!

GQ

I always love an Aerosmith concert but this particular one is not ringing a bell. The first time I saw the band perform live I was standing on a folding chair on the left side of the orchestra at the Nassau Coliseum. Aerosmith opened up with “Back in the Saddle” and when it came time for a Joe Perry guitar solo, they turned the volume up to 11 tilting me straight back snd nearly off my perch; it got loud fast. Stories of the band doing pop up club dates around Long Island after their peak, then drug fueled decline, and before they returned to the rock and roll mountaintop are the stuff of legend. To paraphrase Gregg Allman “the first million you just piss away” which apparently Aerosmith did, then amazingly came back bigger and better than ever. I saw the last Joe Perry Project performance at My Father’s Place in Roslyn where a YouTube video from that night reminded me that Steven Tyler joined the band onstage that night before an official reunion took place not long after. Aerosmith is scheduled to play Fenway Park this fall for a postponed 50th anniversary concert in their home town.

Kings and Queens

Aerosmith Rocks (on)

GQ

In August, 1993, Neil Young toured the northeast with Booker T and the MGs; Soundgarden and Blind Melon opened the shows making for a great triple bill. I vaguely remember seeing Blind Melon on stage from our Jones Beach Theatre orchestra seats to the right of the stage but I will never forget Soundgarden’s set that came next. The Jones Beach Theatre is an outdoor venue and when Soundgarden was on stage a summer lightening storm came through the area. A long haired barefoot Chris Cornell swirled around the stage as if possessed all the while the rain poured down and lightening lit up the sky. As puddles formed around Cornell’s bare feet, the band played on, spectators scampered back underneath the main structure for cover, and I wondered if lightening hit the water onstage would the band disintegrate before our eyes. As I recall, Soundgarden seemed empowered by the storm, and defiant, as the band powered through its set; when the band was finished, and just before Neil Young took the stage, the rain suddenly stopped and the sky cleared as if on cue.

Like a Hurricane

Rock on!

GQ

My wife and I attended our first event at the UBS Arena, the new home of the New York Islanders at Belmont Park. I had entered a Newsday contest for Journey concert tickets and although I did not win, I received an email that I could have tickets anyway leading me to believe the concert was likely far from sold out. I was on the fence about going at all, but the seats were pretty good- first level adjacent to the rear orchestra on left side of stage, and valued at about $130, so we decided to venture out on this cold February Friday night. The parking was $50 bucks with a long hike to the arena but hopefully when the parking garage being built is completed this will improve. The UBS Arena looks a bit like a mall on the outside; we had arrived early so we could check the place out and froze waiting for the doors to open at 6:30 PM. It is a new facility with a lot of Islander photos and memorabilia throughout the wide spacious hallways and very unlike the Nassau Coliseum’s cramped walkways where beer vendors and bathroom lines make the navigating to your seat cramped and uncomfortable. The UBS was built as a hockey arena first with an upper deck that is pretty high up. From our vantage point, the orchestra section was large snd flat with no incline; I would not be purchasing any tickets passed the first twenty rows as sight lines in the rear appear to be problematic. There were plenty of concessions and the section we were in had it’s own private food snd drink situation which I wish I had realized before my wife bought her food in the hallway. I believe Billy Idol was supposed to open but I think his tour was another covid casualty opening the door for Toto to step in. The last time I saw Billy Idol perform was on a pier in New York City a few years ago and it was a lot of fun. We were not really looking forward to Toto but I have to say I did not hate them even though the sound was not so great. I have seen the headliner Journey a few times through the years, most recently at The Classic East at Citifield, and they are one of those bands that seem to never stop touring. Journey plays all of the many hits that you remember from the radio, and that the masses want to hear. The “ new” singer, who replaced Steve Perry quite a few years ago now, is energetic with an extraordinary voice that sounded a bit fried occasionally on this night, but overall was good. If not for the free tickets it would have been an expensive night out, but for what I ended up spending total, it was well worth the trek back to the car in the frigid weather. Would I go back again? They have some big acts like The Eagles and Roger Waters coming up but currently ticket prices are obscene, the service charges are abusive, and the parking situation is far from ideal, so It would have to be something special to get me back there any time soon.

Any Way You Want It

Rock on!

GQ