Best Concert you ever saw.

[jaymcminn]

4 hours ago, forthlin said:

It's hard to pick one. My Mom took my brother & me to see the Rolling Stones for my 11nth birthday in Nov. 1964. I remember the police were lined up across the front of the stage & the screaming was so loud you could barely hear them.   I also saw the Who in late 1967 during there instrument destroying days. I couldn't hear right for days afterwards they were so loud.  My Wife & I saw Paul McCartney in Indianapolis in Feb. 1990 & I'm a big Beatles fan.

I caught McCartney on the same tour (Flowers in the Dirt) in Tampa. That's my favorite concert.  Close second would be Flaming Lips a few years back at Jannus Landing in St. Pete. 

[Matt Bacon]

Prince at Wembley Arena (around 5000 people, not a stadium gig) in 1988. The band, the showmanship, the musicianship (The Cross, solo for the most part, under a spotlight), the banter, the choreography, Sheila E, the man himself, and it went on (in a good way) for nearly four hours... two "halves" either of which with any other artist would have been the whole thing, four greatest hits as the encore, and then a final, awesome coda to send us out into the summer evening buzzin'. By all accounts, he then went into central London and played another couple of hours "after party" in small club venues... a different one every tour night...

We shall not see his like again...

best,

M.

(Honourable mentions to: a relatively unknown Irish band I was dragged along to see at Exeter Guildhall as a 17 year old in 1982 by a friend at who was at art college there, who sang some songs in Gaelic and were testing out some of the material that was about to become an album called War and change those lads lives; and to Elvis Costello at the Royal Albert Hall running a whole, fantastic greatest hits and new album show from a Wheel of Fortune-style random song selector instead of a set list...)

Edited February 9, 2022 by Matt Bacon

[webestang]

Best- all the Scorpions concerts I've been too. Going to fly to Vegas in April to see them there during their month long live in tour. 

Loudest- Judas Priest.

Best sounding- Bod Seager.

Best seats- Aerosmith -2nd row center. 

Met the band- Foreigner. Foreigner 4 tour 1981. After the show the band went to a restaurant that a friend's brother worked there and surprised us. 

 

So many other concerts. 

 

 

 

 

[Darbo]

On 2/9/2022 at 4:46 AM, Mike C. said:

For me it had to be The Hoodoo Gurus (from Australia) at the Fast Lane (a dive club in Asbury Park NJ). They absolutely tore the roof off the place. At one point the frontman was pleading with the audience to cool down. This was the stage diving era. Another great one was Echo and the Bunnymen at Rutgers basketball auditorium .Ray Manzarek was touring with them and was on keyboards. A rumor was circulating around the arena that they were going to be in this club we always went to nearby after the show. We waited but nobody could get within 20 feet of Ray. He was mobbed. 

Another was The Pixies (original lineup) opened for Love and Rockets at Villanova. Another time Was the Replacements at the Tower Theater in Philly. We went to a place called Brownies pub after the show and drank with them at the bar. There was a local band playing and Westerberg grabbed their bass and started to play round and round (by Chuck Berry) I just happend to be standing next to him so I just started to sing into the microphone with him. 2 of my friends were on another hot mic. There are a million similar stories like this one over the years with them.  I wish we had camera phones back then like everyone does today.

Mike C - Seen Hoodoo Gurus here in Australia many times and they never disappoint, best show was at the Queensland University in a very small hall one Thursday night in about 1987, never forget it! 
They are still touring to this day.

[Mike C.]

I love those guys! I believe it was the Magnum Cum Louder tour. All of my friends that were there still talk about it today. 

I love all the bands from OZ. Radio Birdman, Lime Spiders, Go Betweens, Exploding White Mice, Nick Cave (I know I'm forgetting some)...........

Edited February 10, 2022 by Mike C.

[NYLIBUD]

On 2/8/2022 at 5:28 PM, Miatatom said:

Several for me.

Most memorable AC/DC on October 2, 1979. Bon Scott would be dead 4 months later. I attribute about 90% of my hearing loss to that band, my favorite still.

Best light show Blue Oyster Cult. The drummers kit was mounted on a platform and rotated verrtically. How he could play upside down with the platform spinning is still a mystery to me.

Best recovery from a wasted start Joe Walsh. He was so wasted that the crowd boooed him big time. He straightened up and finished a great show. County Fair and Turn To Stone were awesome.

Most accurate sound of their recordings Little River Band

And I'll speak for a friend that has since passed, Led Zeppelin at a small club in Germany when he was in the Army. Probably less than 100 people there.

Oh Yea i forgot all about seeing BOC.I saw them at a local bar on LI.The sound equipment wasn’t the greatest.The pub was pretty small,but they were great,and they packed in the crowd.You couldn’t move.Love BOC,always have..Definitely one of my favorite bands. 

[vamach1]

21 minutes ago, NYLIBUD said:

Oh Yea i forgot all about seeing BOC.I saw them at a local bar on LI.The sound equipment wasn’t the greatest.The pub was pretty small,but they were great,and they packed in the crowd.You couldn’t move.Love BOC,always have..Definitely one of my favorite bands. 

I just saw BOC last night.  They opened up for Deep Purple.  They had a short set but did the a mix of older hits and new material.  No fancy lights - just playing good music.  I have seen them three times in the last five years.  The second time was in Maryland in 2018 at a very small dinner theatre where our seats at our table were so close I could touch the stage.

Edited February 12, 2022 by vamach1

[RSchnell]

It's hard to pick one for me:

Loudest- Ministry & Meshuggah at Jannus Landing, St. Pete, FL in 2008. Insanely awesome show. But I'm a big Ministry fan so I'm biased.

Best production and sound- Rammstein,  Amalie Arena, Tampa, FL 2012 Out of 100+ concerts I've attended, Rammstein's whole production was incredible and has no peer.

Wildest, anything went- Lords of Acid & My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult, State Theatre St. Pete, FL

Best vibe- Molly Hatchet- Bike Week Daytona Beach, 2013. 

 

[Sandboarder]

Best concert I went to was Slayer!!! 
 

Second would have to be Slayer!!!

 

Lucky enough to see them twice, seen a few good ones at Soundwave events and a few good punk shows. 

[RSchnell]

7 hours ago, Sandboarder said:

Best concert I went to was Slayer!!! 
 

Second would have to be Slayer!!!

 

Lucky enough to see them twice, seen a few good ones at Soundwave events and a few good punk shows. 

I saw Slayer on a triple bill with Anthrax & Megadeth. The crowd was lame and no mosh pit. But Slayer was the best of the three!

[Sandboarder]

18 minutes ago, RSchnell said:

But Slayer was the best of the three!

First time I saw them was 2007 touring with Mastodon. I missed them in 2011 but saw their final tour with Behemoth and Anthrax in 2018. 
 

All Slayer are the GOAT jokes aside Fear Factory are great live along with Dope/Static X. Another great live performance was Killer be Killed at Soundwave. 

[RSchnell]

1 minute ago, Sandboarder said:

First time I saw them was 2007 touring with Mastodon. I missed them in 2011 but saw their final tour with Behemoth and Anthrax in 2018. 
 

All Slayer are the GOAT jokes aside Fear Factory are great live along with Dope/Static X. Another great live performance was Killer be Killed at Soundwave. 

When I saw Ministry in 2008 Burton C. Bell did a couple songs and Tony Campos played for the whole tour. I think Campos is still involved with Ministry. I will have to see if any of that is on Youtube, heard of Soundwave. There's a Cold Waves they hold in Chicago that attracts a lot of the old Industrial acts, but I've never been.

[TonyK]

Oh yeah, saw Blue Oyster Cult back when and they know how to rock! Do they still all grab a guitar and play without any drums? Seem to remember 6 of them across the stage. Saw them with Pat Travers. A girl sitting next to us snuck in a bota bag with booze in it and told us to get a Coke and she'd share. Had it nestled in her bra. Fun times.

[Rick L]

Roy Orbison at the Casino ballroom in Hampton Beach N.H. Just before he died. No kids, No screaming crowd. Just “The Man”, performing his melancholy ballads to a sold out hypnotic crowd.

[HomerS]

Waylon Jennings.  He was playing at a small county bar/concert venue.  No overhyped stage performance and TRUE country music.

[Little Timmy]

Judas Priest  screaming for vengeance tour. I had seats up front right hand side of the stage. Couldn't hear for 2 days after.

Other Noteable shows I have been to...

Black Sabbath : seen them twice, without Ozzy.

Ozzy:  blizzard of ozz and killer of giants tour 

Def Lepard with Billy squire as opening band.

Iron Maiden. I was forced to go... I hate Iron Maiden .

Ted Nugent : awesome show, but I don't remember what tour . 1985 ?

As for Blue Oyster Cult, I saw them in 1984. They couldn't hold a tune to save their lives !!! It seemed to me, that the whole band had been drinking all night and/or, hadn't practiced in a  year . Very dissapointed .

The Gratefull Dead : Telluride Colorado 1987. I was there for 3 days and don't remember most of it ..... hade a great time !!!

[Pete J.]

Best ever?  Hands down, Elton John at Caesar's in Las Vegas.  The man played for over 2 hours with only one brief brake.  The visuals effects, the band and backup singers were amazing.  Best money I have ever spent of concert tickets.  If anyone has a chance to see these last few on the Farewell tour, and you at least like a couple of songs, go!  My only regret was not spending the extra bucks to get the seats that let you go up on stage at the end and gather around his piano while he does the last few numbers. 

[PappyD340]

Led Zeppelin 1973 at Atlanta Fulton county stadium.

[Chuckyg1]

1974, Lynyrd Skynyrd in central park, N.Y.C. With Elvin Bishop warming up. Awesome show. Still have the ticket stubb!

[Miatatom]

2 hours ago, Chuckyg1 said:

1974, Lynyrd Skynyrd in central park, N.Y.C. With Elvin Bishop warming up. Awesome show. Still have the ticket stubb!

Netflix has a documentary on them called If I Leave Here Tomorrow. My friend Nancy owned an art gallery in Knoxville, TN. Guy from California comes in to browse while waiting on a flight back to LA. Free Bird was playing on her stereo and he'd never heard of them. He thought they were awesome. Couldn't believe they were so great but getting almost no air play back home. He went to the mall next door and bought it immediately. 😉

[Chuckyg1]

Another favorite. Elton John at MSG on Thanksgiving day also 1974. John Lennon came out & they played, Whatever gets you through the night, Lucy in the sky with diamonds & I saw her standing there. We were in section 444. As far away from the stage you could get & still be in the building. Didn't matter, it was a memorable night.

[ChrisBcritter]

Most memorable concert overall for me was The Legendary Ladies of Rock & Roll at the Cerritos Center in 1983. Martha Reeves, Darlene Love and Ronnie Spector with surprise guest MC Mary Wilson of the Supremes; Smokey Robinson and Marvin Gaye were in the audience. Won tickets on KRLA and got front row seats - thus got to shake hands with Darlene as she worked the front of the stage .

Most memorable club date: Catalina Bar and Grill in L.A. in 2006; two nights with the great blues singer Linda Hopkins as she recorded what would be her final album, The Living Legend Live!. 

Honorable mention: Early '90s, Dizzy Gillespie at the tiny Vine Street Bar & Grill in Hollywood; my best friend was a waiter there and got me in. Clint Eastwood and then-partner Frances Fisher were sitting 20 feet away from me.

Least memorable: Delivering three large Domino's pizzas - on time - to Guns 'n' Roses at Perkins Palace (Pasadena) in late '87 - they tipped me 32 cents.

Edited February 16, 2022 by ChrisBcritter

[Jantrix]

Ozzy - Ultimate Sin tour with Queensryche 1986

Sting - Soul Cages tour 1991

[Paul Payne]

Queen- Night at the Opera tour- Music Hall in Boston with perfect acoustics- Concert starting with Freddie sitting at his piano backlit onto a screen- I see a little silhouetto of a man- best concert ever even after 40+ years!