I’m not big on arena shows. I prefer intimate club shows. Been to hundreds. Nirvana played one of their last club shows in my town after Nevermind came out.
U2 @ Red Rocks was pretty special.
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Definitely Woodstock. The artists there defined rock music for decades to come. I wish I had gone!
My first concert was Fleetwood Mac at the Hollywood Bowl. I don’t remember noticing how they got along at the US Festival. They were the last band after three long days. I remember the Grateful Dead playing for several hours that morning and that I wanted them to just finish and get off the stage. There were a ton of Dead Heads with single day tickets and it was HOT!
While I’ve been to big events in the U.S. and Europe, I’ve had more fun at pubs and other very small venues. Most bands play too fast live or don’t sound anything like the recording, so I appreciate those that are true professionals like New Order. Stephen Morris said he wanted to be a drum machine and I swear he’s the closest thing to a human drum machine. These 65+ year-old people are still great in concert. Touring the U.S. right now. If New Order don’t make you move, check your pulse.
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I have seen many, many live shows. One of my favorites was Prince. I have seen Brandi Carlile a few times & am never disappointed.
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Making this things I’ve personally been to:
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HFStival 2004 Offspring and seeing the entire stadium pogoing. (flipside The Cure came on next and sucked every ounce of energy in the building by starting the set with their new material).
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Beloit College Folk and Blues Festival 1988- Indigo Girls playing outside under the trees. This was just weeks before their major label debut came out (i.e., the one with Closer to Fine, Land of Canaan on it)
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Dylan and The Dead @ RFK in 1986
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John Hiatt, Guy Clark, Joe Ely and Lyle Lovett at the Birchmere in Alexandria VA-- not rock but 4 great writers sharing a stage
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Billy Bragg’s 3 night stand at the Birchmere in September of 2019. Night 1 was “career-spanning set”, Night 2 was 1st 3 albums and Night 3 was the 2nd three albums
I also love smaller venues and have no idea of how many shows I’ve been to. I went to 1 last Saturday and have 3 more on the calendar between now and October 2.
[quote=“mynameiswhatever, post:5, topic:3618602”]
Simon & Garfunkel’s 1981 Concert in Central Park is LEGEND.
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I remember that so clearly. They did a simulcast over the radio. EVERYBODY tuned in.
My favorite live performance was an Elton John and Billy Joel concert at college stadium. Dueling pianos and they sang each others songs.
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I should start out by stating that I was never a Wham or George Michael fan. I learned this while watching a documentary about him, and have grown to appreciate his talents over his tabloid lifestyle and choices. This is from an article…
On April, 20, 1992, George Michael was part of a star-studded lineup that included Elton John, David Bowie and Metallica at The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness at London’s Wembley Stadium.
The previous November, the flamboyant Mercury had announced, after months of speculation, that he had AIDS. Bedridden and blind, the Queen singer died the following day at the age of 45. The concert was organized to pay tribute to the legendary Mercury and to raise money for AIDS awareness.
Michael’s 15-minute set ended with a powerful rendition of the Queen classic “Somebody to Love.” He later called it “probably the proudest moment of my career.”
But it was a performance that was cloaked in irony.
Michael, then 29, was closeted and his boyfriend, Brazilian dress designer and stylist Anselmo Feleppa, was dying of AIDS.
“Try to imagine that you fought with your own sexuality to the point that you’ve lost half your twenties,” the former Wham! singer, who publicly came out in 1998, later told The Independent.
And then, upon finally finding romantic love, “along came a fatal disease to destroy everything,” author James Gavin writes in his upcoming biography of the singer, “George Michael: A Life” (Abrams Press), out Tuesday. “Fate had never seemed crueler.”
With that as the background…
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A WONDERFULLY talented artist. He left us far, far too early. George Michael is/was a great one.
ETA: I LOVED Wham! The Make It Big album is a masterpiece of fantastic music. “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” is a fave rave, and “Careless Whispers” is just an amazing song, both sonically and lyrically. George and Andrew certainly did make it big!
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@jmnva06
Was at that Dylan and the Dead at RFK. Such a hot night I remember them spraying us with hoses and everyone cheering when the temperature dropped into the 90s. You could still wander freely from the seats to the standing room so I made my way down to the floor seats during the Dead portion of the show. We were amazed at how much better the Dead’s equipment sounded than Dylan’s.
Anything at Red Rocks is pretty special.
James Taylor, Jerry Jeff Walker, the Symphony Probably the most memorable for me was Huey Lewis with the Tower of Power horns backing him up for a few songs. There had to be 20 horns on the stage at the same time.
For me, Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged performance in December 1993. Here’s one song from their concert:
Kurt Cobain was my generation’s John Lennon.
As a young pup, I felt fortunate to attend what would be the last concert of all the original Sex Pistols, at Winterland in SF (1978).
The concert was a complete trainwreck, but I look back at it now with fond memories, both of the music, and the fact that my friends and I were able to survive and get out and home alive.
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I have so many concerts that I attended and loved, but I still remember Fleetwood Mac in 1975 at the Swing Auditorium in San Bernardino, CA. I think the venue held under 10K and my friends and I were right near the front to see the “new” Fleetwood Mac with Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham. It was a magical night.
I’ve said on here before that Led Zeppelin in 1977 at the Los Angeles Forum was a concert like no other. We were 12th row center for the 4 plus hours they played including a 30 minute Jimmy Paige guitar solo.
Cal Jam II at Ontario Motor Speedway was a great lineup with me and 350K of my closest friends. What a crazy day that was! I ended up with a broken collarbone and two broken ribs getting pushed into the fence at the front of the stage. The lineup:
Fleetwood Mac came out and played with Bob Welch at the concert.
As a teenager in the late 70’s in Southern California I worked to pay for concerts and skiing!
Do you want to know what we think is the greatest live moment in history…or the greatest moment each of us has had.
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Either. Whatever floats your boat, please!
Speaking of John (and Yoko), here are some more great or( in at least one case) remarkable John and Yoko moments:
Live Peace in Toronto in September 1969 (just after the Fab Four finished Abbey Road). And that’s Eric Clapton with John and Yoko…
And a “remarkable” one with John, Yoko, and Chuck Berry from The Mike Douglas Show in 1972! I love Yoko, but I can’t imagine what Chuck was thinking!
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Nirvana getting on the Grammys playing “Smells like Teen Spirit” blew everyone away…
Any Prince concert ever!
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No kidding. 
And the best half time show.
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