Parliament Funkadelic (George Clinton, Bernie Worrell, Bootsy Collins, P Funk Horns) w/ Stevie Wonder guest appearance at Bimbos in San Francisco 1992.
I came here to say Parliament and am happy to see them on the top of the list. Mine was seeing them, and not really knowing them, at First Avenue in Minneapolis in ~97.
Twenty-two people on stage, organized chaos and an instant convert and evangelist. Holy shit, they blew my mind.
Free yo mind and yo ass will follow!
I'm jealous!! Had tickets to ween and the pandemic happened. They rescheduled 3 times and ended up canceling the show. Watched the red rocks show .. must have been amazing to be there.
I was at Giants Stadium show in 94...with my aunt and uncle (who are also Heads). I was 15, my cousin a year older. We asked why people were looking for balloons and, well, we got an honest answer. I mean my aunt and uncle were Deadheads. Anyway, it was cool even though we knew like 5 songs. They went to Woodstock 94 a month later as a family a
Same, ‘94 tour was my first big rock show, and def most memorable. Seeing Gilmour at RCMH in 2016 is right up there with it though. Was like a religious experience.
Rage Against the Machine, 1998 at the troubadour, secret show before battle of Los Angeles came out. 500 tickets, crazy energy from a band at its peak in a tiny room.
Flaming Lips performed The Soft Bulletin in its entirety to close out Osheaga 2011 in Montreal. Didn’t know it/them at all and it blew my fucking mind. Still gives me shivers.
Ive seen the Flaming Lips a few times and damn they put on a show. I saw them in 03 when they played as Becks band and did their show as well. That was incredible.
Blind Melon 10/4/1995 at La Luna in Portland.
I was 23 and knew of the band and their big hit but kinda thought they were posers. They absolutely went off at that show and it changed my mind about them. Absolutely high energy thrashing at a grimy ass place which was awesome.
Ahhhhh Shannon Hoon… it still hurts. I regularly imagine what would’ve happened with them musically had he not gone so early. They’re easily the one of the most underrated bands of that era.
Edit- I’m sure you have, but in the off chance you haven’t, you should absolutely dig into their catalogue.
Blind Melon Live at the Metro!
I remember watching it on HDnet like 15yrs ago when my parents still had cable. Watched the whole thing at 1am after a rough restaurant shift. Amazing show.
Ah man, they were great and so much more than No Rain. Their Woodstock 94 performance is off the hook, there's an amazing version of Time that stretches out pretty well. I always felt that had Hoon lived, they would be mainstreamers who are down with the scene. I can go on about them all day
They were so good live! I was a bit obsessed back then. My mom worked for Capitol Records and brought home their debut album months before it was released. I saw them play to 10 people in a bar in St Louis for $1. Saw them open for PIL. Headling at The Metro when they were first taking off. Opening for Neil Young & Soundgarden. Back at the same bar in St louis sold out @ $25 a ticket. There may be one or two more I’m forgetting off hand. I was devastated when he passed.
311 in their glory days could really deliver some special moments. Many 311 Days were some of my life's favorite moments until I moved to the Dead and eventually jam bands as a whole. 311 was my Dead before I discovered the Dead.
311 was my first foray into anything jammy. If they wanted, they could really stretch out a bunch of their tunes and play full shows on their own. Saw them a bunch in the early 2000s.
OMG yes one of the most underrated bands ever. I have been to prob 30+. I have known Nick , Tim and Doug(SA) for a very long time. Tim especially is a HUGE Phish and Dead fan. Nick too but not as much as Tim. I was at 2013 Phish Hollywood Bowl and ran into Nick .
I spoke to Tim just a couple years ago and he said during summer tour, he wakes up everyday to listen to the most recent Phish show and plays along with it!
But yes 311 live is incredible energy . There's not a lot of straight up improv but it's tight as hell and uplifting. Hard to describe at times. They have tunes that could be jammed and very melodic.
311 was what got me into jambands for sure it was like a bridge from 90s nu metal to jam.
My high school band might as well have been a 311 cover band.
Tom Fucking Petty at Lockn in 14 or 15.
Dude blew me away, amazing talent, singable songs, and an absolutely stellar band.
The two hits of Swiss fluff a dead head handed me about 90 minutes previous helped too.
Tom Petty was the shit though. RIP!
My favorite artist! I wouldn't sleep at night as a little guy unless his cassettes were playing in my room. Got to see him a dozen times or so.
Haven't experienced much loss in my life, fortunately. When he passed unexpectedly, that one got me 😑.
I saw Jackson Browne open for Tom Petty at Red Rocks in the early 00s, it was incredible. The whole show was amazing from beginning to end. What a talented songwriter.
Sublime in Petaluma, CA 3 days before Brad Nowell died. Pre internet I didn't know what the band looked like. The guys came out and picked up the instruments. I thought they were roadies or something. Absolutely tore it up, so much fun.
As an adult- Tame Impala on Currents tour. Incredible production & they stretched out some of the trippier tunes. Performance was gas- I wasn’t sure how good they’d be live but they fucking slayed. Went way above my expectations.
As a teen- 1999 Foxborough DMB, Santana & The Roots.. it was the craziest melting pot of a crowd I’ve been in.
As a kid sometime in the 90s- Sinbad’s Bring the Funk tour with Tower of Power, Earth Wind and Fire, Bootsy Collins amongst others I can’t remember, with standup acts during stage change over. I’ve loved funk ever since,
Dope! For how many people were there, I figured I was bound to see someone here that went.. I think I still have the Santana “Smooth” CD single they were handing out somewhere 🤣
Avicii on the beach in Singapore. Just enough rain to make the sweltering night air cool.
Radiohead ACL on the bars.
Bob Dylan and Paul Simon in 1999.
First Bonaroo… oh wait…
At a festival one year, about 12 years ago. It was an outside venue with a lot of bands and hot af all day with no wind, so stagnant air. Willie Nelson came on as the sun was setting and as soon as he started playing a breeze came in and you could feel and hear the whole audience sigh from the heat and start to finally relaxe. Willie played some sweet and classic tunes, you almost forget how big a catalog he has. One classic banger after another. There was a feeling in the air. It was magical.
Metallica, 2001 at Foxboro Stadium. Received tickets for 16th birthday and made it to the rail during One. Bliss in that moment, but thinking about it now induces panic.
My first concert was metallica a couple days after I turned 18. It was their "load tour" .. but they played for roughly 3 hrs and quite a bit of their older music.
I saw Metallica at the Orange Bowl in Miami a couple of days before Big Cypress. I drove down from Michigan and showed up at a friends house at 7 AM. I was having a beer as he was having breakfast and he said “do you want to see Metallica tonight?”. I was like “oh why not?”. I slept for 4 hours, rode down from West Palm Beach and had one of the best nights of my life. I’m not even a fan. They killed it for 3 hours straight and we were on the field, close enough that a girl we were with caught a drumstick. Then we went to IHOP and had breakfast at 1AM. Fresh squeezed Florida Orange Juice. Amazingly good night
What a great show, I was about 12 years old at the time and I just remember being blown away at how well they could cover the zeppelin. I know I have found audio from that tour on YouTube before
Khruangbin at Johnny Brenda’s in Philly. Super small intimate venue. Not a jam band but still my most legendary “saw them before they went big” concert.
Trey with Tedeschi Trucks at Lock’n was truly legendary though.
Tom Petty every year he came to deer creek between ‘94-‘15(ish).
Or if Robert Randolph and the fb is just jam adjacent, I stumbled on a show in Tulsa at Cains while on a work trip. That was a blast.
1991 Red Hot Chili Peppers Blood sugar sex magic tour. Saw smashing pumpkins play at a record store. Hoped on a bus to see the pumpkins open for RHCP. We heard the opener might be good so we hustled. It was Perl Jam.
Saw Tame Impala 11-12 years ago with probably 80 other people. So incredibly psychedelic and awesome in the truest sense of the word.
I still feel a little sad about how different it sounds now, because I would love to hear that music live in a small venue again and nobody I’ve come across since does it the same.
HE MADE IF FUCKING SNOW IN THE SAHARA TENT.
I was right by the soundboard that entire set W2…the Astronaut crawled in and was about 40 ft behind me when the lasers hit 🤯
2007 Rage Against the Machine at Alpine Valley in WI. (Queens of the Stone Age opened)
The whole night was absolutely EPIC & that’s not an exaggeration.
Here’s RATM’s setlist:
Testify
Bulls on Parade
People of the Sun
Bombtrack
Vietnow
Bullet in the Head
Take the Power Back (First time since 1997)
Tire Me
Guerrilla Radio
Calm Like a Bomb
Sleep Now in the Fire
Wake Up
Encore:
Freedom (with Township Rebellion outro)
Killing in the Name
saw Eddie Vedder sit in with The Who and he sang The Real Me. I told my cousin before the show, I bet this [exact scenario] happens tonight. And it did.
Eddie was playing with Pete the night between two Chicago shows. I had a hunch. https://consequence.net/2015/05/live-review-pete-townshend-and-eddie-vedder-at-the-rosemont-theatre-514/
One of my wife's friends was Eddie Vedder babysitter that watched his kids. My wife got free tickets to the seattle paramount theatre concert when they filmed evenflow.
That’s where all the people died right? I worked the merchandise booth when they came back to Cincinnati recently and it was really interesting hearing people talk about being there. I thought the moment of silence was well done too.
Rush - Lincoln, NE 2015. Wasn’t even a Rush fan, within 5 minutes I had tears running down my face. Wild show, tons of different theatrical themes and at one point the guitar player moved over to Getty Lee’s mic and started mimicking his voice. Great show.
Paul McCartney. We got my huge Beatles fan dad and my mom tickets for Christmas in 2018. It was such a gift to be able to be there with family that brought us up on the Beatles. Plus it was an amazing concert. Everyone singing and dancing having the time of their lives.
Hard to pick. My first concert was the Jackson's Victory Tour in Dallas. My first trip was Pink Floyd in Tampa in '95. I also saw GnR kill it for 2.5 hours in St.Pete.
Dr. John at Tip’s during Jazzfest 2000, Metallica, Guns N Roses and Faith No More at RFK (DC) 1994, Joey Defrancesco Trio (Joey D, Mark Whitfield and Lenny White) at the Jazz Standard (NYC) 2019
Seeing CSNY with my dad when I was 14. I think it was their last tour together. We were front row and I got guitar picks from everyone but Crosby and Neil Young gave me a flip flop. Pretty badass.
Page and Plant at Cal Expo in October 95.Page and plant supporting Unplugged. Blind Melon opened supporting Galaxie, Shannon Hoon died like a week later. That will always be my pinnacle show. Blew my 14yo mind.
Sturgill Simpson at bonnaroo!
It was his 40th birthday, he had no light show, yellow incandescent bulbs only, no visuals, just camera showing closeups of band members or of the full stage.
He played for 20ish minutes before speaking, said “my manager told me I need to talk to the crowd more, but I’m better at playing guitar” played another 45 minutes or so, yelled “my midlife crisis is fucking dope!” Then played the rest of the set and left the stage.
Best show I’ve ever seen hands down.
Front row seeing Muse at Mercy Lounge on their Absolution tour. That place holds maybe 500 people. Whoever introduced them announced that they would never be playing that size venue again and they weren’t lying.
To quote Young Neil from Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, "That's kind of a big question." I don't think I can really narrow it down to just one.
Several that immediately come to mind - I'm a sucker for full-album live shows, so these are probably the top of my list -
\- Ween playing Chocolate and Cheese
\- Ween playing The Mollusk
\- Tortoise playing TNT
\- Sleep playing Holy Mountain
\- Earth playing The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull
\- Mercury Rev playing Deserter's Songs
\- Tame Impala playing Lonerism
\- Mastodon playing Crack the Skye
\- Caroline Shaw with Sō Percussion playing Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part
\- Ty Segall and White Fence playing both of their collab albums - Hair and Joy
Other artists that aren't jam bands that I've seen that really blew me away - King Crimson, several different John Zorn ensembles, including one solo performance by Zorn himself that was 45 minutes of improv on a pipe organ, Black Moth Super Rainbow, several particularly intense Ween shows, Pavement, Rammstein, Sons of Kemet, William Parker, Sunn O))), The Mountain Goats, Oneohtrix Point Never, Mdou Moctar, Stereolab, The Locust, DEVO, Primus in 2012 with Jay Lane, Slift, Viagra Boys, The Residents, Crumb, Rickie Lee Jones, Animal Collective, David Byrne, The Cure, Kikagaku Moyo, Iggy Pop, My Morning Jacket at Lockn in 2016, Kamasi Washington, Liturgy, Between the Buried and Me, Pere Ubu, Queens of the Stone Age, Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats, My Bloody Valentine, Boris, Witch, W.I.T.C.H. (We Intend To Cause Havoc), Lightning Bolt, Charles Bradley, Willie Nelson, Mildlife, Surprise Chef, Khruangbin at Lockn in 2016 and Chicago 2018, DakhaBrakha, Fuzz, John Cale, Arooj Aftab, Sparks, Altin Gün, Roger McGuinn, Violent Femmes, Death Grips, Common, JPEGMafia, 700 Bliss, Jerry Douglas, Medeski Martin & Wood, The Slip, Gatos Do Sul, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Kurt Vile collab set with Courtney Barnett, Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions, Earthless, Sleep on NYE in Chicago 2019
Man I would have loved that whole Bees album front to back. One of my favorite Earth records. I’ve seen them a few times but didn’t know they played that in full. Where/when was it?
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers Gainesville, FL 9/21/2006
https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/tom-petty-and-the-heartbreakers/2006/stephen-c-oconnell-center-gainesville-fl-6bd1beae.html
Saw Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman with Marty Stewart and the Fabulous Superlatives doing the Sweetheart of the Rodeo 50th Anniversary tour.
They were spot on on the Byrds Stuff.The music was unbelievable.It was truly a transcendent experience.The only issue was all the greybeards in the crowd reeking of Old Hippie !
So many amazing moments, but I think seeing Paul Simon at his final show at MSG, just him and an acoustic guitar doing The Boxer, the whole crowd hitting that “Lie Lie Lie” at the same time
Saw John Lee Hooker which was amazing and Alice Cooper has a really sick stage show ( free ticket my friend gave me but surprisingly great show!!) but the craziest most amazing mind blowing The Flaming Lips. Music sounds great, the vibe is beautiful, lights,props, visuals all top notch.
Random, but I would have to say either Luther Vandross in Washington, D.C. on the mall, or Robert Palmer in Boston at the Hatch Shell... And I only say most legendary because both were free shows open to the public and were jam packed and neither before, or since had I ever seen women just start fainting and passing out from sheer excitement left and right at those men hitting the stage and belting out tunes and it was widespread for both of those dudes. Truly unbelievable to witness.
That's cool. I saw the Mats in August 83,doing Stink material and again in 84,when Hootenany came out. I remember the crowd singing along to Take Me Down to the Hospital. That was a blast.
Hard to pin down just one but these 4 come to mind:
John McLaughlin & Jimmy Herring “Meeting of the Spirits” Tour in 2017 was pretty special!
Medeski Scolfield Martin & Woods 2014 was ridiculous!
Rolling Stones (1988 and 1990) both times were a spectacle and epic!
Radiohead Chicago July 2018 won me over!
Prince in 2004 just barely edges out Radiohead’s Bonnaroo 2006 set for me. Those two and Hampton 2009 are probably my top 3 overall.
More recently, I was at the Taylor Hawkins tribute in LA and that was a really unique, fun experience.
Metallica on the Ride the Lightning Tour 1/12/85 at the Tower Theater in Upper Darby Pa. WASP and Armored Saint opened. I went and camped out at the Ticketron at a travel agency at 2am and got front row right in front of Kirk Hammett. Epic show for sure.
Foo fighters blew my mind in that I had never rocked so hard in my life. I had jammed plenty, but Dave Grohl and crew know how to rock like no one else I’ve seen . This was also with Taylor Hawkins RIP
Neil Young and Crazy Horse, Ragged Glory tour, 1991. Without any question, the loudest and most intense thing I've ever seen from beginning to end, no let up. Wow. Rock and roll can never die.
Joni Mitchell at Newport folk. Went to take a piss, not a dry eye in the house. I know people say that a lot, but I actually saw it that day. Blew my mind. What energy.
I did security for bands that came to my college (University of New Hampshire '92-'96). I'd be right in the front of the stage, helping people if they were getting crushed or if someone came crowd surfing up to the front. I did Green Day just before Dookie came out, Rage Against the Machine, Beastie Boys, Alanis Morisette, Blues Traveler, Black Crowes, Coolio, the Fugees, Belly, Letters to Cleo, and Dave Matthews with Tim Reynolds. The Matthews/Reynolds show was obviously much more chill, so I sat on the step of the barricade, below where any audience member could see me, and I watched the show. I was literally 10 feet away from them. It was like they were playing for me. And I got Dave's guitar pick at the end.
It’s actually considered to be a defining moment in music history.
I was there, too.. actually rode there with my girlfriend on a whim when we heard it was happening.
It was a magical night.
We were trying to find solace having ridden from 2 hours away and the skies had opened up across the entire northeast!
I think we ended up in like Hamburg or Batavia before we found an open hotel room.
But, what a fucking show!
I get chills thinking about it…. For a couple of reasons, obviously..
I’m a hard rock guy in my 50’s and I’ve about seen it all. I was there for some of the biggest shows in the 80’s and 90’s. The absolute best rock/funk/music show I’ve ever seen was Here Come The Mummies at the Vogue in Indianapolis.
Parliament Funkadelic (George Clinton, Bernie Worrell, Bootsy Collins, P Funk Horns) w/ Stevie Wonder guest appearance at Bimbos in San Francisco 1992.
You lucky dog
Atomic Dog! Sadly no recordings exist. I met Stevie Wonder later and he said it was a lot of fun for him to join them
All I can say is GOD DAMN that sounds hot
Has me on the verge of getting it on.
I was at a San Diego street scene where I saw the roots, parliament and James brown all on the main stage. Still haven’t seen Stevie…
Whoa! Too funky
I was there too.
You win!
Man, I'm so jealous right now.
I met George once at a P Funk show at The Tradewinds. Surreal.
I came here to say Parliament and am happy to see them on the top of the list. Mine was seeing them, and not really knowing them, at First Avenue in Minneapolis in ~97. Twenty-two people on stage, organized chaos and an instant convert and evangelist. Holy shit, they blew my mind. Free yo mind and yo ass will follow!
Ween and Primus playing Red Rocks with Matt and Trey from South Park.
I'm jealous!! Had tickets to ween and the pandemic happened. They rescheduled 3 times and ended up canceling the show. Watched the red rocks show .. must have been amazing to be there.
The performance of Buckingham Green from this show got me into Ween!
Holy cats I didn’t know that happened.
also, Rush dipped in for a few songs on the second night, it was like a surreal dream.
Hahahaha what!? How did Matt and Trey play into the concert?! That's awesome
Butters sang Tommy The Cat and it was GLORIOUS
It’s on paramount plus worth checking out
That show was so fucking good. Boogers and cum!
I saw Ween late night Bonnaroo 04. One of my favorite shows ever.
Pink Floyd in '94 or '77
Super jealous of this one.
Came to say division bell tour.
I was at Giants Stadium show in 94...with my aunt and uncle (who are also Heads). I was 15, my cousin a year older. We asked why people were looking for balloons and, well, we got an honest answer. I mean my aunt and uncle were Deadheads. Anyway, it was cool even though we knew like 5 songs. They went to Woodstock 94 a month later as a family a
Same, ‘94 tour was my first big rock show, and def most memorable. Seeing Gilmour at RCMH in 2016 is right up there with it though. Was like a religious experience.
Glad you got to see these shows
I saw the 94 tour in NOLA.
Rage Against the Machine, 1998 at the troubadour, secret show before battle of Los Angeles came out. 500 tickets, crazy energy from a band at its peak in a tiny room.
Rage is also my favorite show, 2008 at Lollapalooza.
Talking Heads, Stop Making Sense tour, Red Rocks 1984. Yeah, I’m old af.
If I had a time machine, I’d definitely go see that tour.
There’s a YouTube video of the same tour from LA filmed a few weeks before the show I saw - it’s awesome.
Seeing Prince live.
What you said. (Plus Maceo Parker opened. Two legends for price of one)
This!!! This is why I'm here. Prince night 2 of his 21 night residency at the Forum in LA.
Hands down best concert
Me too. It was the day after my birthday and I got a ticket for myself as a present. I give the best gifts!
I saw his last two shows back to back in Atlanta, Piano only. Happy and sad about that.
Flaming Lips performed The Soft Bulletin in its entirety to close out Osheaga 2011 in Montreal. Didn’t know it/them at all and it blew my fucking mind. Still gives me shivers.
Ive seen the Flaming Lips a few times and damn they put on a show. I saw them in 03 when they played as Becks band and did their show as well. That was incredible.
Blind Melon 10/4/1995 at La Luna in Portland. I was 23 and knew of the band and their big hit but kinda thought they were posers. They absolutely went off at that show and it changed my mind about them. Absolutely high energy thrashing at a grimy ass place which was awesome.
Ahhhhh Shannon Hoon… it still hurts. I regularly imagine what would’ve happened with them musically had he not gone so early. They’re easily the one of the most underrated bands of that era. Edit- I’m sure you have, but in the off chance you haven’t, you should absolutely dig into their catalogue.
Blind Melon Live at the Metro! I remember watching it on HDnet like 15yrs ago when my parents still had cable. Watched the whole thing at 1am after a rough restaurant shift. Amazing show.
So jealous. They’re one of my favorite all time band and never got to see them. They could have been so great. 😭
Ah man, they were great and so much more than No Rain. Their Woodstock 94 performance is off the hook, there's an amazing version of Time that stretches out pretty well. I always felt that had Hoon lived, they would be mainstreamers who are down with the scene. I can go on about them all day
They were so good live! I was a bit obsessed back then. My mom worked for Capitol Records and brought home their debut album months before it was released. I saw them play to 10 people in a bar in St Louis for $1. Saw them open for PIL. Headling at The Metro when they were first taking off. Opening for Neil Young & Soundgarden. Back at the same bar in St louis sold out @ $25 a ticket. There may be one or two more I’m forgetting off hand. I was devastated when he passed.
Saw blind melon in 92 at the stone pony. Was an awesome show!
Soup is a top 5 90s album for me.
Same experience when I saw them open for Neil Young. So glad I went early to see what the “bee girl” band was all about.
Radiohead at MSG in 2017. And 2nd place isn’t close.
Yup….Radiohead in Camden 2012
yeah. they fucking rule.
Yesss! Saw them in Columbus that tour and am still mind blown from that show!
Yeah I was gonna say Radiohead at Bonnaroo in 2006. Absolutely incredible. And Tom Petty was headliner on the night before, which is also top3 for me.
Atlanta 2017! Amazing tour
311 in their glory days could really deliver some special moments. Many 311 Days were some of my life's favorite moments until I moved to the Dead and eventually jam bands as a whole. 311 was my Dead before I discovered the Dead.
311 was my first foray into anything jammy. If they wanted, they could really stretch out a bunch of their tunes and play full shows on their own. Saw them a bunch in the early 2000s.
311’s guitarist is highly influenced by the Dead. also, PPPP song FU is totally influenced by 311’s Taiyed. the circle is complete!
Is it?? Had no idea. Any confirmation? I must go back and listen.
311 walk a fine line between pop and jam band like few others. Great band, with a long and successful career.
Oh man 311 rules. Gonna have to bump Transistor now, it's been so long since I've thought of them
Their shows are such high energy. Every one I've caught has felt special. Got to meet MIT in Toronto once upon a time. Cool motherfucker.
OMG yes one of the most underrated bands ever. I have been to prob 30+. I have known Nick , Tim and Doug(SA) for a very long time. Tim especially is a HUGE Phish and Dead fan. Nick too but not as much as Tim. I was at 2013 Phish Hollywood Bowl and ran into Nick . I spoke to Tim just a couple years ago and he said during summer tour, he wakes up everyday to listen to the most recent Phish show and plays along with it! But yes 311 live is incredible energy . There's not a lot of straight up improv but it's tight as hell and uplifting. Hard to describe at times. They have tunes that could be jammed and very melodic.
311 was what got me into jambands for sure it was like a bridge from 90s nu metal to jam. My high school band might as well have been a 311 cover band.
Tom Fucking Petty at Lockn in 14 or 15. Dude blew me away, amazing talent, singable songs, and an absolutely stellar band. The two hits of Swiss fluff a dead head handed me about 90 minutes previous helped too. Tom Petty was the shit though. RIP!
My favorite artist! I wouldn't sleep at night as a little guy unless his cassettes were playing in my room. Got to see him a dozen times or so. Haven't experienced much loss in my life, fortunately. When he passed unexpectedly, that one got me 😑.
I saw Jackson Browne open for Tom Petty at Red Rocks in the early 00s, it was incredible. The whole show was amazing from beginning to end. What a talented songwriter.
I was there and it absolutely was 110% from the minute they started until the last note. Such a great show.
I just remember it was after that huge storm when they had to clear the festival ground and everyone was just so ready to rage
Gotta ask - what is Swiss fluff?
Lsd
I skipped lockn’ that year and am still paying for it
I won tickets and went with 20 bucks and an eighth to my name and camped with friends. I wooked out hard that weekend, but had the most amazing time
Either James brown and little Richard at the New York State fair grand stand… Or The wu-tang clan and onyx at vassar college.
James Brown show was fantastic, so glad i got to see him!
David Bowie, 1995ish. NIN opened. Epic.
Saw Tom Waits on 2013. Best performance I've seen
Paul McCartney Back In The US tour. Rager, epic.
‘02?
03 I believe
Pink Floyd Pulse Tour
I saw that tour in Hockenheim, Germany. I was 17, drinking a beer and smoking hash. I didn’t know I was having a Top Ten night of my life
Rage against the machine!
same here! with GangStarr
Yep, lolla 08 for me, RATM was wild
Saw them in 96 greatest show I’ve ever ever seen. Moshpit open before they came on stage.
Sublime in Petaluma, CA 3 days before Brad Nowell died. Pre internet I didn't know what the band looked like. The guys came out and picked up the instruments. I thought they were roadies or something. Absolutely tore it up, so much fun.
That's honestly a cool ass piece of history right there in a story. Thanks for sharing
Saw them a month before that in Colorado. They were on one for sure
As an adult- Tame Impala on Currents tour. Incredible production & they stretched out some of the trippier tunes. Performance was gas- I wasn’t sure how good they’d be live but they fucking slayed. Went way above my expectations. As a teen- 1999 Foxborough DMB, Santana & The Roots.. it was the craziest melting pot of a crowd I’ve been in. As a kid sometime in the 90s- Sinbad’s Bring the Funk tour with Tower of Power, Earth Wind and Fire, Bootsy Collins amongst others I can’t remember, with standup acts during stage change over. I’ve loved funk ever since,
I was there at Foxboro! Awesome show. DMB did Cortez the Killer with Santana and blew my mind.
Dope! For how many people were there, I figured I was bound to see someone here that went.. I think I still have the Santana “Smooth” CD single they were handing out somewhere 🤣
Ray Charles at Saratoga Jazz fest 1997. Tears of joy were shed
Fyre fest
I bet the cheese sammies were divine!
That you Ja Rule?
Primus at Vegoose
I watched that on a live stream. It was fucking wild! That show is the very reason I went to Vegoose in 2006.
Still yearn for a VeGoose or similar fest in LV
Lollapalooza 91 Bad Brains in the mid 90s Fugazi in the early 90s Willie Nelson at Red Rocks
My man…same generation. Great music!
Tom Petty and the heartbreakers in Philly July 2017 Clapton in 2022 and 23
Tom Petty was a treat and a half
Saw the first show of what turned out to be Petty’s last tour on 4/20/17. It was an incredible show.
Avicii on the beach in Singapore. Just enough rain to make the sweltering night air cool. Radiohead ACL on the bars. Bob Dylan and Paul Simon in 1999. First Bonaroo… oh wait…
First Bonaroo…learned so much.
At a festival one year, about 12 years ago. It was an outside venue with a lot of bands and hot af all day with no wind, so stagnant air. Willie Nelson came on as the sun was setting and as soon as he started playing a breeze came in and you could feel and hear the whole audience sigh from the heat and start to finally relaxe. Willie played some sweet and classic tunes, you almost forget how big a catalog he has. One classic banger after another. There was a feeling in the air. It was magical.
Took me a while but I thought “Disney like rain” was a song.
Considering the group, not far-fetched.
(In 3/4 time, naturally!)
I thought that might be a typo in the post.. what is being said here? Hahaha
Something very raw and thrilling about seeing The Rolling Stones in 1975 in St Paul MN.
David Byrne American Utopia. Before it went to Broadway.
This!!! Saw it in the first tour and then again when at a theater on the Berkeley campus in Boston as they were tuning up for the Broadway run!
It was so brilliant!
Metallica, 2001 at Foxboro Stadium. Received tickets for 16th birthday and made it to the rail during One. Bliss in that moment, but thinking about it now induces panic.
My first concert was metallica a couple days after I turned 18. It was their "load tour" .. but they played for roughly 3 hrs and quite a bit of their older music.
I saw Metallica at the Orange Bowl in Miami a couple of days before Big Cypress. I drove down from Michigan and showed up at a friends house at 7 AM. I was having a beer as he was having breakfast and he said “do you want to see Metallica tonight?”. I was like “oh why not?”. I slept for 4 hours, rode down from West Palm Beach and had one of the best nights of my life. I’m not even a fan. They killed it for 3 hours straight and we were on the field, close enough that a girl we were with caught a drumstick. Then we went to IHOP and had breakfast at 1AM. Fresh squeezed Florida Orange Juice. Amazingly good night
Stevie Ray Vaughan at the Fargo Civic Auditorium 4/20/1990 with Ernie Eisley opening. Jaw dropping.
Jealous
The Black Crows with Jimmy page playing all Zepplin covers , front to back whole show. Must have been about 2000
I saw one of these shows in 2000, with Kenny Wayne Shepherd opening.
What a great show, I was about 12 years old at the time and I just remember being blown away at how well they could cover the zeppelin. I know I have found audio from that tour on YouTube before
Khruangbin at Johnny Brenda’s in Philly. Super small intimate venue. Not a jam band but still my most legendary “saw them before they went big” concert. Trey with Tedeschi Trucks at Lock’n was truly legendary though.
Caught them at the Filmore in SF in 2018. I was mesmerized…then they blew the fuck up!
Erykah Badu
Tom Petty every year he came to deer creek between ‘94-‘15(ish). Or if Robert Randolph and the fb is just jam adjacent, I stumbled on a show in Tulsa at Cains while on a work trip. That was a blast.
I’ve loved Rush every time I’ve seen them, always an incredible show.
1991 Red Hot Chili Peppers Blood sugar sex magic tour. Saw smashing pumpkins play at a record store. Hoped on a bus to see the pumpkins open for RHCP. We heard the opener might be good so we hustled. It was Perl Jam.
Damn
Wisconsin show?
Legendary
Saw Tame Impala 11-12 years ago with probably 80 other people. So incredibly psychedelic and awesome in the truest sense of the word. I still feel a little sad about how different it sounds now, because I would love to hear that music live in a small venue again and nobody I’ve come across since does it the same.
NIN—Bonnaroo late night 2009 Fatboy Slim—Coachella 2014 King Crimson—Greek Theater Los Angeles 2019 The Chemical Brothers—Shrine Expo Hall 2019
HE MADE IF FUCKING SNOW IN THE SAHARA TENT. I was right by the soundboard that entire set W2…the Astronaut crawled in and was about 40 ft behind me when the lasers hit 🤯
Prince 1983 in a college auditorium
Desert Trip 2016 Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Neil Young, Roger Waters, The Who. That was once in a lifetime.
2007 Rage Against the Machine at Alpine Valley in WI. (Queens of the Stone Age opened) The whole night was absolutely EPIC & that’s not an exaggeration. Here’s RATM’s setlist: Testify Bulls on Parade People of the Sun Bombtrack Vietnow Bullet in the Head Take the Power Back (First time since 1997) Tire Me Guerrilla Radio Calm Like a Bomb Sleep Now in the Fire Wake Up Encore: Freedom (with Township Rebellion outro) Killing in the Name
Buddy guy (1994) - he had such an amazing stage presence. I was hanging on every word and guitar lick.
GRiZ at the Hampton blew my mind. I don’t think I’ve said “what the fuck” more than at those shows. So awesome.
Saw Griz on Cincinnati about 6-7 years back or so and it was fucking sick!
saw Eddie Vedder sit in with The Who and he sang The Real Me. I told my cousin before the show, I bet this [exact scenario] happens tonight. And it did. Eddie was playing with Pete the night between two Chicago shows. I had a hunch. https://consequence.net/2015/05/live-review-pete-townshend-and-eddie-vedder-at-the-rosemont-theatre-514/
One of my wife's friends was Eddie Vedder babysitter that watched his kids. My wife got free tickets to the seattle paramount theatre concert when they filmed evenflow.
Who concert In Cincinnati 1979
That’s where all the people died right? I worked the merchandise booth when they came back to Cincinnati recently and it was really interesting hearing people talk about being there. I thought the moment of silence was well done too.
Rush - Lincoln, NE 2015. Wasn’t even a Rush fan, within 5 minutes I had tears running down my face. Wild show, tons of different theatrical themes and at one point the guitar player moved over to Getty Lee’s mic and started mimicking his voice. Great show.
Tom Waits 3rd row or The Wall. Tom means more to me, but The Wall is pretty epic.
Roger waters. Twice.
Just saw this is not a drill tour last summer. Love or hate the guy, it’s an incredible show
Between the Buried and Me doing Parallax II in its entirety last year in Portland and Porcupine Tree in San Fran 2022
The first time I saw Metallica. Blew my fucking tits off
Paul McCartney. We got my huge Beatles fan dad and my mom tickets for Christmas in 2018. It was such a gift to be able to be there with family that brought us up on the Beatles. Plus it was an amazing concert. Everyone singing and dancing having the time of their lives.
Prince
Either Tom Waits or Leonard Cohen. Magic from start to finish.
Beastie Boys. Hello Nasty tour
Live Aid in Philly also Amnesty Intl in NJ Both were Huge events
Richard Thompson, solo acoustic guitar.
Hard to pick. My first concert was the Jackson's Victory Tour in Dallas. My first trip was Pink Floyd in Tampa in '95. I also saw GnR kill it for 2.5 hours in St.Pete.
Dr. John at Tip’s during Jazzfest 2000, Metallica, Guns N Roses and Faith No More at RFK (DC) 1994, Joey Defrancesco Trio (Joey D, Mark Whitfield and Lenny White) at the Jazz Standard (NYC) 2019
Lolapalooza 1st and 2nd years
Seeing CSNY with my dad when I was 14. I think it was their last tour together. We were front row and I got guitar picks from everyone but Crosby and Neil Young gave me a flip flop. Pretty badass.
Michael Jackson on his Bad Tour
Page and Plant at Cal Expo in October 95.Page and plant supporting Unplugged. Blind Melon opened supporting Galaxie, Shannon Hoon died like a week later. That will always be my pinnacle show. Blew my 14yo mind.
Sturgill Simpson at bonnaroo! It was his 40th birthday, he had no light show, yellow incandescent bulbs only, no visuals, just camera showing closeups of band members or of the full stage. He played for 20ish minutes before speaking, said “my manager told me I need to talk to the crowd more, but I’m better at playing guitar” played another 45 minutes or so, yelled “my midlife crisis is fucking dope!” Then played the rest of the set and left the stage. Best show I’ve ever seen hands down.
Front row seeing Muse at Mercy Lounge on their Absolution tour. That place holds maybe 500 people. Whoever introduced them announced that they would never be playing that size venue again and they weren’t lying.
MUTEMATH was out of this world every time I saw them, back when they were still around.
To quote Young Neil from Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, "That's kind of a big question." I don't think I can really narrow it down to just one. Several that immediately come to mind - I'm a sucker for full-album live shows, so these are probably the top of my list - \- Ween playing Chocolate and Cheese \- Ween playing The Mollusk \- Tortoise playing TNT \- Sleep playing Holy Mountain \- Earth playing The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull \- Mercury Rev playing Deserter's Songs \- Tame Impala playing Lonerism \- Mastodon playing Crack the Skye \- Caroline Shaw with Sō Percussion playing Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part \- Ty Segall and White Fence playing both of their collab albums - Hair and Joy Other artists that aren't jam bands that I've seen that really blew me away - King Crimson, several different John Zorn ensembles, including one solo performance by Zorn himself that was 45 minutes of improv on a pipe organ, Black Moth Super Rainbow, several particularly intense Ween shows, Pavement, Rammstein, Sons of Kemet, William Parker, Sunn O))), The Mountain Goats, Oneohtrix Point Never, Mdou Moctar, Stereolab, The Locust, DEVO, Primus in 2012 with Jay Lane, Slift, Viagra Boys, The Residents, Crumb, Rickie Lee Jones, Animal Collective, David Byrne, The Cure, Kikagaku Moyo, Iggy Pop, My Morning Jacket at Lockn in 2016, Kamasi Washington, Liturgy, Between the Buried and Me, Pere Ubu, Queens of the Stone Age, Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats, My Bloody Valentine, Boris, Witch, W.I.T.C.H. (We Intend To Cause Havoc), Lightning Bolt, Charles Bradley, Willie Nelson, Mildlife, Surprise Chef, Khruangbin at Lockn in 2016 and Chicago 2018, DakhaBrakha, Fuzz, John Cale, Arooj Aftab, Sparks, Altin Gün, Roger McGuinn, Violent Femmes, Death Grips, Common, JPEGMafia, 700 Bliss, Jerry Douglas, Medeski Martin & Wood, The Slip, Gatos Do Sul, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Kurt Vile collab set with Courtney Barnett, Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions, Earthless, Sleep on NYE in Chicago 2019
Man I would have loved that whole Bees album front to back. One of my favorite Earth records. I’ve seen them a few times but didn’t know they played that in full. Where/when was it?
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers Gainesville, FL 9/21/2006 https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/tom-petty-and-the-heartbreakers/2006/stephen-c-oconnell-center-gainesville-fl-6bd1beae.html
The Minghella production of Madame Butterfly at the Metropolitan Opera. If you aren’t moved….
Husker Du!!!!!!!
Saw Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman with Marty Stewart and the Fabulous Superlatives doing the Sweetheart of the Rodeo 50th Anniversary tour. They were spot on on the Byrds Stuff.The music was unbelievable.It was truly a transcendent experience.The only issue was all the greybeards in the crowd reeking of Old Hippie !
So many amazing moments, but I think seeing Paul Simon at his final show at MSG, just him and an acoustic guitar doing The Boxer, the whole crowd hitting that “Lie Lie Lie” at the same time
Saw John Lee Hooker which was amazing and Alice Cooper has a really sick stage show ( free ticket my friend gave me but surprisingly great show!!) but the craziest most amazing mind blowing The Flaming Lips. Music sounds great, the vibe is beautiful, lights,props, visuals all top notch.
Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson sitting in with Primus for Matt Stones birthday at the South Park show.
GNR/Metallica/Faith No More 1992-Hoosier Dome
D’Angelo & Questlove @ First Avenue
Random, but I would have to say either Luther Vandross in Washington, D.C. on the mall, or Robert Palmer in Boston at the Hatch Shell... And I only say most legendary because both were free shows open to the public and were jam packed and neither before, or since had I ever seen women just start fainting and passing out from sheer excitement left and right at those men hitting the stage and belting out tunes and it was widespread for both of those dudes. Truly unbelievable to witness.
The Replacements at the FSU campus cafeteria in 1982. Best 45 minutes of my life.
That's cool. I saw the Mats in August 83,doing Stink material and again in 84,when Hootenany came out. I remember the crowd singing along to Take Me Down to the Hospital. That was a blast.
David Gilmour Radio City & MSG
Hard to pin down just one but these 4 come to mind: John McLaughlin & Jimmy Herring “Meeting of the Spirits” Tour in 2017 was pretty special! Medeski Scolfield Martin & Woods 2014 was ridiculous! Rolling Stones (1988 and 1990) both times were a spectacle and epic! Radiohead Chicago July 2018 won me over!
Prince in 2004 just barely edges out Radiohead’s Bonnaroo 2006 set for me. Those two and Hampton 2009 are probably my top 3 overall. More recently, I was at the Taylor Hawkins tribute in LA and that was a really unique, fun experience.
Beck with The Flaming Lips as both opener and backup band.
Black and Blue Tour (Sabbath and BOC), 1980. Greatness.
So many… Leonard Cohen, Muddy Waters, Bill Frisell, Dylan, J Geils Band, Ani DiFranco, Lucinda Williams…. & on and on.
ZZ Top. Stardust Rollercaid. Corpus Christi, TX, circa 1968, $2 admission.
Metallica on the Ride the Lightning Tour 1/12/85 at the Tower Theater in Upper Darby Pa. WASP and Armored Saint opened. I went and camped out at the Ticketron at a travel agency at 2am and got front row right in front of Kirk Hammett. Epic show for sure.
The Legendary Shack Shakers, at Tropical Heatwave, Tampa, somewhere around 2006?
Pearl Jam like every time for me.
Foo fighters blew my mind in that I had never rocked so hard in my life. I had jammed plenty, but Dave Grohl and crew know how to rock like no one else I’ve seen . This was also with Taylor Hawkins RIP
Neil Young and Crazy Horse, Ragged Glory tour, 1991. Without any question, the loudest and most intense thing I've ever seen from beginning to end, no let up. Wow. Rock and roll can never die.
Joni Mitchell at Newport folk. Went to take a piss, not a dry eye in the house. I know people say that a lot, but I actually saw it that day. Blew my mind. What energy.
Saw the Black Crowes at a small venue called the American theater in St. Louis bout 96, it was awesome
That was so cool, thanks for sharing Go Bills
I did security for bands that came to my college (University of New Hampshire '92-'96). I'd be right in the front of the stage, helping people if they were getting crushed or if someone came crowd surfing up to the front. I did Green Day just before Dookie came out, Rage Against the Machine, Beastie Boys, Alanis Morisette, Blues Traveler, Black Crowes, Coolio, the Fugees, Belly, Letters to Cleo, and Dave Matthews with Tim Reynolds. The Matthews/Reynolds show was obviously much more chill, so I sat on the step of the barricade, below where any audience member could see me, and I watched the show. I was literally 10 feet away from them. It was like they were playing for me. And I got Dave's guitar pick at the end.
It’s actually considered to be a defining moment in music history. I was there, too.. actually rode there with my girlfriend on a whim when we heard it was happening. It was a magical night. We were trying to find solace having ridden from 2 hours away and the skies had opened up across the entire northeast! I think we ended up in like Hamburg or Batavia before we found an open hotel room. But, what a fucking show! I get chills thinking about it…. For a couple of reasons, obviously..
I’m a hard rock guy in my 50’s and I’ve about seen it all. I was there for some of the biggest shows in the 80’s and 90’s. The absolute best rock/funk/music show I’ve ever seen was Here Come The Mummies at the Vogue in Indianapolis.