Haha, Loverboy was a deceptively good band (with a god-awful name) back in the day. I think I saw them at Astroworld at some point. Maybe with Night Ranger? My memory might be off though. I had tickets to see Def Leppard for their Pyromania tour, but I got grounded for getting in-school suspension for constantly playing the drums on my desk during Life Science class. Damn you, Mrs. Brasfield! The next day everyone showed up with their sleeveless British flag concert shirts and I was so jealous.....
This is simply not fair. I found Fugazi too late to see them live, and even The Evens never came near enough for me to see. One of my first shows was Pantera at Westpark Entertainment Center off 610 and something (had to dig out the ticket stub to find the name of that place). 1996. It was like a small, dingy Woodlands style amphitheater. It was a blast despite a biker guy walking off with the joint we were passing around.
Local rock station had late night album play and I heard Pyromania for the first time, I was hooked. Wore out Pyromania and High n Dry but never got to see them in concert. Loverboy/Zebra was my first concert, caught 2 Paul Dean guitar picks and gave one to a buddy next to me and my best friend who got separated never let me hear the end of it.
Bob Dylan and the Band at the end of January, 1974, at Hofheinz Pavilion. Had to stand in line a really long time to get tickets for that one. Credence at the Coliseum in July, 1970 and May of '72, same venue. Missed them in August of 1971. I was in Europe for 6 months. They always played the Coliseum. Terrible venue, but they were wildly popular in Houston. Saw Cream, with Vanilla Fudge, at the Music Hall at the end of March, 1968, and later that year at the Coliseum in October on Cream's "Farewell Tour." Saw Blind Faith in the middle of August, 1969 at the Coliseum, and Clapton again as Derek and the Dominoes at the Music Hall (thank god) in early November, 1970. 1970 was a great year for music in Houston. Concerts I went to? Mentioned Credence and Clapton. Add Jimi Hendrix to an incredible year, Jimi's last concert in Houston. Ten Years After - Alvin Lee was a madman, Eric Burdon & War, Buddy Miles, and The Flying Burrito Brothers on the same bill. In February, there was a great concert at the Coliseum that started in the early afternoon and went on for many hours with Quicksilver Messenger Service, The Grateful Dead, John Mayall, and It's a Beautiful Day. The Moody Blues, Jethro Tull (always a great concert!), Iron Butterfly (who played you know what for about 20 minutes). Mother Earth (who most haven't heard of - they were great!) and Steve Miller on the same bill at Hofheinz. Hofheinz had at a lot of great concerts that year, groups taking advantage of a place bigger than the Music Hall, and much better than the Coliseum. I think 1970 was it's first year. More 1970 with Led Zeppelin at Hofheinz, Santana with Elvin Bishop opening, Steppenwolf, The Doors in a "makeup" concert for one cancelled in 1969, with The Movin' Sidewalks opening (morphed later into ZZ Top), The Band (first time I saw them), The Who. The Steve Miller Band (again), Traffic, who played Houston several times in different incarnations, Richie Havens, Mott the Hoople. All played Houston in 1970 and I was there. I'm surprised my ears work as well as they do. That's one year, and I know I forgot some people. Honestly, the late '60's through the early '70's were all great years for music in Houston. We were lucky. I went with my friends and/or my girlfriends. The most I paid for a concert that year was $6.50 and I can't remember who it was for. Most were in the $3.50/4.50/5.50 range, sometimes $6. No service charges. Buy your tickets at Brook Mays Music! There, or Foley's, or other places, usually record shops.
I saw Dweezil Zappa play his dads's album Hot Rats last night at the Paramount in Austin. Great show. Other memorable shows? Frank Zappa at Hofheinz Pavilion in '75 or '76, Van Halen opened for Black Sabbath at the Coliseum, Neil Young & Crazy Horse multiple times, Dylan in Austin, REM in Dallas, Lou Reed at Bronco Bowl in Dallas, Emerson Lake & Palmer in Nacogdoches, Stevie Ray Vaughn at a club in Nac, plus in the Dome with the Who.
I meant to convey they were still relatively new at that time. I think they only had one album out when I saw them. "Who is this band?" Listen for a bit. "Oh yeah, they sing that song. Cool." (Also, that first album cover probably hurt their sales to hard-rockin' young self-proclaiming hetero Texans back then.)
I went to a Pantera show around that time. my 9 year old son’s most requested bands recently believe it or not is The Beatles, Missio, Run the Jewels, and Fugazi. I feel like I am doing something right as a parent.
Took my 10 year old to see the movie Yesterday and he fell in love with the Beatles. So he likes to listen often. Both my 10 and 7 year olds get such a wide variety of music from me and they love it. It’s really cool that I get to share it with them and they aren’t into the boy band thing or something like that. They dig good music from many genres. My 7 year old is really into classic rock right now and wants to hear Fleetwood Mac, Phil Collins, Manfred Mann and Heart. Then he will turn around and ask for the Gorillaz and Daft Punk.
Yeah I play it all for him (no country lol) from Handel and Mozart to Skinny Puppy Front 242 KMFDM, Face to Face NOFX Pennywise Buzzcocks Korn Deftones OutKast Fugees Bassnectar Glitch Mob Led Zepplin Pink Floyd Nina Simone Sade Neil Diamond Lynryd Skynrd Queen Silversun Pickups Pearl Jam Alice in Chains Blue October The Cure The Cult Motley Crew etc etc etc That’s way more than I was ever exposed to as a child. It took my step brothers and friends and own curiosity to learn music.
Duuuuuuuuuuude!! Puppy is one of my all time favs. Of course 242 as well. Love dark electronic. Great list. So cool getting to share generations of music with or kids.
Speaking of beatles, this thread title has had me humming this pair of songs for the last couple of days...
i went to ozzfest in 2004 and got caught up in the most violent, epic mosh pit ive ever been in. judas priest, slayer and slipknot were good, but things really kicked up when LLB hit the stage.
This was excellent. Insane, actually, in 1968 at a great club in Houston, the Catacombs. That's not Frank at the Catacombs. He was wearing overalls. I just like the image.
My first concert was Triumph - Never Surrender tour at the Sam Houston coliseum in April, 1983. That is still one of the best shows I ever saw. The lighting display in that concert consisted of this huge rectangular fixture mounted above the band with in the range of 5,000 colored light bulbs (or individual round fixtures) filling the rectangle in rows where all the lights worked independently and were synchronized to the music changing with each note played. It made for a magical lighting experience that I never saw repeated anywhere. It was literally mind blowing. It made the light show in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" look like amateur hour. It felt way ahead of its time for 1983. It was just a beautiful experience. Foghat opened for them and had a hot bimbo dancing at each side of the stage during their set. Anybody else here at that show?
I had a buddy in school that told me the same thing that Triumph was the best and this was a guy who lived and breathed the concert scene. Same tour but think it may have been Shreveport.
My first rock concert was The Edgar Winter Band in Houston. Man, I loved going to concerts. They were so cheap in the 70's and 80's. Just a few of the bands I saw around town and in the local clubs that I still have ticket stubs from were Aerosmith, Ted Nugent, ZZ Top, Springsteen, The Moody Blues, Journey, AC/DC, Fleetwood Mac, Nazareth, Foreigner, The Rolling Stones, Pat Benatar, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, Mahogany Rush, The Kinks, Def Leppard, Black Sabbath, Rush, Jethro Tull, Stevie Nicks, REO Speedwagon, The Beach Boys, Heart, Jefferson Starship, Tom Petty, 38 Special, Billy Joel, Blue Oyster Cult, U2, Marshall Tucker Band, Humble Pie, The Police, Rod Stewart, Kris Kristofferson, Toto, The J Geils Band, Quarterflash, Billy Squier, Rick Springfield, Tommy Tutone, The Go-Gos, Peter Frampton, The Shake Russel/ Dana Cooper Band, Willie Nelson, and Phil Collins. I'm sure there were a whole lot more great bands I didn't mention that I saw that I don't have ticket stubs for, like Supertramp, Yes, REO Speedwagon, and many more. Those were the days of concerts at Hofheinz Pavilion, Sam Houston Coliseum, the Houston Music Hall, the Summit, and the Astrodome. The small venues were the Agora Ballroom, Rock Saloon, and Texas Opry House. I saw the Police for $3.50 at The Texas Opry House, sitting at wooden tables drinking pitchers of beer, watching a Roxanne look alike contest. I saw Bono marching up the aisles of the Houston Music Hall on his War tour. Great times. I would say the best act I've seen at a club in this decade would be Adele at the Warehouse promoting her first album. She blew me away. Her voice permeated that small place, and she was so humble. She was taking pics of the audience. What a show that was.
I may have missed it, but has anybody mentioned Southern Star Amphitheater? Saw a TON of shows there from '84 - '86 thanks to a 25 or 30 dollar Astroworld season pass. AC/DC, Cheap Trick, The Cure, Jackson Browne, Emerson Lake & Powell, Billy Idol, Night Ranger, Zebra, Joe Jackson, Heart and a bunch of others. Saw some bands I probably wouldn't have seen if it hadn't, basically, been free. It was the greatest deal in ever. Good times!
