OT: Best concerts you've ever seen?

Paul McCartney
Rolling Stones
Eagles
Jackson Browne
Springsteen
Eric Clapton
REM
Cowboy Junkies
Police (Copeland's drumming)
Beach Boys
Elton John
Billy Joel
Fleetwood Mac
James Taylor
Arrogance
Jimmy Buffet

Tool is always a great show to go see.

Some of my favorites have been the Big 4 (Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, and Anthrax), Iron Maiden, Roger Waters performing The Wall, Billy Joel, Elton John.

Too many to count.

The Band
The 5 Blind Boys of Alabama (later The Blind Boys of Alabama

Both at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis

RATM at Lollapalooza in 2008 is by far the best I've been too. Band sounded great, crowd of ~70,000 was going nuts, and the festival atmosphere made it that much better.

The War on Drugs at a small, SRO indoor venue shortly after their Lost in the Dream album came out was fantastic.

Kanye West at The Hollywood Bowl playing 808s & Heartbreaks in full with a lot of special guests was sweet.

Lots of others who sounded great as well. Kacey Musgraves, Luke Combs, Eminem, Jason Isbell, Phoebe Bridgers, ZBB... But Rage will probably never be topped for me. And that's fine.

Nine Inch Nails and Jack White are the two biggest wish list acts I'd like to get to. Springsteen too. I somehow always miss him.

And lastly, even though it wasn't a concert, Wrestlemania in New Orleans was a wild, ridiculous, and fun couple days.

I've been lucky to get to go to a lot of fun shows over the years. Only tickets I'm currently holding are for Blink-182 later this summer. Looking forward to that.

Good thread!

Def Lepard and Billy Squire

Willie Nelson

Chris Stapleton

Good topic, Supa

I've seen U2 18 times and they'd probably take the top five. 

1. U2 Omaha, I/E tour
2. U2 Denver, Unforgettable Fire tour
3. U2 Denver, Zoo TV tour
4. U2 Dallas, 360 tour
5. U2 Vegas, Sphere

A hundred way tie for 6th between various artists including Uncle Tupelo at the Lounge Ax in Chicago, Tom Waits at the Paramount Denver, Sonic Youth at the Sundance Saloon Bozeman, MT, Replacements in Denver.

Current band I can't stop listening to: DEHD.

MaroonBells wrote:
Good topic, Supa

I've seen U2 18 times and they'd probably take the top five. 

1. U2 Omaha, I/E tour
2. U2 Denver, Unforgettable Fire tour
3. U2 Denver, Zoo TV tour
4. U2 Dallas, 360 tour
5. U2 Vegas, Sphere

A hundred way tie for 6th between various artists including Uncle Tupelo at the Lounge Ax in Chicago, Tom Waits at the Paramount Denver, Sonic Youth at the Sundance Saloon Bozeman, MT, Replacements in Denver.

Current band I can't stop listening to: DEHD.

I want to go see a concert and experience the Sphere so bad. I've seen clips of the U2 shows and most recently Phish...what an experience. Very cool you got to see that. I see Dead and Company is playing there next.

Stones
Led Zepplin
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Allman Brothers
Greatful Dead
Willie Nelson & Waylon Jennings
The Eagles

Paul McCartney & Wings...in St Paul
Huey Lewis & the News...still one of my fave's in Duluth
Bravo at Beaver Creek/Classical Concert/Pachebel's Canon in D Minor (yeah, I have that side to me)
Beach Boys (w/America as the Opening Act) slopeside at Beaver Creek, CO
Charlie Daniels (fiddlin' genius...also slopeside but in Montana)
Tim McGraw & Faith Hill (she is a technically flawless singer...Vegas)
Mannheim Steamroller (Christmas concert a couple years ago...in Montana)
Clint Black (w/Mrs Black-Lisa Hartmann...I forgot how good HE was)
Celtic Woman (that blonde fiddle player stole the show)
Allison Krause/Union Station (she opened for Willie Nelson...he was weak, but she and her band were extraordinary)

But my drop my pants favorite was in Prague, Czech Republic about 5 years ago. It was the string section of the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, playing in this fantastic 400 year old church near the Charles Bridge. Opened with a resounding twin organ (in the loft) classical piece, and then this string quartet came out and played several pieces before this incredibly beautiful (auburn red hair) Czech soprano soloist came out and sang the rest of the concert. Like an absolute angel. The most amazing thing? The price of admission was like equivalent to $10...probably the most incredible "Pinch Me" moment in a concert. We were in the second row and I was in awe of that soprano soloist, ten feet away.

Maybe a close second (for the experience) was a show a the original Ryman Auditorium in Nashville (not the new one). Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers were the "house band" that week and they had multiple singing guests. Acoustics shockingly good. Main featured artist was Tanya Tucker, who is now an older, not so sexy woman, but man she belted out some songs that reduced the gal next to me to tears.

This was a good thread to post...you made me think about how to separate a "concert" from a "performance". A couple of memorable recent performances here would be Rocky Horror Picture Show (live, here in Montana with a bunch of Broadway performers hamming it up), and the other was called "Operalesque". Odd concept of combining theatrical opera singers with almost nude burlesque...and it worked. This was during the Pandemic and they couldn't do it indoors. So they strung a bunch of christmas lights out in the woods, had straw bales for seating, had and semi-nude ring gymnasts...incredible athletic bodies and singers....definitely a creative solution to having to perform outdoors during a global pandemic. We had a couple of the female performers out to the ranch to ride horses the next day...the ring gymnast normally performs in NYC and she said this was the first paying gig she had in almost a year.

1VikesFan wrote:
Stones Led Zepplin Lynyrd Skynyrd Allman Brothers Greatful Dead Willie Nelson & Waylon Jennings The Eagles

Holy Crap!

Thats a who's who list right there!

Probably seen Lynyrd Skynyrd the most (b4 plane tragedy)
Seen the Grateful Dead a bunch
The Band
Marshall Tucker

But my favorite???
Jonny Winter

Haven't been to a lot but the ones that made the biggest impact:
1996: Styx with Kansas opening. Mankato MN.  I was really there for Kansas, only Styx album I had was Grand Illusion. Kansas rocked, my glasses flew off during "Carry On Wayward Son", and then it was time for Styx.  Dennis DeYoung comes out crooning "Tonight's the night we'll make history..." and then flips the switch at "here at the Para-DIIIIIIIIISSSSEEEEE". Curtain up, lights up, band BOOM into "Rockin The Paradise" and my jaw is on the floor.

2002: Rush West Palm Beach FL. I'd been a Rush fan for a decade+ but this was the first time seeing them live. All the songs I already loved were even better. Natural Science was incredible.

2007 Rush West Palm Beach again.  How do you make a Rush concert even better? Get a 4th row seat in front of Alex Lifeson  :cool:  Between The Wheels and Workin Them Angels went to another level.

Ancient history time...

1981 Pretenders, Rolling Stones
1982, 83 The Police 3 times, Eric Clapton, Lou Reed
1984 Springsteen at St. Paul Civic Ctr-I wasn't even a huge fan but he was amazing, Van Halen, Yes, Genesis all at the same venue.
1985 Elvis Costello at the Orpheum Mpls. Maybe the best show I ever saw. Grateful Dead on the beach at Ventura CA the day of live aid.
Stones Bridges To Babylon at the Metrodome was maybe the only stadium show I ever thought highly of. Top notch special effects. I didn't see a lot of those but usually bad sound and being a mile away was not worth the price of admission.

Many 80s shows at First Ave and other clubs, national and local acts. Was a huge Meat Puppets fan and saw them about 6-7 times. Saw them open for Violent Femmes at the Warfield San Fran 91 or 92, great show by both bands.

There were lots of others, I still have all the ticket stubs in a box somewhere. Also lots of folk, blues and jazz shows by people you mostly never heard of and some you probably did.

Also saw Steely Dan about 7-8 times early 2000's in Chicago and NYC, always excellent. Aja Album gig Chicago 2009 was one of the best shows I've ever seen, egged on by a totally into it crowd.

I was still going to smaller shows up until about 10 years ago, since then not much interests me.

supafreak84 wrote:

I want to go see a concert and experience the Sphere so bad. I've seen clips of the U2 shows and most recently Phish...what an experience. Very cool you got to see that. I see Dead and Company is playing there next.

I took my kids, who think U2 is about the uncoolest band ever and they were slackjawed the whole time. I'm not a Phish fan, but from the clips I've seen, their visuals were even more mind blowing. U2's visual direction tied together thematically, and they purposefully held back on some visuals because they were worried people would be falling over or getting sick. Phish clearly felt no such restraint and chose to just blow their audience's (likely altered) minds.  And the audio? 167,000 speakers. The whole building is one big speaker. It's as close to perfection as you'll ever hear.

Seen Foo Fighters twice…and a third coming in July at Target Field. Unequivocally the best concert experiences I’ve ever had. They sound great, they play forever, they’re fun. Just a phenomenal show.

Chris Stapleton is the single greatest vocal performance I’ve ever heard live. It’s almost impossible to sound better live than a studio recording, but somehow he does it. It’s unreal to experience it.

Live music is almost religion to me. I don’t think I’ve been to a show that I walked away from truly disappointed.

KISS was the first real concert I attended when I was 18 and that was quite the spectacle. I’ve been to dozens of shows in the years since. I’ve probably seen REO Speedwagon 6-7 times (always the opener…never as a headliner ?).

Recently I’ve gotten to cross a bunch of my high school/college 90’s bands off my bucket list: Matchbox 20, Goo Goo Dolls, Collective Soul, Alanis, and Gin Blossoms to name a few. I get to cross Bush off my list later this summer.

State Theater, 1978 + some good hallucinogens = quite a show!  :cool: :angel:

Prince x8 and he was amazing every single time.
U2, Depeche Mode, INXS, The Cure, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, REM 
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Lollapalooza 
1991 Jane's Addiction, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Living Colour, Nine Inch Nails, Ice T and Body Count, 
1992 Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ministry, Ice Cube, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Rage Against the Machine, Cypress Hill, House of Pain, Stone Temple Pilots
Queen at Wembley Stadium during Live Aid (that whole concert was absolutely phenomenal)
Nine Inch Nails
David Bowie multiple times 
Ultra Music Festival (Skrillex, Avicii, Fatboy Slim)
Peter Gabriel
Kate Bush
George Michael 
Paramore

comet52 wrote:
Also saw Steely Dan about 7-8 times early 2000's in Chicago and NYC, always excellent.  Aja Album gig Chicago 2009 was one of the best shows I've ever seen, egged on by a totally into it crowd. 

Steely Dan was at their peak in the late 70s and early 80s. But this was the time of punk and new wave and I was much more into the Clash and Elvis Costello. But their sound always struck my teenage ears as something that I should pay more attention to. It was just completely different from everything else at the time. 

With the benefit of time, their music stands out even more now. I've since seen a few documentaries on their writing and recording process for Aja and other records. They used only the very best session musicians and would spend months getting the right backing vocal or drum sound. And in that way, it was the opposite of punk rock. But it SOUNDED spectacular. Steely Dan turned me into an audiophile. To this day, when I'm testing headphones or speakers, I put on Steely Dan. 

The word "genius" is used too often in music, but Walter Becker and Donald Fagan were geniuses.

Vikergirl wrote:
Prince x8 and he was amazing every single time. U2, Depeche Mode, INXS, The Cure, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, REM  Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Lollapalooza  1991 Jane's Addiction, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Living Colour, Nine Inch Nails, Ice T and Body Count,  1992 Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ministry, Ice Cube, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Rage Against the Machine, Cypress Hill, House of Pain, Stone Temple Pilots Queen at Wembley Stadium during Live Aid (that whole concert was absolutely phenomenal) Nine Inch Nails David Bowie multiple times  Ultra Music Festival (Skrillex, Avicii, Fatboy Slim) Peter Gabriel Kate Bush George Michael  Paramore

Lots of good stuff here. I'm going to be seeing Pearl Jam next week

Vikergirl wrote:
Queen at Wembley Stadium during Live Aid (that whole concert was absolutely phenomenal)

Being at that show means you win the prize for coolest concert experience.

supafreak84 wrote:

Lots of good stuff here. I'm going to be seeing Pearl Jam next week

Saw Pearl Jam in a quonset hut at the fairgrounds in Bozeman, MT right after Ten came out. It was about 90 degrees outside and at least 120 inside. Great show though. They play Montana a lot. Jeff Ament is from there.