From Springsteen to Erykah Badu to The Black Keys, Revisit These Iconic Cleveland Concert Memories

Blood, Sweat & Tears

Aug. 30-Sept. 1, 1968 at La Cave

“In 1968, after sitting in on a jazz set at The Esquire Lounge on Euclid, I headed over to La Cave, completely locked in on my dream of becoming a jazz saxophonist in a famous quartet. That night, I heard Blood, Sweat & Tears for the first time — and I was blown away. They were real musicians, playing popular music with serious jazz chops. I remember thinking, I can dig that. They showed me I could create music for a wider audience without compromising my musicianship or abandoning the dream. The whole band was phenomenal. They played ‘Spinning Wheel,’ which became a hit the following year, and every player had room to shine, which is a jazz approach, and something I try to do on every show still ... more than 50 years later. There’s another great connection in that story: Dale Peters, the bassist from The James Gang, also played at La Cave that same year. In 1980, he ended up being the principal recording engineer on our Dazz Band albums during our time with Motown. We recorded all the Motown albums in Cleveland and mixed them all in Los Angeles. A chance musical connection became part of a bigger story and people still dig it.” — Bobby Harris, saxophonist of Dazz Band

Bruce Springsteen And the E Street Band

Feb. 1, 1974 at Allen Theatre

“Historically, Bruce Springsteen’s first show in Cleveland on Feb. 1,1974, at the Allen Theatre stands out. He opened for a British guitar band called Wishbone Ash. WMMS had just begun to play his music so I knew something about him, as did the audience, but he mesmerized the audience that had arrived to see the British band.  It was truly a moment for me,  as writer Jon Landau (later Springsteen’s manager) said: ‘I saw rock and roll future and its name is Bruce Springsteen.’” — Janet Macoska, photographer

RELATED: The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Expansion Turns Up The Volume on Cleveland’s Rock Legacy

World Series of Rock

1974-1980 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium

Arranged by Belkin Productions at Cleveland Municipal Stadium, the World Series of Rock were some of the city’s biggest rock shows of all time — and backstage, they were quite a scene. Because there were no dressing room facilities in parts of the stadium, RVs were rented, and large plants, decorative streetlights, pinball machines and even a hot tub were brought in to make a welcoming place for the headliners. The series’ star-studded lineups included The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Todd Rundgren & Utopia and more. Fran Belkin, the wife of Belkin Productions co-founder Jules Belkin, details some of her backstage work in her book, Rock This Town:

“My pediatrician advised ‘Get a sitter, Fran. Not a divorce.’ I jumped at the chance to follow doctor’s orders, and ended up working all the outdoor concerts, helping to decorate the backstage dressing room area, and loading my car with fresh flowers for the RVs and catering tent on the day of the show. It was exhilarating to be in the dressing room trailers, just thinking about who would be in them later that day!” — Fran Belkin, concert promoter

Patti Smith

Jan. 26, 1976 at Agora

“Patti Smith played the Agora two nights beginning Jan. 26, 1976, the night Peter Laughner and I were sitting on the floor a few feet from the stage. If Bowie lit the fuse of my imagination, Patti Smith, spitting ecstatic vulgar poetry to three-chord thrash, threw cherry bombs into the fire. Her producer John Cale joined the band for the encore of ‘My Generation,’ which was recorded and included on the reissue of Horses, with Patti intoning: ‘I don’t need this f***ing shit / hope I die because of it.’ Patti detonated all the stereotypes of gender and genre in music and art. In her boyish, heretical attitude, I had finally found a mirror, believing there just might be a place for me in downtown New York City. I would never be the same after that show, and neither would rock ‘n’ roll.” — Adele Bertei, author and musician (The Bloods, The Contortions, The Wolves)

Al Jarreau

Sept. 14, 1976 at Agora

"I had just started my radio career in 1976. I was hosting a one-day-a-week (Saturday) jazz show on WABQ-1540AM. I was using my own personal record collection (yes, vinyl!), so my repertoire wasn’t very large. I would discover newer music when I went to Cleveland State’s Afro-American Cultural Center between my classes at CSU. It was there that I first listened to vocalist Al Jarreau’s 1975 debut album, We Got By, playing on the Center’s record player. Near the end of 1976 I heard that Al was coming to the Agora — then located on East 24th Street, just a few blocks away from the CSU campus — and I knew I had to be there. I remember going into a room that didn’t look like anything special — low ceilings, painted walls, and rows of plastic and metal chairs — and coming out of it, transformed. Al Jarreau was a revelation in concert, turning the familiar songs from his debut album into extended masterpieces, and setting the stage for his wildly successful concert album of a few years later, Look to the Rainbow. That night at the Agora made me an Al Jarreau fan for life, and taught me about the power of being ‘in the room where it happened’ when music is being made."  — Dee Perry, Ideastream radio host

U2

April 20, 1981 and Dec. 8, 1981 at Agora

“On April 20,1981 I saw U2 at the Agora on their first tour, supporting their debut album Boy, and I fell in love. When they played for the second time at the Agora on Dec. 8, 1981, with their sophomore album October (back when going more than a year between albums was considered disappearing from the music scene), I had just spent a week in NYC, and drove back that day in a dreary rain, hitting a blizzard as I drove into Cleveland, and went straight to the club. They were just as magical the second time around.” — Anastasia Pantsios, photographer

The Damned

June 14, 1983 at Phantasy Nite Club

“In my personal mythology, I think the best CLE gig I ever saw would be The Damned at the Phantasy Nite Club in 1983. I had never seen so much wiseassery and unbridled energy in a 70-minute set. Dave Vanian (aka the king of the goths) kept running up the wall behind the enclosed Phantasy stage, never getting winded or missing a note. Guitarist Captain Sensible insulted the crowd frequently and, during the second song, motioned his guitar tech to reach around and take his pants off for the remainder of the show. Never to be outdone, drummer Rat Scabies kept bashing away, rolling his eyes up into his skull (so you could only see white in his sockets), hocking up snot and spitting loogies that landed on the backs of the security team down at the front of the stage. He’d exaggerate a ‘Whoops!’ response before breaking into a classic Cheshire cat smile. To this very day, I have never simultaneously banged and laughed my head off so hard.” —Jason Pettigrew, author and journalist, former Alternative Press editor-in-chief

Steve Goodman

Jan. 29, 1984 at Peabody's Down Under

"Known for writing the song 'City of New Orleans' and discovering John Prine, Steve Goodman was a musical treasure beyond imagination in the early singer-songwriter world. I had met Steve on the college circuit and worked some dates near Chicago with him and Jethro Burns so after the show we were talking and he asked me, 'What ever happened to John Bassette?' The answer came in a few landline moments with a few calls to his favorite haunts (in this case the Turkey Ridge Tavern on Coventry). We got him a cab and, poof, he arrived and we all adjourned to the famous Big Egg for a long breakfast filled with stories and snippets of songs. My last memory of seeing Steve Goodman was him arm in arm with John Bassette walking into the Lakeside Holiday Inn at four in the morning singing 'Goodnight Irene.' Two heroes suspended in a perfect moment in Cleveland’s musical past." — Alex Bevan, singer-songwriter

Bo Diddley and Ronnie Wood

Nov. 7, 1987 at Agora

"Bo Diddley and his band headlined, and Ron Wood came out beforehand, and he did this sort of continuous set. He just started playing. It was kind of an endless solo, but there were songs in it, too. He played chords and songs and one thing morphed into the other. I thought that was really cool; it’s like a 20-minute opening set where he just played and might have sung too. It’s really a fuzzy memory now, but that was really great. Then Bo Diddley and his band played, and of course Ronnie Wood came out and joined them for some things as well. I had just seen Bo Diddley a couple years before, at Peabody’s Down Under, and he had a pickup band. This time he had an actual band that he toured with, and I think it was because he got inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame that year." — Doug Gillard, musician (Death of Samantha, Guided By Voices, Nada Surf)

Paul McCartney

July 20, 1990 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium

“It was my first stadium show and, as a teenager, the first time discovering how gross public bathrooms can be. But it was also a chance to see a former Beatle with my dad, who had introduced me to the group’s music. Paul hadn’t played the Cleveland area since his 1976 Richfield Coliseum gig with Wings. The Stadium was sold out and it took us an hour to get from the turnstiles to our seats. We were rewarded with a perfect mix of Beatles, Wings and solo favorites for more than two hours. Absolute magic.” — Matt Wardlaw, journalist, host of Ultimate Classic Rock’s Ultimate Classic Rock Nights

Concert for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

Sept. 2, 1995 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium

"Three decades later, many still consider it the single greatest show ever to take place in the city. I was there, covering the concert as a music writer for The Plain Dealer, and I agree wholeheartedly. The size and scale of the HBO-televised concert was unprecedented for Northeast Ohio, more on par with one-off spectacles like Live Aid or Woodstock than the old World Series of Rock shows. It featured 41 combinations of artists — rock pioneers, icons, rising stars and more — playing 68 songs over six hours and 40 minutes. The lineup was like something from a rock ‘n’ roll fantasy, with pioneers Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Little Richard mixing it up with Bob Dylan, the Kinks, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, John Fogerty, James Brown, Aretha Franklin and many more." — Michael Norman, editor and writer

Read more about the Concert for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

Erykah Badu and Floetry 

Feb. 10, 2001 at Allen Theatre

“Erykah Badu was touring for her classic album, Mama’s Gun, and Floetry was the opener. I was about 14. Those three women were icons to me. They were thoughtful, funky, brave and turned words and lyrics into sonic calligraphy. Also they showed the variety and breadth of Black beauty and womanhood. I can easily say that I feel restful and rooted in my identity and aesthetic as a Black woman in music, business and life because of them.” — Brittany Benton, DJ 

The Black Keys 

March 31, 2002 at Beachland Tavern   

“They played their first-ever show on March 31 of that year, opening the show with maybe 20 people in the room, but we believed in them and kept putting them on opening slots all year. Then they sold out the Tavern and moved to the Ballroom to do one of my favorite nights on New Year’s Eve 2003. We were very proud of the duo and how fast they were building an audience in the region.” — Cindy Barber, co-owner of The Beachland Ballroom and Tavern

The Raspberries 

Nov. 26, 2004 at House of Blues   

“‘If we were older / We wouldn’t have to be worried tonight,’ Eric Carmen sang with a wink during the opening number, ‘I Wanna Be With You.’ Fact is, the Raspberries WERE older — but no worries. Their first concert in more than three decades sold out in minutes and drew ecstatic fans from across North America and from overseas, too. Our homegrown power-pop heroes did not disappoint, rising to the momentousness of the occasion with a thrilling performance. How sweet it was!” — John Soeder, former pop music critic at The Plain Dealer

Nine Inch Nails

Sept. 24, 2022 at Blossom Music Center

“I’ve seen Nine Inch Nails multiple times going back to the tour for The Fragile, but the 2022 show — which featured NIN members from the band’s past joining the current lineup — might have been my favorite time. Chalk it up to the element of surprise: As NIN steered into the end of the set, these alums joined the stage one by one, until they were in place to perform a raucous set of early NIN songs. Bay Village’s own Richard Patrick even performed his big Filter hit ‘Hey Man Nice Shot’ with the band.” — Annie Zaleski, author and music critic

For more updates about Cleveland, sign up for our Cleveland Magazine Daily newsletter, delivered to your inbox six times a week.

Cleveland Magazine is also available in print, featuring immersive stories, helpful guides and beautiful photography and design.