Best live music show?

[ftldave]

My musical tastes are prog rock, heavy metal guitar, and bluesy electric guitar ... along with memorable movie sound tracks, retro lounge, and electronic.

Best prog rock: YES - round rotating stage at Indianapolis Market Square Arena. Guitarist Steve Howe looks like an elf and is always dazzling in performance. Rick Wakeman had been replaced by Swiss keyboardist Pat Moraz then and he more than matched Wakeman - fantastic piano, synth, organ that's a big part of Yes music.

Honorable prog rock mention to Emerson, Lake & Palmer's show at the Swing Auditorium in San Bernardino, during their Pirates tour. They had abandoned the accompanying orchestra by then, just the three of them on the pirate-ship design stage. Their Karn Evil Impression 3 song from the Brain Salad Surgery lp, about AI and World War 3, was a favorite at the nuclear-bomber air base where I served in the mid 70s.

Best heavy metal: Black Sabbath at the Swing Auditorium, San Bernardino, California. Ozzy may be a stumbling circus bear now but in 1976 his voice was clear. He always, always enters the stage with a big happy grin. And the show was like the thunder of the Gods.

Best blues-rock: Robin Trower, Swing Auditorium. Singer James Dewar passed some years ago, and I'm thankful I got to see him on stage. And I think Robin Trower is still playing shows in 2024.

Let's drop the other shoe:

Worst show: Mahogany Rush, Indy Convention Center. They must have brought a stadium-size sound system into the terrible-acoustics metal box convention building. So loud, painful, I bet past 130 decibels, louder than the B-52 jet engines at March Air Force Base where I was stationed. Love their music, but the show was just too loud. Didn't stay until the end.

Saddest show: Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention, 1973, Indy Convention Center. Whoever thought it was a good idea for that concert to open with Dion - yes, from "Runaway Sue" Dion & The Belmonts - was daft. The stoner Zappa crowd ignored Dion, just didn't react. After 3, 4 songs - with no applause - he waved, said "God bless." and walked off stage. The audience didn't care. I always liked his doo-wop oldies songs. His hit "Abraham, Martin & John" reflected the grief many Americans felt after the terrible string of assassinations during the 1960s. I truly felt sad for him. After that, it was hard to enjoy Zappa's zany music.

[ossie]

Being a live music fanatic living at the wrong end of the world has had its advantages and disadvantages. Distance and costs have meant we've often been overlooked for big tours by acts from the Northern Hemisphere, particularly back in the period I was "growing up", but it's also meant that we have got to see much more of our local bands than we might have had we been living in a more highly populated country. We simply don't have enough large cities for our major bands to live off the "release a new album then hit arenas/stadiums then have a year or so off then make a new record" cycle so many big international acts enjoy. Instead during our 70s/80s "pub rock" era we'd often get to see our major bands do a swing through local clubs and pubs between large venue tours just to keep the money rolling in and/or to road test new songs. If you were keen enough and lucky enough with tickets you might get to catch them 6 or 8 times in the space of 10 or 12 days. Plenty of those shows in smaller venues, especially by the likes of Cold Chisel, The Angels, Midnight Oil & Paul Kelly would be competing for my best show, but one in particular that stands out was Cold Chisel at the Palais Theatre (Melbourne) in 1980. A few tracks from that show apparently made it onto their Swingshift album (it's on youtube and worth a listen if you love live rock music and want to check out one of the best guitarists you've never heard of) and it was a show that kept us raving for weeks. An Incredible performance by a band at their peak and the energy from the stage and audience was one of those nights that left you drenched in sweat and wondering if you'd ever see anything like it again.

A few international mentions that were up there for various reasons. Outside of some shows in my high school hall and local pubs, my first major concert was Kiss at VFL Park, Melbourne in 1980. While they were never going to win any awards for musicianship, over 40k of us were blown away by all their pyrotechnic tricks and sheer volume etc. Good entertainment for $8! The Springsteen fans in the country were pretty gutted when rumours of him including us on the 1980/81 River tour came to nothing so we packed into the Melbourne Showgrounds for his 84/85 Born In The USA shows. Absolutely amazing nights but to go back to his 70s bootlegs (particularly the 78 tour) and hear how great they sound in comparison to the 84/85 shows does make me a bit jealous of those of you who got to see him on the way up. 😊 Page & Plant in 96, Cheap Trick in 89, Iron Maiden 82, and 2 that I went to reluctantly to use up spare tickets and then was very glad I did, Pearl Jam in 2002 & Paul Weller in 2008 are all worth a mention.

[flanker]

The Queen-Gig at LiveAid in London 1985.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkbP5OPQhdQ

[tarrant75]

Have only been to a few concerts in my almost 50 years (mostly because I hate crowds (and a good number of people, but that's another story), but two bands come to mind.

Motörhead - saw them twice, once opening for Black Sabbath and once as a headliner. Poor Sabbath was blown COMPLETELY off the stage, but then again, Motörhead was touring for the Sacrifice album, and Sabbath for the Forbidden tour. Incredible band, and damn LOUD!!!!

Type O Negative - speaking of loud, couldn't hear more than a buzz for three days straight afterwards (five feet from the bass amp), but a truly amazing show in a small club in Vancouver that held about 200 people. Only time I've been to a show where you could stand completely still and you could feel the floor bouncing (on a second floor club) with the energy of the concert-goers. Drain S.T. H. were the openers - amazing band also,

[Bananarama]

Pink Floyd's "The Wall", 1980, and Rush "Moving Pictures", 1981.

[kennyeaton]

I've been to 100's of concerts since 1973 and have seen multiple bands multiple times. Seen the Doobie Brothers over a dozen times with the bulk of those shows in the 70's. Hands down, the best concert I've ever witnessed was The Doobie Brothers at the House of Blues in Myrtle Beach, 2005. The good news here is that you can purchase a DVD of this same show and lineup. "Live at Wolftrap".

[Jdark34]

i went to a doobie brothers concert in orange beach alabama