Concerts: hits and misses

A friend and former high school and college classmate recently shared some of her most memorable concert experiences on Facebook. It was very interesting to read, and got me thinking of some of my concert experiences:

First Concert(s) - When we lived in New York City, my mother would bring my brother and me to theaters where Spanish-language singers would perform in between movies. I don't recall any of their names, but they were good! In 1967, my stepfather and I saw Herb Alpert perform in a Central Park bandshell on a rainy night. My first rock 'n' roll show was The Rolling Stones concert during their six-night stand in June 1975 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. I'll always remember hearing the first chords of "Honky Tonk Women" as a five-pointed star containing individual members of the band opened up on stage.

Last Concert - Bob Dylan at the Beacon Theatre in New York the day after this past Thanksgiving, on November 29, 2019. At 78 years of age, he put on a great show for his fans, many of whom chanted "Let's go, Dylan!" before his encore, like New York Rangers fans at a Madison Square Garden hockey game.

Best Concert - David Byrne at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, New Jersey on September 7, 2018. I heard he put on a great show, but was simply blown away by the quality of the music and choreography. For weeks, I described the concert to family and friends as being like a Broadway show. Of course, it was: Less than 15 months later, David Byrne's American Utopia -- very similar to the show my wife and I saw at Monmouth -- had a four-month engagement at the Hudson Theatre on Broadway. You can see it until February 16!

Worst Concert - REM at the Capitol Theatre in Passaic, New Jersey, October 12, 1984. I liked the songs I heard on the radio from this up-and-coming band, who I read were on the verge of becoming rock 'n' roll geniuses. And they did indeed go on to great things. But they were a huge disappointment the only time I saw them in concert! Michael Stipe sang with his back to the audience much of the night and there was little energy coming from the band during the concert. Years later, I heard Stipe was very shy at that stage of his career.

Loudest Concert - THE RAMONES, HANDS DOWN! They were so loud at the Capitol Theatre in Passaic on February 10, 1979, that my girlfriend and I left before the concert ended because our ears were hurting. Seriously! I had a ringing sound in my ears for days, and it's a minor miracle I did not suffer permanent hearing damage because of that show. For years afterward, however, I did wear cotton in my ears to shows at the Capitol Theatre.

Seen The Most — I've seen Bob Dylan 19 times. Amazingly, I've seen him in 18 different venues, starting at the Hartford Coliseum on November 24, 1975. The only place I've seen Dylan twice in is the Beacon Theatre in New York City. And, if he returns there for another series of concerts around this Thanksgiving Day, I will see him a third time at the Beacon Theatre.

Next Concert - Probably one of the many free concerts in Long Branch's West End Park on a Sunday night or Pier Village on a Thursday night shortly after Memorial Day. My wife and I enjoy seeing as many of these shows as possible each summer and are fortunate we can just walk to them.

Most Fun Concert — This is the hardest of all to pinpoint. But I don't think the fun I had at a concert headlined by Yes in Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City on July 25, 1975, was ever topped. It was one of the few shows in which the opening act, Ace (of "How Long Has This Been Going On" fame), was actually better than the main act. Of course, being able to enter the venue with friends carrying a spiked watermelon contributed to the fun! Tomorrow, however, I may remember a different concert that was even more fun.

Regret Not Seeing — Missing James Brown, Tito Puente, and Celia Cruz are my biggest regrets. My wife did get to see Celia in concert at the Tropicana Casino and Resort in Atlantic City on June 1, 2002, though, and told me all about it. And then there's Woodstock. I was working at a summer camp in upstate New York in August 1969 and signed up to go to the concert for a day with some camp counselors and other staff. They blew me off and went without me, however, because I was 5-10 years younger than most of them. We didn't see them back at the camp for days!

Thank you, Patrice Keegan, for inspiring me to share some of my concert hits and misses. I will always remember our trek to Hartford, Connecticut with friends in my Ford Thunderbird to see the Rolling Thunder Revue show with Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and cast that November night in 1975!

Patti Smith

Asbury Park boardwalk. August 5, 1978. A damp afternoon was turning to evening. Inside a candy store, a few young people shadowed a woman wearing a brown jacket, hat and boots. The woman was Patti Smith, in town for a concert just a few doors away.

"Wow, I can tell I'm back in Jersey," Patti said to the fans around her, almost giggling. "The salt water taffy gives me pimples."

A few hours later, wearing the same brown jacket, hat and boots, Patti strolled on to the Asbury Park Convention Hall stage to the applause of a crowd already ignited by a stirring opening set by The Ramones. And, she squirted lighter fluid on them, figuratively, with a set that included "Because the Night," co-written by Bruce Springsteen and heard on many radio stations that year.

Less than a year later, shortly after the release of her fourth album, Wave, Patti Smith ended the first of her two sets at the Capitol Theatre in Passaic by saying, "I'm going backstage, eating a roast beef sandwich, and I'll be back."

She returned for her second set and, after a few minutes, told the crowd, "Oh, sh*t, I forgot my roast beef sandwich!" At the end of the concert, she waved goodbye. It proved to be a long goodbye -- she waited nine years before releasing her next album and some more before touring again.

Fast forward to December 15, 1995. Opening for Bob Dylan at The Electric Factory in Philadelphia, Patti Smith walked on stage as her band began to play and started singing and dancing barefoot. The crowd applauded her set, and cheered when she came back later in the evening to join Dylan on a duet of "Dark Eyes," which she ended by planting a kiss on her hero's cheek.

Patti Smith returned to concert touring this year, scheduling dozens of dates in the U.S. and Europe, where the popularity of this New Jersey-born Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee seems highest these days. On Friday night, she came back to her home state for a performance at the State Theatre in New Brunswick. Anyone who thought being 65 years old and on stage with her daughter would mellow the godmother of punk were proved wrong. Patti is still "outside of society...where I want to be," per the lyrics of one of her most popular and controversial songs.

She was in fine voice, despite her claim that the humidity was having an adverse effect on her singing. She danced on stage and even ventured into the crowd a couple times to dance with her fans. She spat out lyrics -- literally, at times -- with the same passion she showed at shows 30-40 years ago, and pleaded with fans to "Vote! Vote! Vote!" at the conclusion of "People Have the Power."

At one point during the New Brunswick concert, the predominantly 50+ crowd got particularly boisterous, yelling at Patti and at each other. She paused to listen, and asked, "Is there something controversial going on?" After the cacophony died down for a moment, she looked up at a heckler and yelled, "If you got a problem, come on down so I can give you a hundred dollars to get the f*ck out of here!"

She played some guitar, and ended the show by purposely breaking strings in a way that would've impressed Pete Townsend. She talked about the effect the pending arrival of Sandy was having on her body, and told stories about attending a scary movie in a New Jersey theater, hanging outside CBGB in New York, and a concert at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall that she'll always remember for many wrong reasons.

"This has been some night," Patti said before walking off the State Theatre stage at the end of her two-hour set on Friday night. "I'll never forget this show."

Nor will I and many others.