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U2, Joshua Tree Tour 1987.

When I was a student at UT-Austin I worked at the Frank Erwin Center(FEC)  in security so I worked a lot of concerts.  At the time I worked out a lot so I was always in front of the stage or off to the side of the stage.

For this particular event I worked it all day.  The whole day was electric with people showing up that did not even have tickets talking/flirting with the roadies, etc. trying anything to get in the doors.  Once the concert started you could feel the energy in the place.  During one song Bono asked the crowd if anyone would like to play along with them? He held an electric guitar out over the edge of the stage and hundreds of hands reached for it.  He legitimately asked a random guy up on the stage.  He stood next to the guy and showed him where to hold his hands and to casually strum the strings.  Once he did that he stepped away.  The guy then ripped into the song and began playing the song like a Guitar Hero complete with moving around the stage.  Bono and the band stopped what they were doing and stood there in amazement.  The people in the audience were going wild.  Bono finally stops the guy and basically said that they do that bit at all of the concerts and that is the first time that they had actually randomly selected someone that new how to play.  Bono asked the guy what his story was.  Come to find out the guy was in a student at UT and was in a local band that occasionally played on 6th Street.  Bono said that it was a fantastic moment and bowed to the guy and said, "I salute you". This just made the crowd to totally loose it again.  The rest of the concert was great.  Once the last song was sung, people were still singing that song as they exited the building.

With the concert ending I went to my new post which was to the door where the artist entered the FEC at the back.  There were hundreds of people gathered back there hoping to see the band as they exited the building in their limos.  Some time passed and suddenly the overhead doors opened and the limos dashed out with almost all of the people chasing after them.  The doors went back down.  There were maybe 20-30 people that had not chased after the cars.  About another 5 minutes or so passed and then out walks the members of U2 from a side door to signed autographs and to take pictures with the faithful that had stayed there.  As a security team member I was walking around with the group.  They hung out with the fans for about 45 minutes.

Later that night U2 went down to Antone's in Austin and played a set with the local house band.

Too bad cell phones were not around then or I would have had some great pics and videos.  The only thing that I have to mark that occasion is a black U2 Joshua Tree concert t-shirt that has the date and SECURITY written across the back of it.  My kids wore the t-shirt when they had an "80's" dress up day while in high school.

That is my best concert and I actually got paid to go to it!

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Front row, Chris Knight concert, maybe 150 people tops. The man played a hour and half straight without stopping. Just hit after hit, with a couple personal fave deep cuts thrown in. 

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Best I can do is a Top 5, though it's liable to change by day and by mood:

1.) October 19, 1991: Nirvana at Trees (Dallas)
2.) November 20, 1993: Pearl Jam at SFA (Nacogdoches)
3.) June 9, 2003: The Flaming Lips at Bricktown Center (Oklahoma City)
4.) September 23, 2002: Interpol at Gypsy Tea Room (Dallas)
5.) July 5, 1998: Pearl Jam at Reunion Arena (Dallas)

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  • 5 months later...
On 7/24/2019 at 5:12 PM, AKA said:

Best I can do is a Top 5, though it's liable to change by day and by mood:

1.) October 19, 1991: Nirvana at Trees (Dallas)

I've been to a few concerts at Trees.  Nice little joint IMO.  Angry Dog was some good, cheap grub a couple blocks away.  Saw Monster Magnet at Trees and some of the 80's hair bands like Dangerous Toys, Bang Tango, Lynch Mob.  Every one of the bands I saw came out about 15 minutes after playing and took pics, did autographs, ect.

I am jealous of your Nirvana and Pearl Jam viewings 

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13 hours ago, Red90fly said:

I am jealous of your Nirvana and Pearl Jam viewings 

Dumb luck, really...  I was, by no means, hip enough to be into "Grunge" that early. I was only able to attend those shows due entirely to the intervention of an older (and cooler) relative who brought me along with him. 

Suffice to say, I definitely got on-board the Alternative Rock train immediately after. Traded in my Guns 'N Roses t-shirt for flannel and Doc Martins.    :D  

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The best concert I've ever seen was the Tesla/Queensryche/Def Leppard concert at Hirsch Memorial Coliseum "In the Round/In Your Face" Tour.  Tickets were $15 , and it was a sold out show on November 14, 1987.  I arrived early, because back then it was first come first serve seating.  There were no seats on the floor.  You could get as close to the stage as the gates that surrounded the stage.  That's where I made my first mistake.  While my fiancee and I were only about 12 people from the stage for Tesla and Queensryche who faced the south towards I-20, Def Leppard came out facing north.  I'm not sure if the rotation device for Rick Allen's drumset was broken or if it wasn't able to rotate,  but they were facing north.  I wanted to see them with a direct view, and not from the backside so we moved around  by that time we were at least 120 to 140 people back by the soundstage.  I had seen Metallica/Ozzy Osbourne on the same tour that a bomb threat was sent to the Oil Palace that cancelled the show,  Tesla/David Lee, Glass Tiger/Journey, Poison/RATT, and Cinderella/ Bon Jovi had also performed that year for their albums that were released in 1986.  None of them had the emotion and sound that Def Leppard brought to Hirsch that night.  It was the first time that I had ever seen the entire crowd including those in the rafter seats standing and holding up lighters for "Bringing on the Heartbreak".  This footage in Denver is the same setlist and epitomizes what I saw in Shreveport that night.  Unfortunately they took down the entire concert, but this is the quick opening. :  

It was an amazing concert to say the least.  

 

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13 hours ago, DaveTV1 said:

The best concert I've ever seen was the Tesla/Queensryche/Def Leppard concert at Hirsch Memorial Coliseum "In the Round/In Your Face" Tour.  Tickets were $15 , and it was a sold out show on November 14, 1987.  I arrived early, because back then it was first come first serve seating.  There were no seats on the floor.  You could get as close to the stage as the gates that surrounded the stage... 

 . . . 

Cinderella/ Bon Jovi had also performed that year for their albums that were released in 1986.  None of them had the emotion and sound that Def Leppard brought to Hirsch that night.  It was the first time that I had ever seen the entire crowd including those in the rafter seats standing and holding up lighters for "Bringing on the Heartbreak".  

My parents went to that same Def Leppard concert at Hirsch, and they'd also brought me (and my little brother) to that Bon Jovi/Cinderella concert where Cinderella totally blew Bon Jovi off the stage. Jon's voice was shot that night, and the band seemed to be just going through the motions. But Cinderella was freakin' amazing. 

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11 hours ago, AKA said:

My parents went to that same Def Leppard concert at Hirsch, and they'd also brought me (and my little brother) to that Bon Jovi/Cinderella concert where Cinderella totally blew Bon Jovi off the stage. Jon's voice was shot that night, and the band seemed to be just going through the motions. But Cinderella was freakin' amazing. 

I have a story about the Night Songs/Slippery When Wet concert at Hirsch.   I'm a Bob Uecker type when it comes to concerts, and I like to be as close to the stage as I possibly can.  I actually used S&H Green Stamps to pay for the entire trip.  Back then they would give you money for the books.  My Momma had been saving them for years since we last used them.  So I drug out the collection, and began pasting them with a sponge and water.  I had enough books to cash them in for around $75.  That's a lot of money back in 1986 especially for a 17 year old teenager.  Tickets $30 for the show, $10 gas that was a full tank back then, $15 concert t-shirt, $10 for a stop at McDonalds on the way home.  We head to the show on February 10, 1987 right after getting out of school.  We arrived around 5:30 pm, and we're one of the first in line to enter.  My fiancee and I go directly to the floor, she had a crush on Jon.  Cinderealla comes out, and If I remember right "Night Songs" was the first song of their set.  There is only one line of people ahead of us, and they are putting on the performance as you that was great.  I don't know if she didn't eat lunch that day, or if it was vertigo, but she passes out.  I catch her, and the people around us help lift her over the gate, and they take her backstage.  This is before cell phones or pagers mind you.  Well, what am I supposed to do.  I have to find her, to make sure she's safe.  I leave immediately make my way through the sold out crowd.  I begin looking for someone with security, and they lead me to the west side of the building.  About 15 minutes later she shows up escorted by security.  We missed half their set, plus half of Bon Jovi's set.  I'm going well this is great.  We made our way back to the floor, and were around the same spot we were at with the Def Leppard concert.  Lights go out, and the next thing I know Bon Jovi is about 10 feet away on the high rise at the back of the floor.  He tells a story about growing up and breaks into "Never Say Goodbye"  then they "fly" him back to the stage with a trapeze contraption.  I was so upset with her, but that was the highlight of that concert.  I'll never know why she passed out, but that's what ruined that concert for me.  

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On 1/7/2020 at 7:37 AM, AKA said:

My parents went to that same Def Leppard concert at Hirsch, and they'd also brought me (and my little brother) to that Bon Jovi/Cinderella concert where Cinderella totally blew Bon Jovi off the stage. Jon's voice was shot that night, and the band seemed to be just going through the motions. But Cinderella was freakin' amazing. 

Love Cinderella.  Underrated 80's band and Night Songs is one of my favorite albums from the 80' hair bands.  I saw them later on after they'd been around a while at the HOB in Dallas.

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Alvin Lee and Ten Years After at Fort Worth Convention Center (Also Bo Diddley)

Jethro Tull at Fort Worth Convention Center

Uriah Heep at Moody Coliseum

Lynyrd Skynyrd and Charlie Daniels at Dallas Memorial Auditorium

Willie Nelson at several of his picnics

Yes at Fort Worth Convention Center

Denim at Armadillo World  Headquarters

Rusty Weir at Hernando's in Tyler

Doobie Brothers at Dallas Convention Center (first concert)

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  • 2 weeks later...
42 minutes ago, MUSTANGMANIA said:

Well If you've never sat through a Texxas Jam in the summertime in  Texas, you've missed out!!

TEXJAM86.jpg

I was too young to be allowed to go to any of them, but I know people who did.  I was told they were some of the best by those that attended.  

 

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15 hours ago, MUSTANGMANIA said:

Well If you've never sat through a Texxas Jam in the summertime in  Texas, you've missed out!!

TEXJAM86.jpg

Oh man, that's an EPIC lineup! Eddie Van Halen vs. Ronnie James Dio! Awesome!  

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