10 Legendary Bands Who Rocked El Paso & NEED To Come Back

El Paso has seen its share of HUGE shows & many HUGE names have come to rock here. Some come quite regularly to the Sun City. Others haven't come back in YEARS, almost DECADES & they NEED to make a re-appearance in El Paso.

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Aerosmith:

The "Bad Boys From Boston", "America's Greatest Rock N Roll Band"...Aerosmith used to rock El Paso a LOT during their heyday in the 70s & 80s. But recently, they've been slacking with doing shows in El Paso. And they're still active to this day so that's why they're included on this list. The last time they came was March 13, 2004 at the Don Haskins Center... nearly 20 years ago. In fact you can find old radio ads for the show on YouTube as well as finding some old concert audio from back in the day.

Motley Crue: Aerosmith's last appearance in El Paso was 2004... Motley Crue, nearly beats them: their last performance was Oct 1st, 2005 also at the Don Haskins. However that wouldn't be the last time a member FROM MC would rock El Paso; Vince Neil would rock El Paso a total of 4 times as a solo artist: during the 2004 Downtown Street Fest, twice at Speaking Rock & just recently for 2018's Texas Showdown Festival. But as a whole band, it's been a decade & a half since the whole Crue has come here to El Paso.

Judas Priest: Another band who's been rocking since the 70s (& one of the greatest bands not YET inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame), Judas Priest has appeared in El Paso a total of 11 times, ranging back from 1979. Their last appearance was in 2014 at the Don Haskins along with Steel Panther (who's coming to Speaking Rock in May). It's almost been a decade since the Metal Gods have rocked El Paso; hopefully they'll be back in the future, living after midnight in the Sun City.

AC/DC: One the biggest names in rock, AC/DC has only rocked El Paso 5 times: once with the late great Bon Scott in 1979, and 4 with Brian Johnson from 1980-2009. I remember having a chance to see them in 2009 but being bummed out that the tickets were EXPENSIVE. To this day, it's still one of the shows I regret NOT going to see. But the band is still active so who knows? Maybe that decade long wait of another El Paso show will end in the future?

(And yes... Angus did his iconic... "tease")

Nine Inch Nails: One of the most iconic industrial metal bands out there, NIN has made 4 El Paso appearances, albeit far & between: 2013, 2006, 1994, & 1991 at the old Club 101 location. Thankfully people has posted footage of not only the 2013 concert, but the 2006 performance as well. They seemed to make an appearance almost every 10 years or so... maybe it's about that time they come back for a 5th time?

Guns N' Roses: I never thought I would see G'n'R in my life. But thankfully I DID, & I'm even more thankful that I got to see them at the Sun Bowl back in 2017: they only did one other show 30 years earlier at the Coliseum in 1987. I know it wasn't the original line up, but to see Axl Rose, Slash & Duff McKagan together on stage together? That was more than enough for me.

Metallica: Do I really need to say why? It's METALLICA. I remember when the tickets went on sale 3 years ago selling out in less than 30 minutes! Now I know it's only been 3 years since they last showed up, but the last time before THAT was back in 1992. So there was a REASON why those tickets sold out quickly. Nevertheless, it was an AMAZING show, a HUGE crowd,  Jim Breuer being the MC of the whole event, AND a tribute TO EL PASO?? That was the cherry on top of a sundae for me...

KISS: Yes it's only been 2 years since KISS came to El Paso (before the last time they came was back in 2009) but the reason why I included them here was the date...March 9,2020. After they performed in El Paso, it wasn't long after that the pandemic shut down EVERYTHING in the world. They originally planned on doing meet & greets before the show but obviously, that didn't happen... I think KISS needs to come back when everything has fully calmed down so we can enjoy a show the PROPER way: by rocking & rolling all night.

Deftones: It's a personal pick for us but they're a band that absolutely deserves to be on this list (just ask Veronica Gonzales, who is the BIGGEST Deftones fan here at the Q). Deftones has rocked El Paso a dozen times since 1995, including the Texas Showdown Festival, numerous appearances at the County Coliseum & Neon Desert in 2016. And in case you're wondering, yes Veronica saw them at MANY of their El Paso performances including their 2010 Club 101 performance (which you can see the whole show on YouTube) & includes a photo she took of Chino performing, a photo she took while being in the front row.

Since then, the Deftones have come CLOSE to El Paso but since 2016, they have not come back. Some people, like myself, have not SEEN them live yet. So I think I speak for everyone when I say..."Come back! We need to see Chino perform again"

Tool/A Perfect Circle: How long has it been since Tool came to El Paso? WAY too long: Since 2002. It's been nearly 20 years since Tool came to rock the County Coliseum, July 17th, 2002. That was their one appearance as well but we know, Maynard WOULD come back much later with A Perfect Circle. They've been performed two shows at the Don Haskins Center: once in 2004 & again in 2017. Even though we were told "NO CAMERAS", that didn't stop SOME people from taking videos of that 2017 show...

Honorable Mention, Iron Maiden: I put Iron Maiden as an honorable mention because, while the last time they came here was back in 2003, at the time of this writing, they ARE expected to come back to El Paso THIS YEAR: September 11th at the Don Haskins Center. So until they DO appear, that nearly 20 year drought between shows is still in effect. But there IS audio of their 1987 concert at the County Coliseum and you can see a playlist of that the whole show here.

With touring making a come back in 2022, maybe one of these bands WILL come back to El Paso. Only time will tell...