What's the best live show you ever saw?

[Robert****]

What is the best live music performance you ever experienced? By that, I mean what performance really "made it happen" for you, and that you still remember vividly.

Top of my wish list to have seen would have been Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan, but that didn't happen. I was just weeks old when Jimi died.

Anyway, the best show I've ever seen was Prince in 2001. It just blew my mind. The power, the energy, the soul of Prince live can not be described. It's something else. Go see him if you ever have a chance.

Then other fabulous experiences I remember are Tribal Tech, Allan Holdsworth, Mike Stern, John Scofield, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, David Lindley + Ry Cooder, Chick Corea, Pat Metheny. Scofield is especially amazing up close. I've seen him several times really up close and it's amazingly inspiring.

One of the "worst" concerts I've been to must be Terje Rypdal. I just did not get it.

[Fab4]

All time favorite was Queen on The Game tour. Astounding, musically and visually. Clapton on the Journeyman tour comes in second.

The biggest surprise and eye-opener, though, was the original Return to Forever with Al DiMeola, Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke and Lenny White at Indianola College in Iowa in '77 (maybe). I had no idea what this band was that my buddy in high school had tickets to go see. I'd never heard of "fusion" and had no idea a band or a guitar player could do that stuff. I was absolutely shell shocked.

I said something stupid to DiMeola when I happened to meet him after the show (we were up at the stage checking out gear when he came out) and he encouraged me to keep playing, which was sporting of him. That was not too long before "Land of the Midnight Sun"...before all the Guitar Player poll wins...before anybody knew who the guy was...and he wasn't that much older than me at the time. Ain't seen the like since.

[Spudman***]

Queensryche on the Tribe tour when they were playing with Dream Theater. Both bands were as tight as anything I've ever heard. There was great theater as well when Queensryche did the last Mindcrime tour playing both albums (I & II) in their entirety with additional actors.

The other would be The Flower Kings right before the Paradox Hotel tour at the Oriental Theater in Denver. So incredibly captivating and musical. It was like going to another world. They have the best live engineer I've ever heard.

[Fab4]

They have the best live engineer I've ever heard.

That reminds of a really good regional cover/show band I saw at Stage West in Davenport, Iowa in the early '80s. They had a lighting guy who had broken leg in a full cast and looked like a bit like Edgar Winter. He played his touch-sensitive lighting control board like a musical instrument and was AWESOME at it, rockin' and headbangin' like he was grooving on a B3. Their big number was "Knights in White Satin." The band absolutely nailed it, with huge vocals and lots of energy, but the lighting guy made it a total event. Great performances can happen anywhere...even off the stage.

[markb]

Easy! The Cooder and Lindley family show, Royal Festival Hall, London. The second best was Howe Gelb's Upside Down Home at the Barbican, London a few weeks later (iirc) including Giant Sand at their late period best, P.J. Harvey sitting in on rhythm and bass, Vic Chestnutt and Kurt Wagner swapping songs and more. That was good year for live music in London.

[thekiwidisciple]

Roger Waters - Dark Side of the Moon Live 2007. Without a doubt.

[Blaze]

Recent :Tommy Emmanuel

Past : Danny Gatton - F Zappa - Eric Johnson and much more..

[TS808]

By far the best show I saw was Joe Bonamassa two years ago. Small venue of maybe 2,000 and I managed to land front row seats. I was blown away by his guitar playing, but his vocal ability really surprised me too.

A close second was Kansas back in 1980 (?) in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. It was the original line-up with Steve Walsh.

The biggest disappointment in shows, and I never thought I'd be saying this, was Gov't Mule last year. They played alot of covers, didn't play ANY of their well-known songs. They sounded good, but none of the songs were recognizeable and I have 5 of their CD's.

[Dauntless]

Frank Zappa and Mountain in the "70s"

[just strum]

I would have to say The Who. Maybe not the greatest stage show by today's standards, but it was about 1971 and you already knew you were witnessing legends.

[piebaldpython***]

George Thorogood at the Bijou Cafe (seats 300) in Philly, March 1978. He was just breaking nationally and he was ELECTRIFYING. His "style" was all new and he had that Joe Everyman persona.

[oldguy]

Santana/Clapton back in the 70's. Santana opened the show, his playing was fantastic, the band was tight, right on cue, every number. Shortly after he left the stage Clapton came out......no long wait, he hit the stage about 5 min. after Carlos left. About 10 min. into Clapton's show, the power died!
Almost immediately the emergency power kicked in, but it was only enough to get a couple stage mics and a few lights going. Clapton walks back on with an acoustic and a stool, sits down and blows the place away for around 30 minutes, until the power came back on. Then the whole band joins him, and they just flat kick a$$. They do their last number, the lights go down, the lighters come out, everyone screaming for one more song.
Well, when the lights came back up, Santana had joined Clapton onstage, and so had his band.
They jammed on all types of tunes for another hour, I absolutely loved it.
They were all in the zone, on the same wavelength, playing their a$$es off, going wild, and having an absolute blast. Mind you, they weren't trying to one-up each other.........instead, all the music, the guitars, the vocals, everthing, was all complimenting everything else going on, making it better, adding just the right spices to the recipe at the right time.
They weren't doing a show for an audience any more, they were letting all the pent up music exorcise itself freely, and we were privy to witness it. It was that good......and if you're wondering, no, I wasn't chemically altered, just high on what I was experiencing. I've seen other bands get together for a jam at the end of a concert a few times, but nothing like that night, not before or since. It was....well, perfect.

It more than made up for the little power glitch earlier in the evening.

[tunghaichuan***]

The best for me was probably Pink Floyd at the Checker Dome in St. Louis back in '88. My brother and I took a road trip to see them. Even though we were in the nosebleed seats, we could hear everything clearly and distinctly. The mix was incredible. : Awesome show. :

The worst, probably David Lindley at the Boulder Theater. Lindley was awesome as always, but it was standing room only. The only three or four tables there were snapped up by the first few in the doors. The rest of use had to stand.

tung

[marnold***]

I haven't seen a ton of concerts in my day, but the Joe Bonamassa gig kicked me into a week from next Tuesday.

[Suhnton]

Anyway, the best show I've ever seen was Prince in 2001. It just blew my mind. The power, the energy, the soul of Prince live can not be described. It's something else. Go see him if you ever have a chance.

I saw Prince in 2001 too (in November) at The Budokan. IIRC he did a 1 and a half hour show with his band, then a 45 minute solo spot (just him and piano), then the band came out again for a couple more numbers. The solo part was amazing, it really demonstrated how strong his songwriting skills are.

Most boring concert would go to Dire Straits on their Brothers In Arms tour.

[street music]

I have a hard choice to make on this one! John Mellencamp was on tour about 3 years ago and had Donovan and Stephen King with him that was just one of the best shows I can recall. AMERICA, we saw two years ago was just a piece of art to enjoy with many memories. MEATLOAF on his BAT OUT OF HELL tour was one that I'll never forget. GARTH BROOKS was an amazing show that kept everyone standing. Those would be my top 4 picks and really hard to decide which was the best.
I have many others that left me rockin but nothing compared to the above.

[sumitomo]

These are from the 70's,I grew up by the L.A. forum.Alice Cooper,he puts on a show plus music,The Who Quadrophenia concert and The Allman bros.and many,many more.Sumi

[R_of_G]

Overall, Radiohead last May. First and foremost the band sounded great and played a setlist full of a lot of songs I wanted to hear. The sound was engineered perfectly so that I could hear and distinguish all five players. Their lighting director, Andi Watson is one of the best in the business. It was a tremendous show from start to finish (even better than the last time I'd seen them in 2003).

If there's a runner up, it's Phish at Big Cypress for New Years 1999-2000. The entire weekend was great, but the midnight set on NYE was something I will never forget. I'd never seen band play 7.5 hours non-stop and probably never will again.

The worst show was, without question, George Clinton a couple of years ago. I'd seen him before and he was awesome. Not this last time. His voice was shot and the band was sloppy and all over the place. Terrible terrible show.

[sunvalleylaw]

Best large venue show I saw was U2 back in the Achtung Baby days. Best smaller venue show was either Lyle Lovett and his Large Band, or Bonnie Raitt with her band. Both shows were extremely professional, and just plain well done. I pick Lyle probably as the top. Best club act has to be Michelle Shocked show (not her folk stuff, this was with an electric blues band). She rocked!