How about some unforgettable shows we've seen. Top this:

-Rolling Stones first NY appearance. Palladium theater Murry the K Presents Saturday afternoon show, No opening act show was about 30 mins long with about 2500 in attwendance, mostly teenage (s)creaming girls, everyone standing on the arms of the seats.

-The Who about 1967 in Central Park Wollman skating Rink. Townsend broke the stage with a Fender Strat while Keith Moon wrecked a hand painted drum kit.

-Jeff Beck Fillmore East about 1968 Rod Stewart lead singer Ron Wood bass

-Johnny Winter's Fillmore East debut opening for B.B. King with albert King headlining. B.B. had a big band Albert a quartet with B-3 and Johnny had a trio.

-Bob Marley at the Wollman Rink in central park NY before white people had heard of him. Me and another guy were the only white guys in the audience. We were embarrassed to take out the skinny joint we had someone next to us felt sorry and passed us a spliff, you could've gotten quite high enough from the cloud which we were breathing.

-Allman Brothers Band at Fillmore East during the recording of the famous album. I was in the soundtruck and met Duane and Dicky Betts.

-The Police at CBGB's first van tour of states they almost blew the roof off the place

-Cream at Madison Square Garden on a revolving stage I think the revolving stage was powered by Ginger Baker's playing

-Jimi Hendrix at Avery Fisher Hall Lincoln Center NY he came out and said he was tired so he wanted to just jam a little, he did more than a little

I'm sure there are a few I left out, how about you guys

I saw "Country Earl and the Four Aces" one time at the VFW hall in the next town over. They even let me sit in on "Wipeout".

I'm not sure that it is ultimately cool to mention this but one of the greatest gigs I have ever been to was (gulp) Frank Sinatra at Madison Square Gardens, just one word describes the vibe at that concert..... WOW!!

Simon
( Not feeling very cool or am I?)

Tony Bennet @ the Hollywood Bowl..

He is the master entertainer.

BK

gtrmac--you sure have been lucky to see some amazing shows! Having been born in the 60's, I missed out on all the good stuff like seeing Hendrix, Zeppelin, etc.

I will say that for me the most memorable concert was seeing Eric Johnson in the spring of 1990. He was playing in an old theatre in Houston just after he had released Ah Via Musicom. The sound was awesome that night (or maybe it was where I was sitting) and EJ's playing was just spectacular. Another great show I saw was John Mcglaughlin and Mahavishnu at Royal Festival Hall in 1986 (with Jonas Hellborg on bass).

Every time i see 311 it blows my mind!

Also The Dave Mathews Band are awesome live too as well as Garth!

I don't know if any of you listen to these guys, but I saw Sunny Day Real Estate live in a little club in Lawrence, Ks. A very cool show. Very creative guitar playing. I also saw a band called Over The Rhine at The Grand Emporium in Kansas City recently. Fantastic stage presence and music. The shows I've been getting into recently are great lesser known artists at smaller venues. Those are my ideal and most unforgettable shows.

A few more came back to me last night:

-Miles Davis at the Paramount Club in NY. My friend was the manager of the club and I got to meet Miles after the show. I was only able to utter something like "you're the greatest" when I met him, I was dumbstruck by being in the presence of such a legend.

-Charles Mingus at the Village Vanguard "Goodbye Porkpie Hat" and all

-Lee Morgan at the Five Spot in NY about two weeks before he was shot in the same club by his wife while he was playing on stage. Billy Higgins had a snare, bass drum, hihat and a cymbal. I never heard someone do so much with so little. Ron Carter on bass too.

-Return to forever at the Village Vanguard on Christmas Eve around 1971. This was before Stanley Clarke played electric bass. Airto and Flora Purim, Joe Farrel. Songs like Spain and Light as a Feather.

-Bill Evans Trio at the Bottom Line. Pure Art

-The Mothers of Invention at the Garrick Theater Bleecker Street NY. Frank and The Mothers were in residence at this small theater which was usually an art movie house for the entire summer of 1968 I think it was, maybe 1967. Friends and I went down there a few times and you never knew what would happen, probably neither did the band. They used to take people from the audience sometimes and luckily I was spared that often embarrassing experience. Usually it was good looking girls anyway, I remember a piece called King Kong acted out with a large stuffed gorilla with stuffed genitalia sewn onto it and a barbie doll. You can imagine the rest. Frank used to play a big Gibson Switchmaster in those days.

-The Grateful Dead at a Be-In in Central Park NY. Free concert in the band shell. Line up included Jefferson Airplane and a new act consisting of David Crosby, Steve Stills and Graham Nash. Neil Young hadn't joined yet. I was tripping and ended up getting lost for several hours, couldn't figure out where I was! Wasn't bad though, seemed like I was in a nice place.

Hey I know I'm an old geezer but at least I have some memories to tide me over! There are some things I wish I'd seen too. Like Stevie Ray Vaughn. Plenty of chances and I loved the guys playing but I never thought he would be one of the departed saints of music. Hey you guys don't pass up any opportunity to see the greats in action, you never know.

Oh yeah, I saw Marv Kowalski and the Polka-Dots at the St. Agnes Beer Tent a couple Octobers ago. They didn't let me sit in, though.

Favorite shows?...Hmmm

Rush - 10 times
Yes - 90125,Union tours
Genesis - '83
Eric Johnson - Venus Isle, Alien Love Child Tours
Chick Corea - '00
Di Meola - Orange and Blue Tour
Ozzy - Bark at the Moon
Holdsworth - around '85

Well, Gtrmac...

No way to match those. A couple for me (okay, I'll be serious for once) that were landmark shows...

Santana backing up Clapton in the late seventies. Santana played, then Clapton played...then Santana came back out and jammed with Clapton.

George Harrison in Detroit in 1974. The surviving ex-Beatles don't tour much, and I don't think Harrison's toured since.

Saw The Who...but it was with Kenny Jones. Does that count?

Had tickets for Zeppelin...got our money refunded 'cause they cancelled the tour 'cause Bonzo died. Saw 'em a couple years ago on the Page/Plant tour finally.

Worked security for a Seger concert. Met Seger. He's actually a pretty nice guy, despite his overplayed tunes.

I've seen a few other "big shows"...good seats for CSNY2K etc...but my favorite shows have generally been those in smaller venues...like Little Feat (with Lowell George) at the Royal Oak Theatre.

The Gregg Allman Band at the Leon County Civic Center in Tallahassee...with Asleep at the Wheel. I love both bands. Dangerous Dan Toler was the guitar player for Allman at the time. That was an afternoon show with very small attendance, which was what made it so cool.

Several times in smaller venues seeing Todd Rundgren. Aside to Lennon and McCartney...he's one of my favorite songwriters...he knows how to turn a hook, despite his lack of commercial success.

Tedster, The Who with Kenny Jones counts as far as I'm concerned. I saw one of those shows, at Madison Square Garden actually and it was great. At one point some guy in front of the stage was beating up on his girlfriend and Roger Daltry told him to stop. He didn't and Daltry actually dove from the stage and started pounding on the guy. It was incredible. Some of the Who's crew and security converged on the spot and dragged the guy out and members of the audience lifted Daltry back on to the stage. The Who didn't even stop playing. Little Feat with Lowell George is something I wish I had seen, always loved that band. I saw them a few years ago and it was great but without him. I saw Todd Rungren several times with Utopia. He's one of the greatest in my opinion. I think it's so important to see great artist perform. It raises your standards and reminds you what it's all about. Even hearing a good unknown band in a club is more exciting and inspiring sometimes than listening to CD's. I guess it's something about the direct connection to the performer, the audience energy, you know all that stuff.

The spousage says:
Romantics at a garage around the corner from Harpo's,Seger at a grad party in the shores,and Bowie at Harpo's. Figure Tedster could relate.

Since I'm a northern boy..... J.T. at interlochen Fogelberg at NMU and YoYoMa, or as my blistering Italian mother in law says when she asks the youngster at the record store in Warren...YoMaMa, at Interlochen.
Rick

Kowalski and the Polka Dots....Hehehehe.

>>>Kowalski and the Polka Dots....Hehehehe

Yup, Rick, you're a Great Lakes boy...a one-a and a two-a and a everybody polka! (hehehehe)...

Yep, been to Harpo's. Not often. I remember seeing Krokus and Motorhead there.

Gtrmac...cool that Daltrey whomped on that asshole. Daltrey was never one to trifle with.

Tedster, I gotta add a new one.

Rose at her High Scool NHS music show for cancer research.
She was not going to play."I don't have anything ready!"Well she hooked up with our new superintendant and did the funkiest jazziest guitar/viola romp... The new super is soooo good. She is sooo fluid in style... Then to a crowd that stuck around after school she soloed thru 4 or 5 of her melancholy pieces. I could cry. I can't wait for you guys to hear this kid.

Very proud pappa...

Here's a couple more I just remembered:

Roy Buchanan at a club in Baton Rouge La.

Danny Gatton at the Ritz NYC

These two are kinda connected since they were friends and Telemasters. They didn't call Danny Gatton "The Humbler" for nothing. Roy Buchanan made a Tele cry like a baby.

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Mac Bowne
G-Clef Acoustics Ltd.
Osaka, Japan

Beefheart & one of his latter-day bands at Armadillo/AustinTX. Not as stunning probably as his "classic" band but they not only played songs from throughout his career with note-perfect precision (while DVV ranted about the lousy monitors) but after the interval they came back out AND PLAYED EXACTLY THE SAME SHOW INCLUDING THE RANTING !
Alternately, I'd mention several Little Feat shows w/ Lowell G especially one where I was close enough to see the little marks he'd made on his guitar's pickguard to find the "virtual fret positions" for those super-high slide licks![Featfans deny it,like this is a slag on him, but it's true...& ingenious , if you ask me).

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Hey, Tedster, looking back over this thread I see that you were at the Harrison show at the Olympia hockey rink in Detroit/74.Me,too...how'd you like that hour(s) long wait while "the band flew in " ! And that can-can he & Billy Preston did (too bad they couldn't get Shankar in there with 'em).
I hate to admit it but I think one of the contributing points in GH's decision not to return to the stage (well, except for those shows w/ Clapton a few years ago in Japan) was stuff like fans doing things like trying to get his attention by, oh, throwing paper cups at him & boinking him in the head as he walked down the offstage ramp (certainly not me ).

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Miles Davis at the Dr. Pepper outdoor concert series in NYC, 1981.

Parliament/Funkadelic at the Apollo Theatre 1972 or '73.