Before 2020, how often would you visit live shows? – Poll
Remember live music?
Besides playing live ourselves we used to love going to shows and experience the magic of a good live performance. It’s something that we’ve definitely been missing these last 12+ months.
We are sure many of you are feeling the same and we are really curious about the results of this poll. How many avid concert goers are among us and how big of a role did live music play in your life?
So, tell us …
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Thanks for your answer!
Stay groovy,
Mona & Lisa
I voted for a handful of times per year, which is true for the last couple decades, but in my youth I went a lot more, usually more than once per month in the 70s and 80s.
Back then, before the internet, live music was it if you wanted to hear what some people could really do. And there were no DJs in bars.
For example, comparing live blues to what the record company would let them release was a night and day difference. It still is. A lot of my favorite music has improvisation.
I keep a list of everyone (that I can remember) who I’ve ever seen play live, it’s a long list and I’m sure it’s well less than half the actual total.
I seen a few good shows when I was younger. I think my first was Heart around 1978. Great sister harmonies there also. I seen Foreigner, Cheap Trick, Reo Speedwagon all in their prime. Our county fair would bring in a big act every year, usually Country. Willie Nelson’s show was fun. Good local bands playing the clubs around my area. Mostly classic Rock and Country bands. We have a Concert in The Park series once a week in my town in the summer. They bring in different band each week. Very fun relaxing venue hanging with friends and sipping a few cocktails.
I try to support local artists when I can. Big names not as often.
It depends a little on what you include in live shows. Do you mean paid-for concerts by name artists, or do you include free pub gigs? We go to some of the first category, but lots of the second, as we have a very lively local pub gig scene where we live.
It’s interesting how my attendance at live shows has drastically declined over the years. In my 20’s I was always seeing bands around town, whether being part of the lineup or not. At least once or twice a week. It was a while before I stated seeing “big names” in concert. Growing up in Argentina, we had almost no big names touring. I remember “Queen” showing up in 1980 but I was too young to go. I started seeing some big bands when I moved to LA, like Tom Petty, MACCA, Ringo. I was lucky to see Paul in various cities around the country (LA, SF, NY, Seattle, Vegas). After I moved to NC I thought I was done, but both Paul and Ringo came to play in town (separately), so I paid them a visit.
Here’s a fun story about the best concert I have ever attended:
After I had just met my now wife Lisa, back in 2009, we had gone on maybe 3 dates, I heard there was a show announced by David Lynch where Paul and Ringo would play together. At this point I had not seen either of them live. I was living in LA and the concert was at Radio City Hall in NY. I found tickets online and with less than a week to go I summoned the courage to boldly ask Lisa if she would come with me. To my surprise she said yes. It was an incredible trip for us that cemented our relationship.
Having Paul introduce Billy Shears and have Ringo come out and do With A Little Help From My Friends, was quite earth shattering for me. The show was jammed packed with A listers, Mike Love, Donovan, Sheryl Crow, on and on. More importantly, it was “the start of a beautiful relationship”.
Here’s a picture of the young couple with the show about to start.
The first one was in August of 1964 when the Beatles came to Red Rocks here in Denver, then Freddie and the Dreamers and the last one was Bob Segar in 2019. So many through the years. It was Groovy!
Walt Music
In the summer of 2015, I had the time to finally go to Shows. I bought tickets for 3 Groups. 2 were canceled due to illness by one of the main performers in each [Pat Benatar & The Who] and the other I had a conflict. I donated those 2 VIP Tickets to my High School Reunion as Door Prizes.
2016 and 2017 went to a few shows. 2018 missed 1 show due to illness but made a major Concert 10 days after major heart surgery. I was going to go no matter what. Great show by The Foo Fighters and for me worth it. I’m older, but there were folks there that were way older than me and of course much younger. 2019 made 2 shows.
Major Acts pass through our area often or I can go to Seattle to see them. Some venues are bad for a variety of reasons. A major one is on the other side of the Columbia River from the Portland Metro area north of Vancouver Washington. Many live there and work in Portland. There are only 2 bridges that are problematic as to traffic. They’re an hour to three hours away. I can take either bridge. Can check traffic online but by the time I get to the bridges, there will be multiple accidents on them. And traffic is stopped. Parking? It stinks. Transit? It stinks.
Future? Not sure. I think I will spend my money supporting you guys and other artists.
I’ve only seen a handful of big rock shows in my life. Clapton and McCartney were the most memorable. The vast majority of live music I’ve seen/heard has been in bars and small clubs. Seattle (my home) has been great for that. Portland OR too. And work regularly took me to Chicago, the best live blues city on the planet. These small venues produced my favorite musical experiences, hands down.
In the late 80’s and early 90’s I use to go to live shows all the time. The list of bands I’ve seen is very long. The last show I went to was in July of 2019. I saw Geoff Tate touring for Operation Mindcrime for the last time. It was a fantastic show. I would love to see you girls someday but I’ll probably never make it to your neck of the woods, so that will probably never happen. Thanks for the music girls.
Matt
We used to go to concerts a few times a year, the smaller the venue better. There are a lot of them around here, but not enough touring artists to our liking.We use to go see a duo called Lowen and Navarro whenever they came to the area. Their big hit is “We Belong”. You might know that as a Pat Benatar song. Lowen & Navarro actually wrote it and IMHO their acoustic version is much better. It was always towards the end of the set, resulting in an audience sing along. Now I am remembering my wife and I sitting ten feet away from them in a coffe house while they sang the most beautiful love songs and we gazed into each other’s eyes. That sounds a little sappy, but we have some great memories.
We also used to go to some bigger shows. Years ago Roger Waters toured for ever, and we would travel quite a bit to meet up with a group of fans and see his shows. I think we saw six of those, and The Wall a couple of times. Brought my son to The Wall show when he was 12. It was a great Father son night. Wow, that was 12 years ago.
Just like everyone here, we are hoping to see MLT live one day. This club and everything it entails does help make up for no tours. Now if Team MLT is reading this, I can recommend The Egg at Albany, or Daryll’s House in Pawling, NY. It’s owned by Daryl Hall of Hall & Oates. Both venues are top notch, with The Egg being a concert hall, and Daryll’s House is more of a really nice club. We saw Duncan Shiek there while we enjoyed dinner right in front of the stage.
Now that I am posting about this, I miss live shows even more. Dang it!
JP
Thursday goes too slow
I’ve got Friday on my mind
Hi Ladies,
Hope all of team MlT is well.
In the last couple of years I have been able to see many local artists. In the summer we have have a Summer concert series of local talent. About 7 shows in the summer. I also got to see Mark’s Band (Spike) Change To Eden. Which was a big thrill. I sent you all a CD .
Also have been to see The Beach Boys and Elton Johns Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour 2x. Three hour shows!!
Its been alot of fun, and I have thoroughly enjoyed myself.
Thanks For the fun poll Ladies!
More Please!
All the Best
Rick Ross
Usually we would go to see Poco a few times a year. Other groups we would see during a typical year would be Pure Prairie League and Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Once in awhile e would go to see James Taylor and the Richie Furay Band. We are scheduled to see Poco and the Richie Furay Band later this year but the shows keep getting postponed. Oh well.
I sure do miss live shows, last year we had tickets to see the Rolling Stones and of course Covid and Had Tickets for James Taylor and Jackson Brown and bummed out. Live shows are so good and takes away all the troulbes of the day.
I’m really not much of a live music fan, in the sense that I prefer the layering and balancing of sounds that can only be achieved in studio recordings. I feel that’s as close as I’m going to get to what the artist truly wants the music to sound like.
I generally only go to concerts by big names from the past, where I just want to be able to verify with my own eyes that the artist exists, and to engage in a mutual “thank you” between the performer and the audience.
The first time I saw Paul McCartney, it would have been worth the ticket price to me if he had just walked out onto the stage, accepted a round of applause, and walked off.
That being said, I’d drop everything to catch an MLT concert if it were anywhere within a day’s drive of me.
Before all the Craziness,I would get out to live shows 1-2 times a month at local bars/clubs.And at least 2-3 arena/stadium shows a year.Have seen Sir Paul every tour since Wings Over America in 1976,Ringo and His All Star Band 3 times,The Stones every tour since 1981,and many others over the years.
Now I just need to see The MonaLisa Twins Live
In the last couple of decades I could only say I’ve been to a live show every few years at best, the last one being a Michael Buble show in the big BC Place football stadium in Vancouver as I got free tickets from work, and then a small Beach Boys venue in Disneyland, again through work in 2000.
In my teens and 20s I’ve been to several big proper concerts, Beach Boys (several shows), AC/DC, Bryan Adams etc. The most memorable one being an all day rock festival of many local bands featuring the Beach Boys on Vancouver Island in my teens I talked about on a forum post a while ago. Saw glimpses of the Who, Pink Floyd, David Bowie and a few others when I worked at the stadium in my early 20s. Through my late 20s and early 30s been to several local clubs and bars with live rock music performances while I lived in Toronto for a few years (some nice Reggae bars) and in Vancouver, and also some vague memories of a bar with live music in Hollywood somewhere.
Do laser shows count? Been to a couple awesome Pink Floyd and AC/DC laser shows. 🙂
I was soooo lucky to have seen Joe Bonamassa last year just about 2 weeks before the pandemic shutdown. Im still having on to that great performance hoping for the next live show. Im sure when Mona and Lisa play live again, tickets will be in very high demand. Ill travel around the world to see the first one. I feel foolish for not making it happen sooner thinking I can make the trip to Liverpool anytime. Ill never ever take that for granted again. There is nothing as moving as live music. Thank you girls for keeping us lucky people in your club entertained in the mean time…. it means more than you know.
I attended great concerts .. The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Sir Paul McCartney, Deep Purple, Queen, Iron Maiden, Ozzi, Metallica, Status Quo, Neil Young, CCR (revisited), John Fogerty, Steve Vai , UFO and Brazilian artists too .. so I can say that a few times a year I attended a concert., but If I had lived in Liverpool I’d be at the Cavern Club almost every Saturday to watch The MonaLisa Twins .. The gig of my dreams
Quite a while ago we used to get lots of good performers here, but there’s been nothing we’ve been interested in for quite a while. Perhaps what comes here just isn’t “our cup of tea”. But if the MonaLisa Twins showed anywhere near here up we wouldn’t miss it!
Back in the mid 70’s to early 80’s (before that horrible disco came along) I used to go to the rock clubs at least once a week to see live bands. After they started turning into discos that ruined my nights out except for the occasional foray to a major concert hall or club for a major act show. It’s been quite awhile since I went to a concert. Sadly.
Of course, the answers to this poll would be seriously skewed if there were MLT concerts within driving distance on a regular basis! ????‍????????????️????
Hi, it’s not that I wouldn’t go more often it’s just that there aren’t that many performers that I like or that are touring any more. The last shows I’ve seen have been the Eagles every time they come to town and Paul McCartney within the last few years.
There are certainly no MonaLisa Twins in Fort Worth, Texas. Which kinda reminds me of a Beach Boys song “Wouldn’t it be nice.”
There really isn’t good local live music in clubs like the MonaLisa Twins, instead you have a lot of rap, hip hop, and of course country
There use to be a pretty good Beatles tribute band that played a lot in Dallas, but that was a few years ago.
Well, I guess I have said to much already.
Gary B.