Some of the best concerts you have seen would include…

U2 - War Tour, Tower Theater, Philadelphia
Joe Jackson - Night and Day Tour, Tower Theater, Philadelphia - Stepping Out went Gold that day
Bowie - Serious Moonlight tour, Hershey PA
Crowded House - first album, Trocadero, Philadelphia, Woodface Tour at Tower Theater, last tour in Austin TX
Live Aid, Philadelphia
Jackson Browne - solo acoustic, Tower Theater and last year with a band at the Academy of Music
Ryan Adams - solo acoustic at the Academy of Music and with a band at the Tower Theater
Gang of Four - Irvine Auditorium, Univ of Penn
Ramones - Drexel Univ, Philadelphia
English Beat - Irvine Auditorium
Depeche Mode - black Celebration tour, Tower Theater
BB King - Valley Forge Music Fair

 

Possibly the best gig I ever saw was the Magic Band at the Milkweg in Amsterdam about 10 years ago.

 

I am from Toronto and these guys never come up here.
I heard they played small places in the area in the early to mid seventies but wasn't aware at the time.
Thanks for sharing.
Glen

 

Elvis Costello - Liverpool Royal Court 1989
Paul McCartney - Birmingham NEC 1990
Neil Finn - St. Georges Hall Bradford 1998
The Pet Shop Boys - The Savoy Theatre 1997
The Monkees - Sheffield Arena 1995
The Everly Brothers - Preston Guild Hall 1995

 

Best I have heard was The Cult when they did the Love tour a few years ago..

They played the whole Love album plus greatest hits.

The mix was outstanding and they were on fire that night.

 

Genesis Worcester Centrum 1983 probably my favorite. (Of course if I'd seen earlier tours, those would trump it.) At least got to see part of 11th Earl, Squonk, the Cage medley.

Little Feat Cape Cod Coliseum 1988. Band was just staging its "Let It Roll" comeback. This was a such a relaxed venue. In-the-round outdoors. Great view of their amazing drummer Richie Hayward.

Santana Greek Theater LA. The original band with Greg Rolie sometime in the late 80s or 90s. At least I think I saw this! I can find no record of it online!

U2 Zoo TV Tour LA Sports Arena. I think the band was at its peak at this point. The Joshua Tree shows a few years earlier at the same venue I would also rank very high.

Neil Young Universal Amphitheater 1986. This was one of Neil's high concept tours with Crazy Horse, this time the theme was "in a rusted out garage" I believe. I had never seen Neil and was pretty impressed.

Cheap Trick playing their first album front to back. House of Blues maybe around 2000? What a great album.

Fleet Foxes Greek Theater a few years ago. What happened to this band? Such a great mostly acoustic show.

Phish Indio Festival 8. Phish isn't for everyone, but if you like them, this was concert heaven. 3-day festival where they hold Coachella on this thick, lush grass.

Deep Purple Worcester Centrum 1985. This was the original lineup and they had the most incredible energy. The entire floor stood on their chairs for the entire show.

 

1989: Red Hot Chili Peppers in Student Center Ballroom at University of KY (basically sat on the stage, small show)
1989: Rolling Stones in Louisville 6th row (got tickets from Disc Jockey music store day of the show)
1995: Hootie & Blowfish in Huntsville, AL bar (free, before they made it big)
2013: Sarah Jarosz at Narrows Center for the Arts in Fall River, MA (best $20 concert ever)

 

Taylor swift - Took a road trip to Kansas City in 2013. It was a great family time with my daughter. Taylor sounded good and put on a entertaining show. a lot scene and costume changes. Had good seats on the side of Sprint center close to floor.

Boston 2012 They had a new singer and I think the rest were original members. 6th row Right Center seats. The band had a lot of energy along with the audience. Great emyergitic show and the New singer sounded like Brad Delp and sounded awesome.

 

Bruce Spectrum around his birthday. Never seen him since
2 insane Lobos shows, one at the TLA one at the Keswick, the latter while a snow storm covered the area
Rosanne Cash doing a rare club show in 1995
John Hiatt playing solo in 1985 before Bring The Family, started at 9 played til 1 AM, took requests
Raul Malo summer 2002, followed Solomon Burke and just killed

 

Tony Clifton, Troy NY September 12, 2008.



Yes, he covered "Hot Dog".

Over three hours of music, comedy, sex, and violence. All for $17 at the door!

 

McCartney October 2014 - 39 songs(+Foxy Lady coda) over 3 hour show. INCREDIBLE.

Springsteen - Born In The USA Tour - came out at 9:30, stopped at 1.30AM the following morning. WOW. Of course, I had the ***** in my ear leaving the gig complaining he didn't do certain songs......

Rush - hell, all the times I've seen them since Grace Under Pressure Tour. The musicianship of this band!

Rolling Stones Steel Wheels Tour 1989. Drastically better performance than the Tattoo You show in 1981. The 1981 show was pure spectacle with almost 90,000 crammed in the Superdome.

Chicago August 1977. My first concert. Seeing the original lineup and hearing them play the second side of album one of Chicago II was incredible. Glad I saw Terry Kath do his thing.

ELO with the Spaceship. My second concert. What a visual thing this was. Oh, the music wasn't bad either!

Fats Domino 2003. My only time seeing him live. What energy for a man in his late 70's.

Tom Jones HOB 2014. Most powerful vocal performance from start to finish. Great comic relief from the fans in the audience throwing underwear and one doing the panty dance. Tom got a kick out of that!

Eric Johnson - HOB shows. Saw him 4 times. He needs to come back either by himself or with the Hendrix Experience.

Styx - Paradise Theater Tour 1981. A band at their peak. Somehow the music and DeYoung's theater worked VERY well. Still make their shows whenever they come close. Tommy and JY keep the rock rolling.

Dickey Betts 2000 HOB NOLA. This show happened 2 weeks after he got sacked by Allman. Great show and he comes out after the show, sits on the bus steps and thanks EVERYBODY for coming out and signs all kinds of stuff. Musicians take note - this is how it's done. Interact with your fans!

Eric Burdon's I-Band. Great shows, tight band. Included in the lineup was Aynsley Dunbar.

Jefferson Airplane 1998. Show in a tent for a Casino. Billed as Starship, The Airplane shows up instead! Balin, Casidy, Kantner. Stayed for both shows.

AC/DC Black Ice Tour. After seeing them for 30 years, still delivering the goods. Would love to see them on the Stadium Tour. All my shows were in arenas.

Jeff Beck - seen him 3 times, going for a 4th in May. Blown away by this guy's ability to play.

Blue Cheer - saw them the last two tours before Dickie Peterson died in October 2009. A band I NEVER thought I'd see. No nonsense. Just pure force.

Grand Funk Railroad 1997/1998. Had the pleasure to see Mark, Don and Mel in a small theater and at an outdoor festival.

Frank Marino(Mahogany Rush). Saw him at the Masonic Temple in Mobile AL. Came out at 8 didn't stop until 11. About 20 in the audience. How this place wasn't packed is beyond me.

Andy Powell's Wishbone Ash - seen him a few times. Great musician.

Julian Lennon Photograph Smile Tour. A few times, many in the audience were closing their eyes and wondering what they'd do if John showed up there. Sent chills up my spine.

 

I've seen Melt-banana several times, but the first time I saw them at VZDs in OKC not knowing what to expect was something else.

 

Hell yeah! I'm keen on reading all of the posts descriptions, whether I like the artists or not. I would have loved to have seen those guys.

Continuing...

Dinosaur Jr at The Palace April 1995. Excellent gig. Mr. Dinosaur was in exceptional form. Great set list. I saw so many great gigs at this venue. It unfortunately doesn't exist anymore.
Alternative Nation (festival) April 1995. A cold, very wet, miserable day. L7; Cosmic Psychos; Live; Faith No More; Primus; Nine Inch Nails were all excellent.
The Big Day Out (festival) at Melbourne Showgrounds January 1996. There were some great performances from Rage Against The Machine, Rancid, and Magic Dirt. But the one that sticks out in my mind was when Kylie Minogue stepped onto the stage to join Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds for "Where The Wild Roses Grow", which she had recorded with Nick and got a lot of airplay. It was mesmerizing. Nick Cave was the best act on the day in my opinion.
Page & Plant at Flinders Park February 1996. I hadn't read any reviews from their USA tour and basically thought that I was going to see an unplugged with extras kind of gig. Wow was I wrong. They exploded into The Wanton Song, Bring It On Home, Heartbreaker, Ramble On - I was in shock. I wasn't aware that they would be playing part of their show in classic Zep style. And finished off with Black Dog & Rock And Roll. Brilliant show.

More to come...

 

Van Halen - June 21, 1981 LA Forum: I'd seen Van Halen previously in '77, '78, '79(twice) and '80. The 1981 tour supporting the Fair Warning album remains my favorite tour. I saw them twice this tour at the Forum, but the 6/21 show was by far better, mainly because my friend and I had great seats about 18 rows back on the floor. This show was simply Van Halen at their very best. The best stage, best setlist, everyone playing at their absolute peak.

Bruce Springsteen - August 20, 1981 LA Sports Arena: This right here is probably my all time best show. A friend of mine managed to score 2nd row seats and his buddy couldn't pay for his ticket so on a whim I decided to go. I wasn't a fan, I really didn't like his style of singing, and was barely familiar with anything Bruce had done up to that point aside from the big singles and my friend playing "Darkness On The Edge Of Town" relentlessly. This turned out to not only be an amazing show, but as far as Springsteen concerts, this later became known as one of Bruce's all time most historic shows as it was a benefit for Vietnam Vets and Bruce had a couple dozen vets, mostly in wheelchairs sitting on a platform right on the side of the stage to watch the concert. It was a 3 1/2 hour marathon and the next day I wound up buying everything the guy had recorded so far. Since then, next to maybe Van Halen and U2, Bruce has been the consistently best concerts I've seen (about 20 so far). At the time, I was occasionally recording shows with an AIWA stereo deck and those little cube mics but I gave up trying to record this show after only about an hour because I thought I'd get busted as I was right in front of Bruce's line of sight. I long ago lost the tape but fortunately this show has been decently bootlegged by others.

The Lords Of The New Church: August 1982 Perkins Palace: This excellent but obscure punk/goth band was right up there in my top 3 or 4 favorite bands through most of the early 80's. The show I caught at Perkins Palace in Pasadena was during their first album's tour and we had front row center reserved seats and as soon as the Lords came on, everyone tore up their seats and rushed the stage and it became GA chaos. Stiv let a few of us up on the stage to sit on the sides and the wedge monitors as long as we behaved. At the end of the show, Stiv invited anyone willing to follow them back to their hotel to hang out with them. After a long wait, we followed the tour bus a few blocks to the hotel they were holed up at and hung out with Stiv and drummer Nicky Turner for a short while.

U2 - April 1987 LA Sports Arena: I saw two shows at the Sports Arena during the 1st arena leg of the Joshua Tree tour and one show later during their stadium leg. The 1st show Sports Arena show was a standard set and the band, especially Bono seemed tired but the last show of the stand was easily my favorite U2 show to date. The band came on with the house lights still on while people were rushing to their seats and slowing picked up on and performed along to the Lennon version of "Stand By Me" which was playing on the PA with the band eventually playing the tune by themselves while Bono ad-libbed some lyrics about how cool it was playing in LA for a week. After that, they turned off all the lights and Bono sang the moody "MLK" in complete darkness and crashed into "Pride." They wound up playing a completely rearranged setlist from the standard set that tour. That remains as the most memorable U2 show of the 20+ of their shows I've seen since their first show I caught back in '81.

1st Lollapalooza tour 1991 - Irvine Meadows, CA: I had always been a huge Jane's Addiction fan and had caught them several times between '87 through '90 with the original lineup but knowing they were breaking up after these shows made this one a special show for me. Also, seeing Nine Inch Nails nearly steal the show and almost overnight become the "next big thing" was pretty damn amazing.

Bauhaus - August 1998 Hollywood Palladium: I went to this 80's goth band's reunion show at the Hollywood Palladium not really knowing what to expect. I knew of their single from the early 80's (Bela Lugosi's Dead) and not much else about them. Turned out to be a fantastic concert and that got me not only really into their music, but their offshoot bands like Love and Rockets as well. Daniel Ash is a great guitarist. The audience was more out there than the band - it's the middle of August, hot as hell, everyone is dressed in full Halloween mode. By mid-set, all these goth's makeup is running and the stench of hairspray and clove cigarettes filled the air. Reunion shows like this make me regret not catching the band when they were originally active.

Arcade Fire - May 2007, Greek Theater LA, CA: One of those shows I decided to check out on a whim at the last moment. Scored a good ticket in the first section maybe 100 feet back from the stage through an eBay seller the day before the show. Was somewhat familiar with their music but just couldn't get into "Neon Bible" (I love it now). Turned out to be a mind-blowing show. It's good to know that even after 30 years of seeing rock bands, I can still see a show that just makes me glad I was at that place and nowhere else on the planet that evening.

 

Far, far too many to name, but the ones that pop to mind immediately:

The first Bridge concert with Springsteen, Petty, CSNY, Henley, Nils, etc.

Springsteen '81... I didn't get in to the Vietnam Vets concert but saw another in that string.

Prince, Livesexy

Nirvana, Dec. 30 1993 (Heart Shaped Box was my favorite song that night and it made it onto the live album)

World Party "Goodbye Jumbo" tour 1989. GA, I got beneath Karl somehow and it was effin' awesome. "Take It Up," live, people!

 

KISS - Madison Square Garden, NYC 1979

Joni Mitchell - Forest Hills Stadium, Queens 1979 (w/Jaco Pastorious)

Cheap Trick - New Haven Coliseum - 1979

Rush - Nassau Coliseum , Uniondale NY 1980

Van Halen - Hartford Civic Center, 1980

Ozzy Osbourne w/ Def Leppard -New Haven Coliseum 1981

Van Halen - New Haven Coliseum 1981

Paco de Lucía, Al Di Meola & John McLaughlin - Beacon Theater, NYC 1983

Chick Corea w/ Paco de Lucia - Beacon Theater, NYC 1983

Miles Davis and VSOP II, Avery Fisher Hall, NYC 1983

Robert Plant - Hartford Civic Center 1983

Stevie Ray Vaughan - Carnegie Hall, 1984

Steel Pulse - Pier 84 , NYC 1985

Stevie Ray Vaughan - Pier 84, NYC 1985

UB40 - Pier 84, NYC 1985

James Brown - Radio City Music Hall, NYC 1986

David Lee Roth - MSG, NYC 1986

Allan Holdsworth - The Bottom Line, NYC 1987

Guns n' Roses - Orpheum Theater, Boston 1988

Jane's Addiction - The World, NYC 1988

Jane's Addiction - The Ritz, NYC 1989

Lunachicks - CBGB, NYC 1989

The Replacements w/ Johnny Thunders - Beacon Theater, NYC 1989

Stevie Ray Vaughan/ Jeff Beck, MSG, NYC 1989

Mary Margaret O'Hara - St. Ann's, Brooklyn - 1990

Manitoba's Wild Kingdom - CBGB , NYC 1990

Elvis Costello w/The Replacements - MSG, NYC 1991

Jonathan Richman - 7 Willow Street, Port Chester , NY 1992

Dictators w/ Lunachicks - The Palladium , NYC 1992

Keith Richards w/ Soul Asylum - Beacon Theater, NYC 1992

Ramones w/ Lunachicks - The Ritz , NYC 1992

Paul Westerberg - The Globe , Norwalk, CT 1993

UFO - Limelight, NYC 1995

Beastie Boys(as Quasar) - Coney Island High, NYC 1995

Voluptuos Horror of Karen Black - CBGB, NYC 1995

Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter - King Cat Theater, Seattle 1997

Cheap Trick - Showbox, Seattle 1997

Geraldine Fibbers - Showbox, Seattle 1997

Zeke - Crocodile Cafe , Seattle 1997

Nashville ***** - Crocodile Cafe, Seattle 1998

Supersuckers - Crocodile Cafe, Seattle 1998

AC/DC - MSG, NYC 2000

Cheap Trick - Irving Plaza, NYC 2001

Cheap Trick - Town Hall, NYC 2001 (acoustic show)

Robert Plant - Roseland, NYC 2001

Paul McCartney - MSG, NYC 2005

The Dead Weather - HOB, Boston 2009

Motorhead - HOB, Boston 2009

X - Fun Fun Fun Fest , Austin 2012

 

I've seen Raul a number of times, both solo and with the Mavericks, and he's an amazing performer. Every time I've seen him has been at Knuckleheads Saloon in Kansas City.

Another astonishing show was a triple bill of Alejandro Escovido, Los Lonely Boys and Los Lobos. I've got video from that show up on YouTube, and it was EPIC. I can't link to it as I'm on the Megabus and YouTube is blocked, but I've posted it before.

 

Foo Fighters, Beastie Boys, Sonic Youth - Live in Manila 1996
Oasis - Live in Hong Kong 2009
Stone Roses - Live in Singapore 2012
Blur - Live in Hong Kong 2013

 

Garbage at The Palace October 1996. This was sensational. It was their first tour here, on the back of that excellent debut album. Shirley Manson immediately had everyone in the palm of her hand.
Radiohead at Festival Hall February 1998 on their "Ok Computer" tour. I was at the front of the stage for this one. They were perfect.
AC/DC at Rod Laver Arena (formerly Flinders Park, formerly National Tennis Centre) February 2001. Fantastic all the way to the end of the show. The best gig that I'd ever witnessed by them.
Kiss at Rod Laver Arena April 2001. Ace was back and they put on a magic show. It was great to finally see them with all of the original members - the only time they ever did that here.
Judas Priest (with Ripper Owens on vocals) at The Palace December 2001. This was the Priests first tour here. Ripper put on a great performance. They played fantastic and the crowd gave them an excellent reception, and sang along with every track including the Ripper tracks.

more to come...

 

Jeez, hundreds of shows. Most great. Dunno where to start.

Well, this one has a nice picture to show in response.

1970

 

The Grateful Dead-I could list several dozen, really. Couple of high points (no pun intended!): 3/29/90, 12/31/90, 9/10/91. All with Branford Marsalis. 7/16/90, 6/17/91, really any Spring or Summer 90 show. 9/20/90 blew my mind. I could go on and on with these guys....

Springsteen-Any of the 26 shows I have seen... Clarences' last in 09, Buffalo will be forever burned into my skull, tho

Jerry Garcia Band- 2/6/94. I saw a few shows at the Warfield, I don't know why but this one really affected me.

Jerry Garcia Acoustic&Electric Band-Lunt Fontanne Broadway, 10/31/87. What a wild run this was, glad I was along for it!

Jerry Garcia and David Grisman-1/12-13/94. 2 nights for this run, my only shows with Garcia/Grisman. highlights of my life

Sting- 87, Onondaga War Memorial with Branford. Blew the Police show I saw at the Dome out of the water! wow was this good stuff!

Stones-Steel Wheels tour, Syracuse 89. Good big production show, still the best Stones show Ive seen.

Honorable Mentions: Clapton Journeyman tour 89, Mccartney 02, Bowie Serious Moonlight 83, Genesis Mama tour 83, SRV at the NYS Fair 87, Floyd at the Carrier Dome 87 and 94.

David Nelson Band and Railroad Earth put on the BEST small-scale shows on the Planet!!!

 

That's simply outrageous.

 

Dead - Ithaca, NY 1977
Black Flag -Buffalo, NY 1983
Minutemen - Hoboken NJ 1984
J Geils Band - Buffalo NY 1977
Wipers - Boston 1983
Alice Cooper - Utica NY 1973
Husker Du - Hoboken NJ 1985
Queen/Thin Lizzy Syracuse NY 1976
Aerosmith - Buffalo NY 1976
Kiss - Buffalo NY 1976 (seriously - it was a lot of fun)

 

The first that come to mind...

Kate Bush- Before The Dawn
Marillion- US tour 2012
Roxy Music- Siren tour
10cc- Bloody Tourists tour
King Crimson- Vroom tour
Yes- Relayer tour
Springsteen & ESB- Reunion tour 1999
Todd Rundgren- Nearly Human tour
Queen- Sheer Heart Attack tour
Prince- Lovesexy tour
Roy Orbison- 1988 (Circle Star Theater San Carlos, CA)

 

I've seen too many absolutely great ones to possibly mention them all, but Sigur Ros on the Kveikur tour a year or two ago, was definitely the most recent thing to have THE "vibe" -- like, this was a magical beautiful, rare and special event, rather than just another performance. It had that Pied Piper effect -- I was mesmerized, and I definitely wanted to drop everything and follow them to the next town and the next and follow them anywhere they went. In terms of recent or modern times, that band was THE one concert where I felt like I was seeing something truly special and timeless, where you get that really high level quality of a great artist, on a great or "important" historical tour. Light show, sound quality, stage production, sublime performance, musical chops, vibes, they really delivered it all. It was far beyond the average everyday humdrum rock concert. They're up there with the best of the best, in my opinion.