The big summer concerts of 2024 are rolling through right now. It seems like every year now, we go to 3 or 4 big shows in July & August.
In July, we saw Bachman Turner Overdrive & Pat Benatar. On Monday, we saw a tripleheader at the MN Twins stadium: Steve Miller, Journey, and Def Leppard. Next week we have a double-bill: Lynrd Skynrd & ZZ Top.
It got me wondering … how many of the top musical acts of my lifetime have I seen perform live?
Lots of people track concerts they’ve been to. It’s kind of collecting the 50 states, foreign countries, ball parks, sports ‘finals’, state/national parks, or famous buildings. I keep lists of all those things (and more!), why haven’t I done concerts?!
Below are the Top 40 best selling musical acts from 1976 to today – generated from Chat GPT AI. I started the list in 1976 because that’s when I turned 10 and about the time I bought my first 45 single: Queen’s “We Will Rock You / We Are the Champions”
(The *starred acts are ones that we’ve seen in concert and the year we saw them. No, they haven’t always been the original line-ups)
TOP 10:
Michael Jackson, Madonna* (1985), Elton John, Queen, The Eagles* (2008, 2018, 2023), Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, AC/DC, Whitney Houston* (1987), Garth Brooks
11-20:
U2* (2011), Céline Dion* (2014), Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones* (2021), Mariah Carey, Eminem, Billy Joel* (1994 & 2017), Fleetwood Mac, Aerosmith, Phil Collins
21-30:
Prince* (1990 & 2003), Shania Twain* (2004 & 2023), Bon Jovi* (2008), Guns N’ Roses, Rihanna, Taylor Swift* (2015), Journey* (2024), Beyoncé, ABBA, Coldplay* (2009)
31-40:
The Beatles, Kenny Rogers, Lionel Richie, Def Leppard* (2024), George Michael, Bob Dylan, Barbra Streisand, Paul McCartney* (2016), The Police* (2007), Van Halen
Our stats:
16 / 40 = Attended (40%)
9 = Passed Away (22%)
17 = Still possible
You’ll notice that a lot of the concerts we’ve been to have been since 2016, when I retired. Retirement certainly frees up a lot of time for going to more concerts. You can stay out late on a ‘school night’ and not worry about getting up early the next morning!
How many of these 40 acts have you seen in concert? Who would you like to see soon?
Image: (c) MrFireStation.com
MrFireStation 
I have only seen three off your list including Elton John, Queen and The Police. Yet, we go to a lot of concerts in mostly smaller venues with The Greek Theatre being our main venue. Over the past year my wife and I saw Chicago, KC & The Sunshine Band, Oingo Boingo, Echo and The Bunnymen, Dwight Yoakam, and The Mavericks.
We have The Beach Boys coming up over Labor Day Weekend and Electric Light Orchestra in October. Our kids seem to be up for anything that’s not Country.
Performers from when we were young and have taken care of their health are cashing in because we have the discretionary income now. You can see the same happening with collectable cars. They are selling being a teenager again!
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Agree – concerts among these classic acts (even well do done tribute bands) are cashing in. There seems to be more concerts than ever. I think the new streaming model of music distribution encourages them to tour.
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