Your 5 Fav Rock Concerts


There are certainly more than a few geetar fanciers among us judging by all the threads on guitar bands and best guitarist. This thread is about the best rock shows you saw. Let's limit it to the rock shows. Not Blues or Jazz or solo performers. The concerts that raised the hairs on your neck or made you want to take up an instrument or raised your pulse through their sheer energy or just moved you through their performance on stage. The only ones that count are the ones you've seen. After making a list in my mind of the many rock concerts I attended, most from the late 1960's through early 80's, I have come up with mine. It was tough, I’ve seen well over 200 rock concerts over the years and it is really hard coming up with a top 5 but we have to limit this so here go mine. "Yes" - This group stands out as the 2nd best concert I ever saw with Steve Howe and Chris Wakeman. They opened for Emerson, Lake and Palmer and after their set I do feel that EL&P were disheartened and knew they couldn't match it; they didn't. Funny thing is like most, I was there to see EL&P. They were forced to have another concert the following night by popular demand. Virtuoso musicianship, “Poco” - This group could put on a show. I saw them 4 different times in the many various stages of their evolution. They never had the commercial recognition of some of the other great bands of their era but they sure made up for it in their live performances. No one stayed seated during a Poco concert. “Rod Stewart and Faces” - Ron Wood on guitar and Rod Stewart strutting all over the stage. Rod was probably the greatest natural Rock showman I ever saw, including Mick Jagger. His uninhibited manner and constant movement and soulful vocals brought the house down. The crowd wouldn't let him go after the 5th encore so he invited everyone ("especially the pretty young ladies") to his hotel to “party on”, and so they came; Led Zeppelin I had to include them because next to the Doors and of course Jimi Hendrix they were my favorites of that era and I never did get to see either of the other two. The acoustics were bad and they played so loud you couldn’t really hear the music. But they were great none the less and it was special to me. The best should be kept for last. "The Who" was acknowledged as the best concert band at the time. Getting tickets meant getting in line and waiting. I imagine at the time the only tougher ticket would be the “Beatles” and they weren’t even together then. They didn’t disappoint. The reaction of the audience was beyond anything I ever saw at a live concert before or since. The band was so cohesive and the energy they put out put them into a different realm. They just have to be on a very short list of the best live bands ever.
tubegroover
1,GratefulDead,2.AC/DC/Travers,3.MSG,4.Tull,5.Outlaws/Pure Prairie League. Saw The Dead in Minn./St. Paul 1982 during the Dead Set tour. Awesome show. AC/DC and Pat Travers 1979 Chicago's Aragon Brawlroom, my last show with Bon, pity. Michael Schenker 1984 at a small club in Houston, what an incredible guitar player. Jethro Tull at the Unidome in Cedar Falls, Iowa 1978, great show. The last was my first concert as a freshman in college, went to Lacrosse, WI with a couple high school buddies. PPL was very good and The Outlaws with all those guitars blew the crowd away.
I guess I'm dating myself but as a kid seeing Hendrix a couple of times and later Zeppelin was musical heaven.....those were the days. It was real music and not dominated by pre recorded tape loops and electronics. These guys really had to play! What is a concert without the smoke filled haze of pot and a two foot joint being passed around the crowd? No one was searched and the crowds were not violent.....probably too may joints. I miss that era and now rely on the two channel stereo to step back in time.
Stevie Wonder in a 800 seat venue. I have never been to a show that was it's peer. The crowd was electric, the music breathtaking, twenty great musicians.

OTher also rans: THE WHO, Stanley Jordon anywhere, George Benson at the Winter Park, The Dead at Red Rocks
This IS tough. Seen too many to limit it to five BUT:

Pink Floyd DSOM tour WITH Johnny Winter - Hampton, Va. 1972
Yes - multiple times but the best one: Chicago, Ill. 1974
Rolling Stones - Cedar Falls, Iowa 1982
Bruce Springsteen - Ames, Iowa 1981
Joe Walsh - Minneapolis, Mn. 1974
Steely Dan - Mountain View, CA 2000
Eagles - any of six times

I know that's seven, but.....

Honorable mention to Warren Zevon - Iowa City, Ia. 1982 (Under appreciated, he put on a hell of a show)
1. I"ve seen the Stones 21 times, but the Babylon show at the MGM Grand in Vegas was stupendous.
2. The Who in '75 at the Richfield Coliseum in Cleveland was pretty righteous. (I also saw them in 79 in Cincy when all the people died, but that was a different vibe altogether)
3. Springsteen - Anything with the E Street Band deserves a mention. We'll take the Allen Theater Show in Cleveland back in April of 76 right after Born to Run came out. Nothign could prepare you for seeing that show.
4. Neil Young Rust Never Sleeps tour. Saw him at Purdue U's Elliott hall of music back in like 78/79. Pretty phenomenal. "When I grow up I'm gonna get me an electric guitar..."
5. Tough to fill out the last one, but maybe we should insert Neil Young's first annual Bridge School benefit show. Check out this line up...
Bruce Springsteen
Neil Young
Crosby, Stills, Nash
Tom Petty
Nils Lofgren
Richie Furay
and the comic who played 'Mork'...
One of those 'once in a lifetime' kinda things...