Concerts

  I love going to concerts.  Listening to live music is something I like to do.  And, I need to confess something:  when I go to a show, I will sing to the music and sometimes even dance.  It isn't really dancing.  It is more like moving to the beat.  I would never win an award for dancing.

 I have been to all kinds of concerts.  Rock, Country, Blues, Classical, Pop, Comedy, Soul, Religious, and combinations thereof.  Among the artists I have seen (sometimes more than once) are:  Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band, Elton John, Chicago, Bob Dylan, George Carlin, BB King, Ray Charles, Micky Dolenz, Richie Havens, The Who, Goose Creek Symphony, The James Gang, Willie Nelson, Delbert McClinton, Climax, Atlanta Rhythm Section, Johnny Cash, The Carter Family, Andrae Crouch, Mountain, Canned Heat, Judie Tzuke, Billy Grammer, Gary Lewis, The George Shearing Quintet, John D. Loudermilk, Lester Flatt, James Gregory, Peter Frampton, James Taylor, Mac Frampton Triumvirate, Mac Wiseman, The Ramsey Lewis Trio, Steel Pulse, The Shirelles, The Four Tops, The Temptations, Tom T. Hall, Jerry Clower, Wet Willie, Three Dog Night, George Jones, Dr. John, Roger McGuinn, The Carpenters, Barry McGuire, Gene Cotton, Crosby Stills and Nash, Tiffany, Minnie Pearl, Boz Scaggs, Earl Klugh, John Mayall, Steve Martin and Martin Short, Sam Bush, Aretha Franklin, Sid Caesar & Imogene Coca, Maurice Evans & Helen Hayes, Buddy Guy, Koko Taylor, George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic, The Rolling Stones, Billy Preston, Johnny Winter, Silers Bald, Styx, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Lee Greenwood, Little River Band, Living Colour, Ricky Skaggs, Jerry Seinfeld, Irma Thomas, The Preservation Hall Jazz Band, The Five Blind Boys, Sheila E., Morris Day and the Time, Bonnie Raitt, Kiss, David Lee Roth, and more.  In fact, the first concert I sort of went to was Ike & Tina Turner.  I parked outside of the Coliseum in Columbia and listened to their show from a block away.  It was that loud.

 There are a few regrets.  I wish I had seen The Beatles in concert.  Although, the crowd would have been so loud that one couldn't have heard the music.  I also wish I had seen the solo concerts by George Harrison and John Lennon.  That would have been cool.  The loudest show was The Who.  The music was loud, but so was the guy next to me screaming in my ear.  I could feel my brain move around in my skull, and I got ill.  I had to leave during the encore and throw up.  After that, I would sometimes bring ear plugs.  Most of the shows that I go to now, one doesn't need ear plugs.  The music is for old people.  

 And, what was the best concert I have ever witnessed?  A hard question to answer.  It would be a toss up between Elton John 1973 at the University of Georgia; Bob Dylan 1997 in Columbia SC; Paul McCartney 1993 in Atlanta GA; and everybody else.  Except one.  Judie Tzuke was booed off of the stage, because we wanted to see Elton John.  I felt sorry for her, but she just wasn't very good.