Live acts that kicked your ass?

[PlugHead]

KC Roberts and the Live Revolution.

I was lucky enough to play on a tune off their new album, and joined them onstage for their record release - for one of the 1st times in my life, I was nearly shitting my pants as these guys are SO good as a band, and the arrangements so perfect I was feeling like I might be the one to screw up their set.

If you're in Toronto and wanna hear a truly terrifying band (jazz/funk) check them out - you will NOT be disappointed...

Other honourable mentions:

UZEB
Taj Mahal
Staple Singers
Miles Davis
Chick Corea
Wayne Shorter

the list is LONG...

[Tone Weaver]

Originally Posted by ttauri

Who rocks? Who funks? Who's got mad skills?

Top of my list would be Femi Kuti & Positive Force.
"I say it's like a force, 'cause the force is strong" as MC Shan said. Monstrously powerful grooves, and Femi's got stage presence/charisma to burn. The first time I saw them, I felt that this is what it must have been like to have witnessed James Brown and the JBs in their heyday. Stunning.

And the dancers... Oh my goodness!

Peece,
T. Tauri

Yes I had this same reaction when I saw his father Fela some 20 odd years ago, oh & the dancers, my girlfriend had to pick my jaw off the floor, & she was not happy about it. Good to hear his kid is carrying the torch.
Lance

[SeanBlack]

Corrosion of Conformity at the Town Pump in Vancouver early 90's. $5. Went on reputation alone as I had never heard a single song of theirs. The only thing I knew was the lone punk in the biggest city closest to my town had the COC patch on his back. I had to see them.

My buddy and I were so floored at how tight and how good they sounded. Over the next year I bought most of their catalog and have everything since.

Deftones mid 90's at the Hungry Eye in Vancouver. I found a new favorite Drummer in Abe Cunningham. The guy was a freakin clock!! I knew these guys would be big.

Pink Floyd. Division Bell tour . BC Place. Every person in the building was mesmerized.

Every Pantera show Ive ever seen (at least 6) even when Phil was on heroin. They played like it was their last show ever, every night

There are a few more but Ill quit there

[GearBit]

Tackhead- Boston- Axis.
Sugarhill gang on the rhythm section and adrian sherwood dub mixing behind the FOH desk showing me where my future lay! I sold my drum kit a year later and bought a TAC scorpion.

Prince-Lovesexy tour- after show club date- Boston- Citi
Intimate, loose but tight as a MF. Way too much talent for one man to possess.


Ministry- Mind/Taste tour- Boston- The channel.
Their peak before the mindless descent into heroin and repetition. I went in thinking they might not deliver what I had been hearing on the CD but they delivered and then some.

NIN- Downward spiral tour- LA
Went in expecting a try hard and left knowing he was the real deal.

[dafe]

+1000 for The Tubes

Energetic, full throttle and never missed a beat, at least at those 3 shows where I saw them (heard of different stories too). In fact they put a lot of performers of all ages to shame imho. If only sales did em justice.

Never had Living Colour but saw Will Calhoun with David Gilmore which gave me something of an idea what a blast they must have been. This guy had almost everything in his hands, arrrgh

[Melgueil]

The original Focus with Jan Ackerman, 1973
Pat Metheny group - always, but in particular the "Way up" tour. Jaw dropping
cdlt

[Mertmo]

Prince-Lovesexy tour- after show club date- Boston- Citi
Intimate, loose but tight as a MF. Way too much talent for one man to possess.

Ooohh, straight up jealousy over here...

[edwinhurwitz]

Originally Posted by ttauri

Who rocks? Who funks? Who's got mad skills?

Top of my list would be Femi Kuti & Positive Force.
"I say it's like a force, 'cause the force is strong" as MC Shan said. Monstrously powerful grooves, and Femi's got stage presence/charisma to burn. The first time I saw them, I felt that this is what it must have been like to have witnessed James Brown and the JBs in their heyday. Stunning.

And the dancers... Oh my goodness!

Peece,
T. Tauri

I guess I'm late to this thread, but you should have seen Femi's dad. He got it from somewhere and I don't think he got all of it. And back in the day, the dancers were his wives and he made love to all of them one at a time with the sax. Amazing show.

Bob Marley at the Harvard Stadium in '79 was great, as was Joni Mitchell with Pat Metheny and Jaco a couple weeks later in Providence.

Heinz Holliger at the New England Conservatory ca. 1984 blew my mind. The first set was Bach trio sonatas and the second set was a piece that he wrote for oboe and percussion that was stunning. They used to have afternoon free concerts there on a weekly basis. That was a great one as was the concert that started with Bertram Turetsky and the bass department and finished with a solo set by Max Roach.

Oliver Lake (with Geri Allen) at a small jazz club in Central Sq. Cambridge was a great show in the late 80s. In the early 80s I saw Mike Stern play a bunch of shows with Bill Evans (sax, not piano) at various clubs, the best of which was probably at Harvard's Hasty Pudding Club. I recorded some of them, but the tape stock I got talked into using was bunk.

Various Aquarium Rescue Unit shows in the early 90s also stand out.

The very first show I saw was a great time, but I don't remember much of the music- The Who and Jethro Tull at Tanglewood in 1970. I was 9. The Fillmore East put on a couple summers worth of concerts there.

There are so many more....

Edwin

[bitman]

Rush will anytime.

[wayne_irie]

Battles in 2005 I was working a festival had never heard of them they blew me away.

Primal scream on the XTRMNTR tour.

Antibalas there engineer was ill so i mixed the show.

Public enemy in 08

[jnorman]

crikey - how about led zeppelin in dallas, tx in 1969? i walked out of that stadium completely in shock.

the "thick as a brick" tour by jethro tull at LSU in 1972 (?) was stunning - surely the tightest group of musicians i have ever heard. anderson was nothing short of a magician.

the "tales from topographic oceans" tour by Yes - heard it twice - was also one of the best shows ever.

saw jimi hendrix at a dump place in shreveport back in 68 or 69 - lordy, lordy, was that loud... but he was quite a character on stage.

[faramita]

Taraf de Haidouks.

anywhere anytime

[yellowrobin]

Allman Brothers 1972 Madison Square Garden (I’ve never been the same since)
J Geils Band Passaic NJ around 1973-74 (stagehands had to rip the girls off of J Geils all night as they ran up on stage, musically they tore the place apart, fantastic)

[nuemes]

Flawless & rocking: One of the best shows I've ever seen, it sticks in my head especially because I was never really into them prior (a friend had an extra ticket), was Depeche Mode at the Shoreline in the Bay Area. I think it was around 2002. They had updated all the samples, sang/played beautifully and had an amazing projector show.

Best fun, sloppy rock show: Eagles of Death Metal

Pure, amazing technical ability: Joanna Newsom

Musical transcendence: Mark Eitzel, Lisa Germano

[Hammer Mark]

Steely Dan at Massey Hall Oct '09
The Rheostatics at The Horseshoe Nov '04
Crash Vegas (a few shows) summer '96 (I think)
Pat Metheny at Ontario Place Forum (early nineties)
Ron Sexsmith at The Casbah Oct '02
Zappa Plays Zappa at a University Theatre in Buffalo or Amherst '06? '07?
Terry Bozzio (solo clinic) at the Opera House

[logichead]

NRBQ, many shows
Steely Dan
Jackson Browne, solo show at McCabe's 40th anniversary
Los Lobos, same show
The Who, with Keith
CSNY, 1st tour
Jeff Beck, one unbelievable show at Universal Amphitheater

Best...H

[roman manlord]

Smashing Pumpkins in New Orleans Late 1993 or early 1994, can't recall, sweet Jesus it was glorious!

[Serevende]

Originally Posted by Randall

The Tubes....somewhere around 84...rediculously good sound and show

Hell ya. Saw them in 1979. Squeeze opened. Squeeze hadn't even put out an album yet. They were selling "Cool for Cats" on 45's in the lobby. April Wine was the middle band that night. The Tubes were amazing. White Punks on Dope when all the fake PA columns came crashing down... unforgettable!

Other stand outs around that time: The Ramones, Iggy Pop, The Stranglers, The Pretenders (with Pete Farndon and Honeymoon Scott) and The Police at their last show of their first American tour, XTC in a tiny theater in San Diego that was condemned about a month later. The Blasters, X.

Golden Earring opening for Rush in 1977.

The 90's... Nine Inch Nails and The Cramps at Metro in Chicago. Echo and the Bunny Men, The Replacements, The Suburbs.

Years later, all grown up, Ahmad Jamal trio, Roy Haynes Quartet, Dafnis Prieto Quintet, Los Munequtios de Matanzas, the samba schools of Rio de Janeiro when I was there in 2004.

So much more. I've been lucky.

[Yetti]

Iggy Pop when Hanoi Rocks was his band on tour in Chicago at the Aragon Ballroom...think it was 1989, or 1990.
Awesome show, so much energy...He threw himself into the drumset and took it down, spitting beer at everyone, threw the mic stand and took out his own Hanoi Rocks bass player who got up, threw his bass away, a roadie came running out with a new bass, they kept going,

[dafe]

Anybody ever seen Barrence Whitfield and the Savages??

Picked up a live recording and can't believe it. They pretty much rendered punk obsolete...

[samuelzero]

Originally Posted by Jules

System Of A Down - Reading festival last year. 4 guys many time signatures efortless playing AMAZING tone from all of them. Great songs. They were truely at the top of their game.

Paul McArtney's drummer - screw Sir Paul's "legacy of tunes", this cat was amAzing! I saw a concert on TV and spent the whole time during it dialing up my producer friends to tell them to watch this guy play drums... Un-beef-ukking-leavable!

Agree totally.

I'm constantly trying to spread the word about Abe Laboriel Jr.'s utter monstrousness. He is an absolute badass. I bought that McCartney DVD purely to watch him.

[matyas]

Just saw Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings a few nights ago. That was pretty incredible.
Other memorable ones:
Klangforum Wien, quite a few performances when I lived in Vienna between 1998-2000. There was one concert involving Feldman that really stands out.
Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth with Tom Surgal and William Winant: I'll probably never forget that one. I've seen Sonic Youth as well and they were great, but Thurston and two percussionists was amazing.
Richard Egarr playing the Goldberg Variations was transcendent.
Sonny Rollins was pretty special as well.
The Decemberists' most recent tour was amazing.
So was Anthony Braxton.
So was Parsifal at the Wiener Staatsoper.
And Anne-Sophie Mutter playing the Berg concerto was a really formative experience.

[matyas]

Originally Posted by matyas

Just saw Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings a few nights ago. That was pretty incredible.
Other memorable ones:
Klangforum Wien, quite a few performances when I lived in Vienna between 1998-2000. There was one concert involving Feldman that really stands out.
Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth with Tom Surgal and William Winant: I'll probably never forget that one. I've seen Sonic Youth as well and they were great, but Thurston and two percussionists was amazing.
Richard Egarr playing the Goldberg Variations was transcendent.
Sonny Rollins was pretty special as well.
The Decemberists' most recent tour was amazing.
So was Anthony Braxton.
So was Parsifal at the Wiener Staatsoper.
And Anne-Sophie Mutter playing the Berg concerto was a really formative experience.

And how could I forget The Commodores? I actually worked on that show!

[Dr. Mordo]

I've seen a lot of great shows, but the show that really blew me away was Shiner in early 2002 at Emo's in Austin, TX. They were a relatively unknown band from KC, touring for the last album they released, "The Egg". They were sorta like 70s King Crimson with a dash of Radiohead (not too much thankfully), but the drummer was probly the best rock drummer I have ever seen (and I've seen some great ones). I think it was probly close to being in the room with John Bonham. Jason Gerkin - the dude was a monster.

[Tungsten]

Hmm crazy double show weekend in 92 - Rollins Band at the height of the 'End of Silence' Tour on Friday in Toronto at the late, great Concert Hall, and then David Byrne 'Uh-Oh' Tour on Saturday at Massey Hall....it was the David Byrne show that just blew my mind - Rollins was at his best and most intimidating at this time but I had just been introduced to Talking Heads a few months before(in highschool at the time) and was starting to like things other than Alternative/metal or Zeppelin...

Phish Alpine Valley Wisconsin 97...There have been lots of phish shows since, but this was my second, and I finally 'got it'...The playing was at it's peak then, and this show had some crazy highs...weather and sound were perfect!

Stereolab 97 - Phoenix, Toronto - 3 girls in the front, 3 guys in the back, perfect melodies and tons of synths...those moogs were just pumping, and the Sherman Filter got copious use on this tour...

Tortoise - 94 Lee's Palace Toronto - All the band members rotated...at one point the soundman was on stage and the keyboardist was doing sound, drummer was on vibes, guitarist on bass...mind**** musicianship. Seen them quite a few times but this one just floored me.

Red Snapper - Dingwall's Camden Lock London Englad 2000 - VERY into this band in the years leading up to this - backpacking across Europe and staying with a friend 3 BLOCKS AWAY when we see a poster for this. Shit our collective pants. Amazing show in a little underground bar - great sound, guitar player had more rack gear than I do right now!

[gregovertone]

Originally Posted by Dr. Mordo

I've seen a lot of great shows, but the show that really blew me away was Shiner in early 2002 at Emo's in Austin, TX. They were a relatively unknown band from KC, touring for the last album they released, "The Egg". They were sorta like 70s King Crimson with a dash of Radiohead (not too much thankfully), but the drummer was probly the best rock drummer I have ever seen (and I've seen some great ones). I think it was probly close to being in the room with John Bonham. Jason Gerkin - the dude was a monster.

i will second, and third EVERYTHING said here.


best band ever, best record ever, best drummer ever.

[Frisbieinstein]

Mahavishnu Orchestra. Forget about their albums, go for live tape. That's some serious ass kicking.

Chick Corea with Bill Conners at the Jazz Workshop. Stanley Clarke was still playing those crappy Guild basses.

Jaco Pastorius in 1973. He was completely unknown outside of Florida. He had a crew cut. Playing with Pat Metheny. Make that Most Ass Kicked by an Individual.

I also saw the MC5 in their day, they kicked ass but they weren't in this kind of league. Might have been the first concert I ever went to.

[ecologie]

Underworld- 1996 NYC - 4 hour gig. Absolutely mind blowing.
NIN - 1990- Lollapalooza... Hands down kicked everyone's ass and they performed in daylight.
Beastie Boys- Some Gym at rutgers campus back in 93.

[Richard King]

Electric Light Orchestra on their first tour at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis. The theatre used to seat about 1200 and the stage was a thrust stage with the seats around the stage. Not a bad seat in the house. Opening act was Chi Coltrane and she nearly stole the show.

The Who three times, two with Keith.

Yes at the Minneapolis armory. Two opening acts. The middle act was Gentle Giant. The first act played as people were still filing into the place and were relatively unknown. The singer introduced the band by saying "Hi, we're The Eagles, from LA".

Several Prince concerts including a couple at First Avenue (and a private birthday party and rehearsal or two).

An early Police concert. Great sound system. Clair Brothers with Carver amplification.

Many of the Minneapolis bands playing the Longhorn.

Edwin Hawkins (Oh Happy Day) at the St. Paul Civic Center Auditorium. I recorded this one to my then mobile rig (Tascam 80-8, Allen & Heath mixer (I think)). 500 voice chorus made up of members of the black churches in and around the twin cities. Edwin's rhythm section. There were about 1200 very energetic folks in the audience. A good time was had by all.

[kingdice86]

Anyone here seen Mogwai live?
Saw them las year at the 9:30 club in DC...
Loudest show I have ever been to...
So intense