1970 to 1980    

My instruments

The List of Concerts That I've Seen
My Rock & Roll days

The year was 1970, I was 12 years old and going to my first rock concert. the concert was Blood, Sweat and Tears. I don't remember to much about it because I was stoned on LSD-25 (cid). at the time I didn't know what it was. so like a fool I took it. it cost $2 and it was in the form of a sugar cube. after an hour I started to freak out. thank god two older dudes saw that I was losing it so they mellowed me. after I chilled I saw things stretching and everything that acid does. LSD was the second drug I ever took. marijuana being the first. I don't remember to much about the band because I spent most of the time trying to mellow out. my first concert
was an experience. and for the next ten years I would get to see some of the greatest rockers of all time. 

From 1970 to 1980 I saw around 65 or so concerts. it was the best, and worst time of my life. in the late '70s drugs were taking a toll on my health, so I had to grow-up and find myself. I can say now that all drugs are in the past? I'm glad I grew-up in the 1970s. that decade was and will always be the greatest time for Rock & Roll. the '80s sucked big time. long love Rock!

Now on with the list

The year was...

1970

Blood, Sweat & Tears: This was the first concert that I ever saw. it was in 1970 and I was 12 years old. 
it's also the first time I took a drug called LSD-25. I didn't know what it was. the only drug I had taken before
that was marijuana. it was a sugar cube and after about an hour I started to come on to it and I was freaking
out big time. it took a couple of older dudes to mellow me out. I remember they were really cool. after they 
chilled me I saw god that night. oh, and the concert was alright I guess, I was out of it so I don't remember to
much about it. 

Jimi Hendrix: San Bernardino, CA - swing auditorium. my friend and I drove with his brother and a bunch 
of older hippies to San Bernardino to see the master jam. I remember taking a bunch of reds and we walked
around (well, they walked, I stumbled) looking for drugs and friends from Vegas. I was conked out during 
Most of the concert. that seconal is killer! 

The Doors:1970 - Los Angeles, CA. either at the Whiskey a Go-Go, or the Roxy?. the guy at the door 
wouldn't let us in so after a while some older dudes pleaded with the doorman to let us in. so he did and 
we got kicked out about a half hour later. I forget why we got kicked out. this was also the night I became
a man. if you know what I mean. 

1971

Sly & The Family Stone: Las Vegas convention center? or The Ice Palace. my first experience with 
black people at the concert. the ones I meet were to right-on. we smoked and smoked and kept on until
the concert was over. 

1972

Jethro Tull: June 17, 1972 - Las Vegas convention center. this was a great concert. front row seats again.
and this concert goes on my top 10 list of greatest concerts. 

Grand Funk Railroad: New years eve December 31, 1972. Las Vegas, convention center. another
great concert. this was a real party. top 10 concert list.

James Gang with Joe Walsh - Sweat Hog -  Freddie King - 1972, Las Vegas, convention 
center. this was my second favorite concert. I don't know if it was because we were in the front row,
(four feet from the stage) or what,  but these guys played their hearts out. it was the first time I did
strawberry mescaline. and I've never seen more of a variety of drugs at a concert before or since. 
any drug you could think of was there. it's to bad James Gang broke up when they did. they could've
been greater than they already were if they had stayed together. god did they jam that night! 

Procol Harum: 1972?  - Las Vegas, convention center. they of course played "A whiter shade pale" and 
"Conquistador." two of the best songs ever. I don't remember to much about this concert. 

WAR: 1972 - Las Vegas, convention center. 

Joe Cocker:1972 - Las Vegas: convention center.

The Guess Who: 1972? - Las Vegas: convention center. great concert. these guys were real popular back
in the '70s. they played all their great songs. like American Woman, These Eyes, and Laughing. 

Rare Earth - Sha na na - Flash Cadillac & the continental kids: 1972? - Las Vegas: convention 
center. Rare Earth put on a great show. another popular band from '70s. remember these songs? I Just Want Celebrate, Get Ready, and Tobacco Road? all great songs. 

Nils Lofgren  - Badorf & Rodney: 1972 Las Vegas convention center

Humble Pie: 1972 - Las Vegas: convention center.

YES - Wild Turkey - Black Sabbath: "The Fragile tour"1972 - Las Vegas: convention center.

1973

YES - Poco: April 6, 1973 -"Close to the edge tour" -  Las Vegas: at the Ice Palace.

Deep Purple- Fleetwood Mac: April 1973 - Las Vegas: convention center. Deep purple didn't show
up and it turned into the biggest riot in Las Vegas history. Fleetwood Mac was great!. it was the night I
didn't see Deep Purple. and I never did get to see them in concert. a real bummer!

The Edgar Winter group: 1973? - Las Vegas: at the Ice Palace. best song Frankenstein
Focus: I think they were with Edgar Winters. remember the song Hocus Pocus?  what a 
great tune. listen to a small clip at Amazon

Lobo: 1973 - Las Vegas. convention center. I think Lobo backed-up some other band. I don't know whom.

Loggins & Messina: 1973 - Las Vegas: convention center. Your mama don't dance, Angry Eyes, and Danny's song. 

Seals & Croft - It's A Beautiful Day: date? Las Vegas. convention center. Seals & Crofts
best songs are Hummingbird and Summer breeze. 

Foghat: 1973 - Las Vegas. venue? 

Badfinger:  date? - Las Vegas: convention center.

Poco - Spooky Tooth: were with Johnny winter. I think! 

Stephen Stills: 1973? Las Vegas convention center.  UPDATE  my friend had to remind of this. he said
when we were in the restroom during intermission I found about 10 grams of blonde Lebanese HASH. I was to drunk to remember he said. thanks Paul P.  

J. Geils band: date? Las Vegas: venue?. I think this concert was in Los Angeles.

1974

ZZ Top- Blue Oyster Cult: 1974 - Las Vegas. "Blue Oyster Cult" was better than ZZ. I thought so.

Brownsville station - Montrose - Black oak Arkansas: I think all of these bands played together. 
I remember that Montrose came on second. the date? 1973 or 1974. Las Vegas: at the Ice Palace.
Montrose was one of the best groups I ever heard a the time. when their set was over the crowd went
nuts. they left the stage and his (Montrose) guitar was still playing with a spotlight on it. it was wicked.
of course they came back to play a few more songs. I've never seen a crowd go nuts like that before, 
not until the Led Zeppelin concert. 

CAL JAM 1: April 6, 1974: Ontario, CA, Ontario speedway. it's the biggest concert that I've ever been 
to. 200,000 strong. if you ever go to a concert of this size make sure you don't lose your friends. 
because you'll never find them again. when the concert was over I didn't have a ride back to Las Vegas 
(I lost my friends the first hour of the concert). so I hitched a ride. it took about two minutes before 
I got a ride from some people who were going back to Las Vegas. groovy, man!
I still didn't get to see Deep Purple. when they came on I was stoned cold out of it, snoozing off 
my drug induced coma somewhere in a corner. I was a human meltdown!

Santana: Sep 18,1974 - Las Vegas - Ice Palace. I had the year right, but I thought it was at the 
convention center. thanks to the Santana database. I don't know about other line-ups, but this one
kicked ass. their heart were in it this night. 

Johnny Winter - Mahavishnu Orchestra: 1974? - Las Vegas: at the Ice Palace. I think the opening
 act was Mahavishnu orchestra. 

Bachman Turner Overdrive - REO Speedwagon - and a few other bands that I don't remember. this 
concert was held at the Las Vegas speedway in the day time. one mistake I made that will never happen
again is taking elephant tranquilizer PCP. god was I stoned out of my mind. when the concert was over
we hitched a ride to the Ice Palace to see Alvin Lee's band "Ten Years After". 
Ten Years After: Las Vegas - at the Ice Palace - 1974?. when we got there is was sold out , and we snuck in the side door that someone broke down. so as stupid kids as we were, we followed the leader and got to see the concert for free. 

Chicago: June 24, 1974  - Las Vegas, convention center. I love Chicago. again I was stoned and don't 
remember to much about this concert. oh how I love those horns, man. 

The Doobie Brothers: 1974 or 75 - Las Vegas: convention center. this was a great concert.
we got there 4 hours before the doors were open. and we got front row seats. it was worth the
wait. back then it was first come first in front row. at the convention center the stage was only
about five feet high. and the seats were about 6 feet away. it was great.

Earth, Wind & Fire: 1974? - Las Vegas: convention center.

1975

Elton John:  1975 - Las Vegas convention center. Elton John sold in a very short time. there where 
four of us and one ticket. so we went to the concert anyways to buy 3 more. scalpers wanted to much.
five minutes before it stared some guy walked up to us and gave us four tickets. WOW! THANKS, MAN!.
before we could say anything he was long gone. I think he wanted to see the concert too. it was a great
night in Vegas.

Bad Company:1975 - Los Angeles. Venue? 

Led Zeppelin: March 27 1975 - Inglewood, California. The Forum. One if not the greatest concert that I've ever seen. besides the James Gang concert I think this one was the best.

The Eagles: 1975? - Las Vegas convention center. we sat way up top and some guy passed around one of 
peace pipes. we must have blew a whole lid with this pipe. pipes, and joints were coming from all sides. it was like that at most concerts. everyone shared their weed back then. today there are nothing but Humphrey's. closet smokers.

1976

Ted Nugent: Phoenix, AZ, 1976, My friend had to remind of this one. I was 10 feet from the speakers and drunk as a skunk. Nugent ran around the stage like he was being chased by a herd of buffalos. the cat did 
put on a great show. 

Steve Miller band:1976? Las Vegas: convention center. 

Rod Stewart - Faces - Tower of power:1976? Las Vegas: silver bowl. we sat in the second 
row. Rod was jumping around right in front of us. that was a cool concert. not the best. but good.

1977
The Rolling Stones: 1977? - Los Angeles, Inglewood: forum. I'm glad I didn't have front row seats to 
this one because a lot of people got stabbed and heads got busted by the Hells angels. not a good 
choice for security guards. it depends how you look at it. ha! I heard they didn't start the trouble but 
they sure finished it.

Hall & Oates: 1977 - Las Vegas: at the Aladdin theater. 

Queen: Dec 15, 1977 - Las Vegas Aladdin theater - one of the best concerts that I've ever seen. The "
only bummer about this concert was the venue. the Aladdin Theater was the worst place on earth to have a 
concert. it was just like at the James Taylor concert NO SMOKING. nothing. I'm glad that place is gone. 

1978

Boston: Sept 19, 1978 - Las Vegas - Aladdin theater? they played all of their hit songs. Boston was a 
happening band back in the '70s. I remember we use to have them on our list to play anytime we had a 
party. we had 8-tracks back then. 

Canned Heat: 1978? - Las Vegas: venue? a night club on West Charleston. they kicked ass. when they sang "On the road again" The crowd roared. that songs stands out in my mind. the club only held about 200 people. it was a night I'll never forget. if any band had one last performance in them these guys did. I think they wanted
to prove something that night. that they deserved to be in a better and bigger venue. 

1979

Journey - Foreigner - Sammy Hagar: August 17, 1979 - Las Vegas: convention center. the 
first time I ever heard of Sammy Hagar. he rocked the house down. he got a standing ovation for 
a long long time. he came back to play for a couple of more songs. what a electrifying guitar player!.  

1980

James Taylor: Las Vegas Aladdin theater. the worst concert ever. Taylor was good but you couldn't
smoke and it wasn't a concert type atmosphere. sullen for sure. 

1984 

The Jackson Victory Tour: 1984 Irving, Texas. we were in town and hadn't plan on going to 
the concert. my girl got tickets and we went. I slept through most of it. imagine, the last concert
I go to and it's the Jackson's. what a waste of $28. The only cool thing about the Jackson concert
was the ticket. it was cool looking. check it out. 

1999  

I'm going to Junefeast 7 on June 5th, to see Creedence Clearwater Revisited, Joe Walsh, 
Cheap Trick, Joan Jett, The Knack, Blue Oyster Cult, and The Romantics. it'll be my first 
concert since 1983. I've never seen CCR, so it'll be a blast to see them for the first time.
Other bands that I've seen but don't remember where, or with who. 
Sweet, Pablo Cruise, Blackfoot, Donovan, Robin Trower

Your Concert Message Board

Were you one of the lucky ones to see Led Zeppelin in concert? yeah! tell us about it. give us the run down.
when and where did you see them. did you party your brains out? did anything cool or bad happen? if so
the board is open. post your story. you can post about any concert you've seen.

So far the message board has been a flop. 

Post your concert story here: Message Board

The 10 greatest concerts I've seen

1. Led Zeppelin.

2. James Gang. 

3. YES - Vegas. the first concert. "Close To The Edge Tour"

4. Grand Funk Railroad. 

5. Jethro Tull. 

6. Rare Earth. 

7. Queen.

8. The Rolling Stones. Inglewood, CA.

9. Thinking - twist and shout.
 
Tie for tenth place. 
10. Montrose - 
10. Canned Heat - 

If there is anyone who went to any of these concerts let me know. drop me a line and we'll 
rap.  Email big John 

SPECIAL NOTE

I talk about the drugs I use to take but I don't condone the use of drugs. it was fun back then but I PAID a
big time price for that fun. drugs really ruined my life. don't let it ruin yours. stay clean and be cool. that's all. 

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