TOP 3 most memorable 80's Arena Rock concerts you've been

[Jeff Hilligan]

79 VH opens for Bob Seger in Bay City MI at a high school football field.

81 Fair Warning at Wings Stadium in Kalamazoo

88 Kings X, Blue Murder and Billy Squire

 

[The Big Snit]

Ozzy Diary of A Madman with Randy Being right in front of Randy all nite was AWESOME!!

Damn! Nothing could top that for me.

I hate big hair bands...then and now...I did however know Randy Rhoads, my band in the late 70's (Arch Rival) shared the bill with QR a few times and I hung with him and a couple of other guys at the Starwood a few times..

Learning to play Randy's two albums with Ozzy is what got me into playing guitar back in high school...I actually think of him as my teacher.


RIP

 

[The Big Snit]

1981 - VH Fair Warning Tour, LA Sports Arena 'nuff said...

That's the one I wish I'd seen...clips and vids I've seen from that tour are his best tone and playing IMO.
Fair Warning is by far my favorite VH CD.

 

[Chubtone]

Best show I ever saw was Ozzy with Rhoads on the Blizzard tour on my 15th birthday. I had been playing for four years already and Randy was my favorite. Seeing him live was just incredible and the hugeness of his live tone is something I remember to this day. Def Leppard opened and they kicked ass too.

As for the other two. I have seen almost everyone and am probably jaded because I can't pick out a 2nd and a 3rd. I have seen way too many great shows.

 

[tnourse]

- Iron Maiden (Powerslave) w/Twisted Sister opening
- Judas Priest (Defenders of the Faith) w/Great White opening
- Dio ( Sacred Heart) w/Rough Cutt opening
-AC/DC (Fly on the Wall) w/ Yngwie Malmsteen opening
-Monsters of Rock (Kindom Come, Scorpions, Dokken, Metallica and VanHalen)
-Metallica (Master of Puppets) w/Armored Saint opening
-Scorpions (Love at First Sting) w/Bon Jovi opening

Sorry...this is WAY more than 3!! I saw a lot of great shows back in the day!!

 

[70strathead]

79 VH opens for Bob Seger in Bay City MI at a high school football field.

81 Fair Warning at Wings Stadium in Kalamazoo

88 Kings X, Blue Murder and Billy Squire

NICE!!!! = the Billy Squire ; )

 

[70strathead]

1980 - VH World Invasion tour, LA Sports Arena 'nuff said...
1981 - VH Fair Warning Tour, LA Sports Arena 'nuff said...
1986 - Ozzy/Metallica, Long Beach Arena - Ultimate Sin Ozzy w/Jake (great!) and Metallica still blew them off the stage

Steve

Indeed bro! damn I heard the 80' VH invasion tour was sick! Ozzy/metallica- Although Jake was really ill at the show but San Diego was where he grew up so he managed to still put on a great performance in his hometown. I didnt even know what metallica was to be honest!

 

[Greazygeo]

Ozzy Diary of A Madman with Randy Being right in front of Randy all nite was AWESOME!!

Damn! Nothing could top that for me.

Gen admission shows rock!! I'd been playing gtr for a year or so and was really into Randy's playing....being blown away is an understatement.

 

[Greazygeo]

#2 Ozzy Diary of A Madman with Randy Being right in front of Randy all nite was AWESOME!!

You lucky bastard! Thats too cool!

Yep! I still have the ticket stub somewhere.

 

[Gitfiddler]

GNR in 1990 First big arena tour. Skid Row opened

 

[Echoes]

Learning to play Randy's two albums with Ozzy is what got me into playing guitar back in high school...I actually think of him as my teacher.
RIP

Randy wasn't into playing the same style as with Ozzy...he was into major scale power pop which was what Quiet Riot did...videos of him do not do justice to knowing him and just experiencing the facility with which he approached the guitar...I have met dozens of the top guitarists and have yet to meet or see anyone that is as impressive and charismatic a musician as Randy was. There are alot of guys that are technically better but no one has the complete package that Randy had...it was apparent right after you saw him in action...that is why Ozzy hired him on the spot while he was noodling and tuning his guitar I have not met anyone like him since.

 

[BURNTHISCORPSE]

Metallica on justice tour with queensryche opening.
priest on painkiller with megadeth opening(rust in piece tour)

there are many others but thats as close to the 80's as i could get.

 

[Jakem]

It's damn nice to read about those killer gigs! So much amazing music, bands and concerts during the 80s. Probably 97% of the time, I listen to albums or music from the 80s. \m/

-Jaakko

 

[Gainzilla]

84 or 85. Queensryche opening up for Iron Maiden at Radio City Music Hall in NYC.

I was at that show: Maiden supporting Powerslave and QR supporting the Warning.. Friggin AMAZING SHOW!!! Both of them Blew me away...

Too many to list so Im mentioning the standouts..

DLR/Tesla at Nassau Colliseum. DLR was Great, Tesla was Jawdropping...

I think it was 78 or 79 when I saw VH open for Sabbath at MSG and It was a religious experience...

I saw RR/OZZY 2x and that was incredible..

Ive seen VH 52 times and loved all of the early 80's tours...

All Of the Journey Tours were Amazing , Escape through Raised on Radio....

NightRanger/38special was a GREAT show @ Nassau collisuem...

38 Special/The Outlaws/ Molly Hatchet was an awesome show at Nassau colliseum

YJM opening for Triumph at the Brendan Byrne Arena was incredible even if he did play a few bars of a ripping version eruption and do an exagerated yawn after it...

There are more but thats whats coming to me now...

 

[mysticaxe]

84 or 85. Queensryche opening up for Iron Maiden at Radio City Music Hall in NYC.

I think it was 78 or 79 when I saw VH open for Sabbath at MSG and It was a religious experience...

A guy I work with went to that show in Cape Cod Colleseum, and still talks about it! He says that Van Halen came on, played their show, and the whole crowd looked around like "WTF was that????" They blew Sabbath off the stage (in my friend's words).

 

[70strathead]

84 or 85. Queensryche opening up for Iron Maiden at Radio City Music Hall in NYC.

I was at that show: Maiden supporting Powerslave and QR supporting the Warning.. Friggin AMAZING SHOW!!! Both of them Blew me away...

Too many to list so Im mentioning the standouts..

DLR/Tesla at Nassau Colliseum. DLR was Great, Tesla was Jawdropping...

I think it was 78 or 79 when I saw VH open for Sabbath at MSG and It was a religious experience...

I saw RR/OZZY 2x and that was incredible..

Ive seen VH 52 times and loved all of the early 80's tours...

All Of the Journey Tours were Amazing , Escape through Raised on Radio....

NightRanger/38special was a GREAT show @ Nassau collisuem...

38 Special/The Outlaws/ Molly Hatchet was an awesome show at Nassau colliseum

YJM opening for Triumph at the Brendan Byrne Arena was incredible even if he did play a few bars of a ripping version eruption and do an exagerated yawn after it...

There are more but thats whats coming to me now...

WOW! VH in the 70's, that must have been epic! If i were too pick the loudest memorable show it would have to be YJM trilogy tour at the California Theatre in San Diego. The guitar solo was the longest and most notes I ever heard at ear-splitting volume! I actually thought I had damaged my ears cause I was earing that "mmmmmmmmmm" going on for two days straight! Don Barzini was with me as well!

 

[The Big Snit]

84 or 85. Queensryche opening up for Iron Maiden at Radio City Music Hall in NYC.

I was at that show: Maiden supporting Powerslave and QR supporting the Warning.. Friggin AMAZING SHOW!!! Both of them Blew me away...

Too many to list so Im mentioning the standouts..

DLR/Tesla at Nassau Colliseum. DLR was Great, Tesla was Jawdropping...

I think it was 78 or 79 when I saw VH open for Sabbath at MSG and It was a religious experience...

I saw RR/OZZY 2x and that was incredible..

Ive seen VH 52 times and loved all of the early 80's tours...

All Of the Journey Tours were Amazing , Escape through Raised on Radio....

NightRanger/38special was a GREAT show @ Nassau collisuem...

38 Special/The Outlaws/ Molly Hatchet was an awesome show at Nassau colliseum

YJM opening for Triumph at the Brendan Byrne Arena was incredible even if he did play a few bars of a ripping version eruption and do an exagerated yawn after it...

There are more but thats whats coming to me now...

Win!

I was too young...only seen vids of some of this stuff.

 

[tak]

84 or 85. Queensryche opening up for Iron Maiden at Radio City Music Hall in NYC.

YJM opening for Triumph at the Brendan Byrne Arena was incredible even if he did play a few bars of a ripping version eruption and do an exagerated yawn after it...

That was a killer tour. A strange pairing to say the least. I'd always been a Triumph fan and that was the last tour that I saw them. They had a huge laser show. Yngwie seem to be at the peak of his ego - he did the same Eruption mockery at the two shows I saw. I think that was the Trilogy tour? - before he had the car crash. He never seemed to be the same after that. When I was at GIT in '88 Steve Lynch from Autograph used to tell us funny stories about Yngwie and his... um... cravings.....

 

[tak]

When I was at GIT in '88 Steve Lynch from Autograph used to tell us funny stories about Yngwie and his... um... cravings.....

Was that the guy with the steel wool hair-do?

That's him. You used to talk about Yngwie calling him in the middle of the night looking for certain substances. I think he actually introduced Yngwie to Ritchie Blackmore for the first time too when Yngwie was in the hospital for the car wreck.

 

[Bob Savage]

I think it was 78 or 79 when I saw VH open for Sabbath at MSG and It was a religious experience...

I saw VH at the Califfornia World Music Festival (Not sure why they put two f's in there...) in 1979. That was the night that Steve Henning's ego got crushed. Apparently James Hetfield was there too.

I didn't play guitar at the time and left the show wanting to be DLR. Shortly thereafter I realized that if I were to sing in public, people would die.