Pick a Day

Music History Events: Memorable Concerts

November 22, 2011 At her concert in Madison Square Garden, Taylor Swift brings out James Taylor - whom she's named after - to perform "Fire And Rain" and "Fifteen."

October 15, 2011 Lady Gaga, Stevie Wonder and Usher all perform at Bill Clinton's 65th birthday celebration at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. Gaga turns her hit song into "Bill Romance" for her performance.

September 17, 2011 Huey Lewis & the News play at the 54th Monterey Jazz Festival in California.

April 12, 2011 Ed Sheeran is due to play a free show at The Barfly in Camden, London. Over 1000 fans turn up, prompting Sheeran to play four separate sets, including one on the street outside the venue once it had closed.

April 2, 2011 LCD Soundsystem play their final ever gig at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The show lasts four hours and features Arcade Fire and Reggie Watts.

February 21, 2011 Lady Gaga performs the first of two shows at Madison Square Garden that will make up the footage of her HBO concert special in May.

January 1, 2011 An 84-year-old Chuck Berry collapses on stage in Chicago at a New Year's Day concert. He makes a full recovery.

September 25, 2010 Bush perform at the second Epicenter Music Festival in Fontana, California. This concert marks the band's first live appearance since 2002.

July 31, 2010 Switchfoot perform at the 2010 Boy Scouts of America National Jamboree final arena show in Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia.

June 26, 2010 Gary Clark, Jr., little known outside of Austin, Texas, performs at Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival. The performance earns raves and leads to a deal with Warner Bros. Records.

June 10, 2010 Appearing at Milan's PalaSharp Arena to promote his self-titled solo record, Slash, in the midst of performing the Guns N' Roses classic "Sweet Child o' Mine," is tackled by a concertgoer. The guitarist bravely keeps on rocking, eventually switching guitars and finishing the song. Afterward, Slash described the night as "a kick-ass rock show."

October 25, 2009 For their last US tour date in 2009, U2 broadcast live on U2.com. Almost 100,000 see the show at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.

September 24, 2009 Leonard Cohen performs a controversial concert at Ramat Gan Stadium in Tel Aviv, Israel. After announcing all proceeds from the concert will go to a charitable fund organized through Amnesty International, the group withdraws all involvement and Cohen is forced to make other arrangements. He dubs the performance "A Concert for Reconciliation, Tolerance and Peace" and creates a new charity of the same name, run by both Israelis and Palestinians, to distribute all profits to groups focused on coexistence in Israel.

August 5, 2009 Steven Tyler of Aerosmith falls off the stage at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota, suffering injuries to his head and neck, which force the rest of the band's tour to be canceled. Tyler falls when he is entertaining the crowd with a dance while a technical problem is being sorted.

July 16, 2009 At the Latitude Festival, held every year in Henham Park in Suffolk, England, Noah and the Whale debut their feature-length film The First Days of Spring. The film accompanies their new record of the same name due out in August. Written and directed by lead singer Charlie Fink, the film stars model Daisy Lowe, the daughter of fashion designer Pearl Lowe and Gavin Rossdale, lead singer for the alt-rock band Bush.

May 3, 2008 The A-Sides, a brief side project for British indie-folk rockers Noah and the Whale, play a one-off gig at London's Push Club. They promise new wave interpretations of Noah and the Whale songs, covers and some "punk style" new originals. Prior to the show, the band urges fans via their MySpace page to "read the Motley Crue biography The Dirt, because that's pretty much how it's gonna go down."

October 1, 2007 Outside the Soho Revue Bar in London, Laura Marling and her band perform a set in front of shocked and ecstatic fans. The club won't allow the 17-year-old Marling inside to perform because it violates their strict 18 & over policy, so she takes it to the streets. She later returns to the club in February 2008 for an encore of sorts, performing indoors and onstage to celebrate the release of her debut, Alas, I Cannot Swim, and her 18th birthday.

August 10, 2007 Laura Marling shares the stage with other Indie artists like Crystal Castles and Mystery Jets at the first-ever Underage Festival in Victoria Park, London. The festival, which grew out of a series of club nights in the Elephant and Castle district of South London, is open only to 13-17 year olds. At 17, Marling fits right in.

July 1, 2007 In memory of Diana, Princess of Wales, a concert is held at the newly built Wembley Stadium in London. Acts include friends of the Princess Duran Duran and Elton John as well as artists she enjoyed such as Nelly Furtado, Tom Jones and Kanye West.

May 19, 2007 At Porter Wagoner's 50th anniversary celebration at the Grand Ole Opry, Dolly Parton sings "I Will Always Love You" to Wagoner, whom she wrote the song about in 1974.

April 1, 2007 The Hammersmith Palais in London, subject of The Clash song "(White Man) in Hammersmith Palais," hosts its last concert - a gig by The Fall.

October 9, 2006 The Bad Brains kick off a three-night residency at CBGB's, during the famed music venue's last week of operation. Celebrities spotted in the crowd include Ric Ocasek, Paulina Porizkova, Richard Hell, and Elijah Wood.

September 16, 2006 After their triumph with "Hard Rock Hallelujah" at Eurovision, Finland's leading monster Rock band Lordi record a live concert DVD Bringing Back The Balls To Stockholm in neighboring Sweden. Naturally, the band perform in (and are cheered in) English.

August 20, 2005 On what would have been Phil Lynott's 56th birthday, a concert is held in Dublin featuring Thin Lizzy members Brian Downey, Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson. Eric Bell, the original lead guitarist with Thin Lizzy, and Gary Moore share the lead on the classic "Whiskey In The Jar."

August 10, 2005 The Rolling Stones build a buzz for their A Bigger Bang tour with a surprise warm-up show at the Phoenix Concert Theatre in Toronto, which holds about 1,000 people. Tickets are just $10, but many had to wait in line many hours to get them after hearing rumors of the show.

September 18, 2004 The Fugees reunite for a concert hosted by the comedian Dave Chappelle on a corner in Brooklyn. Other performers at the show, which is later released as the film Dave Chappelle's Block Party, include Kanye West, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott and The Roots.

June 12, 2004 Adrian Belew joins Primus on stage during their set at Bonnaroo 2004 for three songs: Primus' "Those Damned Blue-Collar Tweekers," Belew's own "The Lone Rhinoceros," and King Crimson's "Thela Hun Ginjeet."

November 29, 2003 In front of a crowd of 40,000+ at Greenpoint Stadium in Cape Town, South Africa, The Corrs make their first concert appearance as part of Nelson Mandela's 46664 campaign to raise AIDS awareness in Africa. Alongside artists like Bono, Beyonce, and Peter Gabriel, they help raise money for the Nelson Mandela Foundation for AIDS.

September 20, 2003 Howard Jones plays a sold out concert at the Shepherds Bush Empire, London. The concert marks 20 years since the release of his first single, "New Song."

July 9, 2003 Buzzcocks play Madison Square Garden for the first time ever in their career, opening for Pearl Jam.