live music

A Life Full of Live Music

/ Len Gutman / 3 Comments

It poured last night in Phoenix and this morning my son Connor had an ear worm — he couldn’t get Rain in the Summertime by The Alarm out of his head. Why a 14-year-old kid even knows about The Alarm is a story for another day, but when he mentioned it I told him I saw The Alarm in concert in 1984 when they opened for The Pretenders at the California Theater in San Diego (remember that show Zac Shess?). This led Connor to remark: “You’ve been to a lot of concerts. Like 20,” he said. Well, more like 100 I replied. When he mentioned I was lucky to have seen so many cool 80s bands, I told him I was fortunate to live in places like San Diego and the San Francisco Bay Area where great bands performed. I’ve lived in Phoenix for 18 years now and a lot of lesser known bands skip the desert when they tour.

I started thinking about how many live shows I’ve seen over the years and I thought it might be fun to try to list them all. It’s probably nowhere near 100 and it’s probably not all that impressive a list compared to some. I’m sure I’m missing some. Nevertheless, in no particular order:

  • The Kinks (my first real concert. 1979. San Diego Sports Arena)
  • The Who
  • John Cougar
  • Loverboy
  • Rush
  • Simon & Garfunkel
  • Adam Ant
  • Duran Duran
  • Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper
  • The Beautiful South (2)
  • Ben Folds
  • Counting Crows (2)
  • Maroon 5
  • Depeche Mode
  • Morrissey
  • Erasure
  • Everything But the Girl (2)
  • Gorillaz
  • Howard Jones
  • Joe Jackson (3)
  • Little River Band (2)
  • Jack Johnson
  • John Legend
  • Midge Ure
  • Mike Doughty
  • Crowded House
  • Ziggy Marley
  • Peter Gabriel
  • Inner Circle
  • Sinead O’Connor
  • Paul Weller
  • Peter Case
  • R.E.M.
  • Tori Amos
  • Indigo Girls (2)
  • The Untouchables (2)
  • X
  • Stan Ridgway
  • Steely Dan
  • Tears For Fears (3)
  • The B-52s
  • Sun 60
  • The Cranberries
  • Berlin
  • The Gap Band
  • Sparks
  • Madness (2)
  • Oingo Boingo (2)
  • The Police (2)
  • Billy Joel (2)
  • Squeeze (2)
  • The Hooters
  • Jill Sobule
  • Edie Brickell and New Bohemians
  • The Pretenders
  • The Alarm
  • The Beach Boys
  • Coldplay
  • G Love and Special Sauce
  • Zee Avi
  • Spyro Gyra
  • Chris Isaak (2)
  • Seal
  • U2 (3)
  • 10,000 Maniacs
  • English Beat
  • Sara Hickman
  • Deborah Harry
  • Red Rockers
  • NRBQ
  • KC & The Sunshine Band

What about you? Are you a big concert goer? What are some of the best shows you’ve seen over the years?