Your Largest Artist Seen In The Smallest Venue?

I can't think of many (apart from Bert Jansch) but my wife has seen loads - Elvis Costello at numerous early pub gigs, but principally (I guess) the Sex Pistols on their Jubilee boat trip. She, along with the much of the rest of the crowd, got assaulted by police on disembarking.

 

Wilco - Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth (500)
Lambchop - Same as Above

PJ Harvey - Bridport Art Center (200-300)

KT Tunstall - Joiners, Southampton (200)

Mick Taylor - The Brook, Southampton (Probably less than 60 people in this 600 capacity venue)

 

That was the same time in the 90s, but I went back to the same pub in the evening it was packed and he pointed at me before Blackwatersided. sweet.

 

Wow. To be fair the other times I saw him it was pretty packed!

 

I imagine I won't be alone in seeing this band in a small venue in this very long thread but "The White Stripes" at the very moment of their breakthrough live at the Cockpit in Leeds. Very much a last minute gig, I don't think it had even sold out. It was extraordinary, no other way of describing it.

 

I got a few to mention:
The Rolling Stones in the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Ga. (I think it held 4,500 people at the time). This was the Tattoo You tour. (Also saw R.E.M. and other acts at the Fox later as well).
Dire Straits in a bar across the street in Atlanta (maybe holding about 500 people?). This was the Making Movies tour. (Also later saw Pat Benatar, Kim Carnes, Thin Lizzy and others at the same bar).

 

Prince - aftershow at Kentish Town Forum - 500 attendance - 31st July 1993

 

Unsure Richard Thompson is a 'large artist' (my guess is he's still unknown to about 99.9% of most people) but I saw him ( with a band that Christine Collister and Clive Gregson) in a venue that searted, IIRC, 53 people. Five feet away, like being in a war zone when he revved up 'Fire in the Engine Room' and 'Tear Stained Letter'.

Exponentially memorable.

 

In 1991 I saw Skid Row open for Guns N' Roses at a sold out Capital Centre near DC. The capacity there was around 19k if I remember correctly. About ten years later I saw Skid Row again at Jaxx, a little club in Springfield, VA. There were probably 50 people there. They were missing the vocalist and drummer from their classic lineup and one of their guitarists kept making bizarre, awkward faces all night. Weird show.

That was a great club though, saw lots and lots of shows there. The only other "large" acts I've seen there are Opeth and W.A.S.P. I think. I saw Judas Priest & Anthrax at Nation in DC. Not sure what the capacity is there but it's somewhere between a large club and a small theater. Both bands had replacement vocalists. Didn't care for the guy in Anthrax but Priest's singer was better than Halford.

 

I can only say gasping coooool.

 

Yep. Same show. I didn't mention it was at NCC because why would a CC have an airplane hangar ? LOL...Didn't see Edgar either, or I don't remember him playing. What I do remember is Ian Anderson introducing the new bass player, can't remmy his name, as being dressed in his "Ho Chi Minh" suit; a gray suit with black barber pole stripes.

 

Large? In my eyes there are few larger.

In 1993 on my Birthday 11/21, I was walking home to get ready for a late dinner with a couple of friends and more then a couple of drinks. I cut across Prospect Park and came to the Picnic House and heard something... I was surprised that someone was playing a recording of one of my personally most revered artists. I might even say one of my idols but I don't go in for that sort of thing if you know what I mean. I was surprised because few, "relatively" few people knew him or his music and I don't think I'd ever heard his music being played in public as "casual" listening at a party or gathering of one sort or another; which was the purpose of the Picnic House. Kind of like a community / neighborhood clubhouse or meeting hall for various events. Actually; don't think I've heard his music in such a populist way to this day. I've never been waiting at a red light waiting for the green and had a guy roll up next to me and heard this guys' music being blasted from an SUV. So I walk closer to the source; poke my head in to see who was hip enough to be playing... and to my utter astonishment and rub my eyes jaw dropping disbelief... it was no radio, recorder, turntable or boom box... I saw a gaunt skinny guy with skin like leather and a voice like kerosene playing a big bodied blond guitar wearing a coal-black Western shirt with embroidered red and yellow roses at the shoulders over the breastplate and pearlized snaps... Townes Van Zandt playing to an audience of I don't know; 100 people tops. I stood in the back mesmerized for the remaining 40 minutes of the show. Happy Birthday to me. Happy Birthday to me indeed.

 

Doc Watson at Klondike Cafe in Boone... 60 people squashed into a room that shoulda held 30 max

 

....and this show was just officially released !!

 

Does it count if they were in my living room with three other people in the house? What about if they were teaching me how to play the song?

 

When Chuck Berry was residing at the Federal Correctional Institution near Lompoc, Ca. he did some public service work playing free appearances on Sundays in a local semi-dive called the Village Inn. About a 150 capacity club with around 20 in attendance. He played well and was completely approachable and casual.

 

The Stone Balloon in Newark
I was at that show!
Right in front of Mike Peters!
That was a night!

Another one for me would be I saw U2 play one song in the Ed Sullivan Theater in NYC. (holds maybe 500 people?)
They were on Letterman promoting No Line On The Horizon and they played Breathe which turned out to be my favorite song on the album when it was released

 

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Crofton, Nebraska in around 1997.

Bar /restaurant with a tiny stage in the bar area. Sat so close, I could touch the Jeff Hanna from my seat.

Great show, though.

 

Depeche Mode in a Club in Stuttgart 1982 with ca. 200 guests

 

My first thought was none, but after thinking about it there actually are a few.

Pat Benatar - early 2000's at a local rib-fest, maybe 250 people
Leo Kottke - mid 1990's in Kettering Ohio, maybe 300 people - I was about 12 feet away from her.
Poco - Mid 2000's at a county fair, maybe 12 people - it was sad and a thrill (not sure of the lineup, but I think Rusty Young was there)
John Scoffield, jazz guitarist - early 1990s at a local bar, 150 people

 

Pink Floyd at the Auditorium Theater in Chicago - 1972

 

On a trip with some friends to Key West, I saw an eight-year old Derek Trucks sit in with the band at Sloppy Joe's to play "Statesboro Blues".

Keith Richards at the Orpheum Theater in Boston in 1988 (Good show...with a setlist balanced between the just released "Talk Is Cheap" and Keith-sung Stones cuts like "Happy" and "Little T&A")

David Gilmour, also at the Orpheum, on his first post-Floyd solo tour back in 1984 (his setlist had a mere three Floyd tunes - "Money" "Run Like Hell" and the show closer "Comfortably Numb").

James Brown at the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC.

The Black Crowes at the Channel in Boston. I was working in radio at the time and added my name to the list. The station I was working for had a little pull, so we were invited to take in the soundcheck. Very cool.

 

Another thumbs up for the Stone Baloon (RIP) ! I graduated from the University of Delaware in '91 and spent probably far too much time there. I had tickets to see Squeeze peform there in '91 but they had to cancel. Orginally it was to be a warm up gig as they were opening for Fleetwood Mac on their U.S. tour that was starting in either Philadelphia or Atlantic City (I don't recall). Well that gig got cancelled and I guess I couldn't blame Squeeze for not wanting to fly from the U.K. to play a gig in a bar in Delaware ! Of the bigger names, I know (early on in their career) Metallica played the Stone Balloon and Joe Jackson played while I was a student there (so sometime between '87 and '91), but I didn't attend either of those.

 

Beastie Boys at the Riverside, Newcastle.
Ride and The Sunday’s also there.

The Cure at newcastle Mayfair.


Nice thread. How about Smallest artist at biggest venue?

The Fall at Elland Road supporting U2....

 

Jeff Beck at the 9:30 Club in DC

REM at the Jadwin Gym, Princeton University

Ramones at the Rose Hill Gym, Fordham University

The Dictators and the Fleshtones at so many small joints I have lost count.