Live acts that kicked your ass?

[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

[flexoffset]

---EDIT---
Holy Crap. I can't believe I forgot Pink Floyd stadium show in May 1995. THAT was the best ever. Total sensory overload. Total.

I'm probably gonna get slammed for this, but one of the best live acts I ever saw was 'Night Ranger' in 1987 or 1988, maybe.

They had the most energy of any band I ever saw ... and I've seen lots of 'em.

Elton John in 1997 or 1998 was a close second-place. That concert was the best-sounding concert I ever attended.
I guess those Clair mains are as good as they say.

[fifthcircle]

Seen a couple live acts that have kicked my ass for differing reasons. Not all of them kick it on their albums, though....

1. Peter Gabriel first tour back 2 winters ago. Just an amazing show- technically and musically. Starting off with the Blind Boys and Hukwe Zawose (probably just butchered the spelling there) was a pretty cool way to start the evening.

2. Coldplay, Hollywood Bowl Summer 2003. Ever see 19,000 fans completely transfixed in perfomance then cheer for 20 minutes after the show trying to get more encores? The energy was unreal.

3. Dave Matthews solo tour in January.. Staples Center. Between him and Tim Reynolds (lots of notes), Trey Anastasio, Emmielou Harris, and Daniel Lanois (who came on stage to sit in on a couple tunes)... once again 20,000 just going nuts over a show. A hell of a lot of excitement.

4. Tool, Winter 2002 ? Not my usual type of music that I listen to, but an amazing show, just the same.

There are a couple local bands here in LA that are as of yet unsigned that put on pretty amazing shows, too...

--Ben

[Dave Martin]

Van Halen - 1984. ZZ Top 1973. Electromagnets (with Eric Johnson) in about 73 or 74. Zepelin - Houses of the Holy Tour. Oh Brother Where Art Thou tour - last summer. Lyle Lovett - every time I've seen him.

[heinz]

Wow so many

King Crimson on the Thrak tour... OMFG. Discipline tour didn't suck either.

Gabriel pretty much any time puts on a "rockshow" vs. "a bunch of dudes", always great.

Jeff Beck's recent tour for the album with the greasy hand cover... freakin blew my mind at the Paramount.

The last WOMAD show we had in Redmond was freakin magical... Afro Celt Sound System was AWESOME.

lots of older shows of course

Genesis on Seconds Out tour

Rush Hemispheres tour

Amnesty International first tour


Uh oh activating some old brain cells now better step away from the precipice.

[littledoodler]

the "midnight vultures" Beck tour rocked pretty hard.

[Tim Halligan]

Peter Gabriel...Secret World tour...great band, Paula Cole on vocals...OMFG!!

Big Day Out '99...Chiili's headlined...boring...
Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros - raw, honest...compelling.
Shihad (now Pacifier) - totally nailed it.

Deep Purple '00 - I'd never seen them before, and really wasn't much of a fan beyond Smoke on the Water and Highway Star...but they were awesome! Old guys ROCK!

Cheers,
Tim

[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!

[ProFool]

the recent dream theater gig at forest national really kicked me in the butt, they play for 3 hours with a 15m break in between. very cool

Deep Purple '00 - I'd never seen them before, and really wasn't much of a fan beyond Smoke on the Water and Highway Star...but they were awesome! Old guys ROCK!

wassent that the tour with Joe Satriani on the geetar? I saw them to for the first time, i just dont remember if it was in 2000.

but my altime favorit gig i saw was the division bell tour of Pink Floyd in 96, goosebumps

[studjo]

Just saw Living Colour - amazing. Small club and the crowd went crazy. The guys played better than most can dream of.

Eurythmics around 1990 - great songs and a very charming Anne Lennox (sp?) - great drummer too

Every concert from EC/John Scofield/Mike Stern - but I'm a fan.

Jo

[Logan]

During '85 I owned a bar for 13 months before the cigarette smoke drove me out. We had a very broad range of music, including most of the top Chicago and Texas blues artists. Johnny Clyde Copeland just knocked me out and we became friends often talking on the phone and planning to write some stuff together. Matt Murphy, with Hawk Walsh singing and Dan Akroyd sort of playing harp ;-) was another high spot. KD Lang just before she made it big, incredible pipes. Long John Baldry drinking a 40ozer of vodka and seeming sober. Legendary blues band with most of Muddy's band and Jerry Portnoy playing harp. GateMouth Brown, incredible. Chris Spedding playing solo, what a night that was. Powder Blues played 'til 3:30 one night when closing time was still 1 am. Had to lock the doors to keep the cops out. Lots of great Canadian bands, including the Tragically Hip (probably their first bar job). Also Classical string quartetts and beat poets all heady stuff. But as good as it was listening to all those bands, sitting in the basement on old beer kegs and smoking a fatty and shooting the shit for hours was even better. Stories about being on the road with a blues band until the wee hours. Take care Logan

[Tim Halligan]

Originally posted by ProFool
wassent that the tour with Joe Satriani on the geetar? I saw them to for the first time, i just dont remember if it was in 2000.

No, it was Steve Morse...just amazing. I've seen Satch play...not in the same league as Morse IMHO

Cheers,
Tim

[David Herbert]

Saw Critters Buggin at a bar the other night. WOW. Matt Chamberlain is amazing. The keyboard player gave me a beer as he walked off stage.
Jane's Addiction 1991 Lollapalooza in Toronto. Was IMO the peak of that late 80s early 90s "alternative" thing. Living Colour were stunning as well.
Beck Midnight Vultures vote no. 2.
Sleater-Kinney last December at the Showbox in Seattle, with Cat Power. Those ladies rock.
Clash Combat Rock in TO, 1982. My first show.
David

[ddavid]

Poco - 1970 Vulcan Gas Co. Austin TX (about 100 folks there)
Messina, Timothy Schmidt, Furray man were they good
The Eagles - (when they were 4 with Bernie L and Meisner - first tour) Austin Opry House
Hendrix - First Tour - San Antonio TX - Municipal Auditorium

These three acts were SPIRITUALLY and TECHNICALLY GOOD

[alphajerk]

jane addiction 2? 3? years ago.... 8th row. SHIT. nekkid dancers on stage. KILLER sound. tight tight tight.


beastie boys on the check yo head tour in some basketball court. killa show.

dinosaur JR somewhere.

sonic youth a few months back [man they change to a killer psychedelic direction]



so many more, i dont feel like adding yet.

[Gie-Sound]

June 2002: Queens of the Stoneage (with Dave Grohl on drums) at Milkyway, Amsterdam.
It was just before they released their latest album, and they kicked major-butt

[oldtimeblues ]]

Savoy Brown, Fillmore 1969 rocked the house!

[nicenobs]

motley crue's carnival of sins tour was the best show i've ever seen hands down.

i remember my parents taking me to see judas priest in 86. after the show, my dad said, "that is one of the best shows i've ever seen."
at eleven years old..., one girl fell off of the stairs and into my lap. my mom looked over and gave her a dirty look. one guy was screaming, "i lust for you" at every girl that walked by. some kid threw up in our original seats.

[ProFool]

GN'R kick my ass 2 times in 2006, awesome gig's they where.
In early 2008 I met a band called Spirit of the stairs in a small club in Kansas, no decent PA system or anything fancy, actually the bar was gross, but the gig performance just blew me away. Actually I'm still high on it.
Here's a video of a recent video production the did, check it out yo. Wichita Sessions

[Ron Vogel]

Back in the '80s I saw George Thorogood...I was into arena rock bands at the time...but he just blew me away.

Unbelieveable energy, just the band, a black backdrop, and a lighting set-up fit for a bar gig. It was the first concert that I didn't see one person sitting down at.

[Bob Olhsson]

Off the top of my head,

The Reverend James Cleveland with the Gospel Workshop of America
(The first commercial recording I ever worked on in 1964. It was produced by Ralph Bass for Chess Records and the experience arguably changed my life forever.)

James Brown (A 1966 concert in Boston)

Count Basie and his orchestra (A college appearance in 1964)

Donnell Hickman and the San Francisco Inspirational Choir (I heard and recorded them regularly from 1972-'78)

An 18 year old girl from India singing an evening raga in a living room concert
(I sat with my jaw on the floor in 1978 realizing how bad most of the Indian classical music we get to hear in the United States is.)

[memphisindie]

Thin Lizzy, Genesis, Kiss, Aerosmith, Mooney Suzuki (the backbend), too many to list.

[scottrod]

Queen in New Orleans Mardi Gras night in 198(0,1,?) Best live drum mix I ever heard.

Electric Light Orchestra 1978. Laser show with lots of weed smoke. Mmmm.

Rush on the Power Windows tour.

[plexisys]

I was lucky enough to be FOH mixer for may of the acts you guys have listed. On a good night you couldn't beat the Clash or the Tubes.

[Mertmo]

Living Colour, very first show of the very first Lollapalooza. Pheonix AZ, summer, too hot
to even believe. NIN comes out and tries their set, but it's all sequenced, just Trent and
the guitar player live. Sequencer goes down twice in a row. One and a half songs
into the set. They get pissed, throw their
mic stand/guitar high in the air and walk away. Mic stand and guitar crash to the stage,
they never come back. All the kids wearing their brand new fancy embroidered
NIN shirts look very embarrased... Living Colour's crew takes all the extra time to soundcheck
themselves to perfection. Living Colour comes out and just.... holy shit, man. They
were too good, every song at least partially re-interpereted. They just destroyed, I'll
never forget it.

Daniel Lanois, in about 2004 in Taos, NM. Not brian blade and crew, but the backing
band of Henry Rollins, "mother superior" I think they were called. Damn. Not what I
expected at all, they were super loud rock, kind of like Crazy Horse smouldering style
rock. Once again, every song re-interpereted, some radically so. Every song was just
beyond bad-ass. I went into it with very high expectations and was still honestly
surprised and blown away. Stood literally right in front of him, his sweat was practically
falling on me. Sang harmony with him out loud all night, probably totally pissed him
off, but it was a religious experience for me...

Honorable mention:
Coldplay at red rocks on the tour for "rush of blood to the head". 20 years to the day
that U2 filmed the concert there. Cloudy and rainy just like the U2 concert. In my
head, driving up there I was like: "this is almost like going back in time to see U2".
The reality was all that and more. Pissing rain, and a sold out crowd, and noone was
going anywhere, the crowd practically demanded to be part of a huge spiritual rock
experience. Coldplay delivered, plain and simple. Killer show.

[Mertmo]

Man, thinking of some other ones now.

Stevie Ray Vaughn and Jeff Beck in Albuquerque, SRV touring for "In Step", JB touring
for "Guitar Shop". I was into both records at the time. Both acts were totally
on point and amazing. Terry Bozzio on drums with JB just blew my mind at the time.

The Fixx, in about 2004 or 2005 here in Albuquerque at a mid sized theatre. I was
helping tech with the opening band, some friends of mine. Fixx's drummer was deathly
ill, being seen by a house call doctor before the show, apparently he could barely get out
of bed. They take the stage and he just kills it. With a smile on his face the whole time!
The whole band nailed it, they were fantastic. Singer was hilarious, totally self deprecating
and funny between songs, then during the songs he was all art rock business, and he
still had it. Loved that show.

Calexico, at the Dingo bar in Albuquerque. Very early on, they were touring for "the
black light" record. Last night of business for the dingo bar after a long and noble slog
during the 90's as one of the greatest music bars in history. It was just the
guitarist/singer and the drummer. Blew my mind, they wove such a spell over the
whole crowd. At the time I never bought CD's from touring bands but that night I
was borrowing money to buy their record. Big time fan as of that night. I've seen
them many times since and every time is fantastic, they just do not disappoint.

man, I'm so glad I found this thread, it's fun to remember this stuff and write about it

[memphisindie]

Genesis at MSG, Fleetwood Mac at MSG, Simply Red @ the BL (believe it or not, I didn't),
Mick Fleetwoods Zoo, (did monitors) BobMould,

David Bromberg @ the Bottom Line, the Jayhawks, Joe Zawinul, Steps Ahead, Special EFX, Eric Clapton and Carl Perkins at the BL, Airto Lindsay, the Jazz jams with Lenny White, Kenny Dennard, Bernard Wright, Cornell Dupree, Jack Bruce's band with Pat Thrall and Anton Fir, and Anton Fig's band, Delmar Brown's band, etc, etc, etc.
I mixed paragraph 2. I try to make every show a religious experience for the audience. The Bottom Line was a great venue for that. The owners let me improve the PA as much as I needed to make that happen. I usually got good reports about the results.
So far so good. Wish they were still open.

[sanjari]

The Black Crowes.

[Piranhadrum]

Rush- 1994, 1997, 2002(2x), 2004, 2008.

[hbphotoav]

In 2001 I had the opportunity to see Dave Brubeck and John Salmon, his biographer and a great pianist as well, in a hotel ballroom at a music teacher's convention where Brubeck was given a lifetime achievement award. DB played a piece he wrote for the occasion of the first western jazz concert behind the former Iron Curtain in Poland... very Chopin-esque... just him and a 9' Baldwin. Then Salmon joined him on the second 9' Baldwin, side-by-side, and the two of them had one of the most amazing romps through a fair chunk of Brubeck's catalog, for about 20 minutes. Two pianos, two master musicians, no place to hide, never a false or tenuous note. Amazing conversation between them... complete with classical quotes, inside jokes and heartfelt laughter. Not a mic in sight... no PA... just magical music.

Once-in-a-lifetime, to be sure.

HB