Pick a Day

Music History Events: Memorable Concerts

September 18, 1998 On the Grand Ole Opry, Jett Williams pays tribute to her late father, Hank Williams, who would have been 75 the day before. Daughter salutes father by performing "Your Cheatin' Heart," a song released after his death on New Year's Eve, 1952. "He never sang the song on the Opry. He never sang it live," Williams tells the audience.

June 9, 1998 The Spice Girls play their first concert after the departure of Geri Halliwell, teaming up with opera star Luciano Pavarotti in Modena, Italy.

June 4, 1998 Ray Charles reunites with his legendary touring band to perform in celebration of his 50th year in show business at the 15th annual Chicago Blues Festival in Grant Park.

May 16, 1998 Keith Richards injures his ribs and chest when he falls from a chair at his Connecticut home; The Rolling Stones are forced to reschedule the first four dates of their upcoming tour while he recovers.

May 9, 1998 Brian Wilson plays his first ever solo concert (no Beach Boys) at a show in St. Charles, Illinois.

February 14, 1998 Madonna performs at New York nightclub the Roxy, making her first club performance in over 10 years.

February 5, 1998 Elton John and Stevie Wonder perform at the White House for US President Bill Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

January 31, 1998 The Bruce Springsteen "Come Together" benefit concert, organized for the family of a New Jersey police officer killed in the line of duty, turns into an impromptu E Street Band reunion that also features Southside Johnny and other Jersey musicians.

November 25, 1997 The original Zombies lineup -- Rod Argent on organ, Colin Blunstone on vocals, Paul Atkinson on guitar, Chris White on bass, and Hugh Grundy on drums -- reunites onstage for the first time in 30 years at London's Jazz Cafe, performing two songs only: "She's Not There" and "Time Of The Season" to promote their new box set Zombie Heaven.

November 19, 1997 The US premiere of Sir Paul McCartney's Standing Stone is played in Carnegie Hall by St. Luke's Orchestra under the baton of Laurence Foster.

November 14, 1997 Though it's not a sell-out, The Bee Gees' show at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas still manages to gross a stunning $1,681,100. Tickets ranging in price from $50-$300 give the Arena its highest gross of the year.

October 31, 1997 The Cure embrace the burgeoning internet by cybercasting their Halloween concert at Irving Plaza in New York City. The show, which is promoting their greatest hits set Galore, is also broadcast by more traditional means on over 60 radio stations.

October 31, 1997 Jane's Addiction reunites for a Halloween show at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York.

October 19, 1997 Vince Gill honors John Denver with a performance of "Take Me Home Country Roads" at the Grand Ole Opry. Denver died a week earlier in a plane crash.

October 14, 1997 Sir Paul McCartney's symphonic poem "Standing Stone" gets its world debut by the London Symphony Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall. The piece earns the former Beatle six curtain calls. Critics, however, call it dull and forgettable.

October 12, 1997 With Backstreet Boys mania building worldwide, the group has to cancel a free, open-air concert at the Mostenses Plaza in Madrid when too many fans show up.

October 11, 1997 Gregg Allman, Bo Diddley, Keb'Mo', Buddy Guy and John Hiatt are among the musicians who perform at a tribute to Muddy Waters at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

October 5, 1997 Garth Brooks fans snap up more than 139,000 tickets in less than four hours, selling out eight shows at Chicago's Rosemont Horizon.

October 4, 1997 Farm Aid returns to Illinois for the first time since it started in 1985, selling out the New World Music Theater in Tinley Park. Performers include The Dave Matthews Band and Beck.

September 30, 1997 U2 cause controversy during its show in Tel Aviv, Israel, with frontman Bono appealing for the release from imprisonment of nuclear secrets traitor Mordechai Vanunu.

September 30, 1997 Fleetwood Mac's reunion show at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey, grosses a house record of $1,094,520.

September 21, 1997 The life and career of Jimmie Rodgers is celebrated with a concert capping the "Waiting for a Train: Jimmie Rodgers' America" conference in Cleveland. A collaboration between the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Country Music Hall of Fame, John Prine, Steve Earle, Levon Helm, Iris DeMent, and Jimmie Dale Gilmore all perform songs by Rodgers.

April 11, 1997 Reprising the Beatles famous rooftop concert, Paul McCartney plays two songs from his upcoming album Flaming Pie from the top of a building he owns in London.

January 26, 1997 ZZ Top, James Brown and The Blues Brothers perform at the Super Bowl XXXI halftime show in New Orleans.

October 20, 1996 Carly Simon is unable to perform due to stage fright, aboard the Queen Elizabeth II in New York.

October 9, 1996 Maxwell sells out the Roxy Theater in a show that was moved from the smaller Cotton Club to meet demand.

October 8, 1996 Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne play a benefit show for environmental groups at the Britt Pavilion in Jacksonville, Oregon. They are greeted by the roar of chainsaws wielded by loggers upset at their efforts to stifle their livelihood.

October 7, 1996 At a stop in Tunis, Tunisia on his HIStory tour, Michael Jackson plays his first concert in Africa as a solo artist. The tour concludes with a series of shows in South Africa.

October 5, 1996 Joan Osborne, Soul Asylum, Jewel, Extra Fancy, The Presidents of the United States of America, and Dog's Eye View, among others, perform at the first annual "Concert to Benefit The Pedro Zamora Foundation." The show raises money for the PZF to use toward educating kids about AIDS. Zamora, who died of an AIDS-related illness two years earlier, was a cast member on MTV's The Real World: San Francisco.

September 29, 1996 In Randall's Island, New York, Pearl Jam play their longest show ever: 32 songs over two hours, 48 minutes. During "Porch," Eddie Vedder duct tapes himself and leaps into the mosh pit.