Pick a Day

Music History Events: Memorable Concerts

June 6, 1971 John Lennon makes his first stage appearance since 1969 when he and Yoko Ono jam with Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention at the Fillmore East in New York. The show is recorded and released as a bonus disc with the Lennon/Ono album Some Time In New York City.

June 5, 1971 Carly Simon opens for Cat Stevens at Carnegie Hall in New York City, where she debuts "Anticipation," a song she wrote a few days earlier while waiting for Stevens to come over for a date.

June 3, 1971 The Band appear at London's Royal Albert Hall during a European tour.

May 15, 1971 Pink Floyd, Mountain and the Faces perform the "Garden Party" concert at Crystal Palace Park in London. A small pond in front of the stage becomes an aquatic graveyard when hundreds of fish die during Pink Floyd's performance. What killed the fish? Reports vary, but it is either vibrations from the band's estimated 95-decibal sound system or smoke flares set off in the water. The band receives a bill for the dead fish.

May 3, 1971 Led Zeppelin play their song "Four Sticks" for the first and only time in concert during a show in Denmark.

April 5, 1971 Chicago is the first American rock band to perform at Carnegie Hall.

March 5, 1971 Led Zeppelin begins their "Thank You" tour of small clubs that supported them when they started out, charging the same prices they charged in 1968.

November 1, 1970 The Festfolk Quartet, which later becomes ABBA, play their first-ever concert at a Gothenburg, Sweden restaurant.

October 30, 1970 Black Sabbath play their first show in America: a gig at Glassboro State College in Glassboro, Pennsylvania.

September 16, 1970 Jimi Hendrix jams with Eric Burdon and War at the London club Ronnie Scott's two days before his death. It's the last time he would play music.

September 12, 1970 The Woody Guthrie tribute concert takes place at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. Performers include Bob Dylan, Judy Collins, Richie Havens and Joan Baez.

September 9, 1970 Elvis Presley kicks off his first concert tour in nine years at a show in Phoenix, Arizona.

August 6, 1970 On the 25th anniversary of the Hiroshima atomic bomb, a Concert For Peace at Shea Stadium in New York features Janis Joplin, Paul Simon, Steppenwolf and Johnny Winter.

June 14, 1970 Eric Clapton's new band is introduced as "Derek and the Dominos" when they take the stage at the Lyceum in London. They tell the promoter they are "The Dynamics," but he convinces them to add the "Derek," which is a nickname for Clapton. His mangled name interpretation sticks.

June 14, 1970 Blood, Sweat & Tears begins a tour of Romania, Poland, and Yugoslavia on behalf of the US State Department. Working as government ambassadors under the Nixon administration puts the band in bad standing with the protest movement they were part of when they played Woodstock.

May 23, 1970 Grateful Dead play outside North America for the first time, doing a 4-hour set at the Hollywood Music Festival in England. Mungo Jerry and Steppenwolf are also on the bill.

January 26, 1970 The Ourimbah rock festival, Australia's first, opens to an audience of 11,000. The festival results in 26 arrests.

December 31, 1969 Jimi Hendrix's new group, Band of Gypsys, make their concert debut at the Fillmore East ballroom in New York City. The show is later released as the album Band Of Gypsys.

December 15, 1969 John Lennon makes his last stage appearance in England when he performs with the Plastic Ono Band at the UNICEF "Peace For Christmas" charity concert in London. George Harrison, Eric Clapton and Keith Moon join him on stage.

December 2, 1969 In Bristol, England, George Harrison joins the Delaney & Bonnie and Friends tour as a guitarist, making this the first tour of a Beatle since 1966.

November 15, 1969 Janis Joplin calls out a policeman at her concert in Tampa, Florida, when he uses a bullhorn to yell at audience members who have left their seats. "Don't F--k with those people!," she screams. "What are you so uptight about? Did you buy a $5 ticket?" The cop tells Joplin that she needs to tell the crowd to remain seated, and she replies, "I'm not telling them s--t." After more stage ranting where Joplin threatens to kick his face in, she is arrested after the show, charged with using "vulgar and indecent language." After posting a $504 bail, the charges are later dropped and she pays a $200 fine.

October 17, 1969 The Kinks play their first US concert in four years when they open for Spirit at the Fillmore East in New York. They were kept out of the country by a musician's union ban incurred on their 1965 American tour.

October 17, 1969 Led Zeppelin's fourth North American tour opens at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

September 26, 1969 Legendary promoter Bill Graham opens the Fillmore West, a West Coast version of his popular New York "rock ballroom," in San Francisco.

September 14, 1969 Genesis take the stage for the first time, playing at the cottage owned by leader Peter Gabriel's former Sunday School teacher.

August 26, 1969 Elvis Presley cracks himself up during his concert in Las Vegas when he changes a lyric to "Are You Lonesome Tonight," singing, "Do you gaze at your bald head and wish you had hair?"More

August 14, 1969 It's the day before Woodstock, and thousands of people show up early and camp out.

August 11, 1969 Motown Records introduces their new signing, The Jackson 5, to tastemakers and industry types at a party in Beverly Hills hosted by Diana Ross. The group lives up to the hype, becoming one of the top acts of 1970.

July 14, 1969 Bob Dylan with The Band make a surprise appearance at Mississippi River Rock Festival.

July 5, 1969 The Rolling Stones put on a free concert in London's Hyde Park, which becomes a tribute to their founding member Brian Jones, who died two days earlier.