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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
ehoehn
169 posts
 
1. Rush
2. Deep Purple opened by ELO in the early 70's
3. Paul McCartney and Wings over America in the 70's
4. Moody Blues in the 70's
5. Stevie Ray in the late 80's
oregon
822 posts
 
5. Blind Faith was good, but Jethro Tull was fantastic! It was their Stand Up era. 1970 at the Fabulous Forum. Los Angeles, CA.
4. John Reischmann, fabulous mandolin/bluegrass. Portland, Oregon.
3. Roland Rashaan Kirk- at the Hoo-Haa Cultural Festival, Universty of Oregon, Eugene 1974? The hoo-ha festival was put together by Ken Kesey and it never happened again. I went to a Pow-Wow at McArhtur Court, after the Pow-Wow, it was announced that The Roland Rashaan Kirk Band was next. I could not believe my ears- perhaps I had been smoking too much of the mistle toe (?) But sure enough, out comes a bunch of elderly dudes, one in a wheel chair with several saxs and other wind instruments dangling from his chair, dark glasses. They sent me! Roland passed away a few months later. I meet Ken kesey about 10 years ago and mentioned that great concert. He and his wife told me that I was the first person they'd ever meet who saw/heard Roland that day at the UfO.
2. Toots and The Maytals. Toots reminds me of the great Otis Redding. He sings with passion and emotion. A great band to back him with that Reggae Beat (Toots is the person who first called the genre "Reggae Music"). I saw Toots and the Maytals at Bumbershoot last year (2004). I was pleasantly surprised to see/hear the Marley Brothers. They were great!
1. Best show of all times- Bruce Springsteen!!! Saw him twice and I still get exhausted thinking about it.
fountainhead
2 posts
 
Nothing historic, just good times

1. Steely Dan - shoreline amphitheatre. Sitting 8 rows back, center stage ... tickets comp-ed by BGP (long story) My two good ears level with Walter Beckers guitar. Heaven.
2. Joe Jackson - Greek Theatre, UC Berkeley. Touring in support of his Big World album. Fantastic musician
3. Peter Frampton - Winterland in the 70's. contact high and young girls
4. Bob Dylan and Tom Petty - Cal Expo Sacramento. It was a fun duo while it lasted
5. Michael Franks - some small dinner club in SF Bimbo's ? Tight Jazz ensemble. Got my date in a good mood.
6. The Eagles - Berkeley Community Theatre 1973. The warm-up act was this relatively unknown guy ... Billy Joel. He ended with Piano Man ... that few had heard. Standing O & Bic lighters. The Eagles were booed for their first 3 songs ... because the crowd wanted more Joel.
7. Loggins & Messina - Berkeley Community Theatre. Don't laugh. There are a couple of good songs from Mother Lode
hddano's avatar
hddano
7 posts
 
1. Genesis- The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974)
2. Jethro Tull- A Passion Play (1973?)
3. Yes- Close to the Edge (1972)
4. Pink Floyd-Animals (1975)
5. Genesis Wind and Wuthering Tour w/o Gabriel at the Fox in Atlanta w/Reniassance

Need I say more...
rockethouse
42 posts
 
I wish I could have seen the likes of S.R.V. and Hendrix and I want to start by saying that there are many other bands I've seen that I feel deserve to make the list but I'll have save them for my Fav 10.

1. Hands down Eric Johnson Live... funny that I don't have his recorded music at the top of my pile but live from a musicians point of view he was truly amazing.

2. Kiss...My first concert at age 13 (a birthday present) that my brother took me too...for that alone, although I remember it rocking supreme.

3. Tommy Emanuel, I have seen Tommy many times and he is always a truly consistent and consummate world class performer but there is one of his shows in his very early days at a small club that I will always remember.

4. Joe Satriani, I love this guy for many reasons and waited a long time to see him and despite the sound being less than desirable I still loved the show and his tasteful interpretations on his tunes.

5. A guitarist by the name of Matt Williams who was in a local band Fire & Ice (cheezy name but it was the very early 90's). This guy has at times been a very close friend of mine (and the only player friend that I would always go and see) which probably has something to do with his nomination but I believe he truly deserves it. During their shows the band would walk off stage and leave Matt to play by himself where he would without fail stop everyone in their tracks the entire time he was playing...a man at the time a kid barely past 20yrs grinding nightclub after nightclub to a halt with solo performances. I have been playing the guitar for more than 30yrs and have seen many incredible players but the first time I truly got to appreciate how good this guy is was when I saw Steve Vai (fire garden tour) and all I could think was how much better a player (player not songwriter...but I wont get into that now) Matt was. I probably should mention that not only can he shred the pants off most players and play rhythm like most people dream about but he can play finger style (the only thing he did for most of his youth) better than many who have cd's and careers in the style. Just in closing, he has raised record company interest at nearly every point along the way and has toured the US a couple of times where he met (and played in front of) many famous muso's one of which was Jeff Baxter who came up to him after one of his shows with the promise of producing an album for them.

I know this is supposed to only be 5 but I can't go past mentioning Robben Ford, a rare talent and an absolute joy live.
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