Fats Domino & Jerry Lee Lewis at Weedsport Raceway — July 23, 1986
Fats Domino and Jerry Lee Lewis played Weedsport Raceway. Two founding fathers of rock and roll — ‘Blueberry Hill’ meets ‘Great Balls of Fire’ — at a RACEWAY in rural Central New York. The 1950s rock revolution, alive and kicking at a stock car track. Forty years ago.
Styx at Tag’s Summer Stage — July 22, 2006
Twenty years ago, Styx rolled into Tag’s Summer Stage in Big Flats — the outdoor Southern Tier venue near Elmira that drew classic-rock crowds all summer long. Tommy Shaw and James “JY” Young led the band through the arena-rock canon they built in the ’70s and ’80s: “Come Sail Away,” “Renegade,” “Blue Collar Man,” “Mr. […]
Doc Watson & Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival at Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival — July 21, 2001
The Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival — then held in Ancramdale, NY — featured Doc Watson, Del McCoury, Ricky Skaggs, Nickel Creek, and more across four days. One of the premier bluegrass gatherings in the Northeast, it drew pickers and fans from across the country to the rolling hills of Columbia County. (Grey Fox would later […]
Queensrÿche at Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena — July 20, 1991
At the height of their Building Empires Tour, Queensrÿche brought thinking-person’s metal to Binghamton’s Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena 35 years ago. Touring behind the platinum Empire album — and its unlikely hit ballad “Silent Lucidity” — the Seattle band famously performed their concept masterpiece Operation: Mindcrime in full, with Suicidal Tendencies and Warrior Soul […]
James Taylor at Dome Arena — July 19, 1976
James Taylor played the Dome Arena in Rochester — ‘Fire and Rain,’ ‘You’ve Got a Friend,’ ‘Carolina in My Mind.’ Sweet Baby James in a summer setting. Taylor’s warm voice and gentle guitar were the perfect antidote to everything else happening in 1976.
Destiny’s Child at Pepsi Arena — July 18, 2001
Albany got the very first night. On July 18, 2001, Destiny’s Child launched MTV’s inaugural TRL Tour — and their first national headlining tour — at the Pepsi Arena, with Nelly, Eve, Dream, 3LW, and Jessica Simpson rounding out a stacked pop-and-R&B bill. Beyoncé, Kelly Rowland, and Michelle Williams were riding the chart-dominating Survivor album; […]
Kansas at Finger Lakes Performing Arts Center — July 17, 1996
Thirty years ago, two titans of ’70s arena rock shared the bill at the Finger Lakes Performing Arts Center in Canandaigua. Kansas brought the symphonic muscle of “Carry On Wayward Son” and “Dust in the Wind”; Styx countered with “Come Sail Away,” “Renegade,” and “Mr. Roboto.” It was a double dose of the era’s grandest, […]
Alan Jackson at Watertown Fairgrounds Arena — July 16, 2010
One of the last great neotraditionalists, Alan Jackson brought his honky-tonk to the Watertown Fairgrounds Arena in 2010 — a rare major-name country stop in the North Country. By then the Georgia native had stacked up a generation of hits built on fiddle, steel, and a plainspoken Southern drawl: “Chattahoochee,” “Drive (For Daddy Gene),” “Remember […]
Chuck Berry at Shea’s Buffalo Theatre — July 15, 1956
Chuck Berry played Shea’s Buffalo Theatre as part of the “Top Record Stars of 1956” package tour — the man who invented rock and roll guitar, on a bill of the era’s biggest names. “Maybellene” had broken him just a year earlier, with “Roll Over Beethoven” and “Johnny B. Goode” close behind. Buffalo’s ornate movie […]
Kenny Rogers at Clemens Center — July 14, 1996
Thirty years ago, Kenny Rogers brought his unmistakable rasp and a catalog of crossover smashes to the Clemens Center, Elmira’s beautifully restored vaudeville-era theater. By 1996 Rogers was one of the most successful entertainers in the world — “The Gambler,” “Lucille,” “Lady,” and the Dolly Parton duet “Islands in the Stream” had made him a […]