Times were a-changing both musically and personally. I started law school in 1994, graduated in 1997, and lived in Arizona off and on in 1997-1998. (Side note FYI: Florida swamp girls do not belong in the desert unless they simply want a whole new appreciation for humidity). Not a lotta concerts per year during this time period but there were some good ones! Most notably: My 1998 trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico for Sammy Hagar’s Cabo Wabo birthday bash.
Grunge had become a well-established soul-stabbing fact of life, and while I have great respect for it as a genre and the musicians it gave us, and admit it was a scene that the anti-depressant forming world needed to happen to cleanse the decadence of what came before, it never spoke to me personally. The closest you’ll ever get to me seeing a grunge show is when I discovered Candlebox in the early 2000s, though I don’t consider them grunge. But again, all due respect to some great musicians and a genre that saved (rather than stabbed lol) the souls of many.
As a new aspect of my posts, I’m starting to add merchandise from here on out as I finally reached the point where I still have some of it.
Summary of concert ticket stubs and shows listed below:
1994 –Aerosmith with Brother Cane at USF Sun Dome in FL (only one stub! but I know I saw several local acts in both the Tampa Bay Area and Miami that year)
1995 – Van Halen with Collective Soul at St. Petersburg Thunderdome in FL, Black Crowes at Sunrise Musical Theater down in South FL, Elton John and Billy Joel at Tampa Stadium in FL, Melissa Etheridge at USF Sun Dome in FL
1996 – Tesla at Jannus Landing in St. Petersburg FL, Great White at Jannus Landing in FL, Zakk Wilde at The Rubb in Ybor City FL, Kiss at America West Arena in Phoenix AZ, Rush at Ice Palace in Tampa FL
1997 – Ringo Starr and His All-Star Band at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater FL, Sammy Hagar at the Outback in Tucson AZ, Ratt at the Outback in Tucson AZ, REO Speedwagon at the Pima County Fairgrounds in Tucson AZ (a concert that does not exist anywhere on the internet)
1998 – Sammy Hagar at the Cabo Wabo in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, Kiss at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles CA, and Black Sabbath with Megadeth, Pantera, Slayer and Soulfly at Bank One Ballpark in Phoenix, AZ
ABOVE: Welp, somehow this is my only ticket stub for 1994…wow. Aerosmith on their Get A Grip tour with Brother Cane on 2-5-1994 at the USF Sun Dome in Tampa, Florida. Comped ticket. Cellar Door Productions. Note the “no camera/recorder/video” which became an almost obsolete concept a decade or so later.
ABOVE: Van Halen on their Balance tour with Collective Soul on 3-14-1995 at theSt. Petersburg Thunderdome (now Tropicana Field) in St. Petersburg, Florida. $23.75 for floor seats, row 11. Cellar Door Productions. I finally got to see Van Halen with Sammy! My first time after becoming a huge Sammy fan in the early 1990s – from Montrose to the solo stuff to Van Hagar – while trying to avoid everything grunge. For more on Sammy and VH, check out my post The Chronicles of a Van Halen and Sammy Hagar Fan – 1979-2017. How I LOOOVE the Balance album, sigh. What an amazing exit album, the darkest of all VH, but such greatness. Also a photo of the husband’s well-worn original Balance tour t-shirt, armpit stains and all lol. He saw the Jacksonville show. I intend to do a post of all of his VH stuff, which includes some cool old magazine articles and his photos from the 1988 OU812 tour at the UNO Lakefront Arena in New Orleans, Louisiana.
The Black Crowes on 4-9-1995 at the Sunrise Theater in Sunrise, Florida for their Amorica or Bust tour. Thanks to setlist.fm for this date information. I don’t have the ticket stub for this show but I CLEARLY remember being there because I’ve always considered it one of the worst concerts I’ve ever been to, especially since Amorica is one of my favorite albums of all time. But okay…I know Chris Robinson never really sings like the albums and is more of a jammer, but mannnnn. Were these their drug years? I was so disappointed. I knew every nuance of that album because I was commuting from St. Pete to Miami for law school that year and listened to it a LOT. But well, it happens. And they made it up to me in future concerts lol. Still love them. Hard to believe this past year (2025) is the 30th anniversary of this release ;O.
ABOVE: Elton John and Billy Joel on their Face to Face tour on 4-11-1995 atTampa Stadium in Tampa, Florida. $50.00 and probably one of the most expensive tickets to date. Cellar Door Productions.
ABOVE: Melissa Etheridge on her Yes I Am tour on 7-5-1995 at the USF Sun Dome in Tampa, Florida. $25.00 for Level 3. Fantasma Productions. I can’t confirm any information on an opening act for this tour at my usual haunts, but AI tells me she had either Jewel or the Indigo Girls. I don’t remember why I went to this show as it’s obviously not in my usual wheelhouse, but I remember it was enjoyable.
Tesla on their Bust A Nut tour with Paw on 3-6-1996 at Jannus Landing in St. Petersburg, Florida. Comped ticket. Presented by Detroit Concerts, which I’m not sure is a Detroit, Michigan based promoter or has something to do with the people who ran Club Detroit, a popular club attached to Jannus Landing.
I really don’t know what this says…anyone? A very homemade backstage pass for an event on 5-25-1996. Most likely in the Tampa Bay Area, but possibly Los Angeles.
Great White on 6-14-1996 at Jannus Landing in St. Petersburg, Florida. Comped ticket. Presented by Detroit Concerts. I can’t figure out who opened for them at this show.
Zakk Wylde with Sunburner and Leonard Croon on 8-13-1996 at The Rubb in Ybor City, Florida. A whopping $4.98. I do not remember this club itself…only the name. Presented by 98 Rock, a long time Tampa Bay Area rock radio station.
Kiss on their Alive/Worldwide tour with Stabbing Westward and Caroline’s Spine on 8-21-1996 at America West Arena in Pheonix, Arizona. Fourth row for $29.45. Produced by Evening Star. Opening band info from Kisshistory.com, a massive and well-organized fount of Kiss information.
Kiss on the same tour with The Verve Pipe on 9-20-1996 at the St. Petersburg Thunderdome (which morphed into Tropicana Field eventually) in St. Petersburg, Floor Seats, Row E. Florida. $45.00. Presented by Cellar Door.
Rush on their Test for Echo Tour and billed as “An Evening with Rush” on 12-9-1996 at The Ice Palace in Tampa, Florida. $35.75. Cellar Door Productions. I don’t think there was an opening act…the setlist was loooooong. Speaking of…thirty years later and six years since the passing of the GOAT Neil Peart (and my high school lyrical hero), Rush just recently announced their 2026 tour with drummer Anika Nilles. I logged in for presale tickets yesterday and my eyes bulged at the prices, but I still hope to go but I hope more that the husband wins company suite tix.
Since they were in the pile….the Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus “Brought to you by Sears” on 1-9-1997 at Bayfront Arena in St. Petersburg, Florida. $15.50. Kenneth Field Presents. I remember bringing my son to this but not sure what prompted that decision. Always felt bad for the animals.
Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band on 5-18-1997 at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater, Florida. $37.75. Glade Presents. According to the BeatlesBible.com, this was the 4th All-Starr Band and featured Peter Frampton and Jack Bruce.
Sammy Hagar on 8-27-1997 atThe Outback in Tucson, Arizona for “A Cabo Wabo Nite” on what was the Marching to Mars tour. $27.50. According to VHarchives.com there was no opener, which makes sense because this was a relatively small club. I actually met Sammy at this show! I didn’t know anyone in Tucson so I went by myself and met some random girls, and I met Sammy’s keyboard player Jessie Harms at the bar. After the show I ran into him again and he said “Do you want to meet Sammy?” Ummmm, yes please. So along with these two girls I just met, one of whom had arms torn up by her “pet monitor” (i.e. lizard, and I’m thinking wtf is up with desert girls lol) sat and chatted with the band for about 30 minutes before their car came and they had to leave. I don’t remember much of what we talked about but I do remember it came up where each of us was from and drummer David Lauser looked at me and simply said “You’re from Tampa” and it freaked me out…I have NO CLUE how he guessed that, but years later I met his wife Liza (RIP) and she told me that he did indeed have a talent for that very thing.
Ratt on 12-15-1997 atThe Outback in Tucson, Arizona. $10. KLPX & Budweiser Presents. I know I missed this show for one reason or another….I think I was back in Florida. I can’t find much about it online as far as an opening band or setlist, but confirmed it on chmetal.info – a “bootleg trading site” which has a lot of good concert info.
ABOVE: REO Speedwagon on 9-21-1997 at the Pima County Fairgrounds in Tucson, Arizona. $18.00. Presented by Budweiser The New West & PTP. Again, I didn’t know anyone in Tucson so I took my 9-year old son with me to this show. I remember a fabulous setlist that made me very happy, including Son of a A Poor Man. But THIS CONCERT DOES NOT EXIST according to the internet (after going down a two day wormhole and AI assisted search). My usual confirmation sites don’t have it, fan sites don’t have it, mfti.com (MusicFYI) shows nothing for REO on that date. But I KNOW I SAW them at the Pima County Fairgrounds, and so does my son, so unless it was a rescheduled date, which I can’t find either, I’m baffled. I even read an extremely thorough historical report on the Pima County Fair History which lists all their acts over the years – from 1916’s “The Better Babies” contest that judged babies like livestock (!) to Lawrence Welk to the Osmonds to the Scorpions – but no mention of this show. Baffling. I WAS THERE, People of the Mysterious State of Arizona lol.
ABOVE: Sammy Hagar at the Cabo Wabo Cantina on 10-9-1998, 10-10-1998, and 10-13-1998 in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. I really don’t recall if I went to all three shows or just two of them, but it was back in the day when you could still easily walk up and get tickets (unlike the lottery method they started shortly thereafter). One of the best and most needed vacations of my life – one where I planned to either celebrate or drown my sorrows over my bar exam results (luckily it was a celebration, phew). I was able to confirm the exact dates at red rocker.com (see screenshots above) since I don’t have any tangible ticket stubs…but i have fantastic memories, fun but not really good photos, and some merch goodies I bought while there. I had joined the Sammy Hagar Mailing List (ala #SHML) – for those of you wondering, a “mailing list” was old-school social media and how people chatted in groups via email threads – a few months before we went to learn where to stay, how to get tickets, etc.
BELOW: The SHML group pre-planned a “Sammy Booze Cruise” that was one of the funnest highlights…we blasted Sammy and the alcohol flowed and excellent times were had and shoes were lost and more friends were made. I met so many people on the SHML (including my husband lol) and I am still friends with many of them to this day 27 years later. Added a few pics of some Cabo merch I picked up while there…one of them may not be from Cabo but I don’t remember, one of them is.
ABOVE: These stickers are from the Cabo Wabo gift shop and consisted of a sheet with these six stickers on them, which I finally stuck here and there (fun chair, luggage) in the past decade. Two are still on the cut sheet as shown.
Kiss with The Smashing Pumpkins on October 31, 1998 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California. ALL ORIGINAL, ALL MAKE-UP KISS! $55.00 for floor seats., rows 13 and 17. Presented by Avalon and KROQ. We went with our 9 year-old son Adrian (who had always been a big fan of the Kiss Meets the Phantom VHS) and a large group of people in an older model limousine. There were car problems, there were other problems, but what an amazing show to experience. There is a professional video of this show that can be seen on various concert channels…I always look for us in the crowd but no luck so far.
Black Sabbath with opening acts I didn’t remember: Megadeth, Pantera, Slayer, and Soulfly on 12-31-1998 at Bank One Ballpark in Phoenix, Arizona. $69.50. Presented by Evening Star. I remember going with some Tucson people I met in Cabo San Lucas and that we smoked cigars (a first for me lol) and the confetti that came down afterwards, a piece of which I carefully toted around all these years.
Overall 1998 was an interesting segue into the new century as I went home to Florida at the end of the year as I did not really enjoy living in Arizona….but as I always say to people who want to move somewhere different: You’ll never know unless you try it, and if you don’t like it, you can just go home…better to have tried it and experienced it than regret never making it happen. Arizona, as beautiful as it is, was a vibe I just never jived with. Once I was happily home in Florida, driving down a hometown road I’ve driven on a zillion times, I was content to say I’d be staying put for good. But Sagittarian life doesn’t quite work like that…I am now considering following the kid and the granddaughter to Nashville, Tennessee. They certainly couldn’t have picked a better place for me to try out than the one and only Music City. We shall see, but starting in my 2025 concert stub posts, you’ll be seeing a lot of Nashville area ticket stubs.
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