Not the greatest sound (you couldn’t even hear them!) but seeing The Beatles in the summer of 1966 was special.
Best concert? Either Pink Floyd 1973 Dark Side of the Moon Tour, or Jethro Tull in 1972.
For me it is either The Who in 1989 at Giant Stadium (NJ) or **Pink Floyd **at the LA Colosseum in 1987 for the A Momentary Lapse of Reason Tour.
Very honorable mention:
December 25th 1989 at the Stone Pony I saw about 6 acts and then at 12:30am December 26th Bruce Springsteen got on stage and kept playing until almost 4am. Keep in mind the Pony had to stop serving at 2am. I’m not the biggest Bruce fan, but live in a small environment, he is awesome.
As a bonus the show was a small fund raiser for an environmental group I had recently joined and so I go roped into being extra security and helped form a human barrier around the stage. So for the bulk of the time Bruce was playing, I was only a few feet away.
On October 13, 2007, Elton John played the first concert at Kansas City’s newly opened Sprint Center. It was a huge deal, pretty much the biggest news of the week. I wasn’t there. I was at an outdoor venue about six blocks south at a Wilco show. Andrew Bird opened. Both artists put on an outstanding show. They knew what they were competing against and made sure people were glad they came to their show instead of that other one.
U2 in Boston. I think it was the first IS date of the Joshua Tree tour.
Cake around '96 in a small venue in San Diego.
June 2018. Rolling Stones in Edinburgh Scotland. We were there for 2 weeks and although the trip was planned a year in advance, we didn’t know about the concert. Managed to get legit tickets the morning of.
The Who playing the whole Quadrophenia album in 1997 (saw them 2x) and 2012.
Also Weezer in 2015 and 10,000 Maniacs in 1989 before Natalie Merchant quit the band.
Thin Lizzy, on the “Live and Dangerous” tour, Empire Pool Wembley.
“I keep hearing people shouting out for sumtin’? …”
“Dis is the song we wanna do…”
“It’s a song called The Rocker!”
Jethro Tull at The Mosque, Richmond, VA, on 11/1/1970. It was a short (pre-Aqualung) set, but they were at their peak and the venue and sound were perfect.
The Tubes…nope, they don’t count
Deaf School…nope, they don’t count, too arty
Magazine…nope, too avant-garde
(Just teasing, mmm - I know what you mean. ;))
OK, I was in Victoria Park, April 1978, the Anti-Nazi League/Rock Against Racism Rally. Tom Robinson, X-Ray-Spex, The Clash, Steel Pulse. That rocked.
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The Who, Kemper Arena, Kansas City, 1975.
Opening act was Toots and the Maytals.
Toss-up between two.
Led Zeppelin at what became their last concert ever in the USA at the Oakland Coliseum on July 24, 1977, because I loved them and it basically epitomized the concert experience in those days.
Tom Petty at the Columbia River Gorge Amphitheater in August 2008, because it was like a lingering stroll through the soundtrack of my youth.
Seen a lot of good ones, but the one that stands out is Drive-By Truckers in a small room in Tahoe. It was snowing pretty good, and the opening act didn’t make it. So, at 8pm sharp (the opening act slot), The Truckers take the stage, blow the place away for maybe 3 1/2 hours straight, no chit-chat, no constant guitar changes, just Wall-to-Wall sonic glory. Straight from one song to the next. Just wrecked the place. People who came late expecting an opener didn’t get screwed. They played long enough to cover both time slots.
Only hitch was when Hood’s amp blew up. Hardly missed a beat. Unplugged and hooked into one of Cooley’s amps until the roadie got his swapped out. Went right back to rockin’. Great show!
I can still almost smell that amp smoking.
Mock me all you want, but I’ve seen Weird Al in concert twice, and at each show he brought the house down. His live performances are legendary.
I just want to thank everyone who posted to this thread. I found it to be extremely valuable. It gave me several ideas for updating my “Favorites” list.
I was especially surprised to read about Weird Al. I would never have ever guessed he would put on a great live show.
I can back up the claim about Weird Al: his live shows ARE legendary.
Greatest single moment: Pete smashing his guitar, Oakland 1982.
Greatest concert…hmmmm, I’ll say it’s a tie between a couple of shows in 1975: Pink Floyd at the Cow Palace and Peter Frampton at Winterland.
I attended very few rock concerts. I think I heard Big Brother at the Winterland Ballroom in the late 1960’s, but that whole period is a blur. 
But one concert I did attend was … the Altamont Speedway Free Festival in December 1969. :eek: :eek:
The Jason Becker Benefit Concert, Nov. 17, 1996 at the Riviera in Chicago. A who’s who of shredders coming together to raise money for Becker and ALS. Marty Friedman, Tony MacAlpine, Richie Kotzen, Vinnie Moore, Zakk Wylde, Dave Uhrich and many more forgotten in the years since. For some reason Enuff Z’Nuff was also on the bill. 8 plus hours of in your face guitar shredding (except for Enuff Z’Nuff).
And the headliners- Eddie Van Halen, Steve Lukather, Billy Sheehan and Pat Torpey played a 30 minute set of Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles and of course Van Halen. It took me 2 days to recover from that concert.
**Jaycat **setting the bar second post in, Damn.
Greatest show / performer I’ve ever seen is Jack White with the White Stripes in Glasgow. Rubbish, too big warehouse of a venue, Meg prob the fiftieth best drummer in the room, yet he absolutely slayed it.
Seen loads of bands I liked better who were really on form, or the music meant more to me personally, but never seen a performer on that level.
Bruce Springsteen, coming to the Dome in Syracuse (LATE 1970’?) . Tickets selling out fast. A lady working in the mail room where we all worked said, 'I’m going up there to try to get tickets;.
And OMG she got me a ticket and everyone was congratulating us as if we had won the lottery!..So the big day came and OMFG THAT SHOW WAS THE HIGHLIGHT OF MY WORTHLESS LIFE! it was A-maz-ing. JFC. I stopped at the all-night grocery a 2 a.m. for some milk and the cashier said 'oh, we’ve seen you Springsteen people in here all night, lol" (I had the sticker badge on my shirt)…( went to work in the morning still in my Springsteen souvenir t-shirt, still floating on air, and The Big Boss stopped me in the hall and said, ‘you know, ordinarily we would send you home to change, because this is a business. But I know it’s Bruce Springsteen, so we’ll let it slide. This ONCE.’ I can’t tell you how amazing that concert was, it was transcendent, only childbirth approached it as an experience to remember forever.