Best Live Show You've Ever Witnessed?

[Brian Middleton]

It's not Autotune.

Are you suggesting Ashlee Simpson tactics, then?

[HudHudson]

Danny Gatton & The Fat Boys at One Step Down in Georgetown/ Washington DC, New Year's Eve 1979. I witnessed things played on a Telecaster that I never could have imagined.

[dave-G]

Charlie Musselwhite -- improvising 4 feet in front of me in a small room at a Buddhist center somewhere in Marin or Sonoma county. My wife was performing there too... (I was a tagalong, not really a Buddhist).

It was so much more than I expected, and he did so much with his instrument that was outside the stereotypical "language" of it...

Completely amazing, and really inspiring. As brilliant and understated a use of virtuosity as I have ever seen, and I was just there to clap for my wife, eat some free food, and take a drive in the hills afterwards.

-dave

[inaudio]

endless possibilites... but one memorable one was Marianne Faithfull, Slim's, 2000 I think.

My fiend's first words in the beginning of the opening song: "Wow she still has her voice!" and she did a great show, jaw-droppingly powerful and moving.

Thousands of others, just mentioning one.

[GPl]

I can remember some amazing concerts in the 70's(yes, I actually remember a few!) but I never got over a "Hot Tuna" concert where we were yelling "play all night!" and he did. Well, till 2:00am anyways. I can't remember the guitar/singers' name though. Anyone?

[psytechguy]

Originally posted by GPl
I can remember some amazing concerts in the 70's(yes, I actually remember a few!) but I never got over a "Hot Tuna" concert where we were yelling "play all night!" and he did. Well, till 2:00am anyways. I can't remember the guitar/singers' name though. Anyone?

Jorma Kaukonen.

He also played for a little band called Jefferson Airplane.

[stinkybuffalo]

Big show= radiohead......I was speechless.....

Small show=muse...........has to be experienced

Everyone reading this; if you haven't heard of MUSE or heard them live you are missing out on one of the most amazing shows in the world. I have never neard a bigger sound out of 3 people on stage. Mad props to the FOH engineer.

Show my friend saw=OURS..............Jimmy Neecko (SP?) .......... listen and learn what vocal range really means. largest amp on stage was a 50 watt single 12" speaker!!!!!! Biggest sound my friend has heard and he has heard the two previous bands with me.

[kraftrourke]

yes, MUSE! ive seen muse 3 times this year. the first in a very small club. it was chills up the spine the entire time. and very recently at avalon in boston. where i saw another awesome show, BUJU BANTON a year ago. most dance hall shows ive been to have been too janky. this was wonderful.

and yet another awesome show at avalon was IGGY POP. im not a huge iggy fan but it was incredible. halfway through he made everyone stop and told the club to "turn every single light in this place ON " then he told everyone to get on stage and it was complete mayhem for the remainder of the evening. dancing and rocking out in a huge sold out club with all the house lights on was cool as hell. you could see everyones face!

the twilight singers at a tiny sold out club was awesome. but then i saw them recently and walked out it was so bad...

i saw prince with my mom about 4 or 5 years ago in a theatre up close and he layed it down. it was party time. good show but had to wait in line for hours cause he was late for soundcheck

[Musiclab]

King Crimson 1974 at the Schaeffer Music Festival in central park. It was the last show for that lineup Fripp, Bruford Wetton & Cross. Mahavishnu at Schaffer for the Between Nothingness & Eternity shows. Gentle Giant I think in 75.Peter Gabriel at Forest Hills God am I old. Gabriel at the garden was great this time around

[Sky]

Jan Hammer at Jabberwocky (Syracuse University) in 1975, in his first solo tour after leaving Mahavishnu Orchestra. He blew the doors off the place with his raw energy, and I had the good fortune of scoring a front row seat, about six feet from his Fender Rhodes.

This may have been Jan's first performance of the tour, as he had just completed "The First Seven Days" at Red Gate Studio in his upstate New York farmhouse. He performed with violinist Steve Kindler and a drummer / percussionist (David Earle Johnson?).

Sky

[GPl]

Originally posted by psytechguy
Jorma Kaukonen.

He also played for a little band called Jefferson Airplane.

Of course!! Whoa, so much for my memory.......

[max cooper]

TAFKAPrince + Graham Central Station was it 98?

P-Funk All Stars @ Hollywood Palladium 90's

Any number of Replacements shows in the '80's

Green Day at the Cocoanut Teaszer...as the first of five or six bands, most of them awful. I couldn't believe how pro these three kids who came from SF in a van with what looked like someone's dad driving were. Blew me away unexpectedly. What I thought wasn't that they should be selling millions of records, but that they were what all bar bands should sound like.

Also saw Andres Segovia when I was maybe thirteen and it had a huge impact on me.

[ttauri]

Originally posted by max cooper
Any number of Replacements shows in the '80's

Oooh, I'm jealous.

Peece,
T. Tauri

[inaudio]

"Also saw Andres Segovia when I was maybe thirteen and it had a huge impact on me."

Thanks for the reminder - I remember in 8th grade seeing him play all alone on the stage of the opera house and being incredibly impressed!

Not too many guitarists today impress me on hundredth as much...

<L>

[Ted Nightshade]

I've seen a number of good amplified shows, but nothing can compare to hearing the instruments acoustically- as I did when my mother took me to see Segovia when I was but a child- bless her heart!

McCoy Tyner unamplified at the Herbst Theatre in SF, last year
Can't remember who, playing some unreal Hungarian music that was not Bartok, on the 'cello, a few weeks ago- this was one where I had to leave at the intermission, my head was FULL and there was nothing to do but climb around on the sea cliffs and try to take it all in...

[snedley]

YES and ELP at Eastown theatre in Detroit.
1970 I think.

[henryrobinett]

Hm. Different categories for shows.

Jimi Hendrix about a month before he died.

Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention "Live at the Fillmore" tour.

Peter Gabriel.

Keith Jarrett solo and another with his trio in SF.

And pound for pound the best SHOW was Prince and the Love Sexy tour in Oakland.

[Neddy Seagoon]

Jimi "sitting in" with Phaeroe(sp?) Sanders @ Ronnie Scotts 1968(ish).

Rory Gallager w/Taste @The 100 club 1970(ish)

John Hisemans Tempest (first time I met Allan Holdsworth - luckily my band was opening or I wouldn't have set foot on stage that night!) @ The Marquee 1971 (ish)

Zep @ Alexandra Palace 1972(ish)

Claptons "comeback" concert @ The Rainbow 1973. (sat directly behind Elton John, a few seats over from George Harrison and a couple of rows in front (!!!) of Ringo. Best show with the worst live recording of all time!

Robert Wyatt benefit w/ Pink Floyd (doing DSotM with stripped down theatricals) and Soft Machine @ The Rainbow 1973(ish)

Zappa w/Cptn. Beefheart @ the LA Forum new years eve 1976(ish).

Oddest line up bands that actually worked - Vander Graf Generator, The Spiders from Mars and The 101'ers (w/ Joe Strummer) @ The Roundhouse 1974(ish)

Oddest line up on stage that sucked - Jimmy Page, JP Jones and Keith Moon backing up Roy Harper (Valentines Day Massacre) @ The Theatre Royal 1974(ish)

More recently, Dylan and Van Morisson, STP, Radiohead and the (new)Yardbirds all kicked some serious derriere. For me playing very loud, distorted, scooped gtrs, vocal histrionics and running round the stage like a headless chicken does not a great show make. YMMV

[pounce]

well, the bowie tour came to the place i A1 at last time around, so that was fun. one of the best sounding shows i've worked on.

skinny puppy made the best stage show i had ever seen. i've seen the imitators since.

jonatha brooke did the best solo performance i've ever seen. aimee mann was pretty decent as well.

[jkasko]

Rush - 25th Anniversary Tour - United Center, Chicago, IL - Band was amazing and the sound was incredible (Robert Scovill rocks!) and the song selection was the best ever on any of their tours.

Tool - Allstate Arena - Danny Carey was unreal and the fans were so into it I was blown away.

Melissa Etheridge - Chicago Theatre - Breakdown Tour - she absolutely tore up the joint. Incredible rhythm section of Kenny Aronoff and Mark Browne. The energy in the theatre was amazing.

[Jules]

Just something to torture the kids out there!

Zep 6 nights in a row
Stones 6 nights in a row

All at Earls Court, London, UK 76' (ish)

We broke in every night that we didn't have tickets for. After stealing a frizbee from one of the stalls to play on the roof with, we got rather blaze about the whole thing and would only break from fizbee and fatty smoking on the roof for our most 'favorite' tunes..

"Come on! They are playing Midnight Rambler!"
"OH OK then!"

"Bohnam is doing a solo!
"Nah... saw that last night...."

"Trampled Under Foot!"
"OK! Lets go down!"

By the end of each concert week - the word got out that security was lax at the hall and every night more and more hip schoolkids circled the venue waiting for an exit door to fly open.. Usually about 60 kids could rush in before the cops got to it. Then another door would pop open...and so on...

Gooood times!

[Dangerous Dave]

Originally posted by Neddy Seagoon

More recently, Dylan and Van Morisson, STP, Radiohead and the (new)Yardbirds all kicked some serious derriere. For me playing very loud, distorted, scooped gtrs, vocal histrionics and running round the stage like a headless chicken does not a great show make. YMMV

Well said, I have seen VM a good few times sometimes awe inspiring and sometimes utter rubbish..

Peace

DD

[Lee Knight]

James Brown in the early 80's

Del Amitri last year

Jean Luc Ponty in the late 70's

Prince a couple of years ago

XTC in a small punk venue in San Diego in the late 70's

Iggy Pop 5 or 6 times in the late 70's...

[Plush]

How about this one:

Halloween Nite, 1972
Venue: Winterland, San Francisco

Line up was:

Flo and Eddie
Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (Mick Ronson, gtr)
Pink Floyd (quad PA)

Oh my word, I was speechless after the show!

[John Hedger]

Seeing Pink Floyd perform Dark Side of the Moon in one of their first US concerts of that work and before I ever saw the Lp for sale in the record shops.

very awesome and memorable!

[Oldone]

In Kansas City

Beatles 1966
Steppen Wolf 1970
Mountain 1970
Johnny Winter w Rick Derringer 1970
3 Dog Night 1970
Led Zepplin 1971
Iron Butterfly 1971
James Gang 1971
Eric Clapton with Carlos Santana 1973

St. Louis
Alice Kooper 1972
Joni Mitch 1972
Emerson Lake & Palmer 72
Bob Dylan 73

LA
James Taylor 95 - one of the best
Eagles Hell Freezes tour circa 1997?

[John Hedger]

Originally posted by Oldone
I
Johnny Winter w Rick Derringer 1970

I saw "Johnny Winter And" around that time as well. Sea Train opened up for them. Johnny Winter and Rick Derringer put on a killer show, just awesome guitar harmonies, trade offs,etc..

[Nerve Nickels]

so many...but this was quite a "show" (festival)

11-22-97 -San Francisco -Janes Addiction

Enit Festival w/ Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters, Featuring Janes Addiction @ Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, till 4-am...

[duaneadam]

Jazz Crusaders around 1975 when Mesa Boogies were first made. Larry Carlton with his new Boogie was something amazing.

[Ted Nightshade]

Originally posted by John Hedger
I saw "Johnny Winter And" around that time as well. Sea Train opened up for them. Johnny Winter and Rick Derringer put on a killer show, just awesome guitar harmonies, trade offs,etc..

Man, I love those Johnny Winter And records, live and studio!
I knew a guy who saw them twice- first time, he said Derringer seemed seriously intimidated and demoralized (easy to imagine from his picture on the album), second time, Derringer had just bloomed as a player and was easily holding his own.

I'm gonna have to add Hermeto Pascoal in SF last month- something like the best possible Dead jam turning into the best possible Miles Davis fusion jam... my mate said, it seemed very plausible that you might burst into rainbow colors and fly away at any moment! I almost did- what a trip to call and response increasingly outside scat phrases with Hermeto, from the audience.

I'm remembering a lot of great moments in good shows- John Cipollina and Zero playing Little Wing instrumentally at the Golden Gate Park Bandshell (a religious experience for many!), Jerry Garcia windmilling his arms and playing an incendiary solo feedback extravaganza, the only guy on stage for 15 minutes, in Oakland, Carlos Santana and Armando Peraza playing just the two of them for a spell, Carlos and Wayne Shorter at the Fillmore, Bobby Flurie and Barry Melton playing unreal magic music to 5 people at the Chi Chi Club, or grinding their SGs across each other at the Saloon... that's all late 80's stuff, I'm just a young 'un.