Live Music: What Are Your 5 Most Unforgettable Concerts?

[Dannyalcatraz]

Rush: Snakes and Arrows Tour.
This was awesome - Rush is an awesome live band, as is well know, and they didn't disappoint.

Return to Forever: the anniversary tour - DiMeola, Corea, Clarke and White. It was amazing. Seeing Al's fingers blur when he did some Spanish guitar was unbelievable. Fusion Jazz isn't for everyone, but this was the best line up of one of the best bands, and each member a Legend on thier instrument.

Styx: Kilroy was Here. My first concert, and they opened and closed with movies - very cinematic. It was a concept concert based on a concept album. I really enjoyed it.

Jake Shimabukuro: Nice small venue - a couple thousand at most; outside. Very Intimate - and he was amazing.

Judas Priest: Defenders of the Faith tour. Indoor, couldn't see the other side of the arena for the smoke. Had someone ask me for some hash. (I was 17). The ultimate metal concert, and the band did not disappoint.

I saw JP a couple of times after Halford rejoined. The last time was when they toured performing all of British Steel. Halford didn’t move much for the songs from that album, hanging over his mic like a gargoyle.

But once they moved on? He started using the whole stage.

That said, at no point was there any doubt as to the power of his lungs.

 

[R_J_K75]

Ive seen so many shows, most were great so its hard to pick 5. These are just a few and honestly not sure if theyre even the best. I will say concerts in the last 20 years or so have lost that raw sound/feel as venue sound has gotten better. So I think my concert days are over unless its really someone I want to see, which I dont think theres any left. For the life of me I dont know why we didnt to go in to see AIC in 91 when they opened for VH but thats one I regret. Think we were drinking in the parking lot.

6/26/91-Clash of the Titans, Alice In Chains, Slayer, Anthrax, Megadeth: Insane show, saw some girl dragged out of the pit for Slayer, pretty sure she was if not dead, severely injured
10/19/95-Page & Plant: Got into the VIP suite...free drinks.
7/20/03-Lollapalooza: Audioslave: Unknowingly we bought front row pit tickets
5/14/08-The Mars Volta: Probably one of the better shows Ive seen.
11/5/13-Chris Cornell. This show was in a small High School Aud, probably held 1000 people. We thought we were in the wrong place when we pulled up.

I saw JP a couple of times after Halford rejoined. The last time was when they toured performing all of British Steel. Halford didn’t move much for the songs from that album, hanging over his mic like a gargoyle.

Saw them in 2005 and and they were mediocre at best. Everyone has an off night. Ive seen the Black Crowes about 5 or 6 times, and they were awesome a few of those and sucked for others. One time right after Chris Robinson broke up with Kate Hudson he looked homeless and strung out. Thats one I didnt stick around for the whole show. I could only take so much of the 45 minutes cosmic space jam.

 

[R_J_K75]

Judas Priest: Defenders of the Faith tour. Indoor, couldn't see the other side of the arena for the smoke. Had someone ask me for some hash. (I was 17). The ultimate metal concert, and the band did not disappoint.

Saw GNR at the CNE in Toronto in 1990. Guy next to us was smoking the worst pot Ive ever smelled. It smelled like a tire fire. I felt so bad for him, as in you actually paid for that garbage?

 

[Ryujin]

Saw GNR at the CNE in Toronto in 1990. Guy next to us was smoking the worst pot Ive ever smelled. It smelled like a tire fire. I felt so bad for him, as in you actually paid for that garbage?

Was it at the Bandshell, or the stadium?

 

[R_J_K75]

Was it at the Bandshell, or the stadium?

Stadium iirc.

 

[Mad_Jack]

Worst show was Bob Dylan, actually - literally no interaction with the audience, they walked out, sat around in a circle under a single light, and essentially did an hour-and-a-half jam session of new versions of songs so far from the originals I didn't recognize a single one. Screw the refund, I want that time back.

Best shows? No particular order...

Trans Siberian Orchestra - seen 'em seven times and they always blow my mind.
Dropkick Murphys - most energetic show I've been to: the crowd in the mezzanine seats were stomping their feet so hard you could feel the place shake.
Vintage Trouble/ The Who - the arena is literally a mile from my house, so I obviously went to be able to cross The Who off of my musical bucket list, but Vintage Trouble put on such a good show that I would have dropped the $70 just to see them.
Herman's Hermits - seen these guys like three times at a free music venue inside the same local casino as the arena, and they still sound great and jump around like they did when they were famous. They always get the crowd (and everyone outside the venue at the slot machines and tables) singing along to "Henry the 8th" so loud you can't hear the slot machines.
Heart - my first real concert in an actual concert venue... It was their self-titled album tour in the '80's, and I was about thirteen or so and totally in love with Ann and Nancy. Saw them again when I was in my late thirties and they were still just as good.
Kool & The Gang - my first live music experience... A few years before the first Heart show, I saw these guys do a small outdoor gig at a thing called SubFest on the local Naval Base. It was awesome since I'd never seen a famous band live and up close before. You could tell they were having even more fun than the audience.


As an aside, when I was fourteen I was at Misquamicut Beach in Rhode Island, walking down the side of the road past the side door of a bar, when I heard a band doing a short afternoon set. They played like five or six songs. They were freakin' awesome.
It wasn't until years later, when I saw the movie Eddie and the Cruisers on VHS, that I realized it was the first of the six or seven times I've seen John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band, lol.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Due to some oddball acoustics one night, I got to hear most of a set by The Cult playing at an arena near my college campus…while on an elevated walkway on my college campus.

I sat down and listened for most of their set. I had to sit because of the bats feeding above & below the walkway.

 

[The Green Hermit]

My top two, for different reasons: Queen (with Adam Lambert) and Carrie Underwood.

Honorable Mention: Jimmy Buffet. We were warned that his concerts were different, but we weren't expecting a stadium-wide costume party!

Honorable Mention: Bob Dylan/Doobie Brothers/John Mellencamp. Apparently the venue my cousin got married at was also hosting a weekend-long music festival. We weren't at the concert itself, but heard every bit of it -- even with the hotel windows closed. Everybody kept making excuses to step outside for a bit. Lol!

 

[Mannahnin]

#1 has to go to Massive Attack in 2019, for the 20th anniversary of Mezzanine, at the Boch Center (former Wang Theater) in Boston. Absolutely incredible on every level, and having Liz Fraser back on this side of the pond to sing with them was the cherry on top. I got out of it seriously tempted to spring for tickets to the New York show immediately thereafter, despite the cost involved. Still kind of regret not doing so.

#2 would be Nine Inch Nails touring for The Fragile, with opener A Perfect Circle supporting their debut album, at the Worcester Centrum in 2000. Amazing energy for a stadium show. Two incredible bands at the top of their game, supporting amazing albums.

After those two it's definitely a drop off. I've seen a good number of great shows, but those two were the top. Three more great ones in no particular order to round out the list.

Green Day, 1994, the infamous free show at the Hatch shell on the Boston Esplanade that turned into a riot. An incredibly massive crowd and a fantastic time.

Bauhaus in 2005, Near the Atmosphere Tour, Orpheum, Boston. Amazing to finally get to see them. Got introduced to the band by my first girlfriend, when I was a teenage wannabe-goth. Seeing them 12 or 13 years later was everything I hoped. I got to see Peter Murphy in a smaller venue, at the Middle East downstairs, I think four years ago, and he was great then too.

Heilung, January 2020, L'Olympia Montreal. A gorgeous, moving ritual of a performance.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Green Day, 1994, the infamous free show at the Hatch shell on the Boston Esplanade that turned into a riot. An incredibly massive crowd and a fantastic time.

Dude! You were there too?

That was definitely in my "Top 20 Riots I have been in and/or instigated."

Let's see, I'm going to add some more to my original five, now .... in no particular order.

Bruno Mars. Caught him in Vegas when he came back for his first show post-COVID. He is a true consummate performer. Pretty low on the riot scale.

Nirvana/Pearl Jam/RHCP. Call it a time capsule, but this was a brief moment of a week or so when RHCP was a headliner, Pearl Jam was a revelation (at the time, I knew Even Flow and that was it I think), and Nirvana blew everything away in the middle. Sadly, I never saw Nirvana again. RHCP I saw a lot more - they're really good live, but I haven't seen them in ages.

Dropkick Murphys/Mighty Mighty Bosstones. I have a vague recollection of a late 90s St. Paddy's day show that had both the Bosstones and the Dropkick Murphys at one of the Lansdowne Street venues. Good shows.

Elliot Smith. Memorable, but not in a good way. I love Elliot Smith. I'm glad I saw him before ... you know. But he just wasn't, well, feeling it that day in concert. I'm being nice. He sucked.

Beck. I've seen him a fair amount, but the best concert I saw was probably when he was promoting Midnite Vultures. He was absolutely amazing as a performer.