Grateful Dead

August 1990 Alpine Valles, WILineup was Fabulous Thunderbirds, Robert Cray, Eric Clapton, and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Crazy Leslie and I had tickets for the show, but almost didn't go, as we were dreadfully hung over from the night before (don't remember what we did, but doesn't really matter-was something really eventful and fun at the time, for sure) but we decided to tough it out and go. Have rarely been so glad of a decision in my life. Show was HOT, is the only word for it. Encore of Stevie Ray's set included all of the above, plus Buddy Guy flew in in a helicopter, to join the other guitar greats on stage. Was a rockin' "Sweet Home Chicago" that went on forever. Guys were having soo much fun taking over lead guitar and playing with each other. Was breathtaking. Especially that song for 2 Chicago gals! Leslie and I both were cured of our hangovers long before the encore, and were thanking our lucky stars on the way home that we went. Next day she called me at work and said "Dude, was a crash after the show." For a while we thought that Clapton had died too, so were in telephone conference with each other for hours, with her listening to the radio, and me doing no work whatsoever. When we knew Stevie Ray had died, we were shocked and sorrowful. But as Leslie said "Couldn't have had a hotter grand finale for his life if he'd have tried." Was also 'bout the best non-Dead show I ever saw.

Taj Mahal Trio 2006 Asheville @ Warren Haynes XMAS Jam - Everything that is awesome about music. Santana puts on as fine a show as there is, in my estimation. Best pure musicianship I have ever seen on stage - Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. Is there anyone better at their instrument than Bela? Any answer would have to be an all-time virtuoso.

Arlo Guthrie at the Marlboro MA Middle School ! Peter Gabriel, King Crimson, Dregs, old Tull, Edgar Winter's White Trash Uncle Merle ! The worst show ever........KISS. MusicRx

The last show I went to was in Spokane, Wash. July 2004. The woman I was dating at the time wanted to go see Shania Twain. At first, I was reluctant about it. But since Shania is easy on the eyes, I agreed to go. I was pleasantly surprised. Most of the members of her band are from Australia. Their music is not country western, it's more like Jazz-Fusion. The musicians are very talented and their music was really good. And, I've never seen anyone move around so much as Shania Twain. She is constantly in motion during the entire show. The opening act was a band called Emerson Drive. The lead guitarist was wearing a Grateful Dead t-shirt. During one of their songs, they broke out into an extended instrumental, which morphed into Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" for a while. I have to admit it was pretty good. ; )

Brian Wilson (January 2007) with old pal Beach Boy Al Jardine trading lead vocals in Long Beach, CA. Brian has a tremendous band and his show bears no resemblance to the farce that is the current Beach Boys, which is actually a disinterested Mike Love and some hired guns. Los Lobos (June 2007) just plain blew the roof off the Coach House, a long time nightclub in San Juan Capistrano, CA. The wolf will indeed survive!

If you haven't checked these guys out you should. I saw them a few times in the Bay Area before I moved to Maui (that was 6 years ago) and i think they sound better than ever now - they came to Maui about a year ago - they played at a small club called Hapa's - when we got there i went onto the floor and could feel the bass come up through my feet - tears of joy streamed from my eyes because i finally felt like i was "home" . . .Not much in the way of lyrics unless a lovely woman by the name of Audio Angel accompanies them during a set - but great jams/improv/drums - these guys are the shit - there are a lot of live shows on archive.org and also you can listen to sts9 radio at sts9.com if you want to check it out. . .highly recommend it:) ~KRISSY~

I live in the desert, which is very hot in the summertime of course. In the mid-eighties, Santana played a show at the Celebrity Theater in Phoenix, Arizona. It's a small circular building with a round stage which revolves in the center of it. It was a moderately hot summer night and the temperature wasn't really unbearable. At the beginning of the show Carlos Santana announced that he didn't want to play in a closed air-conditioned building. So he requested that all the exterior doors to the theater be opened up and the air-conditioning turned off. He wanted to allow the instruments "To Breath!" Santana shows draw a really diverse crowd and everyone was into it. We were all hot and sweaty, but it was great fun. It was a great show. Come to think of it, I've yet to see a bad Santana performance. ; ) The months of July, August and September are the monsoon season in Arizona. Storm fronts develop out of the Gulf of California or the Gulf of Mexico and blow north across the desert. The rainfall and the drop in temperatures are a welcome relief to the summer heat. First, southern Arizona and Tucson receive rain showers in morning. As a storm moves northward the wind picks up sand and dirt from the desert floor and forms a large wall of dust. By late afternoon the dust storm reaches Phoenix. Usually, it's followed by a heavy downpour. The wind knocks over trees and the lightning knocks out the power in various parts of the city. The rain really cools things off, but the storms can be hazardous as well. Well, one July evening in the early eighties, the Pat Metheny Group was scheduled to perform at the Mesa Amphitheater in Mesa, Arizona. It's a medium-sized venue with a terraced lawn and open seating. On the afternoon of the show a monsoon storm was approaching the Valley which raised concerns about the safety of the crowd and the equipment on stage. Instead of cancelling the show, they decided to move all the equipment inside the Grady Gammage Auditorium on the campus of Arizona State University in Tempe. It's a beautiful, Frank Lloyd Wright building designed with acoustics in mind. Since it was an open seating show, you could sit anywhere you wished. :) We sat in the balcony and the sounds from Pat Metheny's guitar filled ever small space of the auditorium. The musicians seemed to really get into the acoustics of the space and the sounds they created. It was one of the best performances I've ever attended.

If not the best, the one with the most energy flowing around i've ever seen, 50,000 people dancing and singing, the Rolling Stones Friday 6/7/07 at the Olympic stadium in Rome, my city

....the fucking Eagles!!!!!! Actually, unlike my silver screen hero (The Dude) I saw the Eagles in the 70's (78 or 79, I think) at the Capital Center in Largo, MD and they were awesome! They played everything! Jimmy Buffett opened and no one knew him, then. He was actually very good, as well (I have to admit). Man I wish I had seen the Outlaws. I just re-discovered "Green Grass and High Tides Forever" and it reminded me of the great guitar players we had "back in the day" (and how many there were). Not that there aren't any around now a days. I never saw Phish but I wish I had, as well. I do have "Live from Brooklyn" dvd and the second disc is one of my favs. I've seen Trey with Phil three times and they've all been brain burners. I've seen Trey with Dave Mathews twice (Bonnaroo 2004, Dave & Friends Cruise 2006) and both were great although the Dave & Friends Cruise concert was completely off the hook, until the winter squall came on us and nearly washed us off the island. Trey is awesome! The Dude Abides!

used to see the nighthawks in Richmond 79-81 or so, Thackery was awesome, great band...once saw them on a blues cruise aboard the Spirit Of Norfolk out of Hampton Roads Harbor....other stuff, hmmm Eagles were great, Little Feat, Outlaws at William & Mary College,John Prine, James Taylor, ooo and Jackson Browne with Bruce Hornsby both solo at the Mosque...Can i add seeing Jerry at the Lunt-Fontaine with Sandy Rothman, Peter Rowan, & John Kahn...but last couple of years Govt. Mule is seriously KICKING