Doors Open @ 8

IN HONOR OF tonight's sold-out-for-weeks Airborne Toxic Event show at Bowery Ballroom, thought it might be fun -- with fun being a relative term -- to list the many shows I've been to, all the great live music I've witnessed, with almost four decades of concert-going under my belt.

Memory being what it is, or isn't, I've started with the saved ticket stubs, then polled the outer precincts of Remembrance for the rest.

Syd Straw
Mercury Lounge/June 11, 1996

Buzzcocks
Irving Plaza/July 2, 1996 (brilliant show)

Jayhawks
Warsaw/April 10, 2003 (think this was an acoustic show)

The Fratellis/Airborne Toxic Event
Roseland Ballroom/September 5, 2008

Buzzcocks
Bowery Ballroom/December 1, 2000

Jayhawks/The Thorns
Irving Plaza/June 27, 2003

X
The Grand/November 27, 1993

The Specials
Irving Plaza/September 20, 1994

Violent Femmes/Pogues/Mojo Nixon
Reebok Riverstage/July 18, 1989

Johnny Thunders Tribute (Benefit for Johnny's kids)
The Marquee/June 19, 1991

Cracker
Irving Plaza/August 26, 1998

Fleshtones
Woody's/March 9, 1990

Golden Smog
December 5, 1998

The Clash
Bond International/May 29, 1981 (also went to one other Bond's show)

The Pretenders/The Necessaries (Chris Spedding)
Detroit's/March 21, 1980 (may have been Pretenders first U.S. show; $5 ticket price)

Guinness Fleadh (Elvis Costello, Richard Thompson, Lucinda Williams, etc.)
Randall's Island/June 26, 1999

Wilco
Irving Plaza/April 21, 1999 (nice birthday present)

Bob Dylan/Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
Madison Square Garden/July 17, 1986 (terrible Garden sound system detracted from Bob's show; Petty was outstanding)

Son Volt
Irving Plaza/May 9, 1996 (one of top 4 or 5 concerts of all time for me)

The Clash/Undertones/Sam & Dave
The Palladium/September 20, 1979 (the night Paul Simenon smashed his bass guitar)

Luna/Clem Snide
Knitting Factory/February 3, 2001

Stiff Little Fingers
Village Underground/September 8, 2001
(Caught this show with Steve and his friend Gavin, who was attending his 60th SLF concert! Unfortunately, 3 days later he would perish in the 9/11 attacks)

Lucinda Williams
Irving Plaza/January 29, 1999 (the night my dad died)

Stiff Little Fingers
Tramps/May 16, 1999
THAT'S ABOUT IT for the documentation; the following shows I don't have ticket stubs for, just a faulty, leaky memory bank. In some cases I can't remember the year or even venue. Ironically, for the bands I know I've seen the most over the years, like The Ramones and Johnny Thunders, I can only seem to recall one or two shows at most. Memory is a fickle mistress.

The Clash/Kurtis Blow
Pier 43/1982

Aerosmith/Black Sabbath
Madison Square Garden/1973 (Aerosmith opened and actually blew them off the stage, as much as I'm loath to admit it even this many years later)

Lou Reed
Felt Forum/1974 (with Jimi the Greek, and plenty of vintage Reed stage banter)

Stills-Young Band (Stephen Stills & Neil Young)
Nassau Coliseum/1976?

Grateful Dead
Nassau Coliseum/1979

Robert Gordon
My Father's Place/1979 (with Chris Spedding, an unbelievably entertaining show)
Queens Festival/1986

Wreckless Eric
Hurrah/1979 (Whole Wide World lp given away free, wish I can say I still had my copy)

Steel Pulse
Irving Plaza/2000?

David Bromberg Band
Carnegie Hall (w. Ralph McTell/November 1978
Bottom Line 12th Anniversary concert/1992?

Hot Tuna
Beacon Theater/1977
Central Park/1975
Palladium/1978

Buzzcocks
The Ritz/1981

The Waterboys
Beacon Theater/1989

Iggy Pop
The Ritz/1981

Gang of 4
Rock Hotel?/1981

The Selecter
Rock Hotel/1982

Madness
The Ritz?/1981

Plasmatics
Heat/1980

Dead Boys
Heat/1980?

Richard Hell & the Voidoids
Mudd Club/1981

Luna
South Street Seaport/2003
World Trade Center/ August 2001

Graham Parker
Bottom Line/1994 (solo acoustic)
Tramps (w. the Figgs, Amy Rigby)/October 15, 1996

Ramones
Great Adventure/Summer 1980 (won 6 tickets from WNEW)
Zappas/Lamour/somewhere on Staten Island/elsewhere/1979...?

Wire
South Street Seaport/May 30, 2008

Power Pop Festival: Speedies/Neighborhoods/Baby Shakes, etc.
Southpaw/March 30, 2007

Wedding Present
Tramps?/1997?

Johnny Winter
Felt Forum/1975?

Chuck Berry/Sy Sylvain
Heat/1980 (a night, and dawn, for the ages)

The Neighborhoods
Hurrah/March 1979 (first punk show)

New Pornographers (w. Neko Case)
Warsaw/2000?

Lords of the New Church
Rock Lounge/1982?

Johnny Thunders
Max's Kansas City, elsewhere/1979-85

Marshall Tucker Band
Central Park/1975

Leslie West/James Gang
Central Park/1976

Black 47
Paddy Reilly's/early 1990s

Black Oak Arkansas
Great Gildersleeves/1979?

The Slits
Mercury Lounge/March 2008

Joe Jackson
Central Park/1980
Richard Lloyd
Uptown?/1981

David Peel
Max's Tavern/1978-79

Everclear/Spacehog
Garden Arts Center/1995

New Riders Purple Sage/Poco
Central Park/1976

Psychedelic Furs
The Ritz, somewhere else/1980

The dB's
The Ritz?

James White & the Blacks/DeFunkt
Hurrah/1980

Rockpile
The Ritz/1981

Son Volt
South Street Seaport/2004

Philip Glass Ensemble (Dracula)
Brooklyn Academy of Music/March 26, 2000

Mink DeVille
Peppermint Lounge/New Year's Eve 1985

Slade
Wollman Rink/1975

The Wanderers (Stiv Bators)
Mudd Club/1981

Jefferson Starship
Central Park/1975

Simon & Garfunkel
Central Park/1980

Dead Kennedys
Bonds/1981

See also:

The Clash
Johnny Thunders
Neil Young
Son Volt
Luna
The Jayhawks
Lords of the New Church
Speedies
Iggy Pop