1980

March 25, 1980


Cheap Trick – Palace Theater, Waterbury,CT
Ticket price-$9.50

The Palace Theater is a beautiful, renaissance revival style theater in downtown Waterbury. It fell into disrepair and was hardly used in the late 60’s and 70’s. In 1980 they did some half-assed cosmetic upgrades and opened their doors for rock shows.

Cheap Trick was one of the first shows they had. The band was still getting airplay with the "Live at Budokan" version of “I Want You to Want me” although they were touring for the "Dream Police" album. After listening to their earlier studio releases, my friends and I became huge Cheap Trick fans. I excitedly waited in line, at Sears, for tickets when they went on sale. A day or two later a kid I had been friends with since about the age of 5 was hanging out with me in my bedroom and I proudly showed him my tickets and I had to explain to him who Cheap Trick was and how great it was that they were actually coming to our hometown.

A few hours after he left my house, I noticed that the tickets were missing. I looked everywhere, in case they fell behind the dresser or in a drawer but they were really gone. No one else had been in my room so I called my “friend” just to ask if he noticed where I put my tickets because I couldn’t find them. I didn’t accuse him directly but he got really defensive and couldn’t believe I was calling him a thief. The call did not go well. Luckily, the show wasn’t sold out and I managed to get another ticket.

The day of the show buddy and I went downtown early to stand in line because the show was general admission. There were already about 20 people lined up along the brick wall around the corner from the Palace and the first 2 people in line were my ticket thief and another friend of his, whom I knew to be a low-life, poor-hygiene thief himself. As I passed the line I heard him yell “I didn’t steal your tickets, asshole!”
“Yeah, well if you didn’t who did? You were the only person there.” It pretty much ended there and I didn’t speak to him for a couple of years. He’s dead now.

I snuck a super 8 film camera into the show and I wanted to hide so I sat in the second row of the theater. The show was really amazing. Cheap Trick have never been a huge success even though they are consummate musicians and pop/rock songwriters. They sounded really tight and performed memorable versions of “Surrender” and “I Want You to Want Me”. Another highlight was when Rick Nielsen broke out the infamous 5 neck guitar and showed off his, much underrated, guitar prowess. Robin Zander has to be one of the best singers ever and is also pretty underrated. Why these guys were never huge, I’ll never understand. They have their hardcore fans and I know that the critics, as well tons of other bands love and were influenced by Cheap Trick.

My favorite band member is actually, bassist Tom Petersson. Unfortunately, this is one of the last shows that Petersson played with the band. That summer they released All Shook Up and Tom was replaced by Pete Comita.

One of my all-time favorite shows and fondest memories.


May 20, 1980


Rush – Veterans Memorial Coliseum, New Haven, CT
Ticket price-$7.50

This was the Permanent Waves Tour. I must admit, there were only a few songs I liked on "Permanent Waves" and it was the beginning of their softer, synthesized prog-rock transformation. Just listen to "2112" to see how hard they could really rock. That said, being a huge fan of all of Rush’s music up to this point, I was really exited to see them.

They had a huge stage without an elaborate set, which I liked, and they all still had their long hair. And they really did rock. These guys are virtuosos when it comes to their instruments. They took things a step further when it came to writing songs and they made quite a lot of noise for being a 3 piece. I don’t really remember the individual song performances but I remember having a great time and kind of knowing that it was the beginning of the end of my buying any more Rush albums.


July 16, 1980


ZZ Top – Palace Theater, Waterbury Ct.
Opening Act - Humble Pie
Ticket price-$10.50

Another great Waterbury Palace show! For a week before the concert I listened to ZZ Top’s “Deguello” LP over and over again. “I Thank You”, “I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide”, “Cheap Sunglasses” simply great blues-rock music. Similar to the aforementioned Rush, this is ZZ Top before they went commercial.

Humble Pie opened the show. I must admit, I wasn’t too familiar with them. I did know the song “I Don’t Need No Doctor” but that’s about it. They had broken up for a while and 1980 saw them reform with singer Steve Marriott. The set list included:
I Don't Need No Doctor
Infatuation
Drum Solo
Thirty Days in the Hole
Fool for a Pretty Face
Knock on Wood

I enjoyed Humble Pie for the most part but I really wanted to see ZZ Top and they didn’t disappoint. I brought my Super 8 film camera to this show and I sad a couple of rows back so that I could film it. ZZ Top is a great live band and they put on a rather lengthy show. Their set list included:
I Thank You
Waitin’ For the Bus
Jesus Just Left Chicago
Precious and Grace
I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide
Manic Mechanic
Lowdown in the Street
Heard it on the X
Fool For Your Stockings
Nasty Dogs and Funky Kings
El Diablo
Cheap Sunglasses
Arrested for Driving While Blind
Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers
La Grange,
She Loves My Automobile
Hi Fi Mama
Dust My Broom
Jailhouse Rock
Tush

I can’t think of any song, from that era, that they left out. When a 3 piece really gets in the groove they seem to groove better that a 4 or 5 piece and ZZ top is no exception. These guys really know how to play off of each other and it’s no wonder why they went on to become one of the biggest rock bands of the 80’s on radio and MTV.


July 24, 1980


Van Halen – Hartford Civic Center, Hartford CT
Ticket price-$8.50

This was the original, and best, Van Halen line-up. This was also their first headlining tour and it was for the “Women and Children First” album. Van Halen could really put on a great show without having to resort to glitz and pyrotechnics. Each member played a solo and I remember that Alex and Eddie blew me away but Michael Anthony played one note over and over during each song and he did a painfully crappy bass solo that consisted of major distortion and pounding on his bass a lot. The set list included:
Romeo Delight
Bottoms Up!
Alex's Solo
Runnin' With the Devil
Loss of Control
Take Your Whiskey Home
Dance the Night Away
Women in Love
Jamie's Cryin'
Michael’s solo
Bright Lights, Big City
Everybody Wants Some!!
...And the Cradle Will Rock
Ed's Solo
Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
Ice Cream Man
You Really Got Me



Oct. 31, 1980


Foghat / Outlaws – Veterans Memorial Coliseum, New Haven, CT
Ticket price-$10.50

It was Halloween night and a lot of people dressed up for the show. At this point Foghat was still a pretty cool band with all of the original members. I was introduced to them by my friend Joe’s brother Mike. Mike was the cool older brother who played in a band, partied and got hot chicks but he actually paid attention to us and turned us on to some great music.

It was the tour for “Tight Shoes”, the last record and tour for Rod Price. One of my favorite party bands, it’s too bad they faded out during the 80’s. Thankfully they only played a few songs from “Tight Shoes” and the previous year’s “Boogie Motel” and stuck with their tried-and-true earlier material.

The Outlaws were a great southern rock band and were great live. They were a radio staple at this point with “Green Grass and High Tides” and I looked forward to seeing it live because I always enjoy a good extended guitar jam. The Outlaws did not disappoint and during an awesome version of “Ghost Riders in the Sky” they had these skull-headed, black-robed phantoms gliding across the stage. I hadn’t started my real teen-aged partying phase yet but it was so long ago that I can’t remember a lot of details from these shows.



Nov. 16, 1980


The Doobie Brothers – Veterans Memorial Coliseum, New Haven, CT Ticket Price-$10.50

This was my first of about 4 Doobie Bros concerts. This was the tour for “One Step Closer”, the follow-up to their smash album “Minute by Minute”. After Minute by Minute the band started falling apart and they quickly hired new members to keep the momentum going. Luckily the seams and cracks didn’t show when they played live. There were enough hits to keep everyone happy and singing along for nearly 2 hours.


Nov. 19, 1980


Kansas – Veterans Memorial Coliseum, New Haven, CT
Ticket price-$9.50

This was the tour for Audio-Visions. About this time the band was going through a rough patch and songwriter Kerry Livgren, a recent born-again Christian, began adding religious themes to his lyrics. Shortly thereafter Dave Hope converted and their music took on a whole new direction.

This show still had enough of the old prog-rock standards to satisfy the Kansas fans in the huge crowd. The new songs weren’t that well received and this would be the last Kansas album that I would buy.


Dec. 12, 1980


Bruce Springsteen - Hartford Civic Center, Hartford, CT
Ticket price-$10.50

I wasn’t a Bruce Springsteen fan until my girlfriend Sharon and her sister played “The River” over and over and over. I guess it grew on me and I learned to appreciate The Boss, especially his earlier stuff. I heard about the amazing 3 hour shows that Bruce and the E Street Band put on and I looked forward to seeing them live.

I went to the show with Sharon, her friend Wendy and my friends Mike and Rob. On the way to Hartford it started to snow pretty heavily but we made it there before the show started. I don’t remember why but we headed down an alley in our effort to get to the Civic Center. We were almost to the other end of the alley when a car turned in and headed toward us. We stopped and they stopped in front of us and flashed their high beams. Rob was driving and it would be more difficult for him to back all the way down the alley than for the other car to back up about 20 feet. They refused to move so I got out of the car to ask them to please back up. It’s snowing pretty hard and I walk up to the car and knock on the window. I can’t remember what the driver looked like, or who, if anyone, else was in the car; I only remember the gun that was thrust in my face and the words “back the fuck up”.
“Rob, back up!” I wave to him. “No you tell him to back up.” I run to the car and tell them he has a gun and we need to back up. I guide Rob back through the alley and the other guy just took off.

That was the first of two things that happened to me that night although the second thing was less life-threatening. We finally park and make our way inside. I was still a little shaky and as we were making our way to our seats through the crowded concourse I felt something hit the back of my left leg. I didn’t think much of it and I kept walking. Soon, I felt wet and I reached back and realized that someone had puked all down the back of my leg. By this time there were so many people around I had no way of knowing who it was. I went to the men’s room and cleaned it up as best I could then made my way to my seat to meet the others.

Our seats were kind of crappy. They were behind the stage but at least it was an open stage and there were no obstructions, we just had to look at the backs of their heads most of the time.

All of the things I heard about Bruce Springteen and the E Street Band were true. Great songs, great showmanship and a really tight band. These things combined with the storytelling, American anthemic songs made for an incredible, 3 hour rock and roll journey. The only songs I could sing along to were from the River but I particularly enjoyed "Born to Run" and "Jungleland". Being so close to Christmas they played "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" which was a fun highlight. Bruce played any song, up to that point in his career, that you could wish to hear:
01 Prove it all night
02 Two hearts
03 10th avenue freeze-out
04 You can look (but you better not touch)
05 Darkness on the edge of town
06 The price you pay [Different verse]
07 Independence day
08 Jackson cage
09 The promised land
10 Out in the street
11 Racing in the street
12 The river
13 Badlands
14 Thunder road
15 Cadillac ranch
16 Sherry darling
17 Hungry heart
18 Fire
19 Candy's room
20 Because the night
21 4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)
22 For You
23 Fade away
24 Wreck on the Highway
25 Stolen car
26 The ties that bind
27 Ramrod
28 Backstreets
29 Rosalita (Come out tonight)
30 Santa Claus is comin' to town
31 Jungleland
32 Born to run
33 Detroit Medley

I became a big fan after this show.