Most memorable concerts/live shows

Let's have your favorite & most memorable live concerts & shows and some details/impressions. The ones that most blew you away, exceeded expectations and/or were just downright enjoyable as hell. You know, the ones that were still seriously in the fore-front of your head 2/3 days later and/or 1's you didn't expect much from, but turned out to be incredible - mine are mostly from '69 - '79

Santana twice - '69 in Houston, '78 in San Diego. 1st concert for me at 16 & hooked tfrom then on -

Yes - 3 times, 2 were mind-blowin, 1 mediocre. All in Hou/Music Hall & SH Coliseum

Elvin Bishop/Mark Allman/ Elton John - great show, Elton soundin fine & the flamboyant showman as always

Shawn Phillips - surprisingly good. The old intellectual hippy with hair to his ass & a voice sounding like a musical instrument. Had BS passes from a friends Dad who worked for Wild West Productions. Expected a good party, but instead found a formal sit down banquet that we weren't invited to & we wanted to split anyhow. Little too high-brow, lol

Jethro Tull - thrice, fav was just after he made "Aqualung". Always great unless he didn't happen to like the aura of the crowd. Could get a lil arrogant, grab a good-lookin blonde & walk off if so -

Rod Stewart/Faces - Ft Worth, '76 or '77. Half the crowd with Stewart hair, drinkin beer & Rod swingin that mic. Great tunes, was in good voice & some of the finest lookin ladies you'd ever wanna see -

Led Zepp - only once with 3rd row seats. Unbelievable but couldn't hear right for a couple days - lol

ELP - tremendous, remember most Emerson thrown his knives into the organ

The Who - again, almost too loud but of course, phenomenal

Dave Mason - alone w/o Traffic. Super show, Austin, 78. Gave everything he had -

Stevie Ray Vaughn - all thruout the latter 70's & early eighties. Smaller clubs in Austin - what can you say, it's Stevie. Liked Jimmy as well -

Jerry Jeff, Willie, Delbert McClinton, Nanci Griffith, Gatemouth Brown, WC Clark, Marcia Ball, Angela Streheli - all could be counted on consistently for great shows except JJ in his heavier drinkin days -

Harry Chapin - 1 of my best concert memories cuz I was in Vegas unexpectedly in 78 & he just happened to be playin at the Alladin right across the street not long before he died

Gram Parsons/Neil Young - another memorable 1. Liberty Hall in Hou the nite after Young & Ronstadt had played the Sam Houston Coliseum. Gram was unique & a pioneer & Neil (a big fan of his) was unexpectedly in the audience & came up for a couple tunes. Not long before Parsons died -

Bunch more, but this is gettin too long. Let's hear 'em folks -

 

 

A few more I just thought of that all put on great shows -  fond memories:

J.Geils, Loggins & Messina, J. Browne, J. Mitchell, Allman Bros (with Duane), Moody Blues, Billy Preston, Billy Joel etc...

Cashin, did you see the Yes concert in San Luis Obisbo in I think 1996?

It was the basis to the fantastic "Keys To ascension" double live album.

DH - no, the last time I saw Yes was probably '72 or '73 right after they put out "Fragile". Didn't care as much for the later re-creations though I liked some of the tunes & am sure they still put on good shows better than the vast majority of 'em 

Another good one - Mountain & Black Sabbath prob about '72 Pretty wasted for this 1, but remember Leslie West was incredible. Wasn't a huge fan of Sabbath at the time, but was a great concert -

Interpol @ the Curiosa Festival in Dallas.  2004

Pink Floyd "animals" tour in Baton Rouge 75 I think.  (Took a couple of ludes)

The CURE "Wild Mood Swings Tour" Dallas 99

Faith No More, Metalica and G & R @ Cowboys stadium in 95 I think.  Metalica kicked major ass

Todd Rungren "Accapela" tour - Houston 96

Jeff Beck "Star Cylce" tour in Dallas - 82

The list is long.........

Faith No More, Metallica and Guns N' Roses (1992 - pay attention jmw!): that was the show in Montreal where James Hetfield almost died when the pyrotechnics went off in his face and Axl Rose set off a riot when he bailed.

Summer Sanitarium - Metallica, Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit, Deftones and Mudvayne (2003): Ten hours in unbearable heat but well worth it!

Nirvana (1993): The one and only time unfortunately.

Club MTV - Tone Loc, Information Society, Was (Not Was) and Milli Vanilli (1989): To this day, I could swear Milli Vanilli were actually singing!

Rush was the best sounding concert that I was ever at.

Alice Cooper's new show generated a TON of energy for a 60 year old man.

Most memorable shows i seen

Iron Maiden - Judas Priest- Triumph-Scorpions- David Bowie-Manowar-D.R.I-Paul Dianno-Ian Gillan

Forgot to include Slayer-Venom-Heaven And Hell(black sabbath)

Worst was Van Halen in 84 horrible show they played

Most disappointing show for me was Dylan & the Band sometime in the mid 70's. He was on the tali end of a long tour & sounded like shit -

Cashin', I'm a Yes "purist", meaning, I'm not hip on their top 40 stuff, only the artist genius works they did. Envious of you seeing those concerts.....

Keys To Ascension only had "Roundabout" and "Starship Trooper" on it, which were done better than when they were originally put out. Starship Trooper is always done well live, but I usually hate roundabout, but on this double live, now classic concert, Roundabout is done great.

Everything else was artistic amazement. If you haven't heard it, and I can understand why you stayed away from something fom '96 by them, but I was just knocked over by it. Buy it, if you can tell me that you are a true Yes purist of all of their art rock stuff, and don't like it......I'll reimburse you for what it cost you (providing you send it back to me. You'll love it. I just can't tell from your post if you've heard that CD yet or not. Don't sandbag me if you've already heard it...LOL! ......Also of note Cashin is the album "The Ladder" (you can tell my age, because I call everything albums)......"the Ladder was an great set. Did you ever listen to it?

I highly recommend it ...... You will NOT be disappointed.




Rush always puts on a great show.

Genesis before they went super were great live.

I saw the Genesis Seconds Out tour concert (front row) 1978 and half were Peter Gabriels' songs , the other half Rutherford and Collins'......you could see that sellout Phil Collins was going to turn that band from "artrock" to "pop" as soon as he could.............

They did have a few that I really like.....Home By The sea parts 1 and 2, and a handful of others on that album.....Dodo, and yes, I'm contradicting myself by admitting that I really like the tune Abacab (very pop).....Very good album.



Saw Todd Rundgren on his first "Utopia" tour. ( "Last of the New Wave Riders" ) etc. Great concert. Rundgren is a genius.

I enjoyed Billy Idol, but was really embarrassed to be there. I believe it was an age issue. I was 26 and I felt super old.

I made out with a (hopefully) 18 year old girl, and I felt really unclean afterwards......


I'll probably add to this later....

Got some others.

Oh shit, can't leave this post without mentioning seeing Sting "Nothing Like The Sun" tour concert in which he put together an all-star cast of some of the best and well known great jazz musicians of the late 80s (and still) That was one of the greatest concerts ever.

Saw the Sting tour before that touting "Dream Of The Blue Turtles".
I was shrooming at an outdoor ampitheatre called Blossom outside of Cleveland. The quality or amount, noth sure which....might have been the twelve pack I drank from Columbus to Blossom and then took the shrooms..........Well done dennis ya fucking tard! 


Ok, last but not least, best ever was U2's "Unforgettable Fire" tour at Pittsburgh Civic Arena (torn down now I heard)..........

Best U2 concert I ever saw. Seen quite a few...../ "War" was great also.....

I hate their pop shit. Achtung Baby was a great set of music......Didn't see that tour though.

I really do not care too much for their "newer stuff"

Novel length post...........

Would love to have seen Zeppelin or that now classic collaberation Jimmy Page did with the Black Crowes in Berkeley. I even fricking lived there then. Still feel stiupid about missing that.

Dumbass Dennis......

DH - sounds good, I'll check it out. Was a huge Yes fan in the early 70's & had their 1st 5 albums thru "Close to the Edge". They started losin me a bit with "Tales from Topographic Oceans' but still liked it OK. Definitely a musician, musicians band at the time & did some amazing stuff with Anderson comin thru with the purity of an 8 yr old boy. Had a friend who had a quadraphonic stereo (big stuff at the time, lol) & both Yes & Alice Cooper were great on it with a mild (solid but not too kick-ass), but high quality reefer or 2 - LOL. Was easy to get spoiled back then with all the incredible stuff around - all with their own style & flavor.

This stuff starts rollin back when you get to thinkin & reminiscing. On the lighter side about the same time, these were good, uplifting shows as well -

America

Firefall (collaboration of good studio musicians)

Dan Fogelberg

Chicago

Doobies

About the only big folks (now legends) I didn't get to see that I wanted to were the Stones & Hendrix. Had a cousin who had great seats for Hendrix not long before he died, but blew it off for a party I think, thinkin I'd catch him the next time. That's the way it was back then if you were in a big city - lot's of great groups comin thru 2 & even 3 times a year.

Depeche Mode every time in Vegas
NIN Chicago wave goodbye

Bands I've seen in my lifetime (copy and paste from a word doc on my hardrive).

The most memorable out of all of these was the Dead and Metallica.

The list:

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Red Hot Chile Peppers                                 

AC/DC

Jimmy Barnes

White Snake

Motley Crue

ZZ Top (2)

David Lee Roth

Steve Vai

Neil Young and Crazy Horse

Grateful Dead (117)

Allman Brothers

Phish

Blues Traveler (3)

Widespread Panic (4)

Bob Dylan

Steve Miller (6)

The Wailers (2)

Ben Harper

Beach Boys

Crosby, Still and Nash (2)

Little Feat (2)

Santana (2)

Paul Rogers

Lynyrd Skynyrd (2)

The Dallas Moore Band

Ratdog

Col. Bruce Hampton and the Aquarian Rescue Unit

Rolling Stones

Living Color

Fugazi

Johnny Paycheck

Metallica

The Marshall Tucker Band

Huey Lewis

Chuck Berry

Sting

The Violent Femmes

George Clinton and the P-Funk All-Stars

Steely Dan

Wilco

The Jerry Garcia Band (8)

Mickey Hart and Planet Drum

The Other Ones

Phil Lesh and Friends

Dark Star Orchestra

Jimmy Cliff

Black Uruhu

Burning Spear

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The Rolling Stones; The Orpheum Theatre in Boston September 2002-or 2003.  Was in the first row of the balcony dead center, practically hanging over the stage, seating just above 2400, I think. The Stone where awesome that night, I know they really like Boston as a city, and it was the opening of the US tour, so they where really into it.  Mick was very good, but Kieth and Woody where dead on that night, and if you have seen the Stones, sometimes Woody and Keith are off.  Watts was perfect, but the closeness, and the excitement from the small venue was simply incredible.

Twickenham Stadium Sept 2004.  My now ex wife surprises me and takes me to London to see the Stone,  FRONT ROW, (about 15 yards from stage)I am the seat at the corner of where the catwalk extends into the crowd, I have a Texas Longhorn shirt on, and I give Keith the Hookem horns sign, and he gives it back.  My wife throw a Rose at Mick which she brought in and he is front of us giving her looks the whole show, they definately noticed us, and played to us.  They where fair, the experience great.

THE WORST CONCERT  The Rolling Stones August 2007 , Lausaane(spelling) Switzerland, absolutely awful performance, coming close to the end of this massive Bigger Band Tour, and the SWISS people sat on their asses, and the Stones did to, Show was about 1hr and a half. Just awful, and it was the last time I saw them.

 

 Saw Boston the 1st time they came to Seattle back in '78...........but the star of the show was an up & coming new act that opened for them........some guy named Sammy Hagar. He blew the crowd & Boston away........

 Got free tix to see Judas Priest in 1979..........still the most kick ass metal show I've seen. Got in line 8 hrs before the show & was standing about 10 people deep from the front of the stage. If you have or have seen the cover of the album "Unleashed in the East", they looked like that..............like "we're gonna kick your ass & there's nothin you can do about it"...........not the cheesier 1982 show that was put on DVD when they played to the crowd because they knew it was being recorded. From the moment Halford came out on stage on a Harley til the end, it was just raw effn power......

  

Tool

The last Primus tour

Ozzfest '99 - Black Sabbath, Manson, Slipknot, Linkin Park (when they weren't awful), Papa Roach, Black Label Society, Mudvayne, Taproot, Disturbed, Drowning Pool (before their lead singer died), Union Underground, Hatebreed, Nonpoint, American Head Charge.  Easily one of the best lineups ever, probably forgetting some others.

 

 

........... Pat Travers at the Seattle Center Arena....circa 1981........not the Coliseum. The arena was/is a smaller venue.......seats about 8K. Me & a buddy were all set.......3 sixers of Rainier, 1/2 oz...........& tix (GA). So we're sitting in a big parking lot on the east side of the Seattle Center, easily 3 hrs before the show, rolling some sticks of very good Columbian Gold to take into the show when Seattle's finest roll up behind us..........to make a long story short, they took it all & gave us tix for MIP.......told us we should feel lucky that's all they're doing.
 So......with all our beer & dope gone, we make our way to the Arena, hoping for a miracle.....like running into someone we know that has dope.........yeah right.
 WE DO RUN INTO A BUDDY!! ......& he blows us off.....says he got nothin.......tryin to score himself (which we knew was BS).

 So we go in & find some seats up to the left of the stage......not bad, not great. We're just fuckin bummed.........then this guy & his gal that we sat down next to whip out a joint & fire it up.........Thai-stick.........you can smell it (you could back in those days). They must've felt our pain.........& offered to share. Fuckin Thai stick when we were empty!! (Anyone who has had real Stick.....not laced ragweed.... can appreciate this).
 Anyhow......all was well........& Pat Travers kicked ass.........His lead guitarist (Pat Thrall) just went off that night. Anyone that has seen them do "Born under a Bad Sign" & "Crash & Burn", "Stevie", Boom Boom out go the lights" knows what I mean. It was a show that should have been recorded......

Cashin, seen a bunch on your list as I looked it over again.

An obscure one I also saw was Delbert McClinton. Great show. Very small venue.....

DH - yeah, Delbert always put on a great show & I liked the way he combined alot of different stuff & made it his own - pop, soul, blues, etc

The Texas music scene in the 70's & early 80's was really vital & alot of the best never got much national recognition. Guys like Steve Fromholz, BW Stevenson, Rusty Weir, Doug Sahm (Sir Douglas Quintet & Texas Tornados), Augie Meyers, Joe Ely, Butch Hancock, etc were all very solid & would play in small towns & venues all over Texas. Most are in their 60's or older now or gone, but some are still playin -  

Best show I've ever seen... Pink Floyd at RFK in DC in 1994.  I love Rush, can't ya tell?  All the shows are great but they keep getting better as they get older.  Got a drumstick at the Allman Brothers Band concert at The North Charleston Coliseum, hit me square in the chest and had to dive on the floor for it!  6th row. 

me onstage with KISS introducing Cold Gin August 1990.

The Flaming Lips in Atlanta 1993

U2 opening for The J. Geils Band 1982

Iron Maiden, Saxon, Fastway July 1983

Motorhead 2009 at a biker rally in Cherokee NC

Mercury Rev in Dublin November 2008

Spiritualized in Nashville 2008

Black Sabbath/Iron Maiden Ozzfest circa 2006

Rod Stewart circa 1990

White Stripes playing in a tiny club the night before 9/11 in Memphis

The Stooges playing at Randall's Island the final band of like 30 bands that day, all the bands were great, but The Stooges made me forget every band I had seen that day.  Absolutely amazing.  2004.