Best Live Band(s)

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kane

Can't Leave
Dec 2, 2014
429
3
Saw The Cramps in London, missed the last train.
Saw them at the Keystone in Palo Alto, CA, probably like '79/'80. Poison Ivy looked very hot and very bored. What a great fun band. The Keystone was an awesome club. In addition to the Cramps, shows by Iggy, JohnnyThunders, Gregory Isaacs, and Jerry Garcia numerous times.

 

ssjones

Moderator
Staff member
May 11, 2011
19,088
13,323
Covington, Louisiana
postimg.cc
My mom wouldn't let us see go see Bowie on the Spiders tour.....I still regret not making a harder play on that one.
The flat-out most amazing performance I've ever witnessed with Luther Allison, a Chicago blues legend. We had just started the first and now annual "Western Maryland Blues Festival" and he was picked to headline. He had a reputation for playing long past any kind of deadline and we had been warned. The show was supposed to end at 10 AM. At 11, he was still going strong. At midnight, they tried turning off his equipment, so he unplugged, and went acoustic and played in the crowd seats. By 1 AM, the theater management told us that he had to end. They finally shut down all the lights around 1:30 AM with about 25 spectators still left. (that was the last time we used that theater for the festival!). He died a few months later from cancer. He was literally playing like his life depended on it. I've never witnessed another show like that one. RIP Luther (his son, Bernard, now performs).

 

kane

Can't Leave
Dec 2, 2014
429
3
Not to be contrary, but one of the weirdest things I saw was Michael Bloomfield at the Stanford University coffee shop in the student union around '76 or '77. As a teenager in Palo Alto, me and my friends use to ride our bikes over to Stanford and go to the coffee shop. Bloomfield was on the little bandstand playing solo, and nobody was paying any mind to him. People were going about reading and chatting, as if he wasn't there. He looked tweaked and not well or very happy. My friends and I knew who he was from the Paul Butterfield Blues Band records and Dylan. It was surreal and sad to us. I have no idea why he was there, maybe he lived in the area.

 

cally454

Starting to Get Obsessed
Dec 31, 2012
205
0
Grateful Dead when they were on. I saw them mostly in the eighties so it was hit and miss. Sad to watch such an unbelievable talent waste away

Saw pink Floyd with Gilmore. 80 thousand people melted into their seats. Clapton 3 times, he can play a little. Eagles and Seger were pretty good live same with fleet wood mac

 

mackeson

Part of the Furniture Now
Mar 29, 2016
758
2
I'm pleasantly surprised by the number of people that have mentioned Jesus Lizard! I've always liked those guys, but unfortunately the only time I saw them, David Yow was so drunk he could barely get through the set. Kind of like the 2nd time I saw Skinny Puppy and Ogre kept falling down and the stagehands had to keep running out to pick him up and prop him on the mic stand. Funny at first, then just sad.
Jesus Lizard @ Sudsy Malones circa 1992

Wow, I drove down to Cincy a few times to see shows at Sudsy's. Good times
Cool Pic Nate.

 

iamn8

Lifer
Sep 8, 2014
4,248
16
Moody, AL
Remembered another... there's a seriously weird local venue called Sloss Furnace. It's an abandoned smelting facility from the early-mid 1900's (I think). They occasionally have small concerts there. It's a creepy, very odd venue. An evening of playing with mind altering chemicals had been planed, but the chance came up to see Marilyn Manson at Sloss. Manson is no Pink Floyd, but I was always game for any new experience. While seeing Manson tripping isn't something I'd care to do again, it was most defiantly an experience. Say what you will, but it was a seriously good show. He does not come across as the poser I would've expected. I was very pleasantly surprised, dispite the creepy crowd. I've never felt so out of place in my life.

 
Dec 28, 2015
2,337
1,003
Bowie (76 my first concert and then again in 78)

Iggy ( 3 times in the 80s)

Big Star (90s version with the guys from Posies joining Chilton and Stephens)

Panther Burns (with Alex Chilton on guitar)

Alex Chilton solo

Yes (76)

Black Sabbath (78)

U2 ( in a small club for $3 on Bono's 21st birthday. I had to use fake ID to get in)

Ramones

Pink Floyd (94)

Paul McCartney

Elvis Costello (several times but 79 was best)

The Who (late 70s)

Bow Wow Wow

Lyle Lovett (with Willis Alan Ramsey opening)
To name a few

 

ssjones

Moderator
Staff member
May 11, 2011
19,088
13,323
Covington, Louisiana
postimg.cc
@Kane - wow, what a list. The New Barbarians caught my attention. I love their version of "Am I Groovin You", which has some airplay on the XM Jam channel. I just bought the CD, "Buried Live: Maryland" which was recorded at the old Capital Centre, where I saw all of my concerts as a teen/young adult (now a shopping center). I was too dumb then to know that the New Barbarians show should not have been missed!

 
Mar 30, 2014
2,853
94
wv
Hands down best live performances I've ever seen were with TOOL and PUSCIFER.

They sound better live than on a studio album.

 

gmjabsky

Starting to Get Obsessed
Apr 3, 2015
152
0
+1 for The Ramones, high intensity fun!
Mighty Mighty Bosstones

The Flaming Lips

They Might Be Giants

The Pogues

 

wyfbane

Lifer
Apr 26, 2013
5,418
5,064
Tennessee
Best show is a toss up:
92 or 93, Mudhoney and Nirvana opened up for Violent Femmes in the VUB of Western Wa Univ.
92 or so, Jethro Tull in Portland. Always loved them.
Runners up:
They had a series of concerts on Seattle's piers in the late 90's/ Early 00's. Erykah Badu was (possibly literally, Im not joking) bewitching on the stage.
Sade in the last couple years; fulfilling a fantasy I have had about seeing her since I first saw her in a beautiful white dress with a long braid onstage during the '84 Live Aid concert. That woman is beyond Godly hot and talented.
Cajoling my brother to go see Lords of Acid because he didn't really know them... and then losing him during the show only to see him up on stage worshiping the lead singer. He was tossed off stage. That was Portland.
Van Morrison/Joni Mitchell/Bob Dylan at the Gorge in George, WA. Amazing.
The Moody Blues, Also at the Gorge.
Someone admitted the guilty pleasure of Sarah McLaughlin. I saw her at the '98 Lilith Fair in Portland.
I have seen Lynyrd Synyrd in Georgia. Much different than seeing them in Oregon.
I saw Soundgarden in the Salem Armory. Tiny venue and I called out a song and they played it. I was stoked.
I saw Papa Roach in Seoul, Korea and met up with them in the hotel bar after. Drank with them til closing.
Kiss was amazing. It is just nice when the music kicks ass and they are professional showmen.
Garth Brooks. It may be the first show I was at where I knew the words to every song (but his new free love one). It was like meeting up with a long lost friend. Just comfortable and awesome.
Chicago was great, but seeing them without Peter Cetera I knew that I could never see Journey without Steve Perry.
Michael McDonald. Voice like silk!
Metalica, And Justice for All tour.
Dead Milkmen in Portland.
Depeche Mode in the Gorge.
I bunch of punk shows I don't remember (headbutting and slam dancing DOES have lasting effects, it turns out)

 

dino

Lifer
Jul 9, 2011
2,094
15,429
Chicago
Cosmic asked for diversity. I've been attending concerts and club dates since the mid 1950s. Every kind of music: rock, folk, classical, jazz and ethnic. Choosing some standouts, without a three page post, in tiny print, will be tough, but here it goes:

*The Who, I've seen them every time they were in Chicago; one of the best was the first, the "Tommy" tour in 1969, at a club called The Kinetic Playground

*James Brown and The Fabulous Flames, 1966 in Dallas

*Erroll Garner, Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson and The MJQ, at various Chicago clubs

*Luciano Pavarotti, in his first concert performance in Chicago

*Andres Segovia, I sat on stage with other lucky audience members, during one of his last concerts, in a SRO performance in Orchestra Hall, 1987

*Ravi Shankar, in the same venue, many times

*Baby Huey and The Babysitters, Aorta, The Cryan' Shames and The Flock, Chicago legends

*Bruce Springsteen, "Born To Run" tour, best of the many shows I attended

*Sir Georg Solti conducting the CSO, in an incredible performance of Beethoven's Ninth

*Bob Gibson and Bob Camp at The Gate of Horn

*Jethro Tull, many times, best was "Thick As A Brick" tour

*Miles Davis at The Plugged Nickel

*Tony Bennett, at Ravinia

*Darius Rucker, "True Believers" tour

*The Beatles, 1964, Chicago International Amphitheater, couldn't hear much though

Those are a few high points in a long eclectic ride.

 

ssjones

Moderator
Staff member
May 11, 2011
19,088
13,323
Covington, Louisiana
postimg.cc
@dino - "64 Beatles". Wow.
Worst show ever:

Kiss & Aerosmith at MSG around 2008. Paul S forgot the lyrics, twice. All were busting out of their spandex. Aerosmith looked like they were sleep walking thru their show, but Tyler was OK. Sad, you need to know when it's time to turn off the mic and equipment. They still don't.

 

swb118

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jul 20, 2016
134
66
The loudest show I ever saw was either Sonic Youth at Bogarts or The Melvins at the Toy Tiger in Louisville. That was like firing up a 747 in an outhouse.

 
Absolute worst show I have ever seen was Hank Williams Jr. He lived just down the road from us when I was in High School, and he came in my dad's store all the time, so he gave us some tickets to see him play in Huntsville. At the show, he was on something, as I had never seen anyone act that way on just alcohol. But, he forgot the words and just walked around yelling at crowd. He tried to sing a few songs that he knew the first few lines of, but ended up just letting his band kill time while he threw insults at the audience. I was embarrassed for him. And, then the next time we saw him, he actually asked my dad what he thought of the show. Ha ha, my dad, King Smart Ass, "We could tell that you were doing something that you enjoy."

 

ericthered

Part of the Furniture Now
Jul 29, 2014
511
4
Suffolk, VA
The two best shows I've been two are:
1 - Victor Wooten's solo tour (Vic is the bass player for Bela Fleck & the Flecktones). My jaw was on the floor the entire show. Vic is a bass virtuoso!
2 - Every "The Machine Live" (Pink Floyd tribute band) show I've been to. I'm too young to have made it to any Pink Floyd shows, but The Machine is the next best thing. Musically, they are spot-on. Vocally, they're close enough to get by.

 
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