Springsteen in 1976 was a jaw-dropper. Tom Petty in 1980 was phenomenal. J. Geils Band, on New Years Eve in 1981 made me think I'll never see anything this good ever again. (I was wrong). Linda Ronstadt, in 1983, Get Closer Tour made me realize that there was a difference between "singing" and "vocals". The chills I got hearing that voice soar across the arena, the power of her delivery, the softness of her plaintive emotion on the slow ones was just stunning.
Thinking of those 4 shows, the common threads are that there was no nonsense- no dancers, no costume changes, no smoke, no laser lights, just a band on a stage, with talent honed by years of playing in front of an audience. With skills in capturing an audience, they grabbed us by the throat and never let us go under we were spent, hours later...
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