I do not go down to the Garden State Arts Center as a matter of course, and it has been years since I have made the trip, but I have traveled south to New Jersey for the occasional concert. This Neil Young show, with opener John Hammond, does not bring back any particular memory. What I do recall mostly about the Garden State Arts Center as an outdoor venue is that the general admission lawn area was steep.
Mansion on the Hill
Rock on!
GQ
Neil Young played a multi- night stand at New York’s Beacon Theatre in February, 1992 which turned out to be his preview to the “Harvest Moon” collection which was released later that year. As I recall, the concerts did not receive overly great reviews at the time which, in retrospect, is kind of amazing considering the accolades and popularity for the Harvest Moon album that was to happen after its release in November, 1992. My only beef at the time, as I recall, was that the solo acoustic shows were on the short side, about an hour and a half, maybe even an hour and a quarter, and the set was almost entirely the new tunes that had not been heard, for the most part, yet. It reminds me that on one of the nights, I was supposed to go to the Beacon with my lifelong buddy Eric who was working at A & S Department store in Manhasset at the time. He had a dispute with a girlfriend that day, punched a wall at work, broke his hand or wrist snd ended up in the emergency room. Now he had to miss the Neil Young concert that evening so he gave me his ticket to sell for him. I arrived at the Beacon Theatre close to show time and quickly sold the loge seat to the left of the stage to someone outside at a huge discount and went inside. The show started and at some point an apparent homeless guy, who stunk to high heaven, sat down next to me in what should have been Eric’s seat. No good deed goes unpunished as the pungent odor put a bit of a damper on that particular Neil Young experience.
Surfer Joe and Moe the Sleaze
Rock on
GQ
My personal archive entry for this particular Tom Petty concert was a little off so I am hoping I found the correct date off of Tom Petty’s concert archive on his website (which is pretty easy to scroll and use). If my memory serves correct (not a guarantee) it was a show attended with Mr. Vegas AKA Mr. Nut and the band performed on stage in front of a giant tree that reminded me of the Rainforest Cafe at Roosevelt Field and which stage set up I was not particularly thrilled with that night; “Rust Never Sleeps” it was not. I remember I was not particularly digging the show but that could partly be because I had to go directly into work for a midnight tour; I do not recall if I worked the night before but that would have only added to the exhaustion level if I had. I did see Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers with much better results at the Beacon Theatre and on their final tour at Forest Hills Stadium where a black SUV with tinted windows slowly drove through the concourse crowd at the outdoor venue shortly before the band hit the stage. I wondered then, and I wonder now, if Tom was staring back at us as we watched the vehicle travel past us. Getting out of Forest Hills Stadium is always problematic as the tennis stadium dumps out into one mass exodus into sort of pen along the railroad tracks, so we decided to beat the crowd, we listened to the band perform “American Girl” as we walked toward the Forest Hills business district.
Tom Petty suddenly and unexpectedly passed on not too long after that Queens summer concert; I am so glad we got to see the band perform one last time and at a great venue.
End of the Line
Rock on!
GQ
Let me start off by saying I am an Eddie Vedder fan and Pearl Jam did try to fight the good fight against Ticketmaster price fee gauging back in the day, but I have been occasionally checking in on. the Vedder dates at the Beacon Theatre scheduled for this week and I am wondering if he has any say on ticket pricing for these gigs. The shows have been periodically “sold out” making his real fans anxious in these live music scarcity times, to sporadic seats at hundreds of dollars for sale popping up occasionally, to today where entire rows for both gigs have suddenly become available at a slightly more reasonable $281 plus (it makes me glad I took a road trip with Mr. Nut to see a solo Vedder sitting in a giant hand chair at an Albany, New York theatre some years back). Ticketmaster’s “dynamic” pricing is completely out of control, and I suspect many ticket purchasers do not even realize they are being hosed. A couple of weeks ago I was contemplating picking up Zac. Brown tickets at Citifield (ugh) for my wife, and while I hesitated buying the approximately $130 pit tickets when they first went on sale, the prices jumped 20 or 40 bucks.” out of nowhere. Right now the Zac Brown prices are all over the map; it is really rather insane, like trying to hit a moving target to get a good deal, or to just not get ripped off.
Who is making the money on these wild pricing variations, the performer or the promoter?
Mr. Vedder, your fans should not have to pay over $600 per seat in desperation only to have similar tickets sold for less than half of that today (I will not even get into what the TM charges could be on a $600 ticket).
Jones Beach Theatre just added a couple of more shows for the summer that include a Black Keys/Band of Horses concert. Hopefully the summer outdoor concert season pans out and life can continue toward normal.
in the meantime, I will check the Beacon day of show in hopes that some standard price tickets for Vedder pop into the system; otherwise I will be skipping this one.
Earthling
Rock on!
GQ
While I have no particular recollection of this Rod Stewart concert at the Nassau Coliseum in November of 1991, it does make me wonder how my wife and I managed to sneak a night out on my daughter’s second birthday (and purely coincidentally, Neil Young’s birthday as well).
Rod Stewart’s Covid delayed summer tour will hopefully take place this summer; I have been holding on to my two orchestra seats for the Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theatre now for about two years now.
Rhythm of My Heart
Rock on!
GQ
If I am remembering this Sting concert at Jones Beach Theatre correctly, I had orchestra seats to left of stage and for some reason I took a work buddy’s son with me to the show. I am not sure how history will ultimately judge The Police or solo Sting but “ The Soul Cages” album still works for me. Now that Elvis Costello is busy trying to “cancel” his own “Oliver’s Army”, I wonder if that seemingly earnest punk anger back in the day was nothing more than a Dice-like persona marketing an image to sell rock and roll records; I hope not, since I have always been an Elvis Costello fan going back to when we hung out at Beefsteak Charlie’s cook John’s apartment above a store in Douglaston, where he would blast the latest New Wave music to all hours of the night (and morning) since he had no neighbors to speak of. Perhaps the next Johnny Rotten is practicing in a garage somewhere and will be inspired by Costello’s apparent hypocrisy.
I have been scouring the internet looking for live music to attend and the concert landscape is bleak. Where we are headed, I do not know, but it is starting to feel like rock and roll is gasping for air. Let’s hope the spring and summer and warmer weather revives the concert industry as the clock is ticking on the usual road warriors, while many stars scramble to sell off their catalogs for the nest eggs that will provide a well deserved retirement for our 1960,s, 70,s and 80’s rock stars.
Englishman in New York
Rock on!
GQ
This July, 1991 concert was one of so many Yes performances that I have attended through the years, with unfortunately no particular recollection for this one at the beach. I last saw Jon Anderson perform in San Diego a few years ago when my wife and I went out there for a wedding, happily and completely coincidentally, Jon was performing nearby at an outdoor venue by the water on a day we were already planning on being there. Jon Anderson is still an amazing talent and I certainly hope to see him again once this nasty Covid business is permanently under control and hopefully live music, and life, returns to some kind of normalcy.
in the meantime, there is YouTube……..
1000 Hands
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GQ
Susanna Hoffs of the Bangles opened for the Eagles’ Don Henley at the Jones Beach Theatre on a Friday evening in July of 1991. Hoffs has a great voice, and the come hither glances, that made her a nice opening act for the cantankerous Henley, who had some really great solo tunes to promote and tour behind. I have never been a big fan of the man, as Henley’s greed is the stuff of legend; he will return to Long Island, with what is left of the Eagles, to perform another round of tour “Hotel California” at the Islanders new home UBS Arena this spring- Covid be damned; cha-ching!
if I recall correctly, the lowlight for the 1991 Jones Beach concert was Henley singing the Kermit the Frog ballad “It Ain’t Easy Being Green”.
Some years later I caught Don Henley do a one-off solo gig at the Paramount in Huntington reportedly on his way back to Nashville to complete a solo project. There is no denying the great catalog of songs that Don Henley has contributed to through the years, going back to playing behind Linda Ronstadt, but as the ticket prices for this latest Eagles go round will confirm, in my opinion, Don has, and will, take the last dime out of his fans’ pockets, then come around again for some more.
Peaceful Easy Feeling (on Sesame Street)
Rock on!
GQ
Two all time greats joined forces at the Jones Beach Theatre on Friday, July 12, 1991; Joe Cocker opened for Steve Winwood for a great double bill on a summer evening on the south shore of Long Island. As I live a short ten minute drive to the Jones Beach Theatre, it has been extraordinarily convenient to catch any given show at the beach through the years. Winwood and Cocker together on a Friday was an absolute no brainer.
Back in the High Life Again
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GQ
Another Chicago tour, another Chicago concert, this time with openers The Triplets. Were they actually triplets? They may have been but memory is failing me on this one, but maybe.
Love Songs
Rock on!
GQ