Return of the son of what are the best rock concerts you've seen

Cafe Society
41

I saw the good Reverend many times, and he was always great. I particularly loved the era of Swinging Jack Barton throwing around his big standup bass.

[I do have one funny memory, he played at Dick‘s Last Resort, which has a low stage, and which on weeknights had a weird mix of scruffy ne’er-do-wells like us, and older yuppies leaving work downtown. He launches into “Flat on My Back”, with eventually leads to him of course writhing on his back playing guitar, but on this particular night a whole crowd of older, well-dressed folks with drinks in their hands were all standing over him, looking quizzically down at him as he played. Such a strange memory.]

42

Yep, great band, with Tommy Aldridge on drums. Total rock star cool the way Randy played his Flying V almost straight-up, like, perpendicularly, the whole time.

King Crimson in '84. They did a similar opening that the Talking Heads were doing at the time - members coming out one at a time, starting with Robert Fripp, who frippertronic’ed for a bit, then Tony Levin chapman stick’ing with him for a bit, then Adrian Belew bouncing out with his strat and doing his thing, and then for some resaon the biggest (whooping!) applause came for Bill Bruford, magestically strutting out in a white suit, having a go at a vertical wall of strangely-tuned/fx electronic drums. Not often I get to use the word “grand” without sounding like Kenneth Clark or something. IIRC another poster saw this same tour.

Frank Zappa, just a couple months earlier, at the same venue (Vancouver’s tony Queen Elizaebeth Theatre) and almost the same perfect seat, about ten rows up, in the middle. The bathroom was pea soup with pot smoke, so I proceeded to enjoy the show accordingly. Veteran saxophonist/vocalist Napoleon Murphy Brock was neat to see.

Japanese noise merchants The Boredoms wracked my LSD-laced brain in '94. They were good for the LSD. An 8-piece band of freaks. Here, for something to do, their crazy vocalist Yamatsuka Eye decides to assemble a whole crapoad of drummers together.

Dillinger Escape Plan backed up by The Locust - again, just plain brain-scorching. A day of synapse-resorting required.

A pleasure seeing bands (multiple times) like Cephalic Carnage, Krisiun, Immolation, Pere Ubu, The Fall, The Jesus Lizard, some others.

Figured Snoboarder Bo would’ve had maybe a couple more, and nothing from Scabpicker!

43

Oh, almost forgot, The Dickies at CBGB in NYC mid 1980s.

It was the first time I’ve ever heard, or hear of, them. Fantastic, hard as a cement pie in your face, punk. Some of the tracks were pretty humorous. I also remember they did an all too cool instrumental of ‘The Munsters’ theme.

It was a small club, and they were loud.

44

You’ve just described 90% of the concerts I’ve been to there. I’ve paid for this with a bit of hearing loss, and I have exactly no regrets.

That era of punk predates me, but I went and tracked down an album, “Stukas over Disneyland,” and got kind of a Ramones vibe out of it (which I mean flatteringly). These guys sound musical, as opposed to the raw DIY sound a lot of other bands were putting together.

45

Spot-on summation of their sound!

46

My list really hasn’t changed:

ARMS Benefit, Inglewood Forum 12/5/83 - Clapton, Beck, Page, Rogers, Cocker, etc.

Any of the dozen Springsteen/E Street Band concerts I’ve seen over the years.

47

Thought of some others.

In 2019 I was over in the U.K. and made point of seeing a handful of concerts while there. In Cardiff I caught the Wonder Stuff (pretty amazing), but I didn’t recognize the names of any other groups passing through while I was there. So I went through all the local listings, and searched YouTube to check them out. That’s how I learned about a wicked cool Aussie rocker named Alex Lahey. Caught her video for “Don’t Be So Hard On Yourself” and was hooked. Saw her and the band in a tiny club about a block south of the Castle, the entire place was the size of my apartment. And they absolutely wailed, blazing power-pop and a ton of hooks and stage presence. Taking a flyer on an unknown quantity sometimes pays off.

Lou Reed on the New York tour, opening act was Moe Tucker with Half Japanese as her backing band. When she warbled “Pale Blue Eyes” there wasn’t a dry one in the house, I’m sure. And Lou was in fine form (in a good way, not a “Take No Prisoners” way).

Another Viper Room show, late 1999. It was a benefit gig for a musician with some health issues and big bills, but sadly I’m blanking on who it was. The lineup included a Theloneous Monster reunion, the debut performance of what I later learned was A Perfect Circle, X (most intimate setting I ever saw them in) and when they were wrapping up, Exene said “Don’t go yet guys, we’ve got one more surprise for you!” and not long after, the curtains on the tiny stage parted and it was Johnny Depp and his band P. They were just okay. But it was a really fun night, with a good community vibe.

48

My mother was at that show. She was 16 and told my grandmother she was sleeping over with a friend, then the two of them drove up from San Diego with the friend’s older sister. She wasn’t expecting the crowd to be as big as it was and she was a little scared, but she had fun and tells me about the show any time I mention a concert I’ve been to recently.

49

What was Grandma’s reaction when she found out the truth, or did she?

50

As my mom tells it, grandma found out from friend’s mom and was scared to death because she’d seen some TV news coverage of the concert that was making it look like a drug-fueled riot, but was extremely relieved when mom came home the next day a little shaken but fine.

It probably explains why my grandma practically turned pale when I told her years later, at the age of 21, that I was going to a Grateful Dead concert.

51

Ca. 1990, with 3 kids in college, my dad got a per-diem job doing security at a civic auditorium. After working a number of events, he told our mom, “I can’t believe I ever had a problem with the kids going to rock concerts. I sure am glad they weren’t country music fans.”

52

I have a good bit of hearing loss, which I do regret now… but at the time, I never even thought of it.
I can blame a lot of it on one concert…

We’d driven four hours to see a guy that a friend of a friend claimed would “rock your head, man”. Even when we heard the name Springsteen it meant nothing to any of us. He’d only played clubs near the Jersey shore, but the E Street Band was as tight as they were when they “made it”.

And the energy! At one point Bruce ("Seriously?"we’d been mocking, "A rocker named… Bruce?") climbed up on a stack of speakers. As they wobbled, we were right below… with our ears mere inches from the huge cones. We thought it was soooo cool that we could feel the wind from them on every downbeat.

We were invulnerable idiots. But contented ones.

53

Not only did I see all the above multiple times. I hung out with all of them.

Bob Mould of Husker Du was pretty cool. After a show in Sacramento with warm up bands, Husker Du and DOA. Joey Shithead made sure that Husker Du knew where the after show party was and attended. Joey and the rest of DOA were about as awesome folks as you will ever meet. Had fun spinning records at the radio station with them. Anyhoo, it really stuck in my head how Joey made sure that Husker Du were gonna go to the after party. This was Land Speed Record days and long before they got big.

Henry was a blow hard. Greg Ginn and the base player were good to hang with.

Jello was always on stage.

The Minutemen were just fucking cool. Hanging out with them was a highlight of my life. And live they were just incredible. I think it was Joey Shithead that stated it best: You see the minutemen and say that was the greatest show ever and they will never top that, then you see 'em a couple months later and then DO top that. :wink:

54

And I completely forgot about seeing the Reverend Horton Heat in Sacto circa 1987 in some dippy little club with maybe 50 people. He was awesome.

This just reminded me of the Cramps in Sacto maybe 1983? Another freaking great show. Maybe 200 people. At the end, a fellow radio station dj accidently split open the skin over my left eye with his teeth. Just a rocking crowd.

Cramps came back for an encore. Lux Interior said “what do you want to hear?”

I scream “The Crusher” a couple of times. Lux focused on me with blood streaming down my face from the cut. “I heard it, the Crusher it is.” IIRC it was five stiches after the show. I still have the scar kinda buried in my left eyebrow. :rofl:

55

Best shows I ever went to were:

Meatloaf. My very first concert as an adult. It was 1988 and before Bat Out of Hell 2. He was in good voice and did all but 2 songs from Bat Out of Hell. Halfway through the show, the power went out. It was July, so the heat was pretty awful. I went out one of the side doors so hang outside for a bit, and there was Meatloaf. I got to shake his hand and he autographed my ticket. Great way to start my concert going.

One of the most enjoyable shows I ever went to was Mojo Nixon with Dread Zeppelin opening. Tortelvis was in great voice. He barely needed a microphone.

Had a great time at the first two Lollapolooza shows. Saw Kiss on their first reunion tour in '96. Saw The Who with Robert Plant opening, although it was about a month after Entwistle died. Saw Heart with Joan Jett opening. Ramones with Social Distortion. Grateful Dead with Sting (hands down the finest sound ever, even if I wasn’t really a fan) And Concrete Blonde when she wasn’t all drunk and pissed off. :grinning:

56

id of killed to see that concert if id of known about it

57

Same for a couple. Found myself backstage after the Bob Mould show in 1990. Really friendly guy and answered all my fanboy questions. Tony Maimome was also really cool, but Anton Fier was in a bit of a pissy mood. I’d cross paths with Tony once a year for a while…Ubu in '91, They Might Be Giants in '92 (hung out at the band’s pre-show BBQ, which was great), and Frank Black in '93.

I met Henry when the Rollins Band was playing the basement of a community centre in Ottawa in winter '90 (so about 17 months before Lollapalooza started). I was an obnoxious 16-year-old twit bugging his idol so it didn’t go well. About ten years later, I ran into him again in the Jamba Juice on Larchmont in L.A. and it went much better, just grown-up friendly chat. Showed him my X tattoo and he heartily approved. I’m glad I got to make up for my earlier idiot-ness.

58

I saw those 2 together in the early 90s, a perfect show, I somehow got in early enough on tickets and had 2nd row seats.

59

It sounds like my Sick of it All experience, minus the moshpits. High fives. Though nobody mantled the stack of amps.

I had a similar “go to this concert, it’ll change you,” kind of deal, except it was for REO Speedealer. Not wagon. The wagon-themed band eventually launched a lawsuit, not appreciating the “humour,” so the dealer-themed band dropped the REO part in the fullness of time and settled for just being “Speedealer” but a lot of fans kept the REO part on anyway.

REO Speedealer songs were 90 seconds on average. They were full songs, mind you, but just compressed. All the sweetness and light was taken out and all that was left was nerve-jangling speedmetal. That was the first time I’d heard the genre.

It was at the Dominion Tavern, a small, seedy, dingy place infamous in Ottawa for cheap drinks. The sound was loud, chaotic, intense. Drinks were spilled on the regular. Tempers flared. No punches were thrown in that concert, but I was told later that was a rarity.

But I look back on it fondly.

60

I don’t know if we’ve got enough stories to fill another thread, but this one is occasionally reminding me of shows I missed for one reason or another but would no doubt have been amazing. When I was in grade 12, so late '89 early '90, my dad wouldn’t let me go to this one concert on a school night: the headliners were Voivod, and the two opening acts were some up-and-comers named Faith no More and Soundgarden.

Then, and I didn’t really hear about this until later…there was a club in Montreal called Les Foufounes Électriques (the electric buttcheeks) where this band was playing in September 1991. Do we want to go out and see this band? Nah, it’s raining and it’s a big hike from campus. They’ll be back, I’m sure.

Which is how most of McGill didn’t get to see a club show by Nirvana the same month Nevermind came out. Doy.