Your most memorable live show

[Jeff Scott]

As an audience member?

For me it's a tossup between three. The Roxy Music Country Life tour, Little Feat Dixie Chicken, or Gentle Giant touring Free Hand. Three shows I am amazed I had the opportunity to experience.

How about you?

Hmm... Only three, eh? Hmm... Not, like, maybe 100, eh? Hmm...

How about these?

- Genesis on April 14, 1973, when they were a band I had never heard of that was the opening band for It's A Beautiful Day. Another band I had never heard of that opened for Genesis that same show was Sylvester and the Hot Band. This was at the very small Adelbert Gym on the Case Western Reserve University campus.

- Glass Harp and Humble Pie in 1971 with Peter Frampton in the band, playing in a small gym at John Carroll University.

- Yes at Evans Amphitheatre in Cain Park in the summer of '13. They performed all of Close To The Edge, Going For The One, and the complete The Yes Album plus encores. I had 4th row seats right in front of Chris (R.I.P., Chris).

But, there have been so many incredible concerts I could just go on and on.

 

[LBS-bass]

Do I get another honorable mention? That'd be Psychedelic Furs back in the early-mid 80's but I swear I don't remember where that show took place. I was close to the stage, though. They had a cello player with them.

 

[DJ Bebop]

As an audience member?

For me it's a tossup between three. The Roxy Music Country Life tour, Little Feat Dixie Chicken, or Gentle Giant touring Free Hand. Three shows I am amazed I had the opportunity to experience.

How about you?

Hawaiian Symphony Orchestra playing
Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun.
This was my very first concert, other than hearing my dad play around the house.

Grateful Dead Springers Inn.
In fact this concert...



Frank Zappa doing the material from Fillmore East – June 1971 and a little bit from Just Another Band from LA.

Return to Forever Romantic Warrior

Yes / Gentle Giant.

Ray Brown, Herb Ellis, Monty Alexander, Terry Gibbs.

Frank Zappa Joe's Garage

Charles Mingus / McCoy Tyner.

Pat Martino with Joey Defrancesco.

All special moments for me.

I'm sure there are other more cooler ones.
Those came out first.

 

[Jeff Scott]

Hawaiian Symphony Orchestra playing
Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun.
This was my very first concert, other than hearing my dad play around the house.

 

[REV]

King Crimson at the Wiltern Theater Los Angeles CA
Weather Report at Perkins Palace in Pasadena CA
Talking Heads at Perkins Palace in Pasadena CA
Hot Tuna (acoustic) at the Jefferson Theater in Roanoke VA

 

[DJ Bebop]

Thought of a couple more.

Tower of Power / Cold Blood

Elvis Costello and the Attractions
A Catch A Rising Star concert.

 

[DJ Bebop]

Yup, that was and is, my jam.
Made an impression on my little kid mind.

 

[DJ Bebop]

Sh!t how could I forget this!

Jaco with Herbie Hancock!
AWB opened for them.

Jaco small group with Mike Stern!

 

[Jeff Scott]

Yup, that was and is, my jam.
Made an impression on my little kid mind.

A friend of mine has a 35mm print of Allegro Non Troppo, such a fun movie.

 

[logdrum]

Jaco with Sco months before he passed in a small venue in around Chapel Hill NC.
Knitting Factory - William Parker and Little Huey Orchestra
Tower of Power - Subic Bay Naval Base - I was 10
Rent before it became big with the original cast in NYC

Countless more

 

[BlueTalon]

Rush, with Pat Travers opening for them. That was the lineup with Pat Thrall, Mars Cowling, and Tommy Aldridge. Mars, in that show, was what opened my eyes to how fast finger playing actually could be. And yes, I know Geddy Lee played that same night.

Rush, with FM opening for them. FM was another Canadian 3-man band. They had Nash the Slash on mandolin and violin. Great music all around.

The Tubes. I believe it was the Completion Backwards Principle tour. The musicianship was top notch, and they were very entertaining.

 

[Chad Michael]

Spyro Gyra @ The Opera House here in Spokane... around 1988.

Best sounding venue (acoustics) within 200 miles or more. Oskar Cartaya on bass, Dave Samuels on vibes / marimba.

Ear heroin....

 

[ajkula66]

Andre Navarra, in a small 14th century Eastern Orthodox church in Ohrid (North Macedonia now). No words for that experience, then or now. 1980. Probably the most intense one-on-one with music I've ever had.

Freddie Hubbard. 1980. A clueless teenager walks into a minefield. Good Lord. Stunning.

A toss-up between Weather Report in 1981 (also saw them in '79) and Talking Heads in 1982. As different as it gets but phenomenal on all levels both times around.

Honorable mention and then some: Lionel Hampton and his band, either 1979 or 1980. The amount of fun that these people were having on stage was unreal. Musically, it was what one would expect, an absolute top-shelf performance.

 

[EdwardofHuncote]

Fleetwood Mac, with all five members of the Rumours-era band. So glad I finally got to see/hear that. Had been waiting since 1987.

 

[Biggbass]

there are so many but one of my most memorable was front row center for
Eagles - Hell Freezes Over

 

[JMarkD]

Can't really narrow it down to just one. These are the ones that literally changed me.

Weather Report in the eighties at Merriweather Post Pavillion in Maryland.
King Crimson the Discipline line-up also at Merriweather.
Jaco Big band in Washington DC.
Snarky Puppy at Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA.
Springsteen at The Mainpoint in Bryn Mawr, PA.
And my first major concert, The Association at Villanova U. in 1968.

 

[scuzzy]

As I lay dying with Between the Buried and Me, Underoath, Norma Jean at The Pageant in STL.

Muse on their absolution tour at the Pageant STL. not big in the states at that point. bought tickets at the window just before show start. It was stunning.

Gojira at the Factory STL. pick in my avatar. They were great live, put on a show.

I'll throw in Bela Fleck, my bluegrass heart tour, at Powell Hall, STL. Lots of good pickin and a singin.

 

[chazolson]

Los Lobos on the last night of their first national tour, on Cinco de Mayo. They came out obviously exhausted, but the first tune got a great response - you could see the entire band think “oh, you want us to play? OK, we’ll play.” Just a great night.

 

[SteveCS]

I should give an honorable mention to David Sylvian ...
I love David more than I can express and it was an amazing show.
...

I was fortunate enough to have seen him twice. First time with Japan on the "Sons of Pioneers" tour - last night at Hammersmith Odeon, '82. Second time was with Robert Fripp and Michael Brooke on guitars, Trey Gunn on Stick and Pat Mastelotto on drums at Manchester Apollo, '93. Both highly memorable for different reasons.

Do I get another honorable mention? That'd be Psychedelic Furs back in the early-mid 80's
...

I saw the Furs around the same time, probably late 1984, promoting the Mirror Moves album. Memorable because I ended up hanging out and talking bass with Tim Butler, who was more than happy for me to play is then-new Zon graphite bass.

Other memorables are David Bowie, "Serious Moonlight", Milton Keynes 1983, memorable for the scortching sun that pickled the wine boxes we smuggled in leading to several days of fart mistrust!

And Frank Zappa, "Broadway The Hard Way", Wembley Arena 1988. Memorable because I had no idea what to expect but it wasnt that!

Lastly I have to put in an honourable mention for John Martyn, who I saw several times between 1984 and 1996 at venues ranging from the Bristol Hippodrome (full band and 2000 seated) to Bath Pavillion (John with guitar and about 140 seated). John was always able to captivate an audience, no matter the size, and even in the big venues there was a sense that every song was a personal gift. Unforgettable!

 

[Tom Kinter]

As an audience member?

For me it's a tossup between three. The Roxy Music Country Life tour, Little Feat Dixie Chicken, or Gentle Giant touring Free Hand. Three shows I am amazed I had the opportunity to experience.

How about you?

Fun Topic!

Also, for me, a 3-way tossup:

1970 or 71: Sitting in the front row (press pass) on the gym floor in Potsdam NY (with my now-wife no less) literally 5ft. and a small riser away from the Byrds (of, say Untitled), Clarence White right in front of me.

1969-70: my Dad took me to see Count Basie with like a nonet at a country club where Dad often played Dixieland (Egad, I filled in once on bass with shoulder-length hair and a striped red shirt!). Got to shake hands with Mr. Basie! (Damn, my rents were good at that: when I was too young to know any better i got 'dragged' to see Ellington, Armstrong and Nathan Milstein (that was Mom).

5/16/1987: Miles Davis at the Kirby in Wilkes-Barre (again with my wife). We hung out with our friends who owned the finest deli in WB right across the street before the concert and um imbibed in various ways. It was tutu era: Foley and Marcus Miller. Miles actually came down and strolled up and down the aisles with the red trumpet.

Honorable mention: around the same time: with the same couple and same wife in a real dive in Scranton to see John Hammond solo. The clientele in the bar had no clue who he was and kept requesting totally inappropriate current stuff. He just kept saying, politely, "Sorry, I don't do that one." Anyway I got a grateful nod from him for suggesting an appropriate choice.

now, were my wife here typing, she'd have to fess up to being one of the screaming 14 yr olds at the Beatles' Forest Hills concert in '64...