Question of the Week: What’s the best concert you’ve ever seen at Pine Knob? Or the worst?

Local Spins’ Question of the Week (Jan. 6, 2022)

What’s the best concert you’ve ever seen at Pine Knob? Or the worst?

This week’s winner: Email subscriber Chris Zuver, who responded to the Question of the Week and was entered into a drawing for a Local Spins gift pack. Sign up for email updates and the weekly newsletter here: https://localspins.com/subscribe-local-spins-mailing-list/

THE READER RESPONSES:

Frank Tobin – It is hard to pick a best from so many great ones, but I would have to say Brian Wilson, performing the entire “Pet Sounds” album. Pure delight! And I must say, I never saw a bad show at Pine Knob.

Frank Youngman – Merle Haggard

Kelly Scott Kelly – Steely Dan

Staci Chase – My favorite show at DTE was Modest Mouse and Brand New. I danced harder than I probably ever have!

Chris Zuver – Being from Grand Rapids, didn’t make it to many. In order: Lollapalooza ’92, Allman Brothers, Sting. There were other shows but I prefer the smaller venues.

Don Clapham – Best: The Who “Quadrophenia Tour,” late 1990s. Townshend, Daltrey and Entwistle at their best. Worst: Crosby, Stills and Nash, early 2000s. Vocals were terrible and the musicianship sloppy. It was very sad to see such an incredible band sink so low.

Mike Schertenlieb – i’ve only been to one, but Tool was pretty fantastic!

Aaron Allen – Just a couple months before my father passed away, we saw Paul Simon there from the hill. My dad was absolutely thrilled and the two of us singing along together is a treasured memory.

Neil Rajala – Bob Dylan / Tom Petty in ’86 was outstanding

Christian J. VanAntwerpen – The best is also my only show: Bob Dylan and Paul Simon double headline. Was there with a couple of my best friends that I was in a band with. The shared set was amazing, but sitting on that hill while “Still Crazy After All These Years” played out in the night was maybe one of my favorite concert experiences.

Jeff Larsen -Worst: Phil Collins “No Jacket Required” tour. Phil came out, sang “I Don’t Care Anymore,” walked off, and never returned. He’d lost his voice. On the other hand, the Sting/Lyle Lovett combo in 1997 was amazing.

Paul Skip Miller – SRVs last Pine Knob show. Unreal!
Tommy Erickson – Metallica ‘98 – chucks on sod in the air, it was wild.

Andrew Anglin – Further Festival ’97

Cory Yoas – Skid Row, Pantera

Tim McAllister – Iggy and the Stooges

Pat Cummings – I started going there in the late 1970’s. The New York Rock and Soul Revue was pretty fun! (1992) #SteelyDan

Kim Masters – In the mid-90s, Pine Knob hosted a Newport Folk Festival show. As we pulled in, we were told that several headliners had pulled out due to low ticket sales. We could receive refunds and head back to GR (oh hell no!) or stay and see the show. It was a fantastic experience! The venue was barely a third filled so we moved right up to about 10th row and I looked around me and noticed a very pretty little lady sitting alone just few feet away: Joan Baez! Later I asked her who she was excited to see today, and she smiled and said you’re gonna love Staple Family Singers. Nice lady, of course. She closed the long day and even brought The Staples out to join her in “The Weight”! Never forgot that Lucinda Williams and John Hiatt bailed on that day, but f*** em! Wilco, Mark Cohn, Rickie Lee Jones, Violent Femmes; yeah it was a pretty good day!!

Don Schell -The J Geils Band was the best and there isn’t a worst.

John Sinkevics – The best concert I ever saw at Pine Knob (back in the day): Hands down, Peter Gabriel. As for the worst experience, just getting out of that parking lot could be a nightmare …

Paul Kissel – Best was a Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefers concert where my friend Don Middlebrook was playing on a side stage before the show. Hearing the crowd sing along with “I stole Jimmy Buffett’s TV Guide” was a classic!

Angie Chase – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers opening for Bob Dylan in the early ‘80s.

Jackie Evoniuk Nuyen – Further Festival ’97, first time at Pine Knob, Dead & Co Sept. 2021. Both great shows.

James Barry – Linda Ronstandt on an absolutely perfect summer night in 1976.
Jill Boomstra – Jimmy Buffett

Salina Johnson – Lauryn Hill was amazing!

Jerry Ziomkowski – I can’t remember most of my concert-going days, But I went to pull my cousin’s truck out of the mud after a Motley Crue concert, I think.

Paul Tiseo – My first-ever concert was at Pine Knob: Richard Marx wsg Henry Lee Summer. I was 10!

Steve Sly – I saw a lot of great shows at Pine Knob back in the day, but one that sticks out was Dio on the “Dream Evil” tour. He had a huge production with tons of special effects and of course his voice was amazing.

Michael Gregory – Best concert was front row for Adam Sandler in 1996. Really fun show. I’ll only say jimmy Buffet this past year was the worst just because the weather was terrible. We still had a great time though.

Paul Kelly – Steely Dan, Alive in America Tour. So good, studio quality in the outdoors.

Dan Gasior – Probably Rush was the best, at least that’s the first that come to mind, but so many great ones there. REO Speedwagon was the worst due to a power outage during the show

Jack Seaman – Grateful Dead, 1991.

Rod Plasman – The Allman Brothers — original line-up (minus Duane). One of my favorite concerts of all time.

Gary Milanowski – Best Show: Dire Straits “Brothers in Arms” tour. Worst Show: the Phil Collins one song and done show (1984-85).

Michael Grant Leavell – Roger Waters, “Radio K.A.O.S.,” ‘87

Laura Chulski Routzahn – Lots of wonderful shows back in the ‘70s & ‘80s: James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, Doobie Brothers, Jean Luc Ponty and Art Garfunkel.

Peggy Piechowiak Fonner – Sammy Hagar every single time, and can’t wait for this summer!

Jen Geiselhart – Marilyn Manson was the opener for NIN I think. could have lived without seeing him.

Darci Fawcett-Austin – Moody Blues with the Fix in 1985-6. I don’t remember much of it though.

Melanie Ragsdale – Rush, sometime in the ‘90s I think, was my favorite. I don’t have a worst.

Josh Mummē – Smoking Grooves ‘96 & Steely Dan top the list for me. Unfortunately, Jethro Tull was the worst.

Bob Schuring – Best: Talking Heads “Stop Making Sense Tour.” Worst: Phil Collins at the height of his popularity, battled logjam on I-75 to make it into venue, he came out and sang “I Don’t Care Anymore” and after song finished announced health problems and could not continue.

David Woolfenden – It’s always been “Pine Knob.” Not sure whoever called it DTE.

Cindy Frein Reames – Tom Petty. Absolute Best!

Brandan Grinwis – The first Lollapalooza, summer of ‘91

Denny Robert Blake Williams – Ozzy w/ Metallica, best ever!

Frank Xuereb – System of a Down, summer 2012

Roger Kintner – Dire Sraits

Dennis Martin – Neil Young with Stephen Stills

Corey Bloxom – Lolapalooza ’92.

Jerry Ford – So many concerts, but sometimes they weren’t great, but they were almost all fun. Probably my favorite was Bruce Hornsby, with Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne.

Devin Weber – When I saw Paul Simon there, a woman turned and shouted, “It’s summertime in Michigan!” to the entire lawn. It was already a great show, but this issuance of information really solidified it as my favorite Pine Knob show.

Jack Clark – Depeche Mode wsg OMD (1988)

CT Revere – The only concert I ever saw there – Steely Dan in 1994.

Bill Seppla – Couple of front rows: Stevie Ray Vaughan and Gregg Allman, and Herbie Hancock with Chick Corea

Vanessa Clark – I saw Queen Latifah, Jill Scott, and Erykah Badu all share a bill and it was amazing. (Peter Gabriel at Pine Knob?! Dang! He’s a the top of my bucket list.

Don Bidell – Hundreds of shows over the years. Don’t recall a bad one musically; just rain and traffic.

Dominic John Davis – I saw Neil Young there backed by Booker T and MGs! Soundgarden opened. Went as a teenager with Jack (White).

Katy Christensen – Best: when Of Monsters and Men opened for Florence + the Machine

Daniel Kalicki – The James Gang reunion tour!

Rick Powell – Tie between Peter Gabriel and King Crimson with the Fripp, Bruford, Belew and Levin lineup.

Todd Ernst – Jimmy Buffett. Dennie brought me, Peter Gabriel came out and performed the encore with Jimmy.
Jerry Ford – I saw Jimmy Buffett a few times there, they were always fun shows.

John Mickley – Neil Young

Ryan Michael – Neil Young/Soundgarden/Blind Melon in ’93 is way up there as was Lollapalooza ’92 with Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Ice T, Chilis, Jesus and Mary Chain, Lush and Ministry. I’d also put the Allmans in 96 on there for good measure.

Andrew Ogrodzinsk – Jeff Beck with Santana. Little Feat. Fogerty. The Allman Brothers a bunch of times. The Grateful Dead in ‘84 and ‘91. Saw many great shows there.

Kelly Latimer – This is a tough question! Most recent favorite was Depeche Mode w/ some unknown band opening for them in 2018 or ‘19. My other fave was Sting. It was such a different vibe from all the others I’d seen.

Kevin Murphy – I took my dad to meet his musical hero Jimmy Buffet for his 70th birthday (dad’s and Jimmy’s; they’re the same age). We got to meet the band, then go out and enjoy a really great show. I was very skeptical of the whole Parrothead Industrial Complex, but there’s no arguing that those dudes are killer musicians and amazing showmen. Then, as they started their encores the skies opened up and it absolutely started raining buckets. We were under the pavilion, but our car wasn’t. So we waited for the show to end, then decided the rain wasn’t going to let up, and we strode through the storm *quite a ways* and got to the car absolutely drenched. We got in the car, and before we made it to the end of the parking lot, it stopped raining completely. Great show. Great memory.

Jessie Beveridge – Megadeth, Pantera and White Zombie.

Steve Owczarzak – I used to play at the bar & restaurant there called Fire & Ice just up the hill from the outdoor theater 6 nights a week in the early ‘80s so we got to watch all the concerts for free, so I saw a lot of good bands there. The best show was probably The Tubes. The worst band was a lame band called SPARKS. Glad to hear they changed the name back (to Pine Knob). I wonder if the Lochrecio brothers are still with the management.

Scott Patrick Bell – Peter Gabriel, the one where he came out in the giant inflatable ball!

Patrick Revere – Petty and Lucinda Williams, ’99 in the lawn

Scott VanderSchel – At least people were still singing “Biko” while leaving the parking lot.

Brian J. Bowe – The Stooges (2003), one of the greatest nights of my life.

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