Best Live Performance by a Rock Band? (1 Viewer)

[Grant B]

some great shows

The Clash, English Beat, Pearl Harbour & the Expolsions -San Francisco Civic

Eric Clapton & Muddy Waters Toledo Sports Arena

Hole, Tool & Daisy Chainsaw The Boardwalk (~50 people max) Manchester England

Keith Richards,Matt Guitar Murphy, Memphis Slim,Bo Diddley,Chuch Berry -playing together!- 2nd Chicago Blues Fest

Johnny Lee Hooker solo on a tiny Stage-3rd Chicago Blues Fest

The Cure- Edinbourgh Playhouse, Scotland

Quadrophenia (David Gilmore & Townsend on Guitar)- Hyde Park London England

The Jam -Warfield San Francisco

Texas- Paradisio Amsterdam Holland

But the Most incredible thing I have ever witnessed was the Butthole Surfers on Halloween - The Farm, San Francisco

The Farm was an old steel warehouse - Hence Kerosene-lots!

By the end of the night one drum kit was burned to a crisp... flames at least 30ft high!

The dancers...who by his time , disrobed was stumming a acoustic guitar with the guitarist's ...male appendage

And the whole time Giddy , the singer, singing through microphone and megaphone was diving into the audience -(mike & megphone still in hand) from incredible heights

Throw in the smoke from the fires, castation videos projected behind the band and everyone dressed up like the Exotic Erotic Ball....Still unbelievable

 

[Brian Perry]

In the mid-80's I went to see a Rush concert with my brother, and the opening act was a band we had never heard of: Marillion. Needless to say, I went out and bought their entire catalog the next day!

 

[Kurt B]

My favorites at the risk of seriously aging myself, in no particular order:

Deep Purple

Heart

Led Zepplin

Styx

 

[Rain]

Of the ones I've personally seen live, these folks are standouts:

Patti Smith

Leonard Cohen

Billy Bragg

The Tragically Hip (twice)

Al, I'm jealous. The Dead in 1970 would have been sweet!

 

[TheoGB]

Interesting to see how many of you have sited the really massive Rock Dinosaurs. For me it's a tough choice between:
Radiohead - Glastonbury 1997
and
David Bowie - Glastonbury 2000
There have been many great gigs I've been to. My first (Blur) is still up there for me. They did so many great tracks.
Any Soulwax gig is worth seeing (I think I've seen them 5 times now).
Saw Solex the other day and she rocked!

 

[Richard Travale]

Soundgarden at the old Commodore in Vancouver and Sloan at the old Harpos in Victoria.

 

[RogerB]

Elton John (louder than concord but not quite as pretty tour)

All Cheap Trick shows (I've seen them about 15 times)

Elvis Costello (This Years Model tour)

 

[Grant B]

forgot about the time when David Bowie played in the Haight Ashbury high school gym about 5 blocks from my house...that don't happen often,that's for sure

 

[CharlesD]

Best live band I ever saw was The Grateful "Goddam" Dead
Runners up: Yes, Rush

Grateful Dead 5/2/70 Harpur College.

You lucky bastard! I love that show, wish I could have seen it, but then again I was only 4 at the time...

 

[TimDoss]

Alice Cooper - saw him three times and always walked away

wondering how he did it.

DIO - Sacred Heart tour... lasers, dragons, spiders... great

show.

Gwar - extremely sick but funny as hell.

Mettallica - great band to see live.

I can't even begin to list all the bands I've seen, but

those listed always pop into mind as the most memorable

shows.

 

[Jon_B]

Rage. What a concert!

Jon

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

R.E.M. at Detroit's Fox Theater in 1986

Replacements at Detroit's St. Andrew's Hall in 1987

Echo & the Bunnymen at Ann Arbor's Hill Auditorium (either 87 or 88)

George Clinton & the P-Funk All Stars at Hill Auditorium a few years ago

Robyn Hitchcock solo acoustic gig (OK, not technically a "band") at Ann Arbor's Blind Pig(the year is fuzzy - early 90s most likely)

The best intro to an encore I ever heard was the Replacements gig. After playing for around two hours to an exhausted crowd, Westerberg came back out to moderate applause and said "That was pretty feeble, but we need the practice".

Honorable mentions to The Smiths at the Fox in 1986, PIL at The Royal Oak Music Theater in 1986, Dylan with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers circa 1989, and Metallica with Guns & Roses at the Pontiac Silverdome.

Regards,

 

[Jon_Are]

I forgot to mention the Bus Boys. They used to play at Knott's Berry Farm of all places, and we'd go there just to see them. One hell of a show.

I saw the Bus Boys at a small club in downtown Detroit in the early 80's. My friends and I were the only caucasians. They absolutely kicked booty.

Best show, though, for me was The Who. Masonic Temple in Detroit (a smallish venue which was a last-minute add-on to their scheduled stadium show). First-row in the balcony, right in the center. It was the 'Who Are You' tour, 1978(?) The joint was energized, Daltrey was tireless, Townsend was phenomenal.

Other notable shows: Jethro Tull (Warchild), Cowboy Junkies, Paul McCartney & Wings, Violent Femmes, Springsteen (Born to Run), Concrete Blonde, Elvis Costello, and Raffi.

edit: Forgot Robert Gordon w/ Link Wray.

Jon

 

[Peter Mazur]

The best concert I have ever been to was Marillion in 1990. It was the first tour with Steve Hogarth on vocals. He had big shoes to fill with the departure of Fish but he was truly awesome. The band in general was just phenomenal.

 

[Darren Davis]

this one's an easy winner:

KISS - The Farewell Tour

close second: Tenacious D. The tour they're currently on I believe. Great show!...although the opening band was horrible.

 

[Jeremiah]

The best concert I have been to was....

Pink Floyd for their "Division Bell" tour was great when they played at The Rose Bowl.

I saw the Steve Miller Band also and he sounded good to but Pink Floyd was awesome.

 

[Duane_T]

Metallica-all shows, especially 1986-the band and 500 people.

AC/DC is a lot of fun too.

 

[MikeH1]

Brentl...lol I saw Gowan about 5 years ago here in town at the "Thunderdome". No, he didn't put on a high energy show but I could just imagine him prowling the stage 10 years earlier with the Strange Animal LP.
I went to more "real" concerts when I was 13-14 than I have since. I saw Heart on their "Bad Animals" tour in the summer of 1987. They put on a so-so show. The last one I ever went to was(get this) May 23 1988. INXS on the KICK tour. Now that rocked! Of course, its the only show I have really ever seen so...

 

[Frank_W]

Pink Floyd - I have seen them a few times, but once at

Giants Stadium in the rain stands out.

Also... a memorable one was Guns n Roses/Deep Purple/Aerosmith.

During 'Smoke On The Water' some idiots

lit a few seats on fire (Giants Stadium again).

And my favorite to see perform live, because they are still

excellent, is Cheap Trick who I have see at least 40-50

times.

 

[Steve Russell]

I would have to say seeing YES playing in the round on their UNION tour in 1991 was the best followed closely by Pink Floyd on their Momentary Lapse of Reason tour. Both were awesome but I gotta give the nod to YES.