Best Rock Concerts

Sept- 2015 @ Madison Sq. Garderns. Great venue for this concert.
Imagine that we took a 4 day weekend holiday in New York. and during this trip we actually got to see a Madonna Concert.
my wife had to drag me kicking and screaming but must tell everyone that she puts on s good show. most of the music is a little dated and from my perspective isn't great music after all.
She is a step slow on the dance numbers and should be excused because of her age. The dancers were fabulous and were well choreographied for a professional looking show.

Imagine that. After more than 25 years of not having been to a concert and I finally went to watch another.
August 2015 - They were just smashing in concert. My lady and I had a terrific time and I hope to go watch another soon.
They put on such an energetic show that brought back the days of my youth when I lived for the next concert.The Canadian Band "Metric" opened up and they were totally awesome. Underrated band.
If I believed in re-incarnation I would want to come back as a musician so that I can make people happy.

This is October 1975 (chilly night with light snow coming down)and we've just arrived at the Montreal Forum for the Rod Stewart concert and the warmup band has just started playing. Of course we've been across the street drinking a few pitchers of beer at "The Mustache" our favourite watering hole, warming up ourselves(hehe). I turn over and ask my friend "Who are these guys?". "He says look at the ticket dummy, it says Heart". I laugh, "Like you know who they are?". My friend laughs and says, "You're right I don't but they're sounding good".
So this was the start of my first concert experience with Annie and Nancy Wilson of "Heart" opening up for a "Rod Stewart" concert. To say they blew the roof off the Forum that night would be an understatement. They started off the next song with the opening famous drumbeat from "White Lightning And Wine" or maybe it was the great guitar riff from "Kick It Out" and the place went nuts.
This was their opening album and first major tour and had been lucky to score the gig with Rod.
Of course they did all the favourites off of the first album such as "Dreamboat Annie","Magic Man" etc.
If I recall they ended their set with "Crazy On You" and brought the house down.They came back for several encores which was unheard of for the warmup bands as usually fans couldn't wait to get to the main event going and almost never asked the first band back for encores.
Needless to say Rod Stewart was in his heyday and put on a great concert himself(which I'll review later) but Heart stole the evening which was nevertheless fantastic in it's entirety.
Disclaimer: Not meant to encourage drinking.

October 1975 - Opening Act Heart with the Wilson sisters
As I mentioned above in the "Heart" review the opening act was a smash but Rod was in his prime then and he wasn't going to let himself be outdone.

He had just left "The Faces" in the recent past and some of his most memorable hits had just recently been released and were part of his concert repertoire.

He started off the night with a long drawn out version of "Every Picture Tells A Story" which allowed for a nice focused guitar riff and a loud percussion beat topped off by a standing crowd chorus of "Every Picture Tells A Story Don't It". Rod the Mod had just gotten going and he already had the crowd dancing in the aisles, the only question being "Was the old building going to stand up to the abuse of over 18,000 fans"? :)

Then he jumped into some other favorites such as:
"You Wear It Well"
"Cut Across Shorty"
"Mandolin Wind"
and "Sweet Little Rock and Roller" by Chuck Berry

Came back after the break to do an acoustical set with some of my personal favorites:
A beautiful soft version of "Amazing Grace"
"I Know I'm Loosing You"
and "A Reason To Believe"

"Tomorrow Is Such A Long Time" Lyrics Bob Dylan
If today was not an endless highway
If tonight was not a crooked trail
If tomorrow wasn't such a long time
then lonesome would mean nothing to you at all

Ah but only if my own true love is waitin'
Yes and I could hear her heart softly pounding
And only if she were lying by me
Would I rest in my bed once again
etc.....Sung by Rod Stewart

Beautiful rendition of this song by Stewart and you could hear a pin drop.

Closed out the concert with a crackling high stompin, building busting version of "Maggie May" before doing several encores.
The only other thing I can remember is needing a couple of days to recover from the great experience.

I attended this concert in 1978 in Nuremberg, Germany in Zellenfield, while backpacking across Europe with a friend for 2 months. We took the chance of going without having tickets but we were able to score some at the door. The concert lasted over 10 hours and included other performers such Eric Clapton and others.
There were an estimated 60,000 people and not enough toilets around the perimeter. Regardless of what they say today, this is where the mosh pit was born. Women were flying across on top of our hands to get to the exterior perimeter to use the johnny on the spots that were available but they were clearly not enough.
The atmosphere was electric which started to really intensify when Clapton did his classic "Cocaine".
The day and evening had progressed well, as we sharing our "Courvoisier Cognac" with some "Retsina" and "Ouzo" with our Greek neighbors. It addition we had made some German friends and they kept unpacking some very strong German beer and some Russian friends had unpacked the vodka which seemed to burn our throats but not theirs. It soon became the United Nations of drinking, smoking pot, and having a blast.
In my opinion, this is when the Berlin Wall started to come down in a figurative sense.
Don't forget the stadium was used to mass German troops in preparations for offensives against the allies, so it represented quite a bit to have American singers come and start knocking those walls down figuratively speaking. The Germans we had become friends with were fed up and wanted to be friends and become more integrated with everyone else.
Musical hightlights were: "All Along The Watchtower" Can you image what 60,000 singing along at the top of their voices at the same time. Well, I can still get a buzz when I remember. Too many others to name but for me: "Tangled Up In Blue" "I shall Be Released" "Shelter From The Storm" "Just Like A Womam" when everyone had their candles lit flickering in the wind. What an awesome site it was to be part of that night.
Anecdote: When he sang "All I Really Want To Do IS Make Love To You" , People were singing that part at the Height of their lungs to emphasize, that nothing else mattered but making love...(with friends , strangers, or anyone else that believed.
Finally he brought the house down when he ended his set with "Forever Young" and there was not a dry eye in the house as people were being emotionslly elevated to another plane where only love would prevail.Imagine if we had realized how fast time would pass us by, it would be a torrential rain of tears of sadness as well as joy.
THIS WAS THE DAY THAT HUMANITY CAME TOGETHER TO LOVE AND SUCCEEDED WHILE ENJOYING GREAT CAMMARADERIE WITH FOREIGNERS WHILE ENJOYING GREAT MUSIC.
I hope you enjoy and will write others if you do. There could be the odd historical inaccuracy as I lost count of how much I had been drinkimg early in the concert. Disclaimer: Not meant to encourage dringing or taking drugs.

The year for this concert must be around 1977 or 1978 at the Plateau auditorium in Montreal. A nice intimate setting with maybe a capacity of 3-4 thousand and great acoustics. The first highlight I remember from this fantastic concert was that he kept coming out for encores after he finished a close to three hour concert.
After coming out for two encores he said he'd keep coming out as long as we kept asking and ask we did. The concert had started a little after 8 pm and when he finally stopped it was about 2 am and he only stopped so people couple use the metro which use to shut down at 3 am to get home.
It was a magical evening that was being felt by both the audience and performers.
When he sang "Who by Fire" with only an acoustical guitar, you could hear every note he was strumming with such clarity and otherwise you could have heard a pin drop. When the chorus was backing him up on the song it sounded absolutely angelic.

Hallelujah was an insane highlight. There were tears streaming down everybody's face and no one was trying to hide it as it was a celebration of the immense beauty of the song and connection that was taking place between the crowd and the artist.
Having attended many concerts this moment was truly magical and special.

Other favorites that come to mind which he performed as highlights.
"So Long, Marianne"
"The Chelsea Hotel #2
"The Stranger Song"
"Master Song"
"Bird On A Wire"
"Lover, lover, lover"
And many others.

Feb. 26, 1976