Five concerts worth remembering

Today's list of five is "Five concerts worth remembering."

1. Cheap Trick - Baltimore Civic Center - touring in support of All Shook Up
   Tom Petersson had just left the band and had been replaced by Pete Comita. The concert tee I bought was basically the album cover with Tom replaced by Pete. Ugh... Bun E. Carlos busted a bass drum head and the concert paused while they replaced it. The main reason this concert was memorable: On the floor of the Civic Center they had wooden risers which the chairs were on. As they kicked into "Gonna Raise Hell" the floor shook beneath me. Cheap Trick, the band that had made me want to become a guitar player, now made me want to be a bass player!
2. Big Country - University of Delaware - touring in support of The Crossing
   It was December of my freshman year of college. I hadn't been to a concert since summer. I had seen a couple of Big Country videos on "Friday Night Videos" and thought they were OK. I went to this concert mainly because I was desperate to go to a concert. I didn't care for the opening act. They stunk. Enough said. Big Country, however, blew me away. Though I only knew two songs of theirs, I was greatly impressed with the rest of their set. Their cover of "Tracks Of My Tears" sounded really good too. The next day, I rushed to the local record store and bought the album. (It probably should have made my previous list!)
3. The Alarm - University of Delaware - touring in support of Change
   The other end of my college experience. The Alarm booked a last minute show at UD because their gig of playing on Saturday Night Live had been cancelled because of a writers strike. The Alarm was a lot better in concert than I had expected them to be. I already had the CD, so I didn't need to rush out the next day to buy it.
4. Vigilantes of Love - Truro Church - touring in support of To The Roof Of The Sky
   This was the first time I saw VoL in concert. The most memorable moment of this concert was when Bill stepped away from his microphone to sing "Judas Skin." His unamplified voice filled the church. Sublime!
5. Sam Phillips - 930 Club - touring in support of Martinis and Bikinis
   Martinis and Bikinis ranks up there with The Turning as one of my favorite albums of all time. This was the third time I had seen her in concert. (The fourth if you count the one time while she was still singing CCM pop - although I wasn't really paying attention to that set.) On this tour, T-Bone Burnett was on guitar and Jerry Scheff was on bass. At this point in my life, I was mainly a bass player, and Jerry's work on Sam's CDs made him one of my favorites. I had direct line of sight to his bass amp and could hear every note he played. He did not disappoint. However, my favorite moment of the concert was when Sam came out by herself with an acoustic guitar and played "Answers Don't Come Easy."