Phil Collins "I Missed Again"

Think of the artists whose music made a lasting impact on your life. Your list likely is quite long and has deep memories rooted within each song or artist. For me, I would include the Doobie Brothers, Radiohead, Ray LaMontagne, Stevie Wonder, and Phil Collins. In the case of Collins', his music was EVERYWHERE during my lifetime. In 2003, I had the opportunity to see and meet Phil when he toured in Chicago...but I missed it. While working as a radio morning show producer, I had two weeks of vacation that year and one of those weeks happened to coincide with Phil's tour. When news of his Not Dead Yet Tour broke in 2017, my colleague Lisa and I sprung into action once he announced a Chicago date. It's taken 15 years, but today I am finally going to see Phil. His Not Dead Yet, Live! tour pulls into Chicago's United Center tonight.

Elton John "Crocodile Rock"

If you're planning to see Elton John's Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour, a good time to escape for a cocktail or a bathroom break is during the song "Crocodile Rock". While the song was a huge hit in 1973 -- becoming Elton's first #1 US hit and continues to be be part of his concert setlists, Elton himself called it a song he wouldn't listen to and he's right. The song is my least favorite.

Tom Petty "You Don't Know How It Feels"

During a rainy summer night last year my phone buzzed with a text from my friend Allison. She asked what I was doing. "Nothing," I responded. "Great, then get your ass to Wrigley Field. We're going to the Tom Petty show," she quickly shot back. Allison didn't have tickets to the concert, but instead planned to hear the show from our friend's Wrigleyville rooftop. "You're going," she quickly responded before I could drop my excuse for not wanting to go.

As I boarded the CTA train 45 minutes later, the rain fell heavier and faster. This didn't help my cause as I already didn't want to go, but there was no turning back That stormy evening, Petty sounded sharp as I stood under an umbrella on a rooftop deck less than a block from where Petty performed on Wrigley's soggy outfield grass. A couple months after Petty's Wrigley show, he was dead. The former gravedigger turned rock legend died from cardiac arrest, and all I could think about was how glad I was for Allison's text urging me out of my comfort zone.

Madonna "Borderline"

Early in her career, Madonna repeatedly performed "Borderline" that she swore off singing it during concerts for much of the '90s and 2000s. It wasn't until 2008 that she finally re-added the pop song to her Sticky & Sweet Tour. She again dusted off the song in 2016 to perform a more soulful but slower version of the tune on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon while President Barack Obama (who was also a guest on the show) looked on in the distance.

K-Ci & JoJo "All My Life"

Imagine piling the kids into the car and driving down to The Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles to see a radio station's Jingle Ball concert...only to see one of the performer's, um, balls. Well, this actually happened in 2000 when Cedric Hailey (K-Ci) revealed himself to the crowd...twice. Children as young as five were part of the crowd that numbered nearly 4,000 people. K-Ci ultimately pleaded no contest and performed community service. "He just got caught up in the moment," said K-Ci's attorney.

Hall & Oates "Say It Isn't So"

Hall & Oates announced their 2018 summer tour includes the pop group Train. Some might find the bill to be an odd pairing (especially after they paired up last year with Tears for Fears). Apparently, Train's lead singer Pat Monahan bonded with Daryl Hall during a taping of  Live From Daryl's House and the rest is history. Their tour begins May 1st in Sacramento.

Anita Baker "Sweet Love"

Beyonce performed Anita Baker's ballad "Sweet Love" during a medley in a 2009 Vegas concert to promote her I Am...Sasha Fierce album.

Journey "Faithfully"

Before making it big for himself, Bryan Adams spent lots of time touring with the band Journey in 1983. Adams was the group's opening act for Journey's Frontiers Tour.  Adams credits "Faithfully" for influencing his ballad "Heaven".

Cher "Just Like Jesse James"

I have no recollection of "Just Like Jesse James" from Cher even though the song wasn't obscure by any means: it was a Top 10 hit on the Adult Contemporary and Hot 100 Charts in 1989. A quick search of the song on Wikipedia turned up this fun fact: Cher doesn't care to sing the song at concerts. Well, nothing to see here, move along....

Elton John "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?"

One of the main reasons Elton John agreed to sing "Can You Feel The Love Tonight?" was to introduce his music to a new generation. In that regard, he succeeded. However, The Lion King marked a turning point in Elton's musical career. He went on to sing songs during the latter half of the '90s for soundtracks to animated movies like Aida and The Road to El Dorado. Most longtime fans point out that Elton's music from The Lion King and beyond is what they don't want to hear whether it be on the radio or in concert. One look at set lists for Elton's live shows and you'll rarely see any of his music released in the '90s and beyond. Fun fact: Rick Astley provided backup vocals on the tune.

Don Henley "The Heart of the Matter"

It's not often that you can't find a song on YouTube, but that's the case with Don Henley's 1990 ballad "The Heart of the Matter". The only version I can find is a live version that comes from The Eagles 1994 reunion tour Hell Freezes Over. Although The Eagles didn't include the tune on their album Hell Freezes Over, it was included on the DVD.

Roy Orbison - "You Got It"

Do yourself a favor and watch Roy Orbison & Friends: A Black and White Night.  The Los Angeles concert was filmed in one take for a Cinemax special in 1987 and features a who's who of rock 'n roll artists accompanying (and cheering on) Roy.  If you've already seen it, you should watch it again.  It's that good.  A year after the concert, Orbison died of a heart attack.  Released posthumously, "You Got It" was Orbison's final solo effort and, in 1989, reached the #1 spot on the Adult Contemporary Chart.

Ambrosia - "Holding On To Yesterday"

One listen to Ambrosia's sound and you could understand why the band toured with Fleetwood Mac, Heart, and The Doobie Brothers back in the 1970s.  

Newton Faulkner - "Dream Catch Me"

My old Dell laptop has been dying a slow death for the past handful of years now.  Last Christmas, I made the switch to a new Dell meaning I was no longer running on the Vista platform and now had the much-ballyhooed/maligned Windows 10.   While my day-to-day computer work moved to my new Dell, I left iTunes untouched on my old laptop because, frankly, I knew that it would be a complete clusterfuck.  The straightforward directions from Apple made the process appear simple and seamless.  The reality was quite different.  After doing exactly what Apple.com suggested, my music transferred over successfully.  The problem was that only about one-third of my massive music collection made the trek.  I don't know why the other songs decided they didn't want to join the party.  So, I tried again only to have my playlists not transfer.  A third attempt yielded my entire music library making the trek including multiple copies of the majority of my songs, but again no playlists.  So, I manually deleted well over 1,000 duplicates of songs.  Next up, go in and trim the audio and recreate all my playlists.  (Why the hell haven't I just make the switch to Spotify, you're asking.  Again, I don't have a reasonable answer.)  I did discover many songs I thought I deleted years ago.  One such song came from English singer-songwriter Newton Fulkner.  Newton made the lunchtime concert circuit back in 2007, and I was graced with a free lunch, music, and a shiny new CD called Hand Built By Robots.  "Dream Catch Me" achieved success over the pond, but never really found an audience in the States.  Now, back to the clusterfuck known as iTunes...