Live music you have attended that left impact....perhaps better than you expected.


I have seen great symphonies, Chicago, Moscow, Boston and others including some smaller cities performers that were quite good, Madison, Wi, Milwaukee and some other Midwest cities.  Actually did a bike trail with the first chair Cello player from the Chicago Symphony and his girlfriend from the singers and they stayed at my home and I made a very good meal for them....with a excellent Bordeaux...and this made for a great memory. 

As far as Jazz and Pop, the list is long and I am fortunate to have had the opportunity to see these.
James Taylor
Jackson Browne (several times) the best was "Running on Empty" tour. 
Little River Band 
Heart
Chicago
B.S.and T. 
Nancy Wilson
Woody Allen, Jazz bar in NYC
Harold Land (just great)
Julia Fordham (a few times)
Gene Pitney (I was amazed at how good he was and how much he sounded just like his recordings)
Hall & Oats
Peter whatever his name was, Switched On Bach
Joni Mitchell 
Diana Krall, a few times, and once with Elvis.
Wynton Marsalis
and more than are coming to mind...
 
I wish I could have seen, Chet Baker, Paul Desmond, Ella, Dinah Washington, Blue Mitchell, Art Farmer, Clifford Brown, early Rosie Clooney, and many more that were so great in the 40s through the early 70s.

And I am a bit sorry to say, I have seen more than I have listed and cannot instantly recall them....but all part of being an old fart, my sons call it O.F.S., Old Fart Syndrome.

It would be good to hear from members about your live music experiences. 


jusam
First show Airplane with twin reverbs & Blue Cheer with a Marshall wall.
Joplin @ Ravinia
Rare Bird
Sha Na Na six encores. 
Little Feat @ Riviera
Ray Chen anytime any place
In the 50+ years I have been going to see "live" music, I have had the pleasure to many fabulous concerts, but for brevity's sake I will only include a few highlights from the 1970's. Most are the first time that particular artist visited Vancouver (Canada).    

Pink Floyd (Dark Side of the Moon Tour) at the PNE Gardens Auditorium on Sept. 30/1972. The Gardens is a small, 5,000 seat venue and the band was mesmerizing. Their quadraphonic sound system combined with a chemically enhanced audience made it lots of fun.   

Johnny Winter And, featuring Rick Derringer at the Pacific Coliseum on April 2/1971. The band also included Edgar Winter along with bass and drums by Double Trouble, who went on the join Stevie Ray Vaughn. Although they were backing up John Mayall, the concert died when they left the stage. Probably the highest tempo concert I have ever seen.    

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers at The Commodore Ballroom on June 15/1978. The first tour by a music legend. The Commodore is basically a music nightclub with a dance floor installed over a layer of rubber tires and Tom and the band had it rocking. Because he only had one album at the time, there were a lot of cover versions and the 3rd encore was the Bobby Fuller Four classic "I Fought The Law".   

Edgar Winter's White Trash at PNE Agrodome on July 23/1971. One of the most underrated bands ever. A combination of funk, blues, R&B, and rock & roll, including great vocals by Winter and singer Jerry LaCroix and a killer horn section, they absolutely ripped it up.   

Elton John (1st tour) at the  PNE Agrodome on April 23/1971. I saw Elton 5 or 6 times between 1971 and 1984 and during his heyday he was the gold standard of keeping an entire arena on its feet for 3 hours.  This was before all the theatrics and the setlist was completely the "Elton John" album and Tumbleweed Connection.    

Bruce Springsteen (Darkness on the Edge of Town Tour) at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on June 26/1978. Simply the best live show I have ever seen. Over 4 hours of vintage the Boss and the E Street Band. The had two sets with a 15 minute intermission. He was back playing in 10 minutes and went on the play everything you wanted to hear, bought the show up the aisles into the audience and Clarence Clemons was phenomenal.

   


I'm.no kid and have been seeing Concerts since the 60's.But I have to say a Bruce Springsteen's concert is always a fantastic show.He said he plays like it was you the concert goes was seeing his first concert....
I can't possibly list them all but;

The one that made me cry, Carmina Burana, The Cleveland Symphony Orch and Choir.

The loudest one, Peter Gabriel, The Security Tour

The most intense one, NIN, With Teeth

The first one, The Allman Brothers Band when Duane was still alive.

The one that made me dance, Tower Of Power

The one that totally blew me away. RTF just after Where Have I Known You Before was released.
There have been far too many to list here, blues, jazz, folk, classical, disco, reggae, soul, hard core, crooners, punk, rap, electronic, techno, electronic dance music,  rock-includes psychedelic, blues rock, garage rock, Top 40 type bands, progressive, glam, art rock, soft rock, and some others fit into sub genres I won't go into.
Surprising, I'd have to say Neil Diamond, mid 70's. While I enjoyed his early Top 40 hits, I was into more complex sophisticated music in that period, considered him kind of cornball at this point. My gal at the time convinced me to go, I was so wrong about Neil. Great band, great sound quality, covered a lot of territory, and what a showman, how a real professional does it.
Shawn Phillips, again another gal convincing me to go to show, I'd never heard of him at this time, early 70's. Another great show, man, what a voice, magnificent!
Television, small venue, mid 80's, really good friend sound man for show, audiophile as well. Great band, two lead guitars, great sound, perhaps best ever for rock band. That friend now works in sound reinforcement in the Caribbean doing reggae shows.

Another great surprise was enjoying hard core mosh pits in mid 80's, some were too violent for me, Black Flag being one, blood was flowing, including one of my friends.  Circle Jerks were one of the nice relaxed ones, lots of physical contact without provocation. Some of the hard core bands promoted violence, others, were more about feeling alienated, yet elicited a sense of everyone being together in that alienation, I could relate at the time. Most hilarious hard core memory was Black Flag bloodbath in Pontiac Michigan, same night the Pope came to Silverdome, hard core people with spiked hair, rings in nose, ears, tattoos, leather walking on same streets in opposite direction of the righteous and pious going to gaze upon the  Pope, what a study in social demographics!