On Wednesday, August 23, 2000, Mr. Nut AKA Mr. Vegas and I went to see Pearl Jam at the Jones Beach Theatre in Wantagh, New York. Our seats were not the greatest but I found myself wandering until I ended up dead center just behind the first section of the orchestra. We are both Neil Young fans and Nut educated me on his theory that when Neil Young is no longer around some day, Eddie Vedder would be the guy to carry on the tock and roll torch down the line. That being said, Mr. Nut and I took a road trip to a theatre in Albany for an Eddie Veddder solo concert where Eddie sat in a giant hand chair, played music and told stories. Nut drove us through a rain storm and we had a great time. This reminds me of another road trip where we drive to see a Neil Young concert in Philadelphia that was being filmed for the yet to be released Trunk Show movie. After the concert, Nut insisted that we find a famous Philly Cheese steak place and we navigated the deserted Philadelphia streets based on his memory of where the food Mecca was located until we finally found it, and where he advised me to go with the Kraft cheese that exploded all over my steering wheel at first bite. The sandwiches were worth the extra effort and we left Philadelphia with our appetites and ears thoroughly satisfied.

No Hidden Path

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GQ

One of many Neil Young concerts that I have attended since the 1978 “Rust Never Sleeps” tour, this one at the PNC Arts Center in New Jersey. Ordinarily this would be a bit of a longer drive than I would want to make for this particular covered/outdoor shed venue, with the Jones Beach Theatre ten minutes away, but for Neil Young I will always make the trip. The general admission grass area is memorable because they have created quite the hill to navigate; I am not sure if it has gotten higher and steeper through the years but to me it certainly seems that way.

Mansion on the Hill

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GQ

Over $70.00 in Ticketmaster surcharges per ticket is obscene and abusive. The fan is getting hosed, paying, in some cases, over $400 bucks for what should have been a $300 and change ticket; $800 plus dollars for a pair? I guess if they are getting it you almost cannot blame them but it is insane. Then you have “dynamic pricing”, another scam, where I went to check out my $185 each pair for Peter Gabriel only to find that it went up to $201 before fees while navigating website; I bailed. The system is broke; F Ticketmaster!

Money

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GQ

John Lodge of the Moody Blues will perform “Days of Future Passed” in its entirety at the Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts tonight. I have seen the amazing Justin Hayward perform solo a few times but this will be my first time attending a John Lodge solo concert. This will be our third trip to the Patchogue venue with the first two being Leonid & Friends, a Chicago tribute band, then last week Los Lobos, those tickets compliments of WFUV. It is a slushy, rainy Tuesday on Long Island, but my wife and I will endeavor to get out of the house and enjoy some live music by a legendary member of one of the great bands in the history of rock and roll, the Moody Blues!
On a side note, after “Meet the Beatles” (a gift from my aunt), the next album that I owned was the Moody Blues’ “Every Good Boy Deserves Favour” as I loved the song “The Story in Your Eyes” at the time in 1971.

One More Time to Live

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GQ

The Story in Your Ryes

The concert that took place on Thursday, June 22, 2000 is one of my favorite Chicago shows more because of the venue than the performance itself. I think Caesars may have changed the place since, but back in 2000 the venue had table seating with waitress service, like the old time Vegas venues used to have. My wife snd I had so much fun on this trip, between seeing her favorite band, the casino, and not having to travel afterwards by staying overnight at the hotel. Thanks to her, I have seen Chicago many, many, many times and we will see them again soon at the Westbury Music Fair venue “in the round”. Only three original members remain, and the group still maintains a ridiculous touring schedule for a band at any age. There will be no Northwell at Jones Beach Theatre concert this year (what ‘s going on Jones Beach, only 14 shows on the schedule so far this summer?), but Chicago does have a Suffolk County concert scheduled around the time of the Westbury date, and other shows in the tri-state area on tap in April. One would think the merry go round has to stop for them at some point, and the cast of players seems to be turning over quicker and quicker these days, but the band continues to give its fans what they want on a nightly basis; a lot of hits and a lot of good memories.

Born for This Moment

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GQ

For just under two hours on Saturday, February 25, 2023, the legendary 83 year old Judy Collins performed for an adoring audience at New York City’s Town Hall. Ms. Collins performed; she sang, she joked, and told fascinating stories between songs while seemingly thoroughly enjoying herself. The last time my wife and I attended a Judy Collins performance was at the Newport Folk Festival after she had completed a tour with Stephen Stills of “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” fame. At Newport, we waited to meet Judy at the merch tent for an autograph signing she unfortunately never showed up for. I had wanted to tell her that we were at the Stills & Collins show at Westbury Music Fair when near the end she stepped backward and fell over some equipment onstage, landing on her derrière. Without missing a beat, and being the trouper that she is, Judy popped right up and gracefully finished the performance. After that concert, we went to the St. George Theatre to see them perform again, and quite unexpectedly, ran into Stephen Stills coming out of an alleyway making his way back to the tour bus while the warm up act was on.
On this night at Town Hall, a venue she first played in the early 1960,s, she performed her “Wildflowers” album in its entirety, and finished with Sondheim’s “Send in the Clowns”.
Judy Collins was amazing; an iconic legend in the flesh. She is eight three years old but still performing at the highest level with a voice that is truly a freakish gift (David Crosby’s incredible pipes come to mind). Hopefully my wife and I can catch her one more time at this year’s Newport Folk Festival.

Both Sides Now

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GQ

Tickets for the Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band concert at Madison Square Garden in June, 2000 were a tough get so I went to work trying to obtain a pair as my wife really wanted to go. Around the same time, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young were to be on their 2000 U.S. Tour. I had purchased seats on the side of the stage for CSNY at MSG and somehow found someone online, who conveniently turned out to be located near where I worked, who wanted to swap decent Springsteen seats midway up to the right of the MSG stage, for my CSNY tickets (the ultimate sacrifice as I was, and am, a huge CSNY fan). My wife was thrilled to be going to the Springsteen show (I like Bruce but have issues with him at times, as you will see). “American Skin” was a song written by Bruce Springsteen inspired by a police shooting in New York City that was a tragedy, to be sure. It was around this time that I started to feel Mr. Springsteen began to abandon his working class fan base, and law enforcement in particular, for a more “liberal” philosophy, which is certainly his right to pursue whether some of us agree with him or not. On this night, Springsteen & the E Street Band broke into “American Skin” with the audience eerily quiet during the playing of the song. My opinion of the song has fluctuated through the years and at the time I took the tune to be an attack on our law enforcement community, so as Springsteen repeatedly sang “41 Shots”, I yelled toward the stage “Bruce you suck!” between each refrain. This went on for awhile, my wife was mortified, and at some point someone in the section below us turned around and yelled back at me “No YOU suck”. There we’re two young guys standing to my left as this went on for awhile, and when I briefly explained to them that I was a cop, they shrugged their shoulders as if to say they got it. Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band have begun their 2023 tour following the ticket price controversy (unbelievably I have to agree with the artist on this one, that if they lower ticket prices only the brokers and sidegiggers would reap the profits; the shows are obviously not going unsold at the seemingly exorbitant pricing but the market is what it is). Bruce got me for about a grand this tour as I managed to obtain really good seats on the right side of the stage at Barclays Center in Brooklyn and a pair of nosebleeds behind the stage at the UBS Arena at Belmont Park. I just saw that Pink tickets at MSG are being sold, for me, crazy prices; it has gotten that a half way decent pair for a popular act can cost you over $700 bucks to start. Where it ends is anybody’s guess but the bubble may burst at some point considering how few tours are selling out immediately these days (just look at the upcoming summer concert schedule). I will go to one of the Springsteen concerts, I am sure it will be great, but whether you got your money’s worth might depend on if you managed to pay your mortgage that month.

Badlands

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GQ

I have seen Los Lobos at least a couple of times; at City Winery and a festival in Pasadena, California pre- Covid to name two. I have been to the Patchogue Theatre once before to see Chicago tribute band Leonid and Friends. The theatre is a pretty cool older venue that could probably use an upgrade but does not have a bad seat in the place. I won these tickets on a WFUV giveaway and, while going out on the town on a Tuesday night is getting tougher, my wife snd I will endeavor to persevere and rock out on a “school night”. I just checked and there are plenty of tickets available (with minimal surcharges), so go out and support live music performed by a legendary band.

How Will the Wolf Survive?

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GQ

I have not attended a lot of arena concerts at the Meadowlands in New Jersey, but in April, 2000 I made the trip to the then Continental Arena to see Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. I have gone to ninety plus (and hopefully counting) Neil Young shows through the years, starting with Rust Never Sleeps, but this CSNY New Jersey gig is not producing any particular memory. The Continental Arena is more notable (for me) as being where I was caught on film in the orchestra, full screen rocking’, during Young and Crazy’s “F!#*in Up”

Stephen Stills and Young will be performing at a Stills benefit event in April, and Neil will be at Willie Nelson’s 90th birthday bash in May (both shows happening in California).

Sadly, David Crosby is no longer with us but Graham Nash is doing a solo tour which will hit New York’s City Winery and upstate Bethel Woods soon.

Following these return to the stage Neil Young performances, I am hopeful that Neil and the Promise of the Real are inspired to go on tour, as Nils Lofgren will be unavailable and on the Springsteen tour until the end of the year (at least).

Long May You Run

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GQ

Ray Davies solo at the Westbury Music Fair in October, 1997 was an epic evening. I picked up three tickets, for what I think was $45 bucks each, to see an all time tock and roll legend in concert, with two legends in their own right, my good pals Sandy and Steve. Ray Davies sang, chatted between songs, and we provided the tequila fueled background vocals; a rollicking good time was had by all.

Victoria

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GQ