Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1541535
Winter 2026 – LOCAL695.COM 15 came for another show and I hadn't heard from the MDA folks, I agreed to go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame opening concert at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. The show, thirty years ago as I write this, went on for about seven hours. We flew to Cleveland on Wednesday. From the time we arrived on site at 7:30 the next morning, until we traveled home, we were on continuous call. Thursday 7:30am-2:30am, Friday 7:30am-2:30am, and Saturday 7:30am-5:30am. We got out of there just in time to shower and head to the airport. I started listening to rock and roll in Jim Casteel's garage, probably 1956. He played an Elvis record for my lifelong friend, Dennis, and me. We were hooked. The first 45 I owned was "Hound Dog," flip side "Don't Be Cruel." Highlights of that opening Hall of Fame concert? Too many to single out. So, here ya go. Chuck Berry with Springsteen/E Street Band "Johnny B. Goode" John Mellencamp "R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A." John Mellencamp and Martha Reeves "Wild Night" Bon Jovi "With a Little Help From My Friends" Eric Burdon with Bon Jovi "It's My Life," "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" Melissa Etheridge "Be My Baby," "Love Child," "Leader of the Pack" Dr. John "Blueberry Hill," "What'd I Say" Al Green "Tired of Being Alone," "A Change Is Gonna Come" The Pretenders "My City Was Gone," "The Needle and the Damage Done" Johnny Cash "Folsom Prison Blues" Johnny Cash with John Mellencamp "Ring of Fire" Jackson Browne "Redemption Song," "Tracks of My Tears" Jackson Browne and Melissa Etheridge "Wake Up Little Susie" Aretha Franklin "I Can't Turn You Loose," "(You Make Me Feel Like) a Natural Woman" Aretha Franklin with Al Green "Freeway of Love" John Fogerty "Born on the Bayou," "Fortunate Son" Soul Asylum and Iggy Pop "Back Door Man" Lou Reed with Soul Asylum "Sweet Jane" Gin Blossoms "Wait," "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better" Sheryl Crow "Let It Bleed," "Get Off of My Cloud" George Clinton and the P-Funk All-Stars "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)," "I Want to Take You Higher" The Kinks "All Day and All of the Night," "Lola" SET LIST FOR 1995 CONCERT FOR THE HALL OF FAME Heart "Battle of Evermore," "Love Hurts" Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band "Shake, Rattle and Roll," "Bo Diddley," "She's the One" Jerry Lee Lewis with Springsteen/E Street Band "Great Balls of Fire," "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band "Darkness on the Edge of Town" Natalie Merchant "I Know How to Do It" Robbie Robertson "The Weight" Bruce Hornsby "I Know You Rider," "Scarlet Begonias" Bob Dylan "All Along the Watchtower," "Just Like a Woman," "Highway 61 Revisited" Bob Dylan with Springsteen/E Street Band "Forever Young" Booker T. and the MGs "Green Onions" Sam Moore "When Something Is Wrong With My Baby," "Hold On I'm Comin'" The Allman Brothers Band "Blue Sky," "One Way Out" The Allman Brothers Band with Sheryl Crow "Midnight Rider" Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora "Imagine," "Give Peace a Chance" Slash and Boz Scaggs "Red House" James Brown "Cold Sweat," "It's a Man's Man's Man's World," "I Feel Good" Martha and the Vandellas "Dancing in the Street" Little Richard "Good Golly Miss Molly," "Tutti Frutti" John Fogerty and Sam Moore "In the Midnight Hour" Chuck Berry, Bruce Springsteen, and Melissa Etheridge "Rock and Roll Music" Hiking on Mount Charleston 1991: Paul, Murry (or Kenny?), Joe, Ric, Bart, Jeffrey