Dubba G Remembers El Paso's Biggest Concerts

El Paso has seen its share of major rock acts and, for the biggest of those, there's only one place to rock.

El Paso is home to the Sun Bowl, located on the UTEP campus. This beautiful venue, literally carved right out of a mountain, has been the site of numerous, large scale, events in addition to football games.

I've been told that, following an Elton John concert there in 1972, some sort of "ban' on live music events went into effect. That's what I was told, I don't know exactly how accurate that "ban" story is. For whatever reason, the Sun Bow didn't rock again until the early 90's. That's when my concert history with the stadium began.

I've skipped all the non-rock acts that have played Sun Bowl stadium but I've seen a bunch of Monster Jams there along with these guys:

U2, The Sugar Cubes and Public Enemy in 1992. I couldn't get a ticket for this one. My radio career was still on the horizon and the show sold out quickly. A friend however had arranged a very special evening for him and his lady. He got tickets to the show, made diner reservations and rented a limo for the night. Then, they broke up so he took me. It was a helluva night and, no, there weren't any "expectations" of me at the end of the night. Cocinos...
Pink Floyd, 1994. An amazing show with the most incredible sound and visual systems I had ever seen or heard up to that point. It was in April though and El Paso's weather held to its usual form. It was chilly and VERY windy which messed up some of the visual smoke and flame effects.
Bryan Adams and The Rolling Stones, November, 1994. The first of 4 Stones shows I have seen and the one with the funniest story. It was cold that night so I gave my date my jacket. Later, making a beer run, I had to show my ticket stub to return to my seat. It was in my jacket pocket and they wouldn't let me pass without it. After about 30 minutes, she finally came looking for me and we were able to sit down. I only "heard" that part of the show though.
Dave Matthews and the Rolling Stones, October, 2006. Great show and no issues. Beautiful weather, killer lighting, awesome effects, amazing sound ... and I held on to my freakin' ticket stub.

ZZ Top and Guns 'N Roses, September, 2017. Awesome show, perfect weather and another amazing sound and video setup. Except, that's all I saw was the setup. I was allowed in to the Sun Bowl the day before to look around as part of a media tour. The actual concert sold out super quick and even my industry friends weren't able to get tickets so, we "listened" to it from a friends yard near Kern Place.

On the upside, no crazy bathroom lines or outrageous beer prices at that one. Next time, some concert memories from Aggie Memorial Stadium.