Too many shows to list , but here are some notables:

Renaissance and Caravan, November 1974-This was my 1st Renaissance concert as well as my 1st Academy of Music show.

Lynyrd Skynyrd/Be-Bop Deluxe Palladium 1976

Be-Bop Deluxe/Styx/City Boy Palladium 1977

Rush/UFO/Cheap Trick Palladium 1977

Peter Gabriel/Television Palladium 1977(?)

first concert i ever saw there was Patti Smith new years eve 1977. could have gotten tickets to springsteen but only had enough for one so went to bank and tickets were sold out....no damn atms back then....i saw the elton concert, fantastic, but patti was the best, her at her prime, she kicked ass

The Palladium was my favorite Venue in the late 70's and early 80's.
Too many good shows in a place you could actually be close enough to see the band and the sound quality was good..
Rockpile with Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds, Thin Lizzy & Blue Oyster Cult on a double header bill. Springsteen, David Jo. Elton John ( I was dragged there unwillingly). Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, And LI's own Good Rats.

My first Allman Brother show was at The Palladium.
The Brothers played there several times in 79 and 80. I also The JGB band there in the early 80's. Another great memory was seeing Neil's Rust Never Sleeps Film on opening night

I found some pix of the old NYAM here: http://www.nycago.org/Organs/NYC/html/AcademyMusic.html

I remember two shows at the Academy of Music, as it was known then (about 1973 give or take a year). A saw Traffic, I think it was about when they released the Low Spark of High Heeled Boys. I also got to see Procol Harum. I remember Gary Brooker sitting at a full-size grand piano and it only used up perhaps a quarter of the stage. The NYAM was a grand old theater in the style of some of the older Broadway venues - enourmously high ceiling; I seem to recall a humongous, ornate chandelier. I also remember leaning over a pipe, smoking an illegal substance, and getting a cinder in my eye. I may have been at other concerts but I'm not sure (proving the adage that says if you remember, you weren't there).

I saw Iggy Pop in 77' with warm-up bands Ramones and Suicide. Soupy Sales introduced Iggy & Co as his son, Hunt Sales was on Drums.One of many great shows at that venue. The Palladium (Academy of Music) should have been declared a landmark and restored.
Boooo-NYU

Springsteen & E Street...on a good night, the best rock i've ever seen.

That house was a-rockin' when that big second tier was full (Mezz.-600, Balc.- 1200)....it actually bounced several inches up & down...not altogether reassuring.

Orch. had 1200 seats -- the sound got a little sketchy under the overhang (about row L-ZZ) -- The BEST seats, sightlines, sound, and comfort was in the tidy 500-seat Loge secttion (1st tier).

Yes the Stones played there on the
"Some Girls " tour in "78 I was there.

However Springsteen in the fall of that year
1978...was the greatest concert I ever saw...the balcony was bouncing during
"Quarter to Three"

hi folks. your comments are all great.

i was House Manager of the Palladium from 1978 to 1981...worked for Ron Delsener's Ardee Productions (10am-6pm M-F, plus "last man out" of theatre for every show). did it all -- from climbing out the window of Julian's Billairds to change the lettering on the marquee, to box office ops, to security (remember dominic & dana?), to fixing the seats after heavy metal gigs, to crew and talent hospitality backstage, to paying the talent.

like the mural on building facade? i held the ladder every day for 6 weeks while the artist painted it...

the moment that Clash photo was snapped? i did the "voice-of-god" upcoming concert annoucements after every show and was standing next to the production mgr. and the stage mgr. (Keith Kevan & John Bave) on stage right... it was at the end of the set. as i recall, despite our jaded mussic-biz attitudes, we found the whole thing a hoot....we surely had no idea we were witnessing rock & rock history!

in the summers, when the theatre was primarily dark (the air conditioning unit was abysmal!), i was the Stage Manager of the Dr. Pepper Summer Music Festival at Wohlman Rink...3 yrs. every show...

as "management" i was paid flat $200/wk. (before taxes) . it was great learning experience. left palladium in '81 to become Stage Mgr. of the re-opening Studio 54...did that for few years...but that's another story.

favorite memory of the palladium?
occassionally, mid-week, in the middle of the night, when the hall was completely empty (there was no watchman -- i was the "caretaker" -- i lived one block away on 3rd ave.), we'd play "ultimate frisbee" games throughout the empty 3400 seats, orch., loge, mezz., and balc. up the stairs and down the hallways.

enough. will ck. back in a few days, if there's any old friends or questions...

thanx, wg

The first show I saw @ the Palladium was a triple bill--Mountain, Johnny Winter & Ten Years After. It blew my mind. As I left for the gig from Brooklyn the Sun was just going down; I exited the theater to the first light of day. My mother was not happy as I was 15 at the time. I also saw one of the best Parliament-Funkadelic shows of my life (I've seen about 20) during the venue's glitz, Warhol-revamped era.

I have so many great memories of the Palladium. I would love to come on the show and reminisce. Please contact.

Never forget seeing the Ramones at the Palladium.. Joel Weber one of the original creators of the New Music Seminar brought me to the show.

Loved this story about the Palladium - never saw any shows there. Wondering if you might cover the Wetlands as another vanished venue?

Thanks

David, Landing, nj

Will never forget going to the Palladium at age 13 with my friends to see Frank Zappa near Halloween in 76 or 77. The antics and spontaneity of his shows (underwear on stage, etc.) plus the virtuosic musicality was really amazing. You never knew what might happen. The excitement level was very high. Never forget the screams of "Zappa! Zappa!" and "Whipping Post" echoing in the hall. And the ushers were so cool they would give you a light for whatever you were smoking.

I remember BS'ing my way backstage to meet Frank. I said my Dad was a record company exec and "there should be no problem." It worked! I got to meet him and he signed my album "We're Only In It for the Money." It was a thrill! Little did I know at the time that years later I would get the chance to interview Frank in his basement in Laurel Canyon, Hollywood, CA. The interview appeared in EQ Magazine in 1994,

I also got to see Jan Hammer with Jeff Beck. I also got backstage to get Jan's autograph but his English wasn't that good. My favorite song was "Darkness, Earth In Search of a Sun."

Also got to see Jean-Luc Ponty! Awesome concert!

Those were the days. I just went to see Dweezil Zappa at the Beacon recently and I felt some of that "Palladum" feel. Probably some of the original Palladium crowd showed up for this awesome show. Dweezil carries the torch. And he really can play!

Will never forget going to the Palladium at age 13 with my friends to see Frank Zappa near Halloween in 76 or 77. The antics and spontaneity of his shows (underwear on stage, etc.) plus the virtuosic musicality was really amazing. You never knew what might happen. The excitement level was very high. Never forget the screams of "Zappa! Zappa!" and "Whipping Post" echoing in the hall. And the ushers were so cool they would give you a light for whatever you were smoking.

I remember BS'ing my way backstage to meet Frank. I said my Dad was a record company exec and "there should be no problem." It worked! I got to meet him and he signed my album "We're Only In It for the Money." It was a thrill! Little did I know at the time that years later I would get the chance to interview Frank in his basement in Laurel Canyon, Hollywood, CA. The interview appeared in EQ Magazine in 1994,

I also got to see Jan Hammer with Jeff Beck. I also got backstage to get Jan's autograph but his English wasn't that good. My favorite song was "Darkness, Earth In Search of a Sun."

Also got to see Jean-Luc Ponty! Awesome concert!

Those were the days. I just went to see Dweezil Zappa at the Beacon recently and I felt some of that "Palladum" feel. Probably some of the original Palladium crowd showed up for this awesome show. Dweezil carries the torch. And he really can play!

The Meat Loaf and Patti Smith concerts in 1979 (or so) come to mind first. I was working at the Meat Loaf offices in the Garment District so I was seeing my co-workers and friends on stage and still getting used to the band in the flesh. In Oregon I was writing about music for a local daily and, earlier, with Mikal Gilmore and a magazine called Musical Notes that he started before going to Rolling Stone in San Francisco. My interests ran more to punk and new wave; one of my last columns in Oregon previewed "Bat Out of Hell", which I found silly, overblown, and mainstream. (I later warmed to Jim Steinman's conception, his latter-day wall of sound and the intended theatricality of the band.) But the band's first show at the Palladium was just plain odd. Cognitive dissonance. The Patti Smith show, instead, could not have been more raw, authentic, and scatological. I was a fan in waiting, loved the albums, did not know what to make of her miming defecation at length. I saw her at the Miami Book Fair after "Just Kids" won the National Book Award. She recounted how she warmed to Bruce Springsteen's music for "Because the Night" long enough and in circumstances conducive to writing the lyrics. Then she sang the a cappela version that is all over You Tube. Brilliant, strong, full-throated, gripping. I heard American roots music coming out of her that night and, on reflection, probably heard that from both Meat Loaf and her at the Palladium 30 years ago.

Great venue! So many gigs! Rockpile/David Johansson/John Cooper Clarke was amazing, and Rick Derringer was hanging around wearing silver spandex pants. I complimented him on his attire, he returned the compliment - a teenage thrill! Also, on New Year's Eve 1979, the film Rock & Roll High School, followed by Aldo Nova and The Ramones - who hung out at the Mudd Club later than night. U2 for the War tour - my friend and I paid $10 for standing room to watch Bono climb the speaker towers. And XTC/Joan Jett - a strange and wonderful double-bill.

Also, anyone remember Julian's Pool Hall? a lost venue, although not for music

The greatest show I saw at the Palladium was in 1977, RICHARD HELL AND THE VOID-OIDS, JOHN CALE, TELEVISION AND PATTI SMITH !... I never forgot that
show, I met John Cale much later on and mentioned the concert, he was amazed and
remembered every detail...

MATEUS AT THE PALLADIUM!

Saw Bruce Springsteen in Sept '78 long before he had muscles. 8th row!

Unless I've mixed up the venues in my memory, I saw Johnny Winter And at the Palladium (then the Academy of Music), and I was also at the aforementioned Traffic concert when Chris Wood was clearly very stoned or drunk (or both?); the latter was the Low Spark tour for Traffic, and I remember that Commander Cody opened for them and were wonderful! I also recall having seen Humble Pie perform there. These concerts were all in the early 70s.

Jon Schaefer,
You may not know this but the RollingStones played at the Academy of Music/Palladium in 1964.
I saw both concerts in the same day.. So, i guess you were wrong about how much crowd they could draw then...and it was fantastic. kids were standing on the backs of seats, 5 people deep from the floor and i fell into the orchestra pit and was carefully picked up by the police.. Great fun!

i saw one famous brazilian cat, open for stanley clark [circa. late 70's] the "odyssey" guy,talked like he was stoned out of his mind. - "thus spake deodato" [my apologies to misspellings] played pretty good though,so did "thunder thumbs" and gang.

I remember going to a great night at The Palladium, The line up was The "A"s, Culture Club and U2 . I think it was the first time U2 ever played in NYC. I think it was May 1980.

Back in the mid-80's, the stories I heard of the Palladium and the footage I saw on MTV (mostly from Andy Warhol's 15 minutes) were the reasons I wanted so hard to live in NYC. By the time I finally made it here, the Palladium was long gone, but it clearly continues to hold a beloved spot in the history of NYC's culture/ counterculture.

Horace Greeley disliked The Academy of Music so much, he asked how much it would cost to have it burned, and said, "If the price is not unreasonable, have it done and send me the bill."

I helped design the Rubell/Schrager Palladium discotheque and earlier surved the Academy of Music as a potential modern dance venue.

The Clash was fabulous! But James Brown was the bomb! Even though you could see him almost every week @ different venues around the city @ Irving Plaza or the other now defunct Polish dance halls-- his show @ the Palladium was the greatest!

Ira Robbins is brilliant, articulate, and funny. Great choice having him on for this show.

Anyone remember the Yuppie Networking nights hosted by Jerry Rubin at the beginning of his transformation from radical to businessman ? Tuesdays I think, with name tags no less !

http://www.nytimes.com/1985/09/17/business/new-yorkers-co-busy-night-out-for-networking.html

Came to NYC in 1986 and a few years later, during the Palladium nightclub days, I organized the post-party for the first New York Cares day at the Palladium. It was a pretty good party - but I do remember wishing the Palladium was still the PALLADIUM even then. The space was great and I can only imagine how amazing the shows must have been (Luckily, I did see many of the bands you are talking about live in other, if less hallowed, venues!)

the great camaron de la isla!!!!!!

I was Zappa's guitar tech for the MTV Halloween shows in 1981. Insanity!

Don't forget the pool hall on the second floor before they closed and my father in law tells about ball room dancing and dances of the fifties

Saw the best concerts I've seen anywhere there:
Clash's first in NY; Zappa on Halloween; Bruce Springsteen, when Born to Run was a new hit song; and Johnny Winter, James Cotton, and Muddy Waters - a high school student at the time, I sneaked into that one. Climbed a fence on 13th street, opened a door, ran up a flight of stairs, took a deep breath, opened another door, and dashed into the crowd. I found an empty seat fifth row orchestra and enjoyed a great concert. I remember how Winter's face showed just how much fun he was having playing with Muddy Waters.

Curious: Was the Palladium ever featured in any movies?

the dance club era palladium was an awesome labyrinth of fog, silver angels, blue mirrored stairs, huge red lights in towers. during the demolition i was shocked to look in through the crumbled wall and see that this convoluted space was just a regular theater. it felt way different when stoned.

.... vanished venues? ... How about Max's Kansas City .... NY Dolls .... the Police (!) ...

PRINCE,in one of his earliest concerts. You knew he was destined for greatness.

don't forget the 90's era of drugged out electronic music, especially junior vasquez presiding over years of dancing for throngs of shirtless gay men.

For me, the club almost eclipsed the bands I saw there (as well as many other, even better sounding venues): I loved and so miss that beautiful mural on the facade of The Palladium, and have eaten many a street hotdog while looking up and it, anticpating entrance to an exciting show.
Also, the staircase down to the main floor was illuminated from beneath, just adding to the gritty glamour.
So sad NYU destroyed it, built new, soulless architecture in its place, and named it ... "The Palladium" ...

Hall and Oates in the early 80's...then a big memory when it was a club: Freddie Mercury by the coat check, in spandex pants with no underwear....

Rolling Stones did play there as part of a review, prob their first time in the US. I tried to get in with some friends from high school, but we were rebuffed. Oh well..

While it was still a theater in the early mid eighties, I was there for Black Uhuru (with Sly & Robby in the band). Afrika Bambatta and Soul Sonic Force opened up and did their hit Planet Rock.

Back Uhuru was incredible....

Bam and SS Force were among the loudest performances I've ever been to. I remember they wore Viking costumes.

Other standouts were after it was converted to a disco: P.I.L. on their "generic" tour (they opened with LedZep's Kashmir) and the show was stopped several times because Johnny didn't like being spit on by the audience anymore. Fishbone in the late eighties....Fantastic. I'm sure there are others....

Hey John... the site of the Palladium is now a PC Richards Appliance store and an NYU dorm --> not a Trader Joe's as you said earlier (TJ's is one block west on the south end of Union Square)

I went to the opening of the "new" night-club version of the Palladium in early summer 1985 when I was a college student. I remember the first time I walked up the lucite steps. Later that same summer I was a cater-waiter there for the first M-TV Music Video Awards and Madonna performed. The V.I.P. area was on the mezzanine level. They called it the "Michael Todd room". I remember Prince holding court there holding a single rose.

I was 18 yrs old. My First concert ever. We saw Black Oak Arkansas, Blue Oyster Cult , Edgar Winter. Someone gave me LSD. It was my first trip and my first concert. I don't remember much after the first act.. But I do know that it was a great introduction to Rock n Roll. My friends brother knew one of the promoters. So we sat front row orchestrsa!

While it was still a theater in the early mid eighties, I was there for Black Uhuru (with Sly & Robby in the band). Afrika Bambatta and Soul Sonic Force opened up and did their hit Planet Rock.

Back Uhuru was incredible....

Bam and SS Force were among the loudest performances I've ever been to. I remember they wore Viking costumes.

Other standouts were after it was converted to a disco: P.I.L. on their "generic" tour (they opened with LedZap's Kashmir) and the show was stopped several times because Johnny didn't like being spit on by the audience anymore. Fishbone in the late eighties....Fantastic. I'm sure there are others....

While it was still a theater in the early mid eighties, I was there for Black Uhuru (with Sly & Robby in the band). Afrika Bambatta and Soul Sonic Force opened up and did their hit Planet Rock.

Back Uhuru was incredible....

Bam and SS Force were among the loudest performances I've ever been to. I remember they wore Viking costumes.

Other standouts were after it was converted to a disco: P.I.L. on their "generic" tour (they opened with LedZap's Kashmir) and the show was stopped several times because Johnny didn't like being spit on by the audience anymore. Fishbone in the late eighties....Fantastic. I'm sure there are others....

Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention - Holloween shows - year after year ... amazing ... the loss of the Paladium and the NYU eyesore which replaced it is an urban tragedy ..... which continues

John, this comment is for YOU… Why are baby boomer music critics (or radio show hosts) fascinated by untalented musicians from the '60s and '70s smashing their guitars on stage? Perhaps it’s their frustration with not being able to play the minor pentatonic scale in the key of A as to why they are smashing their guitars. It just "appears" cool to music critics (and radio show hosts).

Pennie Smith made the photograph used on the cover of London Calling

My wife of 15 years recently passed away but our very first date was to see The Mekons at the Palladium 1991. I think of the Palladium every time I pass Trader Joes. I miss the old New York that included places like the Palladium. Nothing ever stepped in to replace it.

Almost every rock show I attended in high school, which were many, were at the Academy of Music. Remember the incredible parties in the bathrooms! I have wonderful memories of many of us meeting and hanging out in Union Square Park before the shows. It was a beautiful park that was completely destroyed soon after that.

I saw so many shows at the Palladium, I still have many of my ticket stubs.
Frank Zappa, Iggy Pop and Ramones, and so many others. Its was a great place to see concerts and a great sound.
I miss that place.
Remember when the bathrooms would get all flooded.

Great venue for many shows....Todd Rundgren's Utopia with the pyramid. I think Cheap Trick opened for Utopia back then. Jeff Beck's benefit concert to raise money to get his guitars back with Todd, Kasim, Jon Hammond(?).... Heart was an opener for the Beck Concert.

I believe the Stones did actually play at the Palladium in the late '70s. They were trying to dispell the widespread notion that their over-produced stadium shows and the contrast to the new punk aesthetic had made them irrelevant, so they secretly booked a few shows in small venues and announced them only the day of the show. I tried but couldn't get a ticket. Can anyone out there confirm my memory?

I did, however, see the Clash that famous night at the Palladium.

I did not go to a lot of shows there in the mid 70's because I was away at college. When I did go I often would go to Luchow's restaurant a few doors down before the show to have wiener schnitzel and steins of beer. I remember bringing my parents to see Jerry Garcia and Merle Saunders.

1980-83 I worked at Irving Plaza, just down the block (about 1000 seats to Palladium's 3K.) We used to get a bunch of NY bands and acts that that couldn't quite fill The Palladium, or for whatever reason wouldn't play there...

The Band's "Rock of Ages" show...and the reprise of it in their farewell tour of 1976. The Byrds (with Clarence White) opened the latter show).

King Crimson and Procol Harum at the Academy of Music. Yahoo!

In the 80's, the Palladium was one of the first venues ever to have "video walls". I worked for the company that built them in about 1984 or 5--Associates and Ferren. They were (IIRC) 5x5 analog Sony monitors, some of the first ever done. To feed the monitors, a broadcast quality monitor was used, with 25 cameras pointed at the monitor...

I also saw Fishbone and 2LiveCrew there. 2LiveCrew sucked, of course, and they did their first few songs with out the FOH PA on, only the monitors! It wasn't much

In the 80's, the Palladium was one of the first venues ever to have "video walls". I worked for the company that built them in about 1984 or 5--Associates and Ferren. They were (IIRC) 5x5 analog Sony monitors, some of the first ever done. To feed the monitors, a broadcast quality monitor was used, with 25 cameras pointed at the monitor...

I also saw Fishbone and 2LiveCrew there. 2LiveCrew sucked, of course, and they did their first few songs with out the FOH PA on, only the monitors! It wasn't much

On Thanksgiving night in 1990 a bouncer was murdered at the Palladium and two men were arrested, tried, convicted and went to prison for the murder. It was Latin night and the promoter was Ralph Mercator. Unfortunately, the two men who went to jail for over ten years, were not the killers. Neither was at the Palladium that night, and one had never ever been to the club. After ten years and many trials, both men were both finally acquitted and released.

I worked at an accounting firm near Columbus Circle in the late 80s-early 90s whose clientele included rock and rap musicians, restaurants, and nightclubs. There were 2 firm parties each year - the Christmas party, and the boss' birthday. The parties were held during normal office hours at one of the firms client establishments. I remember we all took the subway downtown to attend the boss' birthday party at the Palladium. It was very strange.

and "hi" to Ira from a long time Trouser Press subscriber (my friend tells me he saw Roy Wood and Wizzard open for Black Oak Arkansas at the Palladium / Academy of Music)

I fondly remember seeing Devo in their yellow jumpsuits and cheap red flower pot helmets!

Two landmark concerts for me, my first concert ever (Cheap Trick) and my first punk rock show (Siouxsie & The Banshees).

Saw Bowie play keyboards for Iggy, The Clash, Patti Smith, Plasmatics, Elvis Costello,

Also, saw Mick Jones of The Clash in attendance w/ two chicks at ABC concert. Go figure.

The first concert I ever saw was at the Palladium -- Bruce Springsteen in the mid-70s during what was essentially the "Born to Run" tour. I saw him again there a few years later, plus: Elvis Costello on New Year's Eve 1982, Tom Petty, and the Neil Young "Rust Never Sleeps" MOVIE featuring 3-D 'Rust-o-vision." All great experiences. The 'P" is the standard for medium-sized shows I compare all other venues to. Ahh to be young again.

One of the few memories I have of early Palladium was seeing Traffic sometime in the early 70's. I was really excited to see the band because John Barlycorn was an album that rarely left my turntable. Unfortunately, Traffic's set was stop and go because Chris Wood was so high that he, kept looking like he was going to, and eventually did fall off of the stage. There's nothing like watching a stoned out flute player, it was like watching air rush out of a ballon.

Fond memories I have of that venue, I remember Frank Zappa, Black Oak Arkansa, The Grateful Dead and Slade. It was a great venue, you could actually see the performers. My grandmother once told me that she saw Buddy Ebsen (Beverly Hillbillies) dance there.

i used to work at the palladium doing fashion shows. we had moved from danceteria with steve lewis and rudolf to produce the shows and special events there. we went from doing shows for a few hundred to our first show having 10,000 people in attendance. they gave us large budgets sometimes well over $100,000.00 for a single 18 minute fashion show. we once did a show with catherine hamnet and she arrived at the airport drunk and without her passport, steve had to go to jfk and "get her out" which he did with some funds. steve rubelle and ian scharger were our bosses, ian ran the day to day operations and he was quiet vocal with his orders, i had never heard anyone speak at that volume before. it was a grand time, we had a huge lighting and sound system and were able to move the stage around while a show was in progress, it was fashion as entertainment and we had a blast.
we once set up a full miniture golf course in the club, i still have a golf club from that, it is my only weapon i own.