Concert #4 - Ozzy Osbourne

Ozzy Osbourne, Blizzard of Ozz, 1981, Milwaukee
This was Ozzy's first solo tour with his new band, the Blizzard of Ozz, featuring the late, very great Randy Rhoads. The phenomenal album had just been released. I belonged to a concert club offered by Stardate, the big promoter in Milwaukee at the time. For $35 a year, I would get first dibs on tickets before they went on sale, allowing me to see countless shows from the first 10 rows. Well, I scored 1st row for Ozzy, and being a huge Black Sabbath fan, and now Blizzard of Ozz fan, I was very excited. My excitement turned to concern at the venue when I realized I was in first row, but not center, and a towering stack of amplifiers were in front of me, and I did not bring ear protection. Needless to say, the opening band, Motorhead, was very loud. When Ozzy came on, the volume went even higher. As the show progressed, my ears pained in a bad way, and I couldn't help but think that permanent hearing loss may be in store for me, yet being a big fan, I would not leave my incredible seat. The music was great -- just way way too loud, distorting in my ear, making it less than enjoyable for me to get into the show. Ozzy recognized that most people in the front row around me weren't into the show as much as they should (after all, we were all in pain!). At one point, he looked at us angerly with arms stretched out and said "What the fuck?" Then took a swig from a bottle, swished it in his mouth, and showered us with it. As I wiped the liquid from my face, the smell was quite familiar -- but not beer or liquor which I had expected. It was the antisceptic Listerine! I guessed he used that when performing to keep his vocal cords tight. How many people can say Ozzy Osbourne spit on them, much less with a spray of Listerine?

Concert #3 - Luna

Luna @ the Fillmore, San Francisco, 2003
Luna is one of my all-time favorite bands, and the band I've seen perform live more times than any other band (10 shows during their existence). They had booked 2 nights at the legendary Fillmore during one of those rare heat-waves in San Francisco. Shortly into their set, all power went out inside the venue-- a PG&E blackout in the area due to a surge in electricity use caused by the heat. Emergency lights in the venue went on, but it was still pretty dark -- and of course without power, there was no music, just the crowd discussing what is going on, how long we might have to wait, etc. The Fillmore staff scrambled to light candles and pass around to the audience as we all waited for the electricity to come back on. After 15 minutes, the Fillmore staff started offering free tap beer to the audience to quell their restlessness. It was getting pretty warm in the venue as no fans were running. After about 30 minutes, the electricity came back on, and the band resumed where they had left off. Seeing the band perform at an instore the next day at Amoeba, the band's lead singer/guitarist mentioned the incident that occurred last night as a first-time experience for the band.

Concert #2 - Ted Nugent, my first concert

My first rock concert was in 1977 to see Ted Nugent and a band making its first appearance in the US called The Scorpions. The show was memorable as it was my first concert - -but also the lead singer of the Scorpions, in his attempt to physically connect with the audience, stepped off the stage to sing directly to the audience below (there was a small incline hill from the audience up to the stage). Upon returning back to the stage, the singer decided to walk backwards uphill so he could still face the audience. He didn't remember there was a step between the hill and the stage, tripped and fell backward onto the stage - at least he didn't roll down the hill. But he hit the ground hard, and he got up a bit dazed. As a professional he shrugged it off and continued to perform the remainder of the show, but it was evident he had hurt his head, neck and/or back.

Ted Nugent on stage I remember never standing still, running across the top of Marshall amps which lined the entire stage length. And it was very loud! Everyone around me was smoking pot, and as a haze enveloped the audience, I started feeling high and dizzy. After the show, with ears seriously buzzing and sound dampened, we went to grab pizza. I was overstimulated -- the concert lighting, the loud music, the visuals, the pot effect -- all made me dizzy. My friends ate pizza while I sat outside in the parking lot throwing up what little I had in my stomach. There, that's my first concert, and to think I went to many, many more after that!

Remembering Concerts

Over the last 30 years, I've attended over 250 live concerts. While I do not remember all the particulars like the set list or dates, I can usually picture in my mind the band on stage and memorable elements of the performance. Bands that have a big stage show usually guarantee that I will remember something. Or bands that make connect with the audience by making conversation, saying something witty. Or when something unusual happens. That guarantees a spot in my memory. Over the next few weeks, I'm going to recall the most memorable concerts I attended and share it with you.

Concert #1: Black Sabbath/Blue Oyster Cult (dubbed "The Black & Blue Tour", 1980, Milwaukee Auditorium. By far the most violent show I have attended. After a great set by Blue Oyster Cult, Black Sabbath took the stage. On their second song, some idiot from the audience threw a beer bottle on stage (Milwaukee was at that time a famous beer). Unfortunately, the bottle hit Black Sabbath's bass player, Geezer Butler, in the forehead making a large gash which required medical attention. As he stumbled off the stage, the other band members joined him. Then the lead singer, at this time, Ronnie James Dio was lead vocalist, came back and told the audience what happenned pointing the area in front of the stage which he believed the bottle came from. He said, "We will play for you, but will not bleed for you. Fuck you Milwaukee." Well, the audience's shock quickly turned to anger as people realized they were not going to see Black Sabbath perform. Fans started picking up rows of folding chairs in the audience, breaking them, throwing them up on the stage, and some even lighting the chairs on fire. Fights broke out in the audience, and most sensible people, myself included, high tailed it to the exit doors. Here people had already taken to smashing many of the venue's glass doors and starting to vandalize neighboring businesses. Sirens and police paddy vans came driving down the city streets from every direction. A full scale riot was taking place and that could only mean there would soon be a swarm of police officers with billy clubs and handcuffs coming in to restore order. Luckily, my friends and I get out of harm's and the police's way to avoid being arrested -- afterall, we didn't do anything wrong. After several long hours, the venue was rendered non-functional by extensive damage, estimated at several hundred thousand dollars. The city of Milwaukee banned Black Sabbath from ever playing in the city limits again, earning the band the dubious honor of being the only banned rock band. The city proceeded to sue Ticketron, the promoters and the band's management to compensate for the damage. Not sure how that ended up. But I do have to say, the promoters were accurate in billing the concert as "The Black and Blue Tour".







townby far was the most violent showI still remember the time when during a San Francisco heat wave, all the power at the Fillmore went out three songs into the set.