queenlive.ca and queenconcerts.com are easily two of the best fan sites for any artist, imo. Awesome, awesome site just to browse random shows!
I'm cheating by cutting and pasting from my original post from months ago in an almost identical thread, but here's my favorite show(s). 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. 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. 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 Sports Arena stand was easily my favorite U2 show to this day. 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. 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 on 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. 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 a few of their singles from the early 80's, Bela Lugosi's Dead being the primary one 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 goth Halloween mode. By mid-set, all these goth kid's makeup is running down their faces 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.
I mentioned earlier the Muddy Waters show at the Cleveland Agora in 1978. Most of my favorite shows through the years are at small venues like this. The intimacy of the small club atmosphere creates a more visceral, more involved experience. Other great shows at small, or smallish venues I had the good fortune to be a part of: Iggy Pop at the same Cleveland Agora in 1978. The Mekons at a dive bar called Pats in the Flats. Cleveland, about 4 years ago. The Replacements in a Kent State University Hall (I think it was in the psychology building) in 1989. Richard Thompson with Bob Wasserman acoustic show in a church in Charlotte, NC in 1996 or so. Richard Thompson with full band at the Odeon in Cleveland, early 2000s. King Crimson at the Odeon, 2002 or 2003. Twinemen (ex Morphine members) at the Grog Shop in the Coventry neighborhood of Cleveland. Graham Parker, same Grog Shop, 1994-ish. Wire at a place called Peabody's Downunder on the east bank of the Cuyahoga River, 1988. John Cale and Pere Ubu, also Peabody's in '88. Ramones at the Phantasy Niteclub in 1988. Warren Zevon at the Front Row Theatre (small in-the-round venue in Cleveland), mid 80s. BB King, Front Row, 1979. Tom Waits, Allen Theatre, a smallish venue in Cleveland's theatre district, Frank's Wild Years Tour. Alejandro Escovedo at the Beachland Ballroom, a converted Croatian social hall, 2 or 3 years ago. Ian Hunter, Beachland Ballroom, 4 years ago. So many more... Gotta love Cleveland. This place is legendary...
Neil Young & Crazy Horse @ Old Princeton Landing, Princeton, CA 5.23.96 http://www.cardboardanalogue.com/Neil_at_OPL.html Cowgirl In The Sand / Stupid Girl / The Losing End / Drive Back / Pocahontas / Bite The Bullet / The Loner / Cortez The Killer /Barstool Blues / Big Time / Powderfinger / Scattered / Cinnamon Girl / F*!#in' Up / Down By The River / Prisoners Of Rock 'n' Roll
The Doors - July 26, 1967 Portland Oregon - Masonic Temple for a dance Buffalo Springfield - February 4, 1968 Portland Oregon Hendrix and The Seeds - September 9, 1968 Portland Oregon - Hendrix came on and I found my people Led Zeppelin - December 29, 1969 Portland, Oregon ****ING LOUD ( Saw them a few more times in subsequent tours) Loved them even when Paigy was hanging on by a thread. Elvis - November 7, 1970 Portland Oregon James Brown - 1985 Portland, Oregon at the Civic. Macca Elton Page and Plant C,S,N and the other guy Crowded House - September 3, 1991 Paramount Movie Theater Portland Oregon - Small crowd. Neil sat next to my 18 yr old daughter and I while watching the opening act. Surprisingly he engaged my daughter in conversation for a half hour Nobody else recognised him. It was a very small crowd and no one was within 5 seats of us. Rolling Stones - October 14,15 1981 Seattle - Opening act was an on fire J. Geils band Van Halen - Seattle - With Hagar. That is the shortlist.
Joe "King" Carrasco at Parody Hall in Kansas City. Neither my wife or I dance. We just don't. That night, we danced our fool heads off! I shot a wonderful version of the Pirates of Penzance that made a virtue out of their lack of a budget by updating the 1880s to the 1980s. All the Pirates were dressed as Punks, and the Major Generals Daughters were Valley Girls. I laughed out loud when they bowed to a poster of the band Queen to "..with all our faults, we love our Queen." Dead Can Dance at the Vic Theater in Chicago. The first song was so moving, so spell-binding that, when they finished...nobody clapped. Not a peep. The band looked at each other, wondering "do they hate us?" but none of us wanted to be the person who broke the spell. We all clapped and cheered after the next song, though. Don't know if I could improve upon what you said. We were in the 6th row, right by the aisle Kate was carried down/marched back up. Before the Dawn on September 2nd was an experience that can never be matched, so transcending the whole idea of a concert so completely that it seems unfair to compare any other concert to it. After that, Todd Rundgren, the Todd/Healing concert presented by Rundgren Radio. It was an act of love for the audience, for us huge fans. The final song, Sons of 1984, ended with the curtain coming down on the band, Todd and the choir. But the audience kept singing the chorus long after the band had stopped. It was magic: In a completely different genre, the Bulgarian Voices at St. John of Riglia. We were dead center, front pew, 25 or so women singing full-throated, arranged in a semi-circle less than 15 feet from us. Moved to tears several times, our bodies vibrating in sympathy to their vocals.
U2, April 20, 2001. Some sort of bizarre group psychology thing happened that night. It was if they put a drug into the air vents. There are only a couple of U2 concerts that might be its equal, but they had extenuating circumstances (post-war Sarajevo, post-attack NYC). I've been to some of U2's best concerts and went to other nights of the same tour, but this show was far above the best of those not to mention concerts of everyone else I've seen. Not everybody felt it, but everyone who did couldn't explain it. I still don't know how beyond waving my hands about "group psychology." Here's a crew member's review who was left just as floudering for words. It's hard to know what to say about tonight's show, other than that it was one of the great transcendental experiences. We changed the set list, including "Stay" for the first time on this tour and "Kite" for the first time ever, both of which were spectacularly successful. The whole night just flowed and it was all we could do to hang on. Afterwards Bono seriously claimed it was the best show of his entire career and much as we all know that Bono is not generally a man prone to understatement, I have never heard him say anything like that before. He told me it was the happiest he'd ever felt on stage. What makes a show like tonight so great? Its hard to say, other than that the Eagle had landed, the Force was with us, Elvis was in the building.... The show in Atlanta was the first time we really sparked the fusion on this tour but what's really odd is that practically every show since then has reached that same level of emotional/spiritual intensity. Something very tangible seems to be happening during these shows and its happening on a regular basis. Something "other", something greater than the sum of the parts arrives, creating some communal spirit, some energy feedback vortex, alpha rhythms on speed - I don't know what it is, but we've been whipping it up in shed-fulls. Last night's show was certainly on a par with anything else on the tour so far, but tonight's show just eclipsed it... we were so high. Bono has long said that U2 shows are "drugs without drugs" - but if Zoo & Pop were LSD I think this tour must be Ecstasy. And I'm not coming down.
My wife used to write concert reviews for a local newspaper, so going to those with her, along with the concerts we went to otherwise, and the ones I saw before being with her, I've literally seen hundreds of big-named shows... There is one concert that stands out to me that after it was over I was in awe -- I had just seen/heard something really special. No, it wasn't Paul McCartney, or Yes performing with surround-sound, though those two would be high on my list, it was a double-bill of: Leo Kottke and Michael Hedges. I've only seen the video, but had I been there in person I'm fairly certain "Concert For George" would be my answer otherwise.
U2 - MSG '87 Paul McCartney - MSG '89 Peter Gabriel - MSG '92 Pete Townshend - Jones Beach '93 Radiohead - Hammerstein Ballroom '97 Paul McCartney - CitiField '09 (6th row center) Paul McCartney - Philadelphia '10 (opened with Venus & Mars - watched from side of stage with my son - got a wave from Paul, set list and a pick from John Hammel).
I was there too - prob not my favorite Dead show but I think it was the last run they did that you could camp at and it was a TON of fun. A few of my faves over the years: Joanna Newsome - Milwaukee, 2010 Phish - Townsend Farm, VT 7/1991 like 'em or not, this was pretty early in their career so things were loose and fun and we watched the shows (over a few days) from inner tubes on the river...pretty sweet. Husker Du - Bozeman, MT 1986?...vague memory but it turned me onto an entirely new world. Helms Alee - Triple Rock Club, MN 2013 (great interplay/harmonies and, by the end of the show, everyone in the room was crushing hard on the amazing and beautiful drummer...
I was at one of those shows. I went in with fairly low expectations, but it turned out to be a pretty good show. My favorite has to be on of the shows from the first run at Giants Stadium-I have never seen a crowd reaction like that, before or since, followed closely by the previous year's run at Byrne Arena recently documented by the authorized bootleg CD Springsteen released.
I've been to 685 rock shows & have seen almost all the major & minor artists, but one of the greatest was the Hollies at the Bottom Line 8/23/83 , they started with Carrie Anne, & then every great song after song. Allen Clarke's voice was still intact. One of the best shows I ever saw.
Outside of all the Rush shows I've seen, ( yes I am bias), it has to be Don Henley at the Benedum in Pittsburgh back in '94 on his Inside Job tour. Phenomenal performance! Bob
Trapper Schoepp & The Shades. Saw them at a bar in Oshkosh around 2010. Chatted with Trapper and his brother for a bit, said they were really digging Petty at the time. Friendly and respectful kids. Great to hear they are still on the road doing bigger shows and making good music. Thanks.
My top 10 King Crimson w/Strawbs 10/15/73 Santa Monica Civic - Far better than any boots I've heard of that era. Jethro Tull 4/10/77 Anaheim Convention Center - Songs From The Wood tour Fleetwood Mac (Opening for Jefferson Starship) 11/30/74 Shrine Auditorium - penultimate show of the Welch era Little Feat 6/18/78 Shrine Auditorium - final concert of the Columbus tour in home town LA; also final concert of the Lowell George lineup Dire Straits 1984 Greek Theatre - Brothers In Arms tour; best live sound I've ever heard Frank Zappa 2/23/74 Shrine Auditorium - Roxy and Elsewhere band James Taylor Universal Amphitheater - early '90s band, same band as on Live Don Henley w/Edie Brickell 9/27/89 Universal Amphitheater - First stop on the End Of The Innocence tour, Bruce Hornsby guests, Danny Kortchmar guests on lead guitar all night Grateful Dead w/Joan Baez, NRPS, Flying Karamazoz Brothers 12/31/81 Oakland Auditorium - New Years Eve. Four sets. Need I say more. Procol Harum w/Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra & Roger Wagner Chorale Hollywood Bowl 9/21/73
