My hubby and I were like groupies when it came to following The Johnny Cash Shows in and around Toronto, for many, many years…
What a wonderful cast of characters…travelled and performed with him i.e. June Carter, The Carter Family, The Statler Brothers, Carl Perkins and the list goes on…
I think she lives in here the West Country now. She did a concert a few years ago local to me, but I couldn’t go sadly. I think she preffered small intimate venues, rather than the big places. In the back along I saw her in various small venues.
I’ve seen countless hundreds of bands live ranging from small pub acts to massive stadiums. As the thread title asks for big bands, I’ll mention those I saw in venues which were seen in at least ‘city hall-sized’ performances:
Asia
The Beautiful South x2
Big Country
Billy Joel
Bruce Springsteen x3
Chris Rea
The Damned
Deacon Blue
Dire Straits
Eagles x2
Electric Light Orchestra
Elton John
Flaming Lips
Fleetwood Mac
Gary Numan x2
Heaven 17
The Housemartins x2
Iron Maiden
Jethro Tull x3
Joanne Shaw Taylor
John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers
Journey
Manic Street Preachers
New Order
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Ocean Colour Scene x3
Rival Sons
Roger Waters
The Rolling Stones x3
Status Quo
The Stranglers x3
The Undertones
Van Morrison
The Who x3
Wishbone Ash x4
Yes
The Zombies x2
There are many acts I’d love to have seen. Of the ones where it is no longer possible Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix, Joy Division and The Beatles are obvious names. Of those that may still be possible to see live it’s anybody really who isn’t dead that features in my Top 200 list which can be found elsewhere in this sub-forum.
And no, very upsettingly I never got to see my favourite band Pink Floyd, although I did see Roger Waters last year which was partly goes to fulfill that omission. And now I see that David Gilmour is thinking about going out on the road again, so that would be magnificent to see the great man and his guitar on stage.
Lined up with tickets are Paul Carrack and The Australian Pink Floyd.
You were right Floydy. That’s quite the list.
I feel very fortunate to live in the generation we do. To have experienced these bands first hand before they are no longer and have all the memories is awesome.
Very fun times.
Oh AnnieS…it truly was amazing and was the first of two Elvis concerts that same day…ours was at 6 PM and the 2nd, was 8:30 PM, I believe.
Our parents were very to have done that for our 16th birthdays…
Then he did another the next evening in Ottawa… Later that year Elvis did another concert in British Columbia… In his lifetime…these are the only four concerts that he ever did outside of The USA…
I believe in was in Toronto in the eighties but I could be wrong. That was one I wasn’t too sure about. It may have been an imitation Pink Floyd. I’ll have to check with the friend I went with. I do remember the light show that accompanied it was crazy good. There were big projectors everywhere displaying all kinds of things that went with their songs like that pyramid and click parts. I’ll check it out for you.
And apparently they were only in Los Angelos and New York in the ‘80’s and I definitely didn’t go to either of those shows to watch it so I guess it was a fake Pink Floyd but either way the show was in Toronto and it was excellent.
Ok so like you, I wish I’d seen Pink Floyd :lofl:
Good call. That must be why my intuition was mulling over the Pink Floyd concert . I thought I saw Jethro Tull also but could remember but I DO remember seeing lots of concerts and some bands more times than once like YES and RUSH.
Another all time favourite concert was Springsteen and The E Street Band at his “Born In The USA” Tour at The CNE Grandstand, in Toronto, July 24th, 1984… I went with my daughter, it was outdoors, with a sell out crowd and standing room only…
He did about a half hour of songs dedicated to Elvis during the show.
My son went with us to the CNE but not the show…as he preferred to partake of the rides and other fun parts of the midway… He told us afterward that he was riding the Sky Ride during Springsteen’s salute to Elvis and had remarked to another passenger that “Right about now my mother will be crying.” And, I was!
You’ve just told me something I didn’t know about Pink Floyd there, Bratti. I have countless bootlegs on CD but they only toured North America as you rightly said in the 1980s (at the time of the post Roger Waters line-up a.k.a. The ‘A Momentary Lapse Of Reason’ album 1987-1989), except of course in the very early 1980-81 tour of The Wall where they took that huge monstrosity of a show around the world.
What bugs me to this day though is the complete lack of anything officially available on DVD of the band’s major seventies period after the 1972 Pompeii concert onwards. Again, I have many concert CDs but there is absolutely nothing available on film until after The Wall tour. Very strange.
Oh WOW Missy…you sure picked one of the very best entertainers, for your once in a lifetime concert… Lucky you…I only saw him once too, with Blue and yes, he was fantastic… I feel blessed because now he is no longer touring…due to health issues…
Went to quite a few when young and living in London and working in advertising. We had major clients such as British Airways, Cadburys etc, so we used to be so lucky when our turn came around and the dept were given freebies such as concert tickets with dinner thrown in.
Two of the most memorable were the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Albert Hall, one was Film Soundtracks, and the other was every Beatles Hit.
Just listening to Lucy In the Sky with Diamonds - with the full orchestra, was something to treasure forever.
Ohhhhh YES ! Wow! After reading this I sort of thought I’d seen them because they had a LOT of stuff including a huge wall.
You know Floyd, I hadn’t even thought of that either. Lots of bands used to record their concerts back then. I found this interesting. It says that Pink Floyd didn’t have a touring band back in 1980 because their stage featured an actual wall which was 31 feet high and 160 long , much of it built during the first half of the performance and the concert I saw had props that were out of this world so I think I did see them.
I meant to add your quote too Floyd but goofed. Lol
I’m not sure why either but you have a good point. It is strange but they were a tad unusual . I think that’s why must if us liked them though
Bands I’ve seen that I can recall off the top of my head…
Rolling Stones
Bruce springsein
Phil Collins
War On Drugs
Travis
James
Stereophonics
Mumford and Sons
Paul Weller
Paulo Nutini
Newton Faulkner
The Clash
The Specials AKA
The Beat
Madness
The Selecter
Bad Manners
Generation X
Ultravox
Tom Robinson Band
Big Country
The Blow Monkeys
Steel Pulse
X-Ray Spex
The Damned
The Stranglers
Deacon Blue