There's not much to say about the A$AP Rocky set at Stage AE musically. It wasn't about that. It didn't have the mood or texture of his chart-topping debut, "Long.Live.A$AP," and it wasn't much of a showcase of the Harlem MC as a rapper.

As a party scene, though, it was a memorable one, from the get-go, when A$AP and one of his hypemen dove into the seething mob -- and then couldn't get out! Once the song ended, A$AP, sheathed in white, was stuck down there, bringing the show to a dead stop while security pushed and pulled, and one of his bodyguards sternly demanded everyone step back and let the man go. He finally emerged with one shoe missing, and briefly disappeared offstage.

Once he found another shoe, he bounced back, Rocky Balboa style, laughing about the intensity in the sold-out room. "They told me, 'If you go to Pittsburgh, those [mother -----s] are too turned up out there."

Security trying to get A$AP out of the crowdA few songs in, he faced another challenge when a fight broke out in the center of the floor, sending the yellow-shirted security into a frenzy. A$AP handled it brilliantly, stopping the song and calling out a guard who was draggin away one of the fighters. "Let em stay," he said, "They're just kids trying to have fun." Then he pleaded, "Yo, security, nobody's hurt, everybody's OK. At an A$AP Rocky show, [s---] like that happens all the time. They all right? Everybody OK? Ya'll ready to party like family now?"

Like a hockey game after the fight, the tension was diffused and they were in fact ready to party like family, jumping up and down and shouting along to bangers like "[F----ing] Problem," the Skrillex-powered "Wild for the Night" and "Trilla." A$AP, who is new to the live scene, hasn't worked out his set much beyond yelling about women, weed and purple drank to blown-out bombastic beats. 

It was no “conscious rap” as he notes on the album, but he did stop to praise the diversity of his followers and urge that “break the cycle” of racism.

At one point, he referenced Wiz Khalifa (to an oddly tepid response), who started out with this type of simple “put-your-hands-up!” set but has moved far beyond it as a live performer. (A$AP didn’t even have a DJ working it like Bonics does.)

After about 70 minutes, A$AP brought the high-school pep rally to a rousing finish, filling the stage with girls for "Peso," the party anthem that broke him back in 2011. It was a win-win that everyone got out in one piece, fully energized and with their shoes on.

There are few live rock clips as compelling as Ten Years After doing "I'm Going Home" at Woodstock, in which Alvin Lee puts on a clinic of speed guitar that either had would-be musicians running for the instrument -- or running away from it.

The British musician died today (March 6) at 68 due to complications from a routine surgery, according to reports.

His wife and daughters released a statement: "We have lost a wonderful and much loved father and companion. The world has lost a truly great and gifted musician."

Lee formed Ten Years After in 1966 and the band debuted a year later with a self-titled album of mostly covers. The blues-rockers made their name in a big way at the Newport Folk Festival and Woodstock in 1969, a year before scoring their biggest hit, the psych-rock classic "I'd Love to Change the World."

Ten Years After toured the States between early 1969 and 1975, and played just one show in Pittsburgh (Oct. 6, 1972 at the Civic Arena).

Lee left and went on to play in Ten Years Later (which did shows here including 1987 at the Syria Mosque with Steppenwolf) and and as a solo artist. His last album was 2012's "Still on the Road to Freedom."

Based on the P-G archives, his last concert here was in May 1996 with Eric Burdon as part of a New Orleans Fest at the I.C. Light Amphitheater.

Sadly, I never got to see Alvin Lee perform live, but if you have, I would love to hear about it, so please post your recollection.