who surprised and who disappointed

Well Kublakhan, luckily for me I gave the Dead a second try, or else I would have called you a liar!

My first experience at a Dead concert was one of the worst concert experiences of my life. It was dull, boring and the accoustics were terrible. (I saw them at one of their New Years shows (albeit a Chinese New Years show in Oakland), many, many years ago. The set list stunk, (unbelieveably, the best song they played was Alley Oop), and their playing was uninspired.

Luckily, I caught them a few years later when they backed up Bob Dylan for one of the Days on the Green type of Concerts in the Oakland Collesium. They seemed like a totalling different band. Energized, rockin' and just having a good time. (And the set list was great, not a bunch of obscure songs from their lessor albums and B sides.)

As far as live performances that exceeded my expectations:
Nils Lofgren, (I had never heard of this guy, and he played at a Bridge concert and blew me away!)
Stone Temple Pilots,
Kronos Quartet

Those that dissappointed me included:
Jethro Tull, once anyway. (And like the Dead, a second concert impressed me as to how good they could be, given the chance).
Smashing Pumpkins (Twice they stunk! Never again for me!)

My two cents worth anyway.

Procol Harem live was really good,the tightest band I ever saw. The Allman Brothers were great too, alot of energy and I didn't know what to expect but Dicky Betts plays a sweet guitar. The most disapointing show I ever saw was Led Zep at Long Beach. Page was so drunk, Bonham too.

Miles Davis live circa 1972. He played with his back to the audience for the entire concert. But I was a teenager & didn't really understand what I was hearing. There are certainly times an artist needs to turn away from the audience and play to the band. Thank goodness it's not all just entertainment.

Dave

THE BEST:

Richard Thompson live. Absolutely incredible in every way.

THE WORST:

Daniel Lanois live. Waaay too loud. Could not enjoy.
Leon Russel Live. Also waaay too loud. A shame......

Disappointing
Van Morrison at Jones Beach- 45 minutes of hostility, he couldn't wait to get out of there.

The Clash at Bonds 25 years ago. The SINGLE WORST venue ever. Terrible sound and no sightlines at these "legendary" shows.

Patti Smith in Ann Arbor ca 1975. Her band was snowed in and she tried to do an entire poetry/acapella show.

The Dead at Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City. I was uncomfortable and bored. Five hours of Dead is at least two hours too much for me.

Eels at The Roxy five years ago. One of the best songwriters alive decides to dress as the Unabomber and drown his perfect hooks under a barrage of noise.

Surprising

Kim Richey Opened for some alt. country band and blew everyone away.

Taj Mahal I had tried to see him for 20 years so I didn't want to set myself up for disappointment when I finally got to see him play. I anticipated a low key acoustic blues set. Instead, he was all over the place: acoustic and electric and on top of his game on both.

John Hiatt's Perfectly Good Guitar Tour. I'd seen him many times and really liked his shows, but this one, with a younger, much harder rocking band was tremendous. I believe Cheryl Crow opened.

John Fogerty's comeback show at Town Hall, NYC. CCR was always about the records-not the shows. Fogerty went away for 15 years and when he came back he had learned how to play guitar AND he found a great band to back him. The songs are as good as can be.