I was just sitting here, watching “Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band Live In New York” and thinking about all the concerts I’ve seen in my life. Bruce puts on a great live show, and the dozens of times I’ve seen him definately rank in the Top Ten of concerts I’ve seen. But the ultimate concert in my life was the Ronnie Lane ARMS Benefit (Action Research into Multiple Sclerosis) back in 1983. Joe Cocker, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman, etc. Three sets, and the capper was Jimmy Page doing an instrumental solo “Stairway to Heaven.” When he got to the bridge, another guitar joined in. Eric Clapton. Then a third guitar. Jeff Beck. All three Yardbird guitarists finished “Stairway,” then immediately launched into “Layla.” My only thought at that moment was “Take me now, Lord.” That is the single greatest moment I have ever seen live in concert. It even beats out me playing with Annie Haslam’s toes during a Renaissance concert in Reseda in the mid-eighties.
Beck, on the Midnite Vultures tour, at the Orpheum in Boston. Warped my fragile little mind. I’m still bitter that he promised to come back out and do “Nobody’s Fault” after the acoustic bit, and never did. But “Debra” alone made up for that.
Second: Phish, at Lemonwheel, when they opened a set with the Beastie Boys’
“Sabotage”. It was great to see 70,000 minds try to make that transition all at once.
Definitely seeing The Who on their Quadrophenia tour in 1990. We flew to Vancouver to see them, and we had seats in the third row on the floor, almost center stage. Gorgonzola was sure she got some of Pete Townshend’s molecules on her.
That was the tour where they had Zak Starkey on drums, and the Mod and the Rocker were played by Billy Idol and Gary Glitter. And after Quadrophenia was over, they came out and did an entire third set as an encore, playing pretty much everything off of “Who’s Next”. It just flat-out rocked.
I don’t remember the best concert I ever saw. It was that good.
Actually, I do remember it – but much drinking was involved. I saw The Pogues at The Coachhouse in San Juan Capistrano, CA. It’s a small club. There were half a dozen long tables that were set perpendicular to the small stage. People who came early for dinner got the tables, while everyone else had to sit in the few available booths or just stand. Each time I saw The Pogues there, I had a very tasty steak dinner (even the salads were great, and most places seem not to put much effort into salads) and had an up-front seat for the concert.
Once the tables were cleared, the concert started. Now, you can’t really listen to The Pogues without drinking. There was some disagreement about how much I had to drink at one concert, but after the show we took my friend home to Orange and I had another beer. Well, half a beer. That much put me over the edge, and I nearly passed out. My girlfriend had to drive us home to L.A. (I remained conscious, though; since it was her first time driving my little 924.) Furing the concert everyone was pounding on the tables and clapping in time to some of the songs. I was pounding on the table with an ashtray. It broke in my hand. A bouncer was coming, but the girl who was seated across from me scooped it away before he got there. I’m currently using the ashtray that accidentally fell into my pocket at the previour Pogues concert.
Joe Strummer joined the band as a guest guitarist.
Tool’s September 4th stop at the Xcel in St. Paul on their '02 summer tour. I am still amazed that they played Opiate. Just… wow. Great show. I got two tickets because my now ex fiancé and I were going to go together but when I saw the look on my brother’s face when I was all “I’m going to see Tool on the 4th”, I knew I had to take him with me instead. After many, many apologies to That Guy* I called Adam and said “OMGWTF you’re going to see TOOL!!!11”
So I got to hang with my brother and see a really awesome concert and we had the Best Night Ever and neither of us will ever forget it.
*He’s not a big fan of Tool anyway; he only wanted to go to be with me because he knew I really, really wanted to and he wanted to see my happy. Or something. And that’s sweet, but whatever.
December 2, 2000. The Metro in Chicago. The Smashing Pumpkins’ final show. It lasted 4 hours and I, along with 1100 or so people from around the country and the world who came to see the show, wished it would have never ended.
I’m looking forward to its eventual release on DVD…supposedly sometime in '06.
I went to a concert at the “Mississippi River Festival” held on the campus of SIU-Edwardsville, in the late 60’s to see the “the Band” and after the intermission Bob Dylan came out on stage with them to do his first appearance after his infamous motorcycle accident that had him holed up at “Big Pink” (with the “Band”) when the Basement Tapes cuts were recorded.
**Led Zeppelin ** on my birthday 1972 at the Sydney Showground. I had been to a few decent concerts by that time but had never heard a band rock that hard. Faultless performances from Bonham, Plant, Page and Jones. As we walked out after 2 1/2 hours of Zep, Super turned to me and said “I can die now.”
The Sex Pistols at the 100 Club in LOndon 1976. Although I thought they were pretty ordinary (The Ramones they weren’t) the atmosphere they created was quite electric and they hadn’t yet stooped to Sid Vicious. Up to that time I used to just walk out on bands I didn’t like without trying to get into it.
**Georgie Fame ** at the Basement Sydney sometime in the early 80s. His backing band hadn’t turned up (they were also supporting Johnny Mathis, I think, and there had been problems at that concert. But Georgie came out and started on time all by himself and did everything imaginable - blues, old music hall numbers, dirty ditties, quiet versions of some of his hits. When the band arrived they came in through the street doors, picked up what Georgie was playing and joined in. They strolled through the tables in their tuxs from the previous gig high fiving people as they went by. Georgie then started again as though he had just come out. He was mesmerisingly good and was still doing encores when we had to leave. He had been on stage for 4 hours without a break.
Leo Kottke at the Sydney Town Hall sometime in the 70s. Terrible venue for this kind of show but Kottke was charming and his 12 string playing was sublime. I have seen him twice more since. But my main memory was the “other act” that appeared - Stephane Grappelli, after seeing him I went out and bought everything I could find with him on it. Next time I saw Kottke his support was Leon Redbone…again I acquired a heap of records.
Elvis Costello two years ago in Sydney. By mistake I booked tickets for consecutive nights and decided to go to both. Both nights we were in the 5th row. As a reward for our loyalty he did different sets each night. Even some of the songs that he did both nights were delivered differently from one night to the next.
Oddly enough, Ottawa, 1992. All on the same card: Michelle Shocked, the Neville Brothers, Joe Cocker, Dylan. Everybody fed on the energy from the previous performer, everybody was on their game, including Dylan, who started with “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35” and ended with “Boots of Spanish Leather”. Just great.
The Flaming Lips when they toured the with the Big Day Out in 2004, I believe it was. I went to their solo gig, which is by far my favourite gig ever - but my favourite moment came during their set at the Big Day Out festival. Part of their performance involves inflating dozens of huge baloons and throwing them into the crowd, sort of like the beachball thing taken to an extreme. Anyway, I managed to score a spot pretty close to the stage, so I was thoroughly enjoying the spectacle, but then halfway through their second song I turn around to look behind me - and see a thousand-strong crowd all bouncing around dozens of these giant multicoloured baloons.
I’m pretty sure I’ll never see anything like that again, anyway.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: The Mindless Self Indulgence concert in Boise is the best 12 bucks I ever spent. I swear I’ll never lose the Camel pack signed by Little Jimmy Urine.
A couple come to mind. For a large venue it would be Led Zepplin in the Kingdome while on their Physical Graffiti tour. After what we thought was the end of the show and folks started filing out, Robert Plant came out and announced that this was the last show of their tour for a few months and they wanted to take their break by going out with a bang. They played another 45 minutes including a 20 minute version of Whole Lotta Love.
And the most surprising was The New Barbarians in San Diego. Ron Wood, Keith Richard and company put on a hell of a show. It was reported the morning of the show that Mick Jagger was in town but he never made an appearance at the concert. The real star of the group was Stanley Clarke.
Phish at Red Rocks around 92. Apparently someone had planned badly and started the concert at 6:00. But the show it self was the one with the lights and the lasers, so they couldn’t do it. So they just jammed on their old stuff until around 9:00 when it was dark enough to start the real show which ended at 12. Plus there was a hell of a thunderstorm over the plains in the background, which made the light show seem like it was 100 miles square.
Well, Woodstock would have to be tops. But the previous summer, in August 1968, I saw a couple of incredible shows at the Singer Bowl in NY.
One show featured the Doors, with The Who, who were just beginning to become popular in the US, as the opening act.
The second had the Chambers Brothers as the opening act, followed by Janis Joplin with Big Brother and the Holding Company, followed by Jimi Hendrix as the closing act.
Three that stand out for me: Paul McCartney at Tampa Stadium, Elton John and Billy Joel , also at TS, and the ultimate show as far as lineups go:David Johansen, The Clash, and The Who at Shea Stadium. Imagine being a little “under the influence” and hearing 50,000 voices softly singing the “But my dreams they aren’t as empty…” segment from Behind Blue Eyes ! I still get chills remembering it!
