Music Fan

I’ve seen over 170 bands at 120+ concerts since my first gig in 1986. Favourites? It’s hard to pick just one, but a few which stick out are:

  • Dio (1986) because it was my first big concert
  • Motorhead (1991)
  • Rush (2002)
  • Bjork (2003)
  • Deep Purple & Thin Lizzy (Massey Hall, 2004)
  • The Musical Box (2004)
  • Dumpy’s Rusty Nuts (Sugar House, 1987) was a fun show – it ended with Dumpy riding a motorbike on to the main floor, doing doughnuts and then riding off through the emergency exit
  • Kiss (2000) was an OK concert but it was the day Kerri & I got engaged.

*** I take it back – it is easy for me to pick a favourite now – it’s the Marillion Weekend in Montreal, April 2011 – I even wrote about it!

Gigs – past, present and future

Date Headline act Venue Support act(s)
13/02/1986 Pallas SugarHouse (none)
10/05/1986 Dio Queens Hall, Leeds Keel
23/05/1986 Pallas King George’s Hall, Blackburn Militia, Cobra
14/09/1986 Chris de Burgh NEC ?
06/10/1986 Magnum Guildhall, Preston FM
22/11/1986 Cobra Yorkshire House –
28/11/1986 Gary Glitter Great Hall, Lancaster University –
29/01/1987 Blitzkrieg Zone 20/20 SugarHouse –
30/01/1987 Cobra Georgian Club, Lancaster –
31/01/1987 Metal Heart Yorkshire House –
06/02/1987 Rough Edge Yorkshire House –
15/02/1987 Metal Heart Flying Dutchman ph, Lancaster –
01/03/1987 Raw Deal Furness JCR –
06/03/1987 Magnum St.Georges Hall, Bradford Heavy Pettin’
07/03/1987 Deep Purple NEC Bad Company
13/03/1987 Raw Deal SugarHouse –
14/03/1987 Raw Deal Yorkshire House –
07/05/1987 Wedding Present SugarHouse –
16/05/1987 Raw Deal Yorkshire House –
21/05/1987 Blyth Power SugarHouse –
04/06/1987 Dumpy’s Rusty Nuts SugarHouse –
22/08/1987 Bon Jovi Donington Cinderella, WASP, Anthrax, Metallica, Dio
28/08/1987 The Mission Reading Rock Festival (day 1/3) The Babysitters, All About Eve, The Godfathers, Fields of the Nephilim, Icicle Works, The Fall
29/08/1987 Status Quo Reading Rock Festival (day 2/3) Quireboys, Dumpy’s Rusty Nuts, Shy, Glory, Terraplane, MGM, Lee Aaron, Georgia Satellites, Bad News, Magnum
30/08/1987 Alice Cooper Reading Rock Festival (day 3/3) Chariot, Kooga, Virginia Wolf, Vow Wow, Gypsy Queen, Lizzy Borden, The Enid, FM, The Bolshoi, Zodiac Mindwarp, The Stranglers
11/10/1987 Raw Deal Furness JCR –
22/10/1987 Tygers of Pan Tang SugarHouse –
25/10/1987 The Damned Great Hall, Lancaster University The Crows
02/12/1987 Dio NEC Warlock
22/12/1987 Marillion NEC It Bites
03/01/1988 Whitesnake NEC MSG (McAuley Schenker Group)
03/03/1988 Heart NEC The Jitters
18/04/1988 Def Leppard NEC Loverboy
16/06/1988 Pallas Georgian Rooms, Lancaster –
27/06/1988 INXS NEC Big Pig
15/11/1988 David Lee Roth Wembley Arena –
12/03/1989 Gary Moore Wembley Arena (Victory, except they cancelled)
01/04/1989 Europe Hammy Odeon Dare
19/08/1989 Bon Jovi Milton Keynes Bowl Skid Row, Vixen, Europe
29/10/1989 Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman & Howe Wembley Arena –
26/11/1989 Aerosmith Wembley Arena –
10/12/1989 Alice Cooper Wembley Arena Britny Fox, Great White
11/05/1990 Heart Wembley Arena –
12/05/1990 Midnight Oil Wembley Arena –
30/06/1990 Pink Floyd Knebworth – Silver Clef Award Winners Concert Cliff Richard & The Shadows, Dire Straits, Elton John, Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Genesis, Paul McCartney, Pink Floyd, Robert Plant & Jimmy Page, Status Quo, Tears for Fears
18/08/1990 Whitesnake Donington Thunder, Quireboys, Poison, Aerosmith
05/09/1990 Black Sabbath Cambridge Corn Exchange –
16/09/1990 Magnum Wembley Arena –
16/12/1990 Status Quo Wembley Arena Dumpy’s Rusty Nuts
20/01/1991 Ozzy Osbourne Wembley Arena Thunder
19/02/1991 Motorhead Hammy Odeon The Almighty
14/03/1991 Deep Purple Hammersmith Odeon Vixen
16/04/1991 AC/DC Wembley Arena –
30/06/1991 Yes Wembley Arena –
06/07/1991 ZZ Top Milton Keynes Bowl Little Angels, Thunder, Bryan Adams
11/02/1992 Lynyrd Skynyrd Town & Country Club –
24/02/1992 Eric Clapton Royal Albert Hall Clive Griffin
27/06/1992 Def Leppard Earls Court, Olympia Gun
18/07/1992 Bryan Adams Wembley Stadium Little Angels, Squeeze, Extreme
24/07/1992 Mr. Meana Plinston Hall, Letchworth From The Dark
02/08/1992 Genesis Knebworth Lisa Stansfield, Saw Doctors
22/08/1992 Iron Maiden Donington The Almighty, WASP, Slayer, Thunder, Skid Row
04/10/1992 Gary Moore Royal Albert Hall –
13/12/1992 Apollyon Baldock F.C. From The Dark
20/12/1992 Status Quo Wembley Arena –
08/01/1993 From The Dark Plinston Hall, Letchworth Apollyon
09/04/1993 From The Dark Plinston Hall, Letchworth The Lords
17/05/1993 Iron Maiden Wembley Arena The Almighty
22/05/1993 Bruce Springsteen Milton Keynes Bowl –
13/02/1994 The Egg and Bacon Band The Man In The Moon ph, Stevenage –
24/02/1994 The Uninvited Red Lion ph, Stevenage –
13/04/1994 Black Sabbath Hammersmith Apollo Cathedral, Godspeed
04/05/1994 Catch 22 Red Lion ph, Stevenage –
09/06/1994 Mr. Rainmaker Red Lion ph, Stevenage –
17/06/1994 Hard To Cure (?) Hitchin Football Club Devious
23/06/1994 Rickshaw AKA Red Lion ph, Stevenage –
07/07/1994 Turn The Page Red Lion ph, Stevenage –
01/10/1994 Purple Turtle Yorkshire Grey ph, Stevenage –
20/06/1995 Corduroy Agincourt, Camberley The Hairy Things (!)
16/02/1996 Deep Purple Rivermead, Reading Pan Ram
21/06/1996 AC/DC Wembley Arena –
29/06/1996 Eric Clapton Hyde Park Alanis Morissette, Bob Dylan, Pete Townsend’s “Quadrophenia”
14/12/1996 Status Quo Wembley Arena Steeleye Span
18/05/1997 The Who Wembley –
25/10/1997 Motorhead Brixton Academy –
29/10/1997 Lynyrd Skynyrd Royal Albert Hall –
22/11/1997 John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers Shepherds Bush Empire –
27/02/1998 Genesis Earls Court –
07/05/1999 Think Floyd (?) (none)
23/06/2000 Kiss Air Canada Centre Skid Row, Ted Nugent
Moved to Canada
18/03/2001 Jeff Beck Massey Hall –
26/05/2001 Raoul & The Big Time Steam Whistle Brewery –
01/06/2001 J.Englishman (Windsor) –
19/06/2001 Lynyrd Skynyrd Molson Amphitheatre Ted Nugent, Deep Purple
05/07/2001 Styx Molson Amphitheatre Joe Stark, Billy Squier, Bad Company
07/07/2001 Raoul & The Big Time (?) –
24/07/2001 Black Sabbath OzzFest @ The Docks Zakk Wylde’s Black Label Society. Crazy Town, Disturbed, Linkin Park, Papa Roach, Slipknot, Marilyn Manson
28/09/2001 The Arrogant Worms Hugh’s Room Wendell Ferguson
30/11/2001 April Wine Kool Hous Blue Oyster Cult
05/06/2002 Big Rude Jake The Horseshoe (none)
27/04/2002 Motorhead The Docks –
06/07/2002 Long John Baldry Harbourfront (none)
17/07/2002 Rush Molson Amphitheatre (none)
16/08/2002 Zeppelinesque Healey’s (none)
17/08/2002 (various Thin Lizzy cover bands) Healey’s –
22/08/2002 Jethro Tull Molson Amphitheatre Saga
21/12/2002 The Arrogant Worms Hugh’s Room (none)
05/03/2003 Status Quo Club 279 (Hard Rock Cafe) The Trews
11/04/2003 Zeppelinesque Healey’s (none)
05/06/2003 Blessed Blond Bistro 333 (none)
05/07/2003 The Trews Celebrate Toronto –
30/07/2003 Rolling Stones Downsview Park
(“Molson Rocks For Toronto”, a.k.a. “SARSstock”, a.k.a. SARSapalooza”!) 		AC/DC; Rush; The Guess Who; Justin Timberlake; Blue Rodeo; The Tea Party; Sam Roberts; The Flaming Lips; Kathleen Edwards; The Isley Brothers; Sass Jordan; La Chicane; Jim Belushi & Dan Aykroyd & Have Love Will Travel Revue
03/08/2003 Iron Maiden Molson Amphitheatre Dio, Motorhead
12/08/2003 Def Leppard Molson Amphitheatre Ricky Warwick
26/08/2003 Moved to 03/09/03 Bjork Centre Island Bonnie Prince Billy
09/10/2003 Eric Idle Massey Hall ?
10/10/2003 Buffy Sainte-Marie Massey Hall ?
31/01/2004 The Trews Horseshoe Tavern Rebel Emergency; Bedouin Soundclash
26/02/2004 Deep Purple Massey Hall Thin Lizzy
27/03/2004 “The Musical Box” (Genesis cover band) recreating “Selling England By The Pound” The Danforth Music Hall (none)
22/07/2004 Alice Cooper Molson Amphitheatre Edgar Winter Band & Foghat
18/08/2004 Judas Priest Molson Amphitheatre Slayer
21/08/2004 Deep Purple Molson Amphitheatre Thin Lizzy & Joe Satriani
18/11/2004 April Wine Hard Rock Cafe Carl Dixon
18/03/2005 Thunderstruck Opera House (AC/DC tribute band)
16/06/2005 Marillion Live and Acoustic Trio (Los Trios Marillos = h, Rothers & Pete) Mod Club ?
03/08/2005 Iron Maiden Molson Amphitheatre Mastodon
15/08/2005 Def Leppard Molson Amphitheatre The Tea Party
04/10/2005 Jethro Tull Massey Hall Lucia Micarelli
03/12/2005 The Musical Box Massey Hall performing The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway
28/06/2006 Spamalot Canon Theatre (Not a concert, I know, but a fun night nonetheless)
16/10/2006 Iron Maiden Air Canada Centre Bullet For My Valentine
03/04/2009 Marillion Théâtre L’Olympia, Montréal Sun Domingo
04/04/2009 Marillion Théâtre L’Olympia, Montréal The Wishing Tree; Sun Domingo
05/04/2009 Marillion Théâtre L’Olympia, Montréal John Wesley
08/04/2011 Sun Domingo Brutopia, Montréal Tempus Fugit
08/04/2011 Marillion Théâtre L’Olympia, Montréal Pete & Robin; John Wesley
09/04/2011 Marillion Théâtre L’Olympia, Montréal Jason Hart
10/04/2011 Marillion Théâtre L’Olympia, Montréal The Free Press
20/06/2012 Marillion The Opera House, Toronto Sun Domingo
22/03/2013 Marillion Théâtre L’Olympia, Montréal Mystery
23/03/2013 Marillion Théâtre L’Olympia, Montréal Jacob Moon
24/03/2013 Marillion Théâtre L’Olympia, Montréal Sound Of Contact
24/04/2015 Marillion Théâtre L’Olympia, Montréal Scripted; Kings; Casey McPherson Eric Blackwood of Edison’s Children
25/04/2015 Marillion Théâtre L’Olympia, Montréal Lo-Fi Resistance
26/04/2015 Marillion Théâtre L’Olympia, Montréal David Barrett Trio
31/10/2016 Marillion Danforth Music Hall, Toronto John Wesley
17/05/2019 Marillion Théâtre L’Olympia, Montréal District 97
18/05/2019 Marillion Théâtre L’Olympia, Montréal Jenny Rothery and Riccardo Romano
19/05/2019 Marillion Théâtre L’Olympia, Montréal “An Audience With Marillion”
04/09/2020 Marillion Couch Convention –
05/09/2020 Marillion Couch Convention –
06/09/2020 Marillion Couch Convention –
01/07/2022 Marillion Théâtre L’Olympia, Montréal Randy McStine
02/07/2022 Marillion Théâtre L’Olympia, Montréal The Cyberiam
03/07/2022 Marillion Théâtre L’Olympia, Montréal “An Audience With Marillion”
Future (date in italics = not booked tickets yet)
(2023?) Marillion There are rumours of another Marillion weekend in North America –


Missing?

I’m sure there are other bands that I’ve seen which don’t appear on this list, such as

I also saw The Spice Girls and Jamiroquai at the launch of the McLaren (Formula One) car, but I can’t remember the date. (I think it was 13 Feb 1997)

Other bands I’d like to see (if I could turn back time)


What have I been listening to recently?

Unfortunately last.fm no longer supports the charts which I used to include here, so if you want to see what I’ve been listening to you’ll have to go to my last.fm profile page.