Pick a Day

Music History Events: Memorable Concerts

July 15, 1989 200,000 people turn out for a free Pink Floyd concert in Venice, Italy.

June 16, 1989 Cliff Richard plays Wembley Stadium in London for the first time in a show that marks his 30th year in the business. Gerry and the Pacemakers and The Searchers also appear.

December 11, 1988 Los Angeles' Wiltern Theatre plays host to a Roy Orbison tribute concert, featuring Don Henley, Tom Petty, Graham Nash and Bonnie Raitt.

December 4, 1988 In Akron, Ohio, Roy Orbison plays his last concert (his final song: "Running Scared"). The legendary singer dies of heart failure two days later.

May 29, 1988 Bob Dylan duets with Band drummer Levon Helm on the group's "The Weight" at a Helm show in New York. The duo also perform Chuck Berry's "Nadine."

April 23, 1988 Enjoying a comeback as interest in his music surges, Roy Orbison celebrates his 52nd birthday at a Bruce Springsteen concert in Los Angeles, where Bruce brings him onstage so the crowd can sing him "Happy Birthday." Orbison dies that December of a heart attack.

March 23, 1988 Mick Jagger performs his first solo gig in Japan, 15 years after having been barred from entering the country due to prior drug convictions.

December 7, 1987 Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, and Judy Collins (among others) appear onstage at Carnegie Hall to pay tribute to Harry Chapin, who would have been celebrating his 45th birthday.

September 7, 1986 Mike Nesmith joins the other three Monkees on stage during their reunion tour concert in Los Angeles.

August 28, 1986 The anti-corporate-pollution benefit concert Get Tough On Toxics is held in Long Beach, California, featuring members of Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, and Neil Young.

June 10, 1986 Nitty Gritty Dirt Band celebrates its 20th anniversary with a concert in their hometown of Denver, Colorado.

May 24, 1986 The Monkees, minus Mike Nesmith, begin their 145-date "20th Anniversary World Tour" at the Concord Hotel in the Catskill Mountains. The group has risen in popularity thanks to MTV, which started airing old episodes of their TV show.

October 2, 1985 Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA tour ends with the last of four shows at Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles.

July 4, 1985 Dire Straits play the first of 14 consecutive nights at Wembley Arena in London. On Day 10 of the residency (July 13), they first play an afternoon set across the parking lot at Wembley Stadium as part of Live Aid.

June 1, 1985 Bruce Springsteen kicks off the European leg of his Born In The U.S.A. world tour at Slane Castle in Dublin, Ireland.

May 23, 1985 Hall & Oates perform with Temptations Eddie Kendrick and David Ruffin at the re-opened Apollo Theatre in Harlem. The concert is later released as Live At The Apollo.

April 18, 1985 Liberace breaks his own record at Radio City Music Hall, pulling in two million dollars for his latest engagement.

April 9, 1985 Frankie Goes to Hollywood open a European tour in Copenhagen, then spend the rest of the year in tax exile from the United Kingdom.

August 28, 1984 With over one million ticket sales in only two months, the Jacksons' reunion tour, entitled Victory, becomes the most successful concert tour of all time.

August 12, 1984 Lionel Richie performs his hit song "All Night Long (All Night)," with special lyrics written for the occasion, at the closing ceremony of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. One of his backing dancers is a young Cuba Gooding Jr.

July 4, 1984 Ringo Starr sits in with The Beach Boys during their Miami concert.

June 2, 1984 Joe Perry and Brad Whitford return to Aerosmith, reuniting their original lineup as they kick off their Back In The Saddle Tour in Concord, New Hampshire. Their comeback starts in earnest two years later when they all get sober and the rap reworking of "Walk This Way" takes off.

October 6, 1983 Barry Manilow plays a charity concert at London's Royal Albert Hall attended by Prince Charles and Princess Diana.

July 21, 1983 Diana Ross plays a free concert in New York City's Central Park on a rainy day. She has a good attitude, claiming the rain "feels good" and saying, "It took me a lifetime to get here, I ain't going nowhere." Positive thinking cannot save the show, however, and it is stopped and rescheduled for the next day.

July 18, 1983 Following up on momentum from their free Central Park reunion concert, Simon and Garfunkel start a 19-city tour in Akron, Ohio.

May 29, 1983 Kiss play their last concert in their famous makeup; at least until 1996 when they re-form with all original members and painted faces once again.

April 30, 1983 The original lineup of Manfred Mann re-forms to play the 25th anniversary celebration of the Marquee Club in London, where they played when they were just starting out.

May 24, 1982 Grateful Dead, Jefferson Starship, Boz Scaggs, and Country Joe & the Fish play a benefit concert for Vietnam vets at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.

April 19, 1982 Simon & Garfunkel reunite for a world tour, but split up again in the midst of it.

December 25, 1981 The J. Geils Band play a gig for prisoners at Boston's Norfolk Correctional Center, with lead singer Peter Wolf telling his captive audience, "We wanna be the first to buy you all a free drink on the outside."