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Best and Worst Performances

#41
Too many to mention. I'm not sure I can remember them all.

Best: Pink Floyd. - I mean... Hands down. Immense stage spectacle. Excellent musicianship. Unforgettable.

Worst: Limp Bizkit. - There's not enough bleach for my eyeballs to erase the image of Fred Durst streaking across stage. Unforgettable for all the wrong reasons. Also, I didn't care for the music. I only saw them because they were opening for Primus.

Notable mention of Cheap Trick. They were great when I saw them in the late 80's. In fact that was my 1st concert ever, so I might have some bias that clouds my objectivity. That was a life changing concert for me. In the early 2000s without Bun E. Not so much. The latter was probably the biggest disappointment among a headliner I paid specifically to see. Even still, it wasn't Limp Bizkit awful. Not even close.
 
#42
Best:
The Police in 1980, before they became huge and the infighting began.
Bob Dylan in 2017 - he played a one-off in a smaller Sydney venue that was astounding. He and the band were totally in the zone.
Macca in 2017 - a showcase of legendary brilliance.
The Doobie Brothers 2023 - I've seen them a few times, but this tour was by far the best they've been in recent memory.
Gorillaz Plastic Beach tour - infectiously enjoyable, even in the nosebleed seats.
Robbie Williams - Swings Both Ways Tour. Totally dynamic and incredible attention to detail for all aspects of the show.
Dean Wean supporting Primus. I had zero expectations and he was surprisingly great, putting Primus in the shade.
Tony Bennett and KD Lang 2003. Two of the best voices ever.

Worst:
U2 Unforgettable Fire Tour. Bono was ill and the band went into autopilot. We were seated right by the sound desk and the mix was woeful. I vowed never to see them live again.
Primus - earsplittingly loud, apart from Les's vocals which were barely discernible in the mix. I love them to bits, but the mix killed any joy I felt.
Elvis Costello and the Imposters 2024. The sound quality was so poor that the show has become legendary for all the wrong reasons. Super muddy bass and titanically loud kick drum, ice-pick treble on the piano, vocals pretty much inaudible apart from a couple of ballads. The material and talent on stage was completely undermined. Total bummer!
 
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#43
What a fun thread to read through! Interesting replies for sure! Here's mine....

Best:
Ian Dury and the Blockheads (tight, funky, whole band was on, Ian worked super hard for the whole gig, Norman was fab)
Deep Purple (forget what year but it was one of Richie's "rejoin" concerts. They were great)
The Birthday Party (madness, glorious sick twisted madness. Tracy Pew was an awesome bassist)
Neil Young (same concert, see below)
Rollins Band (Mother Superior version - they were on. Sounded great and I enjoyed the return to four on the floor after the previous Rollins Band which most people seem to prefer. Apparently that makes me an idiot, I'm ok with that)

Worst:
Johnny Winter (seemed ... "unwell", played like 35 minutes, barely went through the motions)
U2 (were U2, I had fallen in with a bad crowd who peer-pressured me to attend. Apparently they played all their hits)
Deep Purple (so looking forward to Steve's first tour, but the mix was *nothing* but Jon. I love a Hammond as much as the next man but enough is enough)
Neil Young (same concert, see below)


Further Notes:
My "Best" list would mostly be topped by small local bands that aren't worth mentioning since not many people would have heard of them, so I stuck to names people would know.

The Neil Young entries were the same concert. He did half the concert solo accompanying himself on acoustic which I loved. The other half was with Crazy Horse (who I like OK) but they were crazy loud, had a tough mix and were hard to listen to.
 
#44
Best................

Dick Dale
The Ventures
Junior Brown
The Derailers
Link Wray
Cream (1968) (Was very loud!)
The Byrds with Clarence White
Emerson, Lake and Palmer
Leo Kottke
Sha Na Na (Opening band was, Bruce Springsteen!!!!!!! Before the big time.)

Worst.....................

The Flying Burritos Brothers (last show with Chris Hillman, show was kind of mediocre since they were gonna breakup.)
Dave Alvin and the Guilty Men..........excellent band but way, way too loud and played way, way too long. Exhausted the audience.
Wayne Hancock...........excellent show but played way, way too long. Exhausted the audience.
 
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#45
Hot Rats said:
Bests:
Bruce Dickenson/Geezer - 1997
Metallica - 1982 Dave Mustaine still in the band, Cliff's second gig.
Black Sabbath/Ozzy reunion show 1992 Pacific Ampitheater. Rob Halford sang for Black Sabbath, then Black Sabbath did 4 songs w/Ozzy together. I lost my mind.
The Who- 1982 and then years later, Quadrophenia
Iron Maiden - many times over the years but 1982 w/the Scorpions NOTB/Blackout tour is the standout
AC/DC many times over the years but FTATR tour is the standout
Rush - many times over the years but Signals is the standout.
Grateful Dead - many times over the years
Yes - Many times over the years
Black Sabbath - many times over the years but Born Again is the standout. I missed Heaven and Hell and Mob Rules tours.
Pink Floyd - many times over the years
Roger Waters - 4 times over the years
Ringo Starr and his Allstar band -3 times
Jeff Beck/ Stevie Ray Vaughan - 1989
Robin Trower - 1989
Black Crowes -many times over the years


Worst:

Black Crowes - a few times over the years
Aerosmith - 2001
Ted Nugent
Grateful Dead - a few times over the years
Y&T - 1985


Waiting for the people to talk about seeing Hendrix.
Click to expand...

I did see him once, along with The Soft machine, which I posted above were one of the worst performances. Hendrix was loud and belligerent to the audience, a small college crowd, but from what I can remember, he was dazzling. Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell were pretty much drowned out. Take this with a grain of salt; I was pretty blasted at that point !
 
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#46
Worst... Cheap trick. Early 80s, Rushmore coloseum (basically a big gym. Rapid City South Dakota. I was able to walk up to the stage, very few people in attendance. Bassist was new to the band, and I was convinced I could play the parts better, and I'm only an average bassist. Sound was awful. I did get a Cheap trick pick, so it wasn't a complete waste of time.

Best. Brad paisley, before he hit it big. Curry County fair, Clovis New Mexico. Maybe 100-200 people in make shift bleachers. Probably the best musicians I'd ever seen. I told my wife, "this guy is going to make it big someday". I think it's the only time she's admitted I was right.
 
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#48
jnewmark said:
I did see him once, along with The Soft machine, which I posted above were one of the worst performances. Hendrix was loud and belligerent to the audience, a small college crowd, but from what I can remember, he was dazzling. Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell were pretty much drowned out. Take this with a grain of salt; I was pretty blasted at that point !
Click to expand...
:thumbsup: I like a good Hendrix story, good or bad.
 
#50
One of the best shows I've ever seen was Peter Gabriel's. I'm not even a fan but they played a show with Tony Levin on the bass and they sounded unbelievably good! Peter sang riding a scooter on the stage even. They were about 15 people, and they sounded a little too perfect and looked too comfortable on the stage which was unreal.

The worst? Probably one of my shows.
 
#51
I've seen a bunch of good shows. Rikkie Lee Jones around 82 tops the list. Little Feat when Lowell was still alive was awesome. Worst show I've been to was Springsteen. He might have been great, but the sound man wss trying to kill us with waaay to much BOOM BOOM
 
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#52
Enrique M said:
I literally just walked in the door from that Priest show, which was last night in Spokane. Halford still has it. And the selections on the set list were simply stunning. Although, I guess that is what you can do with 50 years of rock solid jams to choose from.

Also gonna agree with you placing Priest just below Maiden. Not only is Maiden's classic line up still together and still doing their thing. Their sound engineers were a notch or two above those for Priest. Venue was the same. Maiden sounded like the record, every moment, every jam.
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I actually would put Priest/Maiden probably equally great live. For me, I got to see Priest front and center multiple times so it was a completely different experience than seeing Maiden in an arena situation. But as live bands, I'd have trouble putting one over the other.
 
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#53
TheReceder said:
Worst... Cheap trick. Early 80s, Rushmore coloseum (basically a big gym. Rapid City South Dakota. I was able to walk up to the stage, very few people in attendance. Bassist was new to the band, and I was convinced I could play the parts better, and I'm only an average bassist. Sound was awful. I did get a Cheap trick pick, so it wasn't a complete waste of time.

Best. Brad paisley, before he hit it big. Curry County fair, Clovis New Mexico. Maybe 100-200 people in make shift bleachers. Probably the best musicians I'd ever seen. I told my wife, "this guy is going to make it big someday". I think it's the only time she's admitted I was right.
Click to expand...
Isn't the Rushmore in Rapid City where the last Elvis special was filmed?
 
#54
TheReceder said:
Worst... Cheap trick. Early 80s, Rushmore coloseum (basically a big gym. Rapid City South Dakota. I was able to walk up to the stage, very few people in attendance. Bassist was new to the band, and I was convinced I could play the parts better, and I'm only an average bassist. Sound was awful. I did get a Cheap trick pick, so it wasn't a complete waste of time.

Best. Brad paisley, before he hit it big. Curry County fair, Clovis New Mexico. Maybe 100-200 people in make shift bleachers. Probably the best musicians I'd ever seen. I told my wife, "this guy is going to make it big someday". I think it's the only time she's admitted I was right.
Click to expand...

Ha! I Saw AC/DC in the Rushmore Colosseum in Aug of 1986-- Who Made Who tour. Loudest concert I have ever been to. Except the other time I saw AC/DC about 15 years later in Boston.
 
#55
The best...probably my 1st concert (this will age me a bit) ..Supertramp's Crime of the Century tour...just blown away by the immense wall of sound and skills of some great rock before they went all pop

the worst was Bela Fleck and the FleckTones....was expecting some great up tempo music, banjo stuff, a hot band, bounce in your seat kinda stuff......the whole 1st half was slow, dull, dirge like songs...never tapped one little toe once...we left at the intermission ...probably the second half was what I was hoping for....looking back, we sort of wished we had walked out in the middle of a song to show our displeasure
 
#56
edencab said:
the worst was Bela Fleck and the FleckTones....was expecting some great up tempo music, banjo stuff, a hot band, bounce in your seat kinda stuff......the whole 1st half was slow, dull, dirge like songs...never tapped one little toe once...we left at the intermission ...probably the second half was what I was hoping for....looking back, we sort of wished we had walked out in the middle of a song to show our displeasure
Click to expand...
A testament to the artistry and importance of setlist construction and show pacing.
 
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#58
Best: Ian Dury and the Blockheads. The whole audience was up and dancing by the end of the first song, and it didn't stop till the end.

Worst: David Bowie. I gave him the benefit of the doubt, as it was an outdoor concert, and it rained the whole time and we were far from the stage. Went again, a different tour, outdoors again, but the sound was still awful. I still reckon he still owes me money. :laugh:
 
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#59
Best:
Tower of Power (pretty much all 3 times but esp. opening for Bill Withers at The Kennedy Center the night Withers had his melt down and quit the music biz). The classic lineup with Lenny Pickett on sax.

King Crimson - Discipline tour and 3 of a Perfect Pair tour. Both at Merriweather Post.

Davy Knowles and Back Door Slam - Artscape, Baltimore

Berlin Airlift with Grand Funk RR and PG&E headlining, oh, and some band called The Allman Bros. - RFK Stadium - This was my first rock concert and so will forever hold a special place in my heart.

EWF at The Cap Center when Doug Henning did the stage show design.

Deep Purple and Rory Gallagher at Balto. Civic Center - I skipped my high school prom to go to this one.

Mose Allison at Blues Alley

John Hiatt w/ The North Mississippi Allstars at Wolftrap

John Prine and Richard Thompson at Wolftrap

Nick Lowe solo acoustic at The Barns at Wolftrap

Dave Edmunds with Marty Jones and Don Dixon opening DAR Constitution Hall(?)

Jeff Beck - Blow by Blow - DAR

Los Lobos and Los Lonely Boys - Wolftrap

OK, this could go on all night!

Worst - Jonny Lang at Chesapeake Bay Blues Festival. He sounded like he was trying to channel Marvin Gaye in his "What's Goin' On" phase but fell very short of the mark.

BBB
 

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