What have been your favourite Live Music Experiences?

Aiken_Drumn

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It is such a relief to be able to go to concerts again. Last week I went to see a band playing hits from Buena Vista Social Club. They were excellent and the crowd was so happy!

Best gig is incredibly hard to nail down, I have been to so many concerts! Off the top of my head, Rammstein were a lot better than expected, not because they are bad, just I had totally misjudged their ability to perform.

GnR, The Prodigy, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Limp Bizkit, Jamiroquai, R.E.M... hundreds of gig's ive forgotten. Prophets of Rage were SSIIIICK.
 
Evanescence, Amy Lee was very beautiful to listen to.

Close 2nd was some electronic concert @ Red Rocks in Colorado. Forgot the name, was 2 letters & 2 numbers. The edibles really helped.
 
I really liked Dio concert back in 2007 - 2008 I think. I managed to see him while he was still performing. I was really into heavy metal at the time.
 
Yeah, Dio was great live. Saw him a couple of times, one of which was on a Holy Diver anniversary tour, where he didn't have a support act and instead did two sets. Fantastic show.

But the all time best I've seen is Bruce Springsteen. He's been my favourite artist for as long as I can remember (my parents got me into him very early in my life), and I finally caught him live at Wembley Stadium a few years back. And he did not disappoint.
 
1970 - Coney Island Jug Band.
1971 - Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention.
1971 - Muddy Waters.
1971 - B.B. King.
1972 - Skyhooks and Daddy Cool.
1974 - Willie Dixon, Buddy Guy and Lafayette Leak.
1980 - John Cooper Clarke (London).
1981 - The Cure.
2008 - John Cooper Clarke (Adelaide).
2019 - John Cooper Clarke (Berlin).
 
Worst gig I ever went to was Alien Sex Fiend back in the 80s. I was with a friend who made and sold bootleg recordings but even he agreed to walk out.
One of the best was Geno Washington and his RamJam Band. Not really my sort of music but the band were so obviously enjoying the gig and really interacting with the audience that it made it special.
 
Oh honorable mention was this group in Panama I heard at a festival there. They were like rock, rap, punk and indigenous all mixed together. There was a mosh pit and I smashed my foot up real good but it was worth it.
 
Got tickets for DOWNLOAD next summer!

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Sick of it All & Raw Deal, 1987, was my first punk show
a bunch of local punk shows, 1987-1992, but Jerry's Kids and The Freeze stand out
G.B.H., 1988
Poison Idea, 1989 was probably the most fun punk show I ever went to. Sheer Terror opened, and while they were fun, their fans were not. The skinheads all left after Sheer Terror finished, and then it got wild and everybody was all smiles.
The Might Mighty Bosstones, a few times in the early '90s
Sam Black Church, a few times in the early '90s
Nine Inch Nails, Jane's Addiction, The Butthole Surfers & The Rollins Band, 1991 - Siouxsie & The Banshees were also on that tour, but didn't play the show I went to
The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam & Smashing Pumpkins, 1991 - Pearl Jam killed; Smashing Pumpkins didn't seem to want to be there (although in the years since, I've listened to the Pumpkins' albums more)
The Electric Hellfire Club, 1992 - actually saw them twice; first time was amazing, second time a few months later was crap
Fugazi, 1992, was the most crowded show I've ever been to
Consolidated, 1992 - MC 900-Ft Jesus was actually the headliner, but Consolidated completely blew the roof off the place.
L7, twice in 1992 - I've seen someone get fully KO'd in a mosh pit twice, and both times it was at an L7 show

that was pretty much the end of my punk run

Parliament-Funkadelic, 1993 - on a whim, literally was just walking by the theater, I went up to the ticket booth 5 minutes before the show started and ended up getting front-row seats
Sometime in the 2000s I saw Sugarhill Gang. It wasn't a great show, but still kind of fun to be able to say that I saw Sugarhill Gang

 
Sepultura, Sodom, Slayer and Kreator when they were huge here..
those were not just concerts, i really prepared for the madness :lol:

The peoples were all helpful etc (especially towards girls i guess) if someone fell down by accident, so we were not worried to enter mosh pits.
But was still a good idea to be careful.
 
Sepultura, Sodom, Slayer and Kreator when they were huge here..
those were not just concerts, i really prepared for the madness :lol:

The peoples were all helpful etc (especially towards girls i guess) if someone fell down by accident, so we were not worried to enter mosh pits.
But was still a good idea to be careful.

I've always considered proper rock/metal pits to be safe. If someone falls down, you pick them the fudge up! 👨‍🎤
 
Beatles, August 1966 in Washington DC
Woodstock August 1969
 
Way too many to count. Lady Lamb put on a great show when she first made music back in like 2015ish in a tiny Detroit bar on a stage at floor level and I was basically standing with her. I saw her a year or two later, along with The Tallest Man on Earth, and I drove all the way home wanting to end my life (a show is good if you leave it either wanting to die or live forever, no in between). There was a great Eskimeaux - Elvis Depressedly - Mitski show I saw back before Mitski was known by anyone; it was just her and a drummer at the time. She did this weird impromptu speech about slaying dragons and how dragons are in us all.

Teen Suicide and Elvis Depressedly did an amazing show with fantastic sonics in Detroit. Back in 2015 I saw Future Islands at Pitchfork with a hottie from the hostel I was at, she cried it was so good (I almost did) and then we went clubbing and drinking all night. Courtney Barnnett was there that year and was great; Chicago was literally 100F and humid and she said she was glad to feel like it was home. Chvrches was really good live too at that same Pitchfork.

Foxing and The World is a Beautiful Place and I Am No Longer Afraid to Die was a great one two punch with probably the best crowd I’ve ever been a part of. I took my wife to the latter a few years later and man it takes guts to perform songs live that are 9 minutes long, they’re amazing.

Saw The National at Bonnaroo in 2019 and danced all night to them, that was magic. Courtney Barnnett was back there too and once again super super hype. Probably the 2nd best crowd I’ve seen.

Not too many disappointing acts tbh. I love Waxahatchee but I’ve seen them twice and they have no stage presence or charisma which is a bummer. The Cordial Sins were not great live. Caroline Rose was terrible at Bonnaroo but it was the atrocious sound mixing more than anything. I’m not a huge fan of the guy who sang TAKE ME TO CHURCH but he was at Bonaroo that same year and I got way way way way too stoned at his show and now cannot remember a second of it lmao.
 
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