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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
jdoris
972 posts
 
1. Grateful Dead, Memorial Auditorium, Buffalo NY, 9/81

2. Slobberbone, w/ Two Cow Garage, "The Last Tour," St. Louis, Mo. Spring 2005

3. Uncle Tupelo, tour supporting "Still Feel Gone," AnnArbor, MI, 1992 (?)

4. Lucinda Willams, last show of tour supporting "World Without Tears," Santa Cruz, CA, 2003 (?)

5. The Who, Carrier Dome, Syracuse NY, 1982
jj2468
280 posts
 
1. Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here tour. 2. David Bowie - Station to Station tour (before that Dancing in the Moonlight crap). 3. Peter Frampton and Fleetwood Mac - Day on the Green. 4. Tower of Power - best b3 performance I've ever heard. 5. Finishing with Pink Floyd - Animals tour. Great thread, which brought back sweet memories. Thanks.
ogsarg
59 posts
 
The more I think about the concerts I've seen, the more difficult it is to pick a top 5. I do know that most would involve the Auditorium theatre in Chicago. By far the finest concert venue that I've been to.

Some memorable concerts:

Genesis, Selling England Tour at the Auditorium. My first exposure to the band and I was completely blown away.

King Crimson at the auditorium around 74. Incredible.

Frank Zappa at the Circle Star (revolving stage) near San Fran ~81. What a fantastic performance in a great venue that unfortunately is long gone.

Humble Pie at Octoberfest in Milwaukee in the mid 70's. What a band....what a party.

Pink Floyd at Milwaukee County Stadium doing Welcome to the machine and Dark side of the moon. Ranking may be due to the brownies.

I'll cheat and add one more.

Los Lobos at the Catalyst club in Santa Cruz (mid 80's) backed up by the Buckwheat Zydeco Band. Great show and fantastic oncore with both bands playing together.
simone
29 posts
 
Paul Butterfield Blues Band,1967. I lived in San Francisco and
went to the orignal Filmore at least 3 times a week. $2.50 to
$3.50 for a 3 band show. You would not pay for the local bands
you could see them for free in Golden Gate Park. Lets see you asked for 4 more. The Yardbirds 1965, The Allman Bros before
the cycle crashes,The Who 1971,Cat Stevens 70 something.
By the way the first time the Doors came to S.F. they were
the third band(top billing was the Young Rascals,second was Sofwithcamel)they were booed off the stage.
rockadanny
1,226 posts
 
Number one has to be my first: 1971, Olympia Stadium, Detroit, MI, 5th row: Alice Cooper and Steppenwolf. When Steppenwolf played "Pusher", with that awesome Hammond B3, and the searing, ear-splitting lead guitar, my life changed. I went from being a stupid teenage boy, to a stupid teenage boy with an obsession: loud, raunchy, fuzzy, BLUESY, funky, rock-and-roll. By 50 years of age my musical taste has broadened, but not I've not given up pursuit of listening to that kind of music, much to the dismay of my beautiful wife.

Others: J. Geils Band and Uriah Heep at some hockey rink (on the floor - no ice - no seats).

Iggy Pop at some hockey rink in Windsor, Ontario. Silver glitter G-string, spitting on the crowd, two members of the band started brawling with each other in the middle of a song! A good time was had by all.

Johnny Winter at Cobo Hall - the crowd got so rowdy (fights, flying beer bottles) they turned the house lights on and some guy got on stage, threatening to cancel the show. But Johnny told him to get the **** off the stage and kept on rockin' anyway.

Aerosmith and Ted Nugent at the Silverdome in Pontiac, MI. I think it was just newly built, so Perry and the Nuge tried to rock it down. It didn't fall, but had to incur significant structural damage from what I remember.

God, and I can still hear? Huh? What?
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