What was one of the best live concerts you've ever seen?

Beatles..St Louis…think about 1963?

Any and all Tom Petty shows I’ve seen. The guy may be getting up there, and he may talk slow and he may walk slow, but he can still rock a packed house.

The first Lollapalooza in Chicago, 1991. It was the first concert that my husband and I went to when we first started dating. I’ll never forget that day. I still have the rose he bought me. The music was awesome, and I was able to see my favorite band, Jane’s Addiction.

Norah Jones was very good as was Leon Redbone.The Rolling Stones were the worst.

Wembley stadium London 13th July 1985 Live Aid.WHOO HOO!!! Ahh happy days.Exactly 14 yrs later my daughter was born, double WHOO HOO!!!

Live Aid. Center stage. As in, standing on.
@ucme – Same concert, different sides of the globe. Cool!

Bob Welch & Dave Mason.1981. Was so stoned I do not remember it.

Prince in 1987 or 1988 in Feyenoord Stadium, Rotterdam.
Lenny Kravitz in 1996 in Rotterdam.
And always have been jealous of my brother who saw Queen in the end of the seventies in Leiden, Netherlands.
I was too young…

Depeche Mode at the Rose Bowl in 1988. You can get the concert footage on DVD. I think it’s called 101.

And of all the concerts and bands I’ve seen (That is no small amount. I’ve been going to concerts for 22 years.) Lady Gaga at the Nokia in L.A. was one of the most spectacular events I have ever attended. The wife had to drag me there, but I am a fan forever. This was performance art at it’s best.

@tinyfaery: I was ashamed when I finally had to admit that Lady Gaga is a bit of a genius.. except that her costuming seems very heavily inspired by Leigh Bowery.

Foghat – I won’t say where or when. 2 hour concert started at 8pm. We left the concert hall after the sun rose. They played until the beer and the smoke ran out.

@ChazMaz Yeah that’ll be me, you & Phil Collins then.As i’m sure you know, he did London hopped on a plane & did a set in Philadelphia, kind of a busy day then.

Chiming in on my Q, I have to add that nearly all of the Bruce Springsteen concerts I’ve attended have been fantastic. The first time I saw him at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank in about 1978 made me a fan forever. That guy gives 150%!

I also loved Neil Young at the Colston Hall in Bristol, England in 1971 (G-d, I’m so fuckin’ old!)

Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson at the Bottom Line in 1974

Big Brother and the Holding Company at the Filmore in 1968, Ditto Jefferson Airplane, Jimmi, others.

Bonnie Raitt at CBGB in 1971

@poofandmook Willie Nelson once said if you steal from enough people you eventually have something that is all your own. She has drawn from many artists, but she is uniquely her own.

Saw Doc Watson and David Bromberg at the Bottom Line in the eary 80s. Pretty damned good too.

Also, loved Dionne Warwick’s concert! Lots of class!

In 1966, Johnnie Cash put a concert at Ole Miss and he wore a tuxedo with a Rebel Flag as a vest! OMG, he brought the house down! He was drunk as “Cooter Brown!”

When I was a metal head, AC/DC or Cheap Trick in Syracuse, 1981 or so. Later Crosby Stills and Nash, Binghamton about 2005. And yes, Angus Young does the head thing all concert long.

@dp I’m getting worried. Fall asleep? Making a sammich?

Tool

(any time that I’ve seen them play. Maynard is a genius. The drummer is unbelievable).

Worst concert? The Black Crowes here in Sarnhole.

One more. Tiny Tim sang for me back stage at a concert in WPB Florida.
That was cool, and a bit creepy.

Arlo Guthrie at Alice’s Restaurant in Lenox, MA, al long time ago.

(also up there as being good – Perry Farrell (Jane’s reunion at Lolla last summer), Metal-ica (back in the 80’s), NIN, Tori Amos (she practically makes love to her piano), The Raconteurs (Jack White’s band – Austin 2009), and Radiohead made me happy.

A must see – Muse.

Paul McCartney and Wings in the Kingdome in Seattle in the 70s.

Also, Alice Cooper.

Beck (when he used puppets) and The Flaming Lips (always great performance art)

@marinelife Sir Paul and Wings.. ah, nice. :)

@jjmah It wasn’t really a show I wanted to go to, but friends talked me into it and the production values were fantastic.

@marinelife makes me happy just thinking about it.

I second Tool. Maynard is a genius.

Godsmack somewhere in Central New York about 8 years ago. The lead singer had a drum war with their drummer. It was freakin’ fantastical!

I saw GWAR last December. Seeing them again next week, fuck yesssss
I remember being covered in fake blood and alien slime and freaking out everyone in the subway.

Woah..wa-woah woooah..mmmy loooove doooes iiit goooood

(I’m swayin’)

I would like to add the Grateful Dead. But for some reason, I never remember much of their concerts.

Baby, I’m amazed at the the way you pulled me out of time. Hung me on a line.
Maybe, I’m amazed at the way I really need youu..

k, I’ll stop.

Paul Simon and the Grateful Dead.

Opeth. All three times I’ve seen them, they’ve been incredible. Mikael Akerfeldt has the greatest attitude. He’s not one of the generic metal frontmen who have to be omfgEVILLL. He talks about his music, plays it, and makes jokes in between songs. Jokes that are so witty and sarcastic they go completely over 90% of the crowd’s collective head.

Example:

Mikael: “It’s wonderful to be in Tampa.”

Crowd: “Woooooooo!”

Mikael: “I have heard it said by many people that Tampa is the death metal capital of the world.”

Crowd: “Wooooooooo!”

Mikael: “They were wrong. Stockholm is the death metal capital of the world.”

Crowd: ”,,,,”

You could see the thought bubble full of “WTF?” floating in the room. I loved it. Absofuckinglutely hilarious.

He followed that up with “And please stay tuned after the show, when Peter will be giving a lecture on the dangers of marijuana smoking.”

Frank Zappa 1978 and then I got to do stage crew for him in 1982!! Incredible!! I got sit in the front row to watch him rehearse for 3 hours in the afternoon and then see the show that night!!

@Cruiser – You are the man!
I had one of Moon Zappa’s cats. Would have like to meet Mr. Zappa.

@ChazMaz The 1982 show was Steve Vai’s first tour with him and I remember Frank walking off stage to let Steve shred solo for 30 minutes…I had never seen anything quite like what I saw that afternoon.

@dpworkin My girlfriend is a huge Dylan fan and she would love that. His dad (Woody) was a big influence on Dylan.

Did you see No Direction Home?

The Presidents of the United States of America were awesome… probably my all time favorite.

But, I saw Weezer in April and though this was my 3rd time seeing them, it was absolutely the best show I’d been to in years. I want that night back!

Tie between Elton and Paul Simon 91 or 92.

Also, Corky and the Juice Pigs – I couldn’t stop laughing.

It was in the 70’s and I…..don’t…..remember…..man.

Eagles in Osaka, Japan in 1976 or 77. It was amazing, in part, because the American part of the audience showed a lot of appreciation (the Japanese were polite). Later we ran into the band at a restaurant and that was a hoot. Many years later I met Glenn Frey on a golf course with a friend of mine who knows him pretty well and reminded him of the concert.

Elton John and a percussionist, with no back up band, in Berkeley.
Incredible show.

Also, I saw Eric Burdon in Hayward, at Frenchies. I stood about 5 foot from him, and about 8 foot from his speakers. I was deaf for 3 days.

KISS, Blue Oyster Cult, Alice Cooper, Osmond brothers

I think.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra, November – 2000. I don’t get to go to concerts very much, but it blew my mind. The pyrotechnics, the music, the band were just awesome.
Or an Nysnc concert in 1999, only for the fact that I made a sercurity guard dance the same way I was dancing. :)

@Val123…..did you say Osmond Brothers?????? :O

@Cruiser what was the question….?

@Val123 The question was…if you were to be a Polygamist who would you choose and your answer was the Osmond Brothers??? We have you on tape….stop trying to deny it! ;)

NO! JUst DoNny. Thas only won.

Wow, so many that it’s difficult to list just one, and these are just a fraction of the hundreds of concerts I was lucky enough to be able to attend, but I can see by all the responses that I’m not the only one who had that problem. If I had to pick the most-memorable of all, these would certainly be among the highlights.

David Bowie (as Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars), Cowtown Ballroom, Kansas City, MO, 1971–2?

Genesis (w/ Peter Gabriel) Kansas City, MO 1973

Ozark Music Festival, Sedalia, MO, 3 days, 1974, 28+ bands (Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Blue Öyster Cult, The Eagles, America, Marshall Tucker Band, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Boz Scaggs, Ted Nugent, David Bromberg, Leo Kottke, Cactus, The Earl Scruggs Revue, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Electric Flag, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band, Joe Walsh and Barnstorm [One month later JW joined the Eagles], The Souther Hillman Furay Band, The Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Charlie Daniels Band, Triphammer, Bill Quateman, Fresh Start, Babe Ruth, Locomotiv GT, Aerosmith, Shawn Phillips, REO Speedwagon)

Led Zeppelin, St. Louis, MO 1977

Pink Floyd, St. Louis, MO 1988, w/ backstage pass
Pink Floyd, Kansas City, MO, 1988, w/ backstage pass

Aaaand, I think that we have a winner. ^^

I don’t usually go to those big concerts, but I saw two last year—both terrific. The first was David
Byrne of Talking Heads fame. I had seen a TV concert of his once and it was so original and interesting, I decided I would go to one live if I ever had a chance. He didn’t disappoint—the man is brilliant.
The second was Leonard Cohen. I was completely mesmerized by the man’s goodness, also brilliance, and sweetness that came over in that show. What a treat. I have been meaning to write him to tell him how important his music has been in my life.

Barbra Streisand because it was a dream come true to see her live. Cher and Lady Gaga had amazing shows, very theatrical. I have been to so many great concerts though.

@skfinkel My friend saw Leonard Cohen in Tampa last year and said he was absolutely wonderful. I’m sorry I missed seeing him.

@janbb We are old. I can’t believe some of the answers. GQ

@Rufus_T_Firefly Sigh. The kids missed it, didn’t they….

Yeah, the concert scene and the record industry just aren’t what they used to be. Now you can’t even get into most big concerts without spending $50 or more on a ticket. Ziggy and the Spiders cost me all of $5 at Cowtown Ballroom. Ozark Music Festival cost me all of $15 and a couple of coolers full of food and beer. You know you’re getting old when your favorite bands are all in the budget section (AND that’s only if they’re still in print). I remember seeing Kansas play a fee concert in Penn Valley Park before they hit it big, long before Steve Walsh stopped playing marimba on stage and I remember getting drunk with Charlie Daniels and a gallon of apple wine backstage after a show in 1973. I once hosted a busload of coked-up concert ticket winners to a Pink Floyd show in St. Louis and ended up drinking Grolsch beer with AC/DC on Brian Johnson’s thirty-eighth birthday. Brian wore one of those pointy birthday hats and had one of those annoying noisemakers. He and I talked about kids and he gave me the hat for my little girl. She wore that party hat on her first birthday that same year. I still have the pictures. I’m betting most of our kids won’t get those types of opportunities.

I remember when Tanya Tucker was at the Chester Fritz at UND in Grand Forks. I missed the concert, but she stopped in the same bar I was at after the show.

@Rufus_T_Firefly Sometimes I’ll see documentaries on those bands. We’re were left with the impression that they were highly technical and polished. The fact is, they started out in the garage, and never really left, except to go on stage. They were just guys who loved music doing their thing. I don’t think they were doing it for the money, either. I don’t think any of them made a conscious “career” choice….they just wanted to play music, and they were young enough to think that’s all that they needed. And for some of them, that turned out to be so.

@Val123 – Yeah, I’d probably agree with that, generally. With the exception of a few artists, I don’t see much difference today. Many earlier recording artists were completely somewhat unrefined and clearly some might have been clinically insane, but that only added to their mystique which could sometimes be even more powerful than the music. However, electronics and recording technology were changing just as fast or, in most cases faster than the people playing the music. There was a lot of sonic experimentation going on and those who were on the cutting edge were sometimes thrust into a world they weren’t expecting. Others thrived and became masters of their craft. That still applies to many of today’s artists. Still, without a hook and a lot of talent, none of them would be there to begin with,

BAP in Würzburg in 1982. Their “Zugabe” was twice the length of the concert.

Judas Priest, Whitesnake, and Firewind.

(yesterday was one of the best days of my life)