The best show you've played

[iriegnome]

I have several "best shows ever". Since I have been playing for 30+ years, there have been a few. One is when I got to play Alpine Valley. Famed last gig venue of Stevie Ray Vaughn. Hundreds of Grateful Dead events. You name them and they have play there. That famed stage was inspiring to step out onto. 15,000 people and just a place to remember..

[brandau]

10 or so years ago a band I was in opened up for Outkast. 20,000+ fans... As soon as I walked on stage I looked up and saw my face on the Scoreboard screen! I got dizzy and threwup in my mouth. I shook it off and got ready to play. Then The monitor guy had a malfunction and lost our DJ's signal(he started our show). So we're all standing on stage waiting, and the crowd starts booing! Let me tell ya, 20k people booing is slightly intense Just then the sound comes up and we hit it...hard! Our set was really tight with no pauses or breaks... We couldn't really tell if the crowd was loving or hating it, and I was kinda scared to stop playing and see their reaction. We hit our last chord and stop... The crowd is on their feet, roaring and cheering.. best gig ever!

[runmikeyrun]

We played a battle of the bands, fighting for an opening slot on a metal show at a large, local outdoor ampitheater, now a House of Blues venue. We were slated to play last and we thought we were doomed- if everyone left we'd lose for sure because audience reaction was the method of judging. We had a much better following than we thought- hundreds of people not only stayed but went absolutely nuts. I felt as if I was electrified. When the MC came on stage and said "I think this is a pretty obvious decision..." and was cut off by the screaming crowd I felt on top of the world.

I found a t-shirt that night of an obscure bar from Florida as I was packing up my gear. I kept it as a memento and still wear it occasionally.

Ironically, while the ampitheater show was a ton of fun and we played to more people, the vibe at that battle of the bands was incredible.

[Kmonk]

Originally Posted by Factor88

Hey, that's my hometown! Have not lived there for years though. You talking about the Pelham?

I played at the Pelham, Oysters II, Sebastian's in Middletown, Mishnock Barn, Village Tavern, The Station, JR's Fastlane, Alhambra's in Westport and many other places in RI, Mass and Connecticut when I was in my first band.

The Pelham was always fun. Especially since at that time Salve Regina was still an all female college.

[Nate74]

I thought I'd played some pretty great shows until joining an Irish band about a year ago. St Patrick's day we did two shows, each one for about 1,000 drunk wanna-be Irish folk.

[Munjibunga]

Probably the NAMTO (not to be confused with NAMBLA) convention years ago. About 1,200 drunk people in a campground on an Indian reservation, with the stage right next to the pool where the wet T-shirt contest was being held. Oh, NAMTO? The National Association of Mini-Truck Owners.

[PBFACTOR]

Played on the "mall" in washington, d.c. on the 4th of july once to 70k or more. Best moment of my life other than the birth of my son.

[musicianary]

July 7, 2007. I played at LP Field in Nashville in front of around 80,000 people for a massive prayer conference, and you could just feel in the atmosphere an incredible sense of unity among those in attendance. It was most definitely the most powerful set I've EVER played!