Memories will get us through this summer
This was supposed to be a good week.
Bob Dylan, with Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats in tow, was set to come to SPAC this week and in true Dylan fashion would have been memorably outstanding or memorably horrid. From there, the summer concert season was going to be in full swing.
Roger Waters planned to bring a new in-the-round stage show to the Times Union Center. The Black Crowes were going to play their debut LP “Shake Your Money Maker” in its entirety at month’s end, also at SPAC. And the free music shows, Alive at Five and the Summer at the Plaza concert series in Albany and the wonderful Music Haven world music shows in Schenectady, would have provided three nights a week of free, family-friendly entertainment from a variety of genres in July and August.
But the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry, and instead of a summer of anticipation and new experiences, all we can do is look back at concerts from the days of yore. So, that’s exactly what I’m going to do.
My first “real” concert experiences were summer shows. Before Kiss partially lip-synced its way through a 2020 farewell tour, there was the 2000 farewell tour with its original lineup that came through SPAC on June 20, 2000. I remember the date specifically because I was 15, obsessed with Kiss and had to be there because I knew this would be the greatest experience of my life. And, after two hours of power chords, pyro and glorious rock ‘n’ roll spectacle, I left that show feeling that my life as a concertgoer was complete.
Of course, my life was (and is) far from complete. The next year, I saw Collective Soul at Northern Lights (now Upstate Concert Hall). At that point, I had been listening to them since getting their eponymous 1995 CD as a Christmas gift. I can’t remember anything about the show itself, except for the fact it was my first time at the Clifton Park venue and that it was the hottest and sweatiest place in the history of the world.
The heat inside was a point of contention when Rob Zombie played there in July 2005. After taking a hiatus to make movies, he was playing his first live show anywhere in over three years. I had to get a co-worker, aka my future wife, to cover my shift at Thacher Park so I could go and luckily Zombie repaid me for shirking my employment responsibilities. He ran through early White Zombie tunes, previewed some new material and aired the first trailer from the then-forthcoming horror flick “The Devil’s Rejects.” When he made it to the encore, the venue was misty from the amount of heat being radiated, and Zombie asked, “What the (bleep), is it raining in here?”
After that, for me summer is synonymous with moments of musical transcendence. Dylan came to Tanglewood in July 2016 with Mavis Staples as support. Hearing Staples open with the Staple Singers classic “If You’re Ready (Come Go With Me)” was akin to experiencing the sacred and had me weeping. Then Dylan was quintessentially Dylan. Much to the chagrin of the fuddy-duddies in attendance, only three songs were from the ‘60s and ‘70s and he played mostly Sinatra covers and tracks recorded in 1997 or later. And those songs were brilliant, highlighted by a rendition of “Beyond Here Lies Nothin’” that may be the greatest single-song performance I’ve seen in my entire life. Dylan was at the piano cranking out some chunky chords, stomping his feet and wriggling to the beat, singing with palpable enthusiasm.
There are other shows, too. The Kendrick Lamar concert at SPAC in 2018 that felt like the 20,000-plus in attendance were privy to a real cultural moment, an occasion where a genius was at the peak of his commercial and creative powers and both audience and entertainer could feel it, particularly stands out. The first-ever Outlaw Fest that same year, where Sturgill Simpson and Neil Young threw down the two best rock ‘n’ roll sets of the year is another one. And of course, the free show at the Plaza, where my children cut loose to Charles Bradley, that was great. And honestly, I could go on and on, but I want to hear from you.
What summer concert experiences mean the most to you? Which shows stand out in your memories as special, whether for personal or musical reasons? I really want to know what they are and why. Email me at jshahenjr@gmail.com and let me know. Next month, I hope to include some answers in a column. Think of it as the online version of randomly striking up a conversation while waiting for concessions between acts. Don’t be shy; let me know!