I used to go to concerts a lot. There was a time when most Saturdays would find me down the inner city area of Melbourne catching some gig, usually in Richmond, St Kilda, Carlton, Brunswick or Fitzroy. Or it was a more ‘big name’ overseas act that I would see at one of the bigger venues, like the Rod Laver Arena, the Palais, Festival Hall or the Forum. Nowadays, not so much. I’m lucky if I see three or four bands a year. It has a lot to with getting towards old age, I guess. But I’ve seen some good artists in my time. Saw David Bowie at Waverly Park on the Serious Moonlight tour of 1983, and John Fogerty at the Palais in 2005 (along with Motley Crue and The Bangles at the same venue in the same year). Oh, there was Los Lobos at the Forum and Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen at the Rod Laver, Thin Lizzy, the Kinks and Billy Joel at Festival Hall, Ray Davies at the Atheneum. The list goes on and on. I’ve only written about a few of them, and most are more recent. Some are well known and some are pretty obscure. Here’s a representative list of my writings about such concerts I’ve attended.