See who made the cut for CT’s 10 best rock concerts
LOOKING BACK AT THE GREATEST ROCK CONCERTS IN CONNECTICUT HISTORY
To come up with a list of the top 10 rock concerts in Connecticut history, you have to cast your mind back through thousands of glory days and glory nights at the state’s many and varied venues, from the intimacy of Toad’s Place to the Yale Bowl and that university’s stone-columned Woolsey Hall. As the rock music critic for the New Haven Register during much of those fabled times, I got the chance to see six of the shows on my list and seven of the 10 runners-up. My ears are still ringing! You’ll be able to read about the Toad’s shows in much greater detail in the forthcoming book, The Legendary Toad’s Place: Stories from New Haven’s Famed Music Venue (Globe Pequot Press, Oct. 1), which I co-wrote with the club’s longtime owner-manager Brian Phelps.
The Rolling Stones at Toad’s Place, Aug. 12, 1989
The amazing thing about this immortal Saturday night performance was not just that the Stones played to an audience of only about 600. The event was kept top secret by promoter Jimmy Koplik (he told his friends it was a dance party for his 40th birthday), the club’s owners Mike Spoerndle and Brian Phelps and a few other insiders. The Stones had been holed up upstate in Washington rehearsing for their upcoming Steel Wheels tour and wanted to play for a small live audience before hitting the arenas. The band proved they hadn’t lost any of their power. They performed 11 songs, beginning with “Start Me Up” and finishing with “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.” The cost to see the Stones that night: $3.01.
Bob Dylan at Toad’s Place, Jan. 12—13, 1990
This show was almost as astounding as that of the Stones five months earlier. Like the Stones, Dylan was preparing for a tour and wanted to try out a mindboggling array of new and old material. Known to be reclusive and often indifferent to his audiences, Dylan was in a fabulous and sociable mood at Toad’s — smiling, joking and taking requests (including Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark”). He did four sets totaling four and-a-half hours that encompassed 50 songs! He finished at 2:20 a.m. with “Like a Rolling Stone.”
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band at the Palace Theater, Waterbury, Aug. 21, 1976
“The Boss” and his bandmates were breaking through to stardom, though not yet filling large arenas. In the previous year Springsteen had released Born to Run and wowed critics at the New York club The Bottom Line. For the Palace show, he jumped into the frenzied audience during the second song, “Rendezvous,” executing slides and whirling turns. The other songs included “Thunder Road,” “Born to Run,” “Jungleland” and “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight).”
The Who at the New Haven Coliseum, Dec. 15, 1979
This epic show almost didn’t happen. Two weeks earlier, 11 Who fans were trampled to death outside the Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati. For the New
Haven show, better security measures were taken (no general admission tickets, so no need to rush in for the best seats) and city officials decided to let the concert go forward. The sell-out crowd was treated to two hours of explosive Who standards, ranging from “Pinball Wizard” and “Baba O’Riley” to “Won’t Get Fooled Again.” At the end, a gleeful Roger Daltrey picked up Pete Townshend and carried him off the stage as the crowd called out for more.
Janis Joplin at Woolsey Hall, New Haven, Nov. 9, 1968
Joplin, backed by her band Big Brother & the Holding Company, delivered “Piece of My Heart,” “Ball and Chain” and “Summertime” from the album “Cheap Thrills.” Joplin also sang a cover version of Otis Redding’s “I Can’t Turn You Loose” and “Down on Me.” Just two years later (Oct. 4, 1970) she died of a heroin overdose. She was 27.
Jimi Hendrix at Woolsey Hall, New Haven, Nov. 17, 1968
Can you believe that Joplin and Hendrix played on back-to-back weeks at this performance hall? He did two shows that night. Attired in white boots, with a scarf tied around his leg and a fringe jacket, Hendrix at one point played his guitar with his teeth. When he launched into “Purple Haze,” he remarked, “I’m too stoned to remember the words.” For a medley of “Wild
Thing/Star-Spangled Banner,” he thrust his guitar between his legs, then smashed it. Two years later he too would be dead, also at 27, of a drug overdose.
The Rolling Thunder Revue at the New Haven Coliseum, Nov. 13, 1975
Another special day with two shows, one in the afternoon and one in the evening. Bob Dylan was the headliner, joined by Joan Baez and Roger McGuinn. Dylan, his face painted white, wearing a broad-brimmed hat with a peacock feather tucked into its band, performed for the first time on that tour some of the songs from his upcoming album Desire, including “Isis” and “Hurricane.” That latter song, featuring Scarlet Rivera’s evocative violin, was a highlight of the shows.
The Grateful Dead at the Yale Bowl, July 31, 1971
This was a classic Dead event, replete with cops in riot gear tear-gassing Deadheads outside the Bowl as fans desperately fought to scale the fences to get inside. The band opened with “Truckin,’ ” then went on to do “Sugar Magnolia,” “Casey Jones” and covers of classic rock ’n’ roll oldies. They ended with “Uncle John’s Band” and “Johnny B. Goode.”
Michael Jackson at the Hartford Civic Center, March 30, 1988
Jackson, at the peak of his career, was promoting his album Bad. He began with “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ ” and later performed a Jackson 5 medley: “I Want You Back/The Love You Save/ I’ll Be There.” A reviewer for the Springfield newspaper The Republican recalled “Jackson, dressed in a flowing cape, being lifted above the crowd in a crane, with wind effects blowing on him, singing a sensational version of ‘Beat It.’ ” He followed this with “Billie Jean” and “Thriller.” The King of Pop performed two more nights before jetting off to his next stop.
Billy Joel at Toad’s Place, July 10 and 11, 1980
By then a superstar, Joel wanted to record an album of live shows. This would become Songs in the Attic. He chose Toad’s for its intimate setting and did shows on successive nights. The audience for the first show saw him open with “You May Be Right,” followed by such standards as “Big Shot” and “Piano Man.” The little-known “Los Angelenos” was the Toad’s contribution to the Attic album.
The best of the rest:
Elvis Costello and the Attractions at the Oxford Ale House, New Haven, Dec. 11, 1977
The Clash at the Agora Ballroom, West Hartford, Aug. 29, 1982
Bob Marley at Bushnell Memorial Hall, Hartford, June 22, 1975
Queen at the New Haven Coliseum, Nov. 7, 1978
Led Zeppelin at the Yale Bowl, Aug. 15, 1970
Talking Heads at the New Haven Coliseum, Aug. 22, 1983
The Eagles and Heart at the Yale Bowl, June 14, 1980
The Beach Boys at the Yale Bowl, July 14, 1979
Prince at the Hartford Civic Center, Feb. 11, 1983
Elton John at the New Haven Arena (its final show), Sept. 29, 1972
Original article: Looking back at the greatest rock concerts in Connecticut history
This article appears in the September 2021 issue of Connecticut Magazine. Follow on Facebook and Instagram @connecticutmagazine and Twitter @connecticutmag.