I saw Umphrey’s McGee on March 19. It was an excellent show at Boise’s Treefort Music Hall that also completed a pseudo-bucket list item: I have seen a band whose name starts with every letter of the alphabet.
Technically, I saw Ultra Q (fronted by the son of Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong) last year, but I wanted my list to be full of national, known bands. Umphrey’s McGee gave me the legitimate “U “I was lacking.
I thought this would make an interesting Pencil Storm post, so here is my alphabetical concert history. I have multiple options for just about every letter so I chose the most memorable show, band or venue.
A: Accept / This was the first club show I ever saw (Aug. 4, 1985) was at The Agora in Hartford, Conn. The lineup of Accept, Helix and Keel was fantastic, and Accept played a heck of a lot longer than they did opening for Iron Maiden a few months earlier.
B: The Beaches / This all-female Canadian quartet is on the rise with their name getting bigger on the festival posters. They’ve been selling out legendary clubs, and I saw them at The Shredder in Boise, Idaho, on April with 40 people in attendance.
The Beaches perform at The Shredder on April 25, 2023 in Boise, Idaho.
C: The Call / I won a radio contest (imagine that) in 1998 and got to see The Call perform in the CD101 Big Room when the station was still located on Ludlow Street. Memorable performance, and it was the only time I got to see a show there.
D: Dio / This was August 1984 at the now-razed New Haven (CT.) Coliseum on The Last In Line tour. The classic lineup in a nearly full arena firing on all cylinders. Amazing show.
E: Extreme / I got to see them on the Waiting for the Punchline tour at the Newport Music Hall in Columbus. I watched this from the upstairs and recall it being a solid show.
F: Firehouse / I’ve seen them a handful of times, but their show at the House of Blues in Myrtle Beach, SC. back in 1997 was amazing. Slaughter opened.
G: GWAR / Finally saw this legendary live act at the Knitting Factory in Boise last year. Everyone who likes music should see GWAR once, which is enough.
GWAR video from the Knitting Factory in Boise, Idaho.
H: Howlin’ Maggie / I lucked out on this. I bought tickets to see The Goo Goo Dolls and Dishwalla at the Ohio State Fair in 1996. Dishwalla bailed, so I got to see Howlin’ Maggie. That was pretty awesome.
I: Iron Maiden / The World Slavery Tour in Hartford on Jan. 14, 1985. I had fourth row seats on the day that I purchased the day before at Ticketron. Someone had put them on layaway and didn’t pick them up, so my friend and I scored the $14.50 tickets. Amazing show with Twisted Sister opening.
J: Judas Priest / I’ve seen Priest three times in three different decades in three different states — 1986 in Connecticut, 1991 in Ohio and 2014 in Idaho. All stellar shows.
K: KISS / My first concert took place on January 28, 1978. This was on the Alive II tour and it was a top-five life moment, much less concert moment.
L: Lizzo / I didn’t what/who Lizzo was when I stood in a parking lot that housed the main stage of the Treefort Music Festival in 2017. A jaw-dropping performance.
M: Metallica / The first time I had backstage passes to a show thanks to a friend’s connection with one of the road crew. Cincinnati Gardens in 1992. The snake-pit, no opening band. Just three hours of Metallica crushing it.
N: Nugent, Ted / I saw Ted perform an acoustic show (editor’s note; a Ted Nugent acoustic show? wha hey?!?) in the Liberty Union High School (Baltimore, Ohio) auditorium in 1993 for people who were in his bow-hunting club. The Damn Yankees were playing later that night at Buckeye Lake Music Center. As a journalist working for the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette, I got to attend both shows. My lead for the acoustic story: Ted Nugent says animals have rights — the rights to garlic and butter. Ouch.
O: The Outlaws / Ohio University used to hold a massive Springfest event in May. The Outlaws headlined the last Springfest in 1988 where beer was served. It was a hell of a party, and it really had nothing to do with The Outlaws. I could have chosen The Outfield, who played in El Paso in 2000, and changed the lyric to “You know I like my girls a little bit older,” which drew a cheer.
P: Psychedelic Furs / Just a solid show in 2013 at the Knitting Factory in Boise. Very animated frontman.
Q: Queensryche / In 1991, I saw Queensryche at the now-razed Richfield Coliseum ouside of Cleveland. It was the Empire Tour but the band performed Operation Mindcrime in its entirety mid-set. Of note, opening act Suicidal Tendencies remains the loudest band I’ve seen.
R: The Replacements / They played Memorial Auditorium on the Ohio University campus in 1987. Slim Dunlap on guitar and touring the Pleased to Meet Me release. I had pretty good seats and kept yelling “Black Diamond,” hoping the band would play the KISS cover. Finally Paul screamed back, “We’re not playing that one.”
S: Styx / They played the Western Idaho Fair a few years back and broke out “Mr. Roboto” for the first time in a long time. (editor’s note; my condolences.)
T: Tora Tora / What makes this show stand out is that Columbus band Tammer Laine was one of the openers, and I was on their road crew for that night. In fact, I wrote their set-list and the band delivered a fantastic show. Tora Tora was solid, too, and getting to meet them and hear part of their soundcheck was cool.
U: Umphrey’s McGee / Very talented, very tight. Jam bands aren’t really my thing, but I enjoyed this show that unofficially kicked off the 2024 Treefort Music Festival in Boise.
V: Van Halen / I never did get to see the band with David Lee Roth, but I was at the show in New Haven where the Live Without A Net concert video was filmed in 1986.
W: Watershed / Too easy. I’m going to go with Whitesnake in 1990 in Charleston, WV. The show fell on Easter, and the running joke among my college friends who attended with me is we get the obligatory “Happy F-in Easter, Charleston” text, which is how David Coverdale greeted the crowd that night.
X: XYZ / They played the Alrosa Villa in Columbus in 1992 or 1993, and I thought they were pretty good right about the time bands of this genre were going out of style.
Y: Y&T / If you haven’t seen Y&T, find a way to do so. Dave Meniketti would be a first-round pick in a fantasy band draft because he can shred, sing and write songs. The complete package, who still sounds like he’s in his 20’s and not age 70. I’ve seen them three times.
Y&T; video shows clips from 2017 and the 2020 shows, including a ripping solo by Dave Meniketti during “Black Tiger.”
Z: ZZ Top / I got to see the Afterburner tour in both Hartford and New Haven. Great special effects and great songs.
Nick Jezierny is a graduate of Ohio University and a former newspaper journalist who worked at papers in Connecticut, Ohio, Texas and Idaho. He resides in Garden City, Idaho, and is fascinated by all things music, mostly because he has zero musical skills minus his spot-on karaoke version of Tommy Tutone.