who surprised and who disappointed

I forgot to mention the band that surprised me the most, mainly because I'd never heard their music before seeing them perform: The Waterboys. They opened up for U2 on the "Unforgettable Fire" tour. They still had Karl Wallinger (who later started the band, World Party) on keyboards, and by the time they closed with the song, "This is the Sea", I was slack-jawed. Lucky for me, I saw them again the following night. They were absolutely mesmerizing, and 20+ years later, the album "This is the Sea" is still one of my desert island discs.

By far the best live concert I've been to was a small gig where australian alternative act Shriekback played the small campus theatre at my Uni in 1987. They were positively electric, and brought the house down. You had to have been there.

Boa - Not to hijack, but....

World Party is back on tour. I thought Karl Wallinger had died, but evidently he was merely quite ill. Anyway, they're in LA in August and I plan to attend.
Thought you might want to know.

Marty

Thanks a lot, Marty. I'll have to see when they're coming our way.