When I was young I had older friends who had seen Jimi Hendrix. They did not boast or make a big deal of it, but I was really envious. I never saw Deep Purple, but I went to a lot of Ian Gillan gigs with the the Gillan lineup. His voice was massive and it was one of the rare occasions when I felt I was in the presence of greatness (probably because I was young and he was very famous).
The Led Zeppelin show at Knebworth on, or around, 11th August 79, is possibly the most famous I saw and it seems to have gained a legendary reputation, in hindsight, on the internet, but I didn't think anything of it at the time (I'm not a big Zeppelin fan). The most memorable thing is that we forgot where we parked the car and it took forever to track it down after the show!
An experience that meant a lot to me was seeing Mick Green, but I recently read that he did not play on Shakin' All Over. Considering the fact that it was an authentic British rock 'n' roll record, I felt the news had shattered one of the great moments in my life.
What I remember overall is that I enjoyed most of the bands that I saw live, although some that are now deemed 'great' were among the most disappointing. I've always been a Lemmy-with-Hawkwind fan, but the early Motorhead were terrible. On the other hand, what were then lesser known bands put on great shows, like the George Hatcher Band, Sassafras, Horslips, Upp, Chinatown and UFO.
In truth, much of it was a haze, because if you remember the seventies, you definitely weren't there! That's my excuse anyway.
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