A glimpse at the 5 shows ‘most vivid’ in Greg’s brain
(WHNT) — Ray the Trainer of Ray the Trainer fame and I talk music all the time during workouts.
We’re about the same age and have similar taste in live music. We both saw Zeppelin and Pink Floyd. And more recently we’ve seen Gary Clark Jr. and Larkin Poe.
What happens with the people around us … is they come over to talk about concerts. It’s a bond. Everyone wants to tell the story of that magic and crazy time that set us on a trail of throwing money at tickets and shows.
One day at the gym, a guy asked me what my favorite three shows were. At the grocery store this week a guy stopped and said you should write about the “Greg Screws Top Ten Concerts” list.
I can’t do a “Top Ten.” Impossible. But some shows are as vivid now in my brain as the day after I was holding the rail at the front. So, this is a start. More on some of these shows later.
1.)Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band on the Darkness on the Edge of Town tour.
At that time in my life, I listened to mostly hard rock or metal … whatever label you want to put on it.
But Bruce has been on the cover of Time and Newsweek. What people were writing about him was just crazy. People were writing that stuff about “I’ve seen the future of rock and it’s Bruce.” I wasn’t convinced.
But that night was an epiphany. It was part rock and roll show and part southern-covered tent revival. I remember looking at Vic as we walked out and said, “I think my world just changed.”
2.) The Kinks
Raging guitars that sounded like sheet metal being torn apart. If you thought, the L-O-L-A guys were going to soft pedal a show you would be wrong. Ray Davies put on a show that had the few hundred of us there blown away. His brother and from what you read adversary at times Dave just ripped the place apart wiht his guitar.
3.)Led Zeppelin
Robert Plant and Jimmy Page truly looked large than life. The show was all that you wanted Zeppelin to be. Loud. Underline loud. Excess. Blues. Guitars. When Page went from his laser soaked solo to blasting into Achilles Last Stand it was as good as anything I have ever seen in my life.
4.)Aerosmith
The Aerosmith on the Rocks tour was very different than the Aerosmith that brought you Angel, Rag Doll, and that song from the really annoying movie about the asteroid. (After 30 minutes of that movie I was pulling for the asteroid.) Aerosmith on the Rock tour was a tour-de-force rock juggernaut. They just brough the house down with song form Rocks, Toys in the Attic, Get Your Wings, and more. Guns blazing rock music. Two years later I saw them at the VBC and it was sad. The drugs had them bad and it showed.
5.) Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit at two VBC shows.
I know. You’re saying “that’s not hard rock or metal.” Suffice it to say … Jason Isbell’s show is a rock and roll show. It’s hard to explain the Isbell/400 Unit thing. I’ve heard it say “We’re just a bunch of happy people singing sad songs. It’s the people who look happy singing happy songs you have to look out for.”
Isbell’s songs hit the core of our humanity. I’m not sure I would have listened if Isbell had been around when I was 18 or 20. But now…at this point in my life. Isbell’s songs are a revelation. His band is killer. And I would put his slide guitar skills up against anyone on the planet. He did two shows that I will never forget. In May of 2014 he did a VBC show where he did all the Southeastern album and a few years later did a show where he ended the Allman Brothers classic Whipping Post.
And as always, we leave you with the motto: Always buy the concert tickets.
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