Lerxst
spaghetti and blankets
Crazy energy at that show...insanity.
That's a whole 'nother level of awesome
What was the GREATEST live show you ever saw...really? Like, for real....no lies.....
- Thread starter Coralkong
- Start date
Crazy energy at that show...insanity.
That's a whole 'nother level of awesome
Gary Blanchard
beloved, local musician
I have been to many fantastic shows, but I'd have to say John Sebastian at Merriwether Post Pavillion in, I think. 1970. John came out on stage in his tie-dye jacket and jeans with an electric and an acoustic guitar. He played stuff from the first solo album, a bunch of Lovin' Spoonful songs, old country tunes, 50's do-wop, jug-band songs, and anything else that might have popped in his head at the spur of the moment. He made it feel like you were sitting in his living room rather than in an ampitheater. I don't think I will ever forget that night. Pure magic.
If you ever get to hear his disc, Cheapo Cheapo Productions presents John Sebastian Live, you will get a taste of that evening, but it still doesn't come close to being there.
If you ever get to hear his disc, Cheapo Cheapo Productions presents John Sebastian Live, you will get a taste of that evening, but it still doesn't come close to being there.
tgk03
Ain't it crazy?
Kid Creole and The Coconuts!
I saw them at the Roxy in 1982 and it was hands down the best show I had seen until....
Zappa Plays Zappa again at the Roxy. 35 years to the day that Frank's Roxy and Elsewhere was recorded. BEST performance of Franks music I have ever seen/heard.
There's gonna be a DVD of it someday.
As the camera pans the audience at the end of this vid you can spot me at about 3:46.
I saw them at the Roxy in 1982 and it was hands down the best show I had seen until....
Zappa Plays Zappa again at the Roxy. 35 years to the day that Frank's Roxy and Elsewhere was recorded. BEST performance of Franks music I have ever seen/heard.
There's gonna be a DVD of it someday.
As the camera pans the audience at the end of this vid you can spot me at about 3:46.
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Elias Graves
Common misfit
Robert Plant's Band of Joy in Tulsa, OK this year.
Never seen anything like it.
EG
Never seen anything like it.
EG
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Some that felt speshul
Sad Navigator
Banned
That was a good tour, Walter.
Dew Knot Hump
Sausager
If you are being serious then I feel really bad for you. Prayers and Mojo.
I have no idea, I have seen so many shows over the years it would be impossible to even pick a top 25.
Sad Navigator
Banned
I'm with Hump.
Dew Knot Hump
Sausager
RevanRagnos85
Jedi Master
Iron Maiden, easily
aliensporebomb
Fretted instrument fan
Thinking.
Zappa in 1981, Northrup Auditorium, Minneapolis.
At one point in the show there was this deal where frank was improvising a guitar solo and Steve Vai was standing on a little raised platform so he could see what Frank was playing over his shoulder and he was basically playing single note lines and complementary harmonies live on the moment to what FZ was playing. It was amazing, it made an improv sound composed since it was mostly unison melody - it couldn't have been worked out but Vai was good enough to see where FZ was going and what to play - really striking stuff. He had this whole bit where he left his band have solos including Chad Wackerman and Ed Mann do this percussion thing with the bass player (Scott Thunes) and the whole concert was close to four hours long. You really got your moneys worth back in those days. It was Frank Zappa, Ray White, Steve Vai and Ike Willis
on guitar, Tommy Mars and Bobby Martin on keys, Ed and Chad and it was really quite amazing.
Lets see, what else?
Zebra opening for ZZ Top's Eliminator tour in 1983. Zebra were SO good it was ridiculous. They were the only band I've ever seen get THREE standing ovations from a crowd. They were terrific. They went from doing their own material to doing a medley of good old rock and roll chestnuts to their hit single to some unreleased material. Most of the crowd had never seen/heard them before but they were so good and so enthuastic they won just about everybody over. It's rare to see a opening act get that kind of positive response.
Notable mentions: Scott Henderson and Tribal Tech. I've seen them numerous times but Scott gave a master-class in how to pace a show. He started confident, loud and clear but wasn't using every lick and trick in the book - basically playing melodies. As the show went on he gradually got more animated but really held back most of the night and concentrated on the songs. Then the very last song of the night ("Ominous") he basically blew everyones head off with chops, licks and tricks and sheer speed.
Steve Tibbets sitting in with Eight Head at the Cedar Cultural Center, Minneapolis, mid 1990s:
Tibbets is honestly one of the best guitarists I've ever seen live anywhere - his ECM releases do not give a single inkling as to his capability/facility/versatility. Eight Head is basically a jam band with Dean Magraw (the Eric Johnson of Minneapolis IMO), Jim Anton (bass mastermind who's played with just about everybody in town by now), and Marc Anderson (drummer percussionist extraordinaire and the percussionist on the Tibbets solo recordings).
There's more but those three keep coming to mind year after year.
Zappa in 1981, Northrup Auditorium, Minneapolis.
At one point in the show there was this deal where frank was improvising a guitar solo and Steve Vai was standing on a little raised platform so he could see what Frank was playing over his shoulder and he was basically playing single note lines and complementary harmonies live on the moment to what FZ was playing. It was amazing, it made an improv sound composed since it was mostly unison melody - it couldn't have been worked out but Vai was good enough to see where FZ was going and what to play - really striking stuff. He had this whole bit where he left his band have solos including Chad Wackerman and Ed Mann do this percussion thing with the bass player (Scott Thunes) and the whole concert was close to four hours long. You really got your moneys worth back in those days. It was Frank Zappa, Ray White, Steve Vai and Ike Willis
on guitar, Tommy Mars and Bobby Martin on keys, Ed and Chad and it was really quite amazing.
Lets see, what else?
Zebra opening for ZZ Top's Eliminator tour in 1983. Zebra were SO good it was ridiculous. They were the only band I've ever seen get THREE standing ovations from a crowd. They were terrific. They went from doing their own material to doing a medley of good old rock and roll chestnuts to their hit single to some unreleased material. Most of the crowd had never seen/heard them before but they were so good and so enthuastic they won just about everybody over. It's rare to see a opening act get that kind of positive response.
Notable mentions: Scott Henderson and Tribal Tech. I've seen them numerous times but Scott gave a master-class in how to pace a show. He started confident, loud and clear but wasn't using every lick and trick in the book - basically playing melodies. As the show went on he gradually got more animated but really held back most of the night and concentrated on the songs. Then the very last song of the night ("Ominous") he basically blew everyones head off with chops, licks and tricks and sheer speed.
Steve Tibbets sitting in with Eight Head at the Cedar Cultural Center, Minneapolis, mid 1990s:
Tibbets is honestly one of the best guitarists I've ever seen live anywhere - his ECM releases do not give a single inkling as to his capability/facility/versatility. Eight Head is basically a jam band with Dean Magraw (the Eric Johnson of Minneapolis IMO), Jim Anton (bass mastermind who's played with just about everybody in town by now), and Marc Anderson (drummer percussionist extraordinaire and the percussionist on the Tibbets solo recordings).
There's more but those three keep coming to mind year after year.
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FMC+
a good kind of terrible
While I would no longer classify it as the "greatest," the concert that may have hit me the hardest in a "jaw dropping, heart stopping, mind melting" way was Kiss at the Swing Auditorium in San Ber'do circa 1976. It was basically the "Alive" set, with all of the pyrotechnics and cheesy theatricality that we've come to know and love/loathe. Pretty sure it was my first "real" concert, and the show--together with all of recreational activities going on around me--were almost more than this then-squirrelly teenager could handle.
Sabbath not too long thereafter at the Orange Show Fairgrounds was pretty impactful too (standing next to a guy who got the shit absolutely pounded, kicked and stomped out of him by a couple of Hell's Angels definitely added a “special something” to the vibe).
As slightly more mature (or at least older) teenager, Queen at the LA Forum was pretty amazing. Saw them again a couple years later after Jazz came out and was dazzled not only by Freddie and Brian, but also by the apparently nude fat-bottomed girls they had on stage on old timey bicycles.
In college, maybe Weather Report, Frank Zappa or Yes in the round (in a Timothy Leary state of mind, no less), each somewhere in San Diego.
More recently, Brad Paisley at the Verizon in Irvine.
Lots of clinkers too, perhaps none outdone by Aerosmith at the Forum in the late 70’s. Ridiculously loud and sound/mix so bad that the songs were pretty much indiscernible. The “Toxic Twins,” and probably everyone else in the band, were so fucked up that it probably wouldn’t have mattered anyway . . . .
Sabbath not too long thereafter at the Orange Show Fairgrounds was pretty impactful too (standing next to a guy who got the shit absolutely pounded, kicked and stomped out of him by a couple of Hell's Angels definitely added a “special something” to the vibe).
As slightly more mature (or at least older) teenager, Queen at the LA Forum was pretty amazing. Saw them again a couple years later after Jazz came out and was dazzled not only by Freddie and Brian, but also by the apparently nude fat-bottomed girls they had on stage on old timey bicycles.
In college, maybe Weather Report, Frank Zappa or Yes in the round (in a Timothy Leary state of mind, no less), each somewhere in San Diego.
More recently, Brad Paisley at the Verizon in Irvine.
Lots of clinkers too, perhaps none outdone by Aerosmith at the Forum in the late 70’s. Ridiculously loud and sound/mix so bad that the songs were pretty much indiscernible. The “Toxic Twins,” and probably everyone else in the band, were so fucked up that it probably wouldn’t have mattered anyway . . . .
