Best concert you ever attended?

[Tuco]

ARGH

*lynyrd skynyrd
*suicidal tendencies
*Def Leppard

s'only rock 'n roll

[brimic]

Worst show, Areosmith at the PNC center in NJ. To loud and bad sound.

Worst I've seen is Smashing Pumpkins. Lousy phoned-in performance.

[Fitz]

Worst i saw was Crue at Outlaw Jam... preceeded by Poison.

Both bands were terrible, but the worst was how mind-numbingly AWESOME everyone but vince neil was.


Mick mars, *expletive deleted*ing DYING of a nasty degenerative condition, and he's still rocking

Meanwhile, that fat tub of crap Vince Neil can't even make it through one song without exhausting his fat face.

[RoadKingLarry]

I think I've been to maybe 5 ever.
In no particular order
Styx, Paradise Theater, got so messed up I don't remember much about it.
A big country festival in '81 that had quite a few names, Bellamy Bros. and Sylvia are the only 2 I remember,
Charlie Daniels
Little Feet
Or maybe it was only 4. Either way I can't stand those kind of crowds.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

got a hot date with a cute 5 year old for willie nelson the 19th   hoping it will be my new best

[RoadKingLarry]

The wife likes to go to concerts, the last 2 were Meatloaf and Heart/Def Leopard, Next month she is taking her sister to see Barry *expletive deleted*ing Manilow .

She always buys darn good(expensive) seats.

[Scout26]

Wait you knew my mom?

Dad?

If you're my son, then just call me G-d.  We were just kissing....

[grampster]

Bob Dylan Spring Break, Band Shell, Daytona Beach, 1963:  Dylan at Wings Stadium in Kalamazoo in 1978.  He and I chatted for 15 minutes before the show at the end of the tunnel behind the stage where our crappy seats were,  and he did part of the 2nd set on the back side of the stage for those of us unfortunate enough to have the crappy seats back there.

Three Harry Chapin concerts in the late 70's, one with just him at Aquinas College gym with a small crowd in the bleachers. It was a fund raiser for his campaign against hunger.  That was a lot of fun with Harry interacting with the audience.

ZZ Top, VanAndel Arena, mid to late 90's iirc.

Solo Elton John at VanAndel Arena, 1999.  We were 2nd row right in front of his piano.  I asked him to play "Tickin" and he said he'd never played that in the USA before so he did.  That concert was a trip.  I got him to autograph an album for a young girl who was not in the area for autographs as we were.  Made her day and mine too.

[MechAg94]

Soundgarden and PearlJam with Soundgarden as the headliner at the Unicorn Ballroom in Houston (empty grocery store).  Swerve Driver was one of the opening bands and I ended up buying one of their CD's also.  I didn't know a thing about Soundgarden at the time.  This was within 6 months of PearJam's Ten came out which to my knowledge took a little while to catch fire. 

An Evening with Rush which was a 3 hour Rush show with no opening band.  Played the full 2112 which I loved. 

Yes played in a smaller venue in Downtown Houston some years back.  They were all old as hell, but it was still good. 

[zxcvbob]

Hmm, probably Ernest Tubb back in the 80's (where was that... Alvin, TX, I think) 

I also saw Johnnie Lee Wills and the Texas Playboys back around the same time, but I don't remember if that was at Eddie's Country Ballroom in Manvel, or at the Texas Hall of Fame on the line between Bryan and College Station.

OTOH, there was the high school band concert when my daughter was a junior where she played the piccolo obbligato on The Stars and Stripes Forever.  That was pretty good too, for different reasons.

[sanglant]

Buddy Guy, B.B. King.

[brimic]

Both bands were terrible, but the worst was how mind-numbingly AWESOME everyone but vince neil was.

I saw vince neil at the local county fair- just as you described- couldn't make it through one of his songs without forgetting the words, I ended up leaving after listening to 20 minutes of his garbled idiocy. Saw Blues Traveler the same day who were at least as good as vince  neil was bad, so there was at least a lot going in the positive column for the day.

[Monkeyleg]

Grampster, I saw Bob Dylan once, in Chicago in 1975 when he did his first concert in about a decade. It was a really big deal with the national TV stations there and tons of reporters. It was a really good show, with Dylan doing all of the classics, both acoustic and electric. When he did "Ballad of a Thin Man" playing on a white baby grand, that was the highlight of the show.

Here's a partial list of acts I've seen in concert, in no particular order:

Leon Redbone
Maynard Ferguson
Buddy Guy
Willie Dixon
Muddy Waters
Bo Diddley
Chuck Berry
John Prine (don't even ask)
Stones
Rod Stewart
Springsteen
Gino Vanelli
Boz Scaggs
Ricki Lee Jones
Led Zeppelin
Steppenwolf
Janis Joplin
Jimi Hendrix
The Doors
Joe Cocker
Moody Blues
Bob Seeger
Tom Petty
Etta James
Koko Taylor
Van Morrison
Doobie Brothers
Lynard Skynard
Ashbury Jukes
Al Jareau
Al Greene
The Pretenders
The Cars

[zxcvbob]

John Prine?

[Balog]

When did you see Zepplin and Hendrix? I'd have loved to see Jimi play out. And as epic as When The Levee Breaks is on the album, I can only imagine how it'd be live...

[Lee]

I'd love to see John Prine. All my friends turned out to be insurance agents also.

[grampster]

Oh, I forgot one concert that was the all time best.  Fleetwood Mac at Joe Louis Arena.
I think it was '81 or so.  Men at Work was the lead in band.

Dick, Dylan performed for free with several folk bands in the bandshell in Daytona in '63...The Highwaymen; Peter, Paul and Mary; and a couple others I don't remember. 

[Hutch]

I saw Prine live on stage at an old movie theater, the kind that used to be popular in downtown areas.  It was great!  Dick, please share your experience.

In answering the original question, and dead opposite of other posts here, the best was Fleetwood Mac, opened by Kenny Loggins.  Woulda been around the time Rumours was released.  The most disappointing, by FAR, was a Bob Dylan concert.  My sister was big into Dylan and whatshername, the socialist Latina, and stood in line overnight for tickets.  Best seats I've ever had for the most arrogant, dismissive ahole I've ever listened to.  He deliberately offended the crowd, singing familiar lyrics to unfamiliar tunes, and vice versa.  ONE TIME he put on his harmonica, strummed his guitar, and played It Ain't Me, Babe as we all remembered it, and the crowd went crazy.  That was the only time he did so.  To hell with him.

Now I remember, it was Joan Baez.

[Monkeyleg]

John Prine wasn't my taste in music, but I went with a buddy who was a fan.

We saw Hendrix and Led Zeppelin in 1970. I'm pretty sure that was late in the first tour for Led Zeppelin.

I'm forgetting some other acts. We saw a lot of them. For the Stones and Springsteen, we'd drive all over the Midwest, sometimes seeing the same concert two or three times in different cities.

[Tallpine]

Marty Robbins at the Broadmoor

Tom T. Hall, Johnny Rodriguez, and Barbara Mandrell when she wasn't cool

Judy Collins (in Anchorage, AK)

Don Francisco a few times at free concerts at WSC in Gunnison

"Take it away" Leon MacAuliffe at a little country church in Colorado. :)

Ian Tyson a couple times (his voice is gone now :( )


I guess that I listen to different stuff than most of y'all     

[Hutch]

Dick I'm amazed that a person of your culture and erudition doesn't appreciate Prine. "Dear Abby", "Illegal Smile", "Spanish Pipe Dream"...  What's not to like?   

[zxcvbob]

Marty Robbins at the Broadmoor

Tom T. Hall, Johnny Rodriguez, and Barbara Mandrell when she wasn't cool

Judy Collins (in Anchorage, AK)

Don Francisco a few times at free concerts at WSC in Gunnison

"Take it away" Leon MacAuliffe at a little country church in Colorado. :)

Ian Tyson a couple times (his voice is gone now :( )


I guess that I listen to different stuff than most of y'all     

I just found this on youtube.  I lived just north of Dallas in 1986, and tried to goto this concert, but I was out of town on a field assignment for work when the tickets went on sale and they were sold out when I drove over to Ft. Worth the day of.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qm--91QdHJI&feature=related

I'm gonna have to download the whole thing.

[zxcvbob]

Dick I'm amazed that a person of your culture and erudition doesn't appreciate Prine. "Dear Abby", "Illegal Smile", "Spanish Pipe Dream"...  What's not to like?   

Don't forget "Paradise".  It's mostly historical, although he took a few liberties.  (Peabody's didn't haul the town away, the T.V.A. did)

[Jim147]

I don't like crowds so getting me to a concert is rare.

The Firm at Kemper was a good show. About '85 or '86. I don't remember some of the show and sure don't remember getting dropped off at home but seeing Jimmy and Paul Rodgers was great.

An awesome show had Molly Hatchet, Foghat and a third headliner I can't recall.

I took my wife to see Bette Midler. I didn't think I would like it but she does a great stage act.

I saw Dolly Parton and Eddie Rabbitt one year when I was in Wyoming. Not bad but a bit of a let down after the broncs and the bulls.

The best show I can remember was Rockfest at Sandstone KCK about 1998. A few of the bands because I can't think of them all. Stabbing Westward, Fuel, Antrax, Seven Mary Three, Candlebox. There was a band that put on an incredible show but I can't think of the name.

jim

[Sindawe]

For me the best concert is a toss up between the Nine Inch Nails Self Destruct Tour in support of The Downward Spiral and Depeche Mode's Devotional Tour in support of Songs of Faith and Devotion.  Both were killer shows despite having crappy seats.

The loudest shows have got to be Metallica's Black Album tour and Trouble whom I saw at a little hole in the wall metal club.

The most diverget shows I've see were Tori Amos for the Under the Pink Tour (the woman was VERY angry at that one) and eight years later Lords of Acid.

Never been to a 'bad' show, but the one that I enjoyed the least (just left me feeling rather flat about the performance) was Dream Theature in the late 1990s.