Although they aren’t super well known, Cowboy Mouth out of New Orleans gives one of the best live concerts you can see. They have been around for a while and tour all over but their music doesn’t translate well to CD and even less to radio. Cowboy Mouth has multiple lead singers with different music and styles so they play a diverse set. Some of their music is played to their own form of “inspirational rock” style and is very powerful in person. I highly recommend them if they tour your area.
A few that stand out:
Pink Floyd, at the Oakland Coliseum Arena, the Momentary Lapse of Reason tour. 4th row, directly in front of David Gilmour. The best seats Ihave ever had for a concert.
Tom Petty, about 1996 or so, at Arco Arena in Sacramento. The show had been scheduled for the Cal Expo Amphitheater, but it had rained all week and there was about 6 inches of water on the ground. The day of the show, it was moved indoors. Rhiannon8404 was working at the time for a radio station that had a luxury box at the Arena (they broadcast the Kings games). A bunch of us wound up watching the concert from the box, complete with food and drink service and our own private bathroom.
And TP put on a damn good show, to boot.
Boston, somewhere in the mid-90’s. The most technically perfect band I have ever heard. Boston in concert sounds exactly like Boston on an album, note for note. If it weren’t for the odd guitar or drum solo, I would have suspected they were faking the whole show.
Chicago at Cal Expo, in the late 90’s some time. This was a double bill with Crosby, Stills, & Nash. CSN was…disappointing. Chicago simply rocked; I was totally blown away.
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, at the House of Blues Anaheim, 2004. A toe-tappin’, hip-swingin’, in-your-face party of a good time.
Rush, at Cal Expo, somewhere in the late 80’s-eary 90’s. The loudest show I have ever seen, and this at an outdoor venue. And those are three extremey talented musicians, they played every note of music themselves; no backup musicians in sight.
Saw them at the height of their mainstream popularity in 1998, at a tiny club on my birthday. I was in my suit and two-tone Doc Martens wingtips and had a gorgeous blonde on my arm. That was a really great concert.
Royal Crown Revue was amazing as well, but I saw them in less than ideal conditions – a shortened set as part of the 1997 Warped Tour, outdoors in the Florida summer heat with a crowd of people who really weren’t expecting to hear swing.
Tool and Daft Punk
Live Aid. I was three people back, center stage, when Jimmy Page and Robert Plant took the stage. Ditto for Duran Duran, and Tina Turner.
Buster Poindexter and the Banshees of Blues. He was the headliner of a blues festival at a local club. Ry Cooder was one of the Banshees, and the opening act was an unknown Joan Osborne.
I’ve been going to shows for over 30 years now. The best single show I’ve ever seen was by Dave Alvin and The Guilty Men.
I saw a mention of Cheap Trick earlier. I take my son with me to see them now.