I was a very different person as a youth and went to countless concerts.
You’d maybe think my favorite concert would be something like the California Jam in 1974. (Or the California Jam II in 1977) These were great events to attend but as concerts go they weren’t great. We had to park 3 miles away in a vineyard. (At least we didn't have to park on the freeway like lots of others did) There were lines leading into the raceway that were so long that people became inpatient and started walking on the top of the park cars to try to speed things up. (I pity anyone who parked anywhere close to the raceway) Once we were in the raceway infield, the closest we could get was approximately 2 football fields away. There were insufficient restrooms and water/food facilities to handle the crowd. (They planned for over 100,000 but end up with over 200,000 paid and countless others who didn’t) It was pretty hot for the first one in April and they had to pass out water bottles to the crowd to keep us all hydrated. After a while someone got the bright idea to start throwing these bottles. The crowd quickly got the hint. Now imagine around 10,000 water bottles all being thrown into the air at once. Also imagine being in the middle of close to 250,000 people and needing to go to the restroom or the guys having bad acid trips walking around naked.
As a youth I enjoyed it, but as I look back on it now, not so much.
No, for me my favorites were Led Zeppelin at the L.A. Forum (1977) or the Moody Blues at the L.A. Forum (Not sure of the year)
P.S. The B-52s at the Hollywood Palladium (1982) was fun.
Another good one was when we saw ACDC as an opening act for ZZ Top at the Long Beach Arena in 1975. This was when they were not very well known here in the US and Bon Scott was still the lead singer. We sat close to the stage but right in front of the speakers. My ears still ring from that concert.
I'll say it again, I was a very different person in my youth.
The one time I was going to see the Who was at Anaheim Stadium and it is the Best Concert I Never Saw. We arrived the night before and stayed in the parking lot. We indulged in a number of pre-concert activities
for quite a few hours before trying to catch a few winks around 2:00 A.M. We woke around 5:00 and were in line at 6:00 A.M. (It was already 90 degrees.
) We waited in line for a few of hours and it was now somewhere north of a 100 degrees
and we're jammed together like sardines so it seemed even hotter.
I was in perfect health but some of my concert activities
from the night before were starting to react badly with the heat and my lack of sleep. Within a half hour they were rushing me to the hospital.
They weren't able to determine what caused the reaction but there were plenty of things that it could've been. With all the "activities" I partook in, it could've been a whole lot worst than just taking a trip to the hospital and missing a concert.
