Concerts with Dad

Part of the reason I'm such a huge music fan is because of my parents. While neither of them are as fanatical about it as I am, they both had pretty good taste, and we always listened to a wide variety of stuff in our house. I certainly didn't get my love of jazz from either of them, but they took me and my sister to the symphony at least once a year, and during college I saw a lot of shows at the Station Inn with them. I can also trace my love for Creedence Clearwater Revival, Johnny Cash, The Beatles, and Jim Croce back to their old record collection.

Since I graduated college, I'd guess that I've seen at least two concerts a year with my dad. So in honor of Father's Day, I thought I'd list the top five concerts I've ever seen with him. And since this post is dad-centric, I'm only including shows that were purely father-son outings (sorry Mom, and step-mom).

1. A Bluegrass Tribute to Courtney Johnson, Ryman Auditorium, 1996. After original New Grass Revival banjoist Courtney Johnson died, a benefit concert was held for his family. It might be the most incredible collection of talent I've ever seen in one night. In addition to a NGR reunion, the evening also featured performances from Ricky Skaggs, John Hartford, Jerry Douglas, The Del McCoury Band, Vassar Clements, Doc Watson, and about a dozen other performers. The performers all took turns playing with each other, and it was simply one of the most amazing nights of music I've ever heard.

2. The Rolling Stones, Gaylord Entertainment Center, 2002. When I heard the Stones were playing a show two days before my dad's 60th birthday, I thought I had won the awesome present lottery. I figured the GEC wasn't that big, so even a couple of cheap seats (which were still 80 bucks each, plus fees) would be decent. When I went onto Ticketmaster's website the morning tix went on sale, I found out the cheap seats were actually BEHIND the stage. I wasn't going to pay 160 bucks to stare at Charlie Watt's back all night, and since I had already decided that I HAD to do this for his birthday, I bit the bullet and bought mid-level seats for for $125 a pop. It's still the most I've ever paid for a concert, but it was totally worth it. Not only did they tear the roof off the joint, but seeing my dad borderline headbanging during "Satisfaction" was completely priceless.

The Rolling Stones - "You Got Me Rocking" (mp3) from No Security

3. Eric Clapton, Starwood Ampitheater, 1990. I almost left this one off the list, purely because I'd already written about it here. But if my dad were making this list, he'd probably put it at number one.

4. The Village People, Municipal Auditorium, 1996. We went because we had to. I mean, seriously, if you had the chance to see The Village People, you'd go too. They were playing as part of Summer Lights, and either a lot of other people also felt that it was a must-see event, or everyone was just trying to get out of the rain. The thing I remember most about it was the construction worker telling the crowd before "YMCA" that the correct way to make an M was with your elbows in the air, and that he didn't want to see any "dipped hands monkeyshit."

5. Bob Dylan w/ Steve Earle and the Dukes, Starwood Ampitheater, 1989. Sometimes concerts are memorable for how bad they are. Steve Earle opened with an amazing set to what was then his hometown crowd. It was the first time I'd ever seen an opening act get an encore. And then Mr. Zimmerman came out. I suppose if you were a hardcore Dylan fan, you might have appreciated the fact that his set was comprised almost entirely of really obscure material. But combine that with the fact that that he had almost zero interaction with the crowd (I don't remember him saying a single word between songs), and there wasn't a lot for a more a casual fan to grab onto. I saw Dylan again ten years later at Municipal Auditorium and it was amazing. I'm pretty sure my Dad has sworn him off completely. He says if it hadn't been for G.E. Smith, who was playing guitar with him at the time, the evening would have been a total waste.