"P" Bands/Musos I Recall Seeing
Sitting At 75 That I can recall as of today
P is for Patti Smith.
P is for Paul Kelly.
P is for Phosphorescent.
P is for Paul Busch. He has yet to release a record.
Please, do not hold your breath.
66 is the number and the number of rings around my soul this year.
As per normal artists in BOLD I have seen more than once.
Enjoy the list and the music and maybe a tale or 2.
Pablo Cruise
Paddock Bombs
Paladins
Papa John Creach-John Henry Creach played violin with The Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna. He was a joy to listen to and watch on stage.
Parliament- Who got the funk?
Party Boys
Party Girls
Pat Capocci
Pat Metheny
Pat Powell
Patterson Hood
Patti Labelle
Patti Smith-Where would we be without Patti Smith? The planet would be a much darker place. She is a force of love, strength, innocence and beauty. Her music has been with me for a very long time.
St.Patrick’s Day 1979 was a memorable day that commenced with the NYC parade with friends who I can no longer share the memory with. Many beers, some orange sunshine, and we pranced and danced along 5th Avenue.
As the morning moved to afternoon, we boarded a train to Stony Brook where some of my friends went to college.
We had tickets for the show below and with a posse of people and a gutful of 714’s and other libations, we saw the show (setlist below).
What a gig. What a good group of friends and comrades.
What a night that went on and on until the sun came up.
Patty Griffin
Paul Brady
Paul Butterfield-Loved the Butterfield Blues Band, unfortunately, I never saw them. Saw him with various folks a few times in New York at The Bottom Line and The Lone Star. He was not doing that well and his addiction to heroin was showing.
Paul Carrack-How Long Has This Been Going On? Saw him as part of Nick Lowe’s Cowboy outfit and with Squeeze.
Paul Kantner-Jefferson Airplane kingpin.
Paul Kelly-My love affair with Paul Kelly began in 1984 when I discovered an album in a stack when I was here on my first visit to what was to become my new home. After moving to Manly in 1984, I commenced learning about the Sydney Live Music Scene. It was pretty good back then.
The residency at The Hopetoun Hotel in 1986 with The Coloured Girls made me a fan for life. The Coloured Girls were a very special band.
BAND MEMBERS: Paul Kelly (vocals, guitar), Steve Connelly (guitar, vocals), Michael Barclay (drums, vocals), Peter Bull (keyboards, vocals), John Schofield (bass, vocals), Di Spence (saxophone)
Since then, I cannot count how many times I have seen PK and have never been disappointed.
Paul McCartney-That Beatle Dude.
Paul Rodgers
Paul Siebel
Paul Simon-We were on a subway on our way there and I had a bottle of beer in my pocket. This dude was leaning hard into me where I was sitting and was getting in my face for no apparent reason.
I met eyes with him and stared him down as the grip on my bottle was in attack mode if needed. One of the very few times I came across or was involved with ‘danger’ in NYC.
Meanwhile, 500,000 people had arrived at Central Park before us and we looked toward the Great Lawn and decided to head for drier pastures. Rain had been around all day and we were not prepared for sitting on the very wet lawn and there was no way we were going to see a damn thing!
The Graceland Tour was amazing though!
Paul Weller
Paul Williamson Hammond Combo
Peaches
Pearl Jam-Never a huge Pearl Jam fan, I caught them once in Sydney in 2006. The fans were rabid and hyped. Mexican waves filled the arena and Eddie and the band did not disappoint with a set list that had 18 songs and 12 songs over 2 encores.
Penny And The Mystics
Pernice Brothers
Persuasions
Pete Cornelius
Pete Fountain
Pete Murray
Pete Seeger-Somewhere in my photo archives I have a pic of Pete at The Clearwater Festival in Croton, New York. The legend was just wandering around in the crowd back in the ’70s. My girlfriend and I were selling Ice Cream.
Peter Buck
Peter Frampton-Peter and his band Frampton’s Camel played numerous times at The Academy Of Music. I saw him supporting bands like Foghat and Rory Gallagher. I was in attendance at the State University of Plattsburgh when part of his huge-selling live album, Frampton Comes Alive!, was recorded.
Still up there as one of the biggest-selling live albums in the history of rock and roll.
Can’t say I listen to it.
Peter Gabriel
Peter Green
Peter Rowan-Peter is a cosmic cowboy and I love him and his spirit. He has played with Bill Monroe, David Grisman , Jerry Garcia and many others.
Long may Pedro run!
Peter Tosh-Saw him one time at The Ritz in NYC in 1981. I think it was him. The room smelled fabulous but it was as thick as pea soup.
Peter Yarrow-Of Paul and Mary fame.
Phenomenal Handclap Band
Phil Alvin-Phil and Dave Alvin were the brothers who started The Blasters. Phil was in hospital in January of this year with an undisclosed health issue. He is still under care so we send him all our best.
Phil Collins-He was still standing and still playing drums when I saw him. Spinal injuries forced him to retire in 2022. Supposedly, he can still sing.
Phil Guy
Phil Lesh and Friends-Best triple bill in years when I saw Phil with his band which included Jackie Greene. Also on the bill were G-Love and Special Sauce and The John Butler Trio. Labor Day weekend in America and who thought the sun would burn so badly on a breezy, sunny day along the San Francisco Bay?
I was baked by the sun and we were flying high with some high-voltage batteries.
The next day I was pretty sure I was the closest to sun poisoning that I have ever been. Spent the day in the hotel drowning my head in aloe vera gel. It was unfortunate because Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks were playing in Sausalito that day.
Why did I not wear a hat? Well, I was leaving the hotel down near the Bay and I said to my friend Jannie, “Oh, it won’t be too hot out there!”
Below is the entire Phil and Friends set if you are into this sort of thing!
Phil Parra Band
Phil Wiggins
Phoebe Snow-Supporting Jackson Browne at The Calderone Concert Hall, March 19th, 1975. She was kind of boring so my friend Bill and I wandered out to smoke a joint and he had some powder I thought was cocaine but he told me it was what we called horse tranquiliser. For a good portion of that amazing gig, I was levitating above the stage. Amazing set and evening for this 17-year-old.
https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/jackson-browne/1975/calderone-concert-hall-hempstead-ny-5bd5a724.html
Phosphorescent-Never heard of them in 2011 at The Harvest Festival. They were playing at one of the smaller stages and I was up at the rail waiting for them to come on. They came onto the stage and I thought these dudes look interesting. From the first chord, they had me. My partner in crime at the show had wandered off for a pee and I called her and said, “Get back here as soon as you can.”
There were some good acts at this festival (see list) but Phosphorescent was exuberant, electric, unknown, and unbelievably good.
Matthew Houck (Phosphorescent) is married to Jo Schornikow who is an Australian. 2014 I was leaning on the upstairs bar at The Metro in Sydney before War On Drugs hit the stage. I turned to my left and Jo and Matthew were leaning with me. We chatted for a bit. That’s all. I still wonder why they don’t come to Australia more often. Do you hear me guys?
Pinetop Perkins
Pink sort of circus in a big arena. I was the +1
Pink Stones
Piper Butcher
Pixies
PJ Harvey
Placebo
Pleasures
Pogues-Hordern Pavilion-January 25th, 1990. Irish Bedlam at its best.
Reprise 2012 at the same venue, Shane was shakey, but still a fabulous evening of Irish rock and roll. Guinness filled the air.
Pointer Sisters
Pokey Lafarge-Manning Bar, April 11th, 2015. Wee-haw.
Police
Poppa Chubby
Portishead
Powderfinger
Presets
Preservation Hall Jazz Band
Pretenders-Happily on board with this band from the get-go. Saw the original line-up in August 1980 in Central Park. It might have been their first gig in the Big Apple. From then on, anytime they were nearby I would go see them live. Even with the passing of Pete and James, they continued on and still are on the road today.
At the Narara Festival in Australia in 1984 I sat with the band and had lunch backstage.
I’d rather be here than just about anywhere else in the world.”
Chrissie Hynde, Pretenders – Bimbadgen, Hunter Valley
Below is my shot from the Bimbadgen Gig. I was dancing with my wife at the time and some tall, gay cowboy and we were going off. Chrissie looked out at us and pointed to us and said, “You are dancing like it’s 1972!”
Prince-Lucky enough to be in the presence of royalty 2x. Stunning. Missed.
Proclaimers-500 Miles. Free tickets. Meh.
Psycho Zydeco-Had them play at a double birthday party with my dear friend Catherine. We partied till midnight in Wolloomooloo and finished off at sunrise in Annandale. What a way to see 50 in with our friends and family that could make it.
Psychedelic Furs
Pugsley Buzzard
Pulp
Punch Brothers
Pure Prairie League
Man I get so jealous when I read these freaking lists. Oh to have seen the Pretenders with the original line up . To have heard Honey tone Scott play his chiming guitar . Don’t even get me started on Peter Tosh utter bastard I hate you bush man xx