New in 2017

BDP,

Actually,. I agree with you across the board - Bring the Family, Stolen Moments, and Slow Turning was an astounding triple header from  Hiatt.  PPG wasn't quite in the same league.  However....

That PPG tour was just a startling live show.  Still my favorite concert from Hiatt and, before that tour....

I'd already seen Hiatt many, many times.  During his earliest performing years, Hiatt used to play at The Bottom Line in NYC when I lived three blocks from the place.  I never missed a show.  These went all the way back to the Observatory and Slug Line years, when a John Hiatt show was often just JH and an acoustic guitar.

The Sonny Landreth bands may have been more skilled (and probably were more nuanced, as well), but that PPG band rocked like mad.  Relative quality of the material notwithstanding, that was my favorite John Hiatt concert.

Wow Marty, you were into John early! I didn’t catch on to him until Bring The Family, his breakout album. Three blocks from The Bottom Line! You musta seen a lotta great shows. I had only to make the 15 minute drive from Burbank to Hollywood to get to The Roxy Theater, The Whiskey a Go-Go, The Troubadour, The Starwood, and The House Of Blues, not much of a deterrent! I saw SO many great shows in the 80’s, 90’s, and 00’s. That was after living in San Jose in the 60’s and 70’s, only a 45 minute drive from San Francisco. A lotta great shows there too of course---not only The Fillmore Auditorium, Carousel Ballroom, and Winterland, but all the clubs. Luckily, Portland Oregon is part of the concert circuit for most currently touring artists, so great live music is still available to me. And Portland also has a thriving local music scene---lots of Blues, Singer/Songwriter, and Alternative. Can’t complain!

Portland sounds very interesting bdp - It is on my bucket list to visit....

I lived on 8th St between Broadway and Mercer. The Bottom Line was at 4th and Mercer. They usually has two shows a night, the latter was doors open at ten, music at +/-10:30. I was single and working in investment banking at the time and my work day frequently ended just in time for a 10:00 dinner. Five or six times a month, I’d just wander in to TBL to grab a burger and see whoever they trotted out that night.

I saw some amazing acts that I’d never heard of before seeing them live - first among them was John Hiatt.

BTW, I sold my place there in 2001 and TBL closed up shop within a couple of years.  Coincidence?

I lived at the last stop on the 7 line---Flushing in Queens, during most of '82. I saw a few great shows in Manhattan---Marshall Crenshaw (his "big" band 6-piece line-up), The dB's, Dave Edmunds. Great clubs, expensive drinks! It's nice not having to drive after drinking all night though ;-).