Hopefully I have got this date right as it was missing from the archive calendar, but as I recall, Mr.Nut and I went to the Nassau Coliseum to see Metallica on this Friday night in February; the stage took up the center of the orchestra with general admission standing room around it. We were sitting midway up opposite to where the stage would have been set up under ordinary circumstances. At that time, Nassau Coliseum was the home of the New York Islanders hockey team and the short wall of the rink surrounding the orchestra floor, and a few security guards, were all there was in place to keep the seated fans from joining the general admission crowd on the floor up against the rectangular stage. Metallica was LOUD and throughout the show fired up fans were leaping over the wall and running passed mostly disinterested security guards standing there to ostensibly catch and release the interlopers. One of the two guards in front of us stood there stoically making no attempt to intervene; the second younger guard repeatedly, physically, and overzealously, tried to knock over the uninvited like bowling pins. Those who took the running start and stormed passed the guards toward the stage mostly made it and upgraded their experience by joining the faithful on the floor. It was not quite a mosh pit but there was a lot of testosterone in the air. At one point someone near the stage got in the face of former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted who, without missing a beat, punched the young man, nailing him squarely in the face; Newsted then spun around returning to the stage mid-song almost as if this had all been choreographed somehow. The band seemed to have a stadium sized volume in an arena setting making for an ear-splitting cacophony of sound and it was relentless. At the end of the concert when Mr. Nut, who is a big Ozzy fan and no stranger to the heavy metal music, said that Metallica scared him, it confirmed for me that we had witnessed an epic show.

Death Magnetic

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GQ

Another Allman Brothers Band concert, this time at the Beacon Theatre on a Sunday night in March, 1998. Thankfully Tedeschi Trucks Band and Warren Haynes remain on the boards to carry on the Allman Brothers Band legacy, both musically and spiritually. My wife and I saw The Brothers at Madison Square Garden right before the world shut down for the pandemic and the music stopped for a time.
I just went to see Arcade Fire with my daughter at the new MGM Fenway venue that was very cool and that reminded me a little of Terminal 5 in NYC, but other than that show, the winter live music schedule for me has been light thus far. My guess is the bigger established acts are going to gear up for the summer shed scene; Foreigner’s Farewell tour and Pink’s stadium shows have just gone on sale. I should not fail to mention Taylor Swift, who undoubtedly is the biggest music star on the planet at the moment (Marcus Mumford played one of her tunes as an encore at the Beacon Theatre); Swift’s stadium presale crashed the Ticketmaster site this week. Ticketmaster crashing is a sure sign that live music is still alive and well, but maybe just not quite as we remember it.

Done Somebody Wrong

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GQ

Marcus Mumford, on hiatus from Mumford & Sons, performs with his solo tour at the Beacon Theatre tonight with opener, straight from their Newport Folk Festival appearance this past summer, the eclectic duo The A’s.

(self-titled)

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GQ

Following the kings and I, Bob Dylan and Van Morrison at The Theatre at Madison Square, there was a Sunday night in March, 1998 on Broadway to see The King and I.

Real Real Gone

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GQ

I am not sure which night I attended the Bob Dylan and Van Morrison concert, but two legends together on the same night in New York City was a night to behold. I am pretty certain that on the same night that I attended Dylan and Morrison at The Theatre, the Rolling Stones were performing in the MSG arena above our heads; amazing stuff.

Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out!

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GQ

Following my month employed at the U.S.Tennis Open in Queens when I was too tired to catch either night of the Charlie Watts Tribute at the Blue Note or the Dirty Knobs sr the Paramount in Huntington (I hate eating tickets), I went to see Roxy Music at Madison Square Garden on my last of 29 straight days working. I am not really a big fan of the band but the show was interesting in a progressive rock sort of way, The promoters apparently overreached with the pricing and venue ultimately and unexpectedly relocating everyone from the rafters down to the first level of the venue. Upon our arrival, my cheapest seat in the house nosebleed seats became what were initially for sale at $300+ face; those who sat in the vicinity who paid full price ought to have been rightfully pissed.

I went to both nights of Slowhand at MSG and it was a fine concert. At this point in his career, I figured it may be the last chance for me to catch Mr. Clapton perform and he did not disappoint Eric Clapton not only plays the blues, he now also looks like one of the old blues guys he has always admired and aspired to become.

I Shot the Sheriff

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GQ

My favorite annual event on the concert schedule is the three days at the Newport Folk Festival which this year took place over the weekend of July 22-July 24, 2022 during a heat wave. “Hydrate” and “ Sun Screen” were the operative words as we watched a multitude of acts perform from 11:00 AM to 7:30 PM and beyond. The great thing about the festival and it’s three stages is that you will undoubtedly discover some new acts, or veteran acts that you had not investigated as of yet, and the odds are you will discover music and accumulate experiences that you will carry with you beyond the extraordinary event. The Newport Folk Festival is a place where special moments still happen, where spontaneous musical collaboration occurs, and where once in a a lifetime concert experiences happen and “surprise” appearances are not only expected but actually occur. This year, on day two, Nathaniel Ratliff and the Night Sweats “presented” a set of Paul Simon songs that ended with Simon joining the band on stage for a few tunes. On the third and last night, Brandi Carlisle, a folk festival regular, interrupted her closing set after a few songs to present the “Joni Jam” with Joni Mitchell enthralling the jubilant festival crowd with her first live performance in many years. “Both Sides Now” was epic during a set of historic Mitchell moments. This festival is such a sensory overload that even though though we had to leave in the middle of Ratliff’s set before Paul Simon appeared, it was OK as my kids, with son in law and girlfriend, were going to the Marcus Mumford after party in town. Mumford is another artist who has become “folk family” snd has appeared in the past, one time as an previously unannounced artist with Mumford and Sons.

We are now recovering from doing another three days at Fort Adams State Park for the late great George Wein’s Newport Jazz Festival. I am by no means a jazz aficionado, but I love all types of music and took it all in with varying degrees of success. We have attended the Jazz Festival a couple of times through the years and the full three days is a marathon. The weather was phenomenal and the jazz music encompassed a wide variety of styles, my favorite of which was the “Remain in Light” Project reimagining the iconic Talking Heads album of the same name.

Love Potion No. 9

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GQ

Def Leppard, Motley Crue, Poison, and Joan Jett will be at Citifield tonight but instead my wife and I will be going to the formerly Westbury Music Fair to see Paul Anka perform. Paul Anka comes around this area very regularly, sometimes twice a year, but he may have finally hit a wall with his fan base because while Mr. Anka has always sold out his dates at Westbury, this time around there are still tickets available; Live Nation has even lowered prices on some seats for this particular concert. The tickets I purchased a couple of months ago were $50 total for the pair on some sort of “no fee” sale- a real bargain to see a Las Vegas worthy show. Paul Anka is a great old school entertainer who has written some of the greatest songs of this generation; he is a throwback, who always puts on an energetic show and leaves his audience smiling by the end of the evening.

Dr. Feelgood

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GQ

I have attended so many Yes concerts through the years that they tend to blend together a bit, but this show at the Beacon Theatre stands out for a couple of reasons. I am pretty sure that I attended this one solo; the band has changed players numerous times, for a variety of reasons, over time and, as I recall, this was the Yes tour with the Russian keyboard player Igor Khoroshev. Most memorable for me this time out was that after the concert ended. I slid along in front of the first tow toward center stage and as Jon Anderson was saying his farewells. I looked up, locked eyes, stuck my hand up and shook hands with one of my tock and roll heroes. I had a pretty good grip going during that handshake, and as I briefly had his undivided attention the thought crossed my mind that Anderson likely wondered for a second when, or if, I would “Release, Release” my grip. My thought then, as it is now, was that for a mystic harpist poet Jon had some pretty big mitts; it kind of threw me off a bit because one might think of Jon as maybe a sort of delicate man, but my immediate impression at the time was that his hands might seem to have been better built for boxing.
I first saw Yes at Madison Square Garden during the “ Going for the One” tour, and then for the many arena tours that followed. The Beacon Theatre is one of the best venues to catch anyone but to see one of my favorite bands, going back to high school, in the more intimate theatre setting was a blast.

Relayer

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GQ

I am not sure which night I went to Giants Stadium to see The Rolling Stones on this tour in October, 1997, and I am also unsure if it was this particular show, but I have seen the Stones at Giants Stadium to the extreme left of the stage with a runway right in front of us. It was a great view for a stadium concert, snd the Stones are the premier large venue artists ever leaving everyone from the first row to the last feeling like they got their money’s worth and having had a joyous rock and roll time. The Rolling Stones documentary “Shine a Light”,is currently being shown on Prime. The doc was directed by Martin Scorsese, filmed at the Beacon Theatre, and it is phenomenal; check it out, it is must see rock and roll TV.

Flip the Switch

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GQ