Patti Labelle, Alabama, Crystal Gayle, Pat Benatar

Earth Wind and Fire own this thread. I don't think anyone's ever paid a ticket to see them, they're always at fairs or carnivals or piers.

OP I also saw Pat Benatar at a state fair. She was quite good.

Crystal Gayle opened her state fair performance with “My Brown Eye”. The audience all started laughing because she was singing about her asshole.

r3 Mine was in 1981 in Iowa.

Weird Al, The Monkees, Rod Stewart. Rod's show was the rowdiest I've ever been at. The crowd on the ground in front of the stage busted down the fence separating them from the stage and people began leaping onto it. His roadies were running out sending people flying back into the crowd. Finally Rod left the stage and his band did blues tunes for a good fifteen-20 minutes. Then a long line of cops walked out onto the stage to form a human fence between the crowd and Rod. Rod came out, said, "No, we don't need this" and urged the cops to leave. They did, and the crowd behaved itself, more or less, for the rest of his show.

I read the State Fair's contract with Rod for that show a few months later (I work in a library, and the documents get sent to us) and holy moly. Those state fair gigs can be astonishingly lucrative. He got a flat fee plus 90% of the ticket sales.

r6 OP here

Thanks for sharing that. Now that you mention it it makes senses, pay a "name" a stated amount and the door knowing you won't make any money on that, however the people who come to the show spend a lot.

Janet Jacks...oh, wait. No, I didn't. I've actually never been to a proper state fair, but did meet Stella Parton at a local carnival when I was about fourteen or fifteen.

I'd love to see Crystal Gayle live though. I've always liked her, and follow her on social media. The only time I saw Benatar, was as the opening act for Cher's "D2K" Tour in 2014. She and her husband were FANTASTIC. I highly recommend it.

Donny and Marie in 1982. Night Ranger in 1984.

R5 Oh this was only about 5 yrs ago

Club MTV Tour Culture Club, Thompson Twins and Howard Jones (nostalgia tour 2018 or so)

My parents took me to see Dolly Parton as a young kid. I think it was the 80s at the Indiana State Fair or Illinois State Fair. All I remember was that it was raining and I refused to leave. I was in gay heaven!! How were my parents shocked when I came out in the 90s?!

Cyndi Lauper before she did Kinky Boots. Her salary was public record in CA. $140k.

Juice Newton, 38 Special, Anne Murray are the ones I can recall at the moment.

Anne Murray?! Are you lesbian too??

I was present when little girls were crushed in the stampede to the Tiffany/New Kids on the Block concert.

Queen Latifah

Alabama

Alison Krauss & Union Station

Bryndle (Thank you for being a friend!)

Mary Chapin Carpenter

Journey

Heart Earth, Wind, and Fire Joan Jett Dolly Parton

R21 did you participate in the stampede??

Errr.... a hog auction in York, PA? What am I missing?

b52s/The Fixx/Psychedelic Furs

Gin Blossoms/Tears for Fears

Beck

No, wait, those were all county fairs (The OC Fair in Orange County)

No one saw Janet Jackson because she bankrupted the poor state fair she played at when no one bought tickets.

R18, 140K for the one show?

The one, the only LYNN ANDERSON!

Her hair was much higher to God at the fair and the dress had more flounces.

R28, yes for one show. The amphitheater was sold out, so I'm assuming Cyndi made them money.

Back in the mid 80's we were on our way to Colorado Springs. On our way, we see a sign for the Colorado State Fair in Pueblo, Co. We decided to go. It started raining, and everything was turning to mud. We saw a sign for $5 concert for Miami Sound Machine, which we had never heard of. We paid our $5, hoping it would be under a tent, and out of the rain. Well, the audience wasn't under a tent, and the first song was 'Conga' which was a bit of a hit on the airwaves. Best $5 concert. Their band was huge, and they played their hearts out.

$140k ain't that much if Cyndi had to pay out everyone in her entourage, which I'm guessing she did.

I think I saw Chrissy Metz once.

R32, this was maybe 10 years ago and still not a bad gig. You can make a good living doing these fairs. Even if Cyndi ended up with $75k, do 20 and that's $1.5 million.

Our state fair used to always have a veteran country show on a Sunday afternoon. One year I saw Bill Anderson, Jean Shepard, Jack Greene and George "Goober" Lyndsey in one show. I loved it. But, I was the youngest adult in the audience by at least 20 years.

Liza Minnelli and Mitzi Gaynor

When I was a little kid my parents took me to Syracuse State Fair on a trip up to drop off my brother at school in Syracuse. Sonny and Cher were performing that day, which I was excited about. But they must have been arguing backstage or something, since they finally went on about 2 to 3 hours after they were scheduled. It was a hot day and people were fainting away; a few had to be carried out before Mr. and Mrs. Bono started their act. They were fun I recall, and it was all worth it to me when they appeared.

I saw Loretta Lynn at a small county fair the same year the movie Coal Miners Daughter came out (she was amazing) and Crowded House at the Oregon state fair when their song Something So Strong was a hit. The B 52s tons of times.

Wait.... they still have State Fairs?

Are there any other country people on here who grew up as part of Rural Electric Cooperative? Ours would have a big annual meeting in the spring, with some big name but slightly out of date country star as entertainment. When I was really young they were ones still appearing on Hee Haw and the Opry, but weren't on the radio anymore. It was great because I got to see a lot of people I probably would never have had the opportunity to see live and it was free.

Patti LaBelle, The Bangles, Belinda Carlisle, Amy Grant, The Beach Boys (of course), Holly Near, Juice Newton. All at the Ohio State Fair in the 80s.

I was once transported by gondola over the New York state fair and passed several feet above a guy with a microphone and amplifier who used it to issue really vile remarks at passersby below me. I regretted that I had nothing to drop on him.

R42 We had (non-state-fair) "package shows" like what you're descrbing, out here in California. When I was a small child in the early 70s I got to see the likes of Sonny James (whose radio hits were obviously long before), Johnny Paycheck, Mel Tillis, and some others I can't recollect at the moment. They always had fan autograph time after.

I saw Minnie Pearl. Twice!

The Spinners, War, Weird Al, Wynona, Leon Russell, Sheila E., UB40, Los Lonely Boys, Junior Brown, Tony Tone Toni, a bunch I can't remember right now. Some fun cover bands like a really good Beatles one.

Leon Russell, R48?! Now I’m jealous.

R47 I honestly envy you, there was no one little kid me wanted to see more but she had her stoke right before my family visited the Opry.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pa3TmqOorZ6csm%2BvzqZmraCimq6le5Jpb2pqZ2eAbr%2FTmqueZZaWtrN5xKernqqklravucSnq2dlp52utXnPnqmfp6KisrO%2FjKGYr51drry2edKenKdlkal6onnSrZitnV2brqq%2BjA%3D%3D