My one and only time to have gone to the legendary Mew York City discotheque Studio 54 was, somewhat ironically, to attend a Lou Reed concert in support of his album “ Legendary Hearts”. This was one of my favorite periods in the career of Mr.Reed as this project was the follow up to another great album, “The Blue Mask”. I remember walking into Studio 54 and instantly knowing that this was not to be any ordinary concert as cardboard replicas featuring Lou holding a metallic looking motorcycle helmet from the “Legendary Hearts” album cover art hung above our heads. I have a vague recollection of seeing Lou onstage from way back center, but the enduring memory of the night’s festivities is having had the opportunity to see inside the iconic Manhattan venue, albeit past its heights of legend, to attend a concert by one of rock and roll’s greatest performers in the heart of his New York City hometown (alright, I know he was originally from Freeport, Long Island but he hated it and considered himself a New Yorker).

A great venue has a heart, vibe and history all its own and Studio 54, although a seemingly an odd choice at first blush, was the perfect club on this night for the artist known as Lou Reed and a New York City audience fortunate to have found their way inside on a Tuesday night in 1983.

Sally Can’t Dance

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GQ

Night two of the Solo/Trans tour for me took us from Nassau Coliseum to Madison Square Garden to see Neil Young perform a wide mix of old and new songs. I always find it funny when some people, who clearly don’t get it, complain that Mr. Young did not perform this song or another and are somehow disappointed in a particular performance. A perfect example of this was the Neil Young & Crazy Horse tour supporting “Psychedelic Pill”. Some in the Madison Square Garden audience did not appreciate the beautiful distortion the band was making when married couples in the audience mistakenly showed up on date night to hear their favorite tracks off of “Harvest Moon”. I love it all; the beauty of the Promise of the Real tours are that POTR can play it all and it can be a brand new show on any given night. Now that live music is returning, we can look forward to what Mr. Young might do next; whatever it is, count me in as I continue closer from having been at 90 plus Neil Young performances to, hopefully soon, attending 100 and beyond.

Computer Age

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GQ

I just checked set list.fm to refresh my memory and this was indeed the Neil Young Solo/Trans tour. The concert at Nassau Coliseum is interesting with songs from “Old Ways” “Trans” and older classics. There is a video of the Trans tour out there with Nils Lofgren on guitar that is quite good. This was near the beginning of Neil’s battles with Geffen Records about the music he was choosing to release at the time. Nils Lofgren played on the latest Crazy Horse project “Colorado” which followed a couple of dates in Winnipeg that I was fortunate to have attended (the polar vortex is real). This Nassau Coliseum concert, and the one at Madison Square Garden on the next night, followed my taking a “leave of absence” from Saint John’s University School of Law and my quest to figure out what to do with my life that led to a 32 year career in law enforcement. There are a lot of forks in the road of life to be sure.

Are There Any More Real Cowboys?

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GQ

In August, 1982 I was celebrating the end of summer and awaiting my impending start at Saint John’s University School of Law. While I remember snippets of seeing The Clash at Bonds NYC, this concert at Pier. 84 on the west side of Manhattan does not elicit any recollection at all. Despite adequate grades in my first semester of law school, my stint at Saint John’s was short lived and I endeavored to find my way post- Queens College with jobs at local banking institutions until the civil service gods looked kindly down upon me and law enforcement opportunities began to develop. I missed The Who with The Clash at Shea Stadium, and I believe I missed the opportunity to see U2 during this time, but there would be no more concerts for me in 1982 due to the demands of law school (however 1983 would start off with the return of Neil Young to the tri-state area).

I Fought the Law

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GQ

The Forest Hills Tennis Stadium is an interesting outdoor venue in Queens where I have seen quite a number of great shows through the years; The Who, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Robert Plant, Jethro Tull and, of course, Talking Heads, to name a few. The stadium had stopped having concerts for along time until a few ago when the stadium was updated and it hosts a limited amount of summer concerts with a 10 o’clock curfew due to the proximity to residential properties in the area. As with the other Genesis performances I have attended through the years, this one elicits no particular recollection. We will try again this December when “The Last Domino?” tour arrives for two nights at Madison Square Garden and the new Islanders arena located at Belmont Park.

Keep It Dark

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The Ronnie James Dio version of Black Sabbath hit the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands in New Jersey in August, 1982 with opener Johnny Van Zant Band. Ronnie James Dio would move on to front the band Dio; Johnny Van Zant would latrr tour with Lynyrd Skynyrd keeping their brand of southern rock alive for fans to enjoy for decades (Skynyrd’s “farewell tour” was interrupted by the pandemic and continues on to this day). I only went to the Brendan Byrne Arena on a few occasions, most notably a Neil Young & Crazy Horse tour which got me in video full frame during “F*!#in’ Up” and years later for an all star lineup with the Love for Levon concert. I also got to see the Black Sabbath line up with Dio at Radio City Music Hall as Heaven and Hell when there was a dispute over using the Black Sabbath name. Ronnie James Dio passed away a few years ago from stomach cancer but his legacy as one of the great heavy metal singers and lyricists lives on.

The Devil Cried

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The Talking Heads tour that became the “Stop Making Sense” album, movie, and video arrived at Forest Hills Tennis Stadium on Saturday, August 21, 1982. My then girlfriend, and future bride, went to see the show at this historic venue set in the middle of a Queens neighborhood not too far from my wife’s parents’ Elmhurst apartment. The jam packed stadium was not built for a hard partying rock audience and the archaic bathroom facilities were struggling to handle the crowds. While we were sitting in our seats toward the upper right of the stage, I felt the need to hit the bathroom but did not want to miss the beginning of the Talking Heads set. I noticed that a steady stream of guys were walking to the very top of the aisle in the upper corner and clearly relieving themselves over the side one at a time. Nobody stopped them, or seemed to mind, so I decided that this would clearly be a more viable option than heading back down into the cavernous underbelly of the stadium to find a rest room that was likely packed. I made my way up to the top, unzipped while looking for any possibility of interruption, and began to urinate onto the leaves of a tree below. I was there for what seemed awhile, and for what turned out to be clearly too long. When finished, I pulled ip my zipper, turned to go back down the stairs, when I saw a security guard with freshly combed soaken wet head walking up toward me. Unbeknownst to me, this guard had been apparently standing underneath the tree that was beneath my steady stream, and he was not happy. Despite my protestations, he escorted me down the stairs and to the wrong side of the entrance; I had been tossed and my wife was none the wiser, waiting for me at the seat. There was no cell phone technology at the time, and no way to contact her; so I scrambled outside telling my tale of woe to anyone who would listen, until I found a security person who unbelievably let me back into the stadium (good luck trying that today). I made my way back in and the lights went down for the Talking Heads to hit the stage just as my rear end hit the seat. I vaguely remember David Byrne onstage dancing with a lamp and the ride home on Queens Boulevard is memorable for a stuffed animal being thrown out of the driver window during an argument with my wife.

Life During Wartime

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It was not unusual for us to catch every possible Yes concert whenever they hit New York City and a Jon Anderson solo tour was no exception. A month to the day of the Convention Hall show in New Jersey we went to see Mr. Anderson again, this time at New York City’s Palladium theatre. A couple of years ago my wife and I went to San Diego for a wedding. As luck would have it, in addition to going to a Padres game and Seaworld (where she got one item off of her bucket list by swimming with the dolphins) we managed to attend a Jon Andersen concert while he was on tour in California supporting his latest project “1000 Hands”.

Makes Me Happy

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GQ

In the summer of 1982, I had just recently graduated from Queens College with a degree in English and a minor in Economics with Saint John’s University School of Law waiting for me on the other side. On August 2nd, we went to the Dr. Pepper Concert Series at Pier 84 on the west side of Manhattan to catch a bit of an odd double bill with the rockabilly Stray Cats opening for progressive rock pioneers King Crimson. While I have no particular recollection of this night under the stars, I am sure it was a night to remember for some in the audience.

Rock This Town

GQ

Queen was one of the kings of the arena rock circuit in 1982. This time around the band played Madison Square Garden with Billy Squier opening.

Tie Your Mother Down

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GQ