Your most memorable live show

[tb-player]

Michael Jackson, the Bad tour, 1987
Kemper Arena, Kansas City.

We sat across the aisle from the entire band Earth Wind & Fire.

 

[funkmaster p]

April 17, 1975: Sha Na Na at SUNY Agricultural and Technical College - Canton, NY. I was 13.

 

[Jeff Scott]

John Lee Hooker

I saw him at a "Folk" Music Festival in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park (at the time it was still called the CVNRA. Also on the bill was Bucky Pizzarelli.

 

[logdrum]

I saw Herbie Hancock in Madras (Now Chennai) in India and then he attended some local raga concert (and because of the theory that certain types of ragas should be played a certain time like 2AM, it was after his already late show. He was enjoying it. Said hi and I said I was from here but he was just enjoying the music. This was 1993.

I also saw Nora Jones at the Kimo theater in ABQ. Of course she is a heart throb and you just fell in love before she even sang but what made it more memorable was we were next to Iceman/Batman Mr. Val Kilmer. I think those were hard times for him when he was living in Mora New Mexico. But my wife can chat anybody up. He was nice. I did not say anything but I think I watched Top Gun and Batman a few times after that and listened to Nora back to back and through the night for a few weeks. My son was very young so that's how we put him to sleep and my daughter knew all Nora's songs.

Saw her sister also a very good sitar player in San Diego. but missed Nora there. Speaking of San Diego - Jewel of course. Small intimate shows in Poway - north San Diego

 

[6-3-2]

Played in a student run club in Ann Arbor as the final show for a band I was in. Was packed, crowd was amazing, felt 10 ft tall and we got basically all of the money from ticket sales. Still chasing that high tbh.

 

[J-Bass RMR]

My 27th Birthday.
We were the only car in the parking lot at 2:00 am. ('82 Toyota wagon with a "trick" starter)
Never heard a thing...

Definitely the most "memorable".
(great seats too!)

 

[drumvsbass]

The Master Musicians of Jajouka @ The Montreal International Jazz Festival.

 

[sleddogn]

The Call (remember them?) at a small club in San Diego, around 1990. The way they interacted with the audience, and brought the energy up and down, was completely unlike anything else I've ever seen. Also the late Michael Been played an unlined fretless bass and sang lead at the same time.

Yep, saw them 3 times.

forgot to mention earlier Ramones at crazy small club in 1988

 

[GwenOnBass]

A few come to mind

Sonny Rollins, ~1974
Van Halen private performance in a ~100 person room, 1983
Steeleye Span, Dublin
BB King, Albert King, Bobby "Blue" Bland, and Jimmy Witherspoon, one set each, 1979
Tangerine Dream (every time I could catch them) 70s - 80s
Tito Puente early 80s
Parzifal, Munich Opera House, Easter 1978
lots and lots of Grateful Dead concerts (Jerr was playing Wolf when I got on the bus)

 

[Dincrest]

My favorite stage concert was Hostile City Death Fest in 2010. That's where I became friends with Strychnia and Abnormality, and met Erik Rutan (vocals, guitar) and J.J. Hrubovcak (bass) of Hate Eternal. Rutan is a legend yet was super down to earth. And J.J. was all excited after I acknowledged him saying, "Oh you play bass too?!?! That's awesome! I never meet other bass players in the crowd!" It was so wild to me that the bassist for Hate effin' Eternal was the one acting like an excited fan towards a nobody like me... and all because he was so happy to meet another "bass brother" in his travels.

And any basement show. I always loved basement and house party shows. I've played at and attended many and they were always my favorite.

(A band I used to play in had the goal of "tour the world and play your house party." Our drummer used an electronic kit so he could get his drums down to unobtrusive volumes, the guitarist and I would use our practice amps, the singer went un-mic'd and we could theoretically give you our stage show in your living room without pissing off the neighbors).

 

[TTPbass1]

Guns´n Roses opening for The Stones, L.A. 1989

 

[JMarkD]

I am guessing he meant the Main Point in Bryn Mawr

Yep. Main Point. I am old and easily confused.

 

[mikewalker]

For me, it was The Who at the San Diego Sports Arena in 1971, seconded only by The Eagles opening for Jethro Tull in Oakland in 1972. Honorable mention- 999 at The Whiskey ~1979/80.

I'm pretty sure I had the Red/Blue Vinyl double record bootleg set of that Who show

 

[Yogi Bear]

1989: King’s X at the Cubby Bear for the Gretchen Goes to Nebraska tour.

1988: The Smithereens at Northern Illinois University.

1988: Rush with Tommy Shaw at the Rosemont Horizon for the Hold Your Fire tour.

1991: Iron Maiden with Anthrax opening at the Rosemont Horizon.

1994: The Ramones at the Glenn Miller Ballroom.

2006: The Flower Kings at the Oriental Theater.

1987: Yes at the Rosemont Horizon for the Big Generator tour.

 

[Core Creek]

TLA was a great concert space. This was probably 1998 or 1999. I haven't lived in Philadelphia since not long after, but I miss it every day and I have some great memories.

I lived in Philly for a decade (now the burbs) and saw some great bands at the TLA… I even got to play there - one of the best shows I’ve ever done:

(I’m playing drums here…. Not the cool bass)

 

[Core Creek]

Mid 90’s, Boston MA, small little venue I saw Joe Satriani. It was general admission and I got there early enough to be standing about 4 feet from him the whole night.

 

[sylvanbass]

I'll go with the top three:

Alice in Chains (Lollapalooza 93)
Mr. Big (96)
King Crimson with John Paul Jones on bass/mandolin for half the show (2005)

 

[fdeck]

Jaco, "Word of Mouth" tour, while I was in high school. A friend from math class, who I didn't know was a bass player, had 2 tickets and invited me. I remember not being able to make out his fingerings on any of his signature tunes, some of which I had tried to learn at home. I didn't learn about 1-2-4 technique until I took some lessons later on. The whole scene was eye opening to me, a sheltered suburban kid visiting Detroit and attending a real concert, smell of pot smoke in the air, the whole nine yards.

Oscar Peterson, solo, late 70s, just amazing.

Of course this isn't counting my kids' performances.

 

[SkylineFiver]

Mahavishnu Orchestra

I was in a daze for a couple of days just like after seeing JAWS or The Exorcist for the first time.

 

[DirtDog]

Tossup between James Brown,
Earth Wind and Fire or Govt Mule with BlackBerry Smoke.