I’ve gone to many concerts in my life (since 1970). I’ve seen some of the bigger touring acts and some that were one hit wonders and were never heard from again. I’ve gone back through and compiled a list. I wanted to write it down somewhere before time caused me to forget who I’d seen.
These are the bands/artists I’ve seen over the last 53 years (I might have missed a few). I’m sorry now that I missed going to concerts for a number of years when my kids were small. It wasn’t my focus during those years.
- Trace Adkins
- Aerosmith
- Bachman Turner Overdrive
- Blue Oyster Cult
- Bon Jovi
- Phil Collins
- Alice Cooper
- Deep Purple
- Def Leppard
- Brett Eldredge
- Melissa Etheridge
- The Firm
- Five Finger Death Punch
- The Fixx
- A Flock of Seagulls
- Vince Gill
- Great White
- Sammy Hagar
- Heaven
- Bruce Hornsby and the Range
- Huey Lewis and the News
- Billy Idol
- Iron Maiden
- Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
- Journey
- Judas Priest
- Kiss
- Krokus
- Loverboy
- Barry Manilow
- Meat Loaf
- Metallica
- Kim Mitchell
- Eddie Money
- The Moody Blues
- Maren Morris
- Mötley Crüe
- Gilbert O’Sullivan
- Orion the Hunter
- Ozzy Osbourne
- Brad Paisley
- The Police
- Poison
- REO Speedwagon
- Quiet Riot
- The Scorpions
- Tesla
- Keith Urban
- Van Halen
- Virginia Wolf
- Waysted
- Whitesnake
- Yes
In 2023, I will add Ghost (with Amon Amarth opening), Pat Metheny and Lou Gramm to this list. We already have our tickets purchased for all three shows. My wishlist still includes Barenaked Ladies and Foo Fighters (I had Foo Fighters tickets and then Covid happened).
I’ve been to shows with my cousin, my brother, my mom (Phil Collins), my husband and my sons. Most of the concerts were entertaining and enjoyable. Def Leppard, Judas Priest, Alice Cooper and Keith Urban put on excellent shows. I think the loudest band I ever saw was the Scorpions, but maybe that was because I was standing right in front of a speaker (my ears rang for days). The one I enjoyed the least was Aerosmith (I went because my cousin wanted to see them, and I was bored and didn’t find them interesting at all). We saw Huey Lewis at a small local bar when he was just starting out, and he was great. The only bad experience we ever had was Rod Stewart and the Faces (there’s a reason he’s not on the list – my cousin and I left before he even started! We were only 10 and 11, and we were terrified by our first live concert experience. The lights went down, the crowd rushed the stage, Blue Oyster Cult came on, pot smokers lit up all around us, and we got the hell out of there. We were so naive). Luckily, that bad experience didn’t stop us from trying again.
I hope to add to this list as the years go by. Even with bad social anxiety, live concerts are still my thing.
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