With the talk of Hammer and his band, I thought it might be interesting to see what kind of shows some of us have seen over the years. My first experience of seeing a "big" concert was Van Halen/Black Sabbath in 11/78. Went there with a friend when I spent the night over there and his parents went out for a party and we both ended up at the concert with his older brother. I knew who Sabbath was and had a few of their albums (albeit hidden, since a proper Lutheran boy didn't listen to such things), but had no idea who Van Halen were at the time. When the lights went down, Eddie, Dave and the crew rearranged every molecule in my body...it was like, "I ain't heard nothing like this before!", and I was hooked. Sabbath, on the other hand, were drunk/high and stumbled over songs...we ended up walking out.
It wasn't but a couple of months later that I saw Boston (I had their debut album for a while), and hearing Scholz live was also an experience I will never forget.
Over the coming years, I would see AC/DC (first time with Bon Scott), Van Halen again (and again), RUSH, Styx, Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, Ozzy (solo), Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and countless other shows through about 1988. Most of these shows were at an old, now non-existant venue, known as the Hollywood Sportatorium down in Broward County.
The place was really a hole, but looking back, there are so many good memories down there. Last concert I saw there was AC/DC back in 1988, which was actually supposed to be at the new Miami Arena, but the new digs weren't ready yet.
I saw a few shows here and there before I got married, and after our second son was born, I took Gina to AC/DC and Leppard at the Coral Sky down in Palm Beach County and then my concert life went dim until last year. In 2008, I took in the DLR fronted Van Halen show (something I never thought I would see again), Styx/REO/Def Leppard and RUSH. This past January, I took in the Eagles, an act I had never seen live before (and they better be good for Rick's show as well, lest I be on the lookout for him). What was cool was my oldest went to all but the Eagles show, and my middle son went to the Leppard and Eagles show, with both of them enjoying themselves and the music...guess there's hope for the future of music afterall. With the exception of the Leppard show, which was at the Hard Rock down in Hollywood, we took in all of the recent shows at the newer Jacksonville Vet Memorial Arena...man, what a difference in acoustics from the Sportatorium.
Finally, I came across some video a little while ago on youtube of the old Sportatorium being demolished in 1993. It had been damaged by Hurricane Andrew and was being encroached on by new subdivisions, so down it came. Even though I knew it was gone, it really hit home seeing the demolition equipment tearing it apart from the inside out. Doesn't hit home how big the place was until you see the equipment inside.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lWZkTHprUYAlthough I prefer to remember it like this...RUSH, early 1988 (this is a popular bootlegged DVD these days from the HYF tour) Ironicly, it was shot not all that far from where my seat was.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esJt1pgfeQcSo, what shows have you seen and what were the places like back then?
