Best Concert

It was 1989 and I was in NYC with some friends who think of themselves as musicians.

We wander into this hole in the wall Blues Club (Mondo Cane), there are about 30 people in the place.

Out comes the band and the front man is this fat dude holding a harmonica.

My friends can't stop laughing, until they start to play and our jaws hit the floor.

The band was Blues Traveler and they were amazing.

Chris
 
Speaking of Blues Traveller (whom I actually don't like) . . .

Seattle. Bumbershoot. 1997. $10 got you in to the whole thing. Memorial Stadium concert lineup . . .

Joan Osborne

David Byrne

Blues Traveller

All put on full sets. I never thought of Osborne as much, but she put on a killer show and looked fabulously hot while doing it. Then Byrne did an hour-long set, with -- get this -- eight costume changes. Lots of great Talking Heads and solo stuff.

Then BT put on a great show. Like I said, not a fan, but a good set, nonetheless.

Don't know if it was the best concert, but it was the most memorable.

Contenders for best:

The Sundays in a small bar in Ann Arbor.

Midnight Oil in a small venue at my university when I was a sophomore.

Elvis Costello this past year; I was right up on stage. No glitz; just the man and his music, period.
 
David Jimerson said:
Elvis Costello this past year; I was right up on stage. No glitz; just the man and his music, period.
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Elvis Costello is my favorite. I've seen him a dozen times. My favorite was probably at the Paladium in NYC in 89.

Chris
 
Terry_Lasater said:
I've seen many over the years, as well. Here are a few of the more memorable ones:

• AC/DC
• Aerosmith & Black Crowes
• Beck
• The Babys
• Cheap Trick & Sweet
• Kansas
• Def Leppard (twice with two arms and twice with one arm)
• The Eagles
• Stevie Ray Vaughn
• Foreigner & Bryan Adams (I passed out on the floor just before the first band and woke up on the shoulders of a buddy 10 feet out from the center of the stage. Bryan Adams was on stage singing and was looking right at me with a knowing grin on his face.)
• INXS
• Judas Priest
• Van Halen (3 times with Dave and 4 times with Sammy)
• Blue Oyster Cult (of course!)
• The Firm & Bad Company
• Foghat
• KISS & Johnny Cougar
• Paul McCartney
• Page/Plant
• Rolling Sones & Sheryl Crow
• The Cars & Nick Gilder (Hot Child in the City) lol
• Jon Butcher Axis/Def Leppard/Scorpions
• Motley Crue
• Michael Schenker Group
• REO Speedwagon
• Rod Stewart
• Toto
• Triumph
• ZZ Top
• Texas Jam (forget what year, I'll have to find the Tee shirt)
-Bon Jovi
-The Scorpions
-Ted Nugent
-Deep Purple
-Night Ranger
• Journey (w/ Greg Rollie and Steve Perry on vocals) & Thin Lizzy
• Jefferson Starship
• Heart
• Ted Nugent & The Romantics ( This was an odd coupling and Uncle Ted's fans weren't kind to them thar new wavers)
• Tina Turner
• Conway Twitty
• Faron Young & Tammy Wynette
• Johnny Mathis
• Dixie Chicks (I shot for their VH-1 special "All Access: The Dixie Chicks")

Those are just the ones that come to mind. I've seen several concerts, but there are still many more I'd like to add to that list.
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Hey Terry, did you sneak a peak at my record collection back in the '80s?

I forgot about Springsteen. I saw him in Cincinnati (River Front Areana, first concert after the Who disaster, the ushers were nazi about standing up and smoking) and I saw him in Detroit. Wow, what a show. I would not sit around and listen to his music, but would love to see him live again.
 
Hmmm tough one... I have two....

KISS in '96 at MSG with all four original members in make up... I wanted 21 years for that moment. I cried... It was awesome...

And U2 basically everytime I've seen them. They freaking rocked this last time in May.

-Robert
 
Queensryche (Operation Mindcrime tour)
Kiss, Aerosmith (Like Aerosmith but why was Kiss opening for them?)
Scorpians (same year as Operation Mindcrime)
Lords Of Acid
Deep Purple, Nazareth, April Wine (Not sure on the album, but live... the solo in the middle of Hair Of The Dog, Dan McCafferty comes out playing bagpipes. Trip.)
Chubby Checker and Reba when I was a kid.

Lots of others, just not so good.
 
Cryogenic Filmworks said:
Kiss, Aerosmith (Like Aerosmith but why was Kiss opening for them?)
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Blasphemy! They SHARED the bill and someone had to go on first.

Anyway, that's what KISS said at the time. :laugh:

-Robert
 
U2 without a doubt. I think ZooTV was my personal favorite, but the Elevation tour was fantastic as well. I've got ticket to the Vertigo tour in December, so that should be great too.

The two that I'd love to see in concert and haven't had the chance are David Bowie and Peter Gabriel (I'm jealous P.K.).
 
I can't believe I forgot to mention Lilith Fair. The music was good, but I have never seen so many hot women gathered at one place in my whole life. The fact that half of the women seemed to be kissing the other half wasn't too bad either. :)

Chris
 
CMessineo said:
I can't believe I forgot to mention Lilith Fair. The music was good, but I have never seen so many hot women gathered at one place in my whole life. The fact that half of the women seemed to be kissing the other half wasn't too bad either. :)

Chris
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Ahh yes. Lilith Fair... I still try to see Sarah Maclaghlin when she comes to town...for the music of course....not girls kissing girls. :evil:

-Robert
 
krestofre said:
U2 without a doubt. I think ZooTV was my personal favorite, but the Elevation tour was fantastic as well. I've got ticket to the Vertigo tour in December, so that should be great too.

The two that I'd love to see in concert and haven't had the chance are David Bowie and Peter Gabriel (I'm jealous P.K.).
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You are going to have a blast! I really loved their set list on the Vertigo Tour. And they sounded so damned tight (when don't they?). A few months back when they shot the video for Love and Peace on the streets of NYC, they stopped literally right in front of my office and played the whole song. It was freaking amazing! They were like 6 feet away.

Bowie is on my list to see in this lifetime as well.

-Robert
 
CMessineo said:
I can't believe I forgot to mention Lilith Fair. The music was good, but I have never seen so many hot women gathered at one place in my whole life. The fact that half of the women seemed to be kissing the other half wasn't too bad either. :)

Chris
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Yeah, I went to Llith Fair, I missed the "hot" women... I must have been setting in the "female construction worker" section. Loved the show, Sarah is great and I saw the tour with Patti Smith! She kicked ass.
 
just saw ravi shankar last night with his daughter, anoushka. certainly not a pinnacle concert, but a def reminder of ravi in the past, and his sitar counterpart, vilayet kahn, who is considered the greatest sitar player in india of the last century. (ravi's the only other who came close, but ravi holds the title of the "godfather of world music" so why's he got to worry about a simple sitar rivalry?) saw vilayet front row at the freer/sackler gallery here in DC five years ago. wheew. get the sweats just recalling it.

concerts... nusrat in DC, iron maiden in madrid ('82), johnny cash, rush (every tour since grace under pressure), U2 in dublin (joshua tree tour), fishbone, soundgarden, van morrison (in belfast), mano negra, etc...

i'd have to say that 1984-87 in washington DC was sick. shudder to think, soul side, jawbox, lungfish on top of fugazi every other month....
 
Cryogenic Filmworks said:
Deep Purple, Nazareth, April Wine (Not sure on the album, but live... the solo in the middle of Hair Of The Dog, Dan McCafferty comes out playing bagpipes. Trip.)
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Oops. Just realized I made a mistake. Twas Blue Oyster Cult, not Deep Purple.
 
Cryogenic Filmworks said:
Oops. Just realized I made a mistake. Twas Blue Oyster Cult, not Deep Purple.
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ever see BOC under the moniker "soft white underbelly"? it was their original name, and they would do small tours under that name just playing the deep stuff. (not that they could ignore "godzilla" or "...the reaper".) what a great band.
 
I saw BOC back in 1982 in Wichita, KS. They had a huge inflatable Godzilla doll on stage that began filling up with air at the first of the song. It took until the end of the song before Godzilla was filled with enough air to finally take shape and stand on its own. It was straight out of This is Spinal Tap. lol :)
 
'86ish - Run DMC and the Beastie Boys, my first and probably the best concert I've seen.

'88ish - Jane's Addiction in a very small club in Nashville just when Nothing's Shocking came out. I hate Perry Farrell now but this show was awesome and very exciting to be in a packed club full of funky kids in '88 when I was 16 yrs old. Remember this was pre-grunge when MTV still played music videos - mostly by Madonna and Phil Collins.

Every Fugazi show I saw between '89 and '95 or so - awesome live band

Bill Monroe - the man who created bluegrass - played every wednesday at a tiny boat-marina bar in my hometown outside Nashville until his death. It was like having him play your living room. It was free for years until they decided to start charging $3 the couple years of his life. I still can't get over what a priviledge those shows were.

Doc Watson at the Ryman Auditorium (the original Grand Ole Opry). Great venue, incredible musician.

BR549 - honky tonk band that used to play Robert's Western Wear in Nashville as the house band for years and years before signing with a major label. Every Wednesday through Saturday night they would play from 6pm until 2am for tips only - and they usually raked it in. These were shows where you'd see sixty-year old roughnecks who had been going to that bar since the 60s dancing with 21 year old sorority girls from Vanderbilt. Or maybe cowboy-hat-wearing good-ole boy republicans dancing with pierced and tatooed hipster girls with blue hair. BR549 is hands-down one of the best live bands I've ever seen in my life. Seeing them in one of Nashville's oldest and most esteemed honky-tonks is a great memory. And I used to do it about twice a week for no cover!
 
Black Sabbath with the original lineup blew me away.

I saw BB King & Buddy Guy about 3 years ago. It was unreal.

I saw KISS a few years ago and caught Ace's pick.
 
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