A Look Back: June 20

By Mike Stampalia on June 20, 2025

(Featured image: A violent storm shuts down Alive at Five, 6/24/2024 – photo by Timothy Reidy)

50 years ago: Herbie Mann / Joe Farrell @ Saratoga Performing Arts Center

After a standing ovation and the first of two encores, the spectators began piling into the orchestra pit, forming a conga line and dancing wildly. In back, two fellows stretched out a blanket and danced with it whirking in circles. The rhythm rocked harder, and the conga liners began to beat their fists and stamp their feet on the apron of the stagr and floor. Even after they began disamantling the set-up on the stage, the fans continued to call for more. From back near the ticket booth, it sounded like a herd of elephants ready for a stampede that, fortunately, never occured.

– Shelley Riley for the Saratogian

30 years ago: R.E.M. / Luscious Jackson @ Knickerbocker Arena

The waifish frontman’s shaved head and sunken cheeks made him look like something out of a Greek expressionist film, and Stipe played the role to the hilt, adorning his skeletal frame in an oversized black suit disguising many layers of shirts beneath.

– Seth Rogovoy for the Berkshire Eagle

1 year ago: Lainey Wilson / Ian Munsick / Zach Top @ Saratoga Performing Arts Center

During her Thursday night (June 20) set at theSaratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs, NY, the ‘Watermelon Moonshine’ star recruited her supporting acts for a surprise showcase fans won’t soon forget.

Country’s biggest stars-on-the-rise Ian Munsick and Zach Top, who will be touring alongside Wilson off and on through the rest of the year, joined the hitmaker for parts of her hit-riddled set.

Munsick was up first in the night, taking the mic for a duet of an unreleased Wilson offering: ‘Good Horses Always Come Home.’

Later in the night, Top joined the artist for a classic country medley.

– Alli Patton for Holler

1 year ago: John Fogerty / George Thorogood and the Destroyers / Hearty Har @ Tanglewood

The show’s official opening act, George Thorogood and The Destroyers’ set was interrupted by a powerful Berkshires’ storm that brought a power outage and torrential rains that delayed the show for nearly an hour until power was restored.

– Indie Rock Cafe

1 year ago: Bronte Roman @ Alive at Five

(The show was cut short due to a violent storm)