Sonny Rollins at Tralfamadore Cafe — September 6, 1986
By 1986, Sonny Rollins didn’t need to prove anything to anybody — the “saxophone colossus” tag had followed him since the 1950s, and he’d spent three decades as one of the last living giants of the tenor sax. That made his appearance at Buffalo’s Tralfamadore Cafe, the beloved downtown jazz room that had built its […]
John Fogerty at Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena — September 5, 1986
For over a decade after Creedence Clearwater Revival broke apart, John Fogerty barely toured — a self-imposed exile that became one of classic rock’s stranger footnotes. Then 1985’s Centerfield brought him roaring back, a surprise No. 1 comeback album that reintroduced him to a whole new generation. By the fall of 1986, with Eye of […]
Crosby & Nash at Rochester Community War Memorial — September 4, 1976
David Crosby and Graham Nash spent the mid-1970s proving they didn’t need Stills or Young to fill a room. Wind on the Water, their 1975 album, had become their commercial peak as a duo — a top-10 record anchored by Nash’s environmental title track and Crosby’s increasingly ragged, beautiful harmonies. When they rolled through Rochester, […]
Chicago at Saratoga Performing Arts Center — September 3, 1976
By September 1976, Chicago was riding the strange, transitional sound of Chicago X — a band built on horns and jazz chops suddenly scoring its way toward a very different kind of hit. “If You Leave Me Now,” the Peter Cetera ballad that would give the group its first-ever No. 1 single, was already climbing […]
Jeff Beck at Buffalo Memorial Auditorium — September 2, 1976
Jeff Beck spent 1976 proving a guitarist didn’t need a singer to matter. Touring behind Wired, he’d folded himself into the Jan Hammer Group’s jazz-fusion firepower — no frontman, no hits to recite, just pure instrumental combustion. When he brought that sound to Buffalo Memorial Auditorium, opening for the Beach Boys of all bills, the […]
moe. at moe.down at Snow Ridge Ski Area — September 1, 2001
By late summer 2001, moe. had stopped waiting for someone else to build them a stage. The Buffalo-born jam band planted moe.down in the hills of the Tug Hill Plateau at Snow Ridge Ski Area, and by its second year the festival had already grown into a real weekend — Soulive, Cracker, Donna the Buffalo, […]
Melissa Etheridge at Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena — August 31, 1996
Melissa Etheridge played the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena in Binghamton at the roaring peak of her fame. That raspy, full-throttle voice behind “Come to My Window” and “I’m the Only One” filling a Southern Tier arena. Heartland rock with the throttle wide open. Thirty years ago.
Bonnie Raitt at Finger Lakes Performing Arts Center — August 30, 1986
Bonnie Raitt brought her slide guitar to the Finger Lakes Performing Arts Center in Canandaigua — years before “Nick of Time” made her a household name. Just the bottleneck slide, that weathered voice and a barroom’s worth of blues on the amphitheater lawn. Forty years ago.
Van Halen at Niagara Falls Convention & Civic Center — August 29, 1986
Van Halen hit the Niagara Falls Convention & Civic Center on the 5150 Tour — the very first run with new singer Sammy Hagar after David Lee Roth walked. Two sold-out nights, Aug 29 and 30, with Bachman-Turner Overdrive opening. A brand-new era of the band launched in Western NY. Forty years ago.
Barry Manilow at Saratoga Performing Arts Center — August 29, 1976
Barry Manilow played the Saratoga Performing Arts Center the same summer “This One’s for You” hit shelves. “Mandy,” “Could It Be Magic,” “I Write the Songs” — the biggest pop voice of the mid-70s filling the SPAC amphitheater in the pines. Fifty years ago.