Pittsburgh Concert Memories (Taylor: club, floor, airport)

[Gee Whiz]

With the release of Rich Engler' s New book, I thought it would be interesting to find out from posters of this forum their favorite concert memories in Pittsburgh. They can mention their favorite, any notable moments from the show, if they got backstage, saw the artist(s) at the club, at the mall, had a friend who hooked up, or any other dirt. Let's keep it to Pittsburgh, since I know people will travel to see bands they like. This the Pittsburgh forum.

[Geeo]

Picture it: Pittsburgh 1974 (or was it 73?)
A group of teenage boys venture to the Civic Arena to see Alice Cooper.
First big rock concert for most of them.
Thousands of like-minded mostly teenage boys invade downtown and the arena.
Inside, you could smoke, and not just cigarettes.
Lots of lights from what we thought was the largest stage ever. Smoke and fog coming from the floor and Alice himself coming down from the ceiling.
The concert was seen from an upper level of the arena through the haze of marijuana smoke.
Lots of drunk kids throwing up in the parking lot after the concert.
Next day my mother reads the review in the Post-Gazette with the reference to "a blue haze of marijuana smoke that hung over the Civic Arena" and proclaims: "You're never going to a concert down there again!"

[jay5835]

My most recent concert was in 2004, but it was one of my favorites, Mahler's Symphony No. 7, conducted by Mariss Jansons. Thankfully, it wasn't too crowded, so I could switch seats: the woman sitting next to my assigned seat had on way too much of some truly sour-smelling perfume.

BITD: James Taylor, Emmylou Harris, Rod Stewart, the Stones, Alice Cooper, Jethro Tull. I think these were all in Pgh, either at Civic Arena or (the preferred) Syria Mosque. I also saw CSNY at Chatham.

I ran into part of Rod Stewart's retinue at the airport the next day. I kept hoping Rod would show up, but he wasn't on our flight.

[gortonator]

My first visit to Pgh was in June 1997 (I think), and there was an outdoor show by Bad Company on a big parking lot near Station Square. I think it might be where the soccer field is now - around there anyway. It was a great gig - with I think two of original members in band, and a beautiful warm summer evening. It was my first decent-sized concert in the US, and it was great fun indeed - the crowd was wild

[Aqua Teen Carl]

Shows I've been to this year:

Dirty Heads: Pretty chilled show, they sounded good. Definitely a nice change of pace from the rowdy shows I used to go to in my younger days.

Purity Ring: Great show, great audio/visual setup. Dem synchonized glowing sound cocoons.

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros: Did not expect this huge of a crowd to show up at the Arts Festival. Crowd was really into it. A good time but honestly the band didn't sound all that great.

Station to Station: Saw a bunch of artists that ranged from interesting to incredibly terrible. Art installations were cool, food was good. But Ariel's Haunted Pink Graffiti were so bad that the people who were left either walked out or played on their phones.

Goblin: A god damn dream come true.

I guess I've been to around 100 concerts so far in my life.

[jay5835]

I just remembered the worst concert experience of my life: a free Wilco concert in Point Park, 2005ish? Nobody would stop talking. There were these three "upspeaker" girls right in front of us, and two frat guys to our left. The girls were so obnoxious, one ultimately said to whomever she'd been talking to nonstop on her phone, "OMG, they asked me to shut the **** up...yeah, they meant me..." She just would not shut up, and the two frat boys rushed at her and chased her away. She had the nerve to cry "rape," even though the only thing raped was the sanity of everyone around her, the concert experience, Wilco. I thanked the frat boys and told them we'd happily testify in their favor if need be.

I think that was my final concert. Not my last concert, my last concert ever.

[szug-bot]

Originally Posted by jay5835

I just remembered the worst concert experience of my life: a free Wilco concert in Point Park, 2005ish?

I think that was my final concert. Not my last concert, my last concert ever.

haha! was that by chance during the Three Rivers Arts Festival. That may have been Sonic Youth, too - which i saw.

i saw Jane's Addiction at the Civic Arena - the year totally escapes me, but my best guess was 2006. the first thing that comes to mind was....eroticism. it certainly was that. somehow, the band left the main stage then somehow quickly got to a very small stage in the middle of the floor.

few times could you say a rock concert was "beautiful", but this was. im sure people in other cities would say that about janes addiction's approach to their art.

[Aqua Teen Carl]

Some of the craziest stuff I've seen in my life has happened at concerts here. People jumping off of the balcony into the crowd at Club Laga, a crowd surfing trash can that hit a guy in the face and busted him wide open, a guy getting one of his dreadlocks ripped out, dudes whipping it out and urinating in the middle of a crowd, girls ending up in the pit and getting KO'd (which then stopped the show), crowds so rowdy that they broke down the stage barricade, police coming in and threatening to tear gas the crowd, people getting in fist fights and throwing laughable haymakers, and much more.

Wouldn't catch me going near that madness anymore. Say what you want about "hipsters", but those type of shows are calm and cool which is way more my speed.

[rockthecasbah121]

Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl

Some of the craziest stuff I've seen in my life has happened at concerts here. People jumping off of the balcony into the crowd at Club Laga, a crowd surfing trash can that hit a guy in the face and busted him wide open, a guy getting one of his dreadlocks ripped out, dudes whipping it out and urinating in the middle of a crowd, girls ending up in the pit and getting KO'd (which then stopped the show), crowds so rowdy that they broke down the stage barricade, police coming in and threatening to tear gas the crowd, people getting in fist fights and throwing laughable haymakers, and much more.

Wouldn't catch me going near that madness anymore. Say what you want about "hipsters", but those type of shows are calm and cool which is way more my speed.

I miss Club Laga. I think I saw Less than Jake there during the venue's next to final show. I remember having to line up on the stairs to wait to get in for all the events and the caged in over 21 area.

[Gee Whiz]

My first concert was as a fifteen year old in early December 1979 at the Civic Arena. It was The Who. Pittsburgh was the opening date on the tour. At the time, there was something called "festival seating." This was where x a amount of tickets were sold on the open floor and everybody holding this type of ticket would rush the stage as soon as the gates opened. It was a mad rush to the stage, but otherwise no problems. This was not the case the very next night at Riverfront Arena in Cincinnati. Eleven people got trampled to death in a mad rush to the stage. Festival seating was banned shortly thereafter at arena shows. All floor tickets now have an actual seat.
I tend to like small venues better, like club shows. Unless, I can get a seat very near the stage, I will not go to a show at a large venue like an arena or stadium or Star Lake. The best show I ever saw was the rockabilly/punk/rock band from Los Angeles, X, at Graffiti in 1993. They were still hot at the time and a pretty big act for Graffiti. The placed was packed like sardines and full of energy. The band was on fire and clearly John Doe, Exene Cervenka and the rest of the band were really enjoying themselves.