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Your most memorable live show

Ok, who has the biggest ticket stub collection? I have maybe 75% of all shows i ever went to, few of them the ink has completely faded...

I did for years up until I moved out on my own. I wish I still had some my earliest. The price comparison with today’s concerts would have been hilarious.

I didn't start saving stubs until the mid-80's, but it'd be tough to do better than Jimi for $1.50...

GD-NYE.jpg


Still have these. Much nicer than thermal printed Ticketmaster stubs...
 
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Don’t laugh… It was Barry Manilow.
I wouldn't laugh. He's an excellent songwriter, arranger and musician, and a masterful showman who's completely self-aware that his strength is in a particular kind of schmaltzy schlock. One of his regular bits was to perform a medley of the TV commercial jingles he'd written, and it's both funny and fascinating. Maybe less so now that the commercials are all over 40 years old, but at one time it was amazing to hear stuff you heard on the radio earlier that day being performed by the guy who composed them, except instead of a top 40 song it was "You Deserve a Break Today".

"Barry Manilow Live" is about the only Barry Manilow album I can stand, it's much better than non-Manilow fans expect it to be. (And I'm the guy upthread who said his most memorable concerts were a noise/collage band and John Cage.)
 
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Limit 3 isn't fair. Need at least one per decade! These may not be the "best," but were definitely the most memorable.

80s. Iron Maiden - Somewhere in Time. East Rutherford NJ. Imagine having to explain to your mom when she picks you and your fiends up afterwards why the cops and fire dept are there extinguishing burning cars.

90s. Quicksand, Surgery, Therapy? at the Academy NYC. From asking the one drug dealer why he thought we'd buy from him instead of the 10 others we just turned down and having him say in perfect Queen's English, "well I do have a better selection, prices, and quality than my compatriots here." to people literally diving off theater box seats into the pit.

00s. The Starting Line, Early November. Starland Ballroom? Getting older. Hanging in the back with the adults when during a conversation one of them asks, "Which ones are yours by the way?" I didn't understand the question was related to kids, but the girlfriend immediately replies "Whichever ones we can force into the van the easiest." After that, we had an amazing amount of elbow room.

10s. Hard to decide between Slowdive's reunion and Snapcase's here. Both were absolute bucket list shows of bands I desperately wanted to see back in the 90s but never could.

20s. Dreamwell, Stay Inside, For Your Health. St Vitus NYC. By now I'm the grandpa with the granny reading glasses falling of my nose cos i'm too afraid of losing them and not being able to navigate public transit home without them.

To all the other folks getting up there in age, I implore you to keep going to see shows, and not just of the same bands you've been listening to your entire life. It's not that difficult to find new music if you've an open mind and a little time to explore.
 
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...John Cage.)
I missed this. I saw John perform his music for a Merce Cunningham show in the early '80s. I was sitting right in front of him (1st row at Mershon Auditorium) watching him and his cohorts with tables full of all manor of electronic deee-vices, and other cool stuff, like large conch shells full of water being mic'd. Surround sound, too. I was so fascinated I almost forgot to watch the dancing on stage.
 
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Acoustic guitarist Michael Hedges at The Varsity Theater in Davis, CA late '90s.
He conjured an incredible orchestra of sounds out of his two hands and 6 strings (plus a few extra on his harp guitar).
One of the most remarkable and magical things I'd ever seen a human being do.
"Barry Manilow Live" is about the only Barry Manilow album I can stand, it's much better than non-Manilow fans expect it to be. (And I'm the guy upthread who said his most memorable concerts were a noise/collage band and John Cage.)
Haha my Mom had that album, I loved it! In the freshman dorms I would crank Barry Manilow Live, jump on beds and bounce off walls while belting out the schmaltz. It amused my hippie and punk friends to no end.
 
For me, my most memorable are (all in Melbourne, Australia):

The B-52s 1990. First big concert, so memorable for me. :)

Primus 1996. Punchbowl Tour. Was so loud my ears were ringing for a few days.

BB King in 1997. Amazing set, so full of energy. Pawned old Game boy stuff to pay for the ticket at the time. :)

George Clinton 2002. Played for over 3 hours from memory. George popped up for a chunk in the middle, then disappeared and the band played for another hour or so.

Les Claypool Funghi Band 2009. Amazingly cool set

An honourable mention for me is seeing The Barenaked Ladies in 1996 at the HiFi bar, was dragged to it by my girlfriend at the time, didn't know too much about them other then their main hit was being played everywhere. Venue held less than 1000 people and i'm not sure if it sold out or not. Most people there were expats from Canada or the USA, Aussies were in the minority. We got in and had no trouble going right to the front of the stage in the centre. Apparently they did their USA arena show on this small stage. It was an amazingly entertaining show and really memorable with loads of crown interaction, nudity and was just generally one where you were laughing constantly through the whole thing. Was not expecting that show to be a really memorable one at all.
 
Gillian Welch - was not a big fan of hers but the wife wanted to go so I went. It was billed as just Gillian but David Rawlings was there too. It was the most powerful and intense show I’ve ever seen. They gave 100% the whole two hours and left the audience both drained and awestruck.

Honorable mentions for nostalgia - Brian Wilson and Al Jardine and band doing the complete Pet Sounds. Micky Dolenz and Michael Nesmith and band doing the complete Headquarters. Two months later Papa Nez was gone.