Your 5 Fav Rock Concerts


There are certainly more than a few geetar fanciers among us judging by all the threads on guitar bands and best guitarist. This thread is about the best rock shows you saw. Let's limit it to the rock shows. Not Blues or Jazz or solo performers. The concerts that raised the hairs on your neck or made you want to take up an instrument or raised your pulse through their sheer energy or just moved you through their performance on stage. The only ones that count are the ones you've seen. After making a list in my mind of the many rock concerts I attended, most from the late 1960's through early 80's, I have come up with mine. It was tough, I’ve seen well over 200 rock concerts over the years and it is really hard coming up with a top 5 but we have to limit this so here go mine. "Yes" - This group stands out as the 2nd best concert I ever saw with Steve Howe and Chris Wakeman. They opened for Emerson, Lake and Palmer and after their set I do feel that EL&P were disheartened and knew they couldn't match it; they didn't. Funny thing is like most, I was there to see EL&P. They were forced to have another concert the following night by popular demand. Virtuoso musicianship, “Poco” - This group could put on a show. I saw them 4 different times in the many various stages of their evolution. They never had the commercial recognition of some of the other great bands of their era but they sure made up for it in their live performances. No one stayed seated during a Poco concert. “Rod Stewart and Faces” - Ron Wood on guitar and Rod Stewart strutting all over the stage. Rod was probably the greatest natural Rock showman I ever saw, including Mick Jagger. His uninhibited manner and constant movement and soulful vocals brought the house down. The crowd wouldn't let him go after the 5th encore so he invited everyone ("especially the pretty young ladies") to his hotel to “party on”, and so they came; Led Zeppelin I had to include them because next to the Doors and of course Jimi Hendrix they were my favorites of that era and I never did get to see either of the other two. The acoustics were bad and they played so loud you couldn’t really hear the music. But they were great none the less and it was special to me. The best should be kept for last. "The Who" was acknowledged as the best concert band at the time. Getting tickets meant getting in line and waiting. I imagine at the time the only tougher ticket would be the “Beatles” and they weren’t even together then. They didn’t disappoint. The reaction of the audience was beyond anything I ever saw at a live concert before or since. The band was so cohesive and the energy they put out put them into a different realm. They just have to be on a very short list of the best live bands ever.
tubegroover
5) H.O.R.D.E. Shoreline Ampitheatre 1998 - Morphine, Blues Traveler, Neil Young and many more

4) Several different Pink Floyd shows

3) Oakland Colliseum 1989 - Jeff Beck and Stevie Ray Vaughn joined on stage by Carlos Santana

2) Frost Ampitheatre, Stanford 1971 - Tower Of Power, followed by Cold Blood, followed by Santana, followed by a 1.5 hour jam w/TOP horns, Lydia Pense vocals and Santana

1) Winterland S.F. 1972 - Blues Project followed by Mahavishnu Orchestra followed by Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Here's the prespective of the fogey-world:

No particular order except chronological:

Chad and Jeremy and Their Friends (reason is their "friends" included a brand new group called Buffalo Springfield.

Circkyle (check spelling but the lead singer was Graham Nash) leading into another new group -- The Doors leading into Jefferson Airplane

Buffalo Springfield headliner with (weird but true) the Association as lead in

Woodstock

Yes in concert -- Munich Olympic Hall (close in venue -- lost some hearing in this one

That's five.

Ciao.

F7
I'm a gonna cheat-
Jeff Airplane Fillmore East 1969
Woodstock I
G. Dead Symphony Hall Boston ca 1971
Rolling Stones Boston Garden ca 1972- nothing like a show in an antiquated hockey rink.
Bonnie Raitt Troubadour LA ca 1973/74
Bob Dylan/The Band LA Forum ca 73/73 tour
Steve Winwood Hartford CC ca 1985 perfect sound
Allison Kraus/Union Station Univ Hartford ca 1990 (200 seat venue, like having an angel singing in your living room)

Last night a friend/client treated me to Bruce Springsteen @ Rentschler Field (new UCONN stadium) in E. Hartford. I am not a huge fan, but I was VERY impressed. James Brown move over, the Boss is definately the "hardest working man in show business". In addition to some very nice music (Iactually prefer the ballads)the obvous professionalism, energy, and sincerety/modesty of the band and the entire ccrew, not to mention how much fun they were obviously having, made it a very enjoyable evening.
Swampwalker -- there are those of us "old fogey purists" who will tell you that there was only ONE Fillmore -- and it wasn't EAST. I'm not one of them though I used to be. Anyway -- first time I saw JA was at the Fillmore (not a true concert so I didn't count it -- the Fillmore was more just for performances etc.) Anyway, this was before Grace Slick. How things could have been different.

F7
Fathom7,
Help out another old coot here: Wasn't Graham's Fillmore deal set up to siphon acts away from Chet Helms and the Family Dog? Wasn't Helms and Co. using the old Avalon Ballroom then? Inquiring (aging) minds need to know....