Ideally I'd like to endorse Woodstock, but as a creature of comfort the towering historical significance would quickly dissipate in the blinding reality of mud, porta-potty lines, and Sha-na-na's set. I'm surprised to find that my first responses are for performers from genres that aren't among my primary listening rotation: #1 - Mahalia/Sunday morning 'services' at Newport '58 Bill Evans Trio/Village Vanguare '61 Coltrane & Monk Carnegie '57 Jarrett/Koln '75 For rock I suppose any given Grateful Dead performance from the Avalon, Fillmore East/West, or Winterland during the Jan-March '69 window.
The Dead at the Fillmore in 1970, one of the epic acoustic/NRPS/Electric Dead shows. Hendrix at the LA Forum in 1970.
Joy Division at The Factory (Russell Club), Manchester - 11 April 1980 The Jesus and Mary Chain at The Ambulance Station, London - 23 November 1984 The Smiths at Brixton Academy, London on 12 December 1986 Fugazi at the Wilson Center, Washington D.C. on 29 December 1988 Nirvana at the Motor Sports International Garage, Seattle on 22 September 1990
The obvious ones I guess: Velvets in NYC some time during the Cale years Hendrix and the Who - Isle of Wight Stones, Brussels 1973 Dylan - Rolling Thunder 1975 Sex Pistols, Lesser Free Trade Hall 1976, if only to see if those who claimed to be there really were.
That old Meters "Live At Rozy's" bootleg always sounds to me like the audience there at Rozy's is having a whale of a time. Why not go there?
I saw REM on the Green tour - Dublin show with The Go-Betweens as support. Great show as always from both groups. I also saw U2 on the Joshua Tree tour. Two Dublin shows plus one in Cork. Excellent shows - from the Unforgettable Fire tour onwards always great live. A bit hit and miss before then (IMO).
1) Gary Moore on one of his first two blues tours (1990-1992), possibly when he had guest stars such as Albert Collins or B.B. King 2) B.B. King in Japan 1971 (but I did see him three times when he was already pretty old... but still giving good gigs) Two that came to my mind...
The Buffalo Springfield, can't date any specific gig, but there must have been loads in L.A. in '66 & '67. The premiere performance of Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians in 1976.
Ok, some obvious ones first: Stones '69 (Thanksgiving night) Stones '72 (one of the gigs on the swing thru the southern US when they were at the absolute top of their game) Stones --Civic Arena, Pittsburgh 1966 Mozart--Don Giovanni Premiere, Estates Theater, Prague. 1787. Any Sam Cooke show @1963 Bob Dylan-- Syria Mosque, Pittsburgh 1966 David Bowie --Santa Monica, CA 1972 The Smiths--Fulton Theater, Pittsburgh 1986 Any Bessie Smith show @1928 The Beatles--Civic Arena, Pittsburgh 1964
I have a soundboard from 05.15.70 - 3 Dead sets, 2 NRPS, 63 tracks, 5 hours 42 minutes total. 27-minute versions of 'The Other One' and 'Lovelight' and several Workingman's/American Beauty tunes.
I started working at a paper mill the week of Heatwave. I remember how depressed I was the day of the show.
On May 29th 1967: Cream Jimi Hendrix Pink Floyd (with Syd Barrett) The Move The concert poster said they would have hot dogs available, so that’s the clincher for me.
Any one of the 'all-night' Beatles in Hamburg shows! With beer and a handful of 'uppers', so I could boogie and yell at them all night!
