My Life in Concert.com

Welcome to the My Life in Concert podcast! Join me, your host Various Artists, on my musical time travel as I look back on (almost) every live gig I have seen from 1975 to the present. This podcast series started life as a blog on Salon.com’s late, great OpenSalon.com in 2010. It gained a regular readership there until OS closed in 2015, and is now being resurrected as a podcast in February 2020. I’ve been a lifelong tunehead and fan of many genres with a particular passion for live shows, big and small. And while I’ll be discussing the music played, the podcast won’t simply be a critique of the performance.People recall a gig’s small moments that can end up defining the event in one’s mental hard drive sometimes more than the tunes: what happened before and after; things seen and heard; technical malfunctions, musicians passing out on stage, etc. Therefore, the podcast is about the “concert-going experience” rather than simply being a description of the performance: a mixture of concert review, music history, memoir, and philosophical musing. While my main musical bases in the 70s were glam in the earlier part of the decade and punk in the latter half, my tastes have exploded through the years. The podcast will go on to encompass live concerts in many genres: r&b, jazz, folk, pop, electronic, hip-hop, country & Americana, pop, blues, reggae, and more.I grew up in and have returned to London, Ontario, Canada (with a 20-year stop in Ottawa). While I will be remembering shows from a variety of locations including Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Detroit, NYC, and more, many of the early episodes will focus on concerts that took place in the Forest City from the 70s through the 90s … and now again in recent years (it will be Ottawa-heavy in-between.) There will be notable local visits by Elvis Costello, The Smiths, Iggy Pop, Marianne Faithfull, Radiohead, Joe Jackson, Steve Earle, k.d. lang, Gang of Four, and more. I’ll also have special episodes devoted to the local and regional live bands I saw regularly from the late 70s through early 90s. Along the way I’ll be dropping back into dearly departed local live venues including Fryfogle’s, the Cedar Lounge, the London Arena, the London Gardens, Bullwinkle’s, Wonderland Gardens, and the Embassy along with ongoing stalwarts like Centennial Hall and Call the Office. Outside of London, I’ll also be remembering great nights at long-gone venues such as NYC’s Danceteria, Toronto’s CNE Stadium, and Ottawa’s Barrymore’s.While London was my starting base, I’ll also be looking back on shows in Canadian and U.S. cities where I saw Neil Young, The Clash, Lou Reed, Aretha Franklin, Joni Mitchell, Janelle Monae, Sonic Youth, The Rolling Stones, Patti Smith, PJ Harvey, Ornette Coleman, Laura Nyro, Bootsy Collins (who head-butted me), The Jam, Paul McCartney, the Buzzcocks, Al Green, and plenty more. You can also check out the mylifeinconcert.com blog for written entries, original ticket scans, and related visual and audio; VATV My Life in Concert on YouTube for live clips; and follow us on Facebook. (Instagram coming soon!)Come out and join me at the show!

All Episodes

My Life in Concert.com

(EP 9B, no.20b) Waiting in Vain: 22 Performances I Missed 1980-2020 (Part Two nos.9-22 with U2, Arcade Fire, The Grateful Dead, Simon & Garfunkel, Lollapalooza 2004, Bonnie Raitt, & more)

August 04, 2020 • Various Artists • Season 1 • Episode 9

Here is Part Two of my look back at 22 Performances I Missed.

Since the Covid Summer of 2020 is also The Summer Without Live Music, I am going to pause my story and instead present two sets of podcast episodes devoted to performances that I missed by artists such as U2, Arcade Fire, The Grateful Dead, Simon & Garfunkel, Lollapalooza 2004, Bonnie Raitt, & more.

Hindsight is 20/20, or so the saying goes. So, for my Concert no.020 entry in the original blog series, I published a two-part tribute looking back at what DIDN’T happen: one remembering 20 specific performances/concerts I was slated to or wanted to see—but didn’t or couldn’t—from 1980 onward, and another listing the 20 Acts I Wish I’d Seen (and will never be able to) who were performing between the ‘20s and 1980.

The original list dates from 2012, and so I am updating it for 20/20 with two covid-related cancellations for what were to have been my first set of live shows of the new decade.

In this Episode 9B (no.020b) Waiting in Vain: 22 Performances I Missed (Part Two nos. 9-22 1991-2020), join me for the second of a heartwarming two-part podcast looking back at cancelled shows and tours, this time involving U2, Arcade Fire, Leonard Cohen, Simon & Garfunkel, The Grateful Dead, George Clinton, Bonnie Raitt, and more.

I'll be fondly remembering student penury, inclement weather, limited mobility options, instant sell-outs, undersold annulments, ticket-vacuuming bots, competing options and obligations, health-related complications, a global pandemic, and sometimes just being a lazy bugger.

NEXT PODCASTS:

Episodes 10 A&B will look back at the 20 Acts from the Past I Wish I’d Seen

Episode 11 will look back at the 40th Anniversary of the Heatwave Festival outside of Barrie, Ontario (Coming April 23, 2020).

Episode 12 (no.004) This Is the Modern World: The Jam with The Dwight Twilley Band, Rex Danforth Theatre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Tuesday April 10, 1979 (Get a sneak preview by reading the original 2011 blog entry here.) (Coming in September)

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