Your 5 Fav Rock Concerts


There are certainly more than a few geetar fanciers among us judging by all the threads on guitar bands and best guitarist. This thread is about the best rock shows you saw. Let's limit it to the rock shows. Not Blues or Jazz or solo performers. The concerts that raised the hairs on your neck or made you want to take up an instrument or raised your pulse through their sheer energy or just moved you through their performance on stage. The only ones that count are the ones you've seen. After making a list in my mind of the many rock concerts I attended, most from the late 1960's through early 80's, I have come up with mine. It was tough, I’ve seen well over 200 rock concerts over the years and it is really hard coming up with a top 5 but we have to limit this so here go mine. "Yes" - This group stands out as the 2nd best concert I ever saw with Steve Howe and Chris Wakeman. They opened for Emerson, Lake and Palmer and after their set I do feel that EL&P were disheartened and knew they couldn't match it; they didn't. Funny thing is like most, I was there to see EL&P. They were forced to have another concert the following night by popular demand. Virtuoso musicianship, “Poco” - This group could put on a show. I saw them 4 different times in the many various stages of their evolution. They never had the commercial recognition of some of the other great bands of their era but they sure made up for it in their live performances. No one stayed seated during a Poco concert. “Rod Stewart and Faces” - Ron Wood on guitar and Rod Stewart strutting all over the stage. Rod was probably the greatest natural Rock showman I ever saw, including Mick Jagger. His uninhibited manner and constant movement and soulful vocals brought the house down. The crowd wouldn't let him go after the 5th encore so he invited everyone ("especially the pretty young ladies") to his hotel to “party on”, and so they came; Led Zeppelin I had to include them because next to the Doors and of course Jimi Hendrix they were my favorites of that era and I never did get to see either of the other two. The acoustics were bad and they played so loud you couldn’t really hear the music. But they were great none the less and it was special to me. The best should be kept for last. "The Who" was acknowledged as the best concert band at the time. Getting tickets meant getting in line and waiting. I imagine at the time the only tougher ticket would be the “Beatles” and they weren’t even together then. They didn’t disappoint. The reaction of the audience was beyond anything I ever saw at a live concert before or since. The band was so cohesive and the energy they put out put them into a different realm. They just have to be on a very short list of the best live bands ever.
tubegroover
oh jeez, i forgot about lowell george & little feat - *that* band could rock!
Joe and Tubefgooever: Loggins and Messina also opened for Leon Russel as did ZZ Top when they were still a three piece boogie band. I agree that L & M had a very good live sound, even better than their album which I recall as being well recorded and done. They (both L & M and Russell) drew a wide audience both young and old at the Iowa State fair grounds due to their country influence. My mother at the time used to listen to the Rollong Stones album with Honkey Tonk Man on it while she vacuumed the house (I gave her a copy). She thought that the Stones were a C & W band. But later on Charlie Rich won out mainly because of his hair (he's talented but I think that the hair was the main thing). She would prop up the album cover so that she could see, well, the hair. My mother is now 77 years old:-)
In no particular order: George Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh; The Allman Brothers Band with Duane Allman; Funkadelic, in a 3000 seat theater; The Rolling Stones, also in a 3000 seat theater and Elvis Costello. There are plenty of others but those five do standout as among the best.
What a long, strange trip...Here are some shows that may jog a few memories out there: Elton John, Dave Mason and John Miles at Schaeffer Stadium, July 1976; Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles, Shaeffer Stadium, also July, 1976 (good month!); Little Feat (with Lowell George) at the University of Vermont, 1978; Jethro Tull at the Salt Palace, Salt Lake City, 1984; and the infamous Wet Rocks shows at Red Rocks, Morrison, Colorado with the Grateful Dead, 1982-83. Also, the Dead with Carlos Santana at the Calaveras County Fairgrounds in the early 90's was a treat. Happy Trails!
The Who 1970 3+ hours including all of Tommy Pink Floyd Atom Heart Mother Tour with Leonard Bernstein sitting in front of me at the Fillmore East The Youngbloods well over 3 hours with the entire audience dancing on their seats Zappa with J. Geils as opener - George Duke, Aynsley Dunbar band Woodstock