Best concert you have ever seen?

Mort
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Post by Mort »

Duckman wrote: - Son Volt - Mars, Oslo - sometime in 1995/1996 ?
Or even as late as 1998...? I remember they were on the original bill for the 1998 Norwegian Wood festival, but cancelled to "do the final recordings for their forthcoming record" (WST). They returned in october/november to play Oslo, Stavanger, Bergen and Trondheim. On their way to Trondheim from Bergen, their tourbus slid off the road and the show was cancelled. That was my 2nd Son Volt cancellation that year :cry: But the NWfestival had a killer lineup that year, I must say!!!!!!
Duckman wrote:One big problem with Norway, is that we don't get any of the cool bands we only read about on this forum... and buy on record...
Like the Bottlerockets, Drive-By Truckers, Slobberbone and such...
I second that. But I'm glad Jay has grown fond of our wonderful country, though.

M.

Duckman
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Post by Duckman »

Ooohhh... what a great thread :D
I can talk for hours of good shows I've seen, to people paying less and less attention as I go into details.

1. Simon & Garfunkel - Oslo Spektrum 2004.
2. Bob Dylan - Norwegian Wood - 1998
3. Neil Young solo - Grieghallen, Bergen - 2003.

After the top three, these are the best shows I've seen in NO particular order:

- Old 97's - Gamla, Oslo - later the same night after seeing Bob Dylan at Norwegian Wood.
- Son Volt - Mars, Oslo - sometime in 1995/1996 ?
- Mary Gauthier - Den Stundesløse, Bergen - 11. september 2003.
- Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Oslo Spektrum about 1992? - The last show on the Into The Great Wide Open-tour.
- The Rainmakers - Lillehammer - 1995/1996. Brilliant rockshow!
- Neil Young with Booker T. & The M.G's - Kalvøya 1993.
- Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Kalvøya 1994.
- The other 8 Bob Dylan shows I've seen.
- Ryan Adams solo - Ricks, Bergen - 2001.
- Ryan Adams & The Sweetheart Revolution - Rockefeller, Oslo - 2002.
- Funhouse - Butler'n, Vinstra - 1991, 1992, 1993.
- Young Neils - Rockefeller, Oslo - 23.12.1993.
- Raga Rockers - Jorekstadhallen, Lillehammer - apx. 1990.
- The Dubliners - Den Stundesløse, Bergen - 2000?
- The Margarets - various places in Oslo & Bergen - 2002/2003.
- Jay Farrar - Madam Felle, Bergen 2003 & 2004.
- Lou Reed - Norwegian Wood, Oslo - 1998.
- Van Morrison - Norwegian Wood, Oslo - 1998.

Ohhh.. there are just to many to mention... but that list was at least some of the best shows I've seen. Had to be, since they were the first to pop into my head.

One big problem with Norway, is that we don't get any of the cool bands we only read about on this forum... and buy on record...
Like the Bottlerockets, Drive-By Truckers, Slobberbone and such...

dcarter
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Post by dcarter »

I avoided this thread because it's not possible for me to say the best ever but the best in the last few months had to be Vote for Change Tour with Tracy Chapman(her cover of A Change is Gonna Come,good God),REM(regardless of what you may think of them lately they tore the joint up for an hour) and Bruce, John Fogerty and the E Street Band( about 2 hours of Bruce with the bonus of Fogerty smiling like a 16 year old ripping through a venemous Fortunate Son among others) How could it not be transcendent? tied with Wilco,Flaming Lips and Sleater-Kinney on New Years Eve. Fortunately I was in the 9th row so I could get into S-K,all new songs but not once did I miss the back catalogue.The Lips! My first real exposure to them.What a party! Great music, videos, the animal costumed sidekicks/dancers I had heard about plus strippers and 100 or so boulder size balloons everywhere. Then Tweedy in bunny-covered jammies with a tight rock band having the night of their lives.They play ten songs, the ball drops on the big screen,hugs and kisses all around, the stage clears then Jeff does his best Halford and they rock the shit out of Livin' After Midnight,he and O'Rourke harmonize on 'Love Will Keep us Together',an apt 'Political Science',a moving 'I Shall Be Released','Something in the Air' with O 'rourke screaming demonically, 6 more wilco tunes then close out with 3 more covers the first being 'Don't fear the Reaper' which immediately made me think of a (hopefully) friend I've never met STICKY! Why because O'Rourke and Janet Weiss are back out beating the hell out of COWBELLS. How I smiled. Thanks buddy.Trust me Sticky, it did not need "more cowbell". The place would have collapsed! Best recent show in a small setting recently-Jay and Mark at Skipper's Smokehouse in August. The entire time I was euphoric. We even had a crazy 'Moonshiner' screamer that Jay dealt with expertly. " irespect that you want to hear that but I am not going to play it. thanks". When they covered Hag I about fainted! Thanks ya'll for letting me ramble. I feel like i just watched a video of all three shows.

Barnum
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Post by Barnum »

So many...

The Violent Femmes on the lakefront in Milwaukee...
Willy Porter at Shank Hall...
The Archers of Loaf at the Annex...
Ministry at the Riverside (just insane)
The Bottle Rockets in the Duck Room...
Mike Doughty in Nashville...

but the best?

Radiohead and the Trashcan Sinatras at the Metro around '92 - a q101 low-dough show just before "creep" took off is #2.

Red Red Meat in Milwaukee at the Eagles Ballroom, though, tops the list.

zbowho
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Post by zbowho »

This one's tough, but in terms of sheer unexpected power and glory, I have to cite Rage Against the Machine opening Lollapalooza in 1993 in Nashville....had never heard of them at the time...was really just waiting for Alice in Chains....but they blew me away!!

Speaking of Faith No More...I saw them at Mainstreet in Murfreeesboro, TN in 1989 and they seriously blew me away as well...again, it was a situation of not knowing what to expect and I guess that is why I remember these two so vividly.

sam6025
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Post by sam6025 »

1) Mr. Bungle - Fitzgerald's here in Houston, amazing show. Despite the opener, Dillinger Escape Plan sucking, Mr. Bungle blew me away. I've never seen anyone pull of more difficult and amazing songs live. I'd never heard their albums before and a friend got me to go because I was a big Faith No More fan...I was blown away in a way Faith No More never could do live.

2) David Byrne - The show I saw of his this year almost made me cry like a little girl. The one band that has followed me since junior high is the Talking Heads and seeing the songs live were amazing...oh yeah, I also love Feelings and Look Into The Eyeballs, so it was one night of seeing everything I love about music wrapped up in a little over 2 hours.

Honorable Mention: The Bottle Rockets at the Continental Club. I'd had seen the band a lot before, but I got to interview the guys, get super-drunk and made it down to my brother, my good friend/business partner and myself singing along at the end of the night. Also cornered Brian and interrogated him on the T-60s...had so much fun I didn't even care that my wife spent the next day giving me the silent treatment for getting sloppy drunk and turning off the computer while she was working on a spreadsheet because I wanted to sleep...fun times!

There are numerous others.

tj
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Post by tj »

Radiohead at Riverport stl 2003 (I refuse to use the bs corporate name UMB Pavilion-makes it sound lame). You never realize what amazing musicians they are until you see them live. And STEPHEN MALKMUS opened! His music is way better now than it was with Pavement.

And of course Jay Farrar in Springfield 12/3/04. It was way better than when I saw SV in 98. Maybe it was because I was only a few feet in front of Jay.

CanadianVolt
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Post by CanadianVolt »

Tragically Hip with the Skydiggers Spring 89' at the Congress Center in Ottawa. I was in High School, and attending a Friday Night Pub at a hole in the wall called Le Chaudiere or "The Shod" over in Le Belle Provance of Quebec where you only have to be 18 to drink and get shitty. I figured I was close enough, but ended having to gain entry through a basement window. Anyhow, the buddy that I was with got way too drunk and started barfing, you guessed it, baby duck and french fries. He was all over the place. It wasn't nice. In the ruckus I managed to swindle him out of his ticket since I convinced him he would be too hungover to want to go anyhow. He agreed.

The next day saw us getting primed for the show in the parking lot near the venue, which was a congress hall attached to a huge downtown shopping mall. The car that pulled up beside us was my barfing buddies older bro and the heavy hitters. These guys were a riot. I still have laughs to this day coming from that circle. Needless to say the afternoon got way out of control and we had a russian in our group who couldnt speak any english. Unless of course that it related to booze, dope or Iron Maiden. Funny guy, and somehow he got chicks without speaking english which was something we all thought we could learn a little from..

Needless to say The Skydiggers were great and really impressed me. I have since seen them many times and met the band on numerous occasions. SUper guys. Then the Hip came out, in support of the Up To Here album. They kicked royal ass and this was thier first taste of true success up here ( I want to get this show) . And they responded with a mind boggling crazy set. I have met them also and they are truely great people. They were just taking off back then, and they were yound and crazy as hell. Half way through various members of our circle tried to make it on stage, without any success I was the last one left, and I literally got tossed onto the stage during an encore of Suzie Q. I looked up, ripped out of my tree at 3000 people and before I can mutter the words "Now I know how Keith RIchards lives" I was deeking security and did a big ol school stage dive. Rippin. One loser that I knew jumped on stage at the end of the show (it truely was a crazy night) and tried to grab the bass. He received a well deserved shit kicking by some amped up security guards. I disliked this guy, so this was the cherry on top.

I got separated from my buddies but endied up in my friends older bros circle. I remember us driving down town over sidewalks to gain free parking, just because the vlad (russian guy) wanted a manky 2am WHopper. I was broke, but drunk, however my buddies bro bought me the whopper I am still digesting to this day.



SHOW 2)

My buddy called me from Toronto to see a crazy band that was coming to town. He worked at a radio station down at the U of T. They had received an advnaced copy of a soon to be released album from a relatively unknown band. I agreed to visit with this show being the reason to make the 4 hr drive. The band changed my life and blew us all away that night.
It was a band called Nirvana and the guy singing right in front of us was a pre Coutney Kurt Cobain. Anither band tering it up in the hight of thier carreer. Early Fall 91 at the Opera House

I still have my t shirt from that night.

stratoman
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Post by stratoman »

For a large venue it would be Neil Young & Crazy Horse at the Portland Memorial Coliseum in 1990. My ears are still ringing. He opened with a stage hand decorating the stage while Hendrix's version of the SSB played. Then Young opened the show with "Hey, Hey, My, My".

For a small venue it was the Bottle Rockets here in Madison a couple years ago at the Club Tavern. It's really small, but you can stand up on stage with the band.

mcarlton
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Post by mcarlton »

criminals wrote:The Urge - final show - December 2003 - Pageant, St. Louis.

Son Volt - American Theater (Blue Mountain opened) 1997.

Rush (first concert attended) Checkerdome (STL) 1982.

Matthew Sweet with Richard Lloyd on lead guitar - Miss. Nights - 1994 or so.

El Monstero y los masked Avengers (Pink Floyd tribute) last five years in a row at the Pageant.
Matthew Sweet with Lloyd would have been killer! I saw him in 92 and 93 if i recall correctly.

criminals
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Post by criminals »

The Urge - final show - December 2003 - Pageant, St. Louis.

Son Volt - American Theater (Blue Mountain opened) 1997.

Rush (first concert attended) Checkerdome (STL) 1982.

Matthew Sweet with Richard Lloyd on lead guitar - Miss. Nights - 1994 or so.

El Monstero y los masked Avengers (Pink Floyd tribute) last five years in a row at the Pageant.

tedious
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Location: Prahran, Melbourne, Australia

Post by tedious »

Easy


Fugazi at the HiFi Bar in Melbourne 1996 no contest.

Coffee Creek
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The Bangles and Bananarama-Springfield (IL) State Fair-1986

Post by Coffee Creek »

There's no way I could pick a favorite show -- I don't think I could even do a top 10 list -- But, here are some highlights that I can remember:

Kiss -- Checkerdome -- St. Louis, Mo. -- 1979 (My first concert.)

Bob Dylan -- SIU Arena -- Carbondale, Il. -- 1981?

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers -- SIU Arena -- Carbondale, Il. -- 1983

Black Flag -- The Hangar 9 -- Carbondale, Il. -- 1983

... skipping ahead ...

Uncle Tupelo -- Mississippi Nights -- St. Louis, Mo. -- 05-01-94

Son Volt -- The Thunderbird Theatre -- Champaign, Il. -- 1996

John Prine -- The Tennessee Theatre -- Knoxville, Tn. -- 1997

B.B. King -- Under the Arch -- St. Louis, Mo. -- 2004

So many great shows -- and so many more to see/hear -- I can't wait! :wink:

-- CC

mcarlton
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Post by mcarlton »

Bob Mould at the VIC '89
Peter Gabriel '86 at the rosemont horizon
Bob Mould solo (just him and guitars) Park West '92 i think.
Robyn Hitchcock on the perpex tour.

clarkma5
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Post by clarkma5 »

Radiohead at the Shoreline Ampitheater in Mountain View, CA on September 23rd , 2003 for the Hail To The Thief tour.

There are a few reasons why this show was great.

1) Shoreline Ampitheater is an absolutely terrible venue in terms of sound quality and visibility, but Radiohead had a mind-boggingly great sound system and these giant screens next to the stage so you could see/hear what was going on really well.

2) The crowd was pretty mellow; I dislike it when the crowd is so nuts that I can't enjoy the music. No problems like that here.

3) Radiohead live is astonishing, particularly Thom Yorke's voice. Especially over their more electronic songs, his voice wafts above the din in the most amazing way...it's eery, almost to the point where it sends shivers down one's spine. You don't get that kind of mood from the albums.

4) Radiohead isn't afraid to reinvent and tweak their songs for live performances; things run longer, or louder, or just plain different compared to the album versions. Instruments change...if I wanted to hear the album, I'd sit at home with my stereo cranked up. One of the reasons to go to a live show is to hear the music in a different way. Radiohead definitely delivered.

So that was far and away the best concert I've ever been to.

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