When the “Free For All” album was released, it instantly became one of my favorites, and in an era when most everyone was making mix tapes of their favorite rock and roll tunes, I remember that I roamed around town blasting the entire album from beginning to end on the boom box (with stereo sound!) my future father in law had picked up for me somewhere in Manhattan.
The first time I saw Ted Nugent live he performed with Lynyrd Skynyrd at the Nassau Coliseum. If memory serves me correctly, I was supposed to see the two bands appear together again, but the Skynyrd plane crash tragedy happened first and Nugent headlined the Madison Square Garden concert himself with , I believe, AC/DC opening.
This August, 1995 show is memorable primarily because Bad Company opened, but without Paul Rodgers on vocals. Rodgers had left the band sometime before this tour happened, but BadCo continued on with a new vocalist and album to promote. They were still good, but Paul Rodgers is a special front man with an iconic voice so it was not nearly the same band. Ted Nugent will play the Paramount in Huntington this coming August, with the great Greg Smith on bass; Ted does not tour during hunting season so the animal kingdom will be safe for a time while Nugent provides yet another rock and roll sonic assault on our ear drums this summer.

Dog Eat Dog

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GQ

Following the Saturday night Chicago concert at Jones Beach, the Allman Brothers Band returned to the Long Island on a Wednesday in August, 1995, this time with Rusted Root opening.
The Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia passed away on the same day, Wednesday, August 9, 1995.
The Grateful Dead had scheduled a performance at Giants Stadium and I remember having heard an advertisement for the show on the radio and thinking that maybe I should attend as I had not seen the band in awhile. Alas, it was not meant to be as Mr. Garcia died unexpectedly. Since that time I have seen a variety of Dead incarnations out on tour to include Bob Weir, Phil Lesh & Friends, and the John Mayer “Dead” but the grateful road has never been quite the same without Jerry Garcia.

One Way Out

Go to Heaven

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GQ

Chicago played the Jones Beach Theatre on a Saturday night in August, 1995 with Eric Stewart opening.

Saturday in the State Park

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GQ

I somehow missed R.E.M. when they played at my alma mater Queens College while on the “Murmur” tour, but I did catch them at Madison Square Garden supporting the “ Monster” album on Saturday, June 25, 1995 thanks to my buddy Pat from the Video Connection hooking me up with a pair in the orchestra to the left of the stage. The “Monster” album was a harder rock version of the punk band and it played well in the arena setting. It was a great show with Michael Stipe playing the thinking man’s new wave rock star front man. The orchestra seats at the world’s most famous arena were tremendous, and a Madison Square Garden event is always special, making for a top shelf rock and roll night out with my wife watching R.E.M. perform quite possibly at its zenith.

Crush with Eyeliner

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GQ

The H.O.R.D.E. Festival arrived at the Jones Beach Theatre on September 1st of 1994 with the Allman Brothers Band headlining the Blues Traveler’s traveling road show. I would always go to see the Allman Brothers Band perform in the New York anytime they were playing nearby and they played the New York City vicinity a lot. Fortunately for me, the Allman Btothers Band was a group I never had to convince my wife to come along with me to see as she is (thankfully) a big fan also. My research indicates the 1994 incarnation of the H.O.R.D.E. Festival included acts Dave Matthews Band, Sheryl Crow and the Black Crowes as being part of the larger bill that summer, although not necessarily at every show. The Blues Traveler is about to embark on an anniversary tour, the Robinson Brothers have a reconstituted Black Crowes line up out on the road following numerous Covid postponements the past couple of years with an acoustic duo set performance as Birds of a Feather at last year’s Newport Folk Festival; the ageless Sheryl Crow continues to rock out here, there and everywhere.

Run-Around

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GQ

The Beach Boys played the Jones Beach Theatre with America on a Saturday night in August, 1994 making for a great summer night at the beach. My favorite “Beach Boys performing at the Jones Beach Theatre” memory, and I do not recall 100% if it was this show or another, was sitting with my wife in the rear orchestra to the right of the stage when the Beach Boys brought the USC cheerleaders out on stage wearing their cheerleading outfits and with pompoms. Now USC cheerleaders are not your average college cheerleaders as they vaguely resemble Las Vegas chorus girls. At the time, and even now, I thought bringing the USC cheer team on tour with the band was complete genius for somewhat obvious reasons. I believe Carl Wilson was still touring with the band at the time as he did not pass away from lung cancer until 1998. I read Mike Love’s autobiography which sort of explained why he continues to tour with a Beach Boys line up to this day. Brian Wilson will also be on tour this summer opening for Chicago; I am not expecting much from Brian as when I last saw him perform at the Westbury Music Fair a few years ago, along with Jeff Beck, Wilson looked completely shot, and he even had trouble navigating through the crowded half round stage set up with equipment for both bands on the bill that evening after his set was done. At the time there were rumors of a Jeff Beck and Brian Wilson collaborative project which I do not think ever materialized, but somehow probably prompted the Westbury concert, but they did not perform together that night.

Wouldn’t It Be Nice

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GQ

Giants Stadium is not the greatest venue to see a concert, particularly coming from Long Island, but we ventured out to see the Eagles with opener Sheryl Crow on a Wednesday in August, 1994. I believe it was this particular show where I remember that the Eagles tacked a one dollar surcharge onto the parking fee to go toward their favorite charity, which still ticks me off to this day. For me, it was the height of pomposity coercing your fans to donate to a charity while entering the parking lot; as I recall, not donating was not an option- it was incorporated into the parking fee. If the band felt so charitable, they should have donated a portion of their proceeds, not taken the money out of the pockets of ticket holders. Granted, it was”only” a dollar, but I believe my dislike for Don Henley may have begun in earnest that day in August, 1994. The Eagles have so many hits, recognizable songs and the “Hotel California” album is arguably one of the great musical works of all time, but the greed of Henley and Frey is annoying and somewhat legendary. The band is coming around, yet again, to the New York area, this time to the UBS Arena at Belmont Park, on the never ending Hotel California tour. Even the untimely passing of Glenn Frey could not slow down the Eagles money grab as they have enlisted Frey’s son to seemingly assuage whatever guilt they may have had with continuing without Glenn. Don Henley solo is not the draw of an “Eagles” tour and at the end of the day money talks. With still no Don Felder in the mix, the slice of the financial pie is that much more enticing for the remaining members.
For this Giants Stadium tour, Sheryl Crow was a really popular, relatively new, artist and touring in support of her debut album “ Tuesday Night Music Club”; we sat about half way up to the left of the stage. Unbelievably Ms. Crow turned 60 last month.

All I Wanna Do

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GQ

On a Friday night in Sugust, 1994, and a day after catching Lou Reed and Peter Gabriel at the Beacon Theatre, I traveled to Giants Stadium to see the Counting Crows open for The Rolling Stones; I believe this would qualify as being a good week.
Question- Could The Rolling Stones have recorded and released the “ Some Girls” album in today’s politically correct environment?; feel free to discuss.

Shattered

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GQ

Two of my all time favorite artists joined forces for a one-off benefit concert at the Beacon Theatre on Thursday, August 11, 1994. I had a solo seat way up front in the orchestra section to the far right of the stage. Lou Reed opened, followed by Peter Gabriel who I recall created a smoke effect at the front of the Beacon stage with a roadie aiming a fire extinguisher up toward him. The set lists escape me, but I was there to see two of the greats play on the same night at the iconic New York City concert venue, and it came with a unique, pretty cool flyer handed out regarding the show.

Dirty Boulevard

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GQ

The Love Rocks Benefit Concert held at the Beacon Theatre this past Thursday, March 10, 2022 was absolutely phenomenal from the beginning, with emcee Bill Murray, and Ben Harper performing “When the Levee Breaks”, to the group finale of Bob Dylan’s “ Like a Rolling Stone”.The concert clocked in at just a shade under 4 hours and there are too many highlights to mention. I had never attended this particular benefit show before but when I saw that Keith Richards& the X-Pensive Winos were reuniting after thirty years, where I last saw them play at the Beacon Theatre, I knew I had to go. It has been awhile since I drove into Manhattan for any reason whatsoever, but my wife and I rolled the dice driving in from Long Island; the traffic was not horrible and amazingly I managed to park on the street about three blocks from the Beacon. As we sat down in the rear orchestra to the left of the stage, the lights went off and the concert began; perfect. All of the artists on hand played two or three songs, they were all aiming to impress and there were quite a few cover songs performed throughout the night. Keith Richards & the X-Pensive Winos were the “headliners” but surprisingly performed in front of the house band set- up about two thirds of the way into the show. “999” off of Main Offender, The Rolling Stones “ You Got the Silver” and finishing with the classic “Before They Make Me Run”; it was a relatively short set leaving you wanting more, but clearly a nice fit in this well choreographed ensemble show. The great Mavis Maples came on relatively early on performing a Talking Heads tune and Staples Singers classic and then Mavis was gone for the evening. Mellissa Etheridge followed both Mavis and Keith near the end with the Beatles’ “ Come Together” and one of her own tunes. Hozier sang Tom Petty’s “ Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around with the unbelievably talented Allison Russell, and then he later on during his own set performed David Bowie’s “Changes”. An unannounced bearded Jackson Brown came on near the end snd played “Running On Empty” with the phenomenal house band that included Larry Campbell. A variety of other artists were mixed in throughout the evening making it just a great night and one of the best concerts I have attended in years. The concert was live streamed so there is great video on YouTube to check out.

Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo

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GQ