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
LedZeppelin 1975 -Dallas -The best out of 200 concerts Ive seen-Nothing else came close...
Yea Pete Townshend...that's the guy...these flashbacks are a
b!@#h I gota get off the ludes, and I mean quick. :)
I must have been still thinking about the Stones, when I was typing about The Who... concert!
springsteen/e street band @notre dame fall 1978 darkness tour. i was blind but now i see. after a draining 3 1/2 hour show. the band erupted from backstage in the midst of a food fight to do a killer "twist and shout"

muddy waters opens for clapton 1979. with disciple clapton watching his show barely offstage, the master was particularly lively( he was wearing a red t-shirt with champange cadillacs and cash printed on it)
i always felt muddy made the best guitar faces.

jeff beck and the mahvishnu orchestra chicago 1977? it was the blow by blow tour and mr grouchy beck seemed very happy with the way his band was playing that night.

j geils band south bend in 1973. this was the first concert i attended. this band was so tight yet so sloppy fun! maybe it was the bowls of gooey hash we smoked throughout the show but i swear on this night they were the worlds greatest rock and roll band.

herbie hancock ann arbor mich feb 1976. in the accoustically perfect hill auditorium herbie and his headhunter band put the funk in jazz that still gums up my brain when i think of that night
Phish new years eve 2000. 7 1/2 straight hours of sonic bliss throughout the night in the Florida Everglades.
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