Music History

As part of the Bad World Tour, Michael Jackson performed at Roundhay Park in Leeds on August 29, 1988. On stage he celebrated his 30th birthday, and roughly 90,000 fans sang "Happy Birthday" to him.

The Human Rights Now! world tour in support of Amnesty International began with a concert at Wembley Stadium in London. Sting, Bruce Springsteen, Peter Gabriel, Tracy Chapman and Youssou N'Dour performed. The tour took place on five continents.

Detroit police stopped N.W.A's performance before the group could play “F--k tha Police” and escorted the members back to their hotel. No charges were filed against them.

Bruce Springsteen joined Ringo Starr onstage during a concert in New Jersey. Together they performed “Get Back,” “Long Tall Sally,” “Photograph” and “With A Little Help From My Friends.”

The two-day festival began at Lenin Stadium in Moscow, featuring Mötley Crüe, Ozzy Osbourne, Bon Jovi, Skid Row and The Scorpions. According to the source, it was the first Soviet stadium rock concert where spectators were allowed to stand and dance.

The Rolling Stones played a surprise concert at Toad's Place in New Haven for approximately 700 people, 19 days before the official start of the Steel Wheels Tour.

Scorpions performed at the Moscow Music Peace Festival after previously traveling down the Moskva River past Gorky Park. The experience later inspired their hit “Wind of Change”.

The Who presented the rock opera “Tommy” at the Universal Amphitheatre in Universal City, California. Guests included Elton John, Phil Collins, Steve Winwood, Billy Idol and Patti LaBelle.

The Who played a special charity concert marking the 20th anniversary of the rock opera „Tommy“ at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles. Elton John performed as Pinball Wizard, Patti LaBelle as Acid Queen, Steve Winwood as Hawker, Phil Collins as Uncle Ernie and Billy Idol as Cousin Kevin.

The three-day BCM Summer Dance Festival began at the Tempodrom in Berlin. The festival featured a number of American artists, including emerging hip-hop groups Stetsasonic, EPMD and UTFO, the Village People, and R&B singer Bobby Womack.

The Pittsburgh Steelers could not fully use their home stadium, Three Rivers Stadium, because The Rolling Stones were rehearsing and preparing their Steel Wheels tour concert there.

Janet Jackson was scheduled to perform at St. Louis Arena, but the concert was postponed until the following day because of her health problems. At the rescheduled show on August 5, she performed three songs before collapsing backstage and being taken to the hospital, where she was diagnosed with an acute viral infection.

Madonna concluded her Blond Ambition Tour with a performance in Nice, France. The concert was broadcast on HBO with a time delay.

Jimmy Page joined Aerosmith on stage during the Monsters of Rock festival at Castle Donington in the UK, and together they performed two songs.

Leonard Bernstein conducted his final concert. At Tanglewood in Massachusetts, he led the Boston Symphony Orchestra in performances of Benjamin Britten’s “Four Sea Interludes” and Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony.

Aerosmith performed at The Marquee club in London. During the concert, Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page joined the band on stage and played five songs with Aerosmith: “I Ain't Got You”, “Think About It”, “Red House”, “Immigrant Song” and “The Train Kept A-Rollin'”.

Donald Fagen of Steely Dan and his girlfriend Libby Titus organized the first „New York Rock & Soul Revue“ in Southampton, New York. The second revue later led to the creation of the live album „The New York Rock and Soul Revue: Live at the Beacon“.

The three-day British Reading Festival began, with Jane's Addiction and Faith No More headlining the first day. Also performing were The Cramps, Inspiral Carpets, Pixies, The Fall, Jesus Jones, Ride, Dinosaur Jr., The Wedding Present, Billy Bragg and others. A three-day ticket cost £35.

Sinéad O'Connor refused to perform at Garden State Arts Plaza in Holmdel, New Jersey, unless the U.S. national anthem was not played before her concert. She stated that she was protesting a wave of music censorship; the dispute triggered a major media and patriotic reaction, and some radio stations subsequently banned her music.

Stevie Ray Vaughan performed his final concert with Eric Clapton at the Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy, Wisconsin. A few hours later, he died in a helicopter crash.

After soundcheck before her concert in Saratoga Springs, New York, Sinead O'Connor refused to perform if the US national anthem was played before her show.

Pearl Jam performed at the RKCNDY club in Seattle. The concert was filmed, and footage from the show was used to create the music video for “Alive.”

Paul Simon odehrál bezplatný koncert v Central Parku v New Yorku, podobně jako v roce 1981 s Artem Garfunkelem. Vystoupení bylo později vydáno jako album „Paul Simon’s Concert In The Park“.

The group On A Friday, later known as Radiohead, performed at the Jericho Tavern in Oxford, England. The members had met while attending Abingdon School, and the name On A Friday referred to their usual rehearsal day in the school music room.

He staged a free concert in New York's Central Park, which was broadcast live on HBO and later released as the album “Paul Simon's Concert in the Park”. Attendance figures vary significantly among sources, ranging from 600,000 to 750,000 people, while later estimates suggest a much lower actual park capacity.

Sweet Jesus performed at the Boardwalk club in Manchester. The opening act was The Rain, later known as Oasis, without Noel Gallagher, who joined his brothers' band only later.

Nirvana thrilled the audience at the Reading Festival in England. Their performance culminated with Kurt Cobain diving headfirst into Dave Grohl's drum kit. A year later, Nirvana became the festival's headliners.

Iggy Pop, Sonic Youth, Pop Will Eat Itself, Dinosaur Jr, Chapterhouse, Nirvana, Silverfish, Babes in Toyland, James, The Fall, De La Soul, Blur, Teenage Fanclub, Flowered Up, The Fat Lady Sings, Kingmaker, Mercury Rev, Sisters of Mercy and Ned's Atomic Dustbin performed at the three-day Reading Festival in England.

A joint Guns N' Roses and Metallica concert at Olympic Stadium in Montreal ended in violent riots. James Hetfield suffered severe second- and third-degree burns after being struck by pyrotechnics during the opening song “Fade to Black”, forcing Metallica to end its concert. Guns N' Roses then played for approximately 55 minutes, or about nine songs, before Axl Rose ended the performance because of sound and vocal problems. An enraged crowd of approximately 53,000 fans then vandalized the stadium and surrounding area, resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage and dozens of people injured and arrested.

Madness reunited and played the first of two Madstock concerts at Finsbury Park in London. A total of 75,000 fans attended the two concerts, and the reunion led to the group resuming live performances.

Def Leppard began the North American leg of their 248-date world tour, Seven Day Weekend, at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Ray Charles performed at the opening of the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, singing his famous version of “America The Beautiful.”

Neil Diamond performed the first of six sold-out concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York. According to the source, he was expected to earn more than $40 million from his concert tour that year, the second-highest income in the music industry.

During their sold-out Zoo TV tour, U2 became only the second act to perform at Yankee Stadium in New York. The first was Billy Joel.

At that year’s Reading Festival in England, Suede, Ride, Pavement, Public Enemy and Manic Street Preachers performed. Nirvana headlined the festival and played their final UK concert, which became one of their most famous performances. Kurt Cobain came on stage in a wheelchair pushed by music journalist Everett True, parodying speculation about his mental state. Manic Street Preachers bassist Nicky Wire smashed a guitar into two pieces and threw it into the audience, hitting a security worker who required 16 stitches. L7 also appeared on the bill, and their singer Donita Sparks threw a used tampon into the audience.

U2 became only the second act to perform at Yankee Stadium in New York during their sold-out Zoo TV Tour. The first was Billy Joel.

Pete Townshend vystoupil v Brooklyn Academy of Music během svého turné Psychoderelict.

The Dave Matthews Band performed at the Flood Zone in Richmond, Virginia. The concert was recorded, and some of the songs later appeared on the band's debut album “Remember Two Things”.

Soundgarden performed at the Civic Auditorium in Rapid City, South Dakota, on the first show of an eight-date tour headlined by Neil Young with Blind Melon as the opening act. These concerts were Soundgarden's only live performances of 1993.

Jeff Buckley performed at the Sin-é café in New York. Several months later, recordings from this performance became his first released material in the form of the EP Live at Sin-é.

U2 performed at the National Stadium in Cardiff Arms Park in Cardiff, Wales.

This year's three-day Reading Festival in the UK began with headliners New Order, The The, The Lemonheads, Rage Against The Machine and Dinosaur Jr. On the Melody Maker stage, Blur, Radiohead, The Boo Radleys and Shampoo performed.

Bruce Dickinson gave his final performance with Iron Maiden at Pinewood Studios in London before leaving the band for six years. The concert was filmed by the BBC and broadcast on MTV and pay-per-view in the UK; it was later released as “Raising Hell”. The show included magician Simon Drake performing elaborate staged “deaths”, including an iron maiden stunt in which Dickinson apparently died onstage.

At a benefit concert at Fort Adams State Park in Newport, Rhode Island, Natalie Merchant performed her first concert after leaving the group 10,000 Maniacs.

Don Henley, Jimmy Buffett, Elton John, Sting and Aerosmith performed at a benefit concert in Boston supporting Walden Woods.

During an Oasis concert at The Riverside in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, a man jumped onto the stage and punched Noel Gallagher in the face. Noel refused to continue performing, and after he left, a crowd of more than 300 people attacked the band’s bus; the musicians were not on board.

The Eagles performed at the Great Woods Performing Arts Center in Mansfield, Massachusetts.

Woodstock '94 began in Saugerties, New York. The festival began exactly 25 years after the original Woodstock Music and Art Fair.