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Post subject: What's the best concert/show you've ever seen... and why..??
Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 11:43 am
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We've all seen some amazing shows w/ excellent players, but if pressed, what's the one show, above all others, that you consider the best you've ever been to... and why..??

I'll start... I've had the fortune of being involved with many concerts and events over the years. I served on the ChicagoFest staff in the early 80's and was also on the staff of the first Chicago Blues Festival with backstage passes every night. I've attended 16 of the 23 New Orleans JazzFests. Plus, when in college, I did backstage security for the biggest concert promoter in the midwest (think Led Zepplin, Frank Zappa, McCartney & Wings, The Rolling Stones, Crosby Stills & Nash, Emmerson, Lake & Palmer, The Who, Santana, Frank Sinatra, Carole King, B.B. King, The Beach Boys, The Carpenters, Chicago, and many, many others). I met and was 'up-close' with most of these musicians.

But back in the early 90's a really special friend of mine owned a small Jazz Club locally (unfortunately now defunkt).

We were having lunch one day and I told him that I'd just met a fantastic girl (in fact, the future Mrs. Lightnin).

Realizing how smitten I was, he said: "Well, you've gotta bring her to the Club on Friday night... I'll make it real special..."

So Friday comes and we arrive at the club (it's probably our 1st 'official' date). My friend greets us, I make the introductions, and he leads us to a small deuce right at the front of the small stage, where there's a bottle of Champagne (compliments of the House).

On the bill that night was Herb Ellis, one of my favorite jazz guitarists.

Herb sits down, not three feet from us, acknowledges the crowd and then leans over to us and says: "Do you mind if I put my water on your table..??" and begins his set.

Now Mrs. Lightnin, despite being a concert-trained Clarinetist (there's just something uniquely appealing about women who play the Woodwinds ;) ... but I digress), had never had any real exposure to jazz before, and she was mesmerized by Herb's beautiful playing.

Later in the show, Herb asked the audience for requests. Surprisingly, the crowd was silent, not one person made a request.

I had a 1970 recording of Herb Ellis and Joe Pass (the 1st album by the Concord Jazz label) where they did a duet of 'Over the Rainbow'. This was an amazing recording, think hair up on the back of your neck stuff.

Anyway, I wrote this on a cocktail napkin and passed it to Herb. Herb read it and said: "Ladies & Gentlmen, the fellow up front here just requested a song I recorded 20 years ago, but have never played in Public before... it's one of my favorites..." He looks at us and says: "For you and your Lady then..." and begins the song, maybe even more beautifully played than the old recording I had.

After a magic night, as we were getting out of the car, I asked her how she liked the show. Mrs. Lightnin replied that it was amazing, especially 'Over the Rainbow'. Then she turned to me and said: "How on Earth did you know that it's my favorite song in the whole World..??"

So, despite all the great shows I've seen or been involved with through the years, this has to be the one I'd label 'the best'.

Now I'm not sure that's what 'sealed the deal' between us 2 years later, but it sure did get us off to a good start !!

Thanks Herb, R.I.P. !

cheers!

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Post subject: Re: What's the best concert/show you've ever seen... and why
Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 11:49 am
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A toss-up......

Monterey Pop Festival -- June of 1967, the "Summer Of Love"

(just about anybody who was anybody at the time performed there)

Cream -- spring of 1968, Sacramento Municipal Auditorium

(my memory is still vivid with the recollection of a 15-minute version of "Sunshine Of Your Love".

:mrgreen:

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: What's the best concert/show you've ever seen... and why
Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 11:55 am
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Retroverbial wrote:
A toss-up......

Monterey Pop Festival -- June of 1967, the "Summer Of Love"

(just about anybody who was anybody at the time performed there)

Cream -- spring of 1968, Sacramento Municipal Auditorium

(my memory is still vivid with the recollection of a 15-minute version of "Sunshine Of Your Love".

:mrgreen:

Arjay


WOW !!

Good Stuff !! 8)

cheers!

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Post subject: Re: What's the best concert/show you've ever seen... and why
Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 12:03 pm
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Phish – ca.1994 – some backyard venue in Orlando FL. It was amazing because I had no idea what to expect and was basically thrown into a van on the way to the show and provided with a ticket. I had never listened to them before but when I they started playing I was mesmerized. They were just pure rock city and to me it was refreshing to just watch some dudes jam like that without all the hype.

Phish- ca.1997- Coral Sky Amphitheater. Great venue. I was up on the grassy hill and there were dudes with pony kegs on their back zipping throught the audience so you never had to walk to get a beer. Great show, great set, great venue and some dudes from the Doobie Brothers band and Santana’s band came out to join in the jams on stage.

Pink Floyd 1994 Tampa Stadium – what more can you say.

Iron Maiden – 2008 -2009 tour – The Somewhere back in Time tour was so good. I was fortunate to get to see that 4 times in various venues. Saw the last show in Fort Lauderdale and had one of those press boxes. Private bathrooms at concerts is the way to go

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Post subject: Re: What's the best concert/show you've ever seen... and why
Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 12:10 pm
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Probably the last one I went to or The Casualties show on July 20th 2012.

The last one, I was hit so hard in a pit that I lost the whole left leg of my jeans, and I was at the point of throwing up from being hit/exhaustion/death.

The Casualties one is pretty much the same, only with a band that I've loved since I was 8. Plus, I met every member of the band.

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Post subject: Re: What's the best concert/show you've ever seen... and why
Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 12:11 pm
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Stevie Ray Vaughan, Manchester Apollo Theatre, June 22, 1988.

Met SRV and the band on the bus after the gig, got my ticket stub signed, chatted with him til the bus had to leave. He was a genuinely humble and friendly guy and he had a handshake that nearly snapped my wrist.

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Post subject: Re: What's the best concert/show you've ever seen... and why
Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 12:35 pm
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Lightnin, that is a beautiful story.. thanks for sharing :)
it's hard to pick a favorite. I think every time I see a band play live I decide immediately that THAT was the best thing ever. heh...
the 2 that tie for first in my book would be:
Local H about two years ago, because they've been my favorite band for the last ten years or so... got to see them on the tour for their "best of" record, so they did all the obvious songs and threw in a few covers from the "awesome mix tape" cd. amazing. and Scott was super nice, got to talk to him for a few minutes at the merch table, and he stood beside us in the crowd for a bit watching the opening band...
Drowning pool / finger 11 / boyhitscar
this was one of the first shows I went to. Not to sound like a hipster, but this was before anyone knew drowning pool (or boyhitscar for that matter, but they never got very big), and before finger 11 had done paralyzer or whatever that song is called, so not many people were really aware of them either. I wasn't. I was like 16, hadn't heard of any of them. some girl that had a crush on me bought us tickets and like 8 of us loaded up into her moms car and went to the show. it was at 328 Performance Hall, which is sadly a parking lot now. It used to be a really really cool little place downtown here, lots of really cool bands played there.... I guess it was what Exit/In is now. anyway, the highlights were Dave (RIP) from drowning pool coming back out during finger 11's set with a bra and panties that had been thrown at him on...and nothing else. that was hilarious seeing finger 11 try to keep a straight face in the middle of that song. then, all the guys in DP were running around shooting each other with water guns and I got caught in the crossfire. they came over and apologized and we talked for a few minutes. one of our friends went to the bathroom at some point and came back soaked head to toe. he told us later he had walked in right as the band was filling up water guns, so they soaked him. lol... very cool. also, the singer from boyhitscar climbed up into the rafters - like 12 feet up, had the band throw him the mic, and sang a couple of songs hanging upside down...and then dropped into the mosh pit under him.... after a few minutes he finally popped back up on stage..damn good show.

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Post subject: Re: What's the best concert/show you've ever seen... and why
Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 12:43 pm
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lameandcliche wrote:
Not to sound like a hipster, but this was before anyone knew ...


Why did the hipster burn his mouth on his pizza?

He ate it way before it was cool.

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Post subject: Re: What's the best concert/show you've ever seen... and why
Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 12:46 pm
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1st concert ever- 1968 Steppenwolf

loudest- 1977 led zeppelin

best-early 90's McCartney

most fun-jimmy buffet

also saw skynyrd, beach boys,uriah heep, j.geils, tull, alice cooper, the guess who, bto' and many other great bands in the 70's

as a side note, worst concert: the jim kale version of the guess who. just embarassing. people yelling out "where's burton?". glad it was a free show


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Post subject: Re: What's the best concert/show you've ever seen... and why
Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 12:51 pm
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If we're listing first gigs, mine was Motorhead, the proper Lemmy Phil and Eddie lineup, Ace Up Your Sleeve Tour 1980.

They were so loud I couldn't tell which song they were playing, it was just a wall of noise with the occasional piercing sound of a guitar solo slicing through. Utterly brilliant gig though.

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Post subject: Re: What's the best concert/show you've ever seen... and why
Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 12:54 pm
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A very hard question to answer, there are so many. The Band at the old Guthrie theater in Minneapolis in'69 comes to mind. I saw Led Zeppelin there too. I should mention ticket prices were $7.50. When CSN&Y came to town during this same time frame they raised their ticket price to $8.50. There was much outrage to that and the local paper ran a story titled Crosby Steals the Cash and Runs. I always found that to be clever.


Last edited by Minnesotastrats on Thu Aug 01, 2013 1:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: Re: What's the best concert/show you've ever seen... and why
Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 12:57 pm
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My first was A Perfect Circle - their first tour.

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Post subject: Re: What's the best concert/show you've ever seen... and why
Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 1:58 pm
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1st: Jimmy Cliff and Steve Winwood.

Loudest: Molly Hatchett. As someone else said, it was so loud you couldn't hear anything... Just noise, and that weird distortion in your ears. At least I got to see Danny Joe Brown! ( too bad I couldn't hear him sing...)

Best: H.O.R.D.E. festival. '92 or 3. Allmann Bros band headlined. Big outdoor venue, beautiful sunny afternoon, there with my 2 best friends, and some RIGHTEOUS tunes!
on the bill:
Side Stage
Little Sister- an awesome funk/jam/blues band from Austin, TX.
G Love and Special Sauce.
Screamin Cheetah Wheelies.
1 other I can't remember

Main Stage:
Dave Matthews Band. This is a year or so before they were everywhere. I'd never heard of them, but was impressed enough to go buy their first two CD's. Great live!

Big Head Todd and the Monsters. Another great jam band!

Blues Traveller. AWESOME, to put it mildly. I think the entire crowd lit up a spliff as soon as they hit the stage...

Allmann Brothers Band. Wow, just WOW! Incredible band to see live- especially outdoors. They did a 20 min jam of Blue Sky that rocked my world. One of my all time favorite bands.

Best part was the crowd. They were the complete opposite of every other crowd I'd been in ( metal, punk, country, etc). Everyone was happy, mellow and friendly. Security actually looked bored- the only thing they had to worry about was people sneaking into the reserved section from the lawn. No fights, no drunken slobbery, no drama at all. Just 10,000 or so hippies and stoners enjoying an afternoon of great music.

Most fun: Tim McGraw, with Blackhawk, and Little Texas. All put on great shows, and a stadium full of fired up rednecks is a FUN place to be! All up the street and in the parking garage afterwards, we were competing to see who could hoot n holler the loudest.

Runners up:
Martina McBride. If you think this lady can sing on the radio, wait till you see her live!!! She had 7500+ of us in tears multiple times- then we'd scream so loud, we made HER cry! Incredible, the power, and feeling this lady can pack into that beautiful voice!
Metallica.
Alan Jackson ( all four times!) He's a great singer, and his band is excellent.
Charlie Daniels Band.
Marilyn Manson- the Antichrist Superstar tour. I got rid of ALL sorts of pent up steam that night! Even funnier seeing the looks on the faces of the MTV crowd when they saw what they'd gotten themselves into.

Plenty of others, I'm just sick of typing!


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Post subject: Re: What's the best concert/show you've ever seen... and why
Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 2:08 pm
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The best concert I've ever seen ...

weighing all the aspects ...

it would have to be Queen, in March 1975, in Milwaukee, WI, USA.

Why? Because it was their Sheer Heart Attack tour and they were still a hard rock band.

Runners up would be Boston (in a bar in 1976) and Pat Benatar (in a bar in 1979 IIRC).

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Post subject: Re: What's the best concert/show you've ever seen... and why
Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 2:27 pm
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Well sense I'm 28 I have been pretty lucky. I had parents that loved music too.

Bob Dylan at Memorial Auditorium in Sac (first concert!)

The Rolling Stones at ARCO ARENA! (It will always be ARCO!!! not power whoblob..whatever..lol)

Aerosmith, and The Who out in Wheatland at the outdoor auditorium just to name a few

I know I didn't get to see them in their heyday, but at least I seen them.
Pete from The Who's line of Evil Twins amps actually shook my eyeballs and was ear shattering (I counted twelve in a line, but it could have been six...lol) not to mention the huge towering hanging speakers projecting that madness right above me :shock:


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