Rob,

The answer is NO. I spent the summer of 1970 at Fort Dix doing "Basic Training" and was stationed there until May of 1971. I was fortunate enough to get sent to a Temporary Duty Assignment (TDY) at the Pentagon based on my test scores. I spent the rest of my time at the Pentagon. (Lucky me). The task force that I was assigned to did incredible work in a very short thirty day period of time based on a Executive Order from the then Commander-in-Chief Nixon. I am proud to say that I was awarded the Army Commendation Medal for my efforts during that period.

I have to state that until about two years ago, until I researched the Army Commendation Medal, I did not realize just what an honor was bestowed upon me.

 

Most of my concert experience revolves around either Austin in the 70's or SF in the 80's. I saw Willie Nelson early on and literally sat with my feet on the stage under the pedal steel guitar players guitar. I saw Jerry Jeff Walker for $0.25 at the Texas Union (yes, a quarter). However, the most memorable concert was Virgil Fox on the Rogers organ (with a light show). Other than that - Tina Turner at the Fairmont Crown Room before her resurgence (and before "Beyond the Thunderdome" came out).

One year, I used to go to concerts 2 or 3 times a week - everything from bluegrass to Jazz with classical thrown in for good measure. I have gotten to see some blues greats (Ligntnin Hopkins, Stevie Ray Vaughan (when he was 15), his brother Jimmy Ray Vaughan - both with Storm and then with the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Clifton Chenier, Johnny Winter and Edgar Winter together, BB King, James Cotton, Al TNT Braggs, Bobby Blue Bland, Jelly Roll Morton, Furry Lewis, and a host of others). One that I did not get to see becasue he died too soon was Mississippi John Hurt.

I once saw Steve Goodman break a string in the middle of a song, pick up a second guitar tuned in open tuning, and without missing a beat, start singing "16 tons". The audience went wild.

 

I saw something similar at a Stevie Ray Vaughn concert. We had nosebleed seats so I was watching through binoculars.
Saw the string pop and a light went on backstage. A stagehand grabbed a guitar and ran out.
Stevie lifted his guitar as they strapped on the new one. He then seamlessly shifted over to the new guitar as the old one was removed.
He never stopped playing and finished the song!!! Sadly that was one of his last shows

 

Jethro Tull, Rochester NY, 12/1/1977, War Memorial

The concert was in the evening, that afternoon late we started getting a typical Lake Effect snow storm
The band was traveling by bus up from NYC where they had performed a couple days earlier
Me and the GF were standing outside the War Memorial along with hundreds of other people, in a snow storm, for hours
The band was late due to road conditions, and the event organizers did not want to let us in the building in case the band never showed up
As I recall after freezing our assses off for 2+ hours someone finally broke down the front glass door and everybody rushed in to the heat
Eventually the band did show up, and the concert was awesome
Ian Anderson found out what the event organized had done, and I think he felt really bad for us fans, and he put on a show that was totally dedicated to making it up to us
One awesome flute solo after another, he just pounded that band and holy crap it seemed like the show went on forever

This one stands out because of the cold outside, the heat of the GF, and the unbelievable music

 

Just down the thruway from me

 

Ok, I thought about it, and I have number two...

This one is also about the music, but also about so much more

ELO, Electric Light Orchestra, Rochester War Memorial
Me and 2 of my friends went to the concert, we were driven their by one of my friend's parents who were into ELO
When we got there, the parents made it very clear, they were going over there to see the show, we would meet up out front after
The message to us was clear, we are going over there, so you kids go anyplace other than over there, so we did
At one point in the concert me and my friend, the one with the parents, went off to find a bathroom, the one in our section was closed, so we went farther, and farther until we found one, and when we did, there standing in line in front of us was his parents, they were sharing a joint
It was a very quiet ride home, no one spoke about it, and it never came up in conversation in all the years since then
The inside of that Suburban must have reeked the following morning, because we had ALL been smoking up a storm
I still remember laughing my ass off later, as me and my friends realized, we really had no reason to be concerned about how we smelt, as we wouls smell just like his Mom & Dad...

 

One of the best that I ever attended was a Mamas and Papas concert with opening act of Simon and Garfunkel. This was at the Forrest Hills Music Festivel in 1966. It was just amazing!!! As I remember (yes, it is a little more than foggy) S&G did "I am a rock" and "Sounds of Silence" to name a few. The M&Ps did a number of their best but ran off the stage when some folks rushed the stage. NYCs finest held them back.

 

When I lived in Austin, we used to make good use of the blues scene there. Stevie Ray Vaughan played with a band called "Paul Ray and the X-rated cobras". He was all of 14 or 15 years old then. We found out about him from his brother (Jimmie Vaughan) who at the time played in a band called Storm. Jimmie later went on to be one of the founding members of the Fabulous Thunderbirds. Anyway, my college roommate was good friends with Anson Funderburgh (a blues guitarist of some stature), who was friends with Jimmie Vaughan. Jimmie mentioned that his brother was playing somewhere and we should go. So we went, expecting nothing spectacular, and were thoroughly blown away.

 

This thread has really made me nostalgic. I have had some awesome concert experiences, and some pretty awful ones.

The first annual Willie Nelson 4th of July picnic (100,000 stoned puking people in 104 degree heat) - great talent - not a great experience.

Followed the next week by a Bluegrass festival north of Dallas - 500 well mannered people on a hill top after a cool summer rain. Some great bluegrass talent - and wandering around the parking lot at midnight listening to the people sitting around campfires playing after the main show. It doesn't get much better than that

Going to see Elton John in 1972 (after Tumbleweed Connection). The warmup groups were Michael Martin Murphy followed by the Dillards. I ended up being a fan of both groups - and never bought another album by Sir Elton.

I got to see Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings together on stage with Leon Russel playing piano at a small club. That is like Cosmic Cowboy Nirvana.

Earl Scruggs with his sons right after he and Lester Flatt went separate ways. I recently saw Steve Martin (yes that Steve Martin) with his bluegrass band - don't roll your eyes, he was the CMA bluegrass musician of the year last year, and one of his songs won best bluegrass song of the year.

The trend I am noticing is that the rock concerts don't seem to be all that memorable to me - ELP after Brain Salad Surgery was - EH, same with the Grateful Dead, and Chicago. I always wanted to see the Who with Keith Moon drumming but never got the chance.

The James Gang put on a nice workmanlike concert, but nothing spectacular.

I saw Loggins and Messina - they played for less than 45 minutes - they were booed when they left the stage.

I saw John Denver 3 or 4 times over a span of several years.

Peter, Paul and Mary at the Kerrville Folk Festival. By that time, they were going separate ways and it showed.

There was a resurgence in Texas Swing when I was in college, and there were some really good groups in Austin then - Alvin Crow and the Pleasant Valley Boys were a good one. I also got to see the fiddle player from Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys. His name was Johnny Gimble and he was very good.

There was a club in Austin called the Armadillo World Headquarters that I used to go to. The club was torn down, but there is a restaurant there now with lots of pictures from the concerts at the Armadillo. I know I am in some of those pictures.

And just so that you guys don't think I am some country hick - I prefer the term redneck metrosexual - one of the best classical concerts I have been to was in Davies Hall in SF. The SF symphony did Beethoven's 9th, 4th movement (Ode to Joy) and they included the organ they have at Davies Hall. It was amazing. And Itzak Perlman playing Carmine on a Wednesday night to a much less than full crowd at Davies Hall - we were in the third row - it was beyond description.

A few years ago, we went to a spectacular concert at Royal Albert Hall. I inadvertently picked some of the best seats in the house. The acoustics were amazing. Anyway, it was a British version of what we would normally call a 4th of July concert, complete with Beethoven's 9th, loads of music from Stanley Kubrick movies (Also spoke Zarathustra, Pomp and Circumstance, etc), the 1812 Overture (complete with cannons), and a bunch of other music I can't remember.

And last - but not least - I used to go hear Kinky Friedman, pre-politician, pre-novelist - the original Jewish cowboy - get your biscuits in the oven and your buns in the bed.

Sorry for the ramblin' Jack Elliott

 

ca 1970 at Mississippi State University for a Temptations concert.

Their unannounced opening act was Edwin Starr. After that rendition of "Twenty-five Miles from Home" I don't think anyone cared if the Temptations showed up or not.