Ever wondered about your best gig ever (so far)? Every musician has one – and for Pat Travers, it was sharing the stage with a host of legendary names at Day on the Green, a recurring concert series at the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum. Promoted by rock impresario Bill Graham, the series began in 1973 and drew some of the biggest acts of the era and crowds of around 65,000 people.
“The best show I ever did was 1978 in Oakland, California,” Travers tells tells Rick Beato. “It’s Aerosmith headlining, Foreigner, my band [Pat Travers Band]AC/DC, and Van Halen. Five bands starting at 11 a.m.
“So I’m not sure if Van Halen went on first, or AC/DC did. One of them did. It didn’t matter. And of course, Bill Graham was the best, and the backstage area had AstroTurf and tables and umbrellas, trailers – and everybody’s hanging out together.”
The fantasy lineup of classic rock musicians extended to Travers’ backstage encounters – including a comical one with none other than Steven Tyler.
“That was the first time I met Steven Tyler, and that’s so funny. Somebody from my record company says, ‘Pat, you got to meet Steven Tyler.’ And I went, ‘Yeah, I’ve just got to meet Steven Tyler.’
“So they walk me over. He’s sitting in a chair underneath an umbrella with a frozen daiquiri, and he’s got big mirrored aviators and the biggest dive watch I ever saw, and he’s just sitting there, and someone goes, ‘Hey, Steven, this is Pat – Pat, this is Steve.’ And I go, ‘Hey, Steve, how you doing?’”
Tyler’s response? “He goes, ‘My fucking lips are killing me.’ [laughs] I liked him, just loved him immediately. I went, ‘That’s my kind.’ He just didn’t get it. I mean, he had chapped lips because it was so dry out there, yeah, but he [had] forgotten that, ‘Oh, by the way, your lips are so big you can whisper in your own ear.’ It’s funny.”
Another one for the books? An encounter with two guitar greats, and a photo to prove it. “There’s a great picture of Eddie [Van Halen]Pat Thrall, and myself backstage. Oh man, we look awesome – three guitar players, just 24 years old.”
In the same Rick Beato interview, Travers revealed he owned three Gibsons by the age of 16 – all of which met an unfortunate demise.
