Best concert you have ever seen live

[GimmeDaWatch]

[ QUOTE ]
So hard to say, so many come to mind. I narrowed down the list as much as I could:

GNR/Cult in some little club
Def Leppard Hysteria in the round
Boston Third Stage
Soundgarden in some little club
Counting Crows various times in small clubs/theaters
Soundgarden/GNR
Pearl Jam/Soundgarden in some little club
Stevie Ray Vaughn at Rockefeller's and others
Arc Angels at Rockefeller's
Pearl Jam at the Fox Theater
Garbage at Slim's and the Point
Peter Stuart / Dog's Eye View a few times
Beastie Boys at Bottom of the Hill
The White Stripes at Fillmore and Warfield
Beck at the Greek
Bob Schneider at Bimbo's
Liz Phair/Flaming Lips at the Warfield
Pixies at Greek Theater
TV on the Radio at Bottom of the Hill
Old '97s a couple of times
The Wrens a couple of times
Coldplay at the Warfield

Probably one of those.

[/ QUOTE ]

You see the Wrens this last time they came to town at the Knitting Factory? That really was a great show. Radiohead at this last year's Coachella is also another highlight.

[plaster8]

[ QUOTE ]
I also saw Dylan, Van Morrison, and Joni Mitchell at the gorge in george in '02- that was a fantastic show, but i went with two girls that wanted to leave after Mitchell, and i spent the whole Van Morrison set convincing them to stay for one more set.... well worth it, because at the end they all played 'brown eyed girl' together- cheezy, i know, but, still worth it.


[/ QUOTE ]

I was at that show -- I thought Van Morrison completely mailed it in. But Dylan and Mitchell were great.

[KJS]

Sounds like it's possible we know each other, or at least run in similar circles.

I did see BTS at Velvet Elvis for sure. Don't remember the years but in that range. Probably the same show. I think I saw them a minimum of 2 times a month when they first starting playing live in Seattle.

Modest Mouse show was at the Humboldt House. I lived at 1234 Grant, about 4 houses away on Grant.

Defintely saw Federation X at 3-B and the Show Off and in Seattle and Portland. Ben and I were buddies. Not best friends but we have a lot of friends in common and he was in one of my classes when I TA'ed History. Cool guy.

I lived in B'ham from '94-'99 and saw tons of shows there. Hung around with the punker/crusty crowd who lived at Show-Off. I lived at the Ellis Street House if that rings a bell.

KJS

[Dominic]

Foo Fighters
Los Angeles - The Troubadour
1998

PJ Harvey
Los Angeles
2004

Heart/Van Halen/The Rolling Stones
The Tangerine Bowl
Tampa Bay
1981

Berlin
Paramount Theater
NYC
1987

Kelly Willis
The Palladium
Los Angeles
1999

Tom Jones
Ceaser's Palace
Las Vegas
1990

[impecunious]

This one's easy.

Billy Joel
Millenium Concert 2000
Madison Square Garden

He absolutely rocked at that performance. Although that is not the type of music I usually liten to, his performance was far and away the best I've seen. He is just talented on so many levels. If he wasn't retired I'd see him again in a heartbeat.

[Rick Nebiolo]

Maria McKee fronting Lone Justice after their first album came out at Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel, Providence RI around 1987.

Second best was David Johansen about the same year also at Lupo's.

~ Rick

[NoTalent]

Unearth @ Emo's
If you have a chance to see them do it. They are touring with Atreyu

Living Sacrifice somewhere in Dallas (last show they did in TX)

[Benjamin]

[ QUOTE ]
Lollapalooza maybe 1993 at some air field in Rhode Island. Rage, Tool and Alice in Chains.

[/ QUOTE ]

This one was awesome. The lineup I saw also included Fishbone (one of my favorite live bands), and Arrested Developement.

My favorite Loolapalooza, one one of my all time favorite shows, was the year before. Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Ministry, and Red Hot Chili Peppers were all phenomenal, with Ministry stealing the show and absolutely blowing my mind.

Top show ever for me: probably Jane's Addiction in the winter of 88/89. Nothings Shocking was just starting to get a buzz, and they played The Garden in Trenton, NJ ... which held about 1000 people I'd guess. I've never seen a band have such a grip on their audience.

3rd goes to Fishbone, Trouble Funk and REM in Princeton, NJ spring of 85. Absolutely awesome.

Honorable mentions:
Kiss on their first tour back in makeup. What a show.
Tool and Henry Rollins Band in a club in ATL ~1991. Had no idea who tool was then, blew me away, and Rollins band was really strong then too.
Fishbone in a couple of small club performances 2002
U2 on the Unforgettable Fire tour Philly.
Living Color in a small club performance before they came out.

[MicroBob]

Okay - here goes...


1. The Cure - London, England - Some outdoor amphitheatre - 1989 (opening bands: James and Lush)


Best of the rest:

2. Smashing Pumpkins - Club de Wash, Madison WI - 1992 - (a small club before they got REALLY big). their cover of Steve Miller Band's "Space Cowboy" was hilarious and fabulous.

3. Luna - Howlin Wolf, New Orleans, LA - 1996

4. Verve - Bogart's, Cincinnati, OH - 1994 (before they changed their name to The Verve and WAY before Bittersweet Symphony...about 100 people were there tops but Verve was terrific)

5. Lou Reed - Taft Theatre, Cincinnati - 1989 - New york tour (opening band, The Feelies)

6. Sting - Millett Hall, Oxford OH - 1988 - nothing like the sun tour

7. Rolling Stones - Riverfront Stadium, Cincinnati, OH - 1989 (opening band - Living Colour)

8. Joe Jackson - Bogart's, Cincinnati - 1990

9. The Dempseys - Blues City Cafe - Memphis - 2003


I've also seen Ben Folds but he wasn't at his best in either show.
Liz Phair, Psychedelic Furs, Luna in 2004 and Joe Jackson in 2003 would all rate somewhere up there as well but I'm not exactly sure where.

[MicroBob]

Just remembered a couple others.
I also saw the Grateful Dead on this 1995 tour...pouring rain at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. I don't even like the Dead but it was a really good show.
Wasn't it like a month or so before Jerry Garcia died?


I also saw DMB in summer of 2002 in upstate NY....that place near the race-track and Glens Falls (forget the name). kind of between Albany and Vermont.

I'm not a big DMB fan but even those who were agreed that It actually wasn't that great. The speakers weren't loud enough incredibly enough. we were near the front of the upper bowl and you could barely hear the first 3 or 4 songs.


WHFS-tival in Wash DC in 1994 was pretty good. Rollins Band, Violent Femmes, Cracker, Counting Crowes and a couple others that I can't remember.

Also saw Cracker in 1994 at Bogarts in Cincy. Some band that NOBODY had heard of called the Counting Crows were the OPENING band. Everybody was talking about how good they were. By the time I got to the HFS-tival a few months later they were the headliners and Cracker took the back seat to them.