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.
Frank Black and the Catholics @ the Starry Plough Sugar and Radiohead @ the Warfield The Cranes and Dinosaur, Jr. @ San Jose State DOA @ The Outhouse Jesus and Mary Chain @ The Fillmore
Well, you asked for best shows, not best bands. But aren't they if they are that good live? A conundrum.
Absolutely no question, from then till now... inaugural show Dark Side Of The Moon - 1973, in Jacksonville, Fla. at the venue across from the then Gator bowl.. The only act that night and certainly they were enough. Catch as catch can seating... $6 or $7 I think. 21 700 watt Phase Linear amps, (Bob Carver's offering), eight stacks of speakers spread around the venue with the engineers actively mixing during the show... no taped perofrmances back then. (the engineers let us sit on the platform in front of their mixing boards directly in the center of the theater... the absolute best spot!)
#2 July 4th, 1976 at University of Tamp, tampa, Fla. KISS, Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Pure Prairie League, Johnny Winter with Rick Derringer, Charlie Daniels Band, Marshall Tucker Band, and ZZ Top. ...ZZ Top didn't stand a chance by the time they took the stage to end the concert.... CDB Johnny, & Marshall all on stage at once for the Marshall Tucker encore (s) , blew everyone away! $12. Deal, huh?
#3 Cat Stevens Yeha, I know, I know, but trying to decide between that show and the then farewell tour for David Bowie with Jackson brown as his front man was pretty hard. Cat gets the nod as the more memorable event. Passion, power, accuracy, and acoustics remain still vibrantly memorable... (before the name change, of course) at the now defunct 'Curtis Hixon Hall' Tampa, Fl. 1969 - 70 (?) He did his Tea for the Tillerman, completely, and followed it by his then, new release, teaser and the Firecat. Didn't miss a beat, absolutely on time and sonically super... simply outstanding acoustic performance... remarkable & most memorable. best $3 I've ever spent. Never heard of him before that night, just giving a friend a ride... and decided to go too..
#4 Aerosmith & Black Oak Arkansas. Whew! Words simply do not say enough. Inagural tour for Aerosmith, toys in the Attic album, and Oaks "Hot & Nasty' offering Wow! My ears are still ringing... Sweat, power, exploding guitars just amazing! Black Oak opened and if you left right after they did their gig you would have had gotten your moneys worth... $7.50 ... inflation, I guess.
#5 Paul Thorn. Doing his 'Ain't Life Strange" album entirely, along with some of his upcoming offferings, at a local venue, Skipper's Smokehouse, Tampa,Fl. 2004. As entertaining a show as I've ever attended. Very funny guy with great driving rythym & blues rock. An involving fan oriented showman. Just palyed forever!.. Best $15 Iv'e spent in years...
Number one has to be my first: 1971, Olympia Stadium, Detroit, MI, 5th row: Alice Cooper and Steppenwolf. When Steppenwolf played "Pusher", with that awesome Hammond B3, and the searing, ear-splitting lead guitar, my life changed. I went from being a stupid teenage boy, to a stupid teenage boy with an obsession: loud, raunchy, fuzzy, BLUESY, funky, rock-and-roll. By 50 years of age my musical taste has broadened, but not I've not given up pursuit of listening to that kind of music, much to the dismay of my beautiful wife.
Others: J. Geils Band and Uriah Heep at some hockey rink (on the floor - no ice - no seats).
Iggy Pop at some hockey rink in Windsor, Ontario. Silver glitter G-string, spitting on the crowd, two members of the band started brawling with each other in the middle of a song! A good time was had by all.
Johnny Winter at Cobo Hall - the crowd got so rowdy (fights, flying beer bottles) they turned the house lights on and some guy got on stage, threatening to cancel the show. But Johnny told him to get the **** off the stage and kept on rockin' anyway.
Aerosmith and Ted Nugent at the Silverdome in Pontiac, MI. I think it was just newly built, so Perry and the Nuge tried to rock it down. It didn't fall, but had to incur significant structural damage from what I remember.
Paul Butterfield Blues Band,1967. I lived in San Francisco and went to the orignal Filmore at least 3 times a week. $2.50 to $3.50 for a 3 band show. You would not pay for the local bands you could see them for free in Golden Gate Park. Lets see you asked for 4 more. The Yardbirds 1965, The Allman Bros before the cycle crashes,The Who 1971,Cat Stevens 70 something. By the way the first time the Doors came to S.F. they were the third band(top billing was the Young Rascals,second was Sofwithcamel)they were booed off the stage.
The more I think about the concerts I've seen, the more difficult it is to pick a top 5. I do know that most would involve the Auditorium theatre in Chicago. By far the finest concert venue that I've been to.
Some memorable concerts:
Genesis, Selling England Tour at the Auditorium. My first exposure to the band and I was completely blown away.
King Crimson at the auditorium around 74. Incredible.
Frank Zappa at the Circle Star (revolving stage) near San Fran ~81. What a fantastic performance in a great venue that unfortunately is long gone.
Humble Pie at Octoberfest in Milwaukee in the mid 70's. What a band....what a party.
Pink Floyd at Milwaukee County Stadium doing Welcome to the machine and Dark side of the moon. Ranking may be due to the brownies.
I'll cheat and add one more.
Los Lobos at the Catalyst club in Santa Cruz (mid 80's) backed up by the Buckwheat Zydeco Band. Great show and fantastic oncore with both bands playing together.
1. Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here tour. 2. David Bowie - Station to Station tour (before that Dancing in the Moonlight crap). 3. Peter Frampton and Fleetwood Mac - Day on the Green. 4. Tower of Power - best b3 performance I've ever heard. 5. Finishing with Pink Floyd - Animals tour. Great thread, which brought back sweet memories. Thanks.
Frank Zappa (1980) Ted Nugent (1977) Rush (1976 ?) Genesis - And then there were three (1980?) Smithereens (early 90's)
All of my favorite concerts, with the exception of Genesis, were in held in modest/moderate size venues. Great sound, great visibility and overall, a more "connected" experience.
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.
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
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
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.
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
I have had to distinctly different concert going eras. Late 70's/early 80'sPittsburg and late 90's Seattle
1.Yes-Drama 2.Bruce Springsteen-The River tour 3.The Who-Face Dances tour 4.Genesis-And then there were three 5. Tie;Kansas-Point of no return tour /Styx-Grand Illusion
1. spirit 2. frank zappa & the mothers 3. art blakey and the jazz messengers 4. larry coryell 5. king crimson 6. john hammond can't distinguish rock from prog rock to jazz to whatever anymore. btw, art blakey's j.m. was the greatest band i ever heard live. now, if only i could have seen charlie parker or john c. ...
J. Geils band at the Paramount Theater in Seattle..before they cashed in on the disco craze they were a great rock and roll band. For a taste of what that was listen to Full House.... The wolfman rocks!
Moody Blues (Twice), Roy Buchannan, Buddy Guy, Jeff Beck and Carlos Santana, with Guest Vernon Reid, and my all-time favorite Robin Trower in a club that only held 150 people, I was right in front of the Marshalls!!!!!
To be honest, the last 4 YES concerts probably stand on their own as top 4. But I will count as 1...
1. Yes's Masterworks tour. 2. Richard Thompson 3. Don Henley's Building The Perfect Beast tour... 4. King Crimson in 1996 (double trio) 5. ELP at the Palace in Detroit in 1997 I think it was...
In the 70's non of these bands went to Argentina where I grew up.
1. Jeff Beck and Stevie Ray Vaughn at Madison Square Garden (my two favorite guitarists...they didn't even have to play, and this would be my favorite!) 2. U2 at Giants Stadium in 1987 3. Amnesty International concert in the late 80s at Giants Stadium (last of 6 concerts; most memorable part of the concert was that it was really humid and almost 100 degrees. Rubin Blades was in the middle of a song when he introduces Carlos Santana...first note into Santana's guitar solo it starts to rain and thunder really hard...at the end of the song when Santana walks off-stage, the rain stops....like an act of God...)
Saw The Doors twice, great both times. Country Joe and the Fish put on a nice concert, at least what I could remember through all the smoke. Ricki Lee Jones was fantastic!
How about Aerosmith 1971 at a free-admission outdoor dance at Mills College in Oakland and the Doobie Brothers playing the Freshman Dance at UC Berkeley in 1971?
1. The Who at the Fillmore West 1969! $3 admission fee! Inspired me to "pick up my guitar and Play!" 2. The Who at the SF Civic Center in 1971. 3. The Grateful Dead at Oakland Collosium in 1976 4. The Jefferson Airplane at the Fillmore West 1969. 5. The Byrds at the Fillmore West 1970.
Rolling stones 78' Rich Stadium Buffalo,Rolling Stones Vodoo Lounge tour Toronto 90's, CSN&Youg Toronto 99, INXS Toronto Old Massey Hall 88,Bob Dylan Toronto 2004.
OH, yea and the First Bad Company tour w/ Edgar Winter as the opener.And Robin Trower, and and and. 30 Years of rock and roll Hard to remember all the special ones.
The all time favorite? Hendrix hollywood bowl concert 1968, Cream @the fourm 1968 Deep purple opened! Alice cooper "Killer" tour, Who live @leeds, But the real gem was Jeff Beck w/ Stevie Ray Vaughn In Hawaii (private concert for the label I worked for) Cheers, Craig G
1. Rolling Stones - at the old MET center in the Twin Cities in 1975. This is the one that Bill Wyman fell off the stage at the end and broke his arm. Peter Tosh was the warm-up act. 2. Led Zeppelin - same place, I believe 1974, and yes, John Bonham's drum sound was the real McCoy. Boy, were they good, and loud! 3. Taj Mahal - Superior Wisc. at the small movie theatre (1970's). This might have been the best ever because Taj basically played all night. The concert ended around 11 pm. Then Taj played upstairs at the next door bar until closing. We (about 10 of us) then went back to the theatre where Taj and Steve Koehler( the opening act, and a great pianist in his own right) jammed most of the night. We sat there in the front row mesmerized, drinking beer & yelling out requests, that Taj would then play (we were all big fans) At the end of the long night we got to chat with him for quite a while. It was quite a thrill to see a favorite artist perform in a very intimate setting and meet and talk with him to boot. He seemed to enjoy the night as much as we did. It must have been one of those nights where a musician is really into his art. 4. Rory Gallagher - Guthrie Theatre, Minneapolis. (some of these years are a little foggy- must have been late 70's/early 80's). Pretty small theatre, and Rory absolutely lit the place on fire with his guitar. 5. Jethro Tull - MET Center in the early 70's. Tull was so tight it sounded like their vinyl albums played over God's stereo.
Fishbone - Give the Monkey Tour Bob Mould - Black Sheets of Rain Tour in SF. As my wife likes to say about him, "Lessons in Rock" Roxy Music - Avalon Tour in Oakland (Glorious!)
5 - Nirvana In Utero tour - They played two nights in Chi-Town. According to the papers... one night was their best night of the tour, and the other could have been their worst night. Fortunately, I was there on the "best" night. Great band playing in support of their "best" album (In Utero).
4 - Cheap Trick - Pick any tour. I've seen this band numerous times and they consistently deliver the goods. An extremely under rated rock unit. One of the best vocalists in rock n' roll (Robin Zander.)
3 - Page & Plant Unleaded Tour - not old enough to have seen Led Zep. Bonham died the day I picked up the Chicago Tribune which had an entry to purhcase tickets via some sort of lotto system... well, you know how that chapter ended. None the less, great show !
2 - Rolling Stones - I've only seen them since the late eighties and have enjoyed all of their shows. Out of the three or four I've seen, I liked the Voodoo Lounge tour.. but they always deliver the goods.
1 - Iggy Pop - Pick any tour. Again, I've seen this man many times (one of my faves was in support of the Naughty Little Doggie album.) Iggy epitomizes raw energy rock n roll. He can run circles around any frontman out there; including performers half his age. a MUST SEE & HEAR !!!
Honorable Mentions (in no particular order): David Bowie Kiss Pearl Jam U2 Marilyn Manson Paul McCartney INXS
I went to the Altamont Speedway, in the bay area, to see the Stones, Greatful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Santana, and I don't remeber who else. That was 34 years ago. The police they used there were the infamous Hell's Angels. It was really too hard to see anything, and people were killed there. At the age of seventeen, I hitchiked all the way down there from Angels Camp, CA. It really wasn't as great as I thought it would be, plus all the violence. But the memories are really neat to look back, and take it all in again. There were 500,000 people there that day. I saw people throw fruit at the Stones, but for what I don't know.
The 'Stripes reflect, for me a completely original amalgam of styles that is utterly authentic, and derivative of noone. In performance their extraordinary level of songcraft becomes very obvious. BTW, if you are basing your impressions of their musicality on what you've heard from CD, I humbly suggest that you hear them on LP. I have "Elephant" on LP and CD and the LP appears to be a completely different, and superior mix. The CD greatly obscures the dynamic touches that are essential to communicating the intentions of the musicians when there are only two of them at work.
#1 Bruce Cockburn in a small club in Syracuse just edges out #2 AC/DC when they were the warm up band for Rush also in Syracuse. Both bands had incredible energy. #3 Cheap Trick also in a small club in Syracuse. Another high energy band and very entertaining. #4 Chris Robinson with Gov't mule in Syracuse I really liked Chris's new songs and he really livend up the show when he performed a few songs with Gov't Mule. Saw just last month so it is still very fresh in my mind. #5 Steve Forbert at an open air event at SU. Just brings back good memories. I've seen lots of other great concerts but those are the ones that stick out in my mind.
Ted Nugent,Alvin Lee and this new band called Rush played one night in Sacramento Memorial Auditorium I believe in 1975. I was in high school and couldn't get tickets so five of us each gave the security guy at the back door 60 cents to get in, he told us to wait under the stage and when the show starts to come out. Great show but never had a seat someone didn't kick me out of. Second one was Frank Zappa, he was great! Same place and friends got up on stage and he made them dance to Sheik Yerbouti Tango, try it. Third was Tom Petty in San Fransisco, Fillmore and I think they only let in 500 people.
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