Live music you have attended that left impact....perhaps better than you expected.


I have seen great symphonies, Chicago, Moscow, Boston and others including some smaller cities performers that were quite good, Madison, Wi, Milwaukee and some other Midwest cities.  Actually did a bike trail with the first chair Cello player from the Chicago Symphony and his girlfriend from the singers and they stayed at my home and I made a very good meal for them....with a excellent Bordeaux...and this made for a great memory. 

As far as Jazz and Pop, the list is long and I am fortunate to have had the opportunity to see these.
James Taylor
Jackson Browne (several times) the best was "Running on Empty" tour. 
Little River Band 
Heart
Chicago
B.S.and T. 
Nancy Wilson
Woody Allen, Jazz bar in NYC
Harold Land (just great)
Julia Fordham (a few times)
Gene Pitney (I was amazed at how good he was and how much he sounded just like his recordings)
Hall & Oats
Peter whatever his name was, Switched On Bach
Joni Mitchell 
Diana Krall, a few times, and once with Elvis.
Wynton Marsalis
and more than are coming to mind...
 
I wish I could have seen, Chet Baker, Paul Desmond, Ella, Dinah Washington, Blue Mitchell, Art Farmer, Clifford Brown, early Rosie Clooney, and many more that were so great in the 40s through the early 70s.

And I am a bit sorry to say, I have seen more than I have listed and cannot instantly recall them....but all part of being an old fart, my sons call it O.F.S., Old Fart Syndrome.

It would be good to hear from members about your live music experiences. 


jusam
Prince. I've seen a lot of shows.. He put on one of the best. Always the best SQ. I saw him 3 time. The first time he was 16-18 maybe. Trench coat and a womens Teddy and knee high leather boots with 6" spikes..

He opened for someone, NO one had ever heard of him.. Prince..

Tubes
ELO
Pink Floyd
Santana
Stones
Jeff Beck
Tony Williams Sr.
Stanly Clark
BB King
James Brown
The Beach Boys
Led Zeppelin
Merle Haggard
Linda Ronstadt
Pavarotti
Al Di Meola
Sly Stone put on a heck of a party too 1000 years ago...
Having grown up in L.A., I had an opportunity to see some great rock acts including many legends.

Tom Petty 1979
The Who 1980
Bruce Springsteen 1980
The Rolling Stones 1981 - The Stones played to a sold out L.A. Coliseum. A then unknown Prince was the opening act in which an unruly L.A. audience booed him off the stage. The Stones were great but I regret that Prince never got to finish his set.
The Pretenders 1981 - This was with the original band members shortly before drug overdoses took its toll.
The Clash / The Who 1982 - The Clash opened for The Who at the Coliseum.
Neil Young 1982
David Bowie 1983
Bob Seeger 1983
Simon and Garfunkel 1983 - This was a reunion concert at Dodger Stadium.
U2 1984 - This was at the relatively small Long Beach arena before they started playing mega arenas.
Lou Reed 1985
Van Morrison 1985 - Van was great and Jazz legend Mose Allison opened for him.
John Fogerty 1986
R.E.M. 1986
Tom Petty / Bob Dylan 1986 - Petty and the Heartbreakers opened for Dylan and later backed him.
Jefferson Airplane 1988 - This was a reunion concert with the original 60’s band members.

I moved to the Seattle area in 1990 where I still live. I saw the following at Bumbershoot (Seattle’s Labor Day music festival) and other venues around Seattle.

David Byrne
The Sex Pistols - A reunion concert
The Lovemongers (Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart)
Joan Baez
10,000 Maniacs
The Cowboy Junkies
Suzanne Vega
Dr. John
Patti Smith
Los Lobos
Jimmy Cliff
Donovan
Siouxie and the Banshees
The Philip Glass Orchestra - They performed the Koyaanisqattsi soundtrack live while the movie played on screen.

Paul Simon / Bob Dylan 1999 - Paul Simon opened for Dylan in Las Vegas.





I've done the rock thing since the early 1970's. Have been to more concerts then I can remember.
One that I do recall was skipping out of high school with some friends, heading to Central Park to see Jefferson Airplane/Starship ( whatever they called themselves at that point) with 200k other people. These days I think they suck musically but it was an awesome event. NYC was a great place.
In the 70's in NY you could go out any night of the week and find great music. Every bar had a band. What I remember most are the jazz players. Dizzy at the Village Gate. Buddy Rich and his Allstars at a tiny venue in Hartsdale, NY. - Syncopation was the name of the place
Then in 1976 or 77? we had tickets to see John Mayall in the same little place. We started to drive there and realized all the lights were out....yep the big east coast blackout. We arrived and were told not to leave. Some pickup trucks arrived with generators and parked out back. They played all night long and we walked out when the sun was shining.
Seen Dylan more times then I can count but I remember most was after the old United Palace (Broadway and 170th St?) reopened. Awesome Concert. Awesome venue. Seen many concerts there. And his annual concerts at the Beacon...yep been to many of them
There was (and still is) The Blue Note Cafe in the west village, and yea the Village Vanguard!!!!
Then there was a period in my life where I would just buy tickets to Lincoln center and go listen to  the philharmonic orchestra. I was staving off NY burn out at an early age. Often I would take my than young daughter. We'd arrive, I'd close my eyes and in two hours I am sure I traveled a few million miles and back again. Alice Tully Hall....Really Great music...mostly I remember piano greats.
The Newport Jazz Festival in Saratoga was an annual and always an epic event.
The last concert I attended pre-covid was The Who in Madison Square Garden with my now 32 year old kid. The violin player is one of her clients.
Of course there was always Zappa on Halloween night
Many many more that I'm leaving out.
What I don't understand: where did the live music go? none of the local places have live music anymore
Thank you for your posts.  All of you have seen people I would like to have seen.  Sweet Basil's and The Blue Note in NYC were simply great evenings with great music and friends.

Perhaps the oddest musical experience I ever had was when I was in the Air Force and went to the "club" art a remote base in the middle of nowhere and a group showed up with a pretty blond and brunette that turned out to be ABBA....don't know what they were calling themselves at the time.  Also I was on vacation and one evening at a nice "yacht club/bar/supper club" this young grey haired guy started doing a comedy routine,...it was Steve Martin in his early days.  Oddly later I was at MOMA in NYC and in a room with a huge Jackson Pollock I was backing up to get a better look and backed into someone....turned out to be Steve Martin.  
So many interesting experiences in my life have very much been unplanned surprises, like when racing at Road America and having contact with Paul Newman.  




Went to hear Jose Feliciano with a friend several years ago at a small venue.  I really wasn't too interested, but we ended knowing the door man, got great seats, and proceeded to be blown away by how good Jose and his band were.  Jose is blind, and so was his piano player. To say the band was "tight" is an understatement.   He can play a lot more than Feliz Navidad!  They even played some Hendrix.  One of the best shows I've ever attended.