Pensacola runs show with top concert picks

What is the greatest concert you’ve ever seen in Pensacola? For local musician B. Scott Clarkson the answer was delivered by a group of pioneering, hip-hop music icons.

“Run DMC at Springfest,” said Clarkson, also a bartender at O’Zone Pizza Pub. “That was the only time in my life that I got to see them.”

The 2009 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees performed at the popular downtown festival in 2001.

The skillful showmanship of Run (Joseph Simmons) helped push the group’s concert to the top of Clarkson’s list.

“He (Simmons) was talking himself up during their set,” Clarkson said. “He told the story of a kid who challenged him to a rap battle and he said, ‘Son, I’ve been doing this since you were in diapers!’ and then he rhymed something with diapers. That’s hard to do, but he did it. ”

George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic provided the greatest Pensacola concert for Roger Scott Tennis Center professional tennis teacher Paul Einhart.

The 1997 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee led the crowd at Vinyl Music Hall through a funk-filled evening of hits last year.

“Being able to hear ‘Maggot Brain’ live was one of the coolest things ever,” Einhart said. “Even though it wasn’t the original guitarist playing it, it was still very cool hearing a 15-minute guitar freak-out at a funk show.”

A dose of metal at the Pensacola Civic Center last year provided the best concert anywhere for University of West Florida student Joe Robichau.

“Avenged Sevenfold,” said Robichau, an environmental science major. “It’s probably the best show I’ve seen in my entire life. They had pyrotechnic blasts. It was just sick. I had friends from Orlando at the show and they were like, ‘Dude, we’ve seen Pantera nine times, and this is equivalent to anything we’ve ever seen from them.’ ”

University of West Florida graduate assistant Amy Ste. Croix also found her favorite Pensacola concert from a recent metal show.

“Trivium at Vinyl was my favorite Pensacola concert,” Ste.Croix said of the March show. “They were awesome. They looked the part. They played everything right on key, and they did a really good job.”

Got bass?

The winner of last week’s music trivia challenge is ... no one.

Most entries were close, but no one named at least one bass player from each band listed in last week’s challenge.

Here are the answers; The Rolling Stones (Dick Taylor, Bill Wyman, Darryl Jones), Van Halen (Mark Stone, Michael Anthony, Wolfgang Van Halen), The Jackson 5 (Jermaine Jackson), Foo Fighters (Nate Mendel), Pearl Jam (Jeff Ament) Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem (Sgt. Floyd Pepper).