Your all-time best rock concerts

[Milossarian]

I've been to a billion concerts, so I'm having to make some tough decisions to limit it to five. Here goes:

5. Pearl Jam, Masonic Temple, Detroit, 1994. I won a special drawing (out of about 100,000 to 200,000 inquiries for tickets) to be one of only about 2,000 people at this show. The band's second album had just came out, and they were at the top of their game. Played for like 3.5 hours, did three or four encores, until they were doing cover tunes. Fantastic time for the (not yet) wife and me, both huge fans of the band, particularly their first two albums.

4. REO Speedwagon, Castle Farms, Charlevoix, Michigan, 1981. This was my second concert ever. I was only 14. REO was the top band around at the time, their "Hi Infidelity" album topped the charts. Loved the band, the album, all the songs on it and on their earlier albums. Singing at the top of my lungs to "Keep on Loving You," "Take it on the Run" and "Time for Me to Fly." Just a great summer night in my youth.

3. AC/DC, Castle Farms, 1988.One of the greatest hard-rock bands of all time, a band perfectly geared for a live show, finally came to my neck of the woods. About 20 of my friends and I rented a Ryder truck, put one friend's $2,000 stereo system in the back, some couches and barbecue grills and made a day of it. We were the hit of the parking lot before and after the show. I got rip-roaring drunk, the band played all the great old songs you'd want to hear, Angus Young did his thing. What an excellent time.

My very best friend died two-and-a-half years ago in a car accident at the age of 29. When I think back on our days together, this concert stands out as one of my fondest memories.

2.Pink Floyd, Pontiac Silverdome, 1987. Another show with my late best friend, and another good buddy. Yeah, Roger Waters had left the band, but for four or five years, everybody thought the band was done. I was such a huge fan of their's back then. When I heard that they were reforming, coming out with a new album and touring, I had to be there.

For any of you who've seen a concert in a domed stadium, you know the acoustics suck. This was no exception. But the band and all of those amazing songs just transcended all of that.
"Time" off the Dark Side of the Moon album, with drummer Roger Mason's sticks changing colors as he played during the beginning. "Wish You Were Here" with 60,000 singing along. "Comfortably Numb" with the incredible sight of tens of thousands of lighters in the air -- the coolest thing I've seen in a concert to-date, with all of the expensive pyrotechnics and whatnot.

1. The Smashing Pumpkins, St. Andrew's Hall, Detroit, 1999 My favorite band goes on a tour of tiny clubs, and the Missus and I score tickets! I kicked myself in the butt when I finally entered St. Andrew's -- all of the bands I like over the years that I'd heard were playing there but passed on. This place was incredibly small. Only room for like 500-600 people! (They crammed about 1,000 in for the Pumpkins show.)

As any Pumpkins fans probably know, the band typically likes to stick to their new albums in concert, and don't dig too much into the old stuff. Well, it was like this show was totally for the fans. They opened with "I Am One" off Gish. They played "Soma," which they never play live anymore. The energy in the place was unbelievable. I discovered, however, that in my early 30s I am now officially too old for 3 hours in a mosh pit.

Hope this didn't bore everyone to tears. I get fired up when I talk about music, concerts, and how they affect people. I look forward to reading all of your posts too.

(Don't feel you have to be as long-winded as me.)

[Coldfire]

Oh, GOOD one Milo. I know it has been done before, but it's been a while, and there's lots of newbies. Only five? Here we go!

5 a. Dire Straits - On Every Street Tour, 1992, Rotterdam 'Ahoy
I'll be brief: pure craftsmanship, and great compositions. A classic, albeit very calculated and not really spontaneous.

5 b. Fates Warning - opening for Dream Theater on the 1995 Awake Tour, Utrecht Vredenburg
One of the rare occasions that the opening act was far superior to the headliners. FW rocked the place, and showed great skill and energy. When DT played, they turned out to have become arrogant bastards since their kick-ass debut in 1993 (see #3).

4. The Tea Party - Tryptich Tour, Amsterdam Melkweg, 2000
What a fantastic band! I've seen them two times already in three months (firstly, opening for Queensryche [see #1, and they outplayed QR bigtime this year!], later headlining), and I'm gloing again in three weeks. A charismatic band with a very broad repertoire and great instrumental skills.

3. Dream Theater - Images and Words Tour, Utrecht Vredenburg, 1993
The first concert DT ever did in Europe. The energy was awesome. The band was as amazed as the crowd. This concert was one big party, and from an skills point of view possibly the best I've ever seen. Third overall.

2. Tool - Aenima Tour, 1997, Amsterdam Paradiso
I have NEVER, EVER seen a band play so HARD and ANGRY as these guys. Unbelievable energy. Plus, they came on-stage topless and painted blue all over. Smurf Metal
A superb show of a very talented band - and a great album, too.

1. Queensryche - Promised Land Tour, 1996, Rotterdam 'Ahoy
They played the entire "Operation: Mindcrime" set, with background videos. The band was REALLY into it and played positively HARD. I mean, REALLY, REALLY loud! It was a superb concert from a sound point of uhm hearing. Great setup, excellent solos, and Geoff Tate hit all the high notes perfectly. Recently, I saw QR again at the same arena. It wasn't sold out like the last time. And they didn't play that hard anymore.
The edge is gone, and Tate's voice is starting to fade somewhat. The end of an era. It was great while it lasted.


OK, so that's actually six concerts. Sue me
To my disappointment, I have yet to see Rush live. When I got into their music (circa 1992), they had done their last European concert up till now. Maybe, someday?

[Ukulele Ike]

Ahhhh...no problem. The good ol' Grateful Dead at Broome County Arena, Binghamton, New York, in the spring of 1979.

Now, Binghamton isn't your swingingest community in the world, but it IS just down the highway from Ithaca, NY, the Freak Capitol of the Universe. And that's where I was that fateful night, loaded to the gunwales with homemade White Barrel LSD from the good chemistry grad students of the Cornell labs.

The acid helped mightily, but the reason I consider this my best Dead show is that, of all the dozens of Dead shows I've taken in, this is the ONLY one where they kicked off the second set with China Cat Sunflower/Know You Rider.

Okay, yeah, I know it wasn't all THAT unusual by the mid-'80s, but in 1979 it was, and China Cat was always a kinda totem tune for my Deadhead brothers and sisters and me, and when the lights went down and my consciousness was zinging from one end of the hall to the other and the first notes of the Garcia filigree came wafting out of those enormous speakers...oh, god...

[Milossarian]

2. Tool - Aenima Tour, 1997, Amsterdam Paradiso
I have NEVER, EVER seen a band play so HARD and ANGRY as these guys. Unbelievable energy.

You may be right. I saw them on the second stage at Lollapalooza in 1993, and they blew the small crowd there away.

Come to think of it, that was a great concert too. Tool, Rage Against the Machine, Alice in Chains and others.

To my disappointment, I have yet to see Rush live.

Saw 'em. By all means, go when you can, even if they're old fogeys by that time (see my Pink Floyd listing). You haven't lived till you hear 25,000 people sing "Closer to the Heart" with Geddy, or see "Temples of Syrinx" live.

Only took two posts to get a Deadhead.

[Ukulele Ike]

Shit, Milo, if I hadn't had to run upstairs with tears in my eyes to find a 1979 China Cat in my bootleg collection, I coulda beat Coldfire's post.

Great bass, Lesh filling, man.

[Nacho4Sara]

Are you guys going to yell at me because I don't remember the exact places and times? Just warning ya...

5. Bush, HFS Festival. Pretty rocking show. Definitely hard core, Gavin and the giys laid themselves out there for the taking. Raw, passionate, orgasmic. Incredible!
4. Fuel and Orgy, concert in Towson. Going in, I was not a huge Fuel fan (just got free tix ). But they were so into theit music and so full of rage, I respected that. I'm still not a huge fan, but I do enjoy them. I love Orgy.
3. Jah Works, last Thursday. This is a local b-more band, more reggae and soul than rock but kicking nonetheless. I've seen them at least 15 times, but this time was the best because the place was empty. Well, I was high, who knows, it felt like that to me! Anyway, I was right up front, making eye contact with the cracked out lead singer Scottie (he smokes a blunt before every show, just like me). I felt so peaceful and totally one with the music. I was just blown away.
2. Barenaked Ladies, Merriweather Post Pavillion, last summer. I won 3rd row seats, and BNL kicked ass. I loved it! They were so funny and groovy. I didn't want to leave.
1. THE ROLLING STONES!!, Winter 96 (Around that time.) Imagine this: at best friend's house, around 4pm. Her mom calls and says, "You didn't want tix to the Stone concert tonight, did ya? Someone offered them to me but they wereawful seats." Oh my goodness, everything you have ever thought or heard about the Stones live is true. They are tied at the runner up spot with Eric Clapton, Beatle coming in first, for my fave rock group, but they were so fucking incredible live. I felt like was having my mind blown every three seconds and I wasn't even smoking. Wow.

[Ukulele Ike]

Oh, wait...I've got to give FIVE? Sorry about the short-term memory loss, man. And I promise to leave the Dead out, now.

Frank Zappa, Cleveland Arena, Summer, 1977.

Talking Heads, Central Park, NYC, Fall, 1979.

Alex Chilton, The Knitting Factory, NYC, Fall, 1988. He did "Goldfinger." And "Volare." Nuff said.

Bob Dylan, the bullring in Gijon, Spain, Summer, 1994. With a huge buncha crime fiction writers. Michael Dibdin and I were downstairs getting beers when the music started and we stared at each other goggle-eyed and said "Holy Christ, that's STUCK INSIDE OF MOBILE WITH THE MEMPHIS BLUES AGAIN!!!" And went careening back up the stairs, frothing Spanish beer in every direction, so we could dance to it. And the crowd was tiny, so I strolled RIGHT up the the edge of the stage for the acoustic "Mister Tambourine Man" in the second set.

[psycat90]

Woodstock 94-I saw lots of great acts, but these were my faves:
Nine Inch Nails
Green Day
Peter Gabriel

Lollapalooza 1-4
saw many many great acts.
Jane's Addiction
NIN
Pearl Jam
Soundgarden
Phish
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Mighty Mighty Bosstones
Ministry
lots of others

[Rosebud]

By far, the best show I've been to yet was Motley Crue, touring for the Dr. Feelgood album. It was back when the speedway near where I grew up could still draw major bands (and back when Motley Crue was, in fact, a major band). I went because I wanted to make sure my Crue-lovin' little brother could see them, and I ended up having the absolute best time. Beautiful night, great seats, the loudest music I have ever heard in my life, the band was in fine form, the crowd was on in a big way-- just fantastic.

Going to see The Cure with the BF in a few weeks, maybe that'll make the list as well

[Sassy]

In no particular order:

One of the early "Day on the Green" shows in Oakland. The Eagles, Fleetwood, Mac, Linda Ronstadt and others. I was young, with all my friends and it was glorious.

The Tubes at the Paramount in Oakland. It's a magnificent old theater and they made the most of it. Pearl Harbor and the Explosions opened.

Delbert McClinton at the Warfield (about 6 years ago). He rocked the house and left Robert Cray (who was the main show) looking like last weeks lunch.

John Hiatt anytime.

Tina Turner.

[Czarcasm]

This may date me a bit, but...I was stationed in Southern California in the later half of the 70's, and had an opportunity to go to CalJam II, at the Ontario Motor Speedway.
Santana, Dave Mason, Heart, Ted Nugent, Aerosmith, Mohogany Rush, and others too numerous to mention, 50 different varieties of grass at incredibly low prices, thousands of incredibly horny people, incredibly cold beer...hell, need I go on?

[Nacho4Sara]

Ike and Slythe - I am SOOO jealous of you guys! Dylan and then Santana, Heart, Aerosmith, etc. I would pee myself or pass out if I heard "Memphis" live. Actually, last year I had my dorm window open and heard soem strains of "Visions of Johanna" from Blonde on Blonde coming from someone's room. I nearly pmp right then - someone else likes Bob!

[dpr]

I judge concerts on the feel I get from them. As a consequence some of my faves aren't my fave artists and even a little off-beat. But very good live nonetheless.


5 Doug Anthony All Stars. If you know them you know how much fun they can be. If not, well... just read on then.

4 The Corrs. Nicely-paced and relaxed concert full of traditional Irish music as well as their singles. Surprisingly upbeat and refreshing. In fact the instrumentals (not found on any of their albums apparently) were the best part.

3 Savage Garden. Fun, entertaining and just watching him prance around in a strut was worth it.

2 They Might Be Giants. Smallish venue but wonderful performance and great interaction. And probably the only time I will ever see a group make a mosh pit form a conga line....

1 Garth Brooks. Yeah I know a lot of people will groan at the mention of his name but he goes off live. He IS a performer. Even the two non-fan friends who went along came away amazed at how good a concert it was. One became a fan based on the live performance.


I would have loved to have seen Queen live - apparently Freddie was fantastic (certainly appears so on videos) live. And Bare Naked Ladies next time they tour Down Under will be a must-see.

[DoctorJ]

I can't seem to rank them, so I'll just list my five:

Bob Dylan, Bogart's, Cincinnati, July 1999. Capacity=1500. This was as close to a religious experience as I've ever come. When most artists of this stature (not that there are many) are either long gone or Vegas revues of themselves, it's really something to see Dylan come into this familiar little club and just tear the place up. I hope it occurs to me to rock that hard when I'm pushing 60.

Phish, Nutter Center, Dayton, December 1997. If I have to pick one of my nine Phish shows, this was it. Some great surprises ("Psycho Killer", "Boogie On Reggae Woman", "Tube"), plenty of energy, and "Guyute". A great example of what keeps me (and several thousand like me) coming back.

Suzanne Vega, Kentucky Theatre, Lexington, November 1997. I had front-row seats for this one. Suzanne was accompanied only by her bass player, and the effect was similar to having one of your favorite songwriters stand on your coffee table and sing to you for two hours.

Bruce Hornsby, Kentucky Theatre, Lexington, March 1999. This one caught me off guard. I was volunteering for this concert series by this time. I thought I would like this, but I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did. This was Bruce accompanied only by his piano (can you tell I like my music underproduced?) for well over three hours. I have the tapes.

U2, OSU Stadium, Columbus, July 1997. In stark contrast to the preceding two. This was the PopMart tour. I think Zoo TV was probably a better show, but I didn't make it to that one. I was six rows back, which was really too close to get the full effect. As much as I think a stadium is no place for a rock concert, if it's going to be done, it should be done like this. It would be easy to let the visual flashiness of a show like this overshadow the music, but it really didn't.

I'm sure I'll think of more as soon as I hit "Submit".

Dr. J

[chief]

[quote]

2.
Come to think of it, that was a great concert too. Tool, Rage Against the Machine, Alice in Chains and others.

damn, you saw rage, tool, and AIC?
wow, im jealous.. i really want to see Alice in Chains,
maybe one day!

[chief]

some favorites of mine:

Black Crowes with Jimmy Page
Aerosmith
Rolling Stones
Ben Harper
Black Sabbath
The Cult

there are probably a few I missed too..

[RealityChuck]

Dates approximate:

Pink Floyd, Boston 1973(?). I was a Pink Floyd fan before it became trendy.

Rock & Roll 9, Florida 1973. Nine killer acts including Jo Jo Gunne, Edgar Winter (with a special appearance by Johnny), Elvin Bishop, the Allman Brothers, and (the only loser) the Mahvishnu Orchestra.

Otis Taylor, Albany, NY, July 1999. Amazing Blues.

J. Geils Band and Allman Brothers, Hudson Valley Community College, 1972.

Bruce Springsteen, Union College, 1974. When he was still relatively unknown.

Sha Na Na, Union College, 1971.

[GLWasteful]

Richard Thompson, '99 in Lawrence KS, & '2K in KCMO. This man is truly amazing. I cannot recommend him enough, so if he winds up playing in your area, just go. The advantage is that he usually plays in bars or small venues, so the tickets won't break the bank. Plus, he has a band member named Pete Zorn who is a freaking music store, down right. Alto Sax, Bari Sax, Soprano Sax, guitar, mandolin, dulcimer, penny whistle, he plays it all.

A triple bill that came through last winter was Los Straitjackets, G Love & Special Sauce, and The Reverend Horton Heat. I'm still not such a fan of G Love, but I would recommend Los Straitjackets to anyone who likes a surf rock sound, Mexican wrestling masks, and a rocking version of "My Love Will Go On" or whatever in hell that Titanic song is called. The Rev was The Rev, 'nuff said.

Brave Combo, '2K in KCMO. These guys just have so damned much fun that anytime they come to town, I try to see them.

And The Dead at Starlight Theatre in. . .I dunno, '86? '87? '88? Third, and best, time that I saw them live. Plus, as some friends and I were walking toward the entrance, an enchanting little creature skipped toward me, touched me on the shoulder, and said, "Dose". So I took the tab off of my shoulder and was blown away.

Waste
Flick Lives!

[Spoke]

OK, I have seen literally hundreds of live concerts. I'm a bit of a live music junkie. A live performance is about showmanship and about musical proficiency. It's one thing to make a good studio recording (where you can get innumerable do-overs until you get it right), another thing to perform well live, where you have one shot to get it right. I am a huge fan of R.E.M.'s albums/CDs, but for my money, they have never been great live performers. With that intro, my top 10 live performers are:
[list=1][*]The Rolling Stones. Steel Wheels show at Grant Field in Atlanta. The Stones combine musical proficiency with showmanship for the best live performances around. This is the only "big production" live performance I have truly enjoyed.[*]Jason and the Nashville Scorchers. Dark horse here. This is one of the so-called "cow-punk" bands (infusing elements of rock, country, and punk thrash), though I believe they never liked the cow-punk appellation. I saw these fellows on numerous occasions in the late 80's to early 90's. No band out there does a better job of working the audience into an absolute frenzy night in and night out.[*]Stray Cats. Brian Setzer before he turned to swing. Once again, the showmanship was amazing. I had rafter seats for this show, and even the folks in the nosebleed seats were on their feet jumping around.[*]Bruce Springsteen. Once again, I had lousy seats, but you have to give The Boss credit. He put on a four-hour show, and had everyone in the arena delirious.[*]The Pretenders. Didn't miss a note the entire show, and the crowd went wild. Chrissy Hynde is a goddess.[*]Psychedelic Furs. I saw these guys several times, but my favorite performance was at Legion Field in Athens, GA, circa 1985. Alex Chilton, who was living in Athens at the time, opened the show, and get the crowd going (Uke is right about Chilton), then the Furs finished 'em off with a blistering set.[*]BR5-49. One of the "alternative country" acts out there. Got their start playing for tips at Robert's in Nashville. I caught 'em at the Star Bar in Atlanta a couple of years ago. The atmosphere was electric. They came on stage in rhinestone outfits straight out of Nashville circa 1960, and performed a tear-em-up set of old country classics, from Ernest Tubb, to Webb Pierce, to Hank Williams, plus some hilarious tongue-in-cheek original numbers.[*]Asylum Street Spankers. Another dark horse, and another Star Bar performance. This is a group of acoustic musicians out of Austin, TX, who play a sort of hybrid dixieland/swing/blues style, a la the Squirrel Nut Zippers. The lyrics of their songs are hilarious, and they are one of the more entertaining live acts around. Catch them if they play near you.[*]Radiohead. Caught these guys at the Masquerade in Atlanta, a small-to-mid-sized venue, and they killed.[*]Green Day. International Ballroom in Atlanta, a couple of years back. This band blew the roof off the place.[/list=1]

[Nutty Bunny]

I have only really enjoyed two bands live, because everyone else sucks.

The Tragically Hip--at Saratoga Winners in Latham, NY in 1994 or 95.(I've seen them about 6 times, but that was the best).

Barenaked Ladies--Walnut Creek Ampitheater in Raleigh, NC (1997)

[jesuslynch]

Stevie Ray Vaughn. The man was a genius with his axe.

Boston and Aerosmith at Texas Jam '86. And I'm positive the two hits of TurboX had nothing to do with it.

AC/DC. Before Queensryche opened the show, there was a thick cloud hanging in the air and EMT's were carrying people out.

Loverboy. Believe it or not.

Rush. They used to stop here at least once a year.

Buffett. Though it's one of those anytime, anywhere type deals, the best one I've seen to date was at Mud Island in Memphis. It's just something about that venue. I don't know if the beer is colder or just what.

[ThisYearsGirl]

I've also seen Bruce Hornsby in concert and was very impressed. Opening act Edwin McCain, and although I didn't like that one popular song of his, he had a lot of other great stuff, and really connected with the audience.
Can't remember dates or locations, but here are some of my favorite concerts:
REM
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Black Crowes
They Might Be Giants
2 Skinnee J's (a rap-metal group, normally I don't dig that style of music, but they put on a great show. . kinda like Rage, but less political)
Smashing Pumpkins (with Garbage as the opening act--they rocked, too)

[GreenEyes]

Some of the best live performances I have seen.. KISS, Garth Brooks, Aerosmith, Beach Boys, Jimmy Buffet, Journey. The worst, hands down was a group I saw in the mid 80's.. they couldn't sing live to save theirs.. Huey Louis and the News.. They sucked!!

[LocalLoop]

Hmm, let's see now. So many to choose from...


4. Alice in Chains - The show was so bad that a Rolling Stone article about the band had the quote "Things fell apart in Minneapolis". In any case, my friend and I were hanging around trying to get some tickets to the sold out show when we saw the bass player wandering around the side entrance asking for some valium. Well, I told him I could get him a tablet or two (left over prescription) if he put me and my associate on the guest list. He declared it a deal and I grabbed my car and prepared to run home (only lived a few minutes away). He saw me stopped at the intersection by the place (First Avenue nightclub, btw) and jumped in the backseat of my car!! To make a long story short, he was a total arrogant child, and the show sucked, but what a lead-in story.

3. Tool - Undertow tour - First Avenue again (smallish nightclub). Got there early, stood about 3 feet from the band. Very intense show.

2. Los Lobos - Any tour, anytime - One of my favorite bands to see live. My dream would be to have them as my wedding band.

1. Pearl Jam - First Avenue again - Tour supporting "Ten", they ahdn't hit their popularity yet. Once again, arrived early and stood a few feet from the band. Enjoyed watching Eddie swing from the balcony and crowd surf. Good stuff.

[ReservoirDog]

In no particular order:

Counting Crows (Chicago,IL 2000) - A fantastic group of musicians who are constantly refining and redefining their songs. This show was a lot of fun, now that Adam Duritz has gotten over his "man doesn't it suck to be famous?" phase.

Nine Inch Nails (Worcester, MA 1995) - The Downward Spiral tour absolutely rocked. A true spectacle with the lights and the video screens, etc. I have never seen a larger mixing board in my life as the one they had set up for this show.

Stone Temple Pilots (Tampa, FL 1997) - Scott Weiland had just gotten out of rehab (again) and kept it together long enough to tour for a couple months. An incredible show which they split into a few distinct sections. A second, smaller stage, lit entirely with candles dropped from the roof and they all climbed aboard and did an impressive acoustic set. Every time they played a song, I thought that they had managed to play all of their hits, but then they started the next one. Awesome. Local H opened.

Beck (Chicago, IL 2000) - A very versatile, very funny, and very short man. Pulled out all the stops for this show... had two guys on the turntables, two drummers, two back up singers, a bassist, two guitarists, and a three piece horn section. I didn't know where to look.

Blind Melon / Meat Puppets (Oneonta, NY 1994) - In the SUNY school's gymnasium. A lot of fun. Meat Puppets did a cool rendition of Helter Skelter using the slide trombone as the principle instrument. Blind Melon really rocked out, much to my own surprise. Too bad Shannon Hoon had to kill himself with the ol' needle.

G. Love & Special Sauce (Ithaca, NY 1995) - In The Haunt, a tiny little club downtown. These guys are incredibly fun to watch. Guitar, giant upright bass, drums. So funky. The opening act was a band called Jaspar and the lead singer from that group came out at the end and they did a twenty-minute long improv rap/ blues thing. It was cool.

That's all for me. Honorable mentions :

Queensryche - the U.S. leg of the tour that Coldfire mentioned earlier. Operation:Mindcrime was incredible

Third Eye Blind - not so much the group themselves, but it was on Clearwater Beach, FL, last Memorial Day. Half naked people dancing all over the place.

I'm done.

[Demo]

Grateful Dead, Shoreline Amphitheatre...it must have been around Spring of '94. An awesome run of Stagger Lee and a montstrous marshmallow fight, to boot!

Also, Primus, at The Phoenix, a tiny venue near my hometown. This was around '90, the Frizzle Fry tour. I was in the pit all night long, in a trance; Fell multiple times, but came out with not even a scratch!

[SaxFace]

Bad Brains
Nina Hagen
Sleep
Desmond Dekker
Some random baritone sax quintet

Note: not at the same time but in no particular order.

Am I the only one who loathes concerts in huge ampitheaters? If I have to go to one of those, I usually bring a book because the crowd is so annoying and the sound quality so bad.

Give me a small, intimate place where I can actually see what the musicians are doing and I'll probably enjoy any show.

[Spoke]

Hey LocalLoop-

I'm with you on Los Lobos. If my list had been any longer, they would have been number 11. I saw them put on a great show in Athens, GA a few years back. Tight set, and the crowd was rocking.

[billehunt]

Smashing Pumpkins In a small place in San Diego before they were big. In fact, I played in the same bar a few weeks before. They carried their own gear in. I even helped the bass player (I don't recall her name) carry some stuff in. There were maybe 100-200 people there and they rocked. Billy Corgan had long hair at the time and he reminded me of Jim Morrison; he was very charismatic.

Pearl Jam Also in a small place in San Diego. They had just formed from Mother Love Bone.

Primus and Firehose In San Francisco. My bandmates Jason, JT and I borrowed a car and drove from San Diego to San Francisco to check them out. I had never seen anything like Les Claypool; we were blown away.

Firehose In San Diego. A few weeks after the above concert, I saw that Firehose was playing at UCSD, so we went to see them. I saw the bass player (I can't recall his name) walking around the campus before the show and talked to him a while, told him that we had driven to San Francisco to see them. They rocked. After the show, he came over to me and thanked us for coming.

Nirvana In Tiquana. "Nevermind" had just come out and they weren't super-famous yet. There were maybe 500 people at the show. A week before, as a joke, my bandmate Jason had made some backstage passes to Hell, which were very cool looking. I wore it to the show. A friend gave it to Kurt Cobain while they were playing and he talked about it on stage, "So there are Satanists in the crowd".

A couple bands I never saw in their prime that I wish I would have: AC/DC, Van Halen (v. 1), NIN

[John Corrado]

Okay, this is really pathetic on my part, as I've only been to about five concerts in my entire life (yessir, just one giant party animal, that's me), and in one of them I was actually playing.

But the best concert I've ever been to had to have been Weird Al Yankovic at a small theatre in downtown DC this year.

Al is a frenetic and top-quality performer; there are plenty of video clips (from specials he's done, UHF, and other sources) between and during songs, often the performance approaches theatre of the absurd, and you'll hear songs that Al hasn't yet (or won't) put on an album.

(Second best was Meatloaf performing in NJ; third was Jethro Tull at the Merriweather Post Pavilion; and fourth was Rush at Merriweather Post. Last, and most sucky, was my garage band's performance at the Sligo Creek Rec Center.)

[UncaStuart]

Hmm, mine were all around the same time, same place, when I was at UC Santa Barbara, mid to late 60s. Wasn't then and still amn't a fan of huge crowds, so I haven't gone to many since. But the venue at SB was pretty small, so I could get up close and personal with:

Cream. Yow. 20 feet away from Slowhand.

The Byrds. In a high school auditorium, because, IIRC, which is sometimes doubtful when refering to the 60s as the joke goes, Crosby was an alum and was doing the school a favor. They were just releasing "Eight Miles High," and I believe this might have been the first concert performance of it.

Also passing through town were The Jefferson Airplane, Big Brother and the Holding Company, The Doors, Ike & Tina Turner, The Loving Spoonful, and such. But I did study too, honest.

[billehunt]

UncaStuart wrote

Yow. 20 feet away from Slowhand.

Wow; too cool. I was a zygote at the time and didn't catch him till the early 90's along with a gazillion other fans. Still a great concert, but not even in the same league.

[Eo Echo]

There are two that really stand out:

1. HFStival 2000 (five days ago), FedEx Field, D.C.: I saw Stone Temple Pilots and Rage Against the Machine, my two favorite bands, back to back.

2. Metallica/Guns N' Roses July 1992, RFK Stadium, D.C.: again, my two favorite bands at the time. Metallica were awesome, and so were GNR, even if it took em two hours to get onstage.

[London_Calling]

Led Zep in the open air on a warm summer's evening in 1980. A thousand fires lit across the fields, finishing with 'Stairway to Heaven' at midnight. Still waiting to come down.

[DoctorJ]

Asylum Street Spankers. Another dark horse, and another Star Bar performance. This is a group of acoustic musicians out of Austin, TX, who play a sort of hybrid dixieland/swing/blues style, a la the Squirrel Nut Zippers. The lyrics of their songs are hilarious, and they are one of the more entertaining live acts around. Catch them if they play near you.

Fuckin' A on the Spankers. I've seen them about four times now. When the man says they are acoustic musicians, he means it--they use no amplification whatsoever. They have (had) a "barker" with a megaphone who goes into the audience and tells anyone talking too loudly to shut the hell up.

I was worried that their demise was imminent--apparently Pops and Mysterious John (the barker) both left the band. They were having some real personnel trouble right before that as well, when Stan and Col. Josh left and they had to fire their bass player for being too stoned to make a gig in Amsterdam. (As I told Christina when she was telling me about all this, you could say he was "stoned like a bass player in Amsterdam".)

They are back, with some new members and a new album all about the joys of intoxication called "Spanker Madness". They're on tour this summer--check 'em out.

Dr. J

[Spoke]

Here's the tour schedule for the Asylum Street Spankers, for those who are interested:

http://www.asylumstreetspankers.com/shows.html

Go see 'em if you can!

[Spoke]

Here are this summer's tour dates for BR5-49...

http://www.br5-49.com/

You want to see a great show, be sure to catch these boys if they come to a town near you.

[Silo]

Van Halen - great live band - I was smokin mad dope in the crowd.

Steve Vai (on Thanksgiving Night) was a blast, even let me tool his g-tar, was like 10 feet away from me the whole show.

I went back stage with Everything (you know that song, "You got the hooch...baby...) Got drunk and baked with the band and helped 'em out.

Few others, but those were the most fun.

[Convict]

Van Halen, March 1998--This was their first Chicago show with Gary Cherone. I was a little nervous before the show since Van Halen is my favorite band, but they didn't let me down. Definitely the best concert I've seen.

Styx, October 1996--Their live album and video "Return to Paradise" was recorded at this concert. It was the third time I had seen them on this particular tour. Rumor has it that you can spot me for a nano-second at the beginning of the video.

Buddy Guy, Sept 1994 or '95--Performed at the Last Fling in Naperville, IL. This was the first time I saw him, and I almost didn't go. I'm glad I did. Can't beat seeing Buddy for free while standing 10 feet from the stage.

Smashing Pumpkins, (don't remember the date)--Got front-row seats for free for helping a friend with his ticket brokerage. I think I was the oldest person there.

Jefferson Airplane, summer of 90--performed the same night as the Stones did, so great tickets were available. Sure, age had caught up with them, but it was still a great show.

[Barney111]

No particular order:

Woodstock '94 : Bob Dylan was the best I've seen him, before or since (I am a HUGE Dylan fan- probably seen him 75 times)
Peter Gabriel was awesome, too.

Dylan, Dead, and Tom Petty: RFK Stadium D.C.('88?)

Shawn Colvin : solo acoustic show at 9:30 Club, Washington,D.C., 1994.

Lyle Lovett and his Big Band: George Mason University, "Joshua Judges Ruth" Tour. This guy is a great performer with a very tight band. See him if you get the chance.

Little Feat(w/Lowell George), Bonnie Raitt, Catfish Hodge: The Wax Museum, Washington D.C. (early '80's)

I've been blessed to see lots of good concerts, but these shows seem to stick out for me.

[Enginerd]

1. Bob Dylan and Ani Difranco, Wolftrap VA Summer '98

2. Dylan/Phil Lesh last November at Barton Hall, Ithaca NY (the best of the shows I got to from last fall's tour)

3. BB King, also in Ithaca

4. Fugazi (any one of them)

5. David Byrne, GW University, Summer '95

They change constantly, but these are five that really stick out.

[Falcon]

John - You saw Rush live at Merriweather? I hate you now. *grumble* Like Coldy, I love them, but have never seen them live. The one chance I had, I was in college and decided not to make the drive. Biggest concert regret ever.

Anyway....my favorite concerts, in no particular order:

They Might Be Giants, Wolf Trap, summer 1994 - great show. Had just been introduced to the band by a friend, and went with her. Sang our LUNGS out, and had 7th row seats.

Mary Chapin Carpenter, Wolf Trap, May 1999 - Second time I went to see her. This concert was after her greatest hits CD was released. Seeing her in DC rocks...she grew up there, so it's a homecoming for her. (Her first hit song was about a bar in Bethesda, Maryland.) Played EVERY ONE of my favorite songs....and it was a beautiful night on the lawn.

Indigo Girls, Wolf Trap, June 1997 - This one goes on the list for one reason alone. Standing with my two best friends from college on the lawn at Wolf Trap a month after graduation, SCREAMING along with the line "Spent 4 years prostrate to the higher mind, got my paper and I was FREE!"

Lilith Fair, Merriweather Post Pavilion, July? 1999 - got SOAKED at this one because I was sitting on the lawn, but the show made up for it. The Pretenders were AWESOME during their set, and so were Sheryl Crow and Sarah McLachlan. Got lucky that I liked all the bands on my stop.

And as a final show....

Dave Matthews Band, somewhere in Roanoke, April 1998 - picking one show for DMB was hard, but I think this one was one of the better ones I've been to. Won tickets from a local radio station. It was the first show of the Before These Crowded Streets tour - it was before the album was even available. Once again, got soaked because it was general admission. Bruce Hornsby also performed, which was great....and then Dave put on a HELL of a show. Got to hear my two favorite live songs: "Halloween" and "All Along the Watchtower."

[L.Ron Hoover]

Never seen a good outdoor stadium show.
Best arena show I ever saw was Neil Young on the Ragged Glory tour in '92, documented on Weld.

Best Summer pavillion show I ever saw was NIN and Bowie in '95, with the highlight being Bowie and Trent duetting on Scary Monsters and Hurt.

Best Package deal I ever saw was Horde '97. Neil Young, Beck, Primus, Toad The Wet Sprocked right before they imploded, and on the second stage, Morphine(RIP, Mark) and a little known band from North Carolina called Ben Folds Five who kicked the asses of all the pre-Toad main stage acts.

Best small club shows I've seen, all at a place called Toad's Place: Warren Zevon, Banned from Utopia(A Zappa tribute featuring his band members), Bruce Cockburn, and as surprised as I am to say this, I also really enjoyed Weird Al.

Rush sucks live. If I want to see Rush live, I'll just play my albums and have someone blow pot smoke in my face and spill beer on me while screaming "Play TOM SAWYER!"

[Diane]

My taste in music usually centers around bands like Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Nirvana, Blind Melon, Smashing Pumpkins, Zebra head, KMFDM, Rancid. I also love Pink Floyd, Billy Idol, and even Prince.

I have seen most in concert as well as all the old bands while growing up, Blue Oyster Cult, Uriah Heep, Nazareth, Ted Nuggent, Sammy Hagar, Foghat, Deep Purple, Bad Company, Rolling Stone (just saw them again in 1999).

I have even been so lucky to get backstage at a few (Bob Dylan (what a burnout), Van Halen (was forcibly kissed by a member of the band and got pissed), Sammy Hagar before VH, Cheap Trick, and UFO).

However, by far my all time favorites have been:

3. KISS 1976(?) - When Destroyer came out, back when they had the fire and blood and makeup. I think a lot of it had to do with me only being 13 or 14 years old. I was in awe.

2. Chet Atkins with the Utah Symphony 1997 (or was it 98?) This guy was totally amazing and his guitar skills would blow any rock and roller off the stage.

1. Moody Blues 1998 (or maybe 97, I loose track of time). I have to say that out of every rock concert I have been to, this one, by far put them all to shame, without exception.

I attended Chet Atkins and The Moody Blues with the same friend I mentioned in the Rolling Stones thread. He was my concert buddy, he died last March.

[chief]

I've also seen Bruce Hornsby in concert and was very impressed. Opening act Edwin McCain, and although I didn't like that one popular song of his, he had a lot of other great stuff, and really connected with the audience.
Can't remember dates or locations, but here are some of my favorite concerts:
REM
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Black Crowes
They Might Be Giants
2 Skinnee J's (a rap-metal group, normally I don't dig that style of music, but they put on a great show. . kinda like Rage, but less political)
Smashing Pumpkins (with Garbage as the opening act--they rocked, too)

post some more details about the Crowes show..

[Flutterby]

I don't think I can add much to this since I've been to maybe 5 or 6 concerts in total. (all within the last 3 years btw) but the ones that I really liked were Matthew Good Band and Great Big Sea. (Two Canadian bands so if you haven't heard of them thats okay with me. But find some MP3's of MGB they are good)

So for me (going by all the concerts I've been to)

1. MGB and GBS The Palace 2000 (just April actually) and Saddle Dome '99 respectively.(Can't choose just one there)
2. Alanis Morissette Saddle Dome '99
3. Backstreet Boys Saddle Dome '98 (Say what you will I like them. I would have enjoyed the concert more if I didn't have to listen to a good couple thousand screaming girls though)

[Typo Negative]

I know I'm a little late, but here goes.

5. Jethro Tull in Dayton,Ohio
4. Rush in Dayton,Ohio
3. The Reverend Horton Heat at the Paladium, L.A.
2 The Dickies at the Palomino Club, L.A.
1. The Epitaph Summer Nationals Shows at the Paladium featuring SNFU, NOFX, the Offspring, Down by Law, Gashuffer and Bad Religion.

[JavaMaven1]

Spoke! I can't believe there's another BR5-49 fan out there! Saw them when they opened for Brian Setzer last year at the Greek Theatre in L.A., and finally convinced my boyfriend that this was a great band.

Other fantastic shows I've seen, in no particular order:

Royal Crown Revue at The Derby. The Derby holds in its front room, maybe about 200-250 SRO. They put on a remarkable testosterone-driven swing show.

The Pogues, John Anson Ford Theatre, 1989. I was a 17 year old pup at this time, so I survived the pit. They were a perfect combination of punk and Irish drinking music--it was music for moving, and I swear, they were the only band that ever made the accordian COOL.

Charlotte Church, Hollywood Bowl, 1999. What can I say about her--she is an earth-bound angel, whose voice can make me a pile of jello every time I hear her sing.

Buddy Guy & John Lee Hooker, Long Beach Blues Festival, 1997. I volunteered to work this festival (it's a yearly festival in which the profits go to run the L.B. University Jazz & Blues Radio station, to keep it commercial-free). Since I had the almighty all-access pass, I figured to get in to the Press Pit since it was the closest to the stage possible when Buddy Guy came on. I'm glad I did it--I was transcended to another plane of existence when I heard him. I don't think I felt my body for the 40 minutes he was on. And--about John Lee Hooker-- He's the man.

[Mr. Cynical]

Queensryche, for sure! I saw them during the Hysteria tour, where they opened for Def Leppard. I had never heard anything by them before. By the time they got to I Don't Believe In Love, I was sold.

And, the very best one was Barry Manilow, at Fiddler's Green in Colorado. A wonderful show. It was a beautiful night, I had awesome seats, and the music was perfect. People around me were crying at some of his songs. Wonderful.

[SwimmingRiddles]

I've been to a ton of shows, as I used to work for a radio station. But the end-all of musical experiances was standing 50 feet from the mainstage at Woodstock '99, before it burned down, listening to Elvis Costello sing "What's So Funny About Peace, Love, and Understanding?" Everyone started swaying and holding the peace sign, and for the first time in three days of dehydration, hunger, heat exhaustion, and pent up rage that exploded that night, I felt like I was at WOODSTOCK. It was pure beauty. Dave Matthew's set the night before was pretty great, too. The stage area was packed, I'd say way over 100,000, and during "Ants are Marching" the entire audience screamed "PEOPLE IN EVERY DIRECTION," and Dave giggled. While I will curse the promoters of Woodstock '99 until I die, the music I saw, the energy of the performers, and the synergy of audience members was nothing short of amazing.

As far as smaller shows go, I really liked the Barenaked Ladies. And while I'm not a huge fan of pop-rock, (give me a good quirky King Missle track any day,) The Barenaked Ladies were the kindest band I have ever seen. They kept coming back for encores, and Ed said "When you jump around, please make sure you're doing it vertically. Watch out for each other out there, OK?" And they did a cover of "Memories" from CATS, which amused the shit out of me. Without being sugary, they apprechiated the audience, which is a band really should be doing.

Guster, a three man outfit from Boston, is lots of fun live, too.