Great stuff BobC! The sound quality on the Agora tracks are superb! Listening to AC/DC Live Wire right now! What a legendary venue that must have been. Thanks for the link.

There is still an Agora Theater today, just in a different location, but still in somewhat the same capacity as the original venue going back to the late 60s/early 70s. They still look to showcase up and coming acts in a pretty small and intimate venue. Back in the day, the Agora the was tied in with the local #1 rock station, WMMS 101.7, and thus I believe a main reason the sound quality and recordings they had from all those years ago are still so great.

https://www.ticketsales.com/agora-th...eland%20-%20OH

The man behind the Agora, Hank LaConti, is a local legend.

https://www.cleveland.com/entertainm...gora_club.html

And I was lucky enough to have a college buddy of mine, and his older brother, who both worked at the original Agora at its East 24th location. In fact, my buddy's older brother later on became the manager of LaConti's Painseville Agora when it opened in the late 70s. He used to call me when he had trouble with people calling off and remember him calling to come out and man the box office for him at times. I was lucky enough to be on hand at the Painesville Agora selling tickets the night that Jonah Koslen, the former leader guitarist for The Michael Stanley Band, had the world performing debut of his new band, Breathless, that same night. Got to watch part of a great show by an outstanding guitarist and performer.

The Agora was the Cleveland version of legendary venues such as CBGB's or the Whiskey A-Go-Go. Cleveland may not get the hype and love of other cities like New York, Chicago, or LA when it comes to music, but there is a reason the Rock HOF is here, and not in any of those other cities.

That's really bizarre. I was just looking up the Agora Ballroom, because I have mp3s of "Boston Live At Agora Ballroom 1976" and wanted to see what the place is/was. Never heard of it before, and BOOM!!! the moment I look it up, there's a reference to it in a thread. Strange days, indeed.

Oh, has anyone 'nominated' Tom Scholz yet? He unquestionably deserves to be included here.

That's really bizarre. I was just looking up the Agora Ballroom, because I have mp3s of "Boston Live At Agora Ballroom 1976" and wanted to see what the place is/was. Never heard of it before, and BOOM!!! the moment I look it up, there's a reference to it in a thread. Strange days, indeed.

Oh, has anyone 'nominated' Tom Scholz yet? He unquestionably deserves to be included here. It's nearly impossoble to listen to a Boston tune and NOT go into air guitar mode.

Hey Darren,

What is the old saying, "Truth is stranger than fiction!", right?

You can't make up stuff like this. Will always have the memories of the old Agora. It was open seven days a week. The concerts were just on Monday nights. The rest of the week it was just your local bar with live local bands playing. (With the exception of the Wednesday morning "Coffee Break" concerts they also held there at times, emceed by the WMMS deejay Matt the Cat, and broadcast live on local FM rock station WMMS.)

There was actually a second, separate bar in the basement of the Agora building also, somewhat appropriately called the "Mistake". Much smaller and more intimate than the upstairs Agora, and open mostly on the weekend nights. But still featured live local bands. Can still remember the night the Hell's Angels showed up in the Mistake, and I witnessed a couple of them beat and kick the $hit out of some guy who just accidently bumped into the one Angel standing at the bar. My college buddy's older brother was actually working behind the bar in the Mistake that night, and I remember looking over and seeing him standing back away from the bar with the baseball bat they kept behind it in his hands, with this absolutely shocked and stunned look on his face. The beat-down was over so fast, if you blinked twice, you'd miss it. Nobody could do anything because it had happened so quick The two Angels who did it turned right back around and started drinking and talking to themselves as if nothing had happened, totally ignoring the poor guy who lay on the floor all battered and bloody. A couple of his friends gathered him up and got him out of there pronto. The rest of the Angels gang in the bar, maybe a dozen or so, never moved or did anything, and went right back to talking and drinking themselves as if nothing had happened either. It wasn't more than five minutes or so later that I saw more Cleveland police officers than I had ever seen all in one place in my life. There were many in riot gear and with shields and shotguns. My friend and I snuck outside to watch as the cops formed two lines and "escorted" the entire gang of Hells Angels outside through the corridor of cops they had formed, and had them get onto their bikes. They left, and immediately afterwards so did all the cops, without apparently arresting anybody. It was after that that I developed a new understanding and appreciation for the biker movies put out back then. Was definitely not your typical Saturday night in Cleveland, Ohio back in the 70s. LOL Just another chapter in the Agora legend.

A new guy to watch is Aidan Fisher.

https://m.facebook.com/aidanfishermu...2479471197465/

Interesting, when I hear the Agora I think of the converted hangar/quonset hut/hockey arena that is better known as the West Hartford Ballroom, but went by "the agora" for a while before that name.

Im guessing they didn't know about the other places and got told to change? Or maybe the same owner but he sold it later?

I forgot about buckethead.

I also forgot about Buck Dharma

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIUKlVEvyTo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUIELsVpv4M

https://www.mmone.org/agora-ballroom/

The West Hartford location was just one of about a dozen locations across the US that Cleveland Agora founder, Hank LaConti, opened up in the late 70s/early 80s when he tried expanding the original location and idea he had started in Cleveland. For whatever reason, changing times, changing/different people, changing tastes, they didn't last like the original Cleveland location.

I'm showing my age and faulty memory, was it the Agora where early Metallica was so loud plaster was falling from the ceiling during the show??

Hey Ken,

I think you may be right, I unfortunately did not go to that particular Monday night concert (married w/kids by then). But I think if you go back to the link I included in one of my earlier posts (Post #79), it talks about Metallica's 12/18/83 concert at the Agora, along with 34 other acts that had performed at the old Agora over the years as well. Unfortunately, the YouTube video/recording link from that show is apparently no longer available. I honestly wasn't aware of that site and those available recordings until doing a little online research in response to someone else's Alex Lifeson/Rush post. Talk about bringing back memories though, WOW!

Darren, I posted Scholz earlier in the thread. So innovative, I absolutely love the first album, even Let Me Take You Home Tonight, which is a bit cringey lyrically.

Go Johnny Go
 

I'm a horny guy (tenor sax), but seeing Chuck live was a treat.

Johnny Marr of The Smiths

The only time I went there was that Stryper show they mentioned. :D

Insane and weird show and place.

The lines were crazy, all the way around the building. But the person I went with said we can just go to the box office and the lines were for people who already had tickets. Box office had a line like 10 people long.

First time I saw a vending machine that took dollars.

They had beer girls! Carrying a case of beer in a somewhat suggestive location, must have been very profitable. "Would you like a beer?" "Oh yes!" "Ok, that will be $3".... later on thinking "I paid way over retail for a warm bud just because she held the case near her chest... I'm sooo stupid"

The warmup acts were forgettable metal bands. and it was really hot in there.

Stryper... People in the crowd passed out, and were taken out over the stage. One girl realized that got her close to the band, and faked it then got away and nearly tackled the guitar player mid -solo. To his credit he didn't miss any of it. And it wasn't like the staged stuff for videos, it took 3 security guys to peel her off ... twice!

I had heard about the bibles and figured it would be pocket ones, or maybe small paperback versions... nope, full size hardcovers. Ok, they just drop them into the front rows. Umm, ok, throwing them a bit farther back and a bit farther still... last couple were really thrown all the way back near the sound board. Last one nailed some kid right in the forehead.

Wild times. And maybe close to the end, I moved back up to mass maybe a year later in late 87

red hot chili pepper
 

John Fruciente

That is a great story Steve, and rivals some of the ones I remember and have already posted about from shows I'd seen at the original Cleveland Agora. Sounds like you had a heck of a time at the show, and I'm guessing it is one those things that you'll always be able to fondly look back upon and remember, and never regret having gone to. LOL

I think shows in small, more intimate venues like the Agora's of the world are way better than most of the huge stadium shows. Don't get me wrong, being able to see the likes of Zeppelin or the Stones, regardless of the venue size, is great. But seeing some of these groups in the smaller, night club/bar like venues before they become too big for them, takes you back to the real roots of what rock was all about, and how it was supposed to be performed, heard, seen, and truly enjoyed.

!
 

Frank, I couldn't agree with you more! Glad to hear you had a chance to see him live.

Got lucky enough to catch him at an oddball, late-afternoon/early evening performance at the Tower City complex in downtown Cleveland. In other words, in one of the lower levels of the Terminal Tower building on Cleveland's Public Square. (Cleveland - The only city in the world with a Tower that is Terminal, overlooking a Lake that is Erie!) That was on March 21, 1986, and was called the Moondog Coronation Ball II (held on the 34th anniversary of the original Moondog Coronation Ball emceed by Cleveland disc jockey Alan Freed who is credited with first coining the term rock-n-roll in regard to the music being played) and was one of the reasons the Rock-N-Roll HOF ended up in Cleveland. About 3,500 people actually attended, and I was lucky to be one of them.

It was one of those concerts/performances he was so famous for where he just shows up and then pulls his guitar out of its case and jumps onstage to join the supporting backup band he's never met or played with before, and whose only prerequisite is to supposedly know Chuck Berry's greatest hits. Was just an open floor, with no seats, and a makeshift stage that was obviously just thrown together and quickly taken apart after the show was done. (And Eric Carmen of the Raspberries was the opening act.) No fancy venue or acoustics, and was more like attending a high school dance at your local school gym. But for all the things that were just slapped together and could go wrong with such a questionable location and backing band, damn, could that man play, perform, and put on a show. To really appreciate Chuck Berry, you had to see and hear him perform live. There may be faster, tighter, sharper, and overall more gifted and talented guitarists in the world, but when he's duckwalking across the stage while playing "Johnny Be Good", there is nothing in the entire history and realm of rock-n-roll that ever has, nor ever will, equal, let alone exceed it.......PERIOD!

I have never thought of or considered Elvis as the king of rock-n-roll. And forget Bill Hailey and the Comets, "Rock Around the Clock", and everything and everyone else being the first of anything. Rock-n-roll truly only began with one man, and one man alone.......Chuck Berry!

https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/...at-chuck-berry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWRCooFKk3c


Suddenly at 3:30 into the song a guy in a red hat steps forward and channels Jimi Hendrix. I was never a huge fan but he sure could play!

What's even funnier is the person I went with was more an acquaintance, kid my brother knew from scouts or something who had complained a couple months before that his friends had taken his money and ditched him or simply never shown up to pick him up three straight concerts. "Oh yeah, we'll leave a ticket for you at the will call window" So I offered to drive to pretty much any concert as long as he bought the tickets.

And there's a card collecting angle, he worked for McDonalds, and at the end of the football card promotion got me a trash bag full of that weeks leftover cards. Ended up with 100+ sets.

Later on, he cracked a bat playing in the yard with a few guys. My brother said it was pretty old, I ended up swapping a store bought bat I had for what I'm almost positive is a Fred Parent gamer, plus a few other old bats that were pretty beat, a D+M and a Batrite both I think store models.

Steve,

That is a fantastic story, and great baseball connection as well. It is hard to really explain and convey to others the full experience from seeing some of these outright famous groups appearing in a venue like the old Agora. It all comes down to the old saying, "You had to be there!". Got to love the memories, right?

Yes, although the one in Hartford was closer to an arena than a club. Sort of a small arena sized club.


Now seeing the Ramones in Toads place in Waterbury...that was really amazing.
Toads Waterbury was tiny, maybe 500 capacity?

Never saw the Ramones live, that would have been a great show, especially in a small, intimate venue like that.

That would have been awesome. One club show I was just a bit too young to go to but some of my older friends told me about decades later was here in LA with three of our best punk bands: X, Los Lobos and The Blasters. That would have been epic. I also wish I'd seen this tour in 1987:

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...0Run%20DMC.jpg

How fun would that have been, the Beasties opening for Run DMC?

https://youtu.be/b4teHlgW0vg

I would like to add Allen Collins
And Dick Dale for some very good speed/stamina guitarists.

https://youtu.be/HGF1gmO0bHk

https://youtu.be/WuCNRl9IGwk

The one show I most regret not seeing was the Black and Blue tour back in 1980 with co-headliners Black Sabbath and Blue Oyster Cult. But I decided no after hearing Sabbath with Ronnie James Dio as lead singer, after replacing Ozzie. They just weren't the same. Would have loved seeing them both together, with their original lineups.

Otherwise, aside from Ozzfest, maybe the best combo of acts I ever saw in concert together was a toss-up between a couple tri-bills. The Amboy Dukes (with Ted Nugent AND Meatloaf), Billy Preston, and Deep Purple headlining, or Foghat, Humble Pie (with Steve Marriott AND Peter Frampton), and The J. Giels Band headlining (before they went full-out commercial with their music). Having been able to see lineups like those, or the one you missed out on, in a club type venue would have been beyond believable.

great guitarists
 

Rest in Peace Jeff Beck- Trent King

Just across the wire:

https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/11/enter...ath/index.html

Wow!
 

I didn't know he was sick or that he was 78.

Father time is undefeated.

RIP guitar legend!

.....

Black Sabbath with Dio was odd. The albums were great, but live?
Very strange, I saw the movie from the Black and Blue tour, and BOC was way better mostly because dio just didn't do well, everything sort of clipped at the end of the words.
Went to the tour for Mob Rules, and it was the same. Plus, when he band came out for an encore it was a spinal tap sort of moment. Lights down, you can see people walk out in the dark, then questioning gestures and shrugs, they leave.... and like 10 minutes later with fans starting to get a bit annoyed... they come out again, with Dio sort of half out of the elflike outfit he had on. I think he was halfway to the limo when they went back and got him.

Was lucky to see Jeff Beck along with Stevie Ray Vaughan at the Worceter Centrum.

Great show.

Jeff Beck's passing away is a big loss to the music world. May he R.I.P.

Found myself nodding in agreement when I saw his name. Incredibly creative and extremely talented. Played some stuff people can't figure out to this day.

My son is quite into rap music. A guitar ? What's that? They don't use those things anymore. Sigh.

Kanye had a guitar player when I worked for him...

Spurred by discussion on another music related thread, not sure if he has already been mentioned, but Richard Lloyd of Television, and later, of Matthew Sweet fame is an incredible talent.

This was a fun read, always nice to get reminded of some great guitar players.

I'll add Jerry Garcia. Some may roll their eyes, but he's unmistakable.

Also prompted by the forgotten bands thread

Leslie West

Young guy coming up by the name of Billy Strings, excellent guitar work.