50 Bands I've Seen

I've written about shows I've seen a few times--click here to see a list of ten previous articles (or so) on shows I've attended/seen/heard (there was a grateful dead show where Keelin and I listened to a feed from a Greek Theatre Dead show (for the ticketless) piped into an amazing loudspeaker system) on a tennis court.

A meme on Facebook making the rounds asks you to name fifty concerts you've seen. Wow. I could probably come up with a few hundred more. I tried to do a mix of old and new off the top of my head...I already am feeling guilty about the people I left out. The good part about this quiz: it's homegrown & doesn't spam you or your friends, do anything skanky, or crash.

The Rules: "Test your memory and your love of live music by listing 50 artists or bands (or as many as you can remember) you've seen in concert. List the first 50 acts that come into your head. An act you saw at a festival and opening acts count, but only if you can't think of 50 other artists. Oh, and list the first concert you ever saw (you can remember that, can’t you)? "

1. The Beatles ($4 and you couldn’t hear much ["Is that Help?"]…but the Beatleness was amazing)
2. Band of Horses
3. Oscar Peterson
4. George Benson/Turrentine/Herbie Hancock/Freddie Hubbard/Ron Carter/Hubert Laws
5. Niko Case
6. The Moondoggies
7. Jimi Hendrix (The famous Sicks Stadium concert where he unloaded on his hometown).
8. Dolly Parton
9. Old 97’s (In Austin, Seattle, and at The Gorge, in George, Wash.)
10. Them, starring Van Morrison (at the skate rink in Kent, Wash.)
11. Lou Reed
12. Dolly Parton
13. The Grateful Dead (about 15 times)
14. The Posies many times (and they played at my 50th birthday party)
15. The Youngbloods
16. Mudhoney
17. Young Fresh Fellows
18. Elvis Costello (5 times)
19. The English Beat (2x
20. It’s a Beautiful Day in Austin and Seattle)
21. The Youngbloods
22. Talking Heads (5 times) NYC
23. The Ramones (4 or 5 times) NYC
24. Sonic Youth NYC
25. Blondie NYC
26. Television NYC
27. The Plasmatics NYC
28. Patti Smith NYC
29. Stan Getz
30. Miles Davis NYC
31. Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention
32. Dizzy Gillespie NYC
33. John McLaughlin/Carlos Santana – A Love Supreme tour
34. Big Star (4 times)
35. Los Lobos (4 times: Seattle 2x; San Francisco 1x; Austin 1x)
36. CSN&Y (3 times)
37. Rockpile (NYC)
38. The Kinks (Asbury Park, NJ)
39. Bob Dylan and The Band (Vancouver, B.C. Canada)
40. John Prine (Bellingham, Wash)
41. Weather Report (Bellingham, Wash)
42. Blind Boys of Alabama (2 times)
43. George Harrison
44. Bob Dylan
45. The Roches (2x NYC and Seattle)
46. Bela Fleck
47. Taj Mahal
48. Ray Brown
49. Widespread Panic
50. Al Green (1984 - Oakland Paramount)