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
#1 Bruce Cockburn in a small club in Syracuse just edges out #2 AC/DC when they were the warm up band for Rush also in Syracuse. Both bands had incredible energy. #3 Cheap Trick also in a small club in Syracuse. Another high energy band and very entertaining. #4 Chris Robinson with Gov't mule in Syracuse I really liked Chris's new songs and he really livend up the show when he performed a few songs with Gov't Mule. Saw just last month so it is still very fresh in my mind. #5 Steve Forbert at an open air event at SU. Just brings back good memories. I've seen lots of other great concerts but those are the ones that stick out in my mind.
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Tvad,

The 'Stripes reflect, for me a completely original amalgam of styles that is utterly authentic, and derivative of noone. In performance their extraordinary level of songcraft becomes very obvious. BTW, if you are basing your impressions of their musicality on what you've heard from CD, I humbly suggest that you hear them on LP. I have "Elephant" on LP and CD and the LP appears to be a completely different, and superior mix. The CD greatly obscures the dynamic touches that are essential to communicating the intentions of the musicians when there are only two of them at work.

P.S. "Ball and a Biscuit" live was astounding!
I went to the Altamont Speedway, in the bay area, to see the Stones, Greatful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Santana, and I don't remeber who else. That was 34 years ago. The police they used there were the infamous Hell's Angels.
It was really too hard to see anything, and people were killed there. At the age of seventeen, I hitchiked all the way down there from Angels Camp, CA. It really wasn't as great as I thought it would be, plus all the violence. But the memories are really neat to look back, and take it all in again. There were 500,000 people there that day. I saw people throw fruit at the Stones, but for what I don't know.
5 - Nirvana In Utero tour - They played two nights in Chi-Town. According to the papers... one night was their best night of the tour, and the other could have been their worst night. Fortunately, I was there on the "best" night.
Great band playing in support of their "best" album (In Utero).

4 - Cheap Trick - Pick any tour. I've seen this band numerous times and they consistently deliver the goods. An extremely under rated rock unit. One of the best vocalists in rock n' roll (Robin Zander.)

3 - Page & Plant Unleaded Tour - not old enough to have seen Led Zep. Bonham died the day I picked up the Chicago Tribune which had an entry to purhcase tickets via some sort of lotto system... well, you know how that chapter ended. None the less, great show !

2 - Rolling Stones - I've only seen them since the late eighties and have enjoyed all of their shows. Out of the three or four I've seen, I liked the Voodoo Lounge tour.. but they always deliver the goods.

1 - Iggy Pop - Pick any tour. Again, I've seen this man many times (one of my faves was in support of the Naughty Little Doggie album.) Iggy epitomizes raw energy rock n roll. He can run circles around any frontman out there; including performers half his age. a MUST SEE & HEAR !!!

Honorable Mentions (in no particular order):
David Bowie
Kiss
Pearl Jam
U2
Marilyn Manson
Paul McCartney
INXS