No thread on the 40th anniversary of Live Aid but here are some backstage photos from the day.
I was just dating my wife that Summer, we went into the city to see the show at a sports bar near the Village with one of those giant tvs. We both didn’t have cable at that time. But it made for a fun memorable day.
So yes, we have been together for 40 years!

One of my biggest bucket list groups finally completed after being a fan of OMD for over 40 years! Yep I bought their first album when released in Feb 1980 when New Wave began to take off and I loved synth pop.

So great to hear all their classics live and the crowd in Huntington LI was on fire. Andy said wow this town is posh, I hope you guys can bring it and they did. We all had a ball.

My favorite songs remain the ones from their first 3 albums like Electricity/ Messages/ Enola Gay/ Joan Of Arc and Souvenir.

It was a great week for concerts.

Next up this Friday, The Warning in NYC at the Palladium Times Square.

That must've been a great show, John. I only had the opportunity to see OMD live once, it was in a small club in Ottawa that only held about 150 people. back in 1981. They were great, but they developed so much over the next 4 or 5 albums, I would love to see them again.

Got tix today for the family to see Sir Paul again!
Within a 10 day span we'll be seeing Ringo, The Who, and Macca.

Shut out on the McCartney presale. Only the legalized scalping, I mean platinum, tix remained when I finally got in. Nope - can't think of any artist I'm paying that scam for.

So, I'll try again Friday during the general sale.

I'd love to see the Who one more time, but they're no closer than five hours, so it's almost definitely not happening.

fingers crossed for you, Alan, and gratz on scoring a McCartney ticket, Dano. He's not coming to Toronto this time, and I'm not down to travel for him, but he's worth it for his fans.

And I agree, the platinum seating thing is a scam; it's not worth paying hundreds of dollars for what is sometimes less than 10 feet of distance from the artist.

Seems like all these bigger shows are priced ridiculously now. I once paid $150 (x2) to see The WHO at Jones Beach from the 10th row and I thought that was an extravagant expense at that time, now a bargain.

Not sure if Mecca came back around here and played MetLife that would go, expensive, hard to get to and even harder to leave. I’ve passed on Oasis because of that and I like Oasis and have never seen them.

One reason I like Westbury or The Paramount here on the Island, still reasonable and nice venues.

Unusual reason to cancel a whole tour, the weather is always tough in the Summer.

Steve Miller is hiding something. Hopefully it's not health related. I do know we bought 2 tix for a total of $50, fees included, so maybe sales are a problem.

I hope it's not health related either, but I don't see how a band the size of Steve Miller could do a national tour on that kind of ticket price. Sales would be great, but revenue a problem. and to JohnG's earlier point, ticket prices have jumped a lot in the last 5 years. Touring expenses are a big factor in that. Even for the Standing room lawn at the Amphitheatre, I would not expect to pay less than twice that for Miller and an opening act.

I know the show at Jones Beach wasn’t selling well and no wonder it was billed as Steve Miller and the Rascals. He would need a big act as a warmup. The Rascals usually play Westbury on one of those Happy Together tours. Tickets were as low as $30 so that’s not the reason.

Considering the weather is unlikely to significantly change in the next 10 years, I guess we can consider Steve Miller to be officially retired. That is, if the weather is the real reason....

I'm not sure if he's done the casino circuit thing, but that's a pretty good deal for bands like his that can't hold the 10,000 seaters, but don't want to go back to bars and it's all indoors and climate controlled.

Maybe he just needs to accept that his audience might be aging out. so he either needs to share the bill or move to smaller venues.

The last time Steve Miller played Jones Beach in 2023 he was with Joe Satriani, now that’s a good double bill. He has also toured with the Doobie Brothers.

I thought about that one, but it was a $200 ticket here in Toronto for a decent seat. But yeah, joint with Satch, or the Doobies, maybe Styx or Cheap Trick. I don't think they'd fit with Rod Stewart, or Deep Purple or the metal acts that are still left, but there's so few of the 70s rock bands left that are big enough to headline over Steve Miller, and I'm not sure Miller as the headliner can pull 8-10K anymore.

you know who he really needs? Paul Rodgers

Stick Men announce that the remaining dates on their 2025 tour are postponed:

Ace Frehley tonight. I love Ace, but...this might have been the least of the shows I've seen. He definitely warmed to the task, and the show ended strong, but the beginning was rough. I'm not sure if it was the mix or his playing (one of my buddies said, "I think it was everything") - there were times he momentarily seemed to lose his place, but more times where he was playing and you just couldn't hear him. I did laugh at the very beginning of the show - he opened with "Shock Me", and in true Ace fashion, he somehow managed to miss the first word of the song. Didn't forget it, just forgot to be at the mic for it. And when he played "Rock Soldiers", I typed a quick note to my buddy that just said "Painful audience participation coming". Whenever he gets to the "He's gonna play without an Ace in his deck" line, he always tries to get the audience to sing it. I haven't had it work well for decades. I like the song, but frankly, I'd be fine if he let it go. Three Ace solo songs, two of his signature Kiss vocal songs, and a mix of Kiss songs filled out the night. Highlight for me was "She" - I don't think I've heard that live since the Alive 35 tour. Short show, too.

The openers were nothing special. The second band was sort of a hair metal band - better than the first band, but pretty generic. Neither one did anything that made me curious to hear more. One thing that did catch my attention - both bands did this, but it was way more pronounced with the first band. "We're happy to be here to play for you folks, and we are honored to play with the legend, Ace FREELY." So honored they didn't bother to learn how to pronounce his name.

Everyone I know pronounces it "Freely". I don't bother correcting them. He'll never play in rural Ontario to hear the mangled pronunciation.

The Warning in NYC at the Palladium Times Square, wow, look at that crowd, packed to the gills, all age groups. Man can these sisters bring the metal, great songs and one exuberant show. Glad I went and witnessed it first hand.

I sat in the back where there are seats so I wasn’t in my usually spot near the stage, I’m too old to stand there for hours anymore (would have had to get there by 5PM to get on line) but chose to take a later train and show up just before 9 and take my seat.

All the girls are excellent musicians and lead guitarist Dany plays gorgeous PRS guitars (a bonus!). Bass player Ale can definitely slap a da bass and drummer Pau is a demon on the sticks.

Check out their latest album called Keep Me Fed, not a bad song on it and they basically played that entire album.

These girls are a don’t miss band!

That's okay - I mispronounce Neil Peart's last name to get revenge!

Side note on the show - my buddy sent me a review that said they cut "Parasite" and "Rip It Out" from the show. Disappointing, because I love both of those.

You wanted the best, you got the best, the hottest band in the world, The Warning! Coming to AMC theaters on August 21st. Also a new 2CD live album comes out that week.

Dam they are getting popular. I purposely arrived late to their concert the other night wanting to avoid crowds and the opening band but when I arrived at 08:45PM the line to get in was still down the block, I said to myself how can this be, doors had to have opened at at least 7PM. Apparently there were delays and doors opened late and many people missed the opening act anyway.

But the main thing is The Warning is becoming very big.

I can second the Warning recommendation; catch em while they're hot. There's a chance they get a pop crossover crowd at some point, and they'll be way too expensive to catch.

I'm also curious to see how they evolve over time. could be fun