The Kinetic Playground again, The Velvet Underground.
If you were not there you will not understand. The time? Nico was gone and Cale was still there.
If you like old school, Krunchy,
Buffalo Springfield in a
small club in Arlington Heights was mind boggling. I was standing against the stage.
Muddy Waters in Mother Blues, a small club in Chicago about 1968. I mean
what can I say; words fail.
Roy Buchanan in a small blues club in Peoria.
Stevie Ray Vaughn with Double Trouble in both a big hall in Chicago and a club in Peoria. Lordy.
Same big hall, different night,
Roxy Music with Brian Eno, and Steve Miller.
Joni Mitchel opening, followed by CSN
and CSNY at the perfect sounding Auditorium Theater in Chicago. The night Before Woodstock.
Again Chicago in the late sixties. Aragon Ballroom,
Pink Floyd. First tour with David Gilmour. Stood by the stage.
Eat your heart out.
Same ballroom, same era. Savoy Brown.
Classical, the Chicago Symphony String Quartet at a tiny campus hall in the round with perfect acoustics. It was a free concert! The only time I saw four musicians with three Stradivari between them. Maybe four, perhaps the cello was one too. This concert is still my benchmark for live sound quality and musicianship. The Chicago Symphony was at the top of their game and this was the first and second chair violinists and the first chair viola and cellists. I was five feet away.
Late sixties, The Mothers Of Invention at Ravinia Park, the pavillion. Again,
if you were not there, no way can you get it; forget what you think it would have been like. You may not know Ravinia Park, but it was like The Mothers crashing a classical gig at Carnegie Hall. And gaining the respect of all who did not flee in cultural terror.
I saw the Stones on a good night in Chicago, in a good hall, late sixties. Chuck Berry opened. Even so, it does not compare in any shape or form to any of the above concerts. And I like the Stones.
To hell with the superstar acts.
After a lifetime of this,
I conclude that the only thing better than catching your favorite musicians is catching them in a small club or amphitheater.
Did anyone get to see Fairport Convention or Fotheringay? Or Pentangle?