Concerts

There used to be a big music festival here in Rockford every Labor Day weekend.  It was cancelled a few years ago, but it got me thinking about the concerts I've seen and the ticket prices that I had to pay.

The first concert I saw was in August, 1978 at the Iowa State Fair.  When we bought tickets we knew that it was for Styx, but didn't know who the opening act would be. It was a two hour drive to get there so we decided to leave early so we could look around at the fair before the concert.  They announced when we were down there that the opening act was Angel, which I knew and liked since my brother had around all of their albums and I would listen to them at times.  They came out all dressed in white and put on an excellent show.  When Styx came out, we moved closer to the stage. We were close enough that when they set off the flash pots during "Suite Madame Blue" I could feel the heat from them on my face.  This was a couple weeks before they released the album Pieces of Eight so they played several songs from that album along with their hits up until that time.  A week after the concert I started hearing "Blue Collar Man" on the radio and I remembered the song from them playing it a week before.

I've seen other memorable concerts.  In June, 1979 I saw the Mississippi River Jam II in Davenport, IA.  The line-up for that concert were TNT, AC/DC (with Bon Scott), UFO (with Michael Schenker), Nazareth and finally Heart as the headline act on their Dog & Butterfly tour.  In December, 1979 I went to the UNI dome in Cedar Falls, IA to see Fleetwood Mac on the Tusk tour.  In 1983 I saw Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Little River Band at Red Rocks near Denver, CO.  In 1984 I saw Whitesnake and Quiet Riot at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, a concert open only to military personnel and their families.  I saw the European Monsters of Rock in August, 1986 in Mannheim, Germany with a line-up including MSG, Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Ozzy Osborne and the Scorpions.  I manged to get a ticket to see the Moody Blues (my favorite band) in Dayton, Ohio in May 1993.  I got the ticket a couple nights before the concert and got an excellent seat on the main floor.  I saw Three Dog Night at the Surf Ballroom (where Buddy Holly gave his last performance) in Clear Lake, IA in the mid-90's just after the finished remodelling it back to how it was when Buddy Holly performed there.  Ten years ago my good friend Paul and I worked backstage at the Night Ranger concert at Fiesta Days in McHenry, IL.  Before the band went out on stage, they were shooting the breeze with us.  In January, 2008 I saw Trans-Siberian Orchestra in Madison, WI.  And finally I saw Gordon Lightfoot in Rockford back on Memorial Day Weekend.

Other artists that I've seen in concert are: Atlanta Rhythm Section, Charlie Daniels Band (3 times), Marshall Tucker Band (2 times), Head East, 38 Special, the Ides of March, Survivor, Blue Oyster Cult (3 times), Rare Earth, Cheap Trick, Steppenwolf, Grand Funk Railroad, Eddie Money, Billy Idol, Foreigner (with Jason Bonham on drums),  and REO Speedwagon (2 times).

I know that I've named a lot of artists in this post, but the reason why is that I would like to see my readers post some of the bands they've seen in concert in the comments below.  The prices I paid for tickets varied from free to $135 (I used some of my tax refund) for a pair of tickets to the Gordon Lightfoot concert.  Back in the 70's and 80's I never sent more than $25 for a ticket and these bands were in their prime at the time.  Now you hear about artists that charge over $100 for a single ticket.  The only concerts you see lower prices for the tickets are the artists that haven't had any hits for two or three decades.  I would also like to see what the mst my artists paid for a concert ticket in the comments.