Best Live Show You've Ever Witnessed?

[claend]

Ok a few of my favorites:

Rage Against The Machine and Asian Dub Foundation — Barcelona (2000)

Wow ... I mean wow... Ratm were f*cking great but ADF killed it with Rafi's revenge... Everyone jumped from beat one... Unforgettable.


Nitin Sawney - Bcn (2005)

Just beautifull...


Josh Wink - Sala del cel - Gerona (2000/2001?)

One of the best eclectic sets I've ever danced too. Tasty!


Tool - LAteralus - Madrid (2005?)

I will only say that I remember a good friend of mine crying wile they played Schism...


Roger Waters - The Wall - Bcn (2011)

What a show... I feel so grateful to have had the chance to be there...


I know I'm missing a few...

[Jim Williams]

Rage was to perform a free concert at the Hollywood Paladium back in the mid 1990's. It was all set up and the band cancelled at the last moment.

The crowd took their "Rage" against the Rage and tore apart the stage and busted up all their gear. The best moment was when 4 or 5 guys picked up the large Yamaha PM-4000 and flipped it off the stage onto the pavement.

It was all shown on local TV. I laughed my ass out!

Just wait until Sunday. Madonna will set the standard again. After her, you won't remember the "wardrobe malfunction".

[Rolo 46]

Floyd @ the Commonwealth Institute '67, Yoko Ono, support, she was in a large paper bag with amplified scissors, as was a partner(not JWL)
They snipped each others paper away to reveal nudity.
Floyd WYWH tour, in panned Quad, Bristol Hippodrome, they opened the dome to the stars ,very cool, '74.
Walters Wall Berlin '91 at the Reischtag...
Walters Animals in Quad, Glasto 30th anniversary,2002
Gilmour QEH solo, with an uncluttered and silent stage and fab FOH.

These boys are the art rock biz.
Also Roxy Mus at Biba '69
Again the Art School tops.

[the fxs]

cinematic orchestra
munich 2003

[rcrowley]

Defiant Requiem, produced in HD for PBS in 2002. Oregon Symphony and Opera Chorus performing Verdi requiem staged in commemoration of the performances by the Jewish prisoners at the **** concentration camp in Terezin, Czech Republic.

[Kaoz]

Originally Posted by Jim Williams

Rage was to perform a free concert at the Hollywood Paladium back in the mid 1990's. It was all set up and the band cancelled at the last moment.

The crowd took their "Rage" against the Rage and tore apart the stage and busted up all their gear. The best moment was when 4 or 5 guys picked up the large Yamaha PM-4000 and flipped it off the stage onto the pavement.

It was all shown on local TV. I laughed my ass out!

Just wait until Sunday. Madonna will set the standard again. After her, you won't remember the "wardrobe malfunction".

I remember seeing that - from memory wasn't it called off because there were too many people there or something?

Sort of in the same vein but infinitely cooler (IMO) is At the Drive In walking off stage at the Sydney BDO. Was in the crowd and was annoyed at the time, is bloody funny looking back on it though.

Just a shame they split not long after, but they gave us the Mars Volta so I can't complain too much.

[jruberto]

So many, and I know you asked for one... impossible. The more recent ones stand out more in the memory of course. But, a couple hazy memories here..

Grateful Dead 7/16/90 Rich Stadium, Buffalo NY -- I wasn't a huge deadhead (and really still am not.. big fan tho), but had been to a couple shows before. Brent Mydland... Holy shit this guy blew my mind. They kept showing closeups of his face on the big screens and there was just a raging fire inside him. I'll still never forget him shouting the choruses on Gimme Some Lovin' with such abandon. He peaced out about a week later.

Korn 6/5/95 Mercury Cafe, Denver CO -- Tiny club, their first record had just dropped, I remember seeing their shitty van and trailer outside. Probably 80 people there -- crammed into about 20 square feet in front of the stage. Man, that was the new shit.

Gilberto Gil 9/8/99 Gothic Theater, Denver CO -- wooooow.

Buena Vista Social Club 11/11/99 Boulder Theater, Boulder CO -- The original lineup with Compay Segundo & Ruben Gonzales. I'm getting chills just thinking about it. The show started off with Ruben being helped across the stage very slowly, he looked so old and frail.. Once he was seated at the piano he magically transformed into this crazy, vibrant, horny twenty-something. Unreal.

Remember Shakti 11/14/00 Paramount Theater, Denver CO -- 'nuff said

Thievery Corporation 11/19/02 Gothic Theater, Denver CO -- Richest Man in Babylon tour (i think).. The Gothic was newly remodeled at that time & had a new sound system & it's just a beautiful room. I think it was a Tuesday or Wednesday night and Denver really showed up. You couldn't pry the smiles off the performers faces. Great band, great night.

Ani DiFranco 4/21/03 Pikes Peak Center, Colorado Springs CO -- I never even knew that this amazing room existed (have since seen Wilco there -- also awesome). I've seen Ani a bunch but this is the only time solo, and I'm here to tell ya: I have never seen a solo performance with as much energy and impact as a big rock band, and this was it.

And lastly, really the reason I came here (tho that was really nice to think back to some of those amazing shows, and I could probably name 20 more):
Portishead 10/27/11 First Bank Center, Broomfield CO -- This was really a once in a lifetime show for me. Just astounding in every way. Was brought to tears. A lot. I ranted about it in another thread somewhere, won't do it again.

[Karloff70]

Prince - Sign O' the Times, 1987, Stockholm

[sgmw]

So many to pick from but a few standouts:

Hoodoo Gurus, Hamilton, 1988
Depeche Mode, Wembley Arena, 1990
Stranglers, Alexandra Palace, 1990
PWEI, Shepard's Bush, 1995
Radiohead, Lund, 1998

[2pulse]

I went rooting through my shoebox of ticket stubs and pulled out a few of the bigger smiles... That big blue ticket in the lower left takes the cake as the most mindblowing and transformative sensory experience of my life: Crash Worship on the 4th of July, in a junkyard just north of Denver...

Crash Worship live 1996 on a bridge - YouTube (not the specific show I attended, but you can get an idea of what they were all about)

Everything else in the pic ties for a distant second place.

[motone]

the absolutely most stunning / breathtaking live experience I had with the following 2 concerts:
Otomo Yoshihide's seminal hardcore/improv band Ground Zero at the Flex Club in Vienna around 1999 (was their goodbye tour I think), doing the incredible piece Consume Red, studio version can be heard here:
Ground Zero - Consume Red - YouTube
never heard anything more powerful but still so conscious / aware of form and structure, the most intense build-up of musical energy I have encountered. this piece starts at an energy level of 100% and keeps building slowly, skyrocketing to 200% no kidding.

and Cecil Taylor quintet (w/ Paul Lovens and Tristan Honsinger) at the Konfrontationen Nickelsdorf Festival in 1998 - if I ever had a psychedelic / mindaltering experience listening to music (completely sober) this was it, a show where all sense of space and time got lost, and afterwards you couldn't tell whether these guys were rolling for 1 hour or 4 hours.
5 individuals becoming one big entity heading for sound in space somehow, this is how I imagine Coltrane's Ascension might have come across live.

[Saltcreek]

Frank Zappa 1978 -



An amazing band. Zappa performed the Sheik Yourbouti album before it was released.

Frank Zappa – Lead Guitar, Vocals, Arranger, Composer,

Adrian Belew – Rhythm Guitar, Vocals, Bob Dylan impersonation
Patrick O'Hearn – Bass, Vocals
Terry Bozzio – Drums, Vocals
Ed Mann – Percussion, Vocals
Tommy Mars – Keyboards, Backing Vocals
Andre Lewis – Keyboards, Backing Vocals
Napoleon Murphy Brock – Backing Vocals
Randy Thornton – Backing Vocals
Peter Wolf – Keyboards, Butter, Flora Margarine

And then Yes - Relayer Tour with Gentle Giant Opening Band. Gentle Giant blew everyone away with their drumming and instrumentation.

I really miss Gentle Giant and Frank Zappa. 2 legends in my opinion.

[SquashPile]

Kiss - 1979

[Pedantic Sound]

For me it would either be Metallica (2008) or the Flaming Lips (2010) (Both at Bonnaroo =D).

[jruberto]

It might have been Radiohead in Denver tonight, which is happening right now except tickets sold out in seconds & were up on stubhub for $400 an hour later.

I won't support that.

(sorry about OT rant. i gushed about my favorites back here Best Live Show You've Ever Witnessed? )

[Kabby]

Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings at the Nokia Theater in LA.

[nevets@milwpc.co]

ZZ Top and Earth, Wind and Fire. Mid-70's.
La Grange and That's the Way of the World Tour.

[heva]

Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists, Sir John Eliot Gardiner
Mühlhausen (Blasiuskirche) Germany, 23 July 2000

Playing JSBach cantates from his Mühlhausen period.

Audience (from all over the world) went absolutely crazy ...

[purplesky]

Yes on their GOING FOR THE ONE TOUR 1977? 2 nights front row!

Rolling Stones on the SOME GIRLS TOURS 1978 2nd row 3500 seats!


Van Halen opening for BLACK SABBATH right before they took off! 1977

Supertramp on the BREAKFAST IN AMERICA TOUR 2 nights front row! 1979?

Janes Addiction in small nightclub in like 1988?

So many shows I have to really think about it to pull out the best.

[purplesky]

Originally Posted by Saltcreek

Frank Zappa 1978 -



An amazing band. Zappa performed the Sheik Yourbouti album before it was released.

Frank Zappa – Lead Guitar, Vocals, Arranger, Composer,

Adrian Belew – Rhythm Guitar, Vocals, Bob Dylan impersonation
Patrick O'Hearn – Bass, Vocals
Terry Bozzio – Drums, Vocals
Ed Mann – Percussion, Vocals
Tommy Mars – Keyboards, Backing Vocals
Andre Lewis – Keyboards, Backing Vocals
Napoleon Murphy Brock – Backing Vocals
Randy Thornton – Backing Vocals
Peter Wolf – Keyboards, Butter, Flora Margarine

And then Yes - Relayer Tour with Gentle Giant Opening Band. Gentle Giant blew everyone away with their drumming and instrumentation.

I really miss Gentle Giant and Frank Zappa. 2 legends in my opinion.

I saw Zappa and yes alot back then. THOSE WERE THE DAYS!

[kaiO]

ABBA

[Syncamorea]

Originally Posted by Saltcreek

Frank Zappa 1978 -

An amazing band. Zappa performed the Sheik Yourbouti album before it was released.

Oh yes. I saw that tour and have vivid memories of moving closer as the show went on. Some of the lyrics offended the little ladies and when they ran away, we crept forward.

I saw 29 Zappa tour dates between '69 and '88. All of them were better than good and most were top notch but the '77 through '79 dates were amazing. The sound of Frank's PA took a big jump up around '73 and that had an impact on the performances.

More favorites:

Led Zeppelin IV at St. Louis. 8/28/71 Knocked down the house.

Led Zeppelin, St. Louis 11/5/73 Every show of theirs that I saw after this one came across as too premeditated. This sucker was nuclear fueled.

Rush 2112 I saw two shows on this tour and they were both performed a bit tense but the Evansville show 6/16/76 was incredible in spite of the tension.

Pat Metheny: Orchestrion tour. I saw the Denver show and it was bizarre and beautiful.

AC/DC: 10/19/79 Highway to Hell tour. This was really loud, even with ear plugs. When the tech plugged in the bass and played a scale, I knew they were turned up to 13. Awesome performance, Bon was peaking.

Michael Hedges and Leo Kottke, Kalamazoo, MI. I can't find the stub but I'm pretty sure this was '88. I brought my original copy of 6 & 12 and Leo signed it then tried to buy it off of me because he could tell it was a first press. Leo was like a proud daddy up on stage looking at Michael on their duets. I got better photos at the Lansing show a couple of days later. The tour dates that were recorded for Live on the Double Planet were uniformly excellent. I saw a dozen of those and was blown away.

Solti conducting the Chicago Symphony with Artur Rubenstein, playing the Emperor Concerto to open the '86 season. They warmed up with Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra and it was a jaw-dropper. Can you say: "dynamic range"? Yes, you can.

Yes, Close to the Edge, St. Louis. Front row center, it was all just for us.

[hbphotoav]

In a "simpler" mode...

Bruce Hornsby did an evening at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center here this spring. Not "The Range". Not "Noisemakers". Just Bruce, and a 9' Steinway. "The Road Less Taken" was sublime. And don't get me started about when he went all Tempus Fugit and everything. Hearing it is one thing... seeing it is another thing entirely.

Then (this being Nashville) he said... "I couldn't play here without my friend..." and out walked Ricky Skaggs. With a mandolin. Two voices, two instruments. Every song was fabulous. "The Way It Is" was, though completely re-envisioned, so good as to be incredible. Harmonies, interplay between the two acoustic instruments... stunning. All in a very quiet way. Neither my wife nor I wanted it to end.

Y'all can have your shed shows... This evening really reset my clock.

HB

[Swamp Thing]

I change my mind! I saw Sleep a few weeks ago, and it completely blew my mind! Best concert I've ever witnessed.

But on the other side Johnny Cash in Gothenburg 1997 was pretty awesome...

[Swamp Thing]

I change my mind! I saw Sleep a few weeks ago, and it completely blew my mind! Best concert I've ever witnessed.

But on the other side Johnny Cash in Gothenburg 1997 was pretty awesome...

[Beyersound]

Originally Posted by hbphotoav

In a "simpler" mode...

Bruce Hornsby did an evening at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center here this spring. Not "The Range". Not "Noisemakers". Just Bruce, and a 9' Steinway. "The Road Less Taken" was sublime. And don't get me started about when he went all Tempus Fugit and everything. Hearing it is one thing... seeing it is another thing entirely.

Then (this being Nashville) he said... "I couldn't play here without my friend..." and out walked Ricky Skaggs. With a mandolin. Two voices, two instruments. Every song was fabulous. "The Way It Is" was, though completely re-envisioned, so good as to be incredible. Harmonies, interplay between the two acoustic instruments... stunning. All in a very quiet way. Neither my wife nor I wanted it to end.

Y'all can have your shed shows... This evening really reset my clock.

HB

+1000000000000000 Two of the most amazing, inherently musical talents on the planet. Thank god for them!

[nativeaudio]

Miles Davis (1971), mainly due to Keith Jarrett's incredible performance, and Peter Gabriel (1987).


If real time satellite broadcasts of live music counts, Beatles live recording of All You Need Is Love (1967) would be in there as well.

[MadGuitrst]

Pink Floyd's The Wall at eh Nassau Coliseum