Today in Rock History – 16th AUGUST:

BIRTHDAYS
1944: Kevin Ayers (Soft Machine)
1946: Gordon Fleet (The Easybeats)
1948: Barry Hay (Golden Earring)
1949: Scott Asheton (The Stooges)
1957: Tim Farriss (INXS)
1958: Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone a.k.a. Madonna
1980: Bob Hardy (Franz Ferdinand)

EVENTS
1938: Death of Robert Johnson [aged 27].
1974: Ramones played their first ever show, at New York City’s CBGB.
1975: Sweet played a concert at The Regent Theatre, Dunedin ~ I was there!
My first concert experience, 49 years ago today… It was the classic line-up of Sweet ~ Connolly / Priest / Scott / Tucker! Their powerful heavy rock performance was nothing short of incredible! I still have Mick Tucker’s drum stick, which I managed to catch in the air when he threw it, after his phenomenal drum solo “The Man With The Golden Arm”. Andy Scott is one of the best guitarists around (and has kept Sweet going with different line-ups over the years), bassist / vocalist Steve Priest made sure the crowd was having lots of fun and Brian Connolly was one of the greatest singer / frontmen ever! Rest in Peace, Brian and Mick. I feel very lucky to have been at this show.

1975: Peter Gabriel announced that he was leaving Genesis.
1977: Death of Elvis Presley [aged 42].
1980: The Monsters of Rock concert at Donington Park featured Rainbow, Judas Priest, Scorpions, etc.
1997: Death of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan [aged 48].
2007: Heaven And Hell played a concert at Logan Campbell Centre, Auckland ~ I was there!
2014: Death of bassist, Billy Rath of Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers [aged 66].
2017: Death of sound engineer / mixer, Jason Corsaro [aged 58].
2018: Death of the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin [aged 76].

On this day in 2007, Heaven And Hell (a.k.a. Black Sabbath: Ronnie James Dio, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler & Vinnie Appice) played their one and only concert in New Zealand. I remember limping with a sore leg, through the pouring rain to get to the gig. Despite the notoriously bad acoustics at Logan Campbell Centre, the guys got a great sound and it was LOUD! Some stupid with a smoke bomb set the fire alarms off at the end of the show, so unfortunately we never got the encore of “Neon Knights”. But we did get a fantastic two hour performance, including the full-length rendition of the song “Heaven And Hell”! I feel so lucky to have caught Dio live, as three short years later he had passed away ~ what an awesome singer he was!