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

Let's get the ball rolling with mine. In 1980, when I was 14, a school friend managed to get tickets to see The Clash at Bridlington Spa, on their 16 Tons Tour. It was my first big gig, and I was completely blown away. It sounds corny, but I honestly think it changed me forever. I was also fortunate to catch Joe with the Mescalaros twice, but it didn't have the same impact as that first gig. Every time I play From Here To Eternity it brings home just how truly great they were. RIP Joe.

 

The two best concerts I've ever seen:


Tull "Thick as a Brick" tour.

The 'Oo "Who's Next" tour.


Also great were:

The Divinyls "Desperate" tour (when they were rockers, a couple of years before the lame "I Touch Myself" era).

Springsteen & E Street -- approx. '86 or '87, so somewhat past their prime, but they still put on a heckuva show.

The Grateful Dead -- saw them about 8-10 times (first time was 1978).
All of their shows were uneven, but when they synced in for those 15- or 20- or 30-minute stretches that each show contained (usually a few times), they were as magical as the mushrooms that sometimes accompanied those shows

.

 

Pink Floyd at the Spectrum in Philly in 1975 touring behind Wish You Where Here
Neil Young after the Harvest album on the tour that would product Time Fades Away
The Who 1973 Quadrophenia

 

Van Halen Women and Children First tour.

Then I got a little older....

Pat Metheny Group in 1989 or 1990. I think they were touring in support of Letter from Home.

 

The ones that stand out for me are:

Elvis Presley - June 15, 1972 (6 days after the Madison Square Garden shows)
David Bowie - February 20, 1976 (Station To Station tour)
Pink Floyd - June 15, 1977 (In The Flesh tour)
Heart - June 18, 1977 (Climax Blues Band opened) (Dreamboat Annie tour)
Fleetwood Mac - September 11, 1977 (Kenny Loggins opened) (Rumours tour)

 

Yes - "Topographic Oceans" tour, spring '74
ELP - "Brain Salad Surgery" tour, spring '74
Elton John - "Louder Than Concord, But Not Quite As Pretty" tour, summer, '76
Bruce Springsteen/E. Street Band - "Darkness", summer '78
Eagles - "Hotel California" tour, spring '77
Queen - spring, '77
Jackson Browne - summer '78
Bob Seger/Silver Bullet Band - summer '78
Midnight Oil - summer '93

 

Bob Dylan and The Band at the Isle of Wight.

 

I saw Emerson Lake and Palmer when "Works" was released. I saw them several times before but that concert was amazing. Their very best ever.

 

Eric Clapton during 461. Probably his best after Derek.

 

Tool during the "Lateralus" tour

Phish 93-95

 

I forgot Tool!

I saw them when they were touring for Undertow. 328 Performance Hall, Nashville, TN. Wow!

 

I saw a few (mostly in the late '70s):
- Yes during the solo tour ("It's Roosevelt Stadium again") and then the Going for the One Tour (not to mention in the round the next year);
- Queen during the Jazz tour with lots of lady bicyclists on stage with them at the Garden;
- Pink Floyd during the Animals tour with a pig flying around the Garden;
- ELP during the Works tour (loudest of them all)
- I also saw U2 at SUNY Albany's Mayfest in 1983 just as they were starting to become known through MTV (tremendous concert) and at the Carrier Dome during the Joshua Tree tour (also tremendous)

 

Elvis Costello - SUNY Binghamton NY
The Police - Syracuse NY and Rochester NY (included the Fixx and Flock of Seagulls)
Squeeze - SUNY Binghamton NY (Flock of Seagulls opened)
Ramones - SUNY Binghamton NY
The Kinks - their 2nd peak, Syracuse, NY (Bryan Adams opened)
B-52's - Cornell University, Ithaca NY
The Cars - Cornell University, Ithaca NY
Psychedelic Furs - Rochester NY

 

I saw the flaming lips just before zaireeka was out and again maybe a month after soft bulletin came out (several times thereafter) but those shows were magic and will stick with me as retrospectively those albums became classic

I saw the white stripes 3 days after elephant was released...and that was a moment with the crowd very pumped and packed. Unfortunately they were off the mark that night, as the energy waned but they started with a boom

I saw green day (while to me not of the same tier as these 2 above) but I saw them within a week or two of insomnia c's release and that crowd went wild. Billie joe was totally out of it too and towards the end of the concert mooned the audience and then walked to the side of the stage and pissed on a fan and was arrested), that was rather nuts --I couldn't see exactly what happened --saw him moon us--but I remember the reaction and then the concert ended and the Milwaukee papers breaking the story. It was too bad cuz they did play a great show

I saw the polyphonic spree maybe a month after the beginning stages of (debut and best album) came out and that was truly a fantastic show--too bad they didn't keep it up

I saw stone temple pilots just after tiny music (their only classic album though they never had bad albums came out) they played under a mushroom cap that was totally psychedeliczed out and then mid set they dropped down candles, etc and did an acoustic set that was great! That show was solid as the opening act was local h--a bad album band but a GREAT live band and they kicked a$$).

Lastly I saw Wilco both open for rem after being there (that album is their peak) but I saw them at the world (not sure what it's called now) and so given the fans didn't really know them the rem audience was indifferent. I went to see wilco then. Rem was touring new adventures and was a bust in the opening hour but then took a break for the encore and seemed to be a different band as the first encore was like 45 minutes of incredible music and then the fans were so into it they came back for a second encore and were even better--saving that concert .

I saw wilco again at the metro just before Yankee hotel foxtrot made them a big name ( instead of critic darlings) and they were boring--starting my malaise with them as in the late 90s they were in my upper tier artists. Mercury rev opened for them and were incredible though

 

being at their peak is always debatable but these are among my favorites (ancient history I realize)

- Allman Brothers/J Geils Band/Albert King - June 1971 Fillmore East Closing Concerts
- The Who - Bushnell Auditorium, Hartford CT. April 1969 Performed complete Tommy - small venue and extremely loud.....couldn't hear correctly afterwards for two days
- Pink Floyd - Boston Music Hall 72 or 73 performed complete DSOTM with Echoes encore, I remember each band member had big rear view mirrors attached to mic stands so they could sync to movie behind them.
- Mott the Hoople Boston Orphium Theatre Oct. 1973 strange and bizarre face painted crowd - many Bowie fans I assume

 

Los Lobos in a small club when La Bamba was number 1 on the charts. We bought the last 2 tickets. It was my 2nd or third time seeing them, and it was a great show.

Huker Du on the Warehouse tour. Still one of the best shows I've ever seen.

Bruce on the Born in the USA tour twice. First show was the 2nd of the tour, and it didn't even sell out. The 2nd was in early 85, so near the end of the tour. That was a great show.

The Replacements on Let It Be. I just remember ducking beer bottles when I went down the stairs to go to the rest room.

 

Most exciting show I saw was December 1965 at the 3,000 seat Empire Theatre, couldn't hear too much but the atmosphere was incredible, and to hear We Can Work It Out and Day Tripper when they were still new was thrilling. I'll provide name of the act if anyone really doesn't know who I mean.

 

Wow. That is something else. I have the Station To Station 3CD box set and love the live versions, particularly Stay (which I prefer to the studio cut.)

 

I saw them in 1989 too. Also saw a few Phish shows that they later included in their Live Phish CD series (Columbus 94, Deer Creek 96).

 

There's been a few, but a couple that come to mind.

Suede on their British tour just after the release of the first album - Their peak as far as I'm concerned. Probably the most exciting band around at the time, and a great gig. There where scenes reminiscent of Beatlemania ( slight exaggeration ) when the tour bus arrived for the souncheck.


The stand out though , is the Manic Street Preachers at The Millennium Stadium on new years eve 1999. The Manics were at the height of their popularity and it felt pretty historic being there.

 

U2 - Joshua Tree and Zoo TV tours
R.E.M. - Green and Monster tours
Prince - Lovesexy tour
Suzanne Vega - Solitude Standing tour
Radiohead - In Rainbows tour
Peter Gabriel - Amnesty 1988 ("In Your Eyes" with Youssou N'Dour!)
Sting - Amnesty 1988
Genesis - Invisible Touch tour
Living Colour - Steel Wheels tour opening act
Men At Work - Cargo tour

 

I also went to Lollapalooza 1992, mainly for Lush, but got to see Pearl Jam and Red Hot Chili Peppers (who were good - I didn't know their music well enough to tell if having Arik Marshall on guitar made a difference).

 

Not a lot, I was born too late. Best thing I can come up with is seeing Joanna Newsom on the tour following Ys.

 

Four Seasons,Summer of 1967
Clash,Fall of 1979

 

U2 - October, War, The Unforgettable Fire and Joshua Tree tours