What’s your favorite memory of Humphreys Concerts by the Bay, the intimate San Diego venue that this year celebrates its 45th anniversary?
Your answer may have everything to do with your age and musical preferences.
For members of Gen Z and Gen Alpha, it may have been cheering Sabrina Carpenter’s sold-out 2023 Humphreys concert or bouncing up and down as rising Australian indie-pop singer G Flip opened her show there last November with “Disco Cowgirl.”
For their parents or grandparents, it may have attending mesmerizing performances in the 1980s — the decade Humphreys launched — by Ray Charles, B.B. King, Bonnie Raitt or David Sanborn.
For anyone in between, it could have been seeing a concert there by Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, King Crimson, Janelle Monae, Ravi Shankar, Wayne Shorter, Fats Domino or Diana Krall. Or maybe it was by James Brown, Spinal Tap, Jimmy Buffett, Feist, Leonard Cohen, The Cult, Brian Wilson, King Sunny Ade, Steely Dan, comedian Dana Carvey or the then-22-year-old Whitney Houston, who kicked off the first tour of her career at Humphreys in 1985.
For this writer, Charles, King, Raitt, Krall, The Everly Brothers, Emmylou Harris and Lyle Lovett stand out as artists who were consistently excellent at their respective multiple performances at Humphreys over the decades.
Charles’ spellbinding 1986 concert was made all the more memorable by the large egret that landed in a palm tree next to the stage and began bedding down for the night. The egret was so loud that the blind music great thought he was being heckled by an audience member and briefly stopped in mid-song.
Of course, not all of my most memorable moment at Humphreys are musical.
The ear-bleeding volume levels at electric bass guitar giant Stanley Clarke’s 1985 concert was so loud it caused attendees in the first few rows to flee to the back of the venue, fingers in ears. A similar high-decibel din also marred a Humphreys’ show by, of all people, Natalie Cole.
And how can I forget the 2017 performance by Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Steve Winwood, at which — as I wrote in my review — “the sold-out crowd of 1,450 might just have set a new Guinness World Record for Highest-Decibel Nonstop Yammering at a Rock Concert, Baby Boomer Division — if such a category actually existed.”
Traffic jam! Steve Winwood played as San Diego audience yammered nonstop
On a much brighter note, attendees at Miles Davis’ electrifying 1985 debut gig at Humphreys, which took place during a driving rainstorm, listened in rapt attention throughout.
Ditto at the rain-free Humphreys debuts of gospel-music legends The Blind Boys of Alabama, Brazilian music superstar Milton Nasciemento, solo guitarist Stanley Jordan, blues vocal dynamo Shemekia Copland, Portuguese fado singing star Mariza and, in 2017, the pioneering art-rock band King Crimson.
Humphreys Concerts by the Bay also draws music fans into the bay, where droves of so-called “boat people” often gather to enjoy performances by top artists. The floating fans are a unique part of the Humphreys legacy. (John Gastaldo / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
And let’s not overlook the “boat people” who watch concerts for free from the adjacent Humphreys Marina and sometimes enthusiastically sound air horns as they cheer and applaud. I can’t recall any of Ringo Starr’s many performances at Humphreys at which he hasn’t gestured towards the fans on boats and given them a fond shout-out from the stage as “cheap bastards!”
But enough about me.
Now, it’s your turn to share your fondest Humphreys Concerts memory.
Recount the one show there that stands out for you above any other you have attended at the venue. Include the name of the band, solo artist or comedian, and the year of their performance. And tell us exactly what made that concert so special for you.
Email your responses to: george.varga@sduniontribune.com. Be sure to include your full name and the area in which your reside (not your address, but the neighborhood or city you live in, such as North Park or National City). If you happen to have a really sharp high-resolution photo of yourself at Humphreys, send it along.