Over beers the other night, friends and I
were discussing great live music. In the spirit of the film High Fidelity, we began listing our all-time,
top five concerts. I couldn’t possibly limit my list to just five shows so
Instead, I tried to come up with my all-time, top five venues, which soon
became the nine top venues. In an effort to revisit some of my fondest musical
memories and make good on my promise to do more writing, I decided to put the
list down on paper. Feel free to include your favorite concert venues in the
comments section of this blog.
And now, here are....
The All-Time, Top Nine Concert Venues
In chronological order of
when I first visited each
1.
Waterloo Village, Byram Township, New Jersey
A restored 19th Century canal town with an
outdoor concert venue in the woods of northern New Jersey. A smaller venue held
concerts under a big tent. According to the link above, the future of the sight
is uncertain and there haven’t been concerts there for a few years.
Best memories of Waterloo:
James Taylor; Neil Young; Arlo Guthrie and Pete Seeger under the tent. I still
have the ticket stub they signed.
2.
Toad’s Place, New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven’s legendary rock club. As a college
student, I was in awe of this place. The walls of the venue are filled with
names of musicians that played at Toad’s. Stories of the times Bob Dylan and
the Rolling Stone made unexpected appearances add to the club’s mystique. It
seemed as if everyone played there on their way up, but as the years went by,
we seemed to think that Toad’s was attracting bands on their way down. (Don’t
know what the local opinion is these days. Anyone?)
Best memories from Toad’s Place:
(1987-1993) Big Audio Dynamite with college friends. My first show there. I
forged my ID to say I was 21 so I could get in; my first Bela Fleck & the
Flecktones show; Michelle Shocked, the Band, Taj Mahal and Uncle Tupelo
performed one evening in the fall of 1992. I remember this well because
Michelle Shocked delivered a long monolog on why we should vote for Bill
Clinton.
3.
Wetlands, New York City
The quintessential hippie/jam band live music
club. The above link is to a movie about the venue, which closed a few years
ago.
Best memories from Wetlands:
(Early to mid 1990s) First time there with my cousin Carolyn. My first Merle
Saunders show; New Riders of the Purple Sage; The old VW bus that doubled as a
merchandise booth; the basement, which was a great place to chill out during a
long night of music; hippie memorabilia everywhere; Heading back at sunrise to
sleep my parent’s place after a long night of music.
4.
Mishawaka Amphitheatre, Bellevue, Colorado
A real gem. Get there before it is too late –
there have long been rumors that this venue is closing. Outdoor venue along the
Poudre River about 20 minutes west of Fort Collins. I had been in Laramie for
about a day or so and my cousin Carolyn (She was helping me move west) and I
found out that Merle Saunders was playing at Mishawaka. What we discovered was
a restaurant/bar/outdoor concert venue down a beautiful, winding, isolated
canyon. It was supposed to be an early afternoon show but we must have hung out
for about three hours before the music started. It was one of those gloriously
cool summer days and it threatened to rain all afternoon. After quite some
time, the band decided that they wanted to move the show inside so they
enlisted the audience’s help. The show rocked and Merle called Carolyn up on
stage to play the rain stick with him. Memories like this make me feel young,
alive and in awe of the power of music performed in a beautiful venue.
Best memories of Mishawaka:
(1993-1996) My first show (Described above); Merle Saunders with Tony Fox, Big
Rick, John Martz and more of the Laramie crew on Tony’s birthday; Peter Rowan
with the Laramie crowd. I am pretty sure this was my first time swing dancing;
Koko Taylor with Deno Marcum; I don’t know why, but I will always remember the dreamy
smell of hazelnut coffee during shows at Mishawaka.
5.
Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Morrison, Colorado
Like many people, my first image of Red Rocks
is from U2’s 1983 concert video. After hearing about the venue for so many
years, I was psyched to find out that Laramie, where I was moving to for grad
school, was about two hours away.
Best memories from Red Rocks:
going to a Phish show with Deno Marcum within days of my arrival in Laramie,
1993; more Phish shows with the Laramie crew, 1994, 1995; the Allman Brother’s
Band on a full moon, 1995; Mary Chapin Carpenter, Leftover Salmon, Sam Bush and
others, 1998 (I think this concert was a preview of some of the bands playing
at Telluride Bluegrass Festival)
6.
Venues in Laramie, Wyoming
Laramie isn’t know for live music but music
was such a big part of my life at that point I couldn’t leave it out.
Some Laramie venues and fond musical
memories: Blind Dog City, one of the members of the
local blues band Blind Dog Smokin’ (http://www.blinddogsmokin.com/)
owned this bar for a while. They made a real effort to feature live music
several nights a week. Last I heard, it switched hands and is once again a
cheesy college bar; The Buckhorn, typical bar that occasionally gets music.
“The Buck” is more famous for the bullet hole in the mirror than music; Coal
Creek, coffee shop that sometimes has live music; The greatest Laramie band of
all time, the Centennial Jug Band formed by our buddy John Martz (http://www.myspace.com/unabanjo).
Any hippie jam band our Dead head friends played in; live music at Murf the
Surf’s and other bars in Centennial; Seeing the Radiators in the student union
at University of Wyoming; Being two hours from Denver and being young enough to
drive down to Denver for a show and return to Laramie the same night; Being two
hours from Denver, driving down for a show and being young enough to not care
about cramming into a cheap Denver hotel room for the night; Dancing to club
music at the Parlor Bar above the Buckhorn. Actually, it was more like watching
and making fun of the people dancing to club music at the Parlor but I am not
beyond admitting that I was seen once or twice swinging my arms over my head
chanting “Hey, ho, hey ho” as the DJ played Naughty By Nature’s “Hip Hop
Hurray.”
7.
Cat’s Paw, Bozeman, Montana
Your typical bar venue but they seldom have
live music these days. Local rumor has it that they make more money with less
hassle off of video poker, the Sunday afternoon football crowd, etc. As good as
any concert venue in Bozeman today.
Fond memories of Cat’s Paw:
Shows from the first time I lived in Montana – summer 1996 to spring 1997.
These were the days you could pay $5 to see a band on its way up like String
Cheese Incident.
A note on the Bozeman music scene: Graham with Compound Productions
is doing an awesome job bringing music to the Filling Station. Great intimate venue
featuring many bands on their way up. Don’t let the rough-around-the-edges
outside of the Filler deter you. Tom Garnsey and Vootie Productions also bring
great music to the area and Peach Street Studio offers intimate live shows in
its 50 seat recording studio. These performances often sell-out but are later
re-broadcast on Live From the Divide. Depsite these valiant efforts, Bozeman
still lacks a variety of decent concert venues. What’s up with that?
8.
Mangy Moose, Teton Village, Wyoming
If you are a skier who visited Jackson Hole
back in the day, it was impossible not to know of “The Moose.” Along with the
saddle stools at the Cowboy Bar, the Moose was probably mentioned in every
article on Jackson Hole that ever appeared in a ski magazine. A great venue if
you could ignore the obnoxious 90-day wonders.
Best memories from The Moose:
Seeing the northern lights during intermission and following a Dirty Dozen
Brass Band show, early 2000s; Robert Earl Keen with the Bozeman crew on a
frigid January night, 2007.
Note: Rumor has it that live music at the Moose has really taken a
dive. Apparently there are few live shows these days. Perhaps it’s the same
thing as the Cat’s Paw, easier to make money other way. Anyone have the beta on
the Moose?
9. New Orleans
Need I say more about one of America’s great
musical destinations? The entire city is a venue. You can find live music at clubs,
bars, theatres, the fairgrounds during JazzFest, on street corners, and all
over the place. Tipitina’s, House of Blues, Sag Harbor, the Maple Leaf, plus so
many more.
Best memories from New Orleans: JazzFest,
2001 with Tony Fox. Awesome Paul Simon performance at the Fairgrounds, probably
the greatest show I’ve seen ever. Music till the sun rose at Tipitina’s with Doctor John,
Karl Denson (Lenny Kravitz made a guest appearance) and a band or two more - the
details are fuzzy. JazzFest 2010, with Tony Fox, Big Rick, Donell & Sageev,
and Jean. Simon & Garfunkel, the Allman Brothers Band, Marcia Ball, the
Levon Helm Band, an amazing night of music in the bars and clubs and on street
corners of Frenchmen Street.
Other great American music cities I’ve been to: Austin, TX and
Nashville, TN. Where should I head next? Other than Vienna and Salzburg
Austria, which foreign cities bill themselves as a music destination?
10.
The Gorge, George, Washington
I’ve never been here but it sounds great.
It’s similar to Red Rocks but with on-site camping. How cool is that?
Best memories from The Gorge:
yet to come :)
New venue! Wilma Theatre. Just added 3.22.16. Read about it here.
New York City's City Winery. Briefly mentioned in this post (http://annvinciguerra.blogspot.com/2017/03/evening-on-highline.html) from 3.25.17
New venue! Wilma Theatre. Just added 3.22.16. Read about it here.
New York City's City Winery. Briefly mentioned in this post (http://annvinciguerra.blogspot.com/2017/03/evening-on-highline.html) from 3.25.17
Thanks for checking out my blog Nina. And thanks for sharing a link to the Melbourne venue. I always enjoy checking out basement bars/venues and if I ever make it to Melbourne I'll check this out.
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