Great Artists/bands you've seen at their commercial or artistic peak?

Neil Young - January 1973, Milwaukee Auditorium
David Bowie - February 20, 1976 at the Milwaukee Arena (Station to Station Tour)
David Bowie - April, 1978 at the Milwaukee Arena (Heroes tour)
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band - November 1978 - Madison, WI ( 2nd leg of Darkness Tour)
Queen - January, 1977, Milwaukee Auditorium - Day at the Races Tour

 

Brian Auger & The Oblivion Express, 1973 or 74
Tim Buckley, 1974 or 75 (may not have been his prime, that was probably 1968 or 69, but it was a fantastic show....
Jackson Browne (with David Lindley!), 1976/77
Uncle Tupelo, 1992/93

 

Sting - Dream Of The Blue Turtles tour (85) - I know he had just gone solo, but it was all downhill from there (from a live perspective anyway). I also saw him on the Nothing Like The Sun tour and it just didn't compare.

 

The Pogues, New Years's Eve 1985

The Stone Roses, December 1988 -few months before their debut album released...

 

How many of these shows where in the city of the Super Bowl 4 champions? The reason I ask is that I saw a lot of shows between 1967 and 1981 there before I skipped town....

 

As the ? stands commercial or artistic it is hard to answer, commercially LandHorses I know of one band you saw a lot during the commercial PEAK...

 

Deep Purple - 1971
J. Geils Band -1973
Robin Trower - 1975
Faces - 1971
Ted Nugent - 1976

 

Sting(1985) with Branford Marsalis, Kenny Kirkland, etc. at Radio City Music Hall
Mahavishnu Orchestra(1972 & 1973) Central park, blown away completely both times
J. Geils(1972?) Capital Theater Pasaic NJ- Opened for Humble Pie and got two encores!
Allman Brothers(2009)- Both Clapton shows at the Beacon
Jeff Beck(2009) with Tal& Vinnie at Irving Plaza
Miles Davis(1973-1975) a bunch of gigs where he killed everytime!
Sonny Rollins(1973)- saw him 3 times at the Village Vanguard in one week and he was incredible each time
Sonny Rollins(1974) Carnegie Hall- Freddie Hubbard was supposed to be the special guest, but he was a no-show. Instead, Mingus & Diz played!!!
There's probably a bunch more, too...

 

The Sword - 2011, 2012 (twice), 2013, 2014 (5 times). The only band I've seen in their true prime.

Bands I've seen in their near prime:

• Tool (2009, 2012)
• King Crimson (1981, 1982)
• Emerson Lake and Palmer (1977)
• Fu Manchu (2013, 2014)
• Ramones (1984)

 

May not have been their biggest commercial peak, but it was during a pretty successful (if short-lived) comeback: Frankie Valli and the 4 Seasons in 1976 when they had a couple of hits with "Who Loves You" and "December 1963". It was a bit of an artistic peak in that this configuration of the group played their own instruments.
The Bee Gees in 1989 were touring behind their album One. Title tune was a hit, they did more from the album, and lots of their hits from the '60s and their comeback in the '70s.
The Carpenters in 1971 when they had just released their 3rd album, were riding high on the charts, and Karen was still playing drums on stage.
The Guess Who in 1972. Most of their biggest hits were behind them (except for "Clap for the Wolfman",1973), but artistically, this configuration was the best live lineup of their career with Burton Cummings, Garry Peterson< Kurt Winter, Don McDougal, and Bill Wallace.
Steppenwolf in 1970, touring behind Monster and the double live album.

 

Led Zeppelin
Pretenders (more than once, original band)
Chicago (around the time of III)
Stevie Wonder (spellbound a whole stadium)
B. B. King (had the audience in the palm of his hand)

 

Wow, gotta say this is one of the coolest threads I've seen posted in recent memory here in SH-land. A lot of fun to read, especially those of you that are adding your memories of the show. Keep 'em coming! Here's my list:

Oasis in March of 1995 touring behind Definitely Maybe on their 2nd US tour. The setlist was pretty much the debut album with a smattering of B-sides.

Depeche Mode in June of 1990 on the Violator tour. Scorching summer night at an open air pavilion and as the band kicked into high gear on stage a huge thunderstorm welled up, adding a massive lightning show to the spectacular stage performance already underway.

Prodigy at an insanely packed club show the week that their Fat of the Land album debuted at number one on the album charts. Absolutely mental.

Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson on the Downward Spiral show at the old Boston Garden. Intensely dramatic show where Trent Reznor introduced the still-in-the-charts Closer as their "big p*ssy MTV hit" and later exhorted the crowd to physically rip up the large rows of chairs and pass them over the crowd to make the floor a giant mosh pit.

Arcade Fire on their first US tour. So electric and beautiful, I can honestly say I got misty-eyed at the set closer of "In The Backseat".

Green Day at their infamous free show at the Hatch Shell in Boston on their Dookie tour that turned into a full-on riot.

Radiohead on the Amnesiac tour, touring their experimental phase for the first time.

Underworld on their Second Toughest in the Infants tour. Another hot summer night club show, this time on the night of the summer solstice. They played two sets for a total of about three hours, heaven.

The XX on their first US tour, where their nervousness was palpable throughout the club. Didn't matter, they were mesmerizing.

Yo La Tengo on their tour for And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out, with Lambchop opening up and playing their then-current album Nixon. I had front row center for this show at a small theatre and was close enough to hear most of the vocals and instruments unmiked.

Awesome memories...

 

I moved to Kansas City in 1982. All shows dated before then were not in Kansas City.

 

Led Zeppelin first American tour 5/69 and 6/72. Mountain 1971 twice. West Bruce & Laing twice 1972. Nektar 1973. Deep Purple 1973 &1974. Humble Pie 1972. Black Sabbath 1974. Emerson Lake & Palmer 1974. Gentle Giant 1974. And so many more! Festivals, Newport Pop Festival 1969. Cal Jam 1 1974. And some I know I forgot!

 

Not many at their peak I'm afraid... I'm thinking mostly commercial peak for those below.

Sting - Dream Of The Blue Turtles Tour (1985) at the Charlotte Coliseum, Charlotte, NC
Genesis (Pop Commercial Peak) - summer 1987 - Giant's Stadium - Invisible Touch Tour
Living Colour (1989) Beacon Theater - NYC
Billy Joel (1989) - The Spectrum - Philadelphia PA ("We Didn't Start The Fire" was most likely his last big hit.)
John Mellencamp (1991) Carnegie Hall - NYC (proably just past his commercial prime)
Guns 'N Roses & Metallica - 1992 - Giant's Stadium, NJ
Pearl Jam - November 1993 (Boulder, Colorado) and Spring '95 in Denver

Lollapalooza 1994 had a few bands that were argueably at their commerical peak. Smashing Pumpkins were still touring behind "Siamese Dream" and the Beastie Boys were riding high off the hit "Sabotage".

 

KISS-The Alive 2 tour/Love Gun Tour
Van Halen-Women & Children First/WorldInvasion Tour
Def Leppard-Pyromania & Hysteria tours
The Jacksons-Truimph Tour
AC/DC-Back In Black Tour

 

King Crimson touring INCOTCK
King Crimson (with Jamie Muir) - Larks Tongue In Aspic (Muir was phenomenal)

Lots of others - Blur, Del Amitri etc. Or for commercial peak back in the sixties - Troggs, Walker Brothers, Dave Dee, Dozy etc, Yardbirds

 

Television on their 1992 tour were amazing.

 

I saw The Jam - Deeside Leisure Centre, North Wales. November 2nd 1980. Decades later, I'd meet people who'd say 'YOU were there TOO?' It seems the world and his wife went!!!

Their previous singles had been both #1s earlier in the year... Going Underground and Start. The #2 album Sound Effects had been released less than a week previously so they were really pretty much at the top in the UK (along with some other bands that I loved and still do - like The Police, The Specials, Madness etc etc - what an amazing time for music and the charts in Britain, anyway!) They were going from strength to strength and if it wasn't for all the other excellent acts around then, I'm sure their next couple of singles would have hit #1 too (they both got to #4. The next single after the two top hitters -That's Entertainment sold massively as import only and nearly cracked the Top twenty - that is no mean feat.)

You could argue that they were bigger (almost) at the end of their career a couple of years later, with their final and #1 album the Gift.. and playing both tracks of their double 'A' sided single Town Called Malice/Precious on BBC TV's Top Of The Pops but I suppose that's relative. They would have got more tv exposure then (I remember them playing live on Channel 4's The Tube - and that was sad because we fans knew it was coming to an end and didn't want to believe it.)

I was 10 when I saw this band - my first ever gig and it was deafening; but so exciting and I knew all the songs from mine and my brothers' records - taped concerts from the radio and had posters of them on my wall. I have all their albums still, on either LP or CD and most of their singles.

 

I never got to see the Jam. I did, however, see Paul Weller at Wolverhampton Civic Hall in 1993 and he was on fire! Some of the concert appears on 'Live Wood'. You have just reminded me of another peak moment in my gigging career