Fave/Best Concerts

[+ quoththeraven]

Rather than argue about politics or (God forbid) Kanye West, how about sharing your favorite concert experiences?

 

In approximate chronological order:

 

The Doors, SPAC, 1968 - My first ever rock concert. Jim Morrison wore his iconic outfit: black leather pants, poufy white shirt, conch belt. They performed "The End," "Unknown Soldier," and "Light My Fire." 'Nuf said.

 

Renaissance, Binghamton, 1975 or 1976 - Basically the same performance as that memorialized on Live at Carnegie Hall. Annie Haslam slayed.

 

David Bowie, Carrier Dome, Serious Moonlight tour, 1983 - What can I say? Bowie at the height of his popularity and power. He even took a stab at "Free Bird" when someone (jokingly) called for it.

 

Howard Jones, SPAC, 1984 - Jones opened for the Eurythmics. I arrived an Eurythmics fan; I left a Howard Jones fan, deeply impressed that Jones performed all by himself. (Mime Jed Hoile provided theatrical, but not musical, assistance.) As a pianist, I've always had a fondness for synths and keyboards.

 

Jefferson Airplane, SPAC, 1989 - Because I got the tickets through work (a national CPA firm), I had front row seats for Grace Slick & co, my idols from the 60s and early 70s.

 

Robert Randolph and the Family Band, Bergen PAC, 2014 - Best concert I've been to in awhile. Randolph plays pedal steel guitar (looks like a keyboard, but isn't) and is on Rolling Stone's list of 100 Best Guitarists. Funk crossed with R&B crossed with gospel. Closest thing to Sly & the Family Stone since Sly & the Family Stone.

 

And maybe...BTS, March 2017, Prudential Center. Tickets are not on sale yet. I have to call the box office to find out about this because I expect tickets to sell out quickly. They did when BTS headlined KCON NY at this location earlier this year.

[+ Cash4Trash]

The Who doing all of Tommy at Fillmore East

 

The Pretenders at Radio City

 

John Mayall, Alvin Lee and Tracy Nelson and Mother Earth at Fillmore

 

The Rolling Stones - can't remember name of venue on 14th Street

 

The Boomtown Rats at Fillmore

[+ quoththeraven]

The Who doing all of Tommy at Fillmore East

 

The Pretenders at Radio City

 

John Mayall, Alvin Lee and Tracy Nelson and Mother Earth at Fillmore

 

The Rolling Stones - can't remember name of venue on 14th Street

 

The Boomtown Rats at Fillmore

 

I envy you at least half of that list.

[+ Keith30309]

Rather than argue about politics or (God forbid) Kanye West, how about sharing your favorite concert experiences?

 

In approximate chronological order:

 

The Doors, SPAC, 1968 - My first ever rock concert. Jim Morrison wore his iconic outfit: black leather pants, poufy white shirt, conch belt. They performed "The End," "Unknown Soldier," and "Light My Fire." 'Nuf said.

I'm jealous!

 

Renaissance, Binghamton, 1975 or 1976 - Basically the same performance as that memorialized on Live at Carnegie Hall. Annie Haslam slayed.

 

David Bowie, Carrier Dome, Serious Moonlight tour, 1983 - What can I say? Bowie at the height of his popularity and power. He even took a stab at "Free Bird" when someone (jokingly) called for it.

I'm VERY jealous!

 

Howard Jones, SPAC, 1984 - Jones opened for the Eurythmics. I arrived an Eurythmics fan; I left a Howard Jones fan, deeply impressed that Jones performed all by himself. (Mime Jed Hoile provided theatrical, but not musical, assistance.) As a pianist, I've always had a fondness for synths and keyboards.

 

Jefferson Airplane, SPAC, 1989 - Because I got the tickets through work (a national CPA firm), I had front row seats for Grace Slick & co, my idols from the 60s and early 70s.

jealous!

 

The Who doing all of Tommy at Fillmore East

Extremely jealous!

 

Iggy Pop, Black Flag and 10,000 Maniacs @ 688 (Atlanta)

Pearl Jam - Miami

Rolling Stones - Atlanta (Tech stadium)

REM - first show @ Fox Theatre

[+ sam.fitzpatrick]

Manhattan Transfer at my college's Auditorium

John Mellencamp at several Different outdoor venues

Tony Bennett

B. B. King in a small community theater two years prior to his death

Rolling Stones at Ohio Stadium last year

[jawjateck]

Foreigner.....I was a huge fan in my younger days.

Eagles

Fleetwood Mac

Cheap Trick.....free tickets, not much of a fan, but they were surprisingly good in concert

Ray Charles.....soul-stirring to hear him perform live

Oh yeah.....Pointer Sisters rocked the Fox one time....pretty dang good!

[jawjateck]

B. B. King in a small community theater two years prior to his death

 

One of my great regrets is missing the opportunity to hear the King perform live. I loved his music.

[MikeBiDude]

Grateful Dead, any live concert before Jerry passed. I was a deadhead for a while...

[+ bashful]

In the early 80's, Four Tops and Temptations at Jones Hall in Houston.

[body2body]

Janis Joplin and Big Brother and the Holding Company, Jefferson Airplane, Otis Redding, Laura Nyro, The Who, The Jimi Hendrix Experience (and many more) at The Monterey International Pop Festival June 1967.

The Ike and Tina Turner Review at The Cheetah 1968

Bette Midler (with Barry Manilow as pianist/music director) at The Troubador West Hollywood 1972

David Bowie (as Ziggy Stardust) at Santa Monica Civic 1973

The B-52s at The Hollywood Palladium 1980

Talking Heads at the Pantages Theater 1983

[+ quoththeraven]

Janis Joplin and Big Brother and the Holding Company, Jefferson Airplane, Otis Redding, Laura Nyro, The Who, The Jimi Hendrix Experience (and many more) at The Monterey International Pop Festival June 1967.

The Ike and Tina Turner Review at The Cheetah 1968

Bette Midler (with Barry Manilow as pianist/music director) at The Troubador West Hollywood 1972

David Bowie (as Ziggy Stardust) at Santa Monica Civic 1973

The B-52s at The Hollywood Palladium 1980

Talking Heads at the Pantages Theater 1983

Especially jealous of Monterey Pop and seeing the Turners.

[body2body]

Especially jealous of Monterey Pop and seeing the Turners.

Monterey Pop was amazing, I was 16 and hitch-hiked there from LA with two high school girl friends. It was the beginning of the "Summer of Love".

The Ike and Tina Turner Review was a revelation, Tina Turner was a force of Nature, and the Ikettes could move like nothing I'd ever seen before. The Cheetah was a unique venue, very stylish with a multi level stainless steel dance floor ringed by leopard velvet sofas, and mirrored cube tables, all bathed in the most sophisticated light show in LA. Ah, the Sixties.

[+ honcho]

I'm not much of an opera goer but two of the four most memorable (classical) concerts were:

Santa Fe Opera - Ravel's L'enfant & les sortileges c. 1966

San Francisco Opera - Wagner's Die Walküre conducted by Karl Boehm c. 1980

 

also

 

Philadelphia Orchestra , on tour in SF, Mahler's 1st Symphony c. 1974

Heinz Holliger Recital at Old First Church in SF, c. 1978

[rvwnsd]

Cyndi Lauper, pregnant with her son Declan, opening for Tina Turner at the World Music Theater

 

Tina Turner, at the World Music Theater

 

Do-It-Yourself Messiah, Symphony Center Chicago

 

B-52s, Balboa Park, San Diego Pride

 

Joe Jackson, Chicago Theater

 

Cowboy Junkies, Humphrey's By The Bay San Diego *

 

Pretenders, Riviera Theater

 

*Highly recommended venue - very intimate and outdoors. Wish I snagged seats to Aretha Franklin

[Nvr2Thick]

Talking Heads - Forest Hills Stadium, NY 1983

 

King Crimson - Pier 84, NYC 1982

 

Pat Metheny Group - Pier 84, NYC 1982?

 

UB40 - Ottawa Civic Center Salon, Ottawa 1987?

 

Thomas Dolby - The Ritz, NYC 1984

 

The Bobs - Towne Crier Cafe, Pawling NY 1987

 

China Crisis - The Savoy, NYC 1985

 

The Style Council - The Savoy, NYC 1984

 

Ernie Isley - The Bottom Line, NYC 1990

 

Woodentops - The Bottom Line, NYC 1988

 

Crowded House - The Bottom Line, NYC 1988

 

The Blue Nile - The Bottom Line, NYC 1989

 

The Roches - The Bottom Line, NYC (various)

 

Bobby McFerrin - Carnegie Hall, NYC 1988

 

Squeeze - SUNY Potsdam, Potsdam NY 1982

 

Rickie Lee Jones - Belcourt Theater, Nashville 2003

 

I saw dozens of shows at The Bottom Line in the '80s and early '90s. More are popping into my head all the time. It's a shame that the venue is gone. Great stage, absurd obstructed views behind columns. Ernie Isley was a standout. Never saw another man tear up that stage the way he did, and never saw another performer sweat so much. We saw The Roches once or twice every time they toured. Always a fun and sweet show. Rolo McGinty from The Woodentops was put off at the cafe style and the tables. He actually ran out on one of the long skinny front tables a few times, knocking over drinks. He thought they were going to be able to clear the floor and go to an SRO setup for his second set.

 

The Concerts on the Pier were amazing cheap shows. $4 then $7 then $14 for some big names and diverse lineups. The sound was great too. I had a nice buzz for Pat Metheny and the music just carried me away. They had to wait for the sun to set because it blinded the musicians on the west-facing stage. I remember Tony Levin, the tallest of the King Crimson members, wearing sunglasses so they could start before sun had fully set.

 

Squeeze played to a nearly empty hall because Potsdam was a college town and they were booked after one college's finals were complete and everyone was gone, and before the other college's finals so everyone was cramming. A little unknown band named Flock of Seagulls opened. A couple months later MTV would launch, and both bands would explode with "Black Coffee in Bed" and "I Ran" video airplay, respectively.

 

Rickie Lee Jones is one of my top five artists. I had never seen her perform live until this Nashville show in a small old movie theater. I ended up in the third row dead center, and I'd swear she was singing just for me.

[BabyBoomer]

the Temptations

 

With or without David Ruffin?

 

~Boomer ~

[+ quoththeraven]

I would love to see, or have seen, Tina Turner, Aretha Franklin, Patti LaBelle or U2 live.

 

Ditto the Stones in their heyday (pre-1980s) and Neil Young and Crazy Horse shortly after the release of Everyone Knows This is Nowhere.

If we're going to get into classical concerts:

 

Boston Camerata Christmas concert, Union College

Gonoud, Faust, SF Opera touring group, Proctor's

Mozart, Don Giovanni, SF or NYC Opera touring group, Proctor's

Puccini, Tosca, NYC Opera, SPAC

 

I've seen many other operas at NYC Opera (never been to the Met), Proctor's and SPAC, as well as the Philadelphia Orchestra at SPAC.

[+ poolboy48220]

"Yes", around 1979, one of their concerts in the round, so they had to come through the crowd to get onstage, and passed about 10 feet away from us. I had just begun to listen to their older, longer stuff, and the second or third song was "Close to the Edge", one of my favorites - it runs 20-30 minutes and I don't think they'd played it in concert in years.

 

About the same time, Moody Blues at Pine Knob Music Theater (an outdoor venue). I was never a huge fan but their live shows were great, I saw them a couple times there.

[rvwnsd]

The concerts I missed, but wish I had seen, were Ella Fitzgerald at Ravinia and The Replacements at Taste of Chicago when they broke up on stage.

[+ quoththeraven]

"Yes", around 1979, one of their concerts in the round, so they had to come through the crowd to get onstage, and passed about 10 feet away from us. I had just begun to listen to their older, longer stuff, and the second or third song was "Close to the Edge", one of my favorites - it runs 20-30 minutes and I don't think they'd played it in concert in years.

 

About the same time, Moody Blues at Pine Knob Music Theater (an outdoor venue). I was never a huge fan but their live shows were great, I saw them a couple times there.

 

Long live the dinosaurs of prog rock, which I probably love more than it deserves.

[+ honcho]

I would love to see, or have seen, Tina Turner, Aretha Franklin

 

Ironically enough, I *did* go to an Aretha Franklin concert while I was in college, likely around 1973, and

it was memorable.

 

Joan Baez was present at a protest meeting while I was in college around 1970 but did not sing,

but did sing at the candelight vigil the night supervisors Milk and Moscone were murdered; although

neither was a concert.

[+ WmClarke]

Carole King (early 70s)

 

Diana Ross (late 70s)

 

The Police (early 80s)

 

The Tubes (early 80s twice; 2009)

 

Rootboy Slim (mid 80s)

 

Petula Clark (mid 80s)

 

The Roches (early 90s)

 

Mary Chapin Carpenter (2015)

 

Andrew Bird (2016)

 

Blondie (2016 at PrideFest--Sunday just hours after Pulse shooting)

 

Cyndi Lauper, pregnant with her son Declan, opening for Tina Turner at the World Music Theater

Saw that combo in Milwaukee. Great show!

 

Rickie Lee Jones - Belcourt Theater, Nashville 2003

 

...

 

Rickie Lee Jones is one of my top five artists. I had never seen her perform live until this Nashville show in a small old movie theater. I ended up in the third row dead center, and I'd swear she was singing just for me.

Just saw her a few years ago. Fantastic show.

[+ bashful]

With or without David Ruffin?

 

Don't remember, but really don't think so. If I remember correctly it was 1983, and he was no longer with them. Still a great show.

[+ quoththeraven]

If I get to see BTS, I hope the two rappers who've released free mixtapes perform some of their own songs. I would love to see Suga/Agust D perform this beautiful piece. It makes me cry pretty much every damn time.

Also appropriate for Thanksgiving!

[+ WilliamM]

Judy Garland at Boston Garden

Ella Fitzgerald (many times)

Joan Baez (many times)

Tony Bennett at Lincoln Center, NYC

Sarah Vaughn at the Kennedy Center

Thelonious Monk at Lincoln Center

Talking Heads at the Philadelphia Zoo

Janis Joplin at Forrest Hills

Paul Simon in Paris

Simon and Garfunkel in NYC

Ray Charles (many times)

Peggy Lee at Carnegie Hall

Bruce Spingsteen (many times)

The Who (many times)

Rolling Stones

Patti Smith (many times)

Judy Collins

Barbra Streisand

U2 at Madison Square Garden

Pearl Jam

Jefferson Airplane

Baden Powell (in Rio)

Joao Gilberto (in Rio)

Justin Timberlake

Alicia Keys

Prince

Keanu Reeves & his band (in Philly at TLA)

Bob Dylan (many times)

Mary Martin & John Raitt (Philly Pops)

Keith Jarrett

Chicago

Jethro Tull

Peter, Paul and Mary at the Kennedy Center

Madonna (many times)

Jackson Browne

Neil Young

Carole King

James Taylor at Madison Square Garden

Rosemary Clooney at Carnegie Hall

Blondie

The Pretenders

Creedence Clearwater Revival at Forrest Hills

Diana Krall

Queen Latifah at the Beacon (NYC)

Marc Anthony

Duke Ellington

Green Day

Elton John

Cleo Laine

Joni James

 

(I was born in 1943, so had many more opportunities over so many years, it's very hard to pick favorites.......Garland & Dylan: most talent)