I feel I have lived in the best of times to see live music. I have seen many of the classic rock and roll groups and artists, live. I’ve seen Jimi Hendrix; Neil Young; Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young; John Mayall’s Blues Breakers; Joe Cocker; The Rolling Stones; Huey Lewis and the News; Poco; Dave Masson; Jackson Browne; James Taylor; Neil Diamond; Eric Clapton; J.J. Kale; Lucinda Williams; The Spin Doctors; Jefferson Starship; Moody Blues; James Blunt; Donavon Frankenreiter; Jack Johnson; Paolo Nutini; KT Tunstall; Buddy Guy; Carole King; Vanilla Fudge; B.B. King; Sheryl Crow; the Tedeschi Trucks Band; The Spin Doctors; The Beach Boys; Bob Dylan; Jethro Tull; Lyle Lovett; Ike and Tina Turner; Three Dog Night; James Brown; Sammy Hagar; Jimmy Buffet; New Riders of the Purple Sage; Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen; the Allman Brothers; the Grateful Dead; Bonnie Raitt; Taj Mahal; Country Joe McDonald; Quicksilver Messenger Service; and many, many, more. Those are the groups I can remember off the top of my head.
The earliest concert I remember going to was James Brown playing at the Stockton Civic Auditorium. He had quite the production with a full band including horns. I loved his rendition of “I Feel Good.”
During my freshman year at college, my dorm sponsored a pillow concert. The dad of someone on the second floor was a promoter in the Bay Area. We were able to arrange a concert where the bands and light show got 90% of the ticket sales. We cleared all the tables and chairs in the auditorium of our student union and told ticket holders to bring their own pillow. We sat on the floor and watched/listened/were blown away by two bay area bands and Jerry Abrams Headlights, a full hippie-style light show. The first band was Quicksilver Messenger Service. They played all of their songs from their first album which hadn’t been released yet. We all loved it. Then the headliners, the Grateful Dead played for two hours. They played a total of three songs. One of the songs lasted fifty-five minutes. We were pretty blown away by their performance. This was the fall of 1967, and we hadn’t experienced anything like this before. I loved it.
During the summers of 1968-1970, I was able to go to concerts at the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco. That’s where I saw John Mayall’s Blues Breakers and Joe Cocker on separate occasions.
My wife and I attended many summer nights in Redding and Anderson listening to great blues artists during the “Blues in the Park” series. We also were groupies of a local band, Home Grown Blues during that time. We became friends with the members of the band, and they even played at our oldest daughter Cori’s wedding reception.
I also attended a Woodstock-like concert called Vortex I. It was held at Milo McIver State Park located east of Portland at the end of the summer of 1970. These were turbulent times and there was fear that a large American Legion convention in Portland was going to attract a large protest crowd. President Nixon was scheduled to address the Legionnaires about why we needed to continue the Vietnam war. To avoid this situation, the State of Oregon organized a large concert promoting peace. There were 30,000 to 100,000 people spread out over a large area of rolling hills with a river running through it. I don’t remember who actually played, but the experience was more of the gathering than the actual music for me. I went with my brother-in-law, and we set up our spot in the middle of the crowd. I remember having to go to the bathroom. I walked quite a ways to find the portable toilets. After I used one, I looked back to where I had come from. It was just a sea of people. After a lot of wandering, I miraculously found Ed. I was totally lost, but somehow I found him.
My wife and I, along with another couple, attended a Jimi Hendrix concert at the Sacramento Memorial Auditorium at the end of the summer in 1968. A local band opened. They weren’t memorable. Then Vanilla Fudge played. I love Vanilla Fudge, and they didn’t disappoint. I most remember their rendition of “You Keep Me Hanging On.” They had a large Wurlitzer Organ with a rotating speaker horn in top. The speaker rotated to the beat of the music and produced a great modulating tone. Then Jimi Hendrix played. He was fantastic. By the time Jimi came on, the crowd was getting a little rowdy. I don’t think he bonded very well with the increasingly drunk crowd. At the end of each song, people would call out song names for him to play. He finally said, “Oh, Purple Haze yourself!” Even though he didn’t burn his guitar, it was one of the best concerts I have ever been to.
I saw the Rolling Stones, Neil Young, James Taylor, and B.B. King multiple times. Even though I’ve seen them several times, I would attend another Neil Young or Rolling Stones concert in a heartbeat. Mick Jagger is such an energetic performer and Neil Young sends me to Nirvana with his guitar playing.
When we lived in San Diego, we attended many concerts. San Diego was on the concert circuit and it was easy to attend local venues to see great groups. Since we moved to Grass Valley, we saw the Rolling Stones at ATT Park in San Jose, and we saw Jackson Browne at Tahoe. Mick was as energetic as ever. Jackson’s voice was still pure and he is so personable. Then the pandemic hit. We are so looking forward to attending live concerts again.
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