# Best Concert You've ever been to...



## eightyseven (Apr 24, 2007)

Summer is the season for concerts... so what was your best live music experience?

Mine was seeing the Counting Crows with Graham Colton Band at Merriweather Post Pavilion (Columbia, MD) in August of 2004. Baltimore is Adam Durwitz's hometown so not only was the set well over two hours... but the material included almost the entirety of "August and Everything After." It shut up all the little pre-teen girls who were there to hear that stupid song from the Shrek soundtrack... and I loved it. The encore included family members as well as Graham Colton. I also enjoyed the fact that nothing sounded like it did on the albums, making the live show a completely unique experience. They mixed up tempos and a bunch of other song elements. Having fantastic seats and being there with one of my best friends also helped.

I've also seen Guster (x5), Third Eye Blind, Ben Folds, Our Lady Peace, Live, Stone Temple Pilots, Gin Blossoms, Dave Matthews Band, and others... all fantastic times, though none have measured up to that show.

I'd love to see R.E.M. at some point too. That'd be sweet.


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## Aliena (Apr 25, 2007)

Well, I went to a Styx/REO Speedwagon double header a year and a half ago. (my first rock concert ever) While I enjoyed REO, I have to say Styx rocked the house. 

Now the best concert I've ever been to was at a jazz festival back in '85. I got to see Woody Hermon and the Thundering Herd perform. That man just rocked my world! He made that clarinet of his sing and if a little spittle came flying your way from it, you were reaching for the golden wad. I found him after the concert and gave him a hug and got his autograph!:wubu: 

I have it framed and it hangs on my wall today. Man, he was an awesome lad! :wubu:


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## ClashCityRocker (Apr 25, 2007)

id have to say one of 2:

-tortured soul, march 2006

-afrika bambaataa, september 2006


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## bigsexy920 (Apr 25, 2007)

U2 Unforgettable Fire, I think it was in 1984or 85 I cant remember


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## Chimpi (Apr 25, 2007)

*Sigh*

I am very confident that my favorite concert I would have been to would have been *My Chemical Romance* this past Sunday. I enjoy their new CD that much that I would have loved to see them perform it. I did not go. I bought tickets, I spent the extra money of course for handicapped seating for Erin and myself, and we did not go. *Sigh*

Other than that, I have seen *Trans-Siberian Orchestra*, a 'local' show at the Hard Rock in Orlando, just outside Universal Studios, and one-eighth (1/8) of a *Meat Loaf* concert. By far, the *Trans-Siberian Orchestra* holds the best concert in my repertoire, however I am sure *Roger Waters* on May 18th will knock that clear out of the water.


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## HottiMegan (Apr 25, 2007)

Metallica showed up in 96 outside a record shop in San Jose in a semi truck and played a mini concert for free. It was for the Load album and it rocked! Best concert ever and it was free


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## ThatFatGirl (Apr 25, 2007)

Sometime in college I saw Sugarcubes (with Bjork, yay!), Public Image Limited and New Order all on one bill in Chicago... it was a most fabulous evening. I danced from beginning to end, surely sweating off 10 lbs that night.. except it was also the first concert I went to where I could legally drink, and I consumed about 6 plastic cups of cheap wine. I probably broke even in the calories department. Good times.


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## ThatFatGirl (Apr 25, 2007)

eightyseven said:


> I'd love to see R.E.M. at some point too. That'd be sweet.




I saw R.E.M. when they did the tour to support the cd that had "What's the Frequency Kenneth?" on it. Radiohead was the opening band. AWESOME night.


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## supersoup (Apr 25, 2007)

coheed and cambria in...2002 or 2003, can't remember...they did it acoustic since the one guitarist was in his brother's wedding. i was in tears by the second song. very rarely does music just hit me as awesome, but claudio was frigging amazing that night. that performance made them my favorite band, and they still are. which of course is why they broke up.


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## Blackjack_Jeeves (Apr 25, 2007)

The three that stand out for me are as follows:

Rascal Flatts in the "Quad Cities", just this past fall I think. They put on a pretty sweet show, and my sweetie adores them. We got some great pictures, some close up. Definitely a night to remember for me. I've been told I slightly resemble the lead singer, Gary, and I will forever deny this...

Then there was Brooks and Dunn in Dekalb, about 4 years ago now. They put on a really great show (and the opening acts were Josh Turner, before he was really popular, and Joe Nichols). The whole evening was lots of fun, though the seats left something to be desired. I can't even say I'm a fan of Brooks and Dunn, but it was still a fun show.

And the Non-country one, Josh Groban, 3 years ago, also in the "Quad Cities." What can I say? He has an amazing voice, and if I truly felt music was my ambition, he'd be my idol. With great effort I can sing a few of his songs, but you don't really compare when singing a Josh Groban song. Amazing guy, amazing concert.


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## eightyseven (Apr 25, 2007)

ThatFatGirl said:


> I saw R.E.M. when they did the tour to support the cd that had "What's the Frequency Kenneth?" on it. Radiohead was the opening band. AWESOME night.



Ah... I'm so jealous! Monster wasn't my favorite R.E.M. album, but it was definitely a cool sounding one... very distinct. I really liked "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" and "Strange Currencies." So jealous.


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## Chimpi (Apr 25, 2007)

supersoup said:


> which of course is why they broke up.



Excuse me? I did not know such information. Can you Private Message me skimpy details on this outlandish, revolting comment, please.


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## BBWTexan (Apr 25, 2007)

Pixies - November 1991. Best concert ever.


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## Sandie_Zitkus (Apr 25, 2007)

1975 - Madison Square Garden. THE WHO - original line up. Pete, Roger, Keith John. It was mind blowing.:wubu:

BTW - 37 days until I see STEVIE NICKS!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## stan_der_man (Apr 25, 2007)

If you've ever seen the Butthole Surfers play live, I need not say more. If you haven't... never mind.

Oingo Boingo on Halloween was always incredible...

The Stay Cats in the Hollywood Paladium... magic.

The Ramones... three cord heaven...

Belinda Carlisle (plump Wiskey a Go Go days...) :wubu: 

fa_man_stan


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## Aliena (Apr 25, 2007)

Sandie_Zitkus said:


> 1975 - Madison Square Garden. THE WHO - original line up. Pete, Roger, Keith John. It was mind blowing.:wubu:



Ooooooo; I'm jealous! I bet that was a fabulous concert! 

I did get to see The Charlies Daniels Band back in '82. It was at a fair. Pretty cool. It was my first "contact" high. :blink:


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## Sandie_Zitkus (Apr 25, 2007)

i WAS 15 and such a Who FREAK!! I still am -LOL





Aliena said:


> Ooooooo; I'm jealous! I bet that was a fabulous concert!
> 
> I did get to see The Charlies Daniels Band back in '82. It was at a fair. Pretty cool. It was my first "contact" high. :blink:


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## supersoup (Apr 25, 2007)

Chimpi said:


> Excuse me? I did not know such information. Can you Private Message me skimpy details on this outlandish, revolting comment, please.



yes. josh and mic left. claud has some dudes filling in, but it's just not the same for me. i've been going to see them play for years now, at little dives, and now it's kaputsky. i was able to get my mitts on some stuff he's been working on and i just don't dig it. saddies.


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## Wayne_Zitkus (Apr 25, 2007)

I never went to many concerts, so I guess I'd have to say the best I ever saw was in May of 1971. Believe it or not, it was a field trip for my high school Humanities class; a couple of the kids talked the teachers into it, as part of our study of American culture. We went to the Fillmore East in Manhattan to see John Sebastian, a group called Clouds, and Jethro Tull. The school board approved the trip and provided the bus - we had to pay for our tickets.

Yeah, I know - I'm dating myself again......


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## Seth Warren (Apr 25, 2007)

ThatFatGirl said:


> Sometime in college I saw Sugarcubes (with Bjork, yay!), Public Image Limited and New Order all on one bill in Chicago...


 
How I envy you. 

The best live acts I've seen? Moby, Porcupine Tree and Prince.


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## jamie (Apr 25, 2007)

eightyseven said:


> Mine was seeing the Counting Crows with Graham Colton Band at Merriweather Post Pavilion (Columbia, MD) in August of 2004.



You know you are killing me right???? You know that, I know you do.  I still have not gotten to see them. One of these days...sigh.

The best concert I have ever been to was of course:
*Rick "I am STILL too hot" Springfield.*
A 25th birthday present from my significant other of the time but no one would go with me...everyone had something "come up" that night. Gah. My best friend eventually gave in and I will be damned if she didn't get to touch his hand as his long lean legged self made his way around the raised bar of the little club he was playing. 

I had been in love with him since I was 6...that is 19 years of lust/expectation/devotion/adoration to live up to. He seemed really conceited and I was disappointed for about 15 seconds...and then he sang and my love was like whoa.


The second best concert (and probably the best honestly) was Melissa Etheridge at the Ryman (sp) Auditorium in Nashville. She is one of my favorites and an absolutely incredible performer. So much energy and honesty. I get tingles just from looking at pictures from that one. We were really close to the stage and it was a close audience as well, felt like we were all friends swaying along together.


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## Fuzzy (Apr 25, 2007)

A triple-header in September -- Foreigner, Styx, and Def Leppard.


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## DeniseW (Apr 25, 2007)

Earth Wind and Fire hands down, they rocked the house. My second choice would be Fleetwood Mac because I love Stevie!!


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## jamie (Apr 25, 2007)

ETA: I forgot about Chaka Kahn. Fourth of July, on the river in Louisville. We got there 4 hours early and set up camp right next to the stage. I spent the whole concert being pressed into the bars of the gate as very tall men kept leaning in to reach her, but it was so freakin worth it. She is incredible.......so much energy and very hot. I will never forget her version of "Tell Me Something Good" that night.


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## Wagimawr (Apr 25, 2007)

Sandie_Zitkus said:


> 1975 - Madison Square Garden. THE WHO - original line up. Pete, Roger, Keith John. It was mind blowing.:wubu:


Very nice :bow: been digging The Who By Numbers over here lately (mainly for Success Story).

I'd say the BEST would have to be B.B. King back in Fort Wayne, probably 5+ years ago - why? Cause I got to meet him after the show.

Equal to that would probably be the Flecktones show from last year, cause I got to meet them too.

Of course, seeing McCartney twice isn't too shabby either.


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## BigCutieSasha (Apr 25, 2007)

Family Values Tour 2001. My friend jessica went pretty much only for Linkin Park. We went to the Rose Garden 17 hours before the concert started and sat to make sure we were first in line since we have general admission. We were chased by homeless people, froze our asses off, had nothing to eat, and were looking like close to ass by the time the concert was opening up. We were up against the barrier like 4 feet from the stage. Deadsy was awesome, Static-X was fucking rad, and Linkin Park was the best. We were getting squished but we didn't care. Mike Shinoda came off the stage during a song and came right to me and my friend Jessica. We just screamed and grabbed onto him. Kissing him and grabbing what we could. It was delish. I molested him basically. Call me a perv. You would do it too.  After Lps set we didn't want to get squished anymore so we left. Good thing we did. Since we had gotten there so damn early, we noticed where the tour buses had pulled in at. We saw DJ Lethal from Limp Bizkit and he let us hang out on the other side of the yellow tape with him. There was no security, just tape saying do not cross. It was amazing how no one else noticed this. We also got to meet and take pics with Deadsy, and Tripp from Static-X. But the best was when Chester from LP came by and we got to talk to him and take pics with him. It was AMAZING!!  Mmmmmm, now I can go to bed with happy thoughts.


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## Robin Rocks (Apr 25, 2007)

The Cure 2004
The Cure 2000
The Cure 1996 (do you see a trend)? 

I've seen so many excellent shows that I'm not sure I could nail just one down. The Cure 2004 is tops because I got to meet Robert Smith. 

Other shows that have rocked:

The Police (Synchronicity Tour)
Bruce Springsteen 
Counting Crows (w/Graham Colton Band in 2003)
Pete Yorn (a few weeks ago. OMG he was great! I'm so mad I haven't seen him until now)
Coldplay
David Gray
Green Day
U2 (the first time I saw them, they opened for J. Geils Band)
Better Than Ezra
Van Halen (with David Lee Roth)

Really the list could go on and on for me. I still need to see REM and I don't know if that's ever going to happen.


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## alienlanes (Apr 25, 2007)

BBWTexan said:


> Pixies - November 1991. Best concert ever.



I'm envious.



ThatFatGirl said:


> Sometime in college I saw Sugarcubes (with Bjork, yay!), Public Image Limited and New Order all on one bill in Chicago...



I'm _really_ envious.



fa_man_stan said:


> If you've ever seen the Butthole Surfers play live, I need not say more. If you haven't... never mind.



I'm _really, really_ envious. (I'm also envious that you got to see fat Belinda Carlisle. But not quite as much.)

My own favorite concert? The Touch & Go Records 25th Anniversary Festival in Chicago last September. Seam, Man Or Astroman, Killdozer, Scratch Acid, Uzeda, Negative Approach, _Big fucking Black_... all the bands I worshipped in high school, some of them never reunited before or since, gathered together for one amazing weekend. I was in "drooling indie-rock fanboy" mode for 72 hours straight.


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## lemmink (Apr 25, 2007)

Eric Bibb. Waaaiii, I'm a sucker for an old man with the blues.


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## ScreamingChicken (Apr 25, 2007)

It was the Arrowfest in Houston...Nazareth, Cheap Trick, Ted Nugent, Deep Purple, and Lynyrd Skynyrd. This was just a few weeks before Skynyrd bassist Leon White passed.


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## Tooz (Apr 25, 2007)

supersoup said:


> coheed and cambria



YAY I wanna see them live.


Anyway.

Jason Mraz in 2003, in Boston. He's an incredible performer with an incredible voice. Plus, Stephen Kellogg, his opening act, came and talked to me and my friend. He kept touching me. :batting: Though, it was the first show I've been to where I've liked the opening act almost as much as the band or person I went to see.


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## LillyBBBW (Apr 25, 2007)

It's a tossup between "Metallica/Guns N Roses" and "Sweet Honey of the Rock"


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## butch (Apr 25, 2007)

LillyBBBW said:


> It's a tossup between "Metallica/Guns N Roses" and "Sweet Honey of the Rock"



Ahh, Sweet Honey! Lilly, have you ever checked out Toshi Reagon, daughter of Sweet Honey in the Rock founder Bernice Johnson Reagon? She is fantastic, her last CD came out on Ani DiFranco's label Righteous Babe. Her backing band is called Big Lovely, btw.


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## This1Yankee (Apr 25, 2007)

I just saw the Indigo Girls on saturday. That was pretty good, but I only went with friends, it wasn't really because I am a fan. HOWEVER, I am going to see LIVE in June, so that is going to rock. Will let you know if it's the best ever!


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## butch (Apr 25, 2007)

So many choices for best concert ever-

The Smiths at the Smith Center on the campus of GW (1986)-Morrissey, pissed off, storms off the stage after getting hit in the head with a bouquet of flowers. Phranc is the opening act, and I will never forget her singing "I Don't Like Female Mud Wrestling."

REM at the Capital Centre (1989)-I included that just to make all ya'll jealous. It was a good show, and we had great seats that made all the other kids in our high school jealous.

B-52's, Aztec Camera, 10,000 Maniacs, and others on the Mall (1989)-this was a PETA sponsored concert and festival. In between the videos of animal torture and the joys of veganism, shirtless men wandered the crowds feasting on roast beef and undermining everything PETA was working towards. How much fun is it to hear Fred Schneider sing while being surrounded by the National Monuments?

Tori Amos at Constitution Hall (1993?)-I swear she was singing "Me and a Gun" right at me, making me cry, which has never happened at a concert before.

This is just a sampling of memorable concerts.


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## Tad (Apr 25, 2007)

Robin Rocks said:


> The Cure 2004
> The Cure 2000
> The Cure 1996 (do you see a trend)?
> 
> ...




Wow, I wish I could delve into your memories, what an excellent selection!

I don't know if anything ever quite matches your first couple of concerts, because the whole experience is so new. My first was Supertramp on their farewell tour before breaking up, and my second a few months later was Billy Idol when he was at the top of the charts. Both were in general admission, packed so tight in a crowd you could barely jump up and down, right in front of massive stacks of speakers. Good times.

I had an 'almost great' one seeing Queen, Marillion, Level 42 (and another band who I forget, but who did have a single on the radio that I liked) in Paris back in the mid-eighties. Unfortunately the guys I was with didn't want to get down in the crowd, so it wasn't quite as intense. It was good, just not quite great.

In more recent years it was Great Big Sea playing the Civic Centre arena in Ottawa, ten thousand people packed into not that big of a space, pretty huge crowd for a folk/rock type band. We were too late buying tickets to be on the floor, in fact we ended up in the top row of the stands. Which was pretty interesting as the concrete stands starting bouncing up and down a lot (as in everybody there noticed it) when absolutely everyone was jumping up and down to the songs. It was little freaky, but nothing broke  

For me it really takes a good crowd to bring out the best in a concert.

--Ed


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## Paw Paw (Apr 25, 2007)

ScreamingChicken said:


> It was the Arrowfest in Houston...Nazareth, Cheap Trick, Ted Nugent, Deep Purple, and Lynyrd Skynyrd. This was just a few weeks before Skynyrd bassist Leon White passed.




WOW!!

Man, that is the soundtrack to my life! 

Alas, I have only seen Skynyrd. They opened for Kid Rock. I could have left after their show. I have seen a lot of shows, but they really send out that they love what they are doing.

Other shows: Ozzy, Third Eye Blind, Depeche Mode, Eminem , Missy , maybe the Canadians will remember this kid; Gowan. Vanessa Carlton, Alabama, Goo Goo Dolls.

The most of these I saw for free. My buddy was the drummer for the opening acts like Vanessa Carlton. He played for Natalie Cole in 2003. She really rocks!! If you watched RockStar, you would know him as the drummer for the house band.

Peace,
2P.


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## ATrueFA (Apr 25, 2007)

That would be a tough choice as there are many I really enjoyed. I've seen my favorite band, Renaissance 6 times. Otherwise it would be a todd up between Emerson, Lake and Palmer with Heart as the lead on band at Soldiers Field or Pink Floyds Animals tour but their Wall tour concert was great also. But the Who with John Mellenhead starting off at Sun Devil Stadium was great also. I've also seen the Moody Blues 6 times. Jethro Tull was great in concert in '71 as was Fleetwood Mac at the Alpin e Resort also in '71. Saw them again in '87. Saw Styx/Crying Shames/Odes of March when they played at my college. Also saw Jim Croce, The Cyrstals, The Bonzo Dog Band, The Incredible String Band and Harry Chapin at College. Al Stewart was good all 3 times I saw him as was Dan Hicks and His Hot Town Licks. Richard Thompson was great every time I saw him as was Tori Amos. And of course the Stones in '88 at Sun Devil Stadium for their 22nd "last" concert tour. Neil Young was great at the Desert Sky Pavillion as was Joni Mitchell. I've been to over 100 concerts so there are a few I've left out and I enjoyed most of them though Steppenwolf sucked big time live.
But come to think of it the BEST concert I ever saw was the original Woodstock. A friend had just gotten a new car and we cut school and without telling anyone, not even our parents we drove there on the spur of the moment. We lived on those 7-11 pressed meat 3 for a $1 packs and warm beer the whole time. We missed part of the first day but what an experience. I wasn't old enough to drive and my friend was 16. We got suspended from school for 2 weeks and I was pretty much grounded the rest of the year. My Dad was almost as pissed off as when he found out I went to the Sly and the Family Stone concert at Grant Park Bandshell that turned into a riot. Even then I knew it was worth it....Guess that really dates me....
Almost forgot all the "free" concerts I saw when I did sound for "Beginnings" a club owned by the group Chicago (and had forgotten I'd seen them many times). Saw Cheap Trick, Talking Heads, Dave Brubek and others while working there 3 nights a week during college. 


Dave


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## ashmamma84 (Apr 25, 2007)

Big and Beautiful Concert - Jill Scott! The girl can perform like nobody's business! And she's a beautiful bbw too!


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## JMCGB (Apr 25, 2007)

I have to say hands down the best live show i have ever been to was Pink Floyd, summer of 94 at RFK Stadium. It was the Division Bell tour and i was simply blown away. I wont even try to describe it because it was magical. 

Been to so many other great shows as well. Saw STP and Butthole Surfers when STP was just getting popular. Soooo many HFStivals its not even funny, Steve Miller Band at Merriweather Post Pavilion. Also had the pleasure of attending the Tibetan Freedom Concert at RFK. Two day show and it was kick ass. Oh yeah cant forget Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers at the Patriot Center and last and certainly not least The Greatful Dead at RFK. It was the last time they were in DC before Jerry left us.


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## GWARrior (Apr 25, 2007)

Aside from all the GWAR concerts Ive seen (and we all know GWAR is amazing) Id have to say the best concert Ive ever attended would be Great Big Sea at the Pearl St. Nightclub in Northampton MA. They had amazing energy and play a bajillion songs. 

I like to call them Canadian-Celtic-folk-bluegrass-rock.


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## BothGunsBlazing (Apr 25, 2007)

Hmm, good question.

Iron Maiden last October .. but there are soo many amazing experiences I've had at hardcore shows. Having the vocalist put the microphone to you so you can bust out lyrics = most exhilarating thing ever. 

Listening to one of your favorite songs and realizing you got to sing a bit of it with the actual band playing = priceless.


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## saturdayasusual (Apr 25, 2007)

There are two that really blew me away. X-Fest in Indy in 2001. It was my first real concert. I saw Lifehouse, Days of the New, Better Than Ezra, Live, Saliva, and Rammstein that day. There were other bands that we missed because my sister passed out from the heat and we stayed at the main stage. (I missed Toadies  ) It was a really awesome show.

The second was Incubus a couple of years ago. I went with my best friend, and we lucked into seats RIGHT next to the stage. They really have an awesome stage presence.

I'll be seeing Three Days Grace, Breaking Benjamin, Chris Cornell, and Chevelle on the 26th. I'm sure that will be a great one as well.


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## ActionPif (Apr 25, 2007)

I love all of my concert experiences! Although I DO have a particular fondness for my "Boss" experiences, they were all fantastic and exhilirating in their own special way:

Billy Joel (2 times)
Elton John (at Radio City Music Hall!)
Boss Springsteen (4 times)
Robert Plant
Iron Maiden
Metallica
Prince (tore the roof off, no lie)
Fleetwood Mac
Paul McCartney
The All-Starr Band (2 times- Hooray for Ringo!)
Neil Diamond (seriously, a fantastic show; Neil still has "it")
Aerosmith
Van Halen (or whatever they were in 2004)
Phil Collins (another surprisingly fun show)
Simon & Garfunkel
Bob Dylan
Red Hot Chili Peppers (Foo Fighters opened for them that night)
Styx & REO Speedwagon


I'm sure this list is incomplete in some way. Yes, I did tag along with my parentals for most of these. No, I'm not ashamed! 

This summer:

THE POLICE!


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## swamptoad (Apr 25, 2007)

Lollapalooza '97 rocked! :bow: 

Some of the bands from that concert that I liked:

Orbital
Julian and Damian Marley
The Eels
Snoop Dogg
Tool
Korn
James


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## BothGunsBlazing (Apr 25, 2007)

swamptoad said:


> Lollapalooza '97 rocked! :bow:
> 
> Some of the bands from that concert that I liked:
> 
> ...



Another Eels fan! They're brilliant live.


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## swamptoad (Apr 25, 2007)

ThatFatGirl said:


> Sometime in college I saw Sugarcubes (with Bjork, yay!), Public Image Limited and New Order all on one bill in Chicago... it was a most fabulous evening. I danced from beginning to end, surely sweating off 10 lbs that night.. except it was also the first concert I went to where I could legally drink, and I consumed about 6 plastic cups of cheap wine. I probably broke even in the calories department. Good times.



Very cool, TFG! 

Sugarcubes, Bjork, New Order... great music....

One of my fave songs from the Sugarcubes is off of the "It's It" remix album; a song called "Birthday." But I like a lot of the Sugarcubes music. And much of Bjork's stuff too. I missed most of Bjork "LIVE" on SNL just recently. caught a glimpse of it and liked what I briefly heard. 

She's got a new album "Volta" coming worldwide May 8th 2007, so I've heard.

I believe that New Order might possibly make another album...just don't know when * ? *


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## Theatrmuse/Kara (Apr 25, 2007)

Oh GOSH.........

In my teen and college years!
Three Dog Night (FOUR TIMES! TEEHEE)
THE STONES
Eric Clapman with Yvonne Elleman as opener.
John Denver
Jefferson Airplane........Starship..........no.....Airplane! Well, GRACE was there!

As a grown up type:
Indigo Girls
Melissa Etheridge really ROCKED.
Elton John
Garth Brooks- WOW!
and 
Toby Keith (YUMMY)

Hugs, Kara <going to listen to my CDs now!???>:smitten:


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## Carrie (Apr 25, 2007)

Elvis Costello, at Great Woods in Massachusetts in '94. First of all, though it doesn't need to be said, I :smitten: Declan. Duh. So I was veeeery excited. Second, it was a warm summer evening, and Great Woods is outside, so the setting couldn't be beat. Third, he was sooooooooooooooooooooooooo good. When intermission came, he announced that the rest of his band was going "to go have a lemonade" (so cute!), but he wanted to continue playing for us, so we were treated to a 20 minute Elvis solo show, just him and his guitar. Heaven.


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## Esme (Apr 25, 2007)

Best concert ever...

Peter Gabriel @ Pine Knob. Must have been '86-'87. The music is amazing. Always- but the thing about PG is that it's never JUST music. His shows are art. Pure, simple, elegant... visually breathtaking.


Followed closely by Peter Gabriel for the "UP" tour- which edges out PG in '92 simply because of the addition of The Blind Boys of Alabama. Amazing.


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## Carrie (Apr 25, 2007)

Theatrmuse/Kara said:


> Melissa Etheridge really ROCKED.



Oh, hell, yes. I saw her at Great Woods, too, and at one point she was joined onstage by Joe Perry from Aerosmith, and they played "You Shook Me All Night Long". The woman can definitely rock.


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## ScreamingChicken (Apr 25, 2007)

Other concerts I've been to that kicked a$$ :

Page and Plant in '98 

Lynyrd Skynyrd at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

Styx and Reo Speedwagon at HLSR.

Chicago and Crosby, Stills , and Nash.

Brother Kane opening up for Bad Company and Lynyrd Skynyrd in '93.


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## Paw Paw (Apr 25, 2007)

Esme said:


> Best concert ever...
> 
> Peter Gabriel @ Pine Knob. Must have been '86-'87. The music is amazing. Always- but the thing about PG is that it's never JUST music. His shows are art. Pure, simple, elegant... visually breathtaking.
> 
> ...




You are dating yourself. Only us old heads still call it " The Knob".

Peace,
2P.


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## Esme (Apr 25, 2007)

Paw Paw said:


> You are dating yourself. Only us old heads still call it " The Knob".
> 
> .



I refuse to call it by its corporateproductplacement name.  

Heh... I saw BNL there one time after the name change and they said something like, "Gee, what a shame they tore down Pine Knob to put up this place that's exactly like it." Made the whole crowd roar with laughter.


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## Paw Paw (Apr 25, 2007)

Esme said:


> I refuse to call it by its corporateproductplacement name.
> 
> Heh... I saw BNL there one time after the name change and they said something like, "Gee, what a shame they tore down Pine Knob to put up this place that's exactly like it." Made the whole crowd roar with laughter.




I feel ya. Like Candlestick park. 

They built a new place for the Tigers and gave it a corp. name. Same thing with the Lions. But now Comerica has moved out of MI. Go figure.

My buddy calls/emails, when he is playing up here. He still says " I'm at The Knob with so and so. How many tickets you need?" Usualy the headliner is the shit.

He was here last with AI. They would not let him get tickets. No prob. I would have waited until Fantasia and left.

Peace.
2P.

p.s. Vanessa Carlton fired him. She made a comment, and he was like " Who do you think you are, Diana Ross?" I was mad. They had some great foreign beer on her bus.


----------



## elle camino (Apr 25, 2007)

i've had this conversation _so_ many times with various friends of mine. when you've been seeing like three shows a week every week for over a decade, it's really hard to even remember enough to narrow it down. 
for me, it's less about the performance and more about the vibe of the show and who i saw it with. the emotional signifigance, i guess.
an unordered list:

*the murder city devils 'final' show, october 31st 2001. *
this one was amazing because literally, every single person i love was there. the whole scene was there. i'm not even the biggest MCD fan, but they completely knocked me on my ass. but really i'd expect nothing less from a band whose final show basically stopped the entire city in it's tracks for a night. 
*
U.S.E. at a houseparty in the U district, 2003.*
just everything you want a party to be. amazing people, AMAZING band, lots of cheap champagne from the bottle as you sweatily dance with a total stranger to songs about the neighborhoods you grew up in. 
(almost as good: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCpbTaF6XzA i was there, but it was like 93 degrees so i was over in the damn shade and out of camera range. check it out, at the end you can totally see steam coming off the crowd because of all the sweat. nice.)

*the melvins, dead moon, and nirvana at the seattle colosseum circa 1992.*
i was way too young to realize the legendary nature of the lineup, but if i were to have to sit down and pinpoint the exact moment i stopped being a dumb little kid who liked anything and started having my own taste, it'd be the moment the melvins took the stage that night. the beginning of a lifetime obsession with that band. 

*outkast at the gorge ampitheater, august 2001.*
i'm usually not a huge fan of gigantic outdoor festival-type shows, but outkast are one of the few acts that can make a crowd of over like 6000 people seem like an intimate setting. plus i was on mushrooms and i got to touch andre's pants.


----------



## activistfatgirl (Apr 25, 2007)

OMG, I love this thread. I've been reliving so many awesome concert moments that I totally forgot about. I've been to a lot but these ones are some of the special ones.

Brandston in the basement of conservative Christian Cornerstone College 99
Appleseed Cast and Dear Ephesus, Chicago, 99
P.O.D. and Project 86, Lansing, 98-99
*Fugazi, Chicago, 2001*
_Ugly Casanova_ (side project from Modest Mouse folks), Detroit, ??
Trans Am, Detroit, ??
Boy Sets Fire, Warped, ??
The Weakerthans, Detroit, ??
Thursday, Thrice, Coheed and Cambria, Detroit, 2003
Coheed and Cambria, Detroit, 2005
Justin Timberlake, 2007 

There's a whole period of my concert going years that was mostly Christian rock and hardcore, and I saw the best of the best (in that genre). Mostly at Cornerstone, a huge god-lovin' outdoor festival where I saw pretty much every band I ever wanted to--and they had a ton of fringe hardcore tents. Because of that most of my concerts don't really interest the average person.


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## daddyoh70 (Apr 25, 2007)

First concert I ever went to. 1981. AC/DC at the Philadelphia Spectrum during their Hells Bells tour. I couldn't hear for days, but it was worth it when Brian Johnson carried Angus on his back through the whole lower lever of the Spectrum during a guitar solo. Ran right past our row of seats.

I've also see The Charlie Daniels Band twice and was blown away both times.


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## speakeasy (Apr 25, 2007)

BBWTexan said:


> Pixies - November 1991. Best concert ever.


THAT must have been awesome.


elle camino said:


> U.S.E. at a houseparty in the U district, 2003.[/B]
> just everything you want a party to be. amazing people, AMAZING band, lots of cheap champagne from the bottle as you sweatily dance with a total stranger to songs about the neighborhoods you grew up in.
> (almost as good: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCpbTaF6XzA i was there, but it was like 93 degrees so i was over in the damn shade and out of camera range. check it out, at the end you can totally see steam coming off the crowd because of all the sweat. nice.)


I LOVE U.S.E. The first time I saw them I was feeling sulky, and by the end of the show I was actually in a good mood. 


activistfatgirl said:


> *Fugazi, Chicago, 2001*


I was ignorant of Fugazi and Minor Threat my whole life, but now the more I learn about Ian MacKaye, the more he becomes one of my heroes.


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## biodieselman (Apr 25, 2007)

ThatFatGirl said:


> Sometime in college I saw Sugarcubes (with Bjork, yay!)...


 
Saw the Sugarcubes when they opened for U2's Zooropa tour in San Diego. Seen U2 three times & Bjork once. 

I've seen Pink Floyd twice & took Ris, when dating, to see Roger Waters. Always near the top of any concert. 

But by far the best concert I've ever seen is the Jimi Hendrix Experience, May 1969 in San Diego. I was blown away by the full sound coming from just three guys. Mostly from the all time king of ALL guitarists, Jimi Hendrix. :bow:

Man...am I old.


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## BBWTexan (Apr 25, 2007)

Esme said:


> I refuse to call it by its corporateproductplacement name.



I'm with you on that.

Being from Houston, I've seen U2, Depeche Mode, etc.. at *The Summit *(later Compaq Center, now Lakewood Church.)

I don't care. It will always be The Summit to me.

Bastards.


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## PhillyFA (Apr 26, 2007)

Tough one...any of the Dylan or Springsteen shows would certainly be up there. Iron MAiden always managed to kick my ass, but last time I saw them was with Dio & Motorhead...that fuckin' night ROCKED!!! And I gotta throw my very forst concert into the mix...Sept. 7th, 1979. I was 12 years old & saw KISS with Judas Priest as opening act. Talk about a fucking show...WOW!!!


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## tink977 (Apr 26, 2007)

I saw Matchobox Twenty three times and each time was purely awesome. Kid Rock as great too!!!!! AND OH SO HOT!!!!!! I was highly disappointed in Aerosmith. Go figure, but Stone Temple Pilots opened for them and I became an immediate fan.


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## wrestlingguy (Apr 26, 2007)

The absolutely BEST show I ever saw live was in 1984 at the Capitol Theatre in Passaic NJ.....we had just endured a snowstorm that had dumped about 15 inches of snow in the area.

I walked to the show that night to see The Tubes and the Plimsouls. Due to the weather, the Plimsouls couldn't fly in.

The Tubes, however, made it, and played a 4 hour set. Fee Waybill looked out at the audience (which numbered less than 200 people), and said "this is it? Well, you people will be able to go back & tell your friends that you just saw the greatest F'N rock & roll show of your life!" He was right.

After the show, they came out & had drinks with us all at the Heidelberg, a local watering hole around the corner from the Capitol.

Other great artists I've been fortunate enough to see over the years:
Hendrix (Dec. 30, 1969 at Madison Square Garden)
Santana (too many times to mention dates & venues)
Tower of Power
Return to Forever (with Chick Corea & Stanley Clarke)
The Cure
Paul McCartney (Veterans Stadium, Philadelphia 1995)


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## PhillyFA (Apr 26, 2007)

daddyoh70 said:


> First concert I ever went to. 1981. AC/DC at the Philadelphia Spectrum during their Hells Bells tour. I couldn't hear for days, but it was worth it when Brian Johnson carried Angus on his back through the whole lower lever of the Spectrum during a guitar solo. Ran right past our row of seats.
> 
> I've also see The Charlie Daniels Band twice and was blown away both times.



I was at that AC/DC show...it was the "For Those About To Rock" Tour. It was Dec 13 or 14, and Midnight Flyer opened up. They sucked, but AC/DC kicked my ass. It was the first time I ever saw them, and I haven't missed them playing Philly since.


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## eightyseven (Apr 26, 2007)

I saw that show too! I went mostly for Stone Temple Pilots and Linkin Park. What a great set list and stage presence for both of those bands. Not to mention that Static-X was a pleasant surprise. Not into them or that kind of heavy stuff anymore, but at the time I was floored and enjoyed the heck out of it. Staind was disappointing... but some bands were just meant to be studio bands, you know? I wasn't much into Deadsy, but they did a decent cover of Rush's "Tom Sawyer." I remember writing about that show for my high school newspaper 



BigCutieSasha said:


> Family Values Tour 2001. My friend jessica went pretty much only for Linkin Park. We went to the Rose Garden 17 hours before the concert started and sat to make sure we were first in line since we have general admission. We were chased by homeless people, froze our asses off, had nothing to eat, and were looking like close to ass by the time the concert was opening up. We were up against the barrier like 4 feet from the stage. Deadsy was awesome, Static-X was fucking rad, and Linkin Park was the best. We were getting squished but we didn't care. Mike Shinoda came off the stage during a song and came right to me and my friend Jessica. We just screamed and grabbed onto him. Kissing him and grabbing what we could. It was delish. I molested him basically. Call me a perv. You would do it too.  After Lps set we didn't want to get squished anymore so we left. Good thing we did. Since we had gotten there so damn early, we noticed where the tour buses had pulled in at. We saw DJ Lethal from Limp Bizkit and he let us hang out on the other side of the yellow tape with him. There was no security, just tape saying do not cross. It was amazing how no one else noticed this. We also got to meet and take pics with Deadsy, and Tripp from Static-X. But the best was when Chester from LP came by and we got to talk to him and take pics with him. It was AMAZING!!  Mmmmmm, now I can go to bed with happy thoughts.


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## eightyseven (Apr 26, 2007)

LillyBBBW said:


> It's a tossup between "Metallica/Guns N Roses" and "Sweet Honey of the Rock"



My mom is ALWAYS raving about "Sweet Honey of the Rock!" I've yet to give it a listen, but I'm due for it.


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## Happy FA (Apr 26, 2007)

As a certified old fart my memory of concerts is time shifted into the 70s and 80s. My top 10 list, ala Letterman from Number 10 on down to number 1.

10. Rolling Stones at JFK Stadium, outdoors in the summer of 76. Mick was on a huge cherry picker crane hanging out over the audience in spots.

9. The Dead at Red Rocks, CO, just outside of Denver, an open amphitheater with great natural acoustics and as the sun sets over the red rocks of the park it's in you can see the lights of Denver in the distance(15miles away). Saw 5 shows there over two years with my son.

8. Renaissance with Annie Haslam in Bailey Hall, Ithaca, NY 1979. The most amazing versions of Mother Russia and Ashes are Burning with her absolutely incredible voice.

7. Meatloaf on the Pier in New York City with Karla Devita right after the Bat out of Hell album came out. In full loaf size he had to keep sucking oxygen to come out for his encore. Unbelievable live version of Paradise by the Dashboard Light.

6. Lionel Hampton at the Newport Jazz Festival at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in a summer, where at the end of a long day of great performers he came on last and after a spirited long set played 8, yes 8 encores. He'd shuffle off, the crowd would go wild and he'd come back, again and again and again.

5. Grateful Dead, Holleder Memorial Stadium, Rochester, NY 9/1/79. This was a saturday afternoon with the summer still lingering in a High School Football Field with very small stands on both sides(almost everyone was standing, sitting or hanging out on the field) with the stage set up in one end zone. The field was surrounded by a fence all around and was smack in the middle of a residential neighborhood. Everyone had to park more than a mile away from the venue and walk through the residential neighborhood, with residents sitting on their front porches and lawns and cops at each corner, all watching the tye died human flotsam and jetsam wandering by. Greg Kihn and the Good Rats opened for the Grateful Dead who played one of their hottest shows, outside, on a gorgeous day.

4. The Who, sometime in 1976 in New York City with the original band going at it at a feverish pitch. Keith Moon looked like he was possessed by demons and Peter Townsend played his guitar with his wild looping arm motions until the Garden felt like it was going to dance off its foundation.

3. Bruce Springsteen, Cornell University November 1978. Shortly after Born to Run Bruce came out he played one of his 4 hour plus shows in drafty Barton Hall. All the now classic songs were still fresh and new.

2. The Grateful Dead, 5/8/77 Barton Hall, Cornell University. My first Grateful Dead concert and one of the most well known traded tapes among deadheads. A show I still listen to often even though over the years I saw more than 100 Grateful Dead concerts before Jerry Garcia died and another 60 or so with the remaining members as The Other Ones or The Dead or Phil Lesh and Friends.

1. Pink Floyd, The Wall, at Nassau Coliseum in late February 1980. Simply the most incredible concert experience of my life. Always a fan of Pink Floyd, and particularly the Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here albums the Wall was so incredibly rich and filled with tremendous songs, guitar and bass riffs and the whole concept that the thought of seeing it live truly excited me. Still in college 250 miles away I still got tickets and drove down for the show with friends and we weren't at all disappointed. The show was grand opera on the most amazing scale with a 100 foot wide and 60 foot tall wall built across the width of the Nassau Coliseum during the first set, with dive bombing planes gliding across the Coliseum and knocking down parts of the wall, 4 clusters of special effects speakers in addition to the stereo setup and amazing huge balloons and puppets and animation shown on the wall during the songs. For a fuller sense of the amazing show(the music was incredibly polished and if anything more full and real than the recorded version) here's a Wikipedia link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wall

Whew!!!


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## eightyseven (Apr 26, 2007)

elle camino said:


> *outkast at the gorge ampitheater, august 2001.*
> i'm usually not a huge fan of gigantic outdoor festival-type shows, but outkast are one of the few acts that can make a crowd of over like 6000 people seem like an intimate setting. plus i was on mushrooms and i got to touch andre's pants.



Jealous... mad jealous. That had to have been incredible.


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## ATrueFA (Apr 26, 2007)

"8. Renaissance with Annie Haslam in Bailey Hall, Ithaca, NY 1979. The most amazing versions of Mother Russia and Ashes are Burning with her absolutely incredible voice."

Cool, another Renaissance fan. I've seen them 6 times and enjoyed the heck out of every concert. The first time I saw them was around '72 at Northwestern University. When they played at the Pony Express in Phoenix in the mid 80s I got there way early and ended up talking with Annie Haslam and the band for over an hour before the show. I saw Annie Haslam solo a several years ago and even though the music was not the same was still a great time listening to her wondeful voice..


Dave


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## Accept (Apr 26, 2007)

My favorite concert, although I haven't been to all that many, was HammerFall in 2005!

HammerFall is cheesy, catchy, and just plain awesome heavy metal.


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## BothGunsBlazing (Apr 26, 2007)

Accept said:


> My favorite concert, although I haven't been to all that many, was HammerFall in 2005!
> 
> HammerFall is cheesy, catchy, and just plain awesome heavy metal.



They're pretty fun live. I met Oskar, they're guitarist I think? He was really cool. 

FAST AS A SHARK! Not a Hammerfall song. haha


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## alienlanes (Apr 26, 2007)

Accept said:


> My favorite concert, although I haven't been to all that many, was HammerFall in 2005!
> 
> HammerFall is cheesy, catchy, and just plain awesome heavy metal.



_Brothers in arms are posting tonight!
The forces of fat meet again!
Born in Dimensions, they look to the boards,
The power of FAs unchaaaaaaiiiiiiined!_

   

I sat down with _Glory to the Brave_ once and tried to count how many tracks the word "steel" appeared in. My count was five out of nine .


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## Accept (Apr 26, 2007)

SlackerFA said:


> I sat down with _Glory to the Brave_ once and tried to count how many tracks the word "steel" appeared in. My count was five out of nine .



Oh hell yah. Equally outrageous is the amount of times, across their first two albums, they rhyme "steel" with "reveal."

I've been digging their latest album, "Threshold." Their best since Legacy of Kings, I say. Nothing like "drive faster!" music when heading home.


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## elle camino (Apr 26, 2007)

speakeasy said:


> I LOVE U.S.E.



awesome! it's so weird to think of them playing outside of seattle, though. 
eerie sidenote: right after i wrote that post, i was thinking about how long it's been since USE has had a show around here. more like lamenting, actually. 
then a few minutes later i check myspace and voila! secret USE show this friday at a bar three blocks from my apartment!
amazing.


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## alienlanes (Apr 26, 2007)

elle camino said:


> i've had this conversation _so_ many times with various friends of mine. when you've been seeing like three shows a week every week for over a decade, it's really hard to even remember enough to narrow it down.
> for me, it's less about the performance and more about the vibe of the show and who i saw it with. the emotional signifigance, i guess.
> an unordered list:



I hear that. I've fallen off in the past few years, but when I was in college I was a serious scenester. Every once in a while, someone will turn me onto a band I think I've never heard, then I'll suddenly realize "wait a minute, I saw these guys like five years ago and I totally forgot about it !"



> *the melvins, dead moon, and nirvana at the seattle colosseum circa 1992.*
> i was way too young to realize the legendary nature of the lineup, but if i were to have to sit down and pinpoint the exact moment i stopped being a dumb little kid who liked anything and started having my own taste, it'd be the moment the melvins took the stage that night. the beginning of a lifetime obsession with that band.



_Damn._ Now _there's_ a show I'm jealous of.

Let me put in a good word for Sleater-Kinney, the band I've seen live more times than any other. Even on the night when they were all visibly sick, they put on an amazing show. Too bad they broke up .

In the spring of 1999 I went into NYC to see them on what I guess must have been the _All Hands On The Bad One_ tour. My friends and I got to the show early, and as we were milling around waiting for the opening band to go on, I noticed a beautiful BBW in an old-school bouffant and vintage dress. I fell instantly in love and was working up the courage to try and flirt with her (at that point in my life this mainly involved buying myself another couple of beers ), but by the time I had mustered up the nerve to say hello, she had disappeared. A minute later the opening band, a (then very new) Pacific Northwest punk trio, came onstage. Turned out I was crushing on Beth Ditto :doh:.


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## loaf (Apr 26, 2007)

Joanna Newson in glasgow early this year.

oh, and first post :happy:


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## elle camino (Apr 26, 2007)

sleater-kinney shows were always magic, no exceptions.
miss that band. so bad.


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## liz (di-va) (Apr 26, 2007)

I have bad memory for these things, but I still think of:

* Isley Brothers at the Arie Crown Amphitheater (with a surprise visit by Mr. Wee Wee, R Kelly), like five years ago, just cause it's my only Isleys live show. So great.

* Soundgarden at the Cubby Bear in Chicago, 1989, for sheer volume

* Tom Waits in Minneapolis, 1987

* It's not the best show I ever saw Scrawl do (that might be a NYE show in Cols), but I happened to see their very first show at Stache's in Columbus, Ohio, 1985, when they opened for the Meat Puppets; amazing how often it still comes up, down to the fistfights in the bar.

I will save opera highlights for another question, but watching Placido Domingo kiss the stage during the curtain calls for the last Ring Cycle was totally bitchen too .

ETA: I totally forgot the Public Enemy/Sonic Youth show with the riots at the Aragon in Chicago. That was pretty fun too. Hee!


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## Sandie_Zitkus (Apr 26, 2007)

> 4. The Who, sometime in 1976 in New York City with the original band going at it at a feverish pitch. Keith Moon looked like he was possessed by demons and Peter Townsend played his guitar with his wild looping arm motions until the Garden felt like it was going to dance off its foundation.



HappyFA.................

DUDE I WAS THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!:shocked: I guess it was 76 not 75!!

It was my first and the best concert ever - I was 15!


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## daddyoh70 (Apr 26, 2007)

PhillyFA said:


> I was at that AC/DC show...it was the "For Those About To Rock" Tour. It was Dec 13 or 14, and Midnight Flyer opened up. They sucked, but AC/DC kicked my ass. It was the first time I ever saw them, and I haven't missed them playing Philly since.



I stand corrected. Kudos to you for jogging this old mans memory :bow: I was trying so hard to remember the name of the opening act. You are corrrect, they did suck. But for a first concert, I could not have picked a better one.


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## Melian (Apr 26, 2007)

Top 3

3. Combichrist/Glis/Manufactura
2. The second time I saw Tool (Aenima tour)
1. BLIND GUARDIAN!!

Notable mention: Gutter Demons/the Vibrators (gotta love psychobilly)


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## alienlanes (Apr 26, 2007)

Melian said:


> Top 3
> 
> 3. Combichrist/Glis/Manufactura
> 2. The second time I saw Tool (Aenima tour)
> ...



I used to live across the street from a bar which had weekly rockabilly/psychobilly nights. That was a fun year .


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## QuasimodoQT (Apr 27, 2007)

Happy FA said:


> -snipped-
> 1. Pink Floyd, The Wall, at Nassau Coliseum in late February 1980. Simply the most incredible concert experience of my life. Always a fan of Pink Floyd, and particularly the Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here albums the Wall was so incredibly rich and filled with tremendous songs, guitar and bass riffs and the whole concept that the thought of seeing it live truly excited me. Still in college 250 miles away I still got tickets and drove down for the show with friends and we weren't at all disappointed. The show was grand opera on the most amazing scale with a 100 foot wide and 60 foot tall wall built across the width of the Nassau Coliseum during the first set, with dive bombing planes gliding across the Coliseum and knocking down parts of the wall, 4 clusters of special effects speakers in addition to the stereo setup and amazing huge balloons and puppets and animation shown on the wall during the songs. For a fuller sense of the amazing show(the music was incredibly polished and if anything more full and real than the recorded version) here's a Wikipedia link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wall
> 
> Whew!!!



Hands down, the most amazing was Pink Flowd The Wall at the Berlin Wall, Potsdamer Platz, in 1990 as it was coming down. Lots of extra performers came to be a part of this event. I still can't believe I got to be there, though it did get scary as the crowd was so enormous, there were some almost-trampled moments afterward.

I worked for MTV Networks, so I got see concerts on a weekly basis, far too many to enumerate. Some of them I worked (pre-events, etc), some of them were just freebie tix. 

I think the most fun/best lineup was the VH1 Men Strike Back concert, though there was a small televised concert with Macy Gray that would be a close second because it was handled so well- really fun. Nice goodie bag, too!


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## James (Apr 27, 2007)

The Gatecrasher festival in 2000. 

10 thousand people had just watched England beat Germany 1-0 in the world cup and the atmosphere was fantastic... I saw Mr Scuff followed by Gangstarr then Dilated Peoples and finally DJ Marky. For those of you that know your D&B you'll know that this guy's sets are awesome. Then to cap it off Fabio played a chilled out liquid set through till sunrise...

A close second would probably be Rahzel in 2004 in Bournemouth. That dude's beatboxing is incredible...!

EDIT : and some more... awesome


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## elle camino (Apr 27, 2007)

James said:


> Rahzel


my favorite rahzel story:

anyone from the northwest US has most likely heard of bumbershoot, which is seattle's yearly labor day, city-center, overpriced and overcrowded outdoor music festival. when i say overpriced and overcrowded, you really cannot even imagine it unless you've been there. just MASSIVE swarms of people, one cover, and the ONLY point of going is that every year they manage to put together a seriously amazing lineup. like a dozen venues, each with a completely spectacular list of performers every night. so, even though it's expensive and claustrophobic, everyone and their mom shows up, every year.
so one year (must have been '97 or maybe '98) the big draw on saturday night was the roots, headlining memorial stadium. it was at 9 PM, and me and my friends got there at 6 and it was already completely packed to the cheap seats, plus the entire field. thousands upon thousands of people, waiting all day, hot, sweaty, tired, full of greasy fair food, for the roots. 
and the roots cancelled. at 8:30 PM. 
so at 9 out strolls rahzel, who was the only one who actually showed up. tells the crowd that there's no roots in the building, but that if we wanted to hang around he'd just do their entire 2 hour set WITH HIS FACE.
and he did.
and it was. amazing. 
rahzel rules. he totally prevented a riot with the awesome power of flawless beatboxing.


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## kerrypop (Apr 27, 2007)

Hmmm... my favorite show by far (besides new kids on the block) HAS TO BE Bush/Foo fighters/filter/lit... system of a down was supposed to open, but noshowed.  The show was awesome and rad and incredible and good. 

Second favorite show: Guttermouth. BY FAR. wow. such a fun show to be at.


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## James (Apr 27, 2007)

and now... the beats.... and the lyrics....

AT THE SAME TIME... (crowd goes wild )

Rahzel does indeed rule


----------



## ClashCityRocker (Apr 27, 2007)

wrestlingguy said:


> Tower of Power
> QUOTE]
> 
> were they as clean and powerful as they sound on vinyl(or cd, etc)? i'd LOVE to see them live.
> ...


----------



## Chimpi (Apr 28, 2007)

QuasimodoQT said:


> Hands down, the most amazing was Pink Flowd The Wall at the Berlin Wall, Potsdamer Platz, in 1990 as it was coming down.



1990? I was not aware they were doing *Pink Floyd* The Wall shows in 1990. I would be very surprised, in fact, because Roger Waters was no longer a part of the titled *Pink Floyd*.


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## Sandie S-R (Apr 28, 2007)

Happy FA said:


> .....(snip).....
> 9. The Dead at Red Rocks, CO, just outside of Denver, an open amphitheater with great natural acoustics and as the sun sets over the red rocks of the park it's in you can see the lights of Denver in the distance(15miles away). Saw 5 shows there over two years with my son........(snip)....



Ahhh, good memories. I saw the Dead at Red Rocks too, twice. In fact most my concert experiences growing up were at Red Rocks Amphitheater, (Born and raised in Denver)....Diana Ross and the Supremes (1964), The Beatles (1965), The Beach Boys (many times), Jethro Tull (1971), The Dead, The Stones, Santana (1975 - Red Rocks) and (2000 in San Diego), Rick Springfield, John Denver, Sammy Davis Jr., Fleetwood Mac, AeroSmith (1980). Jeez just too many to remember. More recently, we saw Brian Setzer (amazing musician), and the Fab Four (a Beatles tribute band - unbelieveably good, and authentic), oh yeah, and Blue Man Group in Vegas...wow.


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## swamptoad (Apr 28, 2007)

liz (di-va) said:


> I have bad memory for these things, but I still think of:
> 
> * Isley Brothers at the Arie Crown Amphitheater (with a surprise visit by Mr. Wee Wee, R Kelly), like five years ago, just cause it's my only Isleys live show. So great.
> 
> ...



All right! Sonic Youth! Heck ya!


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## swamptoad (Apr 28, 2007)

BBWTexan said:


> Pixies - November 1991. Best concert ever.




I love the pixies!

:happy:


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## speakeasy (Apr 28, 2007)

Well, I'm a pretty big Weezer nerd, so I guess the most epic show I've ever seen was Weezer on their last tour, with the Foo Fighters. I'm a pretty reserved, unexcitable guy, and this was the only show I've ever seen where I just lost control and started yelling when they took the stage. 
Some of the most exciting shows I've ever seen have been local bands. 
Like Elle said, *U.S.E.* shows are always incredible.
Also, the first time I saw *The Thermals*, I was floored.
And of course, *The Rentals *(Matt Sharp, ex-Weezer bassist, doing incredible synth-rock stuff) and *Ozma *on their tour together last year.


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## GenericGeek (Apr 28, 2007)

Wayne_Zitkus said:


> I never went to many concerts, so I guess I'd have to say the best I ever saw was in May of 1971. Believe it or not, it was a field trip for my high school Humanities class; a couple of the kids talked the teachers into it, as part of our study of American culture. We went to the Fillmore East in Manhattan to see John Sebastian, a group called Clouds, and Jethro Tull. The school board approved the trip and provided the bus - we had to pay for our tickets.
> 
> Yeah, I know - I'm dating myself again......



Wayne, I'm jealous as all hell! That must've been incredible -- what did Tull perform? Of course, if only it had been a month later, you could've seen Zappa & the Mothers (the "_Other _White Album", with ex-Turtles Flo & Eddie)  

My first, best concert was in '72 or '73 -- Pink Floyd at the Hec Edmonson Pavilion on the University of Washington campus. Not so much because of the music (which was great), but because it was the first time I _really _got kissed by a girl... :blush: (Wistful Sigh)

_I am Bwana Dik!_


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## elle camino (Apr 28, 2007)

speakeasy said:


> Well, I'm a pretty big Weezer nerd, so I guess the most epic show I've ever seen was Weezer on their last tour, with the Foo Fighters. I'm a pretty reserved, unexcitable guy, and this was the only show I've ever seen where I just lost control and started yelling when they took the stage.
> Some of the most exciting shows I've ever seen have been local bands.
> Like Elle said, *U.S.E.* shows are always incredible.
> Also, the first time I saw *The Thermals*, I was floored.
> And of course, *The Rentals *(Matt Sharp, ex-Weezer bassist, doing incredible synth-rock stuff) and *Ozma *on their tour together last year.


three things!
thing one: ok so i hate to be the dweeb with the anecdote for every other post in this thread, so if you want to hear my first meeting with meeting with weezer story, which is either pretty funny or pretty creepy, depending on how you look at it, just PM me. 

thing two: on the rentals tip, don't forget to add that it's mya rudolph from SNL's old band. way too fun of a fact to leave out. i never saw them live and i am so jealous of anyone who did. 

thing three: please explain ozma to me. i've never seen them, but i have friends who mention them and when i ask, they tell me they're kind of like...aerosmith to weezer's zepplin. or maybe like a weezer cover band? or just some kind of nerdy rock outfit who's loosely related to weezer...how? just all the same fans? i don't get it.


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## QuasimodoQT (Apr 28, 2007)

Chimpi said:


> 1990? I was not aware they were doing *Pink Floyd* The Wall shows in 1990. I would be very surprised, in fact, because Roger Waters was no longer a part of the titled *Pink Floyd*.



Um, since you apparently don't believe me, I did a quick Google search on your behalf...

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000001FYU/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

As I said, it was a really good show.


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## BothGunsBlazing (Apr 28, 2007)

Oh and seeing Motörhead for the first time a few years ago .. I still can't hear properly!

Also seeing Queensryche do all of Operation:Mindcrime was also amazing. 

Coheed & Cambria play for about 30 minutes at the record store here for like 50 people to promote their latest album was also really cool. Made all the more special by the person listening in on the other side of the cell phone I was holding up so she could hear it too!


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## sweetnnekked (Apr 28, 2007)

Hmmmm, difficult request. So many favorites.

Grateful Dead-Hampton Colliseum-October 1989

They were billed by their old name "The Warlocks"
Played relatively normal first set but blew us all away on 
2nd with "Dark Star", "Death Don't Have No Mercy", "Dear Mr. Fantasy/Hey Jude", and an encore of "Attics Of My Life!!"
Not much of anything to most folks, unless your a Dead Head!

Honorable Mentions:
Steve Hackett at Bergen Community College - New Jersey 1980.
The Band(with Robbie Robertson)/Henry Gross - Tanglewood, Massachusettes - 1978.
David Crosby& Steven Stills/Harvey Brooks Blues Band/David Bromberg/Dixie Dregs - SUNY New Paltz, New York - 1981.

I should probably also mention: Lou Rawls, Eartha Kitt and Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks all at various times at DiMetrious' Jazz Alley in Seattle!!


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## supersoup (Apr 30, 2007)

BothGunsBlazing said:


> Coheed & Cambria play for about 30 minutes at the record store here for like 50 people to promote their latest album was also really cool. Made all the more special by the person listening in on the other side of the cell phone I was holding up so she could hear it too!



ahhh memories. i still think that's one of the sweetest things you've ever done for me lover, knowing they're my favorite band and all.  




jaykay nerds, jaykay!!


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## SocialbFly (Apr 30, 2007)

it is a toss up between Queen (who rocked btw) or the Moody Blues with The Fix, when i was in the 5th row...man am i showing my age or what...


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## Friday (Apr 30, 2007)

My first concert I was 12 and I wore a sundress and patent leather shoes, lol. My grandparents bought me 2 tickets for my 12th b-day (out of the blue, until this day I don't know why) and I took my little sister. Headliner? The Supremes. The warm up act was a 17 year old kid named Stevie Wonder. One of the smaller venues at Seattle Center, maybe 5000 people. Elle, help?

Once I hit high school and started buying my own tickets ELP was good. Elton John on the Goodbye Yellowbrick Road tour was better. Queen I could have gone to see every week for the rest of my life. Boston had an incredibly huge (like 2 story) pipe organ that rose up out of the stage. Tom Petty was excellent as were Jethro Tull and Cat Stevens and I liked Alice Cooper's Welcome To My Nightmare show even better when I found out that my bio-Dad was outraged by my attendance. Journey is the only band I've seen twice. I know they get bashed a lot now but they were good and my guitarist boyfriend worshipped Neal Schon. Steve Perry had such control over his voice that all you could do was stare as he raced and jumped around the stage while holding a pure note. Neil Diamond was pretty cool. I took my Mom and I thought we were going to have to have the binocs surgically removed from her eyes. She kept saying 'OMG, look at his pants!'. Of course, I realize now that she was only maybe 41, 42? Hardly the relic I thought she was at the time.  Genesis in the T-Dome wasn't half bad considering the acoustics ain't great. Going to try to hit the Gorge a time or two this summer.

Oh yeah, we saw Bob Seger at a big club in Vancouver BC just as he was starting to get serious airplay. Must of been the fall of '75. You only had to be 18 in Canada. Best bar show I ever saw.

eta: oops. Heart with Cheap Trick opening was pretty good too.


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## cherylharrell (Apr 30, 2007)

I've been to lots of concerts so I'll just list all my favorites. All the Arlo Guthrie shows I have been to, the several Monkees shows I have been to, the several shows of Peter Tork & Davy Jones of the Monkees I have been to & theMIke Nesmith of the Monkees show I went to...


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## liz (di-va) (Apr 30, 2007)

I keep forgettin this one: the 25th anniversary Mekons shows in Chicago in 2002, a different decade/venue each night. I could only see one, the 1993-now show at Fitzgerald's, but it was Good.

The first time I saw Candye Kane (also at Fitzgerald's) should probably go up there too. And hearing her sing "Whole Lotta Love" on that tour later.


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## alienlanes (Apr 30, 2007)

liz (di-va) said:


> I keep forgettin this one: the 25th anniversary Mekons shows in Chicago in 2002, a different decade/venue each night. I could only see one, the 1993-now show at Fitzgerald's, but it was Good.
> 
> The first time I saw Candye Kane (also at Fitzgerald's) should probably go up there too. And hearing her sing "Whole Lotta Love" on that tour later.



Repped for being a Mekons fan :wubu:.

I know they're still making albums as a full band, but have they stopped touring? Jon Langford and Sally Timms both played solo sets at Touch & Go, but the Mekons-as-a-whole weren't on the bill, which disappointed me.


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## liz (di-va) (Apr 30, 2007)

SlackerFA said:


> I know they're still making albums as a full band, but have they stopped touring? Jon Langford and Sally Timms both played solo sets at Touch & Go, but the Mekons-as-a-whole weren't on the bill, which disappointed me.



I *think* the 2002 shows were the last time; those two do play all the time in various configurations, and sometimes the lineup is Mekons-ish. But no actual Mekons.. 

Did you go to the T&G 25 last yr? (That's what you meant, ya?) Fun!


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## alienlanes (Apr 30, 2007)

liz (di-va) said:


> I *think* the 2002 shows were the last time; those two do play all the time in various configurations, and sometimes the lineup is Mekons-ish. But no actual Mekons..
> 
> Did you go to the T&G 25 last yr? (That's what you meant, ya?) Fun!



Yep! I refer you to one of my earlier posts in this thread. That was an amazing weekend. Were you there?

I'm _still_ hyperventilating about the fact that I got to see Big Black reunited. Unlike the other festival I went to last summer (namely Pitchfork), at T&G I really felt that old-school utopian sense of community which drew me to punk/indie rock in the first place -- actual scruffy weirdos coming together to celebrate the visionary fringe, rather than undergrads and young professionals playing at being scruffy weirdos for a weekend. (Although I had a hot SSBBW date for Pitchfork, whereas at T&G it was just me and some fellow skinny-indie-dork male friends .)


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## liz (di-va) (Apr 30, 2007)

SlackerFA said:


> Yep! I refer you to one of my earlier posts in this thread. That was an amazing weekend. Were you there? I'm _still_ hyperventilating about the fact that I got to see Big Black reunited. Unlike the other festival I went to last summer (namely Pitchfork), at T&G I really felt that old-school utopian sense of community which drew me to punk/indie rock in the first place -- actual scruffy weirdos coming together to celebrate the visionary fringe, rather than undergrads and young professionals playing at being scruffy weirdos for a weekend.



Doh! Totally missed your post the first time 'round. That's great ya got to go (naw, I didn't make it). I know what you mean about the actual scruffy weirdo quotient...  (although I remember hearing the BBlack set was abbreviated? Or was that just how it was being downplayed ahead of time?)


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## alienlanes (May 1, 2007)

liz (di-va) said:


> Doh! Totally missed your post the first time 'round. That's great ya got to go (naw, I didn't make it). I know what you mean about the actual scruffy weirdo quotient...  (although I remember hearing the BBlack set was abbreviated? Or was that just how it was being downplayed ahead of time?)



Nope, it was just four songs -- "Cables," "Dead Billy," "Racer-X" and one other I'm blanking on at the moment. As Albini said at the beginning of the set, they didn't really want to reunite, but they did it anyways to show some love for T&G. Still pretty amazing, though. I couldn't believe he was actually getting those sounds to come out of his guitar, exactly like on the records, right in front of my eyes .

And Shellac played for over an hour immediately afterwards, so I got a satisfactory clang-and-skree fix for the night .


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## Happy FA (May 1, 2007)

QuasimodoQT said:


> Um, since you apparently don't believe me, I did a quick Google search on your behalf...
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000001FYU/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
> 
> As I said, it was a really good show.


 
I have no comment about how great the show was, but Chimpi is correct in saying it wasn't a Pink Floyd Show. Looking at the link I see that it was Roger Waters who was the lead on the show and he and various other artists like Cyndi Lauper, Sinead O'Connor, Joni Mitchell and Bryan Adams did "songs" from the Wall. Hard to imagine Joni Mitchell doing Pink Floyd

The original Wall was an integrated rock opera, like the Who's Tommy was originally, but with all the integrated visuals that no one's ever done better than PF. The show you saw substituted the Berlin Wall and sounds like it was a truly amazing, once in a lifetime experience. But, for my money given the choice between the two, as a diehard Pink Floyd fan(though I do love Roger Waters and saw him do Dark Side of the Moon live in concert this past summer at Madison Square Garden), I wanted the real McCoy Pink Floyd with David Gilmour, Roger Waters, Nick Mason doing the show as the roadies built an amazingly huge wall during the show and the sound effects in the controlled space were out of this world.

Of course, YMMV, that's why this is all about our own opinions and views, not a matter of who's right. We're each right for ourselves.


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## QuasimodoQT (May 1, 2007)

Happy FA said:


> I have no comment about how great the show was, but Chimpi is correct in saying it wasn't a Pink Floyd Show. Looking at the link I see that it was Roger Waters who was the lead on the show and he and various other artists like Cyndi Lauper, Sinead O'Connor, Joni Mitchell and Bryan Adams did "songs" from the Wall. Hard to imagine Joni Mitchell doing Pink Floyd
> 
> The original Wall was an integrated rock opera, like the Who's Tommy was originally, but with all the integrated visuals that no one's ever done better than PF. The show you saw substituted the Berlin Wall and sounds like it was a truly amazing, once in a lifetime experience. But, for my money given the choice between the two, as a diehard Pink Floyd fan(though I do love Roger Waters and saw him do Dark Side of the Moon live in concert this past summer at Madison Square Garden), I wanted the real McCoy Pink Floyd with David Gilmour, Roger Waters, Nick Mason doing the show as the roadies built an amazingly huge wall during the show and the sound effects in the controlled space were out of this world.
> 
> Of course, YMMV, that's why this is all about our own opinions and views, not a matter of who's right. We're each right for ourselves.




You're absolutely right, I should have said Roger Waters performing Pink Floyd's The Wall.

I really only replied back to that because I was completely taken aback by the tone of the post.

Whatever. Internetzes aren't always friendly places.


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## liz (di-va) (May 2, 2007)

SlackerFA said:


> Nope, it was just four songs -- As Albini said at the beginning of the set, they didn't really want to reunite, but they did it anyways to show some love for T&G.



Oooo right--yah, it was the interview with him I'd read that made me think that. Glad you had such a good time


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## sobie18 (May 2, 2007)

Holy cow...pick one....Mr Big, Bela Fleck & the Flecktones, Shinedown, King's X, the G3 tour where I got to meet Billy Sheehan, Joe Satriani, and Yngwie Malmsteen after the show...I could go on....


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## Checksum Panic (May 18, 2007)

K I saw the Arcade Fire, in Toronto last tuesday...and it was seriously BY FAR the best concert have I been to in years, hell probably ever! 

So that got me thinking, all of you awesome Dim Board members, I ask you;
What's the best concert you ever been to?!


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## ThatFatGirl (May 18, 2007)

Checksum Panic said:


> K I saw the Arcade Fire, in Toronto last tuesday...and it was seriously BY FAR the best concert have I been to in years, hell probably ever!
> 
> So that got me thinking, all of you awesome Dim Board members, I ask you;
> What's the best concert you ever been to?!



We've been discussing this recently... check it out.


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## Butterbelly (May 18, 2007)

I've been to a lot of concerts, but I have two favorites.

1. Dave Matthews Band - 1998
2. Santana - 2000


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## Chimpi (May 23, 2007)

So I went and saw the *Roger Waters* concert on Friday.
Overall, not only was I disapointed from what I was expecting, I didn't even get to see the entire show.

The traffic was horrific. I did not end up getting there until the last songs of the first half, which were all solo songs (of which I do not know), and then a very popular *Animals* song. In comes the gigantic pig floating around the audience, with fantastic (in my opinion) sayings of "All religions divide us" and "Impeach Bush Now". Hehe 
*Dark Side Of The Moon* was the second half of the show. No light show. I was so disappointed. I was expecting a blow-out, fantastic, unbelievable light show (as per reviews I have read and heard from others). Nothing, except the famous triangle on the cover of Dark Side Of The Moon made from lights. That was it. I was so disappointed, needless to say. *Shrugs*
But the music was fantastic, excellently performed, and it started raining the second _Eclipse_ was over. In come the encores, _Another Brick In The Wall Part II_, _Bring The Boys Back Home_, and _Comfortably Numb_. I thought the keyboard player was much more skilled than Richard Wright, and performed _very_ well on the solo parts he performed. The singers during _The Great Gig In The Sky_ were horrible (in my opinion), and the guitar solo during _Comfortably Numb_ was nothing compared to anything David Gilmour can perform.

I would not rate this concert the best concert I have been to, but I can now say I have seen *Roger Waters*, I have seen *Dark Side Of The Moon*, and the only thing that can top that would either be *Pink Floyd* (David, Richard, and Nick) or a re-united *Pink Floyd* (David, Roger, Richard, and Nick).


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## Knox91 (Jan 21, 2011)

I saw Cake at the Ryman Auditorium last night! They are such a great band and it was great seeing them at the Ryman. John gave away a tree in the middle of the show and made the guy promise to plant it and send in a picture for their website. It was great!


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## penguin (Jan 21, 2011)

The Doug Anthony All Stars. I saw their Dead and Alive tour twice. I've been crushing on Paul McDermott since I was 12. He's got the voice of an angel and the soul of a devil :smitten:


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## Stroker Ace (Jan 22, 2011)

My kind of thread! Good lord, so many great concerts over the years... to name a few-

Somone mentioned the Butthole Surfers, awesome live band! I saw them in Oct '09 at the Barrymore in Madison, WI. Holy S**t was that good, the classsic line-up,: Gibby, Leary, Jeff Pinkus, and the dueling drums of King Coffee and Theresa Nervosa (Hairway to Stevenline up). Lights, smoke, noise... an all out assult on the senses.

WEEN- have seen them eight times! Best live band around. First I saw them was at First Ave some 10 years ago (White Pepper Tour) blew my mind. They played for over three hours (they played a great cover of VH's "Hot For Teacher" and the "Booze Me Up And Get Me High" into "Bananas And Blow"... awesome). 

The Flaming Lips & Beck- saw them together at the Orpheum Theater in 2002, they made a great pair! Saw Beck do a solo acoustic show around the same time at the Fitzgerald theater in St Paul (Sea Change Tour). Also have seen the Lips with Ween at Red Rocks in 2006. The Flaming Lips are a band many in here would enjoy.

Geroge Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic- saw them 5-6 times the last almost 10 years ago. The Mothership always delivers (they play for a minimum of three hours, they'll be at the Cabooze on Feb 8)!

Upcoming- MOTORHEAD is coming to mpls (Feb 15, I think). I gots to see Lemmy before he goes to the great gig in the sky, that or Lemmy will live forever! Ace of Spades!


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## Adrian (Jan 24, 2011)

Back in 2009, I went to an outdoor concert for Stevie Wonder. It was great but, the biggest surprise was.... Stevie Wonder standing on his piano stool!!! He was enticing the audience to sing along louder by clapping his hands above his head. His stage crew, his daughter who escorted him to the piano virtually panic and came towards his piano but remained back around twenty feet. All were relieved when he started to get down and his daughter was right there to help him down.


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