Best Live Performances

[GypsyTiger]

We all have (and have posted about) favourite musicians and bands. How about relating stories of the best live shows you've seen?

[dcr]

Two shows really come to mind. I saw Yes on the "Union" tour--lineup was Anderson, Squire, Bruford, White, Wakeman, Kaye, Howe, and Rabin. In the round & went on for hours & hours. I'll never see the likes of that show again. 'Nuff said. The other was Bela Fleck & the Flecktones with Jeff Coffin; the instrumental talent in the room was so amazing it was almost surreal, and it was definitely the most fun show I've ever been to (I saw the Kingston Trio as a kid, & they came close for fun, though). They're very silly guys, & they don't just play music--they play with music!

 

Best concert videos ever (imo, of course): Talking Heads' "Stop Making Sense," and Steely Dan's "Two Against Nature" (PBS special).

[Claypool4prez]

The best live show I have ever seen was just this summer when I went to the Warped Tour and saw NOFX, WOW ! They were great, spot on playing Melvin even busted out an accordian(sp?) for Theme From a NOFX Album, that was entertaining!

[Greg A]

Gov't Mule opening for Big Sugar which culminated with both bands on stage jamming for an additional hour or so. All killer musicians. Outstanding.

Other great shows: Pink Floyd (~1990?)- I never thought quadrophonic sound in an open air, 50,000 seat stadium could be so crisp and clear.

B.B. King at the Jubilee Auditorium in Edmonton. The sound cut out in the middle of the show, but B.B. kept on going just Lucille (acoustically) and his voice. The crowd hushed up so everyone could hear and he was grateful for our tolerance of the mishap. It was corrected a short time later. A potential disaster turned into a unique and wonderful moment.

 

So many great shows (I may return to this thread later).

 

Gerrg

[progfusion74]

Roger Waters "In the Flesh Tour", Jones Beach a couple of years ago. Great atmosphere, great preformance, and Jon Carin was amazing.

[Jay J.]

I saw Tool a while back they put on a great show, if you want to see a spectacle that is awesome. most recently I saw Bruce Springsteen and that was also a great show. this might sound a little odd but I saw AC/DC about year ago, and I was impressed, for how old they all are they really put on a good show. same old AC/DC stuff but they are still able to preform like they did 15 years ago and that is impressive in istelf.

[groovyjazzyfunky]

Maceo Parker! You can't imagine a tighter, funkier, more bootyshake-inducing band than Maceo Parker's touring band. I saw them last January in Portland, and I walked away a changed man (actually, I sort of stumbled away because my legs were fried after three hours of intense grooving). I've seen George Clinton/P-Funk three times, all excellent concerts, but the Maceo concert was ten times better than any one of them. While George and James Brown and Tower of Power sometimes seem to have "lost the magic" and are maybe just riding on their past successes, Maceo and his band are continually refining their funk and taking it to a completely higher level. I can't explain it. It has to be experienced. All I can say is it's just about ruined any "lesser" funk for me. Good or bad? You decide.

 

Of course, experiencing Dave Matthews Band from front row, dead-center seats at the breathtaking Gorge Amphitheater wasn't half bad, either.

[davebrownbass]

Okay, concerts that made me cry:

 

1. The Who: "Face Dances" tour, Cotton Bowl...announced as their final tour (the first "final tour") this concert had everything including Pete smashing guitars.

 

2. Neil Young: "Trans" tour, Dallas Music Hall. Although Trans was weird, the concert featured live backstage TV broadcast on the big screen, with interview of crew by Neil's dad. There were no "onstage" musicians, and the second half was Neil making love to his vocorder.

The first half was Neil, surrounded by 8 guitars and a box of harmonicas, sitting down and playing an acoustic set of, basically, half of "Decade" plus some new songs...never released.

 

3. Paul Simon: "One Trick Pony" Will Rogers Coliseum. Although this album wasn't his greatest work, the band was superb, including Tony Levin on bass. For his fifth encore, the (then) girlfriend, (then) hot, (then) young Carrie Fisher came out with a birthday cake (okay, a cupcake) and they sang "Bye, Bye Love" as a duet.

 

4. Pink Floyd: "A Momentary Lapse of Reason" Reunion Arena. Okay, so this was after Roger. But all I can say is I was there when the flying saucers landed.

 

5. Oregon, "Ecotopia" at Caravan of Dreams. This board might not be familiar with the brilliance of Oregon (in fact, there were only 45 people there that night) but check 'em out. Glen Moore on bass plays the weirdest tuning (high c, normal d, normal a, low c...makes sense right?) To check them out, a good start would be: "Out of the Woods"

 

6. Mark O'Conner: TMEA convention, San Antonio. Okay, this was a private party of all the music teachers in Texas. But Mark walked on that stage and played "San Antonio Rose" without a band and improvised for 15 minutes without repeating himself. Later that evening, he (along with a guy playing electric cello) played a concert while skateboarding in the loading area.

 

As an aside, the UT Orchestra played "Rite of Spring" the next year...perhaps the most exciting orcestral perforance I've ever seen. (Although I did see Rostropovich while still a Russian Citizen.)

 

Those are the best...there are others......

[Mark Zeger]

The most impressive recent bass performance I've seen is Richard Bona with the Pat Metheny Group in April at the Beacon Theater in NYC. Bona is featured on "Bright Size Life", and plays the daylights out of it. Plus he's a brilliant vocalist and can handle a percussion rig, too.

 

Past memorable concerts:

- Weather Report on the "8:30" tour

- Peter Gabriel, circa 1980, with Jan Hammer as the opening act

- King Crimson at Pier 84 in NYC, circa 1983

- Yes, Madison Square Garden, 1979

- Talking Heads with the expanded "Stop Making Sense" band

[Sandman]

nice call Gerrg on the Big Sugar. I was gonna say they were the best live performance i'd ever seen as well. It was at some concert weekend in my hometown(also Big Sugars hometown). They killed. i had not heard much of their music before then but i was instantly converted. untill that day i thought blues rock was in the past, but they showed me the error in my thinking.

 

On a side note i went to the same highschool as Gordie Johnson, although not at the same time.

[dave64o]

Originally posted by dcr:

Two shows really come to mind. I saw Yes on the "Union" tour--lineup was Anderson, Squire, Bruford, White, Wakeman, Kaye, Howe, and Rabin. In the round & went on for hours & hours. I'll never see the likes of that show again. 'Nuff said.

GREAT concert! I saw them in Philly and also saw Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, and Howe right around the same time. The most memorable thing about the "Mega Yes" show was the guitar solos. Trevor Rabin came out and did one that was what you'd expect - impressive but still a lot of flash. Later Steve Howe did his. About 18000 people in The Spectrum and you could hear a pin drop while he played - the audience was SILENT. I've never seen anything like it at a rock concert.

 

BUT, I came close when I saw him with Asia in a small club about 10 years ago (the now defunct Chestnut Cabaret). He didn't play the first set and the entire time people are yelling "Steve! Steve!". When they began the second set and he came out everyone wents nuts. He of course did Mood For a Day and The Clap, as well as some other solo material, and the same thing happened. Except for wild cheering between songs the audience was completely silent until he finished. Amazing, but there were only about 500-1000 there, not 18000 like at the Spectrum shows.

[dcr]

dave64o--it's really magic when the audience "gets it." You'll see something similar if you watch Led Zeppelin's "The Song Remains the Same" video, during their performance of "Since I've Been Loving You": at one point they pan the crowd slowly, & everyone in Madison Square Garden is just listening . Amazing. Pictures I've seen of Pink Floyd shows, before they played stadiums, suggest the same kind of atmosphere for the whole show. Nice to hear that these things still happen sometimes!

[OpaBobby]

Back in 79/80 Jimmy Buffet opened for The Eagles in Honolulu. He, and, his band were amazing. We enjoyed them much more than the main attraction. Going back even further, probably the most impressive performance was when I saw The Association live in Houston in the middle to late sixties. Their stage act was as good or better than their recordings.

AaV

[tim4003]

I saw YES last night in Atlanta!

Excellent show, they played 8pm/11pm w/15min. break.

Chris Squire did an outstanding 15 min. bass solo w/ Alan White on drums.

His RIC never sounded better!

[Mike H.]

Not a signed musician, but a Canadien troop came through the area called "The Mike Plume Band". Without a doubt, THE BEST live show I've ever seen. Even including the professional signed artists. The guitarist - Davey - is worth the price of admission alone. He has a stage presence and antics that are unreal to watch. Plus they started and didn't stop for 4 straight hours! If they ever make it around, check it out.

[jeremy c]

I saw a great band the other night.

 

Kai Eckhardt on bass

Steve Smith on drums

George Brooks on sax

Fareed Haque on guitar

Zakir Hussain on tabla

 

These guys were playing music written by Brooks. The music was some sort of cross between jazz fusion and Indian improvisation.

 

The interplay between Steve Smith and Zakir Hussain was unbelievable. All the musicians were at their best and traded ideas all over the stage. Kai Eckhardt held the whole thing together and tore the house down with his solo.

 

Oh yeah, the encore was in 15/4 time. They played as if it didn't matter (which it didn't, to them) and soloed over this, put in cross rhythms, etc. At one point Hussain played a figure in 6 across the 15 and everyone in the band picked up on it and then they all dropped back to the original feel as if it had been planned which it obviously hadn't considering the big grins on all their faces.

 

If you don't believe me you can read more about the show

here.

[g.]

Very much up my alley for a show, Jeremy. Great musicians, doing their music, and interplay instead of _____ (insert performer name here) being hoisted over the audience, etc.

 

Beats the heck out of an arena show too, for atmosphere. I really like smaller auditoriums, clubs, and outdoors shows that don't require mega delay towers and lines at the portajohns.

[g.]

Of course, I have to balance that with the earlier years when I saw lots of big shows in arenas/coliseums. I'd like to think the name acts were playing way more music back then, and less posturing and gimmicks catering to the musically impaired ; }

[davebrownbass]

Originally posted by greenboy:

Very much up my alley for a show, Jeremy. Great musicians, doing their music, and interplay instead of _____ (insert performer name here) being hoisted over the audience, etc.

 

Beats the heck out of an arena show too, for atmosphere. I really like smaller auditoriums, clubs, and outdoors shows that don't require mega delay towers and lines at the portajohns.

Hey GB, I'll bet Oregon is right up your alley then.

 

Often in a concert, they'll break into complete free form improvisation...no changes, rhythm or anything...they'll just go off..playing, imitating each other...coming up with new sounds...it's wild.

 

EDIT: Oops...I posted this before I read all the Oregon fan pages on the other thread. Anyway, I got the chance ot talk about their free-form stuff.

[_Sweet Willie_]

I've seen some terrific shows. Here's a few to share (in no particular order):

 

1. This past spring I saw Vic Wooten at a club here in Chicago. Not only were he, his brothers, and the other musicians terrific, they were joined by local boy Bill "the Buddha" Dickens. Crazy cool.

 

2. A little over 10 yrs ago I saw Lou Reed (Rob Wasserman on bass) when he toured for the "New York" album. I saw the show in Providence RI and he played a local auditorium (not one of the larger venues). The show was very intimate and moving, and Lou was really personable and engaging with the crowd. The band was really strong. I believe that for this tour, Lou played only smaller venues and did multiple nights at the St. James theater in NYC. (Anyone see one of those NY shows?)

 

3. Al Green at NY's Central Park Summer Stage in 1991. I was celebrating my 21st b-day, and Al set up a great afternoon vibe that carried into a terrific evening of celebrating around the city. What a performer!

 

4. I have always enjoyed going to "55" in NYC on Christopher St. (Yes, this is more about a venue than a specific musician's or band's performance.) Often I caught some great music there, but sometimes I don't (I heard a terrible singer there once). It was one of my "spots" in NYC, and much, much cheaper than nearby "Sweet Basil's" (where I saw a great show headlined by Ron Carter). It was smoky, crowded, somewhat claustrophobic, and they kept baskets of popcorn on all the tables. It has a special, nostalgic spot in my personal music history, but I haven't been back there for a few years now.

[ERIC31]

VAN HALEN - FAIR WARNING TOUR 1981. OAKLAND COLISEUM.

 

Oh man, this was my second time seeing VH and I was blown away. Not only is Fair Warning my favorite VH record, this show was on fire! Everyone of them was just in top form that night and we rocked so hard. Mike Anthony is the man! They played all the great tunes and just destroyed! I still remember it like it was yesterday.

 

There's nothing like classic Van Halen.