Ticket Stub Time Travels

 6 years ago today... May 31, 2015 - Phoenix, AZ Country singer Toby Keith brought his "Good Times & Pick Up Lines" tour to Ak-Chin Pavilion. Toby played songs about beer for horses, trucks and red solo cups. His stage show included cool videos and effects on big screens. Appropriate for the Memorial Day Weekend, Toby ended the concert with a two-song encore of "American Soldier" and "Courtesy of the Red White & Blue."

 45 years ago today... May 30, 1976 - Terre Haute, IN A day trip across state lines featured our introduction to one of the greatest live rock bands ever and included a brush with the law. Driving to the Vigo County Fairgrounds for the Memorial Day Weekend "Holiday Jam" was an eventful road trip for teens in the summer before senior year. Hometown heroes R.E.O. Speedwagon headlined this day-long rock festival that included southern Illinois favorites Head East, along with UFO, Frank Marino & Mahogany Rush and an unknown to us guy named Bob Seger. With me driving, we left central Illinois headed toward the Hoosier State in the early morning, christening the trip with in-car beers. Allegedly apparently speeding through Tuscola, IL, a police car with lights flashing gets behind the Olds Cutlass to pull us over. The Einstein's riding along fired their partially-filled beer cans out the windows on to the sleepy streets of the small town in a ridiculous attempt to dump ...

 3 years ago today... May 29, 2018 - Phoenix, AZ You've Got A Friend when James Taylor and his All Star Band played Talking Stick Resort Arena downtown. As the ticket states, Bonnie Raitt was to open the show, but an illness sidelined her for the first few segments of this tour with JT. Sheryl Crow filled the slot, and joined James for duets on "Mockingbird" and "You've Got A Friend." Sheryl was good, but as major Bonnie fans, we were a bit disappointed. This was a retrospective show for Sweet Baby James, performing a greatest hits oriented set and showing historical photos and video clips on big screens over the stage. The "All Stars" in his band included drummer Steve Gadd, bassist Leland Sklar and Lou Martin, saxophone player from the Blues Brothers Band. Here's a link to the setlist: https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/james-taylor/2018/talking-stick-resort-arena-phoenix-az-13ed09a5.html

 8 years ago today... May 28, 2013 - Glendale, AZ Taylor Swift claimed that We Were Never Ever Getting Back Together during The Red Tour concert at Jobing.com Arena. It's no secret I have a crush on Taylor. She was beautiful, charming and a little goofy in this show, touring behind an album of songs of pained "red" emotions from a romance gone wrong. This album and tour defined her break from country music and a switch to pop. Of the 17 songs performed, 13 were from the Red album. Ed Sheeran opened the show and joined Taylor for a duet during her set. A solo act, Sheeran sounded like a band of many with his technique of recording his own sounds for looping playback. His ability to fill an arena with a big sound coming from just one guy was impressive. We sat in the back of the lower bowl just a few rows above the main floor. Later in the concert, Taylor left the large main stage to perform on a tiny stage in the back right in front of us, giving fans in the rear a ...

17 years ago today... May 27, 2004 - Scottsdale, AZ Country rock band Firefall played an outdoor concert in the courtyard at El Pedregal. Firefall was somewhat of a minor "supergroup," comprised of musicians who played with Flying Burrito Brothers, The Byrds, Spirit and Zephyr. The band had a string of radio hits including "You Are the Woman," "Just Remember I Love You" and "Strange Way" among others. Even with these hits, Firefall always seemed to be a "B" act, opening for more established bands and never really reaching headliner status. I saw the original band open for Allman Brothers at the Kentucky Derby Jam (May 4 TSTT). For the show at El Pedregal, a shopping and dining center near Carefree, only one original member continued to play in the band. They continue to tour the casino, fair and small festival circuit.

 28 years ago today... May 26, 1993 - Phoenix, AZ In Game 2 of the NBA Western Conference Finals, the Seattle Supersonics defeated the host Phoenix Suns 103 - 99 to even the series at 1-1 at America West Arena. Any Suns fan would recognize 1993 as the year the Suns faced off against Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls in the NBA Finals. Even though the Suns lost the game on this date, the team rebounded to win the WCF 4-3 over Seattle to advance to meet the Bulls. Ricky Pierce led the Sonics with 34 points in the win. Sam Perkins, Shawn Kemp, Gary Payton and Derrick McKee rounded out the Seattle starting lineup. Eddie Johnson, current Suns broadcaster and former 6th Man of the Year with Phoenix, was a bench player for Seattle. This was the year that Charles Barkley arrived in Phoenix and helped open the sparkling new America West Arena downtown in celebrating the team's 25th Anniversary as a franchise. The Chuckster had 24 points and 10 rebounds in this game. More important...

 27 years ago today... May 25, 1994 - Scottsdale, AZ  Combining American folk, Bluegrass and country, John Hartford played a solo club show at the Rockin' Horse Saloon in Old Town. Hartford is best known for his television appearances on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and Glen Campbell's Goodtime Hour. He is the author of "Gentle On My Mind," Campbell's biggest hit and one of BMI's Top 100 Songs of the Century. His early albums are credited with helping launch the "Newgrass" musical genre. John performed solo in this small nightclub. He had three microphones; one for vocals, one for his guitar/banjo/fiddle and one for "plywood," his homemade platform for clogging while playing. At one point during the show, he instructed the audio tech working the soundboard that he needed "more plywood." Before the show, John and his wife manned a merchandise table and he signed a photo that my college newspaper shot 15 years earlier. Hi...

 4 years ago... May 24, 2017 - Phoenix, AZ Singer/songwriter John Legend brought his "Darkness and Light" tour to Comerica Theatre. I first saw John Legend as the musical guest when I attended the taping of "Late Show with David Letterman" at the Ed Sullivan Theater in NYC in 2006. We've seen him a few times since with mixed reviews. This show was good, but not great, very clearly focused on playing most all of the new record at the expense of his older songs. His first two albums "Get Lifted" and "Once Again" from early 2000s remain his best, in my view. I like the R&B and soul on those two records. I'm not a fan of his rapping with Kanye or the overly-syrippy ballads on the newer releases.

 6 years ago... May 23, 2015 - Phoenix, AZ  The unique and outrageous stage presentation from the U2 "Innocence & Experience" tour unveiled at US Airways Center was another mind-blowing experience the band has become known for. It's hard to explain, but the set was three different stages: a big main stage at one end, a small circular stage at the other end, connected by a huge rectangular "box" stage that stretched the length of the arena floor, suspended over the crowd below including us. The band could be within the box, rocking on a catwalk with special effects and lighting that made them appear like they were within a video. We were fortunate to have main floor GA tickets and could move around somewhat to follow the action. Just thinking about this show again inspires me to find the Live DVD from this tour. Added to the Rattle & Hum, PopMart, 360, Joshua Tree and Vertigo tours that I've seen, U2 ranks as a can't miss act whenever they play ...

 2 years ago... May 22, 2019 - Phoenix, AZ Little Feat celebrated its 50th Anniversary as a rock band in a concert at The Van Buren. My favorite Feat album is "Feats Don't Fail Me Now" and they played four songs from that and a lot of their classic 70s-era material on the setlist below. Surprisingly they didn't play anything from "Let It Roll," their Gold comeback album with PPL's Craig Fuller as lead vocals. Four of the original Feat, Paul Barrere, Bill Payne, Sam Clayton and Kenny Gradney with long-time member Fred Tackett were still in the band. This would be one of the last shows from slide guitarist/vocalist Barrere, who died from liver cancer five months later. This was a rare seated-show at Van Buren, more appropriate for the mostly 50 - 70 year old demo that attended, author included, rather than the GA standing shows that are the norm there. Here's the setlist link: https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/little-feat/2019/the-van-buren-phoenix-az-6...

 34 years ago today... May 21, 1987 - Phoenix, AZ Stevie Ray Vaughan and Gregg Allman put on a concert of Texas Blues and Southern Rock at Celebrity Theatre. I had seen Gregg with his Allman Brothers several times, but this was my only chance to see and hear SRV who blew the doors off the theatre in the round. He had just released his "Live Alive" album from shows recorded in 1985 - 86, and played many of the same songs from that release. Allman opened the show. He was pretty stoned out during a lot of this post-Cher era, but had just released a surprise hit "I'm No Angel" from the album of the same name. This song provided a solo career spike. This was a great doubleheader show. Adding to the fond memory was that my partner for the concert was my late Blues-loving brother Rabs, who was also with me for the Allman Brothers Derby Eve Jam at Churchill Downs a few years earlier. We would recall the SRV/Allman concert as one of the tops we had seen together to ...

 32 years ago today... May 20, 1989 - Inglewood, CA The Phoenix Suns lost Game 1 of the 1989 NBA Western Conference Finals to the Los Angeles Lakers 127 - 119 at the Great Western Forum. As fate would have it, Lebron James' late game 3-pointer to defeat the Golden State Warriors last night puts the defending NBA Champion Lakers against the Suns in the first round of the playoffs this season. For the second-seeded Suns, it is the team's first playoff appearance in the past 10 years and a very tough opening round draw. In 1989, the Lakers would go on to sweep the Suns 4-0 and move on to the NBA Finals where they were swept in turn by Isiah Thomas and the Bad Boy Detroit Pistons. The Lakers were led by James Worthy with 32 points. Magic Johnson had a double-double with 18 points and 12 assists. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Byron Scott and A.C. Green rounded out the Lakers starting lineup. Suns point guard Kevin Johnson outperformed Magic statistically with 27 points and 18 assists in a...

 6 years ago today... May 19, 2015 - Phoenix, AZ Canadian rocker Bryan Adams celebrated the 30th Anniversary of his "Reckless" album in a concert at Comerica Theatre. In this hits-driven show, Adams played 11 songs from his LP "Reckless," a release that is arguably his most successful and includes the classic "Summer of '69" as well as "Kids Wanna Rock." This was a soft-selling show with cheap tickets available via Groupon. Bryan was unfazed by the smallest crowd, rocking out with a lengthy setlist, shown in the link below. I would rank him among Rush and The Guess Who as one of the most prominent rock & rollers coming from our neighbor to the North. https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/bryan-adams/2015/comerica-theatre-phoenix-az-2bc85cfe.html

 3 years ago today... May 18, 2018 - Phoenix, AZ Southern rockers Lynyrd Skynyrd performed in concert as part of their seemingly-endless Farewell Tour at Ak-Chin Pavilion. Under the tour title "Last of the Street Survivors," the current edition of Skynyrd drew a sold-out crowd to the outdoor amphitheater. Guitarist Gary Rossington was the only original member still rocking. Ronnie Van Zant's little brother Johnny remained the lead vocalist, carrying on for the original singer who died in the tragic plane crash of 1977. This was a long night of music, kicking off with a 30-minute show from the Outlaws, a four-song set with the closing song "Green Grass & High Tides" taking up half their time allotment. Jamey Johnson followed with an acoustic set where he was joined by one other guitarist, playing his hits "In Color" and "Mowing Down The Roses." Next up was Bad Company and the return of original singer Paul Rodgers. Bad Co performed an h...

 8 years ago today... May 17, 2013 - Tempe, AZ Recorded for television on PBS, Jerry Riopelle performed and discussed his career for "Songwriters' Showcase" at Tempe Center for the Arts. Riopelle was a star in Phoenix and Hawaii (!?!?), a regional favorite known for his annual raucous New Years Eve concert parties at Celebrity Theatre. This performance included his long time band including his son, and was filmed before an intimate audience for later playback on KAET-TV8, the local PBS affiliate. He looked good and sounded terrific in the tiny TCA theater. Along with the ticket, I'm showing the event program and stage setlist. The photo is from a year earlier at his performance at the Arizona State Centennial celebration. Jerry died from cancer on Christmas Eve 2018. He was scheduled to play his famous New Years show a week later.

 8 years ago today... May 16, 2013 - Phoenix, AZ Country music stars Miranda Lambert and Dierks Bentley presented their "Locked & Reloaded" co-headlining concert tour at Desert Sky Pavilion. A Phoenix native, Bentley opened the show with a hits-driven set pulling from each of his albums to date. His stage presentation a backdrop that included recent video clips of the metro Phoenix area. Miranda's concert included plenty of her hits, but also covers of John Prine, The Beatles and CCR. She introduced her Pistol Annie bandmates Ashley Monroe and Angaleena Presley and covered a few songs from both their past and upcoming album. Lambert's final song was "Gunpowder and Lead," a nod to the tour title. While both sets were strong, it was clear that Dierks was the lead guy in a complete band concert while Miranda was the sexy front-and-center star with the on-stage musicians in the background as bit players. Up-and-comers Joanna Smith and Randy Houser were ...

 10 years ago today... May 15, 2011 - Glendale, AZ PBS fund raising darling Yanni performed a new age concert with full symphony orchestra at Jobing.com Arena. The Greek composer, musician and conductor brought his unique marriage of orchestral music combined with electronic synthesizers to a hockey arena. He was touring behind his "Truth of Torch" album, an instrumental LP that was his first new release in eight years. My advance knowledge of Yanni was limited to his many appearances in fund raisers for Public Broadcasting Service and his marriage to Dynasty vixen Linda Evans. This show sounded like the Muzak heard in office elevators and supermarkets. I believe I stayed away for the entire show, but would not swear to it. 0 People Reached 0 Engagements Boost Post Like Comment Share