I Paid Two Dollars to See Alice Cooper in 1969

I was in the ninth grade, it was around 1969, and a ticket cost two dollars.

The concert was Alice Cooper. I had never heard of Alice Cooper, but I figured any singer was worth two dollars, and I assumed she would be good.

Alice Cooper Was Not a Girl

That was the first surprise of the night.

Alice was a man, the show was hard rock, and it was one of the best things I had ever seen. I walked in expecting a girl with a guitar and walked out having watched something I did not know was possible.

That two dollar ticket started ten years of going to every concert I could get to.

Charleston in the Seventies

I grew up in Charleston, South Carolina, which nobody would call a music city. But the seventies were the seventies, and the bands came through.

The other great thing about concerts back then was the price. If a ticket cost more than three dollars, it was too expensive. I am not exaggerating for effect. Three dollars was steep.

Over the next decade I went to just about everything I had the chance to.

The List

I put this together for Facebook a long time ago. These are the bands I remember seeing.

Alice Cooper
Black Sabbath
Rolling Stones
James Brown
SteppenWolf
Allman Brothers
Three Dog Night
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Crosby, Stills, Nash
Doobie Brothers
Beach Boys
B.B. King
Edgar Winter
Charlie Daniel
Deep Purple
Jethro Tull
Alvin Lee & Ten Years After
Leon Russell
Yes
Electric Light Orchestra
Tina Turner
Dizzy Gillespie
Chuck Mangione
Jimmy Buffett
Mott The Hoople
Uriah Heep
Mountain
ZZ Top
Blue Oyster Cult
Pointer Sisters
Billy Preston
Rare Earth
Foghat
Cactus
Marshall Tucker Band
Ten CC
Dixie Dreggs
Free Mountain Standstill
Savoy Brown
James Gang
Poco
Fleetwood Mac
Black Oak Arkansa
Ozark Mountain Daredevils
Emerson, Lake and Palmer
Bruce Springsteen
Golden Earring
Pure Prairie League
Ben E. King
West, Bruce and Laing
Asleep At The Wheel
Sly and The Family Stone
Bloodrock
Bertha
Wet Willie
Tower of Power
Fabulous Rhinestones
Fabulous Thunderbirds
Goose Creek Symphony
Rory Gallagher
Flash Cadillac & the Continental Kids
Humble Pie
Chubby Checkers
Don McClean
Michael Murphy
Dixie Chicks
The Monkees
Faces (Rod Stewart)
Eagles

There are probably a few more I have forgotten. That is what happens when you go to this many shows and then let fifty years go by.

What Have You Seen?

Tell me in the comments. I would like to know whether anyone can beat the two dollar Alice Cooper ticket.

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