[Van Hagar]

The favorite song thread and having too much unwanted time on my hands right now got me thinking about this. I love live music so I’m gonna list my top five, be interested to hear other folks lists.

1. Prince at Rupp on the Purple Rain tour in Dec, 1984. I was a senior at UK and Prince and Springsteen came to Rupp four days apart! Could only scrape up enough extra cash for one show, and I’m glad I picked this one. The entire thing was just mind-blowing.

2. Van Halen at Knoxville Civic Coliseum, 1980 (I think). As my screen name suggests, I like Van Halen better musically with Sammy Hagar. But for a 17-year-old kid, seeing the original Van Halen in their prime, with Eddie being Eddie and Diamond Dave jumping off the top of 8-foot high amps while drinking massive amounts of Jack, AND getting half the girls in the crowd to flash him—yeah it made an impression.

3. AC/DC at Rupp, early 80s, Back in Black tour. This is my favorite rock band, and they were spectacular, I just wish I could have seen them with Bon Scott once before he passed away, I felt he was the perfect vocalist for them.

4. Dixie Chicks at Rupp, around 2000. May seem like a strange pick to some, but they were fantastic live. I’m sure folks of a certain age don’t realize how big they were, only second to Garth in the country world for a stretch, I hate that they got blackballed out of Nashville, a lot of great music was lost.

5. Travis Tritt, any of the 10 or so times I’ve seen him. He’s my favorite country artist of all time, and never fails to deliver on a live show. I saw him for the first time at Tombstone Junction in the early 90s (you younger folks can ask someone older what that was).

That’s my list. I would estimate I’ve seen well over 200 live shows, the first was Kiss in July of 1979 at Rupp Arena. Then last month, 41 years later, who did my son go to Rupp to see? Kiss, of course! Long live Rock n Roll!