Best gig you've ever been to?

Suicidal Tendencies July 15th 1993- Glasgow Barrowlands.

THE most mental gig I've ever been to and then some. Atmosphere was amazing, it was over sold and majorly packed and thinking about it now still brings a smile to my face.

For pure performance and atmosphere- PJ Harvey doing a solo set at Bridgewater Hall in Manchester for Manchester Music Festival. IT was simple stunning- the hairs on the next were raised for the whole gig.

Ryan

Rory Gallagher, Ipswich Gaumont, 19 January 1979 (Photo Finish Tour) - opened my eyes and ears to live music.

Other stand out gigs for me...

Genesis, Ipswich Gaumont, 1980 (Duke Tour) - at that time one of the world's biggest bands, with legendary light show, squeezed into my local venue. Wow! And still before PC's whinging songs.

Stephane Grappelli with Martin Taylor, Ipswich Corn Exchange, around 1980/81.

Carmen at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, the Acropolis, Athens, September 1984. With the then recent DG recording cast, Baltsa, Carerras, Ricciarelli, Van Dam, etc.

Stan Getz, Gerry Mulligan and Astrud Gilberto, Sheffield City Hall, October/November 1985.

Neil Young, Wembley Arena, 1987. Couldn't believe that I was seeing this legend!!

Aida at the Roman Arena, Verona, August 1988. On our honeymoon (ahh). Mid-ranking cast, but the most atmospheric performance I have ever been to. The distant thunderstorm during the tragic death scene at the end was amazing.

Kula Shaker, Cambridge Corn Exchange, March 1999 (Peasants, Pigs & Astronauts Tour). This was simply astounding. Mind blowing. We were also standing next to Dave Brock from Hawkwind.

Badly Drawn Boy, Cambridge Junction, 2002. Pre-Mercury Prize, early days.

Gomez, Cambridge Corn Exchange, 2002 (In Our Gun Tour) At the top of their game, and with Danny Thompson on dbass.

Zero7, Cambridge Corn Exchange, 2004 (When It Falls Tour) Spell binding. The best sound quality ever.

Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ipswich Town FC, Portman Road, Ipswich, July 2006.

Toumani Diabate, Barbican Centre, 2008. What can I say...?!

Elbow, Cambridge Corn Exchange, 2008. (Seldom Seen Kid Tour) If you've seen the Abbey Road performance, you can guess the quality. I was also touched by Guy Garvie's connection with the audience, which stretched to stopping one song after a few bars to check up on an audience member who was taken ill.

Fleet Foxes, Cambridge Junction, 2008. Like the BDB gig in 2000, caught them live just before they went big. Beautiful intimate gig.

What does that make it? ... Top 15

Itzhak Perlman playing Elgar's violin concerto at the Proms in 1981, the first time that live classical music transcended a recording. Have experienced more occasions since, but this was the first.

Having retained no diary, it's hard to affix dates to gigs, but I never saw the Jam, the Stranglers or the Clash do a bad live set. The Boss has always delivered, as has Richard Thompson, unlike the Stones. Seeing Neil Young and Crazy Horse supported by the Black Crowes was awesome.

More recently, the times that I saw EST play live are tinged with sadness given that we will not experience them again. They and Oscar Peterson are the only jazz concerts where the players consistently delivered. Some other luminaries have seen me leave early on occasion and then had me wishing they would never stop.

quote:

Originally posted by JWM:

Elbow, Cambridge Corn Exchange, 2008. (Seldom Seen Kid Tour) If you've seen the Abbey Road performance, you can guess the quality. I was also touched by Guy Garvie's connection with the audience, which stretched to stopping one song after a few bars to check up on an audience member who was taken ill.

I liked it when they stopped a song because the drummer messed it up, so they tried again. Excellent gig from a great band.

The Australian Pink Floyd were also excellent at the same venue earlier in the year.

New Order - W.O.M.A.D. Festival - Mersea Island, England, U.K. (1985)

Not seen anything till after college '76. Stopped in London and saw Dizzie Galespie at a small club, I think it was Ronny Scott? Not knowing anything but the name and seeing him on TV. After the second set ended at midnight people were leaving and the band said they 'd be back. Those of us left got new drinks, Dizzy came onstage and looked at us and said "What are you all doing up there?, come on down" It was an amazing performance. Took it up a big notch with his band.

Led Zepplin- 1978. J.Page was sick and played sitting down. They never came back after intermission and a full scale riot ensued at the Chicago Stadium. Luckily was in the press box during the mayhem!

Jeff Buckley on the Grace tour at the Wedgwood Rooms in Pompey

Martin Stephenson at the same venue - 20 people turned up and he turned it into a private party - magical.

Queen and the Teardrop Explodes at Elland Road in about 1981ish.

John Martyn at Winchester in about 93.

I'd like to say a 101ers gig in North London in 76...but I can't.

Robert Plant-Wolverhampton Civic (legend fullstop)
Oasis-Manchester (what a great day out)
G & R-LA bowl

and my guilty pleasure...Avril Lavigne (the girl got some lungs for a litte un)

Planxty - 1975 at Southampton: Christy couldn't make it and Paul Brady substituted, but it was the best gig I've ever been to.

Christy Moore - 1997 Bristol - finally got to see the great man and he was superb

HMHB - 2006 Cambridge - probably the best live band ever along with Planxty.

I remember this one fondly too



Syd at his brilliant best - I remember when we were young ......

Kraftwerk @ The Lyceum in London, June 1981 - the 'Werk in their golden analogue period!

Other standouts include -

the Floyd @ the Empire Pool Wembley, March '77 (my first gig)

Bowie @ the Festival Hall, June 2002 (I was sitting in the second row, dead centre, a couple of seats away from Eno. Bowie looked awesomely cool and did the whole of Low, one of my fave elpees.

Joy Division at Eric's in Liverpool, summer of '79

New Order at Heaven, Feb '81 - their first London appearance. IIRC, they weren't that good but the atmosphere was the most charged at any gig I've ever been to.

New Order at the Festival Hall, May '84 - a benefit gig for the striking miners. They overran their curfew to play an incredible version of "Decades"

The Floyd doing The Wall at Earl's Court, August 1980.

The Grateful Dead at Wembley, Hallowe'en 1990. Not the best Dead show of all time by any means but it was the only time I ever got to see them. The biggest and best party I've ever been to!

Neil Young last week at Hyde Park was also up there.

Any one of my 20 Springsteen gigs. Hard to pick a favourite as I always come away on such a high. Great memories from 81 onwards.

E.S.T. As Huw said, these guys were just so special. I saw them 3 times in London and Sydney, twice in tiny jazz clubs and once in a small auditorium. Awesome, mind boggling and emotional musicianship. Sad we will never see them again.

My first Genesis gig December 18th 1981 Wembley second row. Blown away by the power of this band.

A few recent gigs that were very good indeed all in Sydney - the first 30 minutes of the FooFighters concert was something else, then it got a bit repetitive. Mariza - what a woman and voice - very special, Philip Glass over three nights playing soundtracks to the films Koyaanisqatsi, Powaqqatsi, Naqoyqatsi - mind blowing and Air - I just did not expect them to be so good and a wonderful night at the Opera House with my lovely wife.

So many others to mention but another time.

Haven't been to many "gigs" as I'm from the Rave generation so my best gigs were run by DJ's and the list would be to long but the best Bands I've seen live were...


Pulp - North London Uni, Kentish Town in the student bar with the band cramped on stage just before they hit the big time so 1992?

Primal Scream - Brixton Academy on the Screamadelica tour just flat out Awesome gig, Paul Oakenfold & Dr Alex Patterson DJ'd the after gig party.

Happy Mondays - Wembley Arena half way through the gig two of the band start a fight and kick most of the instruments over but after a brief "interlude" came back and finished off the gig in style.



Dean...

Elvis Costello at Cornbury, I think three years ago. And The Pretenders at the same festival the following year.

But gigs are like wine, in the sense that it's not so much what you're drinking, it's who you're drinking it with.....in which case Lloyd Cole and The Commotions at the Brixton Academy c1987.

Best, Chris

A few spring to mind immediately (dates are a bit vague):

New Order/Happy Mondays - Birmingham (NEC?) 1987
The Mondays were great but New Order were greater still.

23 Skidoo - A pub somewhere in Sheffield
Mindbending post-punk funk fusion; they played nothing from the then current album (7 Songs) but it didn't matter a bit.

Toumani Diabate - WOMAD at Morecambe, 1988
Wonderful, soothing, spacious music after a particularly stressful week.

The Smiths - Kings Colege London, 1983
Just before This Charming Man entered the chart - a fierce flowery frenzy of a gig!

Angela Hewitt - Well Tempered Clavier Tour in Manchester, 2008
Hearing the complete WTC over two weekends was a magical experience.

Jimmy Giuffre Trio - Manchester, late 80s
The quiet intensity of this trio caught me by surprise at first, then beguiled me - RIP Jimmy.

Louis Sclavis Trio - Cologne, 2008
A wild, cerebral, insouciant as f*ck performance.

Also, anytime I saw the band James in their early days was pretty amazing.

That's all I can think of right now.
Nigel

quote:

Originally posted by droodzilla:
A few spring to mind immediately (dates are a bit vague):

New Order/Happy Mondays - Birmingham (NEC?) 1987
The Mondays were great but New Order were greater still.

Droodz
That gig was indeed at the NEC, but in 1989, not '87. NO were - as you say - great that night, with a very Technique-heavy set.

Led Zep Twice at Liverpool Uni Oct68& May 71 the first time as The New Yardbirds & Liverpool Stadium Nov 71

My most fond memories are of gigs at smallish / mid-size venues - and standing ...

the following groups who I saw from the late 70's and into the mid 80's left favourable impressions :

The Clash('78) - The Jam('78-'79-'80) - The Buzzcocks('78-'79) - Magazine('79) - Rush('80) - Kraftwerk('81) - Simple Minds('82) - Cabaret Voltaire('83) - The Smiths('84)

all of those seen at either Leicester De Montfort Hall , Leicester University , Nottingham Rock City

Almost forgot The Wonder Stuff at Queens Uni was a great show!

BIG COUNTRY in Nottingham 1995!

Stay Alive,

The Fat Cat

Queen - 3rd November 1974 - Coventry Theatre - my 1st EVER gig.

Due to complete inexperience, I had bought a ticket centre stage, on the front row of the stalls. (Well, when the tickets went on sale there was only me & 3 or 4 other people in the queue... there were not many Queen fans in Coventry in nov'74...!)

Blown away..? Err, sorry, can't hear you - or see you - too much dry ice...! Yes - completely.

Difficult to match that, apart from Pink Floyd - 8th August 1980 - The Wall - Earl's Court. Awesome sound! According to a technical write up my friend Phil found in a Music mag, they had a 4 way active, quadrophonic PA system..! Wow - no wonder they sounded good!!!

Have not been able to top that...!

IanM

yeah I was at the Wall in LA and the sound was done in quad. The Spectrum wasn't great for sound but it was all around. They put us in darkness and a whopping sound like a Helicopter was going round and round and red light rose then a spot light and a police megaphone blasting "This is LAPD you're BUSTED!" BIG cheer from the crowd, LOL Then it was off and running. I had only seen the early Floyd film done in a greek arena.

Might have to be U2 at Wembley during their Zoo TV days. Serious sensory overload, helped by a tab of particually strong acid. Best non-chemically enhanced gig was probably the Chameleons at Shepherds Bush Empire about 7 years ago. What a seriously underrated band.

Perhaps we need a new thread 'My best trip' Mr Revill?

I won't attempt exact dates as this won't have much meaning for our English friends, but here are the artists that have made the biggest impression on me live:

1) Grateful Dead- On a good night, by far my favorite live rock band. Simply unique and at times a portal into group ecstatic celebrations that completely transcended the music. If you don't know them, try Live Dead, or Steppin' Out From the Europe '72 tour or the Grateful Dead Movie Soundtrack box set...

2) Van Moorison- I have seen maybe five nights when the stars aligned with Van and his band's, which are usually spectacular. Most are lost to the mists of time, but you can purchase the superb Astral Weeks Live easily.

3) Bob Dylan- I have seen him play in venues as small and homey as a tent in a field like an old fashion county fair, and as large and imposing as a football stadium, and he has often been able to rise to the moment live. If you don't know, don't ask about his records...

4) Richard Thompson- He is consistently great live, but I would have to say my favorite shows are typically when he has a band on tour with him for some extra musical interplay over his great solo gigs. Try Live From Austin City Limits, available on both CD and DVD.

5) Emmylou Harris- Again, she is a total pro and rarely puts on anything less than a very good show, but on some nights is able to somehow channel the Goddess of song. Try Spyboy live or the Live at the Ryman Auditorium CD.

6) Lucinda Williams- I was fortunate enough to see the album release party for Car Wheels in a small club in Washington before it was released, so very few fans had any idea how great the record was, nor of how she would be embraced by the media and fans. A very human and inconsistent performer, but great when she is comfortable on stage. I love the live set on the two disc special edition of Car Wheels from that year.

7) The Keith Jarrett Trio- They have managed to transcend the jazz piano trio niche, and have held audiences at Carnegie Hall rapt in silence many many times. Tons of great live music is available on record and CD from the Standards Trio.

8) Tommy Flanagan Trio- Live at the Village Vanguard a few years before he passed away. Perhaps my favorite jazz band, and nobody had his swing and elegance. Try Sunset and the Mocking Bird live which was recorded at the Vanguard a few years before the date I mentioned.

9) Roseanne Cash- Live at the Rubin Museum in New York. This tiny hall in a small museum uses no PA of any sort, and it is the closest I have ever been to hearing an artist I love in their or my home. She was simply stunning. She doesn't yet have a representative live set out, but I would urge fans to seek out Interiors or Ten Song Demo to see if they would resonate with her unique talents as a masterful songwriter and singer.

10) Jerry Garcia Band- Yes, I had to slip this in. Try the Live Jerry Garcia Band two CD release on Arista for some of the best later era Garcia. Simply masterful performances of many rock covers from Dylan, the Beatles, etc. I would say my personal favorite show I saw live with Jerry was when he played a two week stint on Broadway in 1987.

Good listening!

Bruce