FUV Five Favorite Concerts: John Platt

During the 2014 FUV fall member drive, we're shining a spotlight on live concerts and performances. The FUV on-air staffers compiled individual lists of five memorable and marvelous shows that have stayed with them over the years, for one reason or another.

John Platt (Host of "Sunday Breakfast")
Some of the dates may not be reliable, but the memories are real:

Bruce Springsteen at the Uptown Theater, Chicago (1975)
Not being in New York until 1979, I missed Springsteen’s legendary shows at the Bottom Line, but my first encounter with Bruce was unforgettable, as he and the E Street Band took Chicago by storm. I remember him stepping out into the audience on the backs of seats, establishing a connection with his fans that continues to this day.

U2 at the Beacon (1983)
Long before I saw them at Giants Stadium and Madison Square Garden, U2 rocked my world at the Beacon. Highlight: Bono waving a white flag onstage while the band pummeled through “Sunday, Bloody Sunday.”

David Bromberg at the Bottom Line (2002 or 2003)
Every February before its demise in 2004 the late, lamented Bottom Line would celebrate its anniversary with David Bromberg’s Big Band. Their combination of musical chops and spontaneity was then, and still remains, thrilling. For an encore they did “Such a Night.” Exactly!

Stevie Wonder at Jones Beach (2008)
The concert was delayed for more than an hour by rain, but from the moment his daughter Aisha (the “Isn’t She Lovely” baby in the bath all those years ago) escorted Stevie to center stage, he showed why he’s always been the musical sunshine of my life. When he played “Sir Duke,” we all sang, “I can feel it all over!” at the top of our lungs.

Leonard Cohen at Madison Square Garden (2012)
Where Bruce’s concerts are muscular and sweaty, Leonard’s are refined, the Apollonian yin to his Dionysian yang. An elegant eminence grise in a suit and fedora, Leonard tendered his songs like precious gifts, sometimes on bended knee at the front of the stage, with impeccable sound and superb arrangements. And as he introduced each member of his brilliant band, he would bow to them in a display of humility and respect. Even at the back of the arena, you felt honored to be in his presence.

Honorable mention:
The Allman Brothers, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and Genesis (with Peter Gabriel), all at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago in the ‘70s, and any concert anywhere by the incomparable Susan Werner.