Ops-Normal.org

Someone on the Soundtrack thread mentioned seeing Lynyrd Skynyrd.
What was your most memorable live music experience and or biggest disappointment /letdown.
I'm sure that with the age range and varied locations there must be many good memories to draw on.

PP

As a teenager (just) I thought it was fantastic to be able to see and hear Chris Barber and his Band play live.

I haven't been an attender at live concerts since, so those Barber (and Kenny Ball) experiences remain as highlights.

I've got some of his music(I like trad jazz and Dixieland), but I had to look him up. He's still around, 90 y.o.

PP

PHXPhlyer wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 19, 2020 9:43 pm

I've got some of his music(I like trad jazz and Dixieland), but I had to look him up. He's still around, 90 y.o.

PP

Indeed, still gigging a few years back. One of the guests at a wedding I attended in ? Scunthorpe maybe was very excited to report that Barber Bilk and Sunshine had appeared that morning at breakfast.
Just sayin'

Best:
Benny Goodman and Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall 1971

Very Good:
Louis Armstrong, Granby Hall Leicester 1956
Lionel Hampton, Newcastle Town Hall 1956
Acker Bilk, 1959 East Dereham
My Fair Lady, Theatre Royal, Drury Lane 1962
Stop the World – I Want to Get Off, Queen's Theatre 1962
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Sun City, 1995
Elaine Paige, Sun City
Shirley Bassey, Johannesburg.
Julian Lloyd Webber, Johannesburg.

Acceptable
All the 'trad fad' bands that visited Boston Gliderdrome and a dance hall in Norwich that I can't remember the name of, late 50's early 60's.

Disappointing
Sarah Brightman, Sun City

I was staying at a Falmouth Hotel in the late 70's and after their session there I got quite pissed with Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen. Around 1970 my local used to be the Royal Oak in Nailsea near Bristol and before they were really famous Adge Cutler and the Worzels performed there as it was Cutler's local as well. Great fun! Around the same time there were the converted stables at Cleo Laine and Johnny Dankworth's home at Wavendon on the outskirts of Milton Keynes where they had just started a small arts centre and they performed there. That was special. Live music performances at large venues were never my thing although about 8 years ago I enjoyed a Rod Stewart concert at Hampden Park. I've always wanted to go to Last Night At The Proms but still haven't achieved that.

Ian and C16:
That is what I'm looking for.

PP

Some more - Musical theatre has always been a favourite and for almost 30 years I was a member of the Theatre Club at His Majesty's Theatre in Aberdeen where on Club evenings you could meet with the cast in the bar afterwards. So many great shows - Me and My Girl, Miss Saigon, 42nd Street, Evita, West Side Story, Cats, Hairspray, Jesus Christ Superstar, Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, Starlight Express, 5 guys Named Moe, those are just a few that spring from the top of my head. However my favourite which I've seen 5 times is a space fantasy musical based lightly on Shakespeare's Tempest and set to 60's music - Return To The Forbidden Planet. Just magical! The available Youtube videos just can't get anywhere close to replicating the vibrancy of the London cast. What a night!

The Rocky Horror Show in a small venue and Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat by a high school drama club were both very good.

PP

Guys And Dolls and Anything Goes, both community theater productions with live orchestra, were surprisingly good.

PP

Returning by bus from a Cliff Richard concert: most of the passengers evidently married couples around Cliff's age, the ladies happily bubbling about the show and repeating "doesn't he look young!" till one of the husbands said wearily, "alright, alright!"

Like most here I have been to a lot of musical concerts and shows etc. but two stand out for all the wrong reasons, the one being an evening out at Ronnie Scotts to listen to Paulo Conte when my "then", and still current (some 20 years later), better half and I contrived to have a flaming row in the hushed, overly reverent confines of that place just as he was about to come on. Gelato al limon will never be quite the same ever again!

The other concert was one by Arlo Guthrie at St David's Hall in Cardiff where I found myself fixated on a very attractive girl in his band only, to my horror, at the bar at interval when I saw the "girl" at close proximity", to realise that "she" was Arlo Guthrie's son. Like Blackadder confessed his unnatural interest in Bob, so did I to a work colleague who had attended the same concert. He laughed and said he too had been fascinated by the same young girl.

The mid sixties saw a young Lars's playing bass guitar in the school rock band and ignited a passion for rock n roll which was never extinguished.

Highlights of the era:

1. Rolling Stones concert with the Yardbirds opening for them. Birmingham, I think.

2. Not rock but still incredible: The Jacques Loussier trio playing Bach.

3. A bit later, Hendrix at the Marquee in London.

Like C16, I have developed a love of musical theatre and been to many a memorable show. By far the best was when I finally got to see Lea Salonga perform in Manila at her 40th anniversary concert. Awe inspiring performance by one of the best performers of a generation.

True story: I was in Houston about 20 years ago on a project. The Rocky Horror Show came to town. A Brit lady colleague (who, like me, had been to many performances) and I decided to go. I should explain to those unfamiliar with the show, that, in London, many attend dressed as characters in the show. My colleague went as a tarty Janet and I was in tights, heels and bustier as Frankenfurter.

We were suitably embarrassed when we entered the theatre to discover that the cousins hadn't picked up on the habit of dressing for the show. We just brazened it out, even getting some applause for our dance to "Time Warp".

From my time in 70's to 80's in no order,Free,Led Zep,Macca,Fleetwood Mac.Basically any band that had guitarists who knew how to play live kept me happy.

Lars:

Pictures, please.

PP

Thankfully, I don't think there are any! 'Twas about 20 years ago before smartphones had become de rigeur. In any case, to post it here would be certain to compromise my anonymity!

How about some strategically placed black bars ala early porn?

PP

This has got me flexing my grey matter, first gig was AC/DC at Glasgow Apollo , Back in Black tour. Queen at Knebworth and Floyd, Earls Court 1994 best big gigs, seen lots of great guitarists, BB King, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Peter Green, Gary Moore, John Williams amongst others. Best bands ZZ Top, Rush and Marillion. Worst gig was Black Sabbath with Ian Gillan, Reading Festival 1983 which was the inspiration for Spinal Tap.

1973, Leeds Town Hall, took my then girlfriend to see Dutch band Focus. Original line up, Thijis van Leer, Bert Ruiter, Pierre van der Linden and Jan Akkerman. Must have had quite an effect on me as I proposed to said girlfriend after the concert, and that girlfriend has been by wife for last 46 years or so

Zep five times, Mahler's 8th thrice (singing in two), anything from Volbeat to the Steve Gibbons band and in between.