What was the best concert you've ever been to?

Interesting thread this. Difficult to pick one out as the best. For me, live highlights have been:

Pink Floyd - The Wall at Earls Court (think this was about 1980). It was a fantastic concert with lots of special effects.  I was only 17 and borrowed my dad's car to drive to London from Lancashire with my  younger brother. It was a bit. Of an adventure at that age. We stayed in a hotel near Earls Court.

Calexico - maybe around 2000 at Bridgewater Hall, Manchester - great venue with excellent sound.

Lambchop - Bridgewater Hall again, I think this was the tour after they had released "Is A Woman"

PJ Harvey - Manchester Apollo (probably around 2004). Also saw Nick Cave & Bad Seeds at same venue that year - both brilliant.

Prefab Sprout, early 90s at the Apollo.

Pixies - Gmex Manchester. Not usually a fan of arena type venues, as the sound quality is usually poor, but this wasn't too bad and it was a storming performance by the Pixies.

Lambchop 'Is a Woman' tour in Glasgow were excellent and Prefab Sprout in the late 80's in Aberdeen superb.

G

I agree Graeme. The sound quality for both Lambchop and Prefab Sprout when I saw them was excellent.

Hungryhalibut posted:

What a great story. John Peel always seemed such a nice man. I asked him to play something on his show once, but of course he never took requests. Rather than ignoring a letter from a callow youth, he wrote me a charming letter talking about how he was stationed down the road from Brysiencyn (where we lived as students) during his national service, when he was Gunner Ravenscroft. 

I'm pleased people are finding this little thread enjoyable. It's the stories around the concerts that are really interesting. I was racking my brains earlier about a Fleetwood Mac concert I went to at Wembley Arena in June 1980, but other than that I went I can remember nothing - who I went with, how I got there, where I stayed afterwards, or even what they played. Whereas with the Smiths or Joy Division and Buzzcocks gigs, I can remember them almost like it was yesterday. 

I saw hm in Sainsburys once, at the till with his wife, and like any decent man he looked very grumpy.  Some friends persuaded him to play a song for me for my 19th birthday but I can't quite remember what it was.

His festive 50s were terrific especially the 1983 one with songs like the studio version of Reel Around the Fountain.

The OP question is impossible to answer, because so many have been so good for so many different reasons! Picking a few that stand out:

Deep Purple at the Roundhouse in London Spring 1970 - the first live gig I went to, and my introduction to headbanging...

Pink Floyd that same summer, Crystal Palace bowl playing Atom Heart Mother, supported by Beach Boys and Mountain among others.

The Who on the 'Who's Next' tour at the Rainbow in London 1971 (I think) - for amazing energy, and a performance of Won't Get Fooled Again that will never leave me. Their gig in, I think, 2007 in the Isle of Man with Ringo Starr's son on drums showed how they still had the energy some 46 years later ('hope I die before I get old'...?)

Gillan at the Marquee one night at a time of IRA bombing, possibly 1979: first gig with the new line-up including Bernie 'Hendrix' Torme and John McCoy, opened with thunderflashes - for a few moments the audience thought we'd been caught in the blast of something quite different, until we realised we were into the frantic Secret Of The Dance.  

Actually all gigs at the Marquee (the original Wardour Street site)

Twelfth night the first time I saw them, NEw Merlin's Cave in North London about 1982 - I was a bit so-so about them until the start of the encore, when, to the tune of the Cadbury's Flake advert, Geoff Mann sang "Only the crumbliest, flakiest skin, remains on your body after nuclear war", before going into the anthemic Love Song. 

Welsh National Opera doing Turandot at the New Theatre in Cardiff in early Noughties: caught me hook, line and sinker, tears streaming down my face as I was overcome by the combined emotion of great music, live theatre and human voice.

With each of these I think of another! BUt I think that is a fitting point to stop. Thanks for the invitation to reminisce!

Hungryhalibut posted:

There were advantages to working at the University bar - the gigs, as well as the drinks, were all free. 

I take it that was where you met little known bands like The Dreadful Colds?

Clive B posted:

Mentions of charity gigs above reminds me of THE concert I really wish I'd seen: Live Aid at Wembley in 1985. That must have been some show. I watched it on TV at the time and have the DVD now, but I so wish I'd been there. 

Me too. I was at a gig at the Marquee that night (I think Twelfth Night, though not certain), and a projection screen had been set up with Live Aid beamed live before the performance, and again after, with the sound over the PA so it was better than seeing on TV when I got home (and watched for much of the night). A couple of weeks later I learnt that my wife's best friend's husband had received free tickets through his work, but wasn't interested and had given them away to someone in a pub. How i which I had known - I'd have dropped other plans in a flash.

Most of my memorable concerts are the first time I had seen the band/artist

Scorpions 1979 - Lovedrive first gig

Led Zeppelin 1979 - 11th August only date I could get to (best of all time, Zeppelin are still my favourite band)

AC/DC -  Highway to Hell  January 1980. Penultimate Bon Scott gig before he died

Rush 1980 - Permanent Waves, Hammersmith Odeon (4th night)

Pink Floyd - The Wall, Earls Court 1980

Monsters of Rock -  Castle Donnington, 1980

Robert Plant - Principles of moments,  1983

The last Reading Festival at the original site - 1983

David Gilmour - About Face, 1984

Roger Waters - Pros and cons of hitchhiking, 1984

The Firm - 1984 

Neil Young - 1987

to name a few

Premmyboy posted:

Kevin-W posted:

I've got a number.

First of all, my first-ever concert: Pink Floyd at the Empire Pool, Wembley on the Animals tour - Saturday 19th March 1977, 40 years ago this month, scarily enough.

My big cousin, who was 10 years older than me, took me along. I was just 14 at the time, any my mind was well and truly blown. The Floyd played all of Animals first half, all of Wish You Were Here in the second, and "Money" as an encore.

I'd never seen anything so big, heard anything so loud or seen so much blue hash fug. I still have the ticket stub somewhere - £2.50 I think it cost.

Hi Kev, That was my second gig after Bowie Isolar. I'm a couple of years older than you. I would have been 17 at the time of the Floyd gig. We were still at school locally in Kingsbury. They released restricted view tickets on the day and a mate bunked off school to get a few of those tickets. Yeah it was a classic as well.

prem.

Ha! I was there too! Fantastic. Do you remember the fuzzy pig tshirts they were selling? I had one and was very proud. It lasted two weeks until my mother chose to wash it when I went home to visit them, losing all the fuzz. I was desolate and she couldn't see what I was getting worked up about. 

Some of my favourites

Taj Mahal with Tinariwin supporting. 2004 At the Barbican.  I think it was their first trip to London and they stole the show. Taj, bless him, knew and let them take it. 

Radio Tarifa at the Barbican 2001

Mikes Davis at the RFH 1985

john martyn at UEA. 1977/78 We drove up listening to Blood on the Tracks very stoned. And we travelled from London because Steve Winwood was playing with him for that gig alone 

Bob Marley on the Exodus tour at the Rainbow. 1977

Paul Simon at Hammersmith Odeon various dates always wonderful  

TOBYJUG posted:

The Caribbean centre 1987 Ipswich. A bill that had Napalm Death. Extreme Noise Terror. Deviated Instinct and a couple of other Grincore punk bands ( the sets didn't last that long ) got too much in the mosh pit after stage diving and was shoved propelled out. Knocking into an older gentleman, who was worried that I was ok and then went to get me a pint. After saying thank you I realised it was John Peel, and spent a little while having a chat.

On a wet, cold winter's Friday afternoon in 1972 I set out to hitch from London to Birmingham. The best place to start back then was on Mill Hill, where the long drag up to the M1 slowed cars down and there was room to pull over. Unfortunately I was fourth there so had to take my place way up the hill. 

Absolutely no one was stopping (my thumb done froze, can't feel my toes, I'm feeling a little destitute) and despair was setting in along with the water collecting in my shoes when a Land Rover stopped to pick up the guy at the bottom (lucky sod). It then crawled up 50 yards or so to the next one, then the next...was it going to stop for me too or was it full?

It stopped. The other three were in the back so I got in the front where I was confronted by John Peel who looked sternly at us all and said: "No smoking, no talking, and try not to drip everywhere". Managed the first two (far too in awe), failed in the third. He took us all to Newport Pagnell Services in almost complete soggy silence (he saw me looking keenly at an 8-Track Faces cartridge and said "Don't touch".

The three in the back got out but I couldn't find the door handle (it was a very basic Land Rover and I'd never been in one before). "Please open the door and get out". *Cue frantic scrabbling at anything that looked like a handle - I opened the window instead*. "Pull the handle and open the door". I told him I couldn't see a handle (the other three hitchers were standing watching falling about laughing). "Even an idiot can open a cat door!", and saying that he leaned across and did something and the door opened on my humiliation. 

Lovely of him to pick us all up and a badge of honour to be called an idiot by him!

The one that immediately came to mind was The Faces at The Queen Elizabeth Hall in 1971, we had seats near the front . Rod clearly didn't like people sitting down at his gigs and he wanted everyone to stand and move forward so within seconds, without moving, we were near the back. But what a fantastic  atmosphere he created and a great gig. It included (he said) the first live performance of their next single - Stay with Me.

Gary Shaw posted:

TOBYJUG posted:

The Caribbean centre 1987 Ipswich. A bill that had Napalm Death. Extreme Noise Terror. Deviated Instinct and a couple of other Grincore punk bands ( the sets didn't last that long ) got too much in the mosh pit after stage diving and was shoved propelled out. Knocking into an older gentleman, who was worried that I was ok and then went to get me a pint. After saying thank you I realised it was John Peel, and spent a little while having a chat.

On a wet, cold winter's Friday afternoon in 1972 I set out to hitch from London to Birmingham. The best place to start back then was on Mill Hill, where the long drag up to the M1 slowed cars down and there was room to pull over. Unfortunately I was fourth there so had to take my place way up the hill. 

Absolutely no one was stopping (my thumb done froze, can't feel my toes, I'm feeling a little destitute) and despair was setting in along with the water collecting in my shoes when a Land Rover stopped to pick up the guy at the bottom (lucky sod). It then crawled up 50 yards or so to the next one, then the next...was it going to stop for me too or was it full?

It stopped. The other three were in the back so I got in the front where I was confronted by John Peel who looked sternly at us all and said: "No smoking, no talking, and try not to drip everywhere". Managed the first two (far too in awe), failed in the third. He took us all to Newport Pagnell Services in almost complete soggy silence (he saw me looking keenly at an 8-Track Faces cartridge and said "Don't touch".

The three in the back got out but I couldn't find the door handle (it was a very basic Land Rover and I'd never been in one before). "Please open the door and get out". *Cue frantic scrabbling at anything that looked like a handle - I opened the window instead*. "Pull the handle and open the door". I told him I couldn't see a handle (the other three hitchers were standing watching falling about laughing). "Even an idiot can open a cat door!", and saying that he leaned across and did something and the door opened on my humiliation. 

Lovely of him to pick us all up and a badge of honour to be called an idiot by him!

That's a great story Nick, thanks! I've used that stretch of 'the hill' myself '69-'72ish. 

Gary Shaw posted:

TOBYJUG posted:

The Caribbean centre 1987 Ipswich. A bill that had Napalm Death. Extreme Noise Terror. Deviated Instinct and a couple of other Grincore punk bands ( the sets didn't last that long ) got too much in the mosh pit after stage diving and was shoved propelled out. Knocking into an older gentleman, who was worried that I was ok and then went to get me a pint. After saying thank you I realised it was John Peel, and spent a little while having a chat.

On a wet, cold winter's Friday afternoon in 1972 I set out to hitch from London to Birmingham. The best place to start back then was on Mill Hill, where the long drag up to the M1 slowed cars down and there was room to pull over. Unfortunately I was fourth there so had to take my place way up the hill. 

Absolutely no one was stopping (my thumb done froze, can't feel my toes, I'm feeling a little destitute) and despair was setting in along with the water collecting in my shoes when a Land Rover stopped to pick up the guy at the bottom (lucky sod). It then crawled up 50 yards or so to the next one, then the next...was it going to stop for me too or was it full?

It stopped. The other three were in the back so I got in the front where I was confronted by John Peel who looked sternly at us all and said: "No smoking, no talking, and try not to drip everywhere". Managed the first two (far too in awe), failed in the third. He took us all to Newport Pagnell Services in almost complete soggy silence (he saw me looking keenly at an 8-Track Faces cartridge and said "Don't touch".

The three in the back got out but I couldn't find the door handle (it was a very basic Land Rover and I'd never been in one before). "Please open the door and get out". *Cue frantic scrabbling at anything that looked like a handle - I opened the window instead*. "Pull the handle and open the door". I told him I couldn't see a handle (the other three hitchers were standing watching falling about laughing). "Even an idiot can open a cat door!", and saying that he leaned across and did something and the door opened on my humiliation. 

Lovely of him to pick us all up and a badge of honour to be called an idiot by him!

Brilliant story, Gary.

Led Zeppelin@ Earls Court 1975
Warren Zevon@ Old Fruitmarket 2000
Alice Cooper@ Greens Playhouse 1972
Queen The Apollo@ 1975
Rolling Stones@ Greens Playhouse 1973
Robert Plant@ Barrowlands 2005

Any of the SAHB gigs I attended too many to mention.
John Hiatt @ The Pavilion, Little Feat@ The ABC, Hannah Aldridge / Black Feathers in some pub in Glasgow get honourable mentions.

Worst gigs ever Gong + Isotobe@ City Halls, Huey Lewis@ Hilton Las Vegas (dragged to this by the  Mrs utter crap pick up band)………$1 a shot of Uncle Jack was ok tho

Pev posted:

The Grateful Dead, Empire Pool Wembley 8th April 1972. My first Dead show and still one of my favourites - includes Dark Star into Mind Left Body Jam 

Available to hear for free on Archive - just Google the first sentence of this post. Also released as part of the Complete Europe 72 series available on Tidal - isn't life good?

Further to your point Pev... here's a fun fact... take any date that the Grateful Dead performed live... type ONLY the date into the search bar in this format... YYYY-MM-DD... and almost always the 1st result will be a link to a live recording available on line, and most likely the majority of the links on the 1st page will be Grateful Dead related.

Just more evidence that the Grateful Dead own the interwebs. Here are some you can try for yourself if you'd like to play (I just picked these at random... it's a slow day what can I say).

1990-03-21, 1990-03-22, 1977-05-25, 1988-07-16, 1991-06-25, 1972-05-25

I pull that trick out of my hat with friends and colleagues who want to diss the band... after they try it they inevitably scratch their head and mutter something disparaging and incoherent.

Sorry... didn't mean to hijack the thread.. my best concerts...

In keeping with the theme above I saw the Grateful Dead many many times and they consistently blew my mind from 1987 - 1991. Too many great ones to mention.

Les Paul playing at the Iridium in New York City was a thrill of a lifetime.

Springsteen.. Toronto Exhibition Stadium Born in the USA tour in 85 (I think)

Bryan Adams... almost embarrassed to say it, but it was the first awe inspiring live music experience of my life... Reckless Tour... also 85 (I think)... was just a few weeks before the Springsteen show mentioned above.

Neil Young Solo acoustic at Kingswood Music Theatre (summer 1989)... Neil at the Ryman in Nashville (august 2006... maybe the most I've ever been moved at a concert)... Neil with Crazy Horse Bonnaroo Music Festival June 2003)

James Brown Bonnaroo Music Festival June 2003

North Mississippi All Stars.... Bonnaroo as well... holy crap can that band play

Paul Simon - Paris Convention Centre November 2016

Paul McCartney - Toronto Air Canada Center Oct 2015... seeing Macca was on my bucket list... he didn't disappoint

Gordon Lightfoot - Massey Hall Toronto May 2008

Pink Floyd - Toronto Exhibition Stadium Sept. 1987

Dylan - I caught about 5 Dylan shows when he was opening for Phil Lesh's band in the early 2000's and he and his band were excellent. This was when he was still playing guitar... Larry Campbell was his lead guitar player. Really outstanding. 

Very jealous of those on this thread who have mentioned seeing Marley, Marvin Gaye and Leonard Cohen.

I will also add to the list above Levon Helm... Rochester 2010-ish... another one that I cherish.

does the topic differentiate between concerts you have attended and concerts you have performed in?

Living in Windsor Ontario,I went to many concerts over the years in Detroit,Pontiac,Pine knob(DTE),but the most memorable would be Deep Purple,Perfect Stranger's tour in 1984,Robert Plant Now and Zen,I think it was 1988(Pine knob)And the most recent show was probably the best of all Roger Waters ,doing The Wall,at Joe Louis Arena,about three years ago...this show was so good,I never left my seat once,which has never happened before.

For me it was Prince on his Love Sexy Tour, Birmingham NEC 5th August 1988.  At the time I had not really 'noticed' Prince, thought Purple Rain was all hype and that he wasn't really playing the guitar yada yada yada.  A girl I knew persuaded me to go and from the moment he went on stage I was totally blown away by his voice, his songs, his mastery of so many instruments, his dancing and ultimate showmanship - this was the first concert I had been to that was truly an event and not just a band standing on stage going through their set.  The show lasted over two and a half hours yet it felt like it was just an hour or so - I couldn't believe what the time was when we eventually left.  One of the lasting impressions from the concert was he played The Cross and if you haven't heard the version of this live you should check it out on You Tube, it is immense the way it builds.  The next day I got hold of Sign of the Times to learn the song and was staggered to discover it was only two chords, Am and E - not even a third chord anywhere!

I saw Delbert McClinton with the Muscle Shoals Swampers (Roger Hawkins, David Hood, et al) at the Club Lingerie in LA in the summer of 1984.   Delbert with the best R&B rhythm section on the planet.  If we could sing like we wanted to, we would all sing like Delbert.

I saw Claire Fischer and Gary Foster at the Lighthouse at Hermosa Beach in Summer 1984.  Almost nobody there.  It was awesome.

My wife and I saw Richie Cole and Phil Woods on separate Sundays at Pete Douglas' Beach House in Half Moon Bay, circa 1985.  Bach Dynamite and Dancing Society.

I  saw Sun Ra at the New Orleans Jazz Fest circa 1978--79.  We saw the Sun Ra Big Band on one stage, and then we saw the Sun Ra Small Group.   The Big Band was great but the small group with Michael Ray and John Gilmore just killed it. See if you can find the vinyl "Other Voices, Other Blues".  The opening act was Dizzy Gillespie.

Finally, in 1978 or so, New Orleans got 11 inches of rain in a day.  It flooded everywhere except in my neighborhood.  We went to see Buddy Rich and his Big Band at a small club called Jed's.  My roommate and I were two of about 20 people there.  

Have seen many others, including Mel Torme, Tony Bennett, Carol Sloane, Robert Gordon.   I have loved them all.  Don't see much live anymore, but I enjoy it when I do.

As a life long devotee of live music, I can barely imagine shrinking my "list" down to even a somewhat managable top ten.   Many of my favorite artists are performers I have been fortunate enough to see many times.   In a few cases; Bob Dylan, Richard Thompson, Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams, Rosanne Cash, Sonny Rollins, Tommy Flanagan, Keith Jarrett, and Ralph Towner I have seen many of these wonderful performers dozens of times over many years.    These are my personal foothills.     The mountain is Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead, whom I saw over two hundred times over almost twenty years.    By virtue of his being the bass player for all of the Dead shows I saw, now that Phil Lesh has been playing with his rotating assortment of musical friends, he is the musician I have seen play live the most, by a large margin.    So, instead of putting together a Dead dominated list, I'll try to just list some favorite memories from an assortment of my favorite musicians.   

1) Patti Smith Group- New Years Eve 1976.   Palladium Theater, NYC.    This was my first big rock show as a suburban kid.    With Richard Hell and the Voidodes and Television, if the concert poster can be believed.   I can't say I remember this in enough detail to say one way or the other.

2) Grateful Dead- Englishtown New Jersey, September 1977.    This was my first Dead show, and in retrospect, the best in musical terms.    Jerry was in a peak period of his playing in 1977 and 1978 and this show offers a priceless memory for me and my friends who all went together.     Available as Dick's Pick's Volume 15.

3) Little Feat- Seneca College fall 1978 in upstate NY.    It was such a thrill to see the Lowell George era Feat, as my friends and I were literally playing Waiting For Columbus so many times that you could see the record player's mat through the LP in the first copy I owned of this classic American jam band's great live album.

4) Grateful Dead- Radio City Music Hall fall 1980.    These shows were unique in that the band opened with an acoustic set, and returned for two electric sets.    The acoustic shows were beautifully recorded and have been released as Reckoning, which remains one of my favorite Dead recordings.  

5) Jerry Garcia Band- Albany New York fall 1981.    I could have chosen many other nights with Jerry, but this show remains my sentimental favorite for various reasons.

6) Richard Thompson and his 80's touring band at the Bottom Line in NY @ 1984 or 85.    Seeing this genius up close and personal is always a pleasure.    He is someone whose professionalism more or less precludes a bad show.

7) Paul Simon- Radio City Music Hall on the Graceland Tour 1986 or so.  Simply majestic music and a triumphant show.    I saw Paul's final show on his summer tour last year in Queens, NY, and he has aged well.    So many great songs, a great band, and such evident pride in performing well.     See him if you can before he retires.

8) Van Morrison- Capitol Theater, Passaic New Jersey- Spring 1986.    He was touring with his then current album; No Guru, No Method, No Teacher which was my favorite of his many superb records from the 80's, and he had a great band with him at the time.     Transcendent, which Van can reach on the good nights.    I really resonate with his 80's material which had a strong spiritual leaning.  

9) John Hiatt- Bottom Line, NYC.   Touring with the Bring the Family album.    An amazing peak of Americana.

10) Bonnie Raitt- The Ritz, NYC- late 80's.   She was touring to support her come back record, Nick of Time.   This show, in a sweltering night club on a summer night in the city, felt like she won each and every one of us who were there as fans for life.

11) Lyle Lovett and his Large Band- Bottom Line NY.    Late 80's on the tour supporting his superb record Joshua Judges Ruth.

12) Grateful Dead- Spring tour 1990.    The period from 1987 through 1990 was the great second act of Garcia's life, following his near death in 1986.    This has been well chronicled, but is perhaps best heard on the three CD set titled "Dozin' At the Knick" in shows taken from Albany NY, or in Wake Up to Find Out, which was one show on Long Island where Branford Marsalis sat in the Dead to amazing effect.     

13) Bob Dylan-  There were too many outstanding Dylan shows to pick just one, but for purposes of this list, I'll single out the show he and his superb band played at the Meadowlands Arena on the tour with Phil Lesh opening for him.    Dylan was superb and really owned his best material from all eras, which he doesn't always feel comfortable doing for whatever reasons.   One of my favorite memories at a concert.   He played so many great songs it felt like it made up for many nights where the audience was forced to play the " what song is this" game.

14)  Emmylou Harris touring Wrecking Ball in a small club in NYC.     It made me a fan for life.    She and her band might well have cancelled the gig as they had been delayed on their flight home from Europe and had this one small show before taking a break.    Instead of phoning it in, they literally played through their exhaustion and somehow managed to touch into their core love of music and communicated this in a way that is impossible to put into words.     She is also a complete professional so her shows are always good, but every once in a while it is as if she manages to channel the Goddess of music directly, which she did that night.    It never hurts to have Buddy Miller on lead guitar.

15) Lucinda Wiliams- in a club near Washington DC which served as an unofficial album release party for her Car Wheels on a Gravel Road record.    Late 90's.    She was an emotional wreck early in the show, so worried that her album would not find an audience, and by the end of the night, she was literally reborn, bathing in the audience's love.   

16) Sonny Rollins- Playing on one of his annual free shows on the plaza at Lincoln Center in NYC.     What many fans would call the greatest living improvisational musician and on a good night with the master, very few would argue with that assessment.

17) Tommy Flanagan- Village Vanguard, NYC summer of 1999 or 2000.     This musician's musician would quietly take the bandstand with his working trio with no fanfare, and then proceed to cast a spell on anyone lucky enough to be in the club with him.     A similar show is well recorded by Mark Levinson the man on Blue Note records under the title of Sunset and the Mockingbird; The Birthday Concert taken from a show at the Vanguard in the late 90's.

18) Rosanne Cash- With her husband John Leventhal in an un-amplified acoustic performance at the Rubin Museum in NYC in the early 2000's.     She performed my favorite of her songs from her brilliant Interiors album that night and it was as close as I will likely ever get to being able to see one of my favorite artists in their living room.  

19) Keith Jarrett Trio- Carnegie Hall Mid 2000's.     They were verging on their 25th anniversary as a working band, and played a brilliant show together.     ECM has released My Foolish Heart to celebrate this long running band's anniversary, but any number of superb performances might stand in for those on their wavelength.   

20) Ralph Towner- at the Jazz Standard nightclub in NYC this spring, playing his superb new solo guitar record, also titled My Foolish Heart.    As I said to my friend who is also a Towner fan, "nobody in the world plays like that".

Go and enjoy some live music where and when you can!

Good listening,

Bruce

This is easy.......

Author Fiedler and the Boston Pops, July 4th, 1976, on the esplanade along the Charles River with 400,000 in attendance for the concert. Of course it concludes with the Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture with the large artillery pieces included for the country's Bicentennial celebration. It was rock and roll in a slightly different way, the crowd was incredible, the enthusiasm and pride of the people attending was overwhelming. 

Best rock and roll concert was a Rod Steward concert, next would be a Earth, Wind and Fire Concert when they opened for Foghat, and third would have been a Jonny Lang concert.

I've lived a sheltered life......

Very difficult question, but the one that certainly remains in my memory and caused me to dream in colour for a good while after was Dylan and the Hawks last concert, the fabled Royal Albert Hall 27 May 1966. A glorious otherworldly acoustic first half and a staggering train wreck of an electric set to follow. Now available on the 1966 Live box set.

Chris

Peter Gabriel at a venue in Taunton Somerset, it wasn't long after he had left Genesis. 

What was particularly memorable was during his performance of Solsbury Hill he wandered off stage and down the middle aisle and decided to sit down right next to me, as their just happened to be a vacant seat. 

I noticed his eyes were a little vacant....must of either been the intense concentration or the drugs he was on !!!!

Wishbone Ash and Lindisfarne, also in Taunton, Alan Hull asked everyone to join him in the pub across the road after the gig, the pub was packed.

Must also mention seeing Mott the Hopple in London, must have been 3/4 years back, possibly their final gig, Ian Hunter was really on form, a truly memorable night.

Barclay James Harvest in Oxford back in the late 70's was also superb... 

Paul McCartney at the New Cardiff Stadium....hearing Live and Let Die being played live was very special...