Redbeard’s Blog

U2- Bad/40/Where the Streets Have No Name- Boston 6-6-01

The indomitable Dublin quartet U2 has been a force on the live music stage for so long that I have witnessed it go from playing on cafeteria tables in a little club in Memphis to the world's largest stadiums. But at some point during every show in more than four decades of witnessing them, U2 and their audience transcend the rock concert sturm und drang and it more closely resembles a big tent revival, as it did that night in Boston June 2001 during this medley of "Bad" into "Where the Streets Have No Name".

Emerson, Lake, and Palmer- Tarkus @55

Listening now to the epic title song to "Tarkus", the second studio album in June1971 which followed quickly after their stunning 1970 debut, with Greg Lake's voice delicately yet nimbly bounding along to Keith Emerson's piano runs, it's clear that Emerson Lake and Palmer were much  less "Be Bop a Lula" in their melodic grandeur and much more "Andrew Lloyd Weber". Here In the Studio is the story in their own words of progressive rock's first supergroup.

Bryan Adams- 18 ‘Til I Die 30th Anniversary

Bryan Adams joins me on the thirtieth anniversary of his seventh studio album, “18 'Til I Die”, a #1 seller in the UK and Top Five sales in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Finland, Germany, Sweden, and Switzerland. The international popularity was driven by hits "The Only Thing That Looks Good on You is Me", "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman", and the title song.
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Metallica- Load 30th- James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett

Metallica "Load" did not budge from the top seller position for a full four consecutive weeks in June 1996 because of such tender love songs as "Ain't My Bitch","Bleeding Me","King Nothing", "The House  Jack Built", and "Until It Sleeps". Guitarist/singer James Hetfield and guitarist Kirk Hammett are surprisingly unguarded, conversational, and open about this dizzying rocket ride into superstardom.

Deep Purple- Fireball 55th- Ian Gillan, Roger Glover

Deep Purple's "Fireball" is the under-appreciated entry to "Machine Head"., with Ian Gillan and Roger Glover In the Studio.

Metallica- King Nothing- San Francisco 2-6-16

When the Super Bowl was played in San Francisco in February 2016, hometown Bay Area hard rock heroes Metallica were the obvious choice for the event's high-profile midpoint entertainment slot...except the Load  they were bringing was deemed…

Van Halen- US Festival 5-29-83

Before Lollapalooza, before Coachella or Burning Man, and contemporaneous with the legendary California Jams was the 1983 US Festival...Van Halen headlined.
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Rod Stewart- Every Picture Tells a Story 55th Anniversary

When the Jeff Beck Group made their American debut at New York City's Fillmore East, no one in the audience watching  the young lead singer Rod Stewart hide behind the backline amps  due to major stage fright could have imagined that the raspy-throated rooster-haired Englishman would become an international star just three years later with his third solo album, 1971's "Every Picture Tells a Story". 

Bonnie Raitt- Love Me Like a Man- Austin- Memorial Day 1987

When she played a memorable acoustic set on Memorial Day weekend at Austin's Auditorium Shores back in 1987, Bonnie Raitt called out hometown harp honker Kim Wilson, then of the Fabulous Thunderbirds, to join her on Chris Smithers' "Love Me Like a Man".

Jimi Hendrix- Hear My Train a Comin’- Memorial Day 1970- Berkeley CA

Jimi Hendrix performed two 1970 Memorial Day concerts in Berkeley CA at which he unveiled unreleased songs, including the portentous "Hear My Train a Comin' ". Presented to honor American Black History Month.