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Reading the post about favorite rock bands reminded me of a concert I went to in the late 70's called The World Series of Rock in Cleveland. Aerosmith, Ted Nugent, Journey, Thin Lizzy, AC/DC, and Scorpions. I think that was all the groups. I was pretty HAPPY that day. Man, those were the days.....we carried in a cooler of alcohol and goodies. Everybody had flasks.......awwww........to be 12 again.

(Just kidding about the age)

Tough call.
Led Zeppelin at MSG (75 & 77) or Pink Floyd at Giant's Stadium (94) would be up there but the Cream reunion at MSG in 2005 was REALLY special.

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Cream reunion at MSG in 2005 was REALLY special.

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roger that.

Billy Idol. Buffalo Chip Campground. Sturgis, SD. August 2002.

Smashing Pumpkins, in a small club for about 1000 people on the Melon Collie and the Infanite Sadness tour. By that time they were a huge band, they sold out stadiums on that tour and the concert was so intimate. They played for three and a half hours or so, it was awesome

Rolling Stones in Ottawa last summer - just wonderful.

Mad Dogs & Englishmen - '70 - Joe Cocker & Leon Russell with the best back-up singers in the business.....

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Like a bird on the wire
Like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried, in my way
To be free. (Leonard Cohen)

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Hank

Live concert: It's a tie:
The Who fronted by The James Gang and some weekends later Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young; both shows at Philadelpia's Spectrum the summer of 1970.
DVD concert: Peter Gabriel's Secret World
Honorable mention to ACDC's first US tour (Fayetteville, NC) and U2s first US tour (Chapel Hill, NC)...both a long, long time ago...

The Ramones at the Cellar Door in D.C. early eighties. I worked at the Cap center near D.C. for a couple of years, backstage pass for every show, those were the days.

WSP (widespreadpanic) NewOrleans preKatrina

WOW!!!! I was there July 28th 1979 and it was hot as h#ll. That was one great concert, although I have to admit after AC/DC I think I was half def! As soon as I saw the post that concert came to mind. There was an opening band that was not on the bill but I can't remember their name, too many mind altering things going on back then and more. There were many other good concerts that I have seen like, AC/DC,Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper, The Who, Judist Priest, Jethro Tull, Kansas, Blue Oyster Cult, DIO, the Firm and many more. The first Concert that I ever saw was Boston in 1978 and tickets were $7.50 each at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena, you can't park your car any more for $7.50. I saw AC/DC w/Bon Scott, open for Ted Nugent. I remember smoking right in the concerts people passing out all over the place, I was at a couple concerts myself that I missed if you know what I mean!! Those were the days!!!

It was 1985 or 86:
A couple local bands then
Violent Femmes
Wall of Voodoo
Oingo Boingo

Then in the same year there was
Several local bands then
Violent Femmes
X

Soren

Ozzfest 1999
Marilyn Manson
Primus
Disturbed
Slayer
Rob Zombie
and...
THE BLACK SABBATH REUNION! I had seen Sabbath about ten times before, but this was the first time with original drummer Bill Ward . He hadn't played with the band since 1978...it sounded like an avalanche!

Danzig in El Paso in 2002 at a COUNTRY bar called Out West or something. Its torn down now.

Not may favorite performer, but man that was a fun show.

1977, Pink Floyd Animals Tour at Cleveland Browns Stadium...

Tom

I could never pick one favorite, but the most memorable would be Taj Mahal, as a solo act - Just Taj, a Kalimba, and his steel guitar, Lenox Music Inn, early to mid 70s

He had the entire crowd of 12,000 people dancing for two plus hours.

He's one of those rare people whose every atom exudes a groove. Ray Charles had it. Tito Puente had it.

June 6, 1990 @ the Speedway Cafe in Salt Lake City
Fugazi (DC)
The Stench (local SLC)
Insight (local SLC)
Fifteen (Berkley)

Also the very first Van's Warped Tour in 1993
Quicksand
Into Another
Orange 9mm
Seaweed
Civ

Cant pick just one punk show as a favorite. Saw tons of them in the mid 80's, almost every other weekend. Most of them five bands for $5.

Soren

RUSH - Moving Pictures.

Blue Man Group

RUSH- Ivor Wynn Stadium Hamilton Ont. 1979, nice tunes, nothing fancy just a good evening.

So many good ones it is hard to pick the best, but here are my favorites.

KISS - Wembley, London 1980. The first time i ever saw them, and only the second time they had been to the UK. They were awsome.

KISS - Nashville, 1995. The Reunion tour. Even better than the first time and with the originals members. Ace Frehley was #%@*ing brilliant.

Genesis - Lyceum Ballroom, London 1979. My first ever concert. I was still a schoolboy.

Roger Waters - Wembley, London. The Radio KAOS tour. Very very good.

Twisted Sister, Lyceum Ballroom. Man, they were LOUD. My mate was the drummer in the support band. So i got to go backstage before the show and meet with Sister. What an incrediably nice bunch of guys. There is nothing flash or prima donna-ish about Dee Snider. Just a really nice guy.

Dire Straits - Wembley, The Brothers in Arms tour, very very good.

Paul Stanley, Atlanta 2006. Just brilliant. Nothing else to say about that. Wish he would hurry up and release the Concert DVD.

So many others that i think were just outstaning concerts. Toto, Whitesnake, BB King, Elton John, Ace Frehleys Comet, Robert Plant, the list goes on.

I can think of some concerts that i went to that i really didnt enjoy. Im almost embarresed to admit this. But i saw Rush (Permanant Waves Tour) and got bored, walked out of a Iron Maiden concert. Styx I thought were truly awful.

Saw Wham play. OK, i admit it, i was paid to go. I was actually working the concession stands at Wembley Stadium during their Final tour. Worked out fine. I got free beer.

John Fogerty last year at the Hollywood Bowl.

(the dude still has the chops and still flat out rocks...for hours)

Just checked the site before walking out the door to go to the Alice Cooper concert seen him about 18 months ago and he was excellent a real showman!! I love it when he cuts his head off

Man, seen a good one last night here in Atlanta...was'nt expecting much, but was simply blown away by "Loverboy" at the local amphitheater....they were awesome, if that's the kind of music ya like....

Well, the last concert often feels like the best one. A couple of weeks ago I saw The Who at Stockholm Globe Arena. Man, can they still play!!! Pete Townsend still waving his right arm like a windmill in one song and in the next pick the strings like any Julian Breem... Oh, yes. The support act was heavy as well. Ruh, my son's band did one he!! of a job in their first huge arena gig.

1973 (maybe 74 little fuzzy back then or maybe I am fuzzy now?) Three Rivers Stadium Pittsburh, PA.

BTO
Foghat
Stix
Kansas
Johnny Winter
Dave Mason

Its a toss up between 3 or 4 shows

-Ozzy(1991 or so) first time I seen Ozzy, New World music theater. Just a party....I've since seen ozzy/ozzfest several times.

-Black crows, Mud Island? Memphis,TN, Don't remember the year, Got some tix off a scalper on the side of the road, watched those guys in the rain and they were great.

-John Mellancamp- a little club, downtown chicago. I've seen Johnny Cougar several times and this was the best- he was energetic and talked to the crowd (unlike the big shows), and he rocked!

-Rolling Stones, Soldier Field, Chicago- thtat was a good show and met a few celebs.

Almost always enjoy a live show.....even saw YES at New World and maybe only 500 people showed up....... Ted Nugent was wild! And it goes on....

That Watkins Glen thing was fairly memorable too

At 600,000 people, it was a 'might' crowded. Don't think I'd do it at my age now

It wasnt a big concert but I saw The Fabulous Thunderbirds at a venue in Newcastle ( The Palais ).There wasn`t a person in the place that wasnt boogyin.
I`m interested to know if any of you older blokes may have seen Lynyrd Skynyrd live.There is a photo on the inside of their record."One More For The Road" of a concert taken from behind the band looking out at the crowd which looks good and in the intro that Johnny Van Zant does for the song "Gimme Back my Bullets" he mentions Alanta.
BJR

This one brings a smile and a tear.
I saw the Blizzard of Ozz tour in Sept 1981. Randy Rhodes was the most amazing guitarist I've ever seen live. He was such a brilliant performer. It is the only time I went back for an encore the next night. And a year-and-a-half later he was dead. Not from an overdose, but from a stupid stunt where a pilot tried to buzz Ozzy's tour bus and hit it. Twenty-five years later and it still brings a tear to my eye. Rock on Randy!

For Rock....A 1987 concert on the Davenport, Iowa riverfront with the first group out being Steppenwolf, then the Allman Brothers Band, and then the best for last.....Stevie Ray Vaughn. Quite nice.

Can't come up with just one...

KISS - Rock & Roll Over Tour, Jan '77 McNichols Arena, Denver
Still using the Destroyer Tour stage - awesome spectacle!

Cheap Trick - Dream Police Tour, August '79, McNichols Arena
Was supposed to be at Red Rocks but was changed to McNichols due to bad weather. Since there were no reserve seat tickets they opened the doors and it was a mad dash to the FRONT ROW, ala Pink Floyd The Wall, and CT were in their prime.

A Conspiracy of Hope - Amnesty International tour '86, The Omni, Atlanta
U2, The Police, Peter Gabriel, Bryan Adams, Lou Reed
*last official Police show until this year's reunion, both The Police and U2 were ON!

DEVO - New Traditionalists Tour '81, The Forum, L.A.
Greek temple motif and they played the entire show on treadmills! Saw them backstage afterwards, nice guys

Ramones - *Glenn Miller Ballroom, Boulder, Co & Rainbow Music Hall, Denver, Co
* SRO right up front, with Johnny practically dripping sweat on us. Had to see them again the next night in Denver!

Alvin Lee, Buchanan, Hooker, Guy, Zeppelin, Hagar, ZZ Top. Too many to remember, but standing out:

Zappa in '75 at Chicago's auditorium. Jerry Garcia and Friends opened for him. Zappa had his 6'8' bodyguard aptly named "god" kick some punk's butt to the cheers of the crowd for throwing a Coke on him in the middle of a guitar solo. I remember Frank paused and sald "God, get that guy." Definitely my hero for sometime to come after that.

Stevie Ray was pretty good at Poplar Creek, IL in '86. His brother and The Fabulous Thunderbirds opened for him. I heard most of his set in mono after some numb-skull lit-off a M-80 just a few feet from me.

Jethro Tull, Johnny & Edgar Winter. Tampa Stadium, Nineteen Seventy something. Music, that JumboTron thing and a hot air ballon that lowered down into the stadium at dark, then lit up the envelope and lifted up and away. Trails of flame! (not that I approve of those substances, mind you).

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I`m interested to know if any of you older blokes may have seen Lynyrd Skynyrd live.
BJR

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In a garage (practice) and a local bar - before they signed a record deal. Good stuff, better than the label (MCA, I think) let them record.

CSNY about a month after 9/11. Neil Young and Stephen Stills were on fire. Clapton anytime. The Beach Boys before Carl died. REM Monster Tour. Alan Vache and Warren Vache in the Jazz Corner on Hilton Head Island, SC.

Summer of 1975. A swealtering Boston Garden. The Allman Brothers Band with The Eagles opening.

Second favorite- being backstage watching Gregg Allman & Friends at the Pompano Beach (FL) Amphitheatre last October 2006.

Third favorite- Yes, Boston Garden 1974, Tales of Topographic Oceans tour.

We almost hired the Eagles to play a high school gig before they went mega. At the time, they wanted $10,000 a night. Back then, a big time concert cost at the most, $10 tops. $7 or $8 was more typical. We were afraid few would pay the $20 or $25 we would need for the size of the auditorium.
Oh well...


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Oddest concert bill I recall - John McLaughlin and The Mahavishnu Orchestra warming up for Frank Zappa on Halloween night. A number of Zappa fans apparently had reached their saturation point of hearing 17/64 time along with some highly obscure scale structures and didn't quite know what to make of Mahavishnu John, his other world-liness transcendental stage persona, not to mention the famous double bladed axe, and were a bit rude with their cat calls. At one point he took a mic and said "Ladies and Gentlemen, the audience"...





"Pick that git-tar Johnny Boy!

KISS Tour 1978 , Jethro Tull 1979 , Hootie and the Blowfish-at the blind tiger in shreveport LA 1992,,,,cream de-la cream was RUSH....all tours but especially the one where max webster opened !