If you could, what live performances would you enjoy re-living?
I have interest in hearing about yours. I can think of some great concerts over the years in many great buildings, from Hancher in Iowa City, to Fisher Hall in New York, to some bars in Copenhagen.
Something I have noticed....performers have times they are more "on" just like us, and it can make their concerts be perceived at different levels. I know the three times I saw Jackson Browne, each was much different and most of that was his intent. Having a good sized group with very talented back up singers to the time I saw him solo....all great, but very different. He is a better guitar player than he may be given credit for.
The live Jazz I have been to in NYC is near the top. Sweet Basil and the Blue Note through the years have been very good to me, but in a much different vein, the lakefront festivals in Milwaukee are a somewhat unknown to most of America.
I did see a few artists before their success and fame, saw a famous British singer at a bar in Rapid City many years ago..and he has done well since.
I just flashed back on seeing Lucinda Williams at a pizza parlor somewhere in L.A. in the late-80's. Her s/t Rough Trade album had just been released, and I loved it. There were only a half-dozen people in the place.
The stage was tiny, her drummer David Lindley playing not a full set but a rub board. She had her original L.A. band, with Gurf Morlix on Telecaster and harmony vocals and Dr. John (not THE Dr. John, but an actual doctor) on standup bass.
Who woulda thought her Car Wheels On A Gravel Road album a decade later would elevate her into a major star? I had been introduced to her earlier in the 80's, at a Long Ryders show at Club Lingerie on Sunset Blvd. (her then-husband was their drummer). She was very shy.
I saw her a few more times before CWOAGR broke big, last at The Troubadour, quite a step up from the pizza parlor. After the CW album, it was into big theaters. Last time I saw her, she had Jim Lauderdale playing acoustic rhythm guitar and singing harmonies, and the great Jim Christie on drums, whom she had just stolen from Dwight Yoakam's band. Fantastic!
When it comes to a Classical performance, I saw the Chicago Symphony with the Coral Singers...and the first chair Cello player and his girlfriend in with the singers stayed with my wife and I and we biked the Sugar River Trail in Wi. the next day...and I did a cookout in their honor....a wonderful weekend.
My friend Frank (Oregonpapa) regularly went to the Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach, CA and heard all the great West Coast jazz musicians. He said that those were sensational experiences I bet they were!
If I could, most of the top 10 live performances I would relive would be Jazz events/performances.....some of the best were in the wee hours in Copenhagen.
In 1966 a little girl named Joni Anderson Mithcell played a 'coffee house' in Saginaw, Michigan. Joni had been in 'the states' only about 3 months and was living in Detroit off of Cass Ave. (Every Detroiter will know!) I was a college sophmore and my girl friend and I went to the show with another graudate student who played an 'audition set' betweeen Joni's sets. We all got to share a table for the 'artists' for the evening. She played The Circle Game in the first set and played it 3 more times that night at my insistent requests. Still may be my favorite out of her incredible music. Several months later I moved to Detriot myself and lived in the Cass Corridor and found Joni lived up stairs. She separated from Chuck Mithchell and headed out for Califorinia in the wake of divorcce and the heart ache of placing her baby for adoption. We would sit at the Traffic Jam, a tiny neighborhood bar that is a upscale bar and restaurant today, and talk. I have not seen her since, except in concert (opened for Dylan in Minneapolis in the late 1990s). I would love to be back in Saginaw at the Ginger Blue and sipping muddy expresso and watching a left handed guitar player on an upside down guitar with the voice and the words of an angel. I wonder if she remembers Detriot and Richard? Richard
Milles with Hank Mobley and Wynton Kelley and Jimmy Cobb At the Blackhawk 4/22/61 on Saturday night. Thanks to Bernie Fuller (RIP) for taking me there with his son, David. We drank Two Crappy Syrup cokes for each set! I didn't realize what history I was viewing. Okay I was 16. Silly junior in high school. Became a full fledged jazz idiot from that moment on. NOBODY beats Hank Mobley on ts. Fugettabout Coltrane, Dexter and the rest (except Harold Land a totally different species of tone for ts...saw HIM on Central Avenue in LA with Blue Mitchell. I'm old but Blessed.
To live over: any of the performances of the San Francisco Symphony conducted by Seiji Ozawa that I heard as a poor, starving student.
To NEVER live over again: any of the performances (but especially of Mozart) of the San Francisco Symphony conducted by Josef Krips that I heard as a poor, starving student.
Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Washington College, 1964. Chestertown Armory with about 400 people - all dancing. (Think Animal House - Otis Day and the Knights scene.) They played for an hour and a half without a break. "Smokey! My Man!"
Late show with the Doors, Chicago, Feb. 1970; Deep Purple opening for the Faces, Chicago, July 1971; Miles Davis, Auditorium Theatre, 1991; Tears For Fears touring in support of 'Sowing the Seeds of Love'. How old are we, anyway?
Pieter Wispelwey doing the complete Bach cello suites, with repeats, in a 4-hour concert in Norway in 2002. And Alicia de Larrocha falling out of the top of her gown in a concert in Royal Albert Hall in the late 80's. Next day the London newspapers said nothing about it.
We went to the Minor Key several times and I saw Miles live in a few various performances and concerts. But upon reflection I now think the performance that was so special was at the Minor Key but in 1962 with Sonny Rollins and JJ Johnson in the group. I don't believe Coltrane played with Miles much after the Kind of Blue group split up.
@mitchagain... I did see Bow Wow Wow back in 1982 or 1983 at the Manor in NJ. Awesome concert! Also forgot to mention Lene Lovich at some medium sized Manhattan club in 1982 or 83. When she performed New Toy, a still mostly unknown Thomas Dolby joined her on stage (he wrote New Toy) with a small keyboard synth hanging from his neck. I new him from college radio airplay of his first LP, and it was quite a nice surprise. A great show. Many great nights spent at NYC clubs in the early 80’s. Good times, good times.
Either of the two Dr. Pepper concerts I attended on the pier in Manhattan back in 1981 or 1982. One was the Go-Go’s opening (!) for the Specials, the other was Talk Talk opening for Elvis Costello and the Attractions. Once upon a time, I was hip. Fun fact, the Go-Go's, which had just switched from punk to pop, got boos and stuff thrown at them, and responded by flipping off the audience. But I said right then that they would be really big. First all-girl band to have a Billboard number one album.
1ST: Either in ’72 or ’76 (foggy date memory), King Dome Seattle Wa. The Eagles, Linda Rhonstadt, Jackson Brown, Dan Fogelberg, and Andrew Gold ( and others) They had personnel with video cameras, and were projecting scenes, from the musicians playing on stage and crowd views, onto A GIANT (at that time v) TV Screen in the arena. A GREAT MUSICAL EVENT!!!
A CLOSE 2ND: Almost any Harry Chaplin concert anywhere: Saw him at Nassau Community College on LI with his brother and several support musicians, somewhere else (can’t remember where) with a small orchestra, at the Univ of Idaho with two other musicians, and one time solo. ALSO: I was one of the several hundred who attended his immensely creative, unfortunately unsuccessful Broadway play " The Night that Made America Famous" He was always captivating and personally engaging - a True Bard and Troubadour - I cried when he died ( and his generosity lives on in the LI Food Bank that he founded, named in his honor)...
3RD: The Band - Nassau Coliseum, NY. Their music was so precise - true live showing off their immense talents. I'D SWEAR THEY SOUNDED JUST LIKE THEIR RECORDS!!!
It’s been a while since I thought of the commodore that place is a good time seen lots of shows there. Always a little nervous about the border crossing. If I remember right there are tires under the floor it made people dance that weren’t dancing
Based upon great musicians in uniquely wonderful performances:
1. Louie Armstrong and the All Stars, Michigan Theater, Lansing, 1951 or 2, I was very young and still amazed my parents took me!
2. Miles Davis Quartet with Coltrane, Minor Key, Detroit, 1961.
3. Mahavishnu Orchestra, Funky Quarters, San Diego, c. 1972.
4. Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Del Mar Fairgrounds, Del Mar, 1986.
5. Mendelssohn Octet, Mostly Mozart Festival Balboa Park, San Diego, 1990.
There have been many other great concerts of course. But these, other than Armstrong, stand out because the musicians seemed to be in a special groove for these performances, they were electric! Louie was exceptional since that was my first concert, he was dad's favorite musician, and I still remember is as an outstanding experience.
I am 65 years old and live in Vancouver, Canada. There are a lot of concerts I would love to revisit, but these few would be magical. Elton John’s first tour in April 1971 playing the Agrodome. A stripped down stage show before all the flamboyance.
Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon Tour September 30, 1972 in the PNE Gardens. The Gardens was the perfect venue for concerts with a capacity of perhaps 1,500. Bruce Springsteen’s first visit to Vancouver on June 26, 1978 for the Darkness Tour. 3 1/2 hours of the Bruce and the Band is still the gold standard for me.
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers first tour when he played the Commodore Ballroom on June 15, 1978. The Ballroom is a large bar with a spring-loaded dance floor that suited Tom to a tee.
Lucinda Williams and Gurf Morlix at Maxwell's in Hoboken. Two guitars, 20 people in the audience. Remember it like it was yesterday. Whiskeytown at Mercury Lounge in 1997. Just making a name for themselves. Put on a great show. Easy to see Ryan Adam's talent and where it would take him musically. Lindsay String Quartet at Richardson Auditorium in Princeton. They used to do a free afternoon concert series back in the day. Tremendous acoustics and architectural space. Close your eyes and melt away. Also saw St. Lawrence String Quartet at the Frick Museum. Really intimate venue with great acoustics. Patty Griffin touring her debut album at the Turning Point in Piermont NY. Just her and her guitar belting out the entire album for about 30 people.
@arro222 now that is a great story. Your "15 minutes" is a life-long keeper. I hope you enjoy that memory for many years to come. And just for fun sake, 222 is my lucky number. It was my dorm room number at college, too.
The one is easy. Girlfriend and I had a front row seat to a 5th Dimension concert. As they are setting up, one of them runs off the staging area rather quickly. A few minutes later, he comes back but soon runs off again. There is a look of concern now with the stage crew and I overhear a conversation that claims the guy running off and on the stage has the pukes real bad. It is one of their trumpet players. At the time I was also a professional trumpet player. I hear one of them say "we need a trumpet player pronto call so and so" The other guy says "he will never get here in time for this show". That’s when I said , "I play trumpet". they both looked at me and said, "can you read" meaning could I read music. I said "I sure can". I always carried one of my trumpets and an array of Vinny Bachs in the car so I went to get it. They took me in back and gave me a rift to play that was in the song "Aquarius". It was easy. they gave me another. That was easy as well. "Your on kid" was the next sentence. So for the evening, I sat in as trumpet for the 5th Dimension and it was the time of my life. At the end of the evening, they asked for my phone number saying if I was available for any swing of theirs in the North East would I come. I said yes. I never heard from them again. I guess that was my "15 minutes".
Most memorable - The Clash x2 nites at Bonds NYC, Pink Floyd’s ’77 Animals Tour with pigs overhead, REM’s Reckoning Tour at some 100 seat club in Hartford Conn 1983, the English Beat in ’82 (the whole place broke into spontaneous mad dancing a la the Charlie Brown Special), Talking Heads "Burning Down the House" Tour front row, and on the outfield grass at Yes’ Roosevelt Stadium Jersey City show in 1976.
I was really into the folky stuff as far as music venues were concerned. I like all genres of music but I hate large crowds. I used to go to Godfrey Daniels coffee house in Bethlehem, Pa. Anyone here familiar with Godfreys? High on my list was Stan Rogers (RIP), Bill Staines, Tony Bird(RIP), Utah Phillips (RIP) and others. The average cost for the show was $8.00! AND, you were usually sitting no more than 20 feet away. A really great place. Joe
1. Beatles DC (now JFK) Stadium 08/15/66 (Warm-up act: The Cyrkle; ticket $5.00)
2. Loggins & Messina, Fleetwood Mac, Eagles Tampa Stadium 07/04/76 (Rumors AND Hotel California!)
3. Linda Ronstadt Hollywood Sportatorium 10/10/80 (Living in the USA Tour--Roller Skates Album)
4. Monkees Jacksonville Coliseum 07/08/67 featuring "unknown" guitar player "from England": Jimmy Hendrix (The teenyboppers and their parents were confused and OUTRAGED!)
5. Dick Clark Cavalcade of Stars Dorton Arena Raleigh, NC 07/22/64 (The Shirells AND The Supremes among many others...)
I keep all my ticket stubs, so have 100's more, but these were important (and fun!) to me.
I have seen many of the icons, most were "On" when I saw them in the late 60's, early 70's. Two stand out the most.
Janis Joplin with Full Tilt Boogie played Frankfurt in 1970. After a terrific set she said they had to do it all again for German TV and anyone who wanted could stay, almost no on moved.
The greatest live show I ever experienced was The Allman Bros Band at the Syria Mosque in Pittsburgh in 1971. Duane Allman blew me away, I still get chills remembering how good he was that night.
There are many great guitarists, and I am a huge fan of many of them and have seen almost all of them (Hendrix excluded), and none of them could touch my soul the way Duane could. He had THE touch on slide guitar.
It would be difficult to limit it to one...hence, I have a few.
Ontario Jam I - Ted Nugent, Aerosmith, Santana...etc. Fantastic set with Nugent jumping onto the stage from a stack of ampliers. At the old Ontario Speedway Yardbirds - w/Jimmy Page at Melodyland in Anaheim Gordon Lightfoot - Trenton Memorial Theather, New Jersey
last row center against the back wall. Enjoyed every minute of Gregg’s Hammond B3 and his blue eyed soul. Miss you brother!
Pink Floyd Animals Cleveland Municipal (baseball) Stadium 1977 about 15 ft from stage center. The scalped main floor (infield) ticket was $10, so was the Mr. Natural. Their jetliner buzzed the lake front stadium, they miked it, amplified it, and sent it around their surround sound, and the big pig and floating sheep. :)
J.J. Cale twice at the Ann Arbor Ark, less than six feet from him. The master of subtlety. Carried out Chrisine’s Moonstone rosewood guitar for her while we talked.
David Bowie Glass Spider tour 1987-8 after meeting him at Iggy Pops birthday party at the Metro-Rock Cafe, Royal Oak. Bowie literally bumped into me and then struck up a conversation. Met Adrian Belew at that get together. He thought he actually knew me. Great chap. Very down to earth guy.
I am of an age that allowed me to see some artists & bands live that many of you would loved to have seen and heard, but that now are just not that valued by myself:
- Jimi Hendrix at Winterland, ’68 and ’69. First time great, second time tired, like he was treading water.
- Cream at The (original location) Fillmore, ’67 and ’68. Thank God for Eric Clapton that he heard Music From Big Pink, and saw the light. ;-)
- The Nice (Keith Emerson’s pre-ELP band) at The Fillmore. Gawd do I hate Progressive "music".
- The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and Country Joe & The Fish, in the Panhandle in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco during the Summer Of Love.
- the doors (lower case their doing, not mine ;-) at The Santa Clara Folk-Rock Festival in San Jose, Summer of ’68. They closed the show, Fritz (Stevie Nicks’ and Lindsey Buckingham’s local Garage band) opened. However, The Electric Flag (Mike Bloomfield and Buddy Miles’ band) were incredible!
- The Beatles at The Cow Palace in South San Francisco, Summer of ’65. Disappointing, just not that good. Of course, by that time I had been going out to see local Garage bands like The Chocolate Watchband (seen in the movie Riot On Sunset Strip), The Trolls (later Stained Glass, two albums on Capitol Records. Bassist/singer/songwriter Jim McPherson was later in Copperhead with John Cipollina of Quicksilver Messenger Service), The Syndicate Of Sound ("Hey Little Girl" hit single), The Otherside, and many, many more.
But the worst, by far, was The Rolling Stones at The Staples Center in L.A., early 2000’s. SO lame, nothing but cliche’ Rock ’n’ Roll Star posturing. Even worse---empty, vapid "entertainment"; they sounded TERRIBLE. How embarrassing.
Gang of Four in 1983 Hunters & Collectors in 1987 PJ Harvey in 1993
The most "fun" shows were:
B - 52's in 1983 Talking Heads in 1983 ("Stop Making Sense" tour) Was Not Was in 1988 (woodwork squeaks, out come the freaks/hello Dad I'm in jail.") Fitz & the Tantrums @ SXSW in 2011 & 2013
Leonard Cohen, Fox Theater, Atlanta, GA. Incredible performance A true musical genious, consummate gentleman, energy of someone half his age. Sadly we will never be gifted with a Cohen performance again.
I was fortunate enough to have seen most of the Classic Rock groups listed in this thread. And many of them multiple times. I won't even begin to make a list. However, these are 6 notable ones I will mention. Janis Joplin Jefferson Airplane Jethro Tull Jimi Hendrix Pink Floyd The Who I saw The Who several times but the one that most sticks with me is the North American Tour of Tommy. That concert is the same tour as the recording of "Live At Leeds". The recording was made in England just prior to coming to America for that leg of the tour. Amazing! I also saw the North American Tours of "Who's Next" and "Quadrophenia". Memories for life...
In terms of faded memories (age) or foggy memories (due to pre-concert overindulgence):
Pink Floyd - 1973: "Dark Side of the Moon" tour
Mott The Hoople & The New York Dolls: I'm pretty sure this was as wild as I remember it being.
ZZ Top: "Tres Hombres" had come out, but it hadn't taken off yet. A schoolmate who had spent the summer in Texas insisted that we go see them. Like a lot of young bands, they were hungry and motivated and played like their life depended on it......but, in this case, it was beyond exceptional.
In terms of a "do over":
I saw Bow Wow Wow in a small bar in the summer of 2013; but, I hadn't heard that the lead singer (Annabella Lwin) had dropped out mid-tour. That one could & should have been special.
I flew to Denver to see Steely Dan @ Red Rocks Ampitheatre a month later. We were hit with both a monsoon and a 30 degree temperature drop. Thus, that show was endured, rather than enjoyed.
Grateful Dead sept 19 1994 he put everything he had into so many roads.Grateful Dead 1993 silverbowl Jerry sang standing on the moon sting sang walking on the moon. Not a huge sting fan but he sat and watched the dead all weekend wish I could have seen some earlier shows but I was too young. Toots at Beneroya hall he had the band bring it down and he sang with no mike one of the most powerful voices in music rip Toots. One of my first shows sunsplash at the paramount I’d say it was 1988 or 89 went with my older brother eye opening I was 14 or 15 it put me in the roots rabbit hole from then and on in the 80’s there was quite a big Rasta community in Seattle real Rastas!
Santana - 1984 -Palace Theater, Albany NY Freshmen Year of Collage, first “real” road trip, AMAZING performance and I met my future wife while pre-gaming in the parking lot before the show
Bruce Springsteen front row center as a warm up to The Paul Winter Quartet at My Fathers Place, Roslyn NY, 1972 just before Greetings From Asbury Park released. No one knew who he was but for me, it trumped the main event by far.
You must have a verified phone number and physical address in order to post in the Audiogon Forums. Please return to Audiogon.com and complete this step. If you have any questions please contact Support.
