When I was young, I saw Three Dog Night in Providence Rhode Island around 1973. It was nothing to write home about.
Saw Deep Purple try out (mostly bad) new material at a tiny 300 seat venue in Glasgow in 1974. Can't remember a song they played.
Also in Scotland, I heard literally hundreds of really good (and a few bad ones too) in the tiny little Hamlet of Dunoon on the Firth of Clyde. Every tiny bar had live music once a week at a minimum. A lot of them were surprisingly good.
Saw Mac Macanaly (who was Songwriter of the year in America once, and who helped write "Margeuritaville" with Jimmy Buffet) in 2012. Great songs. Well played. Not better than many of the Scottish Bands though.
Saw Neil Diamond around 1992 and then again in 1995. Best concert I've ever been to. The revolving stage and the complete dedication to the audience from the entire band were deeply impressive, as was (of course) the song list.
Saw Rod Steward around 1994. The warm up band provided more energy and spark. The only energy Stewart provided was when he forgot about the music and began kicking soccer balls into the crowd for souvenirs. A very forgettable experience, although I love much of his music. I'd have rather heard it off the tapes/c.d.s.
Second best I've ever been to was a Sting concert. Good warm up band, and Sting's band provided help on a few songs to the warm up band (had to have been a real boost to them) and were welcoming and encouraging to them. That set the tone for a high energy VERY focused concert. I didn't really care for the song selection, and the concert was a bit short. . . but total commitment for the whole concert. I'm guessing Sting didn't feel well, and did the best he could. Very impressive, even though they clearly weren't at their best.
And THAT is about it. Nothing memorable locally.
