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
In no particular order:

Emmylou Harris - on the Wrecking Ball tour

Idaho - touring for Three Sheets to the Wind

Fugazi - on the Red Medicine tour

The Charlatans (UK) - touring for Between 10th and 11th

Spiritualized - touring for Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space

Honorable mention:

The Stone Roses - one of only a handful of US dates they ever played. I doesn't make the top 5 because it was after Reni quit :(

Luna - touring for Pup Tent

Bad Brains - Quickness tour
WOODSTOCK,THAT'S HARD TO BEAT
GREATEST GROUP OF PEOPLE THAT EVER ASSEMBLED IN ONE PLACE IN THE 20TH CENTURY.
IN THE MIST OF ALL THE TERMOIL AND MARTIAL LAW THIS WAS SO FANTASTIC,SORRY TO SAY THIS FEELING OF FREEDOM DIDN'T LAST.
I seen Hendrix play the star spangled banner as the sun came up in back of the stage.
The band was unbelievable and played"CHEST FEVER" MY FAVORITE SONG BY THEM.
JUST ONCE IN A LIFETIME THINGS LIKE THIS HAPPEN,WE TRIED TO SHOW PEOPLE OF THE WORL THE RIGHT DIRECTION,TO BAD ABOUT THE WAY THINGS TUNED OUT.
LOTA GOOD THINGS WENT DOWN THERE,REMEMBER WOODSTOCK!!!!!
11B20
68-69
1. The Mars Volta Absolutely ROCKED the living S#!T out of the sleepy town of Adelaide. WOW! 2. PJ Harvey. A Rock Goddess with amazing stage charisma and her bands musical integrity stood way out from many others at The Big Day Out rock festival. 3. Saw Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals just before they got really big. Held the audience in the palm of his hand. 4 Joe Satriani toured Australia as a 3 piece in the 90's. He was amazing but so was his band especially the bass player whose name escapes me. 5. Saving the best till last. Ian Dury and the Blockheads at the Festival Theatre around 1979 or 80 was the first rock concert I ever saw with my own money and was perhaps the cause of my wicked, wicked ways
Groundhog - just curious ...

WE TRIED TO SHOW PEOPLE OF THE WORL THE RIGHT DIRECTION,TO BAD ABOUT THE WAY THINGS TUNED OUT.

What to you mean?
5.) Rock Superbowl in Orlando 1983. Brian Adams, Sammy Hagar, Aerosmith, and Journey
4.) G3 original in Cleveland with Eric Johnson, Joe Satriani, and Steve Vai.
3.) Van Halen 5150 tour in Seattle with BTO as opening act.
2.) Co-headline of Dream Theater and Queensryche in Cleveland with King's X as the opener.
1.) Paul McCartney at the Pontiac Silverdome