1978-1980

 

1. Ted Nugent and Angel Price $8.50 Long Beach Arena, California 9/4/78

This was my first concert when I was in 8th grade. My tennis buddy at the time John Robb, his older brother and friend took us to the show. Remember, this show was nearly 20 years ago, but these are the thoughts that really stick in my mind. Our seats were on the left side way up at the top. The pot smoke was so incredible thick, that you could hardly see across the arena!! Angel were all dressed in white and looked pretty weird. We arrived early in their set and I don't really recall liking or disliking them at the time as I had never heard of them. At list time I was just listening Ted Nugent, Aerosmith, Black Sabbath, KISS, Boston, CCR, Rare Earth, Rush, and a few others. I was not that heavily into music at the time, I was playing tennis all the time. One of the motivating factors for wanting to go to this concert was that earlier in the year there was the California jam 2 in Ontario. I had been planning on going but had broke my leg in three places in a bicycle accident only a month before the show and could not go.. I was listening to a lot of Ted nugent at the time of my recovery from the broken leg. Also, that summer we went to Balboa Island and I remember watching some of the bands on TV, like Heart. Ted Nugent, Aerosmith, Santana, Frank Marino, Dave Mason, and others.. Ok, back to the show.. Anyway, Ted was fucking incredible!!! It was so loud that it put you into a daze. I had never heard anything so loud and was completely deaf in the morning. I remember my mom talking to me asking me about the concert in the morning at breakfast and I could only see her lips move and all I heard was the ringing. My mom, was of course, really worried. I was much better by later in the day but my ears still were ringing a little three days later... The concert had a great set of all of the double live gonzo record as well as Name your Poison and Need you Bad from the yet to be released Weekend Warriors lp. He also did Hey Baby and Snakeskin Cowboys. He was incredible and had the energy of ten men!! He never seem to stop running around the stage! I am still looking for a tape of this show. I have the night before in Oakland at the day on the green! Here is the set list from Oakland which was pretty close to what I saw: Just what the doctor.. Yank Me Crank Me Dog eat Dog Free for All Snakeskin Cowboys Hey Baby* (not played in Oakland) Cat Scratch Fever Need you Bad Name your Poison Wang Dang Sweet Poontang guitar solo Stormtroppin' Stranglehold Gonzo Motorcity Madhouse Between Ted Nugent and Boston, we moved to New Mexico. I remember being quite bummed that we were moving as my parents had trusted me enough with this first concert experience that I was going to be able to see more and right before we moved Frank Marino was coming to the Santa Monica Civic as I recall and so was RUSH.. Then two weeks after we moved to Albuquerque Black Sabbath came but I did not know anyone at all at this point. It turned out that John Johnson who lived up the street in a huge house (4500 sq. feet) was into rock and he had gone to the show. I was jealous. Anyway....

2. Boston and Sammy Hagar $8.50 University of New Mexico Pit, Albuquerque New Mexico 2/17/79

At this point I had met a great guy named Gilbert, whom also came from another state to New Mexico. We got a long great and stayed great friends all through high school, roomed in college for three years, and are still in touch now!!!! Ok, ...... Sammy Hagar totally kicked ass and the crowd really love it. I remember for bad Motor Scooter he was sitting right on the stage with his legs hanging off and jamming away.. The crowd was insane for Boston. Don't Look Back was a huge hit at the time. We had pretty good seats and the sound was excellent. I thought that they put on a great show. I remember my dad showing up early to pick us up and they let him in and he checked out some of the last part of the show was pretty impressed. He really liked the guitar players big smoke and keyboard solo part. It was a good show..

3. Cheap Trick and Long John Baldry $8.00 Civic Auditorium, Albuquerque, New Mexico 8/14/79.

I had not really been into Cheap Trick that much before the show. I never had listened to them except on the radio in California. Long John Baldry was really boring. I remember we did not like him at all and the audience was not into him either. Cheap Trick were really good. Rick Nelson was really far out with all those guitars and especially the five neck one!! Played a lot of stuff off of the Dream Police lp. Excellent show... Soon after this I met a guy who I hung out with a bit and he was a huge Cheap Trick fan and he turned me onto all their early records. We used to crank up In Color in his car!

4. The KINKS and Moon Martin $8.00 Johnson Gym, University of New Mexico Pit, Albuquerque New Mexico 9/8/79

I was not that much into the Kinks but my friend Jeanine Moreau, her brother was a big fan and Low Budget had been getting a lot of airplay on KRST (was the best radio station until in was taken over and turned into a country station......). I went with John Johnson. Moon Martin was ok, but we were not to into him.. I had no idea what to expect as I had never heard of him. The KINKS were incredible and the crowd were really into them. I was much younger than the average person in this crowd. I was really impressed and loved the stuff they did off Low Budget. I remember that they drank a lot of beer during their set and you could tell that they were having a great time. The Heineken bottles were lined up all across the piano!! Excellent show and great balcony seats. It was at this show that we learned to go get the tickets early for a concert and ask for the balcony Sec A if possible at Johnson Gym as the view was straight on to the stage!! It was a great time.

5. REO Speedwagon and Molly Hatchet $8.00 Johnson Gym, University of New Mexico Pit, Albuquerque New Mexico 9/8/79

Molly Hatchet were getting alot of airplay at the time and so was REO with the 9 Lives lp, which was a great lp with some ripping guitar by Richrath. This was a major pot smoking event as I remember. Wow. The people on the balcony with us were doing bongs and just getting blasted. Anyway, Molly Hatchet were really loud. Those Pevey Amps were turned up and we were straight back on the balcony and got blasted. They were great!! They jammed really hard. The guitar player with the really long hair, was really hot! This would be the first of several times to see Molly Hatchet! REO Speedwagon were also excellent but had a tough act to follow after Molly Hatchet! We thought that they were really good and Gary Richrath really jammed pretty hard. It was a real drag to hear the crap that they went onto do as this 9 Lives tour was really hot!!

6. Point Blank $6.00? (that part of the stub is missing!) Kimo Theatre, Albuquerque, New Mexico 10/26/79

Point Blank were a southern rock band that played around a lot in Texas and New Mexico. They got some airplay on the radio, I can't remember what the song was that they were playing at the time but it was good and we decided to go check them out. I think John, Gilbert and I went. We all seem to go to the shows together and sometimes a friend of John's would come (John Reedy). As I recall, they really jammed quite good and we really liked them The Kimo was a really old cool theatre in the downtown and was quite small. A great place to see shows.

7. Sammy Hagar, Pat Travers and the Scorpions. $7.50 Civic Auditorium, Albuquerque, New Mexico 10/31/79.

This was a fucking incredible show! Only a few months before this show I had been turned onto the Scorpions by a talented young guitar player at our school. I was totally blown away by Uli Roth and was listening to Tokyo Tapes a lot. Anyway, this was the Lovedrive tour and they were incredible even though Uli Roth was gone. They played a lot of the songs I was familiar with like Backstage Queen, Pictured Life and We'll burn the Sky, as well as tunes from Lovedrive. They only played for like 35 minutes though. I bought a Lovedrive tour shirt. Pat Travers was getting alot of airplay with his live lp and Boom Boom out go the lights was a hit! I thought that these guys really jammed hard with Pat Thrall and Pat Travers. These guys had some great songs and some real heavy ones like Snortin' Whiskey! Excellent. Sammy Hagar was still in people's minds from the Boston show and he had a new lp out, RED. He played all the great songs off that lp and really played to the audience a lot more. He even drove a red Trans am out on the stage during the song. The Trans Am was the cool car to have at the time. The chicks seem to love them. Sammy was a real show man and it was a good show as well.

8. KISS and the Rockets. $9.00 Tingley Coliseum, Albuquerque, New Mexico 12/1/79

The two memories that really stick in my mind about this show was the crowd was so insane outside the show and KISS was really loud but the sound was awful. You could not tell what song they were playing at all until they started singing. We had got there quite early. Gilbert and John were totally into KISS. Only went with Gilbert. Anyway, we or maybe only I got pinned against the glass of the doors where they let you in. I was getting totally crushed. We did make it inside and got some good seats on the floor with a great view if you stood on your chair. The Rockets were alright and had a good jamming time. Not at all the right band to open for KISS though. I don't think too many people were really paying much attention. KISS had a great show. I remember them rising up from under the stage during the opening song. Lots of smoke and stuff. My friend Greg Anderson was right in front of Gene and got covered with Gene's fake blood. I thought they were really good but the sound was the worst that I had ever heard.

9. KANSAS and Sniff and the Tears $8.50 Tingley Coliseum, Albuquerque, New Mexico 12/5/79

Sniff and the Tears were fucking awful.. We just roamed around tried to find a good seat. I went with John Johnson and his friends. Tingley was always a challenge to get a good seat or stand. Again Kansas had the hit of People of the Southwind from Monolith. I was most impressed with these guys and it was the first band I ever saw with the green lasers.. Very cool how they shot the green laser down on the anvil during one of the songs. This was a great show and I a have a tape of it as well!! I had not started taping shows myself yet.. Kansas played really well that night. Lots of great songs. Here was the set list: On the other Side, People of the Southwind, Point of ne Return, Closet Chronicles, The Wall, Dust in the Wind, Sparks of the Tempest, Child of Innocence, Down the Road, Stay out of Trouble, Portrait (he Knew), A Glimpse of Home, How my soul cried out for you, Carry on Wayward Son

10. ZZTOP and Van Wilks $8.00 Tingley Coliseum, Albuquerque, New Mexico 1/11/80

This was a great show!! Gilbert and John and I went and we had pretty good seats on the left side of the stage. Van Wilks were a four piece band that had one song on the radio at the time and really were great. The guitar was the lead singer and he played some great melodic leads and like to jam. The lp was actually quite good as well. We were quite impressed with this group. I guess now I would say some of the music reminds me of Eric johnson's Tones stuff, but the guitar playing is totally different. Anyway, ZZTOP were fucking incredible! I still to the day think that Dequello, the lp they were touring is their best!! They played all the great songs off that lp as well as many others from Tejas, etc.. but nothing from the first lp! Excellent show. I remember the cool read lights that they used a lot and they had an interesting flame thing going on below the drum riser in red lights. Billy ripped it up. We really had a good time at this show. Still do not have a tape of this one!

11. TOTO and Head East $8.00 Civic Auditorium, Albuquerque, New Mexico 1/29/80

Head East got quite a lot of airplay on KRST with the live lp and we were quite keen to see them. Gilbert, John and I went together. Toto had a huge hit but we mainly wanted to see Head East and they did not disappoint!! We had good seats straight on the balcony. It was a good show. I don't have many distinct memories of Toto but I do remember the guitar player was quite good and got up on the piano to jam on one song.

12. The Eagles and Amazing Rhythm Aces $13.00 University of New Mexico Pit, Albuquerque New Mexico 2/15/80

This was the most expensive concert I had ever been to and I remember we all were up in arms that the tickets were so expensive. The Amazing Rhythm Aces were some country band and we all hated them. They did a version of Amazing Grace that the crowd liked but we could not wait for them to leave! The Eagles were very enjoyable and Joe Walsh even played some of his hits from his solo career that was some of the best songs that they played. I think that John Langdon had a tape of this show.

13. RUSH and Roadmaster $9.00 Tingley Coliseum, Albuquerque, New Mexico 3/2/80 All I can say is WOW! Again, Gilbert, John and I went. I think we met up with John Reddy as well. Roadmaster were not too bad but this was a dedicated RUSH crowd! RUSH were really fucking incredible on this Permanent Waves tour and played a lot of my fave songs like Cygnas X-1, By Tor and the Snow Dog etc... They had a great light show and played for what seemed like a long time, but I think was only 100 minutes. I do have a tape of part of this great show before the guys batteries died........ I was really disappointed to see the crap direction that RUSH went into after this. The Moving Pictures tour was also really good but when I saw them after that I hated them. Gilbert and I lived next door to Robert Fowlie and Mike Brady and these guys were huge RUSH heads and still are and they would play 2-3 or their records everyday and we grew to hate RUSH. We would crank up VENOM in retaliation when we got fed up and we had the louder stereo!!

14. Journey and the Babys $9.00 (I went for free) Tingley Coliseum, Albuquerque, New Mexico 4/6/80

I fucking hated Journey and still do (this era). My friend Jeanine Moreau really wanted to go and her mom did not want her to go alone so I said that I would go but I refused to pay! It was pretty torturous to hear Steve Perry sing.. Ugh.. I was hated the band so much that when I went to New Mexico State University the next year I made large pins up for the Journey Sucks Fan Club.. I think I sold 50 or 100 or them. All the chicks seem to dig them so if you were not into them you were a bit of an outcast and had a harder time getting laid... Anyway, back to the concert. The Babys were not too bad.. That is all I can say. Journey, besides a few hot solos by Neal Schon, played way too many ballad like songs.. Ugh...

15. Ted Nugent and the Romantics. $10.50 University of New Mexico Pit, Albuquerque New Mexico 4/10/80

This was the first concert that I ever recorded. Jeanine and I went to this show together. We borrowed a walkman from Jeanine's brother or dad, I think. We had great seats but did have to stand up on our seats to see very well. The recorder sat on the floor under my chair, therefore the tape is not very good, very bassy. It is listenable though! My technique for recording would greatly improve!! The Romantics were some glam band that were practically booed off the stage. I think that they only played for like 30 minutes or less because the crowd were so abusive. I had never been to a show where the crowd disliked a band so much. Ted was really great!!! He came onto stage swinging from a rope wearing a loincloth!! The crowd really loved him. It was the Wango Tango tour and he played some songs off that lp that were really great as well as all the classics. He really gave a nice speech about the Indians being fucked over before Great White Buffalo!! The set this was: Stormtroppin', Free for All, Just what the doctor ordered, Wango tango, Dog eat Dog, Cat Scratch Fever, I've got to Move, Great White Buffalo, Paralyzed, Wand Dang Sweet Poon Tang, Stranglehold, Motorcity Madhouse

16. Joe Perry Project and the Scooters $8.00 Kimo Theatre, Albuquerque, New Mexico 5/30/80

Gilbert, John and I went to this one and we had front row on the right side near the stacks and it was fucking loud as hell!!! The Scooters were crap.. That is all I can remember. Joe Perry was really fucked up on coke and alcohol but still was great!! We had been getting into the lp Let the music do the Talking. I remember Gilbert was so psyched up when he played the Mist is Rising as we used to jam that song loud at in his bedroom!! He played a great set of tunes from the old Aerosmith days as well as from that solo lp. He may have even played a few from the 2nd lp? Great show but too short. I think he only play for 1 hour. You could tell he was ripped!!

17. Judas Priest, Def Leppard and Ray Gomez Amarillo Civic Auditorium, Texas 6/4/80

We were heavily into the first Def Leppard lp and the new British Steel record by Judas Priest. John's grand parents lived in Amarillo and we had found out about the show some way and John's mom drove Gilbert, John and I out there for the show. It was to be an incredible show!! My most vivid memory of the show was that it was so loud in this long thin auditorium and when Rob Halford would scream you had to put your fingers in your ears as it was so painful.. We actually moved back from the stage as it was so intense!! Ray Gomez was some guitar player and did not belong on the bill. I can't remember much about him at all. Def Leppard were great!!! We bought a T-shirt. They played all the stuff from the first lp and I think one of the single songs as well but I am not sure. I really wished we had recorded this one! Judas Priest were simply amazing and played so many incredible songs like Grinder, Tyrant, Beyond the Realms of Death, Genocide, Starbreaker, Ripper, etc.... I was totally blown away. Fucking incredible..

18. Foghat and Blackfoot. $8.50 Tingley Coliseum, Albuquerque, New Mexico 8/10/80

Point Blank were suppose to be on the bill but cancelled. Blackfoot were getting a lot of airplay with the Strikes lp as were Foghat but mainly from the live lp, even though Boogie Hotel was a great lp with some heavy tunes!!!! Blackfoot were really great! This really turned me onto this band.. Played mostly songs from the Strikes lp but also a couple of real old ones like Trouble in Mind and several from the new Tomcattin' lp. Medlocke really ripped it up. Hard act to follow! Foghat were really great and played everything off the live lp as well as lot of other numbers.. Sorry to say this was to be there last great tour as Tight Shoes was a real downer compared to this. Foghat were really good.

19. Van Halen and The Catz. $9.00 University of New Mexico Pit, Albuquerque New Mexico 9/10/80

This was the big concert to come to Albuquerque and was totally sold out a lot of people did not get to go. We were lucky. Van Halen were huge and really popular at school. I really liked the first lp a lot. The latest one had some great heavy numbers on it as well. The Catz... don't remember them at all. Think Gilbert, John and I went to this. Van Halen were really good but suffered from only ok sound and David Lee Roth seemed to fuck around too much! I think that we all thought that they were really good and that Eddie was super hot!! My friend Greg Anderson recorded this show. Set List:

20. Point Blank and Van Wilks. $8.00 Popejoy Hall, University of New Mexico Albuquerque New Mexico 9/20/80

After having to cancel with Foghat the band came back for a headline show and Van Wilks got to play for a longer time and again we got to really watch the great guitar player. We had really great seat at this really nice theatre at UNM where they mainly have plays and rarely rock music. Don't recall any specific memories from this gig except we enjoyed Point Blank and Van Wilks were great as well.

21.. The Cars and the Motels. $9.00 University of New Mexico Pit, Albuquerque New Mexico 10/2/80

Not too sure why I went to this show. The CARS were very popular and the Motels had a big hit but I did not own any of there stuff at all. The Motels were surprisingly good from what I recall. They had a very sexy singer who would lie down on the stage and sing.. The CARS had quite a cool stage set up and light show but were really not that great. Panarama was a crap lp compared with the first two.

22. FRANK ZAPPA $9.50 Johnson Gym, University of New Mexico Pit, Albuquerque New Mexico 10/12/80

I had no idea what to expect from this show. My friend David Soro from California, he and his brother were big Zappa fans I remember them playing me all the humorous stuff by him. My cousins from NYC (who lived in Albuquerque) were also big Zappa fans. Anyway, Gilbert, John and I went and we had front row on the balcony seats. I remember that the show was long and Zappa spoke to the crowd a lot and they ran a lot of songs together. It was the Joe's garage tour so they played a lot off that lp. I remember he did play a song off Too late to save a drowning witch lp and he had to read the words off some paper it was so new. John Langdon was in like the 4th row on the floor and got a good recording. I got to hear it but I never did get a copy before he seem to disappear! In retrospect, having listened to a lot of Zappa now, it probably was an amazing concert that I did not appreciate at the time!

23. Jethro Tull and Whitesnake. $8.50 Tingley Coliseum, Albuquerque, New Mexico 11/4/80

Whitesnake were great!! This was the classic line up. I had been turned onto them with the Lovehunter lp the year before by a DJ at KRST. This was the Ready an' Willing tour (there best record!) with the classic line up of Coverdale, Moody, Paice, Lord and Marsden. I was very blown away by them and they did a great version of Ain't no love in the heart of the city! I was a huge Whitesnake fan back in the late 70's. It was such a drag to see what shape the band evolved in after Marsden and Moody left. I still liked some of the early stuff with john Sykes but after that.. ugh...... I do have a tape of this Whitesnake show!! The set list was: Come On, Sweet Talker, Walking in the Shadow of the Blues, Ain't gonna cry no More, Lovehunter, Ain't no love in the heart of the city, Boogie(Nighthawk), Fool for your Loving. This was the A tour for Tull with Eddie jobson on keyboards and violin. They all were wearing the white jump suits. A lot of people really criticized the A lp but I thought that it had some amazing songs on it. I did like Stormwatch more but this was just so different. I was pretty impressed with the show and they played some great songs like Bungle in the Jungle and Heavy Horses. The set list was: Black Sunday, Crossfire, Instrumental, Songs from the Wood, Hunting Girl, ?, Working John, Working Joe, Heavy Horses, Skating away, Flute Solo, keyboard solo, Batteries not Included, Uniform, drum solo, Protect and Survive, Bungle in the Jungel, Guitar Solo, Aqualung, Locomotive Breath

24. Head East and Randy Hansen. $5.54 Civic Auditorium, Albuquerque, New Mexico 11/20/80.

We had excellent seats, front row on the balcony. Shows were always general admission at the Civic so you had to go early and stand in line for hours but often it was worth it! Randy Hansen was pretty hot! He played some Hendrix but a lot of his own stuff of the new lp that was out. He ran around a lot and really played hard. Head East had a good crowd as this was a cheap show sponsored by 94 ROCK, one of the rock stations, thus tickets were $4.94 plus the 50 cent service charge (not like the fucking $3-5 now days!). I think that they put on a really good show and everyone had a lot of fun. Not the best band in the world but they always seem to give alot at their shows to the fans!