Most and least favorite concerts?

[bill5]

Hmm - my short list of best:

 

Bruce Hornsby (twice) - the guy is just amazing and never disappointed 

Huey Lewis - not because I'm such a huge fan, but it was such a light-hearted "fun" concert

Stanley Jordan - guy was just amazing - underrated because people think his style is a "gimmick" - he's much more than that

REO Speedwagon - they were good but really they make the short list because their warm-up was SRV who just blew the doors off of the place

ARS - many years after they were big in a small venue and they hadn't lost a step

Eric Johnson - just so tight, he sounded as you expected but did improvise some, so it wasn't like just listening to the album (I hate that in a concert) 

 

My worst (or at least most disappointing):

 

Boston - horrible acoustics played a part I think but still

Marshall Tucker - also many years after they were big and only the lead singer was left from the originals and he sounded like crap, just cringeworthy

Spyro Gyra (the first time - saw them again years later and they were much better)

Pat Metheny - there I said it!  It's not that he was "bad" - I don't think that's possible - but despite knowing the bulk of his stuff at the time, he played only 1 or 2 songs I knew and went on these ridiculously long solos, much of it rather avant garde...hello Pat, we aren't all at your level dude, back up the truck a bit

 

[Docbop]

I saw so many concerts from working them or getting free tickets though connections

 

Jimi Hendrix

Steely Dan  2nd tour

Weather Report  got a free ticket from Wayne Shorter.  Their music has to experienced live to truly appreciate it. 

Joe Cocker Mad Dogs and Englishmen   We sneaked in the back so only saw the last part of the show, but we were on stage it was amazing

Delaney and Bonnie   I was and still am a huge fan of theirs and they always had great musicians.

Taj Mahal  his early days when Jesse Davis was on guitar, they opened for Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions

Bob Marley

Elton John  Yellow Brick Road tour.

Zappa and Mothers

Traffic

Jeff Beck    the greatest Rock guitar ever

Herbie Hancock / Chick Corea 

The Who   because it was such a weird night just about everything that could go wrong did.   Pete Townsend got so mad he pushed the PA into the orchestra pit.  

Leslie West and Mountain

Grateful Dead  saw them three nights in a row in L.A. 

Bonnie Raitt 

Tom Waits   in his early days and amazing how he could draw people into his songs.

Sly and Family Stone

Doors

Byrds

Buffalo Springfield

Mandela   great psychedelic soul band from Canada

The Electric Flag

Blood Sweat & Tears  first tour when Al Kooper was still playing with them

Paul Revere and the Raiders   Only because it was the first concert I ever went to my girlfriend won tickets on the radio.  

Little Feat  when they first came out it was the original band with Roy Estrada on bass.   

Johnny Nash

Love

Blues Image

CTA  when they were the house band at the Whiskey

Lee Michaels

Junior Walker and the All Stars

The Chicago All Stars    Blues masters with the legend Willie Dixon on upright bass and vocals. 

War when Eric Burton was still in the band. 

Rufus  record release show for their 2nd album.  

 

After all the decades those are the ones that stood out enough that I remember them. 

 

 

[o0Ampy0o]

Best

 

Jean Luc Ponty - long time fan, when I finally got to see him live he played all of my favorite songs. 

Paul McCartney - when he addresses an audience Paul is Paul, he will always be one of those four lads from Liverpool joking around

Ambrosia - (before David Pack split) 

The Eagles - Long Run tour before they broke their touring momentum. They were peaking after a career of perfectionist touring. They were amazing with raw precise harmonizing. They set their bar so high when they relaxed they were just the coolest band of fantastic musicians. They demonstrated what substance in a performance is. No flashy BS. Some thought they were boring on stage because all they did was play and sing but THAT …the live music is what was done so well.

Pink Floyd - never heard such a clean quality sound system in a stadium. Another band of perfectionists. Loved the floaty pigs and quad animal sounds.
Gary Wright - in a Ringo’s All Star Band line up but not Ringo’s. He brought the house down. 
Peter Gabriel - he spoke to an arena of people like he was speaking to a few people….intimate, comfortable, witty, intelligent - great show, great visuals, great sound, great band

The Tubes -  the singer Fee Waybill has a voice that blossoms through a loud PA. I never thought his voice was that great until I heard him live. He also is a great frontman. 

Pete Bardens

Sarah McLachlan 

 

Worst

 

Marshall Tucker Band - there might have been 3 original members. At their peak the guitarist and flutist were the lead singers. The flutist was the remaining singer at this point. The guitarist had passed away. It was outdoors and I thought the highs of his vocals were getting blown away by the wind. My friend just thought he had a bad voice. Then I realized he had blown out his voice. He used to sing a high range. By this time his voice was deep and rough and when he attempted highs there was nothing there. Part of their trademark sound included pedal steel. They had lost that guy and had their new guitarist doing slide which wasn’t a good idea because one is a poor substitute for the other.

 

Foreigner - their singer Lou Graham did not take care with his voice. I had heard more than one live recording and a King Biscuit Flour Hour. They frequently told the audiences Lou had a “head cold” and sure enough they used that excuse the night I saw them. I believe he thought he needed to sound raspy so he sang too intensely. IMO, he sounded great when his voice was smooth. Towards the end of the radio-play days they were writing songs trying to sound like Def Leppard. 
 

Robin Trower - too loud, volume for its own sake

 

 

I saw Lee Michaels also. I have heard he generally played too loud as well but I only remember the last song of his entire set. I don’t know whether he had his organ that night. I only remember he was playing piano singing Hidi Hi. Even on the way home that has been all I ever remembered of that show.  I was more interested in hanging out with friends. 
 

 

 

[stoken6]

Best - I'd have to rank AWB at Ronnie Scotts as one of my highlights. I also enjoyed Suzanne Vega at the Fleadh - just her and a bass player, very engaging. 

Worst - Steely Dan at Wembley Arena. A studio band in a big iron shed, with the usual crap sound: booming bass and icepicks-in-your-eyes bright guitar.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[Justin Havu]

Haven't been to very many shows, but out of the ones that I did see:

 

Best:

Yes 2002 tour at UNH.  I only knew a couple of the tunes, but I didn't care about that.  6th row from the stage, and the sound was spot on that night.  Everything was well balanced, and the volume was perfect.  Loud enough to fill the space, but not overwhelming.

 

Yanni, 2004 Ethnicity tour in Portland, ME.  I know, it's Yanni.  Lol.  However, as with Yes, the sound and volume were absolutely perfect, and the musicianship in his band/orchestra was spot on.  Between him and Ming Freeman, I spotted 10 Triton Studios, and a couple of 88-note controllers (Yamaha KX88?  Couldn't tell what they were.)

 

Extreme, 2006 at Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom.  Very loud volume, but you could hear everything clearly.  Original lineup, with a guest appearance from Mike Mangini, who played two or three songs from Punchline.  Gary was spot on the whole night, and the whole band sounded tight.  The big surprise was the encore: a cover of Boston's "Rock And Roll Band" with a guest appearance from Barry Goodreau.  Neither my friend or I expected that.  Saw them again in 2017 with Barry Goodreau's Engine Room opening.  Over a decade later, and they still brought it.  Gary was in great shape that night, and he still hasn't lost his voice.

 

Pat Metheny, 2017 at the Music Hall in Portsmouth, NH.  Amazing performance.  I was only familiar with three or four tunes (He opened with Into The Dream, then the band kicked in with Have You Heard), but that didn't bother me at all.  There was one tiny clam during Question And Answer, Pat came in a beat early at one point, and both he and Antonio cracked up about it and just kept going.

 

 

Worst:

I can only think of one.  Dream Theater, 2019 at the Orpheum in Boston.  The band were great, however LaBrie couldn't hit the high notes anymore.  Then again, it was a couple of weeks into the tour, and they were probably playing every night without an adequate break for him to rest up before the next gig.  The volume was excruciatingly loud. too loud for the room.  You'd think that even though they were a prog METAL band, they'd still want a decent sound in whatever venue they were playing that night.  Worst part of the show were the two college kids right in front of me, probably Berklee students, shoving each other back and forth during the majority of the show, and the ushers didn't do anything about it.  It was a theater, after all.  Oh well.

[Threadslayer]

Personal worst: Jerry Jeff Walker. I saw him pull up in a limo, puke on the sidewalk, get back in the limo and split. Show cancelled.

[Joe P]

1 hour ago, justin_havu said:

Yanni, 2004 Ethnicity tour in Portland, ME.  I know, it's Yanni.  Lol.  However, as with Yes, the sound and volume were absolutely perfect, and the musicianship in his band/orchestra was spot on.

 

Ha-ha - totally agree.  I saw Yanni 3 or 4 years ago in a 1300 seat theater - completely blown away.  The supporting musicians were unbelievable, trumpet, violin....my only gripe was he told too many stories.🙂

[kaptainkeys]

Best:
Billy Joel at MSG, August of 2018: Great songs, pretty good seats (we were supposed to have nosebleeds behind the stage but ticketmaster screwed up and gave us the seat behind the lighting booth, which was way better than we were expecting), and as always with Billy's band, the musicianship was top notch, and although I don't remember, I'm sure the sound was fantastic as well (I'd hope so, Billy plays there so much the sound guys probably know the show better than him).

 

Foreigner live at Artpark in Buffalo, NY, August 2019: Don't remember much about the sound, but the setlist was great as was the musicianship, and it was a surprise from my parents, which made it even better

 

Toto live at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ, opening for Journey on the Freedom Tour, February 2022: Great everything: the band, the setlist, the sound, my only gripe was that they didn't play for longer!

 

Worst:

Journey live at the Prudential Center in Newark, Freedom Tour, in February 2022: The setlist was great, but the sound quality was awful, which was compounded by the fact that Toto was right before them.  When Toto played, everything was clear and sounded fantastic, even up in the nosebleeds, while Journey's mix sounded like a hot mess!  The keys and vocals were overpowered by the guitar and drums, and there were a bunch of feedback issues.  It also was not Pineda's best night, but even then, you couldn't hear him over Schon's guitar, so it didn't really matter.  Other than the fact that the guy next to me got up to use the bathroom and get more beer every five minutes, the experience itself was good.

[Stokely]

I haven't been to many concerts in recent years (that weren't local bands or my own!).  Just too much money, too many tracks being used and I just don't care to see big acts anymore (Muse might be an exception due to the spectacle.)

I have some favorites broken into categories a bit since some of them were quite different types of shows.

Speaking of spectacle, Peter Gabriel's Secret World (with Paula Cole) takes that prize.  Sound wasn't great where I was sitting but the show certainly was.  The broadway show of rock concerts!

King's X at a fairly large club was the best "rock" show I've seen.  Ty Tabor had a messed up finger but they powered through, the energy was incredible.

The two Medeski Martin and Wood shows I saw, one at a small club, were great.

There's a special place for my first one, which was Van Halen in 1984 when I was 17.   You wouldn't think Van Halen would bring out the rough types but that was a mean crowd...lots of fights (no assigned seating so just a mass of people on the floor), lots of smoke in there, and I remember telling my friend "where are all these people during the day?!"  Poor Autograph, they got booed mercilessly (because they weren't Van Halen) and they had to stop the show due to glass bottles hitting the instruments.   All other shows I've seen since were pretty tame by comparison, though when I saw Van Hagar a few years later, it was BTO's turn to be booed because, you guessed it, they weren't Van Halen.  (I'd argue Van Hagar isn't Van Halen either but that's another discussion!)

[Konnector]

I've seen a lot of great concerts over the years by legendary acts, but the one that blew me away and left the biggest impression on me was ELP in '74 on the Brain Salad Surgery tour. It still resonates to this day.

 

The worst was Led Zeppelin in '77 in the Seattle Kingdome. (the one time they skipped playing Vancouver.) No fault of the band though. The Kingdome was a 60,000 seat concrete toilet bowl that sounded absolutely horrible. If it wasn't for the fact that I was a huge Zep fan, I would have had no idea what they were playing most of the time. It sounded that bad. Not to mention they were tiny specs on stage. Fortunately, I had seen them several times on previous tours in Vancouver, and those were all very good shows. 

 

[KuruPrionz]

First and on top - Ray Charles with his Orchestra  I saw Ray twice, he put on the best show. Simply flawless but with more soul than everybody else put together and the backing band was spectacular. Ray stood tall on the highest peak. 

 

Like quite a few above, I have a number of favorite shows. In no particular order...

 

The Who on the Tommy Tour - they played the entire album straight through, including John Entwhistle on French horn for the intro. Virtually flawless.

ELP on the Brain Salad Surgery Tour. 

Artur Rubenstein 

Carlos Montoya, he made me realize that playing a guitar could make one a giant, even if they were not tall and had a high squeaky voice. His first piece got a standing ovation. 

Taj Mahal, I've seen him a few times but the standout was when he opened for Loggins & Messina and solo, with a banjo - he had 7,000 of us up on our feet, stomping, clapping and shouting "Shake It On Down" at the top of our lungs. 

The Divinyls opened for Aerosmith and ate their lunch. Christina Amphlett was a force of Nature on stage and the band was tight. 

Emmylou Harris on the Spyboy tour. Simply one of the finest, a great artist. 

David Bowie on the Low tour with Adrian Below on guitar. 

David Lindley solo.

Spirit

Bonnie Raitt

The Pretenders

Devo - fantastic live show, funny as hell, tight, most excellent. 

Richard Smith, a fingerstyle guitarist influenced by Chet Atkins. He is sort of the "unknown Tommy Emmanuel" (although he has played with Tommy and can hold his own easily).

Tower of Power, they killed it both times I saw them. 

Jeff Beck opening for BB King.

 

 

There are probably more, still getting my coffee fix. 

 

Worst?

John Cougar Mellencamp opening for Heart. John got a bit out of line regarding the city he was trying to entertain so somebody hit him in the chest with a beer bottle and he threw a temper fit. Don't start a fight you can't win!  He sucked. Sadly, Heart was not very good either, this was the era post Roger Fisher with just Howard Leese and Nancy Wilson on guitars. Howard was simply out of his league trying to take over Roger Fisher's place in the band and it seemed to discourage all of them. 

 

A good ways off the beaten path but I was doing sound for a local rockabilly band and the keyboard player was singing a song, suddenly flung his head over to the right and puked what could have been breakfast, lunch and dinner all over the stage. Not so pretty. 

 

I've probably blocked some of the worst stuff out of my mind, maybe I'll come back later with more worsts... 😇

 

 

 

 

[TommyS]

Best: Emerson Lake and Powell 1986,,

Worst: Susan Tedeschi ,, love her voice but her band was an incredible snoozer,,,,

[The Real MC]

Best:
Tower of Power 2008 Elmira NY at the Holiday Inn (!!!).  They played in a dining hall not the lounge, very tight very funky music that night.

Bela Fleck & The Flecktones Binghamton NY at Touch Of Texas.  The show sold out despite complete lack of radio airplay and promotion.

Dire Straits On Every Street tour.  Stellar sound quality, excellent musicians.  They played an extended version of "Calling Elvis" that was phenomenal.
Billy Joel, saw him in concert twice.  Great musician great entertainer.

Van Halen (original lineup) 1978 and 1980.  Loud as hell but serious stage energy to reckon with.  The 1978 show was their first tour and my first concert, they were opening for Ted Nugent.  Let's just say I remember nothing about Ted Nugent.  The 1980 show was very memorable, I wish there was a concert DVD from that era.  Eddie was a great player, but he would not had been successful without DLR.

ZZTop, saw them twice

Lynyrd Skynyrd three times (sadly not the pre-crash lineup).  The last show was after Leon and Billy had passed, the replacement guitar players are good but their replacements for Leon and Billy were not.

John Denver.  Great entertainer.  Ditto for Roy Clark.

Alison Krauss 1992.  Her first tour, saw her perform at a bar.  She was 16 then but she was sawing that fiddle playing it hot.

Rush Time Machine tour 2010.  They played an open stadium at the state fairground.  Very glad I saw that show, and the sound quality was excellent.

 

Worst:
Allman Bros early 80s.  Gregg was so out of it, the band just did not perform well that night

David Lee Roth solo tour 1986.  Nothing like the DLR-era VH even with shredders Billy Sheenan and Steve Vai.  Good players but the music was crap.  DLR had jumped the shark he was so over the top.  Halfway through the show people were leaving.

Aerosmith early 80s.  Joe Perry had just quit.  Band put on a lousy performance.

Kiss, first tour without the makeup.  As a kid I liked them.  Lame show, hated them after that.
Santana 1995.  Music was crap.  Left halfway through the show.

[surfergirl]

I haven't been to many concerts, but are my most favorites. 

"Home in the Islands" Henry kapono and Friends. Many of the greatest Slack Key players in Hawaii.

The Eagles, only big concert I've seen.

John Sabastion.

Tony Emmanuel.

Least favorite.

Devon Allman Project. Only because it originally The Allman Betts Band. Duane Betts wasn't there. It was a good show but I was disappointed.

Honorable mention goes to Greta Van Fleet. They canceled in 2018 and were going come back 2019. Still haven't rescheduled. We did let our dogs play with the t shirts till they destroyed them.

[TommyS]

Going to add to my best list:

John Cleary.   Solo piano and vocals

His piano playing is like a whole rhythm section,,,

[JamPro]

Best: I got to see Joni Mitchell during her  Shadows and Light tour - at Tanglewood.  Her band included Pat Methany on guitar, Jaco Pastorius on bass, Lyle Mays on keys, and Micheal Brecker on sax.  The opening act was the Temptations, and they joined the JM band on the song Shadows and Light.

 

And of course Tanglewood is a fun place to see a concert.

 

Worst: some of the shows I did with the Soul-Dance band were cringeworthy bad - just horrible.

 

[Polychrest]

Lots of our “best” concerts get addressed here:  https://forums.musicplayer.com/topic/178590-your-biggest-concert-memories/

 

[KuruPrionz]

17 minutes ago, JamPro said:

Best: I got to see Joni Mitchell during her  Shadows and Light tour - at Tanglewood.  Her band included Pat Methany on guitar, Jaco Pastorius on bass, Lyle Mays on keys, and Micheal Brecker on sax.  The opening act was the Temptations, and they joined the JM band on the song Shadows and Light.

 

And of course Tanglewood is a fun place to see a concert.

 

Worst: some of the shows I did with the Soul-Dance band were cringeworthy bad - just horrible.

 

Of all the "Ones Who Got Away", I regret not going to see Joni Mitchell the most. I bet that was fantastic, she is truly one of the greats. 

[JohnH]

3 hours ago, GotKeys said:

 

Worst:

Journey live at the Prudential Center in Newark, Freedom Tour, in February 2022: The setlist was great, but the sound quality was awful, which was compounded by the fact that Toto was right before them.  When Toto played, everything was clear and sounded fantastic, even up in the nosebleeds, while Journey's mix sounded like a hot mess!  The keys and vocals were overpowered by the guitar and drums, and there were a bunch of feedback issues.  It also was not Pineda's best night, but even then, you couldn't hear him over Schon's guitar, so it didn't really matter.  Other than the fact that the guy next to me got up to use the bathroom and get more beer every five minutes, the experience itself was good.

 

Thankfully they changed the monitor Mix guy after this, and it turns out 2022 was one of Arnel's best years on the road since they fixed his mix issues. By the time they got to Anaheim he was fully on it. It was as good as his first year 2008. As for the FOH mix, that was also not good at all for me! I was on the left side of the stage and when Neal would solo I couldn't hear him. Toto's mix was perfect with Luke coming through loud and clear. I believe later Journey also sacked the FOH guy too. I told Neal on FB I could not hear him when he soloed.

[David R]

I’ve been fortunate to see a lot of live music, either through my own touring and watching other bands on festivals or my 20-year sideline as radio host and journalist. Some of the best:

 

Herbie Hancock/Dave Holland/Jack DeJohnette, Monument-National, Montreal

Tigran Hamasyan & Ambrose Akinmusire, Gesu, Montreal.

Allen Toussaint, Gesu, Montreal.

Femi Kuti & Antibalas, Metropolis, Montreal.

Ruben Blades & Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Rose Hall NYC.

 

The three worst that spring to mind:

The War on Drugs, Montreal Jazz Fest. Big closing show of the festival and their constant attempts to rewrite Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark” just fell totally flat for me.

Deltron 3030, Montreal Jazz Festival. I had high expectations because I like Del and Dan the Automator but the string section was completely inaudible and the sound in general was atrocious.

DD Jackson, Harbourfront, Toronto. An unannounced opening act for John McLaughlin circa The Promise. I was very young and it was my first jazz concert but even in hindsight, and revisiting DD’s playing, it wasn’t great. Every improv followed the same arc - Chopin-esque beginning, Cecil Taylor/Don Pullen explosion, Chopin-esque ending. I don’t recall the piano sound being particularly stellar, either. 

[CowboyNQ]

I was in the crowd for this infamous performance.

 

Ironically I wasn’t really listening as the sound quality at the venue was poor and I was chatting to my mates and looking forward to the game.  I was also on the opposite side of the stadium so didn’t see all the ridiculousness with the hot dogs etc.

 

My wife (800km away at home) texts me:  “Gee Meatloaf sound horrible”.  I text back something about the stadium PA probably being unfit for purpose.  She replies “no, you don’t understand.  He sounds HORRIBLE.”

 

it wasn’t until I saw a replay on TV that I fully grasped what had transpired.  He’s become something of a meme here now.  

May he rest in peace.

 

 

[RABid]

Best were three bands that kept it interesting, connected well with the audience, and had some surprises that made you go "wow".

Rod Stewart

Blue Oyster Cult

Rush

 

Honorable mentions -

Neil Sedaka (1976) My best friend's parents thought it would be a good first concert for us. A safe act. He was surprisingly good in concert. Everything about the show had that big name Vegas headliner quality. Our second concert was ...

KISS a few months later. great show from beginning to end. Glad I got to see them before Peter Criss got lazy and let his talent waste away.

 

Worst was much easier to pick.

ELP (1978) - Expected them to be as exciting as Rush, but that was the most boring concert ever.

Fleetwood Mac - Stevie Nicks was totally wasted.

Scotty McCreery - Worst sound ever. Too loud, too distorted, and way too much treble.

[16251]

Most memorable -

Rick Wakeman, Journey to the Centre of the Earth

Billy Cobham/George Duke at Symphony Hall

Boston Symphony at Tanglewood. Performed Beethoven Pastoral Symphony and Stravinsky Right of Spring <True story - during intermission there was a mega thunder and lightning storm; like it was timed.

Also saw Joni Mitchell with Jaco, Pat Metheny, Lyle Mays, Micheal Brecker at Tanglewood

Tower of Power <original lineup at Paul's Mall>

Bill Evans at Jazz Workshop - witnessed Eddie Gomez unpacking his bass from Volvo waiting in line.

Aerosmith at Suffolk Downs before they were famous. Also on bill Sha-na-na

Maynard Ferguson at Beverly High School.  To this day convinced I got Tinnitus that night. They had the worst Peavy PA system and I was inline with one of the stacks.

Joe Zawinul syndicate, Yellowjackets at Scullers

 

Least memorable -

Had tickets for Chick Corea RTF and Chicago (Terry Kath still alive.)  Had to give away both sets of tickets cause full-time band I was with ended up getting last minute gigs.

 

[Old No7]

I'll play this game too...

 

Best:

Rick Wakeman, October 2021 U.S. Tour Opening Night in NH -- Great music, great stories, some jokes and humor; he made an awesome connection with the audience and you could tell he was glad to be up on stage again in front of a real audience.

Bill Bruford, Orphem in Boston 1981? -- Great band, terrific music and musicianship; just an awesome experience overall.

Sal Valetinetti, The Cabot in Beverly MA 2018 or 19? -- Yeah, the singer/crooner; my wife wanted to go, he put on a great show with a smoooooooth voice.

 

Worst:

Moody Blues, August Maine 2000 (to 2003?) -- They were just "off" that night... The sound was "eh, just OK".

 

Old No7

[Polychrest]

Most disappointing concert:  Led Zeppelin at the O’Keefe Centre in Toronto, November 1969.  It was a hot ticket.  They were breaking big in North America, and their addictive music was all over the FM airwaves.  Unfortunately, what they delivered was a mailed-in embarrassment.  Their set was short, their songs were improvised jam- and clam-filled skeletons of the recorded versions, and the sound was truly horrible even by the standards of the day.  Any resemblance to the recorded Led Zeppelin was purely coincidental.  If they weren’t stoned at the time, they sure faked it well.

[Ed A.]

Best:

 

The first time I saw ELP in 1977. 

Tangerine Dream, Optical Race Tour. Incredible Vari-Lite show.

Weather Report at Woolsey Hall, New Haven in the mid eighties. Zawinul, Shorter, Pastorius and Erskine at their best.

Jean Luc Ponty at Toad's Place, also mid eighties.

Chick Corea and Steve Gadd a few years ago.

Beach House earlier this year. Excellent dream pop band, also some impressive visuals.

 

Worst:

 

Frank Zappa, back in the eighties. Seemed like he didn't want to be there and was bored.

Steely Dan, saw them at a casino in Connecticut about 20 years ago. It was like they were on autopilot. The song Aja was very good though.

Edgar Winter and Rick Derringer. Maybe 10 years ago. Derringer opened for Edgar Winter, was pretty good, just ear-bleeding loud.

Edgar Winter seemed like he had no stage presence and was very awkward on stage.

 

 

 

 

[Tom Williams]

Best: Starbuck, late 70s or early 80s, at WV Wesleyan College.

 

Near-best would be Woody Herman and the Thundering Herd.  I know it sounds funny, but their rendition of McArthur Park (in live quadraphonic) brought me to tears, just due to cognitive overload.

 

Honorable Mention goes to ELP, Black Moon tour.  Even with his voice aging, it was enlightening to see Lake absolutely own the audience when he opened his mouth.  The synth solo that ended Farewell to Arms also brought me to tears (actually a rare event).  I was disappointed years later to learn that (probably due to KE's failing right hand) they had in fact used sequences to achieve a lot of the contrapuntal playing on that tour.   

 

Near-Worst would include Bruce Hornsby at Fairmont State College, I forget when, but the problem was that it was in a gymnasium with lousy acoustics.  Didn't help that his "organist" was playing a Korg M1 through its phase shifter.  My Farfisa VIP would have sounded better.

 

Worst by far: Petra, late 1980s I think, Charleston WV.  No tickets left at the door after a 2+ hour drive to the venue.  Bought tickets from a scalper.  Lead singer Greg Voltz apparently had the flu, and sang horribly. 

[skipeb3]

Let’s see…

I don’t want to dwell on any bad ones, so here’s the good ones…

 

Joe Cocker with the Grease Band ’69…very shortly either right before or after Woodstock.

Led Zeppelin opening for Procol Harem ’69

Allman Bros opening for Delaney & Bonnie ’70 (maybe ’71)

Fleetwood Mac ‘78

George Jones '81

Elton John & Ray Cooper duo show.

Ray Charles a few times.

Dr John solo piano

Young Rascals reunion tour 2014, I think it was. Saw ‘em in the ’60’s also.

 

I know I’m forgetting some…

 

Here’s the best…

 

Summer of ’76 I was touring with Chris Hillman and we opened for The Band for a month or so. Right before The Last Waltz. I watched their whole show every night. Had the SNL horn section with them a few times. Unbelievable… really. Absolutely awesome in all ways. When that part of the tour was over we did about a dozen gigs opening for Lynyrd Skynyrd, and they were at the very top of their game.

 

Those were the best shows I think I ever saw…or will ever see.

 

Edit... Ok, I forgot a good one. Fillmore East, '68...three act bill - Moody Blues, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers & Rhinoceros. 

[ksoper]

Biggest Rip-Off:  ELO, Philadelphia 1978  Bleeding-ears loud, didn't just play to tracks, they ran the damn record and it was really obvious.

 

Most Dramatic Redemption:  ELO, Nashville 2019  Fantastic sound, great lights/panels, and enough personnel on stage to not need tracks. Dhani Harrison opened and joined Lynne et. al. for a Wilburys tune. Breathtaking. 

 

And yeah, a Tubes concert in the 70s was something to behold. You got your money's worth.  The list of concerts I've been to overlaps many already mentioned, but I'll include Virgil Fox, whose all-Bach performances with the light show were transcendental.  Saw Pete Seeger solo and with The Weavers. A mighty wind, indeed. Was very surprised by Loverboy. My wife and her friends wanted to go and I'm like, yeah, ok. Damn. Those guys are tight and Reno can still sing. In the early 00s Honda of America had an employee appreciation weekend in Columbus and rented pretty much every downtown venue available. The tour I was on played the big arena around 3 pm, the house was turned, and then Def Leppard played. Also damn. Wasn't expecting much but was thoroughly entertained.

 

 

 

 

[Shamanzarek]

One of the best I saw was The Guess Who in 1969 when they were four members and Randy Bachman was still in the band. They started off doing a jazz-style jam that segued into the first song. They would return to the jam after nearly every song so there was very little time in the show when they weren't playing. At this time they were playing deeper cuts than in later years. Along with the latest two hits "These Eyes" and "Laughing" they did things like "Friends of Mine", "When You Touch Me", "We're Coming to Dinner", and "The Key".

 

One of the worst I saw was The Black Keys at Madison Square Garden. The booming low end was so overwhelming and much of the time it was just two guys on stage with no bass player so it had to be coming from the drums. Luckily I was in a suite so I could get out of the main room and not have to endure this show. The Arctic Monkeys opened and their sound was fine.