Best concert you've attended

Hard to pick but memorable shows include Buddy Guy at Tipitina's, Dropkick Murphy's at Iron City, and Billy Strings at the Orion. 

Rolling Stones 1972 @the Palladium, Los Angeles, $6.50. Opener: Stevie Wonder 

Bookended with the insane spectacle of TSwift, Era’s Tour, 2023

Can’t pick the "best" but some memorable ones:

--Grateful Dead Nassau Coliseum 9/8/73, I was 15 years old and my first concert.  General admission, sat roughly 15 rows back on the floor. (Dave’s Picks #38)

--Genesis doing the Lamb Lies Down on Broadway-- on Broadway!!  12/7/74 at the NY Academy of Music.  11th row.

--Little Feat at Wesleyan University, 4/4/78.  General admission, was one of the first in line, leaned up against the stage in front.  Could basically lean over and grab Lowell George’s leg I was that close.

Saw several great Grateful Dead shows-- many of which they have released:

6/17/76 at the Capitol Theatre in Passaic, NJ (Dave’s Picks #28)

4/30/77 at the Palladium in NYC (Download Series Vol. 1)

5/4/77 also at the Palladium

5/5/77 at the New Haven Coliseum, CT (Get Shown the Light)

5/28/77 at the Hartford Civic Center, CT (To Terrapin)

5/10/78 at the New Haven Coliseum, CT (Dick’s Picks #25)

5/11/78 at the Springfield Civic Center, MA (also Dick’s Picks #25)

The reason I have all the details is because I kept a ledger of all the shows that I attended, had a hunch that it might be a good idea to keep track of it.

 

 

@gruvjet -

Listening to this? 

Eyes of the World (Live at Roosevelt Stadium, Jersey City, NJ, August 6, 1974)

https://youtu.be/bbdmg_IaTDM?si=fJhhIdI7b9GtVwnA

 

The older you are, the more great ones you’ve seen and heard (if you’re lucky). I’ve seen and heard more than my fair share, including:

 

- The Beach Boys at The San Jose Civic Auditorium (my first, in the summer of 1964).

- The Beatles at The Cow Palace in S. San Francisco in the Summer of 1965 (as a cultural phenomenon only. They weren’t a very good live band, honest).

- All the San Jose garage bands of the mid-60’s (The Chocolate Watchband, The Syndicate of Sound, People, The Trolls/Stained Glass, but not for some reason The Count Five of "Psychotic Reaction" fame) throughout 1965, ’66, and ’67.

- The Grateful Dead on a flatbed truck in the Panhandle of Golden Gate Park in the Summer Of Love (1967). They weren’t yet very psychedelic, sounding more like a Blues-Rock garage band. Pig Pen appeared to be their lead singer.

- Cream at the original Fillmore Auditorium in late 1967. A life-changing experience.

- The Jimi Hendrix Experience at Winterland in early 1968. Jealous yet?

- Albert King at The Fillmore in 1968. Hearing Albert live made obvious from where many of the young white Blues guitarists (except maybe Mike Bloomfield) copped their style.

- The Who at The Avalon Ballroom (iirc) in 1968. By far the most kinetically exciting live band I’ve ever seen. John Entwistle’s bass sound was MASSIVE! The following Summer I saw them again, this time performing Tommy.

- The Band at The Berkeley Community Theater in 1969. Another life-changing experience, this one lasting (Cream didn’t, their music becoming dated).

 

All the above was in just the 1960’s. The 70’s weren’t as great, but some of the most memorable were The Kinks at Winterland in 1970 (as fun a live band as I’ve seen), Dan Hicks And His Hot Licks in a converted movie theater near San Jose City College (another fun band), and lots of the emerging young bands that drew their inspiration from the anti-psychedelic and progressive movement spearheaded by Bob Dylan (he hated LSD) and The Band.

 

Things picked up again in the mid-70’s with the appearance of The Dwight Twilley Band (their debut album Sincerely is a superb blend of 1950’s Memphis Rockabilly and 1960’s Merseybeat) and The Ramones. In the Summer of 1979 I moved from San Jose to Los Angeles, just in time to see all the new SoCal bands that were starting to play the clubs: The Beat, The Plimsouls, The Blasters, X, etc. When The Pretenders came through town supporting their debut album they played The Palomino!

- The 1980’s started with a bang: Rockpile appearing three nights at The Country Club in Van Nuys, the heart of the Valley. I bought tickets for all three nights.

- Speaking of The Blasters, in the mid-80’s I attended a show I cherish above just about all others: Big Joe Turner backed by The Blasters at Club Lingerie on Sunset Blvd. As close to being transported back into the 1940’s and ’50’s as I’ll ever be.

- Later in the decade I saw my favorite modern garage band at Club Lingerie, The Lyres.

- NRBQ were busy making albums and touring throughout the 80’s and 90’s, and I saw them twice at The Roxy Theater on Sunset. The 3rd of my most "fun" bands.

 

The decade of the 1990’s witnessed the emergence of an amazing group on new singer-songwriters, some of whom became and remain amongst my all-time favorites. I have yet to see Buddy Miller and Marty Stuart live, but have seen John Hiatt, Lucinda Williams (many times, including at a pizza parlor around the time of the release of her Rough Trade album), Iris DeMent (twice at The Troubadour), Joan Osborne, Rodney Crowell, Dwight Yoakam, Foster & Lloyd, a few others. I also saw Los Lobos and Tom Waits on a double bill. Wow.

 

- Probably the last great show I’ll ever see was Dylan at The Pantages Theater on Hollywood Blvd., the Time Out Of Mind tour. It was Godhead.