Charles welcomes YouTuber and lifelong music collector Alan Rosenberg (The Alan Rosenberg Show), who has spent over five decades assembling a collection of 5,000–6,000 albums plus ticket stubs, memorabilia, and a detailed database tracking purchases, songs, and chart data dating back to 1973. Rosenberg traces his obsession to early exposure through his older sister and recalls his first concert: The Rolling Stones at Madison Square Garden in 1975 with the “Lotus Stage” and Ron Wood’s early touring role. He highlights standout shows including the Stones’ Steel Wheels run at Shea Stadium, a 1999 No Security Tour date in Las Vegas, the Simon & Garfunkel Central Park reunion, and U2 at the Sphere, praising its unprecedented sound. He also criticizes modern concert costs and poor audio at stadiums and venues, discusses preferring smaller theaters now, and explains his YouTube approach: no scripts or edits, physical media only, and reviewing new albums only after at least five listens.
In this episode of Seeing Them Live, Charles interviews Alan Rosenberg. Alan is the creator and host of The Alan Rosenberg Show on YouTube, a channel dedicated to his lifelong passion for music. Growing up on Long Island, New York, Alan was introduced to rock and roll at an early age through his older sister, whose bedroom walls were covered in posters of The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, and The Allman Brothers. By age 10, Alan was already building what would become a meticulously catalogued collection of over 5,000 albums — all of which he has listened to multiple times. In this episode, Alan takes host Charles Zona through the roots of his obsession, including the typed yearly album lists he kept starting in 1973, a tradition handed down from his sister that eventually evolved into a comprehensive digital database tracking every album he owns, every song on it, its chart position, and the year he acquired it.
Alan shares vivid memories from more than five decades of concert-going, starting with his very first show — The Rolling Stones at Madison Square Garden in June 1975, featuring the legendary Lotus Stage and a then-new Ron Wood sitting in as guest guitarist. From there, the conversation moves through highlights including the Stones' massive Steel Wheels Tour at Shea Stadium, a Simon & Garfunkel reunion in Central Park, and what Alan calls perhaps his most purely fun concert experience: seeing The Rolling Stones at the intimate MGM Grand in Las Vegas during the 1999 No Security Tour. A standout moment from the episode is Alan's account of seeing U2 at The Sphere in Las Vegas — a venue he discovered before it became widely known — where the crystal-clear, immersive sound system left him calling it one of the greatest concert experiences of his life. The conversation also covers some of Alan's more disappointing experiences, including a Hackney Diamonds-era Rolling Stones show at MetLife Stadium where the sound quality was, in his words, "atrocious," and a Van Halen reunion show at Jones Beach that failed to deliver.
Beyond the concert stories, Charles and Alan dive deep into the philosophy behind The Alan Rosenberg Show, where Alan refuses to review a new album until he has listened to it at least five times — sometimes eight or nine — because, as he puts it, music is deeply personal and mood-dependent. He discusses the decline of new music on classic rock radio, the fearlessness of artists like David Gilmour who still play entire new albums on tour, and why he believes the era of great classic rock concert experiences has fundamentally changed due to ticket prices, stadium sound problems, and the industry's shift toward playing only the hits. Alan also touches on his love of deluxe box sets, his growing appreciation for Taylor Swift's Midnights, and the warm, knowledgeable community he has built around his YouTube channel, which now features close to 600 videos.
BANDS: The Allman Brothers, Billy Joel, Blue Öyster Cult, Dave Matthews, David Gilmour, The Eagles, Genesis, Harry Styles, Iron Maiden, James Brown, Jethro Tull, Led Zeppelin, The Moody Blues, Nazareth, Olivia Newton-John, Paul McCartney, Pink Floyd, Ratboys, The Rolling Stones, Ron Wood, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Simon & Garfunkel, Taylor Swift, Tina Turner, U2, Van Halen, Wishbone Ash, The Who, Yes.
VENUES: Brendan Byrne Arena (Meadowlands), Central Park, Jones Beach, Madison Square Garden, MetLife Stadium, MGM Grand, Shea Stadium, The Sphere (Las Vegas), SUNY Albany, The United Center (Chicago), The Vic Theater (Chicago), Westbury Music Theater, World Music Theater (Tinley Park, Illinois).
[00:00:24] Alan: People on my channel, they'll say, "Hey, when are you gonna review this album? When are you gonna review this new album?" And I'm like, "I'm not ready yet." And the reason why is I don't think it's fair to the artist or to anybody, because music is so personal, but personal in the sense that it's also what mood you're in. I mean, you could listen to a great album, and if you're not in the mode for it or you're not really paying attention or you're just in a bad mood, you're not gonna give it its fair due.
[00:00:48] Charles: My guest today is Alan Rosenberg. Alan is the creator and host of the popular YouTube channel, The Alan Rosenberg Show, and is a lifelong music fanatic from Long Island, New [00:01:00] York. Alan has spent more than five decades building an extraordinary music collection of over 5,000 albums, all of which he's listened to multiple times.
[00:01:10] Along with his vast archive of ticket stubs, concert memorabilia, videos, and rare collectibles, Alan brings the passion and perspective of a true devoted music historian and super fan. Alan, welcome to Seeing Them Live.
[00:01:24] Alan: Oh, thank you so much for having me, Charles. I'm really excited to be here. Uh, es- especially excited 'cause this one's a little bit different because we're gonna focus on, on con- going to concerts and, you know, the wonderful memories that I have and that you have, and how it's actually changed, of course, over the decades, very different and, It'd be great.
[00:01:44] Charles: Yeah. You know, we usually with guests will start with the first concert and kinda move through their concerts and stuff, but with you, I think we have to start the conversation when you're, like, 10 years old approximately. That's when you first started buying albums.
[00:01:59] Alan: Yeah. So really [00:02:00] what happened was I have a sister who's four years older. I was born in 1963, and my sister was four years older, and still is. She was very cool. And, I grew up on Long Island. I had my own bedroom, and she had her own bedroom, and her bedroom was covered in posters. So from a very, very young age, I was exposed to the best music. Her favorite band was The Rolling Stones, which is favorite band, hence, thanks to her probably. But she had The Allman Brothers, and she had Yes, and Led Zeppelin posters. So I was exposed from a very young age to the best music, and I just absorbed it.
[00:02:36] I actually show on my YouTube channel. I have pictures of, uh, me as, like, an infant in diapers playing 45s. So I don't know if there's such a thing as reincarnation, but there's something with me with music, even before my sister. But because I was exposed to such great music at a young age, I just became a music fanatic, and really, a lot of what I do was from her.
[00:02:59] So every year [00:03:00] she would, this was before computers, she would type at the end of each year all of her albums and ones she bought that year. So I started doing that as well. And, whenever it was a holiday or I'd get an allowance, from a very young age I started getting music. And my ground zero is 1973, when I was 10 years old.
[00:03:18] I actually have shown it, no exaggeration. So my sister did it. I started doing it, and every year I would type up the list of my records. And I used to go to Woolworth on my bicycle, or my parents would take me, and I used to go through the cutouts. Even in 1973 at the age of 10, I had a really good record collection, and I was reading, and I still have them to this day, I show them on my channel, Creem Magazine and Circus Magazine, and my sister was reading Rolling Stone Magazine.
[00:03:49] So I was just soaking this stuff in, and I became obsessed. And I became known even amongst the older people, my sister's friends. I was four years younger. They were [00:04:00] like, "That's the music guy. Like, he really knows his stuff." And the weird thing is, I mean, I don't think it's so weird, but my friends, I have friends from that age, and they're like, "You know, you just never changed."
[00:04:11] I don't know if that's good or bad, but, like, I have never stopped buying music the same way I did. I go hunting, and I go look for cutouts, and that's what I've never stopped doing, which is why I have a large collection.
[00:04:24] Charles: Yeah, I mean, that makes more sense when I, I look at your concert lists too, and The Rolling Stones, I've watched, quite a few of your videos and such. And we'll get to your record collection, vinyl, CDs. over 5,000 albums. and that database approach you bring to it like you just said, was handed down from your sister.
[00:04:44] Alan: Yeah, so I have all these typed out sheets that I kept and then eventually got into the computer age and I said, "Well, I can put into the computer all of my albums, every song, the chart positions, and the year that I got them because I have all the [00:05:00] information." And then just whenever I get something that makes it into my collection, I add it.
[00:05:04] So, it's awesome, and I could do all kinds of sorts. So if you said, "Hey, Alan, when did you get into a certain artist?" You know, I could look it up and I'll know exactly when, or, what order did you get into that artist? What was your first album by them? What was the second album? I could easily do these sorts.
[00:05:20] So, I always felt, and that's why I went into the YouTube channel thinking that, well, at least I'll be a little bit different than other people because this is so to speak, real. Like, this is my actual life. It's no exaggeration.
[00:05:34] Charles: Yeah, and we'll talk about your YouTube channel, extensively here. But the depth of your knowledge, and how you discuss these albums and the producers and who was on them and you have what? Like 43 Paul McCartney solo albums, I think.
[00:05:51] Alan: Oh, I just raised it to 48, I think.
[00:05:53] Charles: Or 48, yeah.
[00:05:55] Alan: But that includes like bootlegs and imports.
[00:05:57] Charles: To me, the average listener, [00:06:00] I'm like, "Damn, I didn't know he put out that many solo records."
[00:06:03] Alan: And, and I don't even consider myself a really big Paul McCartney fan. I mean, I am, you know what I mean? But like, there's Paul McCartney fanatics who are like, they, my knowledge of McCartney is pretty extensive, but it would be nothing compared to like a big Beatles fan. You know? It's like, it's all relative.
[00:06:17] Charles: Yeah. But, the stuff you talk about on your show is really informative and deep. It's just a regular conversation you're having with the audience. So, we'll start with The Rolling Stones, Alan. your first concert, which is a cool first concert, right? You're 12 years old.
[00:06:32] Alan: So that was my sister's. So it was, um, June 26th, 1975, at Madison Square Garden, and at that time they were playing six shows, which back in those days was, you know, historic. Like, nobody was playing six nights at Madison Square Garden on one tour. I mean, they probably could have played 30, but, you know, it was a tour.
[00:06:49] So, and my sister said, "You know what? You are..." By that age, 1975, I'm 12, I already have, like, a good amount of Stones albums, and I really know their catalog, and I'm [00:07:00] 12 years old. And my sister was like, "You know what? I'm gonna take you to see The Stones. You've earned it. You know, you know the stuff." And I'm like, "Thank you. This is just the, gonna be the best night of my life." And she took me to see them at Madison Square Garden, and I'll never forget it. That was still the best stage that I've ever seen. Now, I know, Arch, what we're doing right now is audio only, but if anybody looks it up, that was called the Lotus Stage, and I'll never forget it. So I'm at Madison Square Garden, and there's no opening band, and if you look, you can see any of this.
[00:07:30] Charles: Yeah, I can, I can see it. Yeah.
[00:07:32] Alan: So I'm like, "Well, where's the stage?" 'Cause normally you would expect, like, what you would think of as a stage.
[00:07:38] Charles: Yeah.
[00:07:38] Alan: They had a, a thing called the Lotus Stage, and when you got there it wasn't open. So I'm like, "Well, how are they gonna play on that thing? Where am I gonna see them?" She's like, "Don't worry. You'll, You'll, see them." And then what happened was the stage opened up, and it, it actually looked like that. And anybody who's listening, look up 1975 Lotus Stage Rolling Stones. [00:08:00] You'll see what we're talking about. But it actually opened up, and actually, these pictures are from Madison Square Garden, incidentally. But, you know, it was just the most exciting night, and obviously I was only 12. I don't remember every detail, but I remember a lot of it. And, you know, I knew the songs, and it was just, like, the most wonderful experience, and that was very first concert, and it start with the best, right?
[00:08:23] Charles: Yeah.
[00:08:24] Alan: She took me to see that, which was great. She said, either, I'm gonna take you to one show. It's either gonna be Led Zeppelin," who was also touring in '75, "or The Stones." And I picked The Stones. So I didn't see Zeppelin.
[00:08:33] Charles: God, that'd be a tough choice, right?
[00:08:35] Alan: It was. Well, it wasn't for me. I had to see The Stones.
[00:08:38] Charles: Was that the first time Ron Wood played with them?
[00:08:42] Alan: Yeah, so that was when they brought Ron Wood in, and that was a big deal because they had Mick Taylor, and actually my favorite period to this day is the Mick Taylor stuff. He was an amazing lead guitarist, like lyrical and melodic, and Ron Wood's very different. So Ron Wood had, uh, big shoes to step into, and he did.
[00:08:59] I [00:09:00] actually say to this day that was the lead guitar work that Ron Wood's ever done with The Stones was on the '75 tour and '76s in Europe because he really had to earn his keep, so to speak. He was not an official member. He was the guest guitarist, he did a good job. I mean, he's no Mick Taylor, he was really pretty great. Yeah, that was a big deal, that tour.
[00:09:18] Charles: Yeah, and then I was reading too, Alan, I, I don't know if this is true, but, does Eric Clapton make an appearance at the show?
[00:09:24] Alan: At one of the six, but not the one I was at. But I do got a good guest appearance story with The Stones if you wanna hear, a separate side note.
[00:09:31] Charles: Yeah, sure. Go ahead.
[00:09:32] Alan: So in 1981, I wound up seeing The Stones three times. That was the Tattoo You Tour. It was a really big deal. That was a huge, huge record. Again, they played multiple nights at The Garden, but they also played multiple nights at what was called the Brendan Byrne Arena, which was like the Meadowlands in New Jersey. So opening up at The Garden, I saw two at The Garden, was supposed to be James Brown. He actually backed out. They had Screamin' Jay Hawkins, nobody cared. But the opening act in New Jersey on that [00:10:00] tour was Tina Turner. Now, that was before Tina Turner put out Private Dancer and became a superstar. She a legend from the past, you know, but it wasn't like she had any hit records. So she was the opening act for The Stones, and she was phenomenal, as you could imagine.
[00:10:17] I remember, she does a great version of The Beatles' Help. Everybody should listen to that. She put it out at one point, and it's great. But when The Stones played, she was very good friends with Mick Jagger even from when Ike and Tina Turner days. They opened up for The Stones in '69. So Mick Jagger was very much responsible in helping Tina Turner career become resurgent by giving her the opportunity to open up for them. But, she came out and she joined The Stones live on The Stones' set at that show, and I remember that. So it wasn't Eric Clapton. It was better. It was Tina Turner. It was great. There you go.
[00:10:51] Charles: Yeah. I'm sure she added a, an dimension to the band.
[00:10:55] Alan: Oh, she did.
[00:10:57] Charles: Wow. That's unbelievable. but, if we go to your best [00:11:00] concerts, Alan, of course, you just say there's too many to count, but you did highlight a few. One again was the Rolling Stones at Shea Stadium.
[00:11:08] Alan: Yeah, the Steel Wheels tour, that was the biggest stage ever at that point, and that was an amazing show. Yeah, and I saw a couple of nights at that one. That was great. That was really special, yeah.
[00:11:18] Charles: Yeah, 'cause the dates they have, and I don't know again if this is correct, but they list like October 10th and then October basically 25th through the 29th. So it's like they made a stop maybe and then came back.
[00:11:30] Alan: Yeah, they played six shows at Shea, which was also at that time beyond comprehension that somebody was gonna play six nights there and sell 'em out. That was a really special show. The staging was incredible. You know, The Stones never broke up, but they kinda quote unquote "came back," some people say reformed. They didn't break up, but they had hit a really low point and then they came back with Steel Wheels, and that was a huge tour, biggest tour ever at that time, and that was really special. Yeah, that was great.
[00:11:56] Charles: Yeah, you mentioned Steel Wheels and it just made me think, I do have [00:12:00] somewhere, the Steel Wheels CD, which the jewel case is made out of steel.
[00:12:04] Alan: Well, yeah, I don't even have that. There you... I've seen that. It goes for a lot of money.
[00:12:08] Charles: Does it?
[00:12:09] Alan: Good on you, 'cause as big as my Stones collection is, I actually don't have that one. There you go. I know that one.
[00:12:14] Charles: I'll have to dig that up.
[00:12:15] Alan: Yeah. That's worth something. Keep that. That's a good one.
[00:12:18] Charles: Yeah, so, uh, I think that was the last time Bill Wyman played with them, right?
[00:12:22] Alan: That's right? yeah. And then they came back with Voodoo Lounge, you know. I mean, this, I've seen The Stones most tours since '75. I missed, one or two of the latter ones just 'cause they were so much money, and frankly, I, they were just playing the same sets, and I just wasn't interested in paying that kind of money, and they weren't playing locally where I was.
[00:12:41] It just wasn't worth it. But I've seen pretty much every tour since '75, and Bill Wyman left, and then voodoo Lounge was the first one without him. That was a great show. I will tell you, the most fun I've ever had in any concert was The Stones in Las Vegas in 1999. That was what's called the No [00:13:00] Security Tour.
[00:13:01] That was in an arena. It was at the MGM Grand, so it was relatively small for The Stones, maybe 13,000. But I flew there, and my best friend, who lives in California, flew there, and we met, and it was just a special occasion, and The Stones were on fire, and we actually had good seats.
[00:13:18] I've never actually seen The Stones up close, believe it or not. I'm always, like, far. You know, I'm not one of those who says, "Oh, I saw them at the 10th row." Never. But that was a relatively small arena. That, we had the most fun. Like in a movie, where you're just jumping up and down the whole show. That was the most fun. So if you ask, like, my all-time favorite shows, that's way up there. Yeah.
[00:13:38] Charles: That sounds really cool.
[00:13:39] Alan: That was great.
[00:13:40] Charles: You list a few other ones here, a couple. The Simon & Garfunkel show, which was in, September 19th.
[00:13:47] Alan: Yeah, that's that famous show. You know, there's a video of that and a DVD, and then they released a live record. So I was in, college, going to SUNY Albany at that, and I knew Paul Simon and I knew Simon and Garfunkel, but I wasn't really [00:14:00] a huge fan. I knew their big classics. And I had older roommates and they said, "Hey, we're gonna go see the Simon and Garfunkel reunion in Central Park."
[00:14:07] I'm like, "Okay, you know, gonna go, fine." And we went down from Albany the night before. His parents had an apartment in the city. We stayed there, and then we got to Central Park fairly early, and I'm not one of those kind of people who's, like, a Woodstock kind of a person who will, can sleep in a field for days. It's just never been my thing.
[00:14:28] That's about as close as it was where... And it wasn't really. We just ended hanging out in Central Park all day, and they had port-a-potties, and we got, you know, relatively close. But that concert was so incredible and I became, you know, a huge Simon and Garfunkel fan. And just being outdoors, there must've been, I don't know, 100,000-plus people there. But, that's a really special show. I'd say, I never been really to a show like that. That was great.
[00:14:53] Charles: Yeah, I, I was reading, and again, you know, you can't trust everything you read on the internet, but they were saying there's like [00:15:00] 500,000 people there.
[00:15:01] Alan: You know, maybe, at that time, like when they had the Central Park concerts, they didn't really limit it. There could've been. I actually have the newspaper clippings here. I mean, I could look it up 'cause that's the other part of my database stuff. I have all the shows I ever went to. Yeah, maybe it was 500,000. I actually have the newspaper clippings sitting here somewhere. I could look that up while we're talking. But, that was a really, really special show. Yeah, that was amazing. There's videos of that concert and it's incredible.
[00:15:26] Charles: Yeah, I can only imagine, how cool that would be with that many people, you know, depending on where you are and what the weather is and everything. But it sounded like it was a really awesome show.
[00:15:36] Alan: Yeah.
[00:15:37] Charles: And you own the recording of it, of course. And then you mentioned a U2 show at The Sphere in Las Vegas. They played 40 shows, I think, there? Something like that?
[00:15:47] Alan: So the really cool thing, like I'm a pretty big U2 fan. In fact, I saw U2, I went to SUNY Albany, and they used to have a thing called May Fest. So it's kinda like that field thing where it would be a whole weekend and they would have a [00:16:00] band playing, and U2 right before, right when their War album came out, which was their third album, which was really when they broke out.
[00:16:07] That's the one that's got Sunday Bloody Sunday. So they were big, but they weren't that big, and they played SUNY Albany in the field, and my friends were there, and they were great. I, I never forgot it. And I saw them a couple times after, but when I heard they were playing the Sphere, I actually started reading about the Sphere before it became really popular and really well-known, and U2 was gonna be the first act there. And I told my wife, I said, "You know what? Let's do a vacation. We're gonna go to Vegas, and we'll see U2 at the Sphere." And I told people, and everybody was like, "Well, what's the Sphere?" I'm like, "I don't really know. It's this new kind of venue. It's gonna supposedly revolutionize..." And when we bought the tickets, we got a great deal.
[00:16:47] I don't remember what we paid, but it wasn't a crazy amount of money for the tickets, and the hotel was relatively cheap. It was, the hotel where the Sphere is, the one at, like you're in Italy with the gondolas. And that concert, [00:17:00] it was unlike anything I've ever seen.
[00:17:02] Now, of course, the Sphere is really famous. The tickets are a fortune, and they seem to sell out But when I got it, I was an early adopter. One of the few times in my life I was an early adopter. So I got a good deal on that, and that show was beyond comprehension. You've seen, everybody's seen footage of the Sphere and what it looks like with the...
[00:17:22] But even beyond that, the sound, and some of the worst concerts, and we'll probably get to that, that I've seen are not because the bands were terrible, because the sound was terrible, and the Sphere is the best sound I've ever heard in my life. And you actually don't wanna be anywhere near the band.
[00:17:37] You wanna be relatively high so you could take in the whole thing. But the sound, it was, like, beyond... It was loud but not that loud, but crystal clear, as if you were hearing headphones, but yet you could still talk a little bit. But not so loud where your ear is buzzing. You'd have to look it up, but I'm not making it up. Like, apparently they have, like, 180,000 [00:18:00] speakers. It's something insane.
[00:18:02] And I never heard anything like that. It was just the best sound, the best effects, and they also played Achtung Baby!, which is my favorite U2 album, so it was like perfection from that. Plus they played other songs. So yeah, that would be near the very top of best shows I ever saw. Oh my god.
[00:18:19] Charles: Yeah, that's really interesting, 'cause a lot of times, the sound can be just an afterthought, especially if they're playing in some concrete, sporting stadium.
[00:18:28] Alan: Yeah.
[00:18:28] Charles: Yeah, it could be brutal. Well, I figured just because of the shape of it that the sound would be good, but I didn't realize there were that speakers throughout.
[00:18:35] Alan: Yeah, it's really interesting. I think every seat has speakers built into them. The technology is beyond comprehension. It's insane, and worth it. Unfortunately now the tickets go for a ton of money ' cause everybody wants to go, I guess. And the Eagles have played, like, forever. You know, if you call them the Eagles, there's only really Don Henley and Joe Walsh, but, you know, they sell out every show, but the tickets are a fortune.
[00:18:57] Charles: That's something I'd like to go there and see a [00:19:00] band at some point.
[00:19:00] Alan: I highly recommend it, Charles. It's really an unforgettable experience. It really is.
[00:19:05] Charles: And I did see some video of that concert and just the visuals that they project onto the inside of the sphere was amazing, you know.
[00:19:14] Alan: Yeah, it's like the acoustics are beyond comprehension, the visuals are. The only thing is it's a different experience. It's not like what you might consider a classic concert where you're watching a band and hopefully up close and there's that interaction. There's none of that. This is more like an entertainment, like you're sitting back and you're just taking it all in with the most crystal clear perfect sound.
[00:19:37] And, you know, I've been saying to people, The Stones I think, not to turn around on The Stones, but in my opinion, The Stones are too old to tour. Obviously, they actually backed of a tour. And I'm like, maybe The Stones could play the Sphere, but the problem with the Sphere is you gotta be really good live because the sound is crystal clear. You know, if you're a band that really plays, like The Stones, you better be good because if you're not good, it's gonna sound that much worse.
[00:19:59] Charles: [00:20:00] Yeah, I guess that would be a downside, huh?
[00:20:01] Alan: Yeah, that would be a downside.
[00:20:03] Charles: You gotta be on the top of your game.
[00:20:06] Alan: Although in today's world, I don't know how many bands are actually really playing anymore.
[00:20:09] Charles: Yeah, 'cause you did mention under most surprising was a Rolling Stones concert on their Hackney Diamonds tour, at the MetLife Stadium, and the sound you said was really bad.
[00:20:21] Alan: It was atrocious. And the funny thing is, so I don't actually go to that many shows anymore. For one thing, they're too expensive. I, I'm a working guy. I don't make tons of money, and I can't spend a week's salary to see some band play two hours. I just won't do it. Even if you're my favorite band, you're just not worth it anymore. But I said, "You know what? I don't know how much longer the Stones got. Hackney Diamond's a really good record. I'm gonna take my family." But I, I couldn't afford the really good seats, so I got, like, not the top, top, but up in that upper deck. Listen, they've been doing stadium shows at MetLife, not just the Stones, everybody, forever. You know, the sound should be pretty good.
[00:20:57] The sound, Charles, was so atrocious, [00:21:00] I was like, "I feel like I'm listening to a bad vinyl bootleg from the '70s." You could barely tell sometimes what the songs were. And I was angry. And I was done before that. Like, I don't go to stadium shows anymore. I won't go. But I, like, I broke the rule to see that show, and I'm like, "Why did I do this? This was just a total waste." And I had taken my kids, and I'm like, "They never saw the Stones." Well, my daughter never did. My son, I took previously. And, you know, we all left. Well, it was a night of entertainment, but it's the Rolling Stones.
[00:21:28] Well, it was not that great, you know? It wasn't. And apparently, I did a thing on it, and a lot of people felt the same way on different stops on that tour. I don't what happened with the ... It just did not have good sound. It was not good.
[00:21:41] Charles: There's this, place near where I used to live that's been renamed, six or seven times, but we knew it as the World Music Theater in Tinley Park, Illinois. And I listened to a episode of a sound engineer who said that the way they designed that, the sound actually goes out of the back, 'cause the back is open, you know, 'cause it's like [00:22:00] a band shell.
[00:22:01] And at one time I had lawn seats for Dave Matthews, cause I lived within walking distance of the place, so I just go, "Eh, I'll go see Dave Matthews. What the heck?" I pick up some tickets outside, and I was there with some friends. I am not exaggerating, we went all the way to the, like, to the top of the lawn and stuff, and we're walking around, 'cause the sound was so bad, it was like you were listening to an, like an AM radio of Dave Matthews. I don't know what was going on. It was unbelievable. It so terrible. I think they've tried to correct that now, because I've been there since, and it's not like that. And that's a music venue, so there's really no excuse for that.
[00:22:37] Alan: And especially, like, what the cost of going to a show is. You know, we could talk like, and I have, you know When you used to go to shows in the '70s, even the late '70s, the tickets were like $8 or $11, and even then you didn't make a lot of money, but that wasn't that much money. I used to go to multiple concerts every month, you know?
[00:22:54] Now you go to three concerts a year, or I do maybe, 'cause it's just too expensive. And it's not just the concert tickets. You [00:23:00] gotta park, and you get a drink, or you buy a hamburger for $40. So I'm not so nice anymore. You know what? They've been doing concerts for 60 years, 50 years. The technology is there. You have a responsibility. If you're gonna put on a show, you better make it sound semi-decent, and if you don't, and you're charging this kind of pricing, and what it costs the fan to even get there, and pay $60 to park at MetLife Stadium just to park. I mean, give me a break, you know? Yeah, you have a responsibility to make it sound good, and if you don't, I'm gonna let you know because no, it's not right.
[00:23:35] Charles: Yeah, yeah, it's disappointing for sure.
[00:23:37] Alan: In fact, one of my least favorite concerts you had mentioned to comment on, and that's the reason why. It's similar to your experience. You wanted me to talk about concerts that you really didn't like. One of them, surprisingly, was Van Halen, right? So I'm a fan of Van Halen, not a huge fan. Steve Herold, if you're listening, I know you like the world's biggest Steve Van Halen fan. But I, I like Van Halen with David Lee [00:24:00] Roth, have all of those albums, and they reformed for that different Kind of Truth album and they were playing Jones Beach here on Long Island, which is just like what you're talking about.
[00:24:09] It's an amphitheater on the water, and I've seen other shows there. And the sound there could be okay, and it could be just terrible 'cause the wind could blow or whatever it is. And the night that I saw Van Halen, the sound was atrocious. I didn't think they were very good anyway. I could tell, I thought they were phoning it in and even my wife was like, " They're not that good, are they?" Like, "They're not that good tonight, that's for sure." But the sound really didn't help. That was another example of a place where the sound wasn't good. But then I saw one of my favorite shows ever there, which was the Moody Blues played there with a symphony orchestra, and that was incredible, and that was at that venue. So maybe depends on the wind and the night, and I don't know.
[00:24:51] Charles: Yeah, I, I was reading about that, I forget where, not too long ago, where, like, the humidity and the wind and there's all sorts of [00:25:00] things that influence the sound waves. And depending on how far back you are.
[00:25:04] Alan: True, True.
[00:25:05] Charles: It definitely has an effect.
[00:25:07] Alan: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And maybe the band feels it too. Like, so maybe they're not really getting off and it's just not working out.
[00:25:13] Charles: Yeah. All right, Alan. Well, I think we covered all of your concerts. I know you could, you could probably talk all evening about the shows you've been to.
[00:25:21] Alan: There, there's a lot. Well, certainly, like back in the day, like we said, now maybe I go to three or four shows and I stick to small shows. I live on Long Island, so I like to go to like a theater or Westbury Music Theater is around and a couple of thousand. And sometimes at our age, there's bands that you really like, that you grew up with, that just aren't all that popular anymore, so they can play those places. And now you're up close and you're really part of them. You can see they're really playing, and you could watch them really play, and there's an interaction. And for me, and it's been this way for probably 10-plus years, those are the shows I like. I don't really have any interest in going to Madison Square Garden. [00:26:00] In fact, I'll tell you one other story.
[00:26:01] So my best friend who lives in California, he was coming to visit and he said, "Let's go see Billy Joel." Billy Joel on Long Island is god. You know, I like Billy Joel, but not a huge fan. But my wife is like, "Please, let's go, and we'll go with your friend, and we'll meet." So I'm like, "Okay." And Billy Joel was sold out every show. So my best friend bought the tickets for us, and I paid him. And where were we? We were at the top of Madison Square Garden. It- like the top.
[00:26:26] And it was probably the most expensive seats I've ever bought 'cause he had to buy them on the secondary market. And I only did it 'cause my wife wanted to go and my best friend was coming in, and we're gonna have a great time, and we had a good time anyway. But we're at the top of Madison Square Garden, and what do we do? You couldn't even see Billy Joel, but they had like a wall in front of us, and we were watching a TV screen, literally. And I'm like, "Am I the only one in this place sees how ridiculous the money I just spent to watch this on TV?" Like, this is not for me anymore. So that's where I come from. I'd rather see small [00:27:00] places now.
[00:27:00] Charles: Yeah. It's funny 'cause, yeah, it made me think, like, I saw The Cure a few years back at the United Center in Chicago, and I, think my head was literally touching the ceiling of the roof of the place. I mean, we were, we were really far back. And yeah, you're watching these screens, 'cause, you know, Robert Smith and the guys are, like, the size of a little ant on the, on the stage, and then, you'll hear some artists who don't like you taking videos of their shows, and having your phone out and stuff. But it's like, well, I'm sitting up here in the balcony. Not that Robert Smith of The Cure are against people photographing with their phones, but you know, I'm basically watching this on a screen, for the most part. And it's not my phone, 'cause I can't focus that far. I'd need a telephoto lens if I wanted to. But yeah, it's like I'm watching this on this huge screen, so I don't know.
[00:27:47] Alan: Is that that really loud show you had mentioned?
[00:27:50] Charles: Yeah, yeah. That one, unfortunately one of the rare times I had forgotten my earplugs, and there was some opening band from Scotland, I forget the name, and they [00:28:00] were so excruciatingly loud. The only way I can describe it is like, it felt like my face was gonna rip off. I mean, it was so uncomfortable. My wife and I got up and I said, " I'm not wasting my ears on these guys. I don't know who they are.
[00:28:15] Alan: Yeah.
[00:28:16] Charles: It's so loud." And then The Cure, they were not as loud, but it was pretty darn loud, and they played a long time, and man, I paid for that the next few days with my ears ringing for a while.
[00:28:28] Alan: Yeah. That's funny, I have like a, story of a show I had to leave. My wife was pregnant and, we saw a really good, at small venue, like a 3,000-seater, and it was Wishbone Ash, one of my favorite bands, and then Nazareth, Uriah Heep, who were great, and the headliner was Blue Öyster Cult.
[00:28:46] And the first three bands were great. It was comfortable. Blue Öyster Cult was so loud, that it was literally, like you said, you felt like you ... I thought I was gonna have a heart attack. Like, every time the base drum, I thought my heart was gonna pound out. My wife [00:29:00] was pregnant. We actually had to leave because it was so painful. We were worried my wife was gonna give birth because it was so loud. That's one of the few times we ever had to leave a show. And it was like, and I'm a big fan of Blue Öyster Cult, but I'm like, why did you have to be so loud? This was like insanity.
[00:29:14] Charles: I don't know how the band determines the sound level, but I've been to the United Center other times and, you know, well, I bring my earplugs, but it was nowhere near that loud.
[00:29:23] Alan: Yeah.
[00:29:23] Charles: It's hard to say. But Alan, so yeah, those were your concerts, and I'm sure you got dozens more stories, but I thought maybe we could jump into your youTube channel, The Alan Rosenberg Show, which I see you have, I think 592 videos to date. I know one just came out, the other day.
[00:29:42] Alan: Yeah, I think I'm doing it five years or six years going on.
[00:29:45] Charles: Okay.
[00:29:45] Alan: You know, it's, slow growth but steady. Really what happened was, so I keep this database and once a year at the ... I, I've been doing it since 1973, and at the end of each year, I put in my top three albums and what I considered my [00:30:00] favorite new group. New group to me, like somebody I discovered.
[00:30:03] Charles: Yeah.
[00:30:03] Alan: And I've been doing that since 1973, so it's not like retrospect. It's like this is who it was that particular year, which has always been fun and I was always known for that. And then when Facebook came out and I joined Facebook, I would every once in a while write on Facebook about an article about music thing.
[00:30:21] And then a couple of people said, "You know, you should do a YouTube channel." I'm like, "Well, I don't even know what a YouTube channel is," you know? And sure enough, I started watching a couple of guys and I'm like, "I think I can do this, and mine will be a little bit different 'cause I have these archives and it's real, and it's a real database." And what I would do on my channel, it would strictly be, 'cause I, I'm only about physical media. I don't download. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it's all about my physical collection. So every video, I'm actually gonna show what I have, so at least you know I'm the real deal.
[00:30:52] I'm not somebody just looking at Wikipedia, which some people do, or AI. I don't do anything like that. And there's no editing on my channel. [00:31:00] It's all live. No scripting whatsoever. I literally press record like I'm doing with you now. We just roll. Even if it's not particularly good, and hopefully it is, at least you know it's real and it's genuine, and that's what I'm all about.
[00:31:12] And my collection and come up with themes and then create a community. And the idea, and people talk about it like, "Well, you say that you don't even count an album unless you hear it five times." That's really true. Well, new records, I should say. So what happens is, I used to, I used to call it, like, the Good Housekeeping Seal. Like, the idea, not to be arrogant, but the idea is to make it into my collection is something I really gotta like. It's not about having a really big collection, although it is big. It's close to 6,000 albums. But the idea was that my collection is stuff that I love and that I know. Like, I could talk about it. I know it.
[00:31:48] And the idea is to make it into my collection, you gotta earn it. And to earn it, I gotta hear you at least five times. Now, box sets, that's not true. Live album that I know, maybe I'll listen to it [00:32:00] twice. The greatest hits, I'll listen to it once 'cause I know it. I'm talking about new material.
[00:32:05] And the thing about music, and you're like that and everything's like that, and people on my channel, they'll say, "Hey, when are you gonna review this album? When are you gonna review this new album?" And I'm like, "I'm not ready yet." And the reason why is I don't think it's fair to the artist or to anybody, because music is so personal, but personal in the sense that it's also what mood you're in. I mean, you could listen to a great album, and if you're not in the mode for it or you're not really paying attention or you're just in a bad mood, you're not gonna give it its fair due. Or sometimes an album is a grower. You might hear a first album, you're like, "Yeah, it's okay." And then by the fifth listen you're like, "Wow, I love this album." Or the reverse. The first time you hear it, you're like, "This is great." And then you're like, "You know what? It's really not as great as I thought." So my thing is not to be the first on the block. I would love a big channel. I would love a million views, but I want it to be real. So for a new album, like new material, I'm not even reviewing that until I feel like I know it.
[00:32:57] And usually that's at least five. There [00:33:00] might be eight or nine listens. But then if I keep it, then it's in my database and on my shelves. There's a lot of albums I get, and they're, my channel's a nice community, so they'll recommend stuff. And someti- there's been people who've sent me stuff, which is really, really nice. But I tell them upfront, like, "It may not be for me, so don't be mad at me if I don't like it. I'm not keeping it. I'm telling you now."
[00:33:24] Because my goal is not to have the biggest collection, and You know, 6,000 sounds like a lot. There's a YouTube channel. There's a guy, he's great, Brendan Snyder. He has a wonderful channel. I love his channel. That guy gets, without exaggeration, 50 albums a week. I don't know how you can keep up. I can't keep up with mine. And maybe I get, you know, 120 albums, on average a year, which is a lot.
[00:33:46] You know, but that's also hits albums and things like that. It's not just new albums. So I want it to be manageable. And that's where I'm at. So it's a manageable amount. I don't keep everything I get. I estimate 30% of what I get I don't even keep. Doesn't make [00:34:00] five listens. It might only make one or two, and I'm like, "This is not for me."
[00:34:02] Charles: And then do you resell it then, Alan?
[00:34:04] Alan: Yeah, sell it to local record stores and you don't get really anything. And, uh, once in a while I actually started selling on Discogs just because there was a couple things I had that apparently were pretty valuable and I live on Long Island. I'm very, very lucky. There's like five or six record stores.
[00:34:19] They all know me. I go every week. They all know and, they're like, " We don't even wanna give you 50 cents for this. You could sell this thing and make ... This is like a $50 CD." I'm like, "Really?" So I started looking at Discogs, and once in a while I will sell on Discogs, but I'm not a dealer. I don't buy to sell or anything like that.
[00:34:38] Hi, this is Charles Zona, and we're glad you are enjoying this episode of Seeing Them Live. If you would like to be a guest on the podcast, please fill out the form on our website at seeingthemlive.com. Also, if you like the show, please give us a rating on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
[00:34:59] And now, [00:35:00] back to the show.
[00:35:05] Charles: I thought it was interesting. I mean, there's several interesting aspects to your collection, the volume of it, but you curate it and like you just said, you purge stuff. If it doesn't make this cut, and you were just talking about listening to an album five times, and we talked a little bit before, we got on here today, if you get 100 albums a year, they're 45 minutes each, you listen to them five times a piece, and I did a quick calculation, that's like 375 hours or about seven, eight hours a week of just listening to new stuff.
[00:35:39] Alan: That's cool that you figured that out. I never actually have done that.
[00:35:42] Charles: Well, you know, and my math might not be right, Al, so don't, you know, don't believe me necessarily. But, that's a lot. So, I'll classify the way you approach things as like kind criticism like you were just talking about. You say, "You know, uh, it just didn't resonate with me," or, "This isn't the best album, but [00:36:00] it's not bad. For me it just, that's my taste." Where, you know, I, I listen to some critics and they're like, I don't know, they can be really nasty and just like bring in l- e- almost like personal aspects of things that has nothing to do with the music.
[00:36:13] I thought that was cool 'cause, 'cause, I kinda noticed that early on, when you were talking about going through Paul McCartney's solo albums, and you had three piles, of, really great, really nice but not, you know, great, and then ones that maybe just didn't resonate with you. That came through when you're reviewing these things. I just thought that was really cool 'cause it's just like kind of like, "Eh, it's not my cup of tea, but you know, the person put it out, they put a lot of work into it."
[00:36:40] Alan: And maybe I'm wrong. Thank you for pointing that out. So one of the things, and I, I thoroughly believe this, it's not just to be on my channel, music is personal. I mean, it, it's all personal taste. There's really no right or wrong. Like I did a thing on the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, which is always like a fun topic on YouTube. And I said, Iron Maiden should definitely [00:37:00] be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame." Now, here's the ironic part. I hate Iron Maiden.
[00:37:04] Charles: Oh, man. I'm gonna bring I'm gonna bring up Iron Maiden in a minute, but that's Okay.
[00:37:08] Alan: Okay, but I hate them because I don't like that kind of music. It doesn't resonate with me. I shouldn't say I hate them. I don't hate them. I appreciate them for what they do, and the fact that they're not in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is insane to me. Of course, they should be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and I will stand up there. But just because I don't like that kind of music doesn't mean it's not amazing for what it is. Of course it is. I mean, this is a legacy band with an incredible discography and a long history and success that other bands would give their arm for. Of course, they should be there.
[00:37:41] Just because that music is not for me doesn't mean it's not incredibly great music. It's just not to my taste. And that's the great thing about music. There really is no right or wrong. Who am I? My opinion and what I like is not any better than anybody else, and I point that out. I [00:38:00] do think I have really good taste in music, and hopefully a lot of people will agree, and some do, and I've turned people on to a lot of really good music. But God, there's stuff that I like that people have written, and they say, "Why do you love that so much? They're really just adequate." And I'm like, " That's fine. I can't convince you otherwise. It just resonates with me."
[00:38:16] And isn't that the beautiful thing about music? And I always say about music, it's part of our DNA, everybody. And you could go to a Broadway show or whatever it is. You know, you could listen to music, and you could enjoy it, right? And then there's music where all of a sudden it hits you, and the hairs on your arm and neck stand up, and you get emotional. Well, that's an emotional response. Now, it may happen to me, and it may happen to you. It may not happen to somebody else, but there's no denying it. So that resonated with me.
[00:38:46] And then there's music that literally will make me cry, and probably you too. Like, it just hits you to your core. And I always say I, I levitate and went to heaven when I hear this part, you know? I mean, it, it's such an amazing force that I think a lot [00:39:00] of the current generation unfortunately is missing out on. It's one of the greatest gifts of life. It's all, at the end, opinion. My opinion is no better than anybody else. And the funny thing about the McCartney video, So a lot of people have written saying that third column that I put that those albums didn't resonate. They're like, "Alan, you're missing out." And, and I'm like, "You know what? Thank you for pointing that out because you're probably right." 'Cause if the other thing is like, let's say I buy 120 albums a year, right? Well, maybe it's one week I only have one album, so I could really focus on that one. Maybe another week I have six albums that week. And maybe that McCartney album was in a week like that. I could back, probably look it up in my database and actually figure it out. But it was a busier week. There was more competition, and that album got short-shifted, where in a different week it wouldn't have, even though I listened to it five times, let's say.
[00:39:51] So music is not a perfect scenario like that. And I'll go back and listen to that album and it might be like, "Oh my God, this album really is great, and I'm so [00:40:00] glad people told me that I'm missing out even though I said it wasn't that good," 'cause maybe it really is that great and I just missed out on it.
[00:40:06] Charles: Yeah, you're right, and you'd mentioned Iron Maiden, and I have tickets to see them in September.
[00:40:12] Alan: I didn't even know they were touring. There you go.
[00:40:14] Charles: Yeah ... it's their 50th year anniversary. They've been together for 50 years. But they're playing only music from their first nine albums. So I'm taking the Allen Rosenberg approach. So I bought these tickets in January, right? September's nine months away. There's nine albums, so every I download an album, and I listen to it, and I listen to it. And some of them I'd already had. But after, like, Powerslave, which I think is their fifth album, you know, it kinda, fell off for me.
[00:40:43] Alan: Mhm.
[00:40:44] Charles: But yeah, you're right. I got in the car the other day, I put on Powerslave, 'cause this is Powerslave month, and I'm like, " I can't listen to this, man. I'm just not in the mood." So I put on, something else. But then, you know, coming home one day after work, boom, man, this is great. I forgot how great these songs were. And it, you know, it's the [00:41:00] same album, but just I'm feeling different, you know?
[00:41:03] Alan: And that's the power of music, and that's why I, like I have said to people, and it's not trying to criticize other channels if it's gonna come off that way. Like, in YouTube, people wanna be the first, and I've seen reviews like, "I just listened to the album for the first time. Here's my review." And I'm like, to me that's a worthless review, because what was that person's mood? And it's only once. You need it to grow on you, you know, to appreciate it over time. At least that's my take.
[00:41:25] Charles: Yeah. You did a review I watched of David Gilmour, live at Circus Maximus, and that's like a Blu-ray CD thing and stuff, and what I found interesting on that review too with regards to, like, a live performance, you were talking about the set list and stuff, and, how when Gilmour tours, he doesn't play all the hits. He'll play a few, but he goes into the, like, these deep and new material, He'll play, like, the entire, almost the entire album. You know, you called him an elder statesman rock and roll. You know, they go out and they play all these hits, but [00:42:00] he, I guess not, I don't know, it's a decision of course he's making not to do that. But you were saying, like, bands, when you'd see them live, they used to do that. You'd hear a lot of their new stuff, and then they'd play some stuff from previous albums.
[00:42:14] Alan: And it's one of the saddest thing that, not to dramatize, but it's like the death of classic rock, and there's so many people, that's a whole nother conversation of how this happened. But it's really true. Like, if you look in the '70s, if you were a fan of a band, you couldn't wait to hear the new material.
[00:42:29] That's actually what you wanted to hear because you bought the album, and you knew the new album, and I can't wait to hear this new material. And the bands were like that, you know? Pink Floyd, and You saw the Animals tour. I mean, they played the whole Animals album, and they played the whole Wish You Were Here album. That was the tour. And I think they played an encore of, like, two tracks from The Dark Side of the Moon. And nobody, I'm sure including yourself, and I think your mom took you to see that. Nobody left disappointed, right?
[00:42:54] Charles: Yeah, no.
[00:42:55] Alan: And, I mean, to an extreme, like, Yes, Tales From Topographic Oceans, which [00:43:00] a lot of people hate, a double album. I mean, when Yes toured for that, they played that whole album. People didn't even know it. Now, maybe that's really extreme, but Jethro Tull did that with, like, Passion Play and Thick as a Brick. It was a fearless time, and they would focus on the new material. But of course, back then, radio would play the new material, and people would buy the new material, and that's what you wanted. And the ticket prices were reasonable even back in those days, where now, it's amazing to me that artists even release new material because it will not get played on the radio.
[00:43:30] So most people in the world are casual fans who only wanna hear the hits. The bands feel guilty 'cause they're charging such crazy money that they're like, "Well, I can't let these people go home disappointed, so we're just gonna play the hits, and maybe we'll play one or two new tracks, so they can go get a beer when we play those And that's why classic rock, you know, look at the Billboard Top 200. There's never any new rock albums on there. A few people buy them except for me and a couple of others. And it's really, [00:44:00] really sad. It's a really sad situation that radio's responsible for. The bands are to a certain extent. But then there are a couple of fearless artists, and David Gilmour is one of them. You know, David Gilmour charged a fortune for his ticket prices. I couldn't afford it. I didn't see it. And what did he do? He played the whole new album, and I can guarantee you that not one person went home disappointed.
[00:44:19] Charles: Yeah, and that whole review that you did made me think, more recently I've been trying to be more deliberate. Like you were saying, I go out and buy the album, I've got tickets to see this show, and I saw this band from Chicago. They've been around since 2010, but like you said, you gave an example, they're new to me this year.
[00:44:36] They had a new album out, they're called Ratboys, the album's called Singing To An Empty Chair. And, they play at a small club, The Vic Theater in Chicago. Julia Steiner, who's the lead singer, guitar player, she said, "Yeah, we got a new album out," you know, everybody cheers. And so she, she said something like get comfortable, ' cause we're gonna play it," basically. I'd have to look at set list, but I think they played damn near the whole [00:45:00] album, in a different order, and I love that album. It's a great album.
[00:45:04] And, being more deliberate, sitting with the music, like you were just saying, instead of being the first to talk about it, what have you. And that just makes the show that much more enjoyable. I'm trying to do that more when I go see new bands, and bands I'm not really familiar with. I try to take in their music a good amount of time spent with it before I see them.
[00:45:25] Alan: Yeah, cause sometimes it's hard, like if you see a band live and they're playing new stuff and you've never heard it, yeah, it's tough. especially if it's difficult music and things like that. But what a wonderful thing sometimes the opposite, where you sometimes you hear a song for the first time and you're like, it gives you chills and you're just like, "This is just incredible." And then I get sad because I only wish radio should be playing. This should be a hit, and it won't be a hit.
[00:45:47] Wha- really get frustrated, like I don't listen to the radio much. I don't have XM. I have like, you know, I listen to CDs. I have an old car, so I listen to CDs in the car. That's part of how I could listen to CDs all the time, and I have an component system. But [00:46:00] the most frustrating thing is I'll listen to classic rock and they'll say, " Hey, you know, l- imagine," I, I don't even know. Let's say they're gonna talk about the Iron Maiden concert and Iron Maiden's got a new album out and they're like, "Iron Maiden's got this new album out. Have you heard it? Yeah, it's phenomenal. Can't wait for the new show. Let's play some Maiden."
[00:46:14] And what are they gonna do? They're gonna play Run For the Hills or whatever. They're not gonna play the new song. And it's like, well, you just told me how great the new album is. How could you not play a new song? And then of course, old radio, I mean, it used to be new release Tuesday. They would play a whole new album sometimes on the radio. It was amazing, I used to record them on eight-track actually and then buy them.
[00:46:33] Charles: Yeah, that episode had many layers to it, that David Gilmour episode, and I recommend people check that one out and all the other ones. Uh, you know, I just, of course, barely scratched the surface with your videos. But, I love the treatment.
[00:46:46] Alan: Thank you for giving me a shot. you.
[00:46:48] Charles: Yeah, Alan, as we come up on time, I was just gonna maybe touch on a couple other things here. You talk about, an episode about box sets. You know, The Who and Jethro Tull you put [00:47:00] box sets. And they almost seem like, those in particular you were showing on your channel, they're like, it's almost kinda like a biography, isn't it, in a way? With the booklets and the pictures and the music.
[00:47:11] Alan: It's amazing. I, I use them as the, the premier of the classic rock reissues of individual albums. The Jethro Tull ones are a smaller size and they're affordable. They're like 50-something dollars. But to call it a booklet, it's 100 pages, and it's only on that one album. It's not the history of Jethro Tull.
[00:47:29] It's 100 pages on this one album. It goes into minute detail, and if you're a fan like me, it's really, really interesting. And then, you know, you get like a previously unreleased live show, and you get demos and outtakes, and some of it, that stuff is great. You're like, "How did this not even get on the album?"
[00:47:47] I call it like going to college on, on that album. So if you're a fan, they're amazing. And The Who does the exact same thing, but they're a bigger size. They're a lot more money. The Who ones could be 100-plus dollars, but they're a bigger size. But to [00:48:00] me, uh, they're really only for big fans. You know, it's not for a casual fan. But if you're a big fan and you wanna know every iota about an album and the live show at that time and how they recorded it and the pictures.
[00:48:12] They're fantastic and, you know, I'll spend a lot of time with them. Now, with that said, I will tell you that some of those I, I can't listen to them more five times 'cause it would take a year to get through them. I'll listen to five times stuff that's new for me. You know, a live show once or twice is good enough. I have, already have those albums, so, maybe I'll only hear the new mix once or twice. So I wanna realistic, you know. But there have been box sets where I really have played them for like a year, where just every iota countless times.
[00:48:42] Charles: Yeah, 'cause you're not gonna find that 100-page book in that box set like in a bookstore or anything.
[00:48:48] Alan: And, and you know what? If it was in a book, a real book, it'd be worth like 30, 40 bucks alone. You know? They're really pieces of work, and you don't see that every day. Not to bring up The Stones, but, like, The Stones are my favorite [00:49:00] band. The Stones' super deluxe box sets to me are terrible, relatively. They're not terrible, they're disappointments. Very little on them as compared to what The Who does and The Kinks do, and some of the other artists where their box sets are just amazing.
[00:49:12] Charles: Do you kinda know what's in 'em al- Alan, before you buy 'em, or you just kinda go in blind and hope for the best?
[00:49:19] Alan: No, I c- you kind of know, 'cause you can see on Amazon what's gonna be on them. One thing that I do on my channel is I watch other YouTube channels, but never about a topic that I'm gonna cover, 'cause I don't want to be influenced by what they say. I try to like to be my own guy. So only after I do a video, let's say on Jethro Tull album, then I'll go see what other people ... not beforehand. I like to be my own thing.
[00:49:42] Charles: Yeah, 'cause you've shown, in one video, first one I watched that Steve Herold sent me, was you reviewing that book, Concert Dates by Mike Bennard, and that was a great book, man. I love that book.
[00:49:54] Alan: What a nice guy he is. He sent that to me, I'm trying to remember, I think he's from my channel. He's like, "I think this [00:50:00] is right up your alley." And I'm like, "Send it to me." I read it the next day, well, started it. I couldn't put it down, and I, I actually could relate 'cause there used to be a venue on Long Island that was a real dump that kinda reminded me of that place. It was small and like, I, I kinda lived this. And he's like, "I knew you kinda did," you know? What a great book.
[00:50:18] Charles: 'Cause when you're going through the book, you're showing all of your memorabilia as well, the ticket stubs, the...
[00:50:24] Alan: Yeah.
[00:50:25] Charles: Posters and promotional material for these shows. And it made me wonder, has anybody ever approached you to, like, access your collection for research or anything, like that?
[00:50:37] Alan: Nah, it's a funny thing, you know. Like, when I decided to do my YouTube- Tube channel, and I know they can't see, the, the viewers right now, I have every ticket stub of every concert I ever went to. But more than that, back in those days, there would be a newspaper advertisement, and I would cut them out.
[00:50:53] So I have the news- not for every show, but I have the newspaper advertisement, the ticket stub. And then the newspapers back in [00:51:00] those days used to have a music column, and they would review it. So I have almost every concert I ever went to, like the ad, the newspaper review, and the ticket stub. And I don't know if that many people out there have that kind of stuff, and I thought it was pretty cool.
[00:51:13] So you, again, you know I'm genuine. You know I'm the, quote-unquote, "real deal." And when I show them on my channel, they get very little response. Like, you know, once in a while people are like, "Oh, that's really cool." But very rarely. It doesn't seem like people really have much of an interest. But with that said, I think as cool as my collection is, like let's say I have 6,000 albums, my collection is really not that impressive, in some ways.
[00:51:37] Because the guy Brendan Seider, I think he must have 50,000 albums. My collection is like nothing compared to his. And what I've realized from meeting people through my channel is as much as I thought I know about people, about bands, even like the Rolling Stones, my band, you know, I've met people that their collections are much larger than mine. Maybe not newspaper [00:52:00] articles and things like that. I collect clippings on the Rolling Stones. I must have 10,000 clippings on the Rolling Stones going back to the early ' 70s. I think it's really cool, but it doesn't seem like anybody else does, so nobody's ever reached out to me.
[00:52:13] Charles: Well, yeah, if somebody was looking to... 'Cause, 'cause you have, you know, to find the ticket, to find the article, to find the ad. If you were doing some kind of even regional research of Long Island music from the mid-'70s on, you would be like a one-stop shop.
[00:52:30] Alan: Yeah. I mean, well, if anybody wants to reach out, feel free. And the funny thing is I'm super organized. Like, I know they can't see it. Like, here it is. It's in chronological order in, in scrapbooks. You know, it, it's right here. Like, it'd take me three minutes. Here's Genesis 1980. There's the concert review. There's the ticket stubs. There's the patch. There's the advertisement, like, I'm really organized. Like, it takes me minutes. In fact, when I do a video, It's not that well planned out. I, I wait to be inspired, and it pops into my head, and all my CDs or records [00:53:00] downstairs are alphabetized.
[00:53:01] So I could literally, within minutes, go downstairs, pull what I wanna show, and literally, at no exaggeration, there's no script, and I hit record. And I don't know what I'm gonna say until I hit record, and I kinda leave my body, ' cause it's genuine. It's real, and it's emotional. And I get emotional in my videos sometimes. Cause this stuff is really part of me, and I love it. And I just go with it, and it's, it's kinda fun. It's good psychological for me. It makes me happy.
[00:53:29] Charles: Yeah, yeah. It's really impressive. I can only imagine. I saw, on your, homepage, you have, you give a, like a tour of your basement.
[00:53:36] Alan: Oh, you saw... Yeah, I did that once. Yeah.
[00:53:38] Charles: Yeah. I mean, it's like going into a library.
[00:53:40] Alan: Yeah, it's just rows and rows of... But the funny thing is I have a, a relatively small house. I don't, you know, I live on Long Island. My house is 1,200 square feet. My whole basement is my collection, which my wife despises 'cause it's the whole basement. But it's not a, a big house, and like w- people are like, "Where do you have it?"
[00:53:58] And I said, "Well, I'll just [00:54:00] show you so you'll know it's real. It's dark and dingy down there. It's not gonna be a good quality video, but there they are, so you know I'm real." And then I decided to do a series which was interesting. I actually did A through Z. I showed almost every one of my 6,000 CDs, pretty close to it or vinyl. And I, we literally went through them. So I want people to know that I hope you like me, and I hope you enjoy my channel. But just know that I'm real because sometimes I watch people and I'm like, "Ugh, this is just somebody looking at Wikipedia," or, and they look really good and it ... And they're not ... Their channels are huge, and mine is little. But, just know whatever I am, this is real.
[00:54:37] Charles: Yeah, and it's so well organized that you can fit a lot of stuff into a space if it's organized, which from the pictures and stuff you show, everything has a spot. Like you said, it's all alphabetized. You know exactly where everything is.
[00:54:51] Alan: Yeah, it takes minutes. Yeah.
[00:54:53] Charles: Alan, one thing I wanted to just mention, in a video I watched, you said you're becoming a Taylor Swift fan, or you are a [00:55:00] Taylor Swift fan.
[00:55:01] Alan: You know what happened? I have a daughter. You know, the... People make fun of me on my channel about that. It's really, really funny. So, you know, I- she was all over the place on TV and heard she writes her own songs, and I heard a couple of songs and I'm like, "Well, that's a really good song. She wrote that? Oh, that's a really good song. She wrote that."
[00:55:18] And then what happened was she released an album called Midnights, and my daughter was a fan, and my daughter's friends were fans. My daughter's young. Well, now she's married, in her 20s, but she was a fan. I'm like, you know what? I'm gonna get the Taylor Swift album, because I really try not to prejudge people. I really am open to experiencing it.
[00:55:36] So the funny thing was I listened to that Midnights album, and I didn't like it the first time at all 'cause it was kind of not organic. It was more, like, electronic. And I'm like, "I'm surprised she did this. I don't care for it at all." But by the fifth, sixth, seventh listen, something hit me and I was like, "You know, I really, really like this album." I, I'm like, "Melissa's my daughter's name." I'm like, "I think I'm loving this album." So then I bought another album, and then a couple of people [00:56:00] on my channel are like, "Oh, you're a Swiftie," and I'm, I'm really not, you know? I think I have, like, five Taylor Swift albums, and honestly, I, I haven't listened to one in a couple years. So I'm far from a Swiftie. But you know what? God bless her. She writes, or at least she partially writes her own material, and she's very talented She's a little too high profile, I guess, now, so she's gonna get a backlash. But, I wouldn't call myself a Swiftie, but I could appreciate her talent. And that Midnights album I really did really like, so there you go.
[00:56:28] Charles: Yeah, the same thing. I have a very similar story with Harry Styles. My daughter and wife were uh, listening to him nonstop the last few years, and, yeah, I've become a fan. I like his music.
[00:56:39] Alan: And you know what? I think that's great 'cause one of the things that I hate, and I brought it up, is I don't like what I call musical snobbery. Like, you don't have to be a snob. If you love music and it hits you, that's one of the greatest gifts of life. You know, nobody should ... I'm, you know what's a funny one?
[00:56:53] I'm actually a really big Olivia Newton-John fan. I did a video on it once. People were like, "Oh, don't be embar-" I'm like, "I'm not embarrassed," 'cause I [00:57:00] think she was awesome and I was a really big fan. I only wish I could have met her. But I am definitely a big Olivia Newton-John fan, and I have no embarrassment about it. And Harry Styles is a massive talent. Massive talent. My god. Yeah
[00:57:13] Charles: Yeah, exactly. I mean, the voice, the musicianship, I mean, come on, you know.
[00:57:18] Alan: And if you could sell out 30 nights at Madison Square Garden in like one day, there's something to you, man. It's not just marketings.
[00:57:24] Charles: Exactly. Well, Alan, yeah, we're coming up on time. Did, do you want to plug anything or talk about something we didn't touch on? It's the Alan Rosenberg Show on youTube.
[00:57:34] Alan: Thank you. Yeah, it's the Alan Rosenberg Show on, on YouTube and, like you said, close to 600 videos and you know, I would love for it to grow so more people knew who I am, so, you know, I would love if you gave it a shot. And there is a playlist there, so you could find things that you like.
[00:57:50] There's a whole Rolling Stones playlist and artist discographies and there's different playlists so you could look for stuff. I would love for you to give me, I mean, if you're a [00:58:00] viewer, give it a shot. And, and the other thing that I love, and y- you'll see it if you watch my channel, I do have a relatively great community.
[00:58:08] It's not the biggest community, but you'll always see comments from the same people, and I respond to every comment because my wish when I started was, like, for it to be a community where we learn from each other and hopefully I turn people onto new music, but they turn me onto new music, too, and we can be open and honest, but like you said, respectful, because my opinion is no better than anybody else's and we could learn from each other. But always keep in mind that the most important thing is our love for music, 'cause it's one of the greatest gifts in the world and I can get emotional talking about it, ' cause it is. You know, music has brought me so much and we cry from music and we get chills, and that's a natural reflex, and that's the most important thing. So if you love Iron Maiden or you love The Rolling Stones or you love Harry Styles or Olivia Newton-John, as [00:59:00] long as you love music, that is the gift.
[00:59:03] Charles: Yeah, well put. Are you on a schedule at all, Alan?
[00:59:06] Alan: I used to try to do, like, two to three videos a week. Believe it or not, I'm recovering from a pretty big surgery. I had surgery almost a month ago. I'm on disability right now, and I have been out of my house, I think, once in the last month.
[00:59:21] So I've done, I think, three videos in, three or four videos in the last month, which is very low for me, because I'm just not physically up for it. So the nice thing is if I was feeling really good, I can come down here and knock out a video if I get inspired. And pe- I got comments like, "Wow, you're looking really good." I'm like, "You should have saw me a half hour ago." Hopefully I'll get back on schedule.
[00:59:40] Charles: Yeah, check out Alan's show and subscribe, and he's open to ideas and themes. I just barely scratched the surface, but I learned so much, and it's so deep. I would describe it as scholarly, but not boring, at all.
[00:59:56] Alan: Thank you so much, man. Wow.
[00:59:58] Charles: Presentation is [01:00:00] awesome. Check out Alan's show, and Alan, thanks again for coming on Seeing Them Live.
[01:00:04] Alan: Charles, it's truly been my pleasure, and thank you for this opportunity. And actually, I've been w- uh, listening to your podcast, and it was awesome. It's great.
[01:00:11] Charles: Thank you very much. yeah, and if you, know, know of anybody who wants to be a guest, we're always looking for people.
[01:00:17] Alan: I definitely will pass that along.
[01:00:19] Charles: As we say, everybody has a concert story. Let's hear yours, Thanks again, Alan.