Music History Events: Memorable Concerts
November 12, 1966 At Sokol Hall in San Francisco, the Grateful Dead play a show for the Hells Angels biker gang.
October 23, 1966 The Yardbirds, in their first concert featuring Jimmy Page on lead guitar, open at San Francisco's Fillmore West.
October 18, 1966 The Jimi Hendrix Experience play their first major gig, supporting the French pop star Johnny Hallyday at the Olympia Theatre in Paris.
October 14, 1966 Grace Slick makes her first stage appearance with the band Jefferson Airplane at their Fillmore West gig in San Francisco.
October 1, 1966 Jimi Hendrix makes his UK stage debut when he jumps onstage to jam with Cream at London Polytechnic.
August 23, 1966 The Beatles play Shea Stadium for the second time. This one doesn't sell out, as they have been playing other shows in the area.
August 21, 1966 The Beatles play under a tarp at Busch Stadium on a rainy evening in St. Louis. It's rather unpleasant, leading to their decision to stop doing concerts and focus on studio work.
August 12, 1966 The Beatles begin the US leg of their last tour, playing a date at the International Amphitheater in Chicago, Illinois.
June 2, 1966 The Who kick off a 10-date European tour at the Grona Lund in Stockholm, Sweden.
May 27, 1966 The Exploding Plastic Inevitable show, featuring The Velvet Underground and the Mothers of Invention, plays its first gig on the West Coast, at San Francisco's Fillmore Auditorium.
May 20, 1966 Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band play their first gig, performing at the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco.
May 1, 1966 The Beatles play their last concert (not counting their Apple Records rooftop appearance in 1969) in their native England when they perform at a show put on by the New Musical Express. The last song is "I'm Down."
April 15, 1966 Buffalo Springfield play their first concert when they open for The Byrds in San Bernardino, California.
February 9, 1966 Liza Minnelli brings her nightclub act to New York City with a show at the Persian Room of the Plaza Hotel.
February 4, 1966 The Who play their first show as headliners, at the Astoria in Finsbury Park, England. Also appearing are The Fortunes and The Merseys.
January 26, 1966 Eric Burdon of The Animals handles lead vocals at Manfred Mann's London concert, filling in for Paul Jones, who is recovering from a car accident.
December 17, 1965 Judy Garland, with opening act The Supremes, plays the first concert in the Houston Astrodome.
December 10, 1965 The Grateful Dead perform their first concert in San Francisco's Fillmore Auditorium (and only their second overall).
November 19, 1965 At the Glad Rags Ball in London, The Who's lead singer, Roger Daltrey, storms off stage in the middle of a set plagued with PA problems. Rumors of a Who breakup spread quickly throughout London with most of them naming Boz Burrell (ofKing Crimson and Bad Company) as Daltrey's possible replacement.
November 6, 1965 Jefferson Airplane performs at the San Francisco Mime Troupe benefit, notable because it's the first show put on by the soon-to-be-legendary promoter Bill Graham.
October 7, 1965 Manfred Mann become one of the first Western bands to play behind the Iron Curtain when they do a show in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia.
September 21, 1965 The Moody Blues take part in the "Pop From Britain" concert at Royal Albert Hall in London, making their first major performance. They had recently signed with The Beatles' manager Brian Epstein, who got them the gig.
August 28, 1965 Bob Dylan plays "Desolation Row" for the first time at the Forest Hills Music Festival in Queens, New York.
June 23, 1965 The Kinks play a show in Springfield, Illinois, that they later learn was organized by John Wayne Gacy, who would become a notorious serial killer.
June 19, 1965 The Who, Spencer Davis, and Marianne Faithfull appear at the Uxbridge Folk & Blues Festival.
May 22, 1965 Two months before The Beatles' famous concert at Shea Stadium, The Rolling Stones play a much smaller stadium: Ratcliffe Stadium in Fresno, California, with opening act The Byrds. Attendance is about 4,000, a fraction of the 56,000 who see The Beatles at Shea.
April 30, 1965 Bob Dylan begins the tour immortalized in the documentary Don't Look Back, performing at the City Hall in Sheffield, England.
April 11, 1965 How's this for a lineup: At the annual New Musical Express Poll Winners Concert in London, performers include The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The Animals, The Moody Blues, Tom Jones, Them, Donovan, The Seekers and Cilla Black.
March 20, 1965 The first Motown package tour begins in the UK with a show in North London. On the bill are The Supremes, The Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, and Martha & the Vandellas.
February 19, 1965 Rod Stewart plays his first major gig in a Harrow, England club, singing with his band, The Soul Agents.
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