2. best-of
  3. 1214322498

Best and Worst Rock Concert Moments

I will start this off. 1975 Jethro Tull concert at the Seattle Center Coliseum. About midway through the show an M-80 goes off in the crowd in the middle of a song and Ian Anderson holds his hand up in the air and counts to three with his fingers and the band stops playing in mid measure all at once as though some one had flipped a switch. The whole place goes dead quiet for about 15 seconds or so. Anderson says something like "Well, that was bloody ******* RUDE! If you want us to keep playing then you better cut that crap right out and have a little more respect for your NEIGHbor. Do you really want us to play some more?". The crowd slowly starts to applaud and then it builds to a crescendo. As the applause starts to die down, Anderson holds his hand up in the air, counts out loud to three and the band cuts back in full force absolutely mid-measure where they left off.

When the song ended I have never heard such intense applause in any arena or hall for any song at any show. I was completely dumb struck by how Anderson handled the situation and by the musicianship of the whole outfit. Maybe it was a staged event, but I doubt it. Either way, it was really something else...
Ag insider logo xs@2xknownothing
has2be's avatar
has2be
555 posts
 
Best and worst at the same venue same night . Genesis mid seventies , Outdoors on old CNE grounds . Start with the worst , some absolute A hole picks up an empty glass mickey bottle and hurls it towards the front of the audience and some poor guy gets hit with it rite in the side of the face . He had to be taken away by ambulance and was a mess . Now the best , witnessing the A hole who threw the bottle beaten to a pulp 4 rows behind us by the people he came to the concert with and when they were finished or more apra-po when he was finished they handed him over to the large guys in blue .
kublakhan
717 posts
 
Best: Seeing Koyaanisqatsi with Philip Glass and his orchestra playing the soundtrack live. It was right after 9/11 so the film was especially profound and you could sense it in the audience who sat through the entire film w/o so much as moving a finger.

Worst & Best: My first and only Dead show. I spent virtually the entire concert alone in the bathroom freaking out from some bad mushrooms. Sublime!!
rhyno's avatar
rhyno
649 posts
 
best: metallica in 91, at the sam houston coliseum. it had the old wooden chairs that weren't bolted down, and by the end of the show (closing w/ whiplash!) everyone on the floor had thrown the seats into a giant stack, and created a mosh pit around it...couple hundred people moshing. awesome.

worst: was freaking out at dylan on some bad trips; asked a buddy for his pocket knife so i could peel myself (!). dylan cut into GD's "friend of the devil" and it fixed everything, and turned into a helluva good time.
slipknot1
1,423 posts
 
Best:
Pink Floyd June 28, 1975 Ivor Wynn Stadium, Hamilton, Ontario. Three complete sets: Wish You Were Here, then a setbreak until dark, Dark Side of the Moon, then a setbreak, Meddle. Small venue stadium with a soft natural grass field that was left uncovered.

Runner up Best:
Almost every Grateful Dead show I attended between 1972 and 1994. No comments about the ill-fated 1995 Summer run.

Worst:
July ?, 1974 or 75. Eric Clapton, Rich Stadium, Buffalo, New York Freddie King opened the show, and did a very nice job of warming up the crowd. After some delay, Clapton gets onstage, clearly very intoxicated. Yelling into the mic "I'm so f***ing drunk". It was becoming obvious that there was no way he was going to pull this off without a riot. Freddie King had the presence of mind to get up there on the stage and take over most (if not all) the guitar work. I lost a lot of respect for Clapton that day.
chadnliz
3,736 posts
 
Was not there but had to be The Who in Cincinnati with fans getting crushed to death rushing the doors for a lousy sound check........carnival seating was no more. Second might be Great White concert with 100 killed.
More to discover