Personal Concert History - 1980s


1980 1981 1982 1983 1984
1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
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1980

date venueact companions
Jul 5-6 Clayton, HY

1000 Island Music Festival

Elvin Bishop, Local Bands, Hal Casey (fiddle champ) 		David Rybicky, Dorinda Tobin (Danser) ,Bruce Gafner and Terri Spellicy
Jul 26 Outside of Syracuse
Summer Fest of 80 - Frogs, Moss Back Mule Band, Alecstar
Oct 16 RWM

Black and Blue Tour

Blue Oyster Cult _____________ Black Sabbath
Dec 2 UA

Rossigton Collins Band

  • Members
    • Gary Rossington - Guitar
    • Allen Collins - Guitar
    • Leon Wilkeson - Bass Guitar
    • Billy Powell - Keyboards
    • Dale Krantz-Rossington - Vocals
    • Barry Lee Harwood - Guitar, Vocals
    • Derek Hess - Drums and Percussion
former members of Lynard Skynard

and

38 Special
  • On October 20, 1977, a Convair CV-240 chartered by the rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd
  • from L&J Company of Addison, Texas,
  • ran out of fuel and crashed in Gillsburg, Mississippi,
  • near the end of its flight from Greenville, South Carolina,
  • to Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
  • Lead singer Ronnie Van Zant,
  • guitarist/vocalist Steve Gaines,
  • backing vocalist Cassie Gaines (Steve's older sister)
  • died in the crash

1981

date venueact companions
Jan 6 UA

Allman Brothers
Mar 13 UA

Grateful Dead
Apr 25 Dome

Santana



The first rock concert held in the newly built Dome.
Largest indoor venue I have ever been in
Jul 3-5 Clayton, NY

1000 Island Music Festival,

Blue Oyster Cult

 New Riders of the Purple Sage, Good Rats, Chubby Checker, Greg Kihn 		Tom Bennet
Aug 12 UA

Ozzy Osborne and Blizzard of Oz
Aug 26 UA

ZZ Top

 Jeff Gaffey
Aug 30 SPAC Tattoo You

REO Speedwagon
Sep 27 Rich Tattoo You

Rolling Stones



, Journey, George Thorogood
Nov 13 Manley Frank Zappa Shut Up and Play Yer Guitar tour

Zappa had a spotlight projectin his shadowon ceiling
Nov 27 Dome

Rolling Stones
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1982

date venueact companions
May 26-28 Four Seasons Campground
Altmar NY
  • Springfest II (Dust Fest)
    • Blotto
    • Todd Hobin
    • Alecstar
    • Joe Whiting
    • The Blushing Brides
    • Dakota
    • Kentucky Moon
Bill Gaffey, Tim Haley, Jeff Gaffey, Dave Jones (Bones)
Jul 25 SPAC

Elton John

setlist 		Fraternity Brothers (on way back from Long Island weekend at Pavarini's)
Marty Reagan, Mark Nalli, Les Gabriel
Sep 26 Rich

The Who

The Clash

David Johannsen setlist 		Jeff Gaffey, Nicki Butch
What a nice birthday present.
Long drive home to Rome for Jeff
Nov 2 Stan

Peter Gabriel

setlist 		Les Gabriel
(no relation to Peter)

It was a remarkably warm day in Utica NY for Nov early evening - in the 60s
and the music was hot

  • Great small venue to catch such a huge talent
  • Phil Collins is talented; I liked the first few Genesis albaums with Phil at the helm
  • Wind and Wuthering, Trick of the Tail
  • Even Phil's first couple of solo albums were pretty good.
  • And Phil is an engaging live performer.
  • But it's clear that Peter wrote and performed better material over longer period
  • And Peter's music stands up better over time (all his material still sounds good)
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1983

date venueact companions
May 28-30 Columbus NY
(Chenango-Madison County border)
  • Springfest III (Mud Fest)
  • Springfest promoter David Allen and Mark Gummer
    • The Guess Who
    • The Fixx
    • Huey Lewis and the News
    • Todd Hobin Band
    • Blotto
Cleo Nixon, Jeff Gaffey, Nicki Butch
Nov 22 Dome

Grateful Dead

stream
Eric Lessne, Dan Hunt, Ted Macomber

  • We were feeling better than we had a legal right to that night.
  • As we left the Dome I spotted a highway cone on the sidewalk
  • So naturally I picked it up and proceeded to use it as a meaphone
  • "Step right this way folks"
  • And that amused my concert mates
  • Until I brought the cone into our van and a cop approached the driver window (Eric)
  • "What are you going to do with that? shove it up your ass?"
  • He then asked Eric for his driver's license
  • What happened next was funny
  • Eric had several licenses - NY, CT,.
  • And he gave all of the licenses to the cop
  • Apparently this subterfuge worked ( or the cop couldn't be bothered)
  • He let us go
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1984

date venueact companions
May 17 Landmark

David Gilmour

setlist
May 26-28 Campground
Eaton NY
  • Springfest (Frost Fest)
Mike Roth (Hog Fest) , Jeff Gaffey, Nick Butch, Danny ?

1985

date venueact companions
Jun 27 SPAC

Grateful Dead

stream
Mike Heim

  • Remarkable things about this show
    1. Hundreds of gatecrashers running past dozens of helpless security guards
    2. Winds picked up, lightning appeared imminent yet
      • scores of concert attendees were pogo sticking up and down with their arms reaching for the sky
    3. Had to ride motorcycle home in rain
    4. by that point of the evening both my bike and myself
    5. were running like shit


excerpt from news article it was the Grateful Dead that people were buzzing about. In fact, many still do. On June 27, 1985 a massive crush of people converged onto the sloping lawn and woods behind the amphitheater; they heard The Dead play a set full of rapid-fire transitions that many would describe years later as electric, surreal and other-worldly. It was the show that drew SPAC’s largest crowd to date, possibly in part because of the attendance cap that was later put in place. With 40,231 Deadheads jamming, the concert has gone down in SPAC lore. There were makeshift tents, lots of weed, hitchhikers and even one audience member hanging off the balcony. Bobby Weir asked him to get down, at which point he fell, got up and was seemingly fine. The Dead were banned from SPAC for three years.
Oct 9 RPI Field House

Supertramp

bio
Brother Where You Bound Tour 		Mila

Despite no Roger Hodgsen, Good show.
Dec 2 Dome Genesis
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1986

date venueact companions
Jan 3 JB Scotts II

Pat Travers Band
  • setlist
    • 1. Snortin' Whiskey
    • 2. Makin' Magic
    • 3. Magnolia (J.J. Cale cover)
    • 4. Amgwanna Kick Booty
    • 5. Boom Boom (Out Go the Lights)
    • 6. Crash and Burn
    • 7. Hooked on Music
    • 8. Heat in the Street
    • 9. Hammerhead
Aug 12 SPAC

Stevie Nicks

Mila

Remember Stevie twirling around the stage in her flowing outfits.

It's possible I saw her 8/29/89 instead of this date.
Sep 24 RPI

Neil Young
Nov 15 Palace Alice Cooper
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1987

date venueact companions
  • 1987 was a busy year for me.
  • I bought a fixer upper house in April
  • Spent all summer gutting and rebuilding it
  • then moved there in September.
  • I'm sure I saw music this year but
  • have yet to find ticket stubs for this timeframe.
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1988

date venueact companions
May 13 Toronto Sky Dome

Pink Floyd

 youtube 		Jeff Gaffey, Jordan

  • Took tour bus from Rome
  • Jordan cavity searched at Canadien Border
  • Lost my glasses
Jun 24 SPAC

Jackson Browne

 Mila
Jul 23SPAC

Little Feat

, Melissa Etheridge 		Mila

  • I love Little Feat and they played well (too bad Lowell George gone by then)
  • but Melissa Etheridge blew me away. She was Janis Joplin powerfully good
  • I generally prefer harder rock but she was also the best act at Woodstock '94
Aug 6 SPAC

Aerosmith

Guns and Roses

  • GNR Setlist
  • 1. It's So Easy"
  • 2."Mr. Brownstone"
  • 3."Out Ta Get Me"
  • 4."Move to the City"
  • 5."I Was Only Joking" ("Rod Stewart" Cover) [Intro]
  • + "Patience"
  • 6."Rocket Queen"
  • 7."Slash Guitar Solo"
  • 8."Guns 'N' Roses Instrumental Band Jam"
  • 9."Paradise City"
  • 10."You're Crazy"
  • 11."Welcome to the Jungle"
  • 12."Sweet Child O' Mine"
  • 13."Used to Love Her"
  • 14."Only Women Bleed" ("Alice Cooper" Cover) [Intro]
  • + "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" ("Bob Dylan" Cover)
  • 15."It Tastes Good, Don't It?" [Encore]
Tom Zebrowski

We had inside seats for this show and a good view of the stage
Went to show to see Aerosmith and didn't expect to like GnR
(From what little I knew Axl struck me as somewhat of a dirtbag)
but GnR was impressive, even Axl, especially Slash
He had the rock star persona and the chops to back it up.

When I saw the core of GnR play in Velvet Revolver
I really gained appreciation for talent of the bassist and drummer
Note: I moved to current home in Apr 1994, most of my concert ticket stubs from 1989 - 1993 were misplaced; will need alternative means to remember these shows. Top

1989

date venueact companions
Jul 27 Palace Theatre

Joe Jackson