ZZ Top at SPAC — June 6, 1986
Forty years ago at SPAC, ZZ Top arrived in peak Afterburner-tour mode — synthesizers humming under the boogie, that fuzzy keyboard bass shaking the lawn, fur-covered guitars spinning under Saratoga’s pavilion. The Eliminator era had made them MTV royalty, and Afterburner doubled down: ‘Sleeping Bag,’ ‘Stages,’ and the still-undefeated triple-shot of ‘Gimme All Your Lovin’,’ […]
Dierks Bentley at Tag’s Summer Stage — June 5, 2016
Ten years ago at Tag’s Summer Stage in Big Flats, Dierks Bentley was riding the biggest single of his career — ‘Somewhere on a Beach’ had just hit number one — and he brought the whole tour out to the Southern Tier on a humid June night. Tag’s is one of those rare upstate country […]
The Monkees at Stanley Theatre — June 4, 1986
Forty years ago tonight, the Stanley Theatre in Utica hosted what felt impossible just a year earlier: Davy Jones, Peter Tork, and Micky Dolenz back together, with Mike Nesmith joining for select dates of the 20th Anniversary Reunion Tour. The reunion was supposed to be a nostalgia lap. Instead, MTV had just put their old […]
Ringo Starr & His All Starr Band at Lakeview Amphitheater — June 3, 2016
Ringo Starr & His All Starr Band played the Lakeview Amphitheater in Syracuse. A Beatle in Central New York. ‘Yellow Submarine,’ ‘Octopus’s Garden,’ ‘With a Little Help from My Friends.’ Plus hits from the All Starr band members. Ten years ago.
U2 at Pepsi Arena — June 2, 2001
U2 played the Pepsi Arena in Albany on the Elevation Tour. Twenty years after their club show at JB Scott’s, they were filling arenas worldwide. ‘Beautiful Day,’ ‘One,’ ‘Where the Streets Have No Name.’ The arc from dive bar to arena is one of rock’s greatest.
Woody Guthrie & Pete Seeger at Bailey Hall, Cornell University — June 1, 1946
Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger played Bailey Hall at Cornell University. Two of the founding fathers of American folk music — ‘This Land Is Your Land,’ ‘We Shall Overcome’ — at a college in the Southern Tier. Eighty years ago.
“Weird Al” Yankovic at Riviera Theatre — May 31, 1996
Thirty years ago, “Weird Al” Yankovic brought his Bad Hair Day Tour to the Riviera Theatre in North Tonawanda — the ornate 1926 theater that is one of Western New York’s great concert landmarks. The album had produced “Amish Paradise,” his biggest hit since “Eat It,” and his touring show was getting more elaborate and […]
Kendrick Lamar at Washington Avenue Armory — May 30, 2013
Kendrick Lamar played the Washington Avenue Armory in Albany just months after good kid, m.A.A.d city had established him as the most important voice in hip-hop since Jay-Z. The Compton rapper’s live show was already matching the ambition of his studio work — dense, cinematic, performed with the urgency of someone who had something to […]
John Lee Hooker at Belle Starr Lodge — May 29, 1976
Fifty years ago, John Lee Hooker played the Belle Starr Lodge in Colden — a small Western New York venue far from the stages he’d shared with the Rolling Stones and the Doors, but exactly the kind of intimate setting where his boogie blues hit hardest. Hooker was a living link to the Mississippi Delta […]
Aerosmith at Rochester Community War Memorial — May 28, 1976
Fifty years ago, Aerosmith hit the Rochester Community War Memorial on the Back in the Saddle Tour — their biggest and most aggressive touring run to date. Rocks had just come out, widely considered their greatest album, and Steven Tyler and Joe Perry were at the height of their Toxic Twins partnership before the drugs […]