This is like asking what is the best painting ever.....very subjective. That said, there are many good choices in this thread and I would have a hard time arguing against The Grateful Dead. The Who (1975) may have been the best concert I have seen, although Johnny Cash was memorable too. So many good ones - I appreciate the artists who are energized to deliver their best performances in front of a live audience.
Roger Waters The Wall, United Center, Chicago Yes the Relayer Tour 1976 The Grateful Dead, Hearst Greek Theater, Berkley, 3 shows. Gerry was still with it. Peter Gabriel, Universal Amphitheater, LA 1982 Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, McNichols Arena, Denver. The Works Tour Man I could go on...Smashing Pumpkins Hawkwind, Zappa Too old. Concerts are a young man's game. And they are so expensive! Saw Allman Brothers for $8, Jethro Tull for $10
Ok. I've seen Springsteen live scores of times going back to his days at local bars in Asbury Park (and at least once every 2 years since then to date). He represents more than half of the top 10 shows I've ever seen. (Elton John and John Lennon for a set at MSG being #1). But I saw a guy a few times--for the first time years ago because I had read an article in which Bruce said that he was the best live performer on the planet and that he (Bruce) could not measure up. It was Prince--- who was never a real favorite of mine. Only had and still only have 2 of his albums and don't play them much on the big rig. But live-- the most amazing live performer I've ever seen. Great guitar player often while doing splits, dancing---coordinated moves in tandem with of all of his players. It was like watching James Brown on steroids only with less sweat.
Yeah Allan Sherman and Lawrence Welk...At least i got to see the driving horse at the Steel pier too....My Grandmother and Greatgrandmother both of them loved them...i had to be quite of leave the room...lol
@limomangus We're showing our age. As a young kid, I remember my parents could not miss a single episode of Lawrence Welk and what 10 or 12 year old kid wouldn't be infatuated with the Lennon Sisters LOL :-)
limomangus -- Me and my sister went to elementary school and beyond alongside Allan Sherman's two kids. One day, I think it was Sixth Grade (early 1960's), Nancy Sherman showed up in class with "My Son the Folksinger." She said her dad was shocked that the record was a hit...it contained Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah. His earlier records apparently sold in the tens. In any case, I still have a handful of the guy's LPs.
These days, Tedeschi Trucks gets my vote as best performing group. Of the “classic performers”, Jeff Beck still brings it like few others. And in the day, The Who were all that.
Sorry I never saw Midnight Oil Live.Funny my first concert was Allan Sherman..Hello Mother Hello Father.That was like early 60s the Steel Pier Atlantic City N.J..was he good LOL....Saw Joan Jett and Heart at Jones Beach 2019 last show of the Summer .They were good not great.
Sam here and there is a reason nobody ealks about new shows because the music is so bad and most 80's groups are now waste cases from drugs yes there are some great new bands out there however records company's will have non of that?
Big shows: Page and plant '95 (Kemper arena, kc, ks) Phish NYE2k & Phish Deer Creek 2000
Small shows: Man man (Columbus, oh, 2009) Ghostland Observatory (Columbus, oh, 2009) Grlwood (Denver, co, 2019) That trumpet player from out of town that one night at Dick's Den (Columbus, oh, ~2007) The pharcyde (Lawrence, ks, ~1999) Some guy playing his guitar under a portable light next to a cop on a huge horse after all the shows were over one night at the first Bonnaroo (2002) A little band from Nebraska that ended the show by repeatedly dropping this huge chain on the floor (Lion's lair, Denver, co 2016)
Soo many bands out there. So much great music in little clubs from bands that never went pop. As one poster alluded to... sometimes you just get a great night where the band does exactly what they want and whatever form of a crowd is there feeds that energy back. And then... Magic.
Unless I missed something, not one person here has mentioned this incredibly tight group, Khruangbin. And yes, they can back their recordings with equally, if not more impressive live sets- in the present day!
How many of the bands/artists mentioned above have I seen live? I guess we're all about the same age. In addition to the ones mentioned in my post above...a sampling --
I saw Pink Floyd a couple times. I liked them a lot. Wynton Marsalis at the Hollywood Bowl. Outstanding.
The Dictators were bad to the point of being unlistenable. I still got their record, though. A cut-out.
Weird Al. Cute. U2. Just too damn serious. I loved the Grateful Dead's atonal psychedelic jams, but everything else they did left me cold. I couldn't help but tell the truth when folks asked me what I thought of them. I'm sure it's one of the reasons I got so little action in college.
Talking Heads B52’s The Greatful Dead Jimi Hendrix Experience James Brown Bob Marley Ike & Tina Fela Eddie Harris King Sunny Ade Miles Davis (all eras) Keith Jarrett Oscar Peterson -Trio
Now: Kurt Elling John Scofield Abdullah Ibrahim Ben Paterson Brad Mehldau ......
+1 linomagnus, Midnight Oil really put on a great show in their heyday. Also I should've mentioned I saw The Boss many times in his and it was transcendental - he actually appeared to pass out before last encore 2x - but there are bands now that are at least as good as I mentioned above.
Prince, Little Feat, Rory Gallagher(Irish Tour if you never heard him live), Midnight Oil, AC DC(Rock Goes to College), Split Enz (more antipodean greats)and never having seen them live The Bands Last Waltz really commits great live performance to film as does the German Little Feat performance.No Dylan mentions but some things are accepted without saying.Greatest is an impossible ask but its nice to stir memories and share.
Glad to see that all you dudes/dudettes would occasionally wrest yourself from your rig to actually watch folks wield musical instruments. To be sure, it's a hassle and a crap-shoot, but when it hits it really hits hard.
Did I actually say Jimmy Page screaming off key? That should have been Robert Plant screaming off key at the wrong times. Jimmy Page every once in a while would get a good run started, we would get some hope, and then the band would descend back into the morass. Utterly dismal.
In person the Tubes in their heyday were quite something.
Now a lot of how we perceive a show does depend on us, not on the show itself. I remember seeing Todd Rungren once and being bored out of my mind. Man he was sleepy time. The crowd loved it though. They were jumping around and stomping their feet, clapping their hands, all that type of thing. Was it me? Was it that the real Todd fans loved him so much that they didn't care?
I really don't know.
I remember Led Zepplin putting on one of the absolutely worst shows that I have ever seen, Kezar Stadium 1973 or so, 3+ hours late, Jimmy Page constantly screaming off key at the wrong time, miserable show. My friends though knew that the Zeps could do no wrong so they loved it.
Go figure.
Then again, there was the time I saw the Bay City Rollers. Yes, I did. It's a long story. They couldn't play their instruments at all. Really lame. All the prepubescent gals in their tartans were in rapture. The joy in their faces when they streamed out of the show to their waiting Mommies was obvious. It most definitely was a terrific show for the audience. Who am I to disagree?
After all, the Ramones loved the Bay City Rollers and I thought enough of them to see the early Ramones at least 15 times.
On another front, bands have nights when they're hot and nights when they're not. Many times I saw the Dead burn like fire. Many times I saw them smell like something else.
I remember Pete Townshend apologizing because the previous show they had in San Francisco was so regrettable. That was the show at the Cow Palace where Moon was carried off halfway through. Pete apologized for the show but I thought it was easily the best show I'd see them do.
The Sex Pistols in their last show, the Winterland thing, could not play their instruments at all. They were always ducking thrown objects as well. Musically ragged and disjointed. Great show though? Hell yeah.
As has been noted by many, there are no absolutes here. What's important? Musical expertise or showmanship? Audience buy-in or your personal state of mind? I could list a bunch of names, as could most of you, but really, you had to be there.
No one can pick a “greatest” because every person has their own opinion of what the greatest live band is. Each great band had their moments of greatness in concert. I saw Yes in 73 and they were absolutely great, but the Yessongs album which was taken from several tour stops was their Masterpiece. I love that album. And they had many other Live performances that could never measure up to what they achieved those nights when Yessongs were being taped. How about Chicago Live at Carnegie Hall- one of the best live rock performances ever. But did everything ever come together in other live shows they performed like it did when they recorded at Carnegie Hall? I don’t know. I was at a Pink Floyd Concert during their Momentary Lapse of Reason tour and it was the best outdoor concert sonically I ever heard. The whole area was thundering and rumbling yet with great clarity. Many great live bands were mentioned in the thread. Greatest live band is impossible to say.
Hey all, Interesting video. Kinda reminds me of some concerts from the early seventies after appropriate preparation... Having seen him many times I'd go with Rory Gallagher for most energy, although J Geils was close - at a local high school no less, and Humble Pie whose Rockin' the Fillmore pretty much duplicates the show I saw. Someone else mentioned (sorry, I can't see the name from here) and I missed, so I've kicked myself for decades - Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic in BERLIN.
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