Your 5 Fav Rock Concerts


There are certainly more than a few geetar fanciers among us judging by all the threads on guitar bands and best guitarist. This thread is about the best rock shows you saw. Let's limit it to the rock shows. Not Blues or Jazz or solo performers. The concerts that raised the hairs on your neck or made you want to take up an instrument or raised your pulse through their sheer energy or just moved you through their performance on stage. The only ones that count are the ones you've seen. After making a list in my mind of the many rock concerts I attended, most from the late 1960's through early 80's, I have come up with mine. It was tough, I’ve seen well over 200 rock concerts over the years and it is really hard coming up with a top 5 but we have to limit this so here go mine. "Yes" - This group stands out as the 2nd best concert I ever saw with Steve Howe and Chris Wakeman. They opened for Emerson, Lake and Palmer and after their set I do feel that EL&P were disheartened and knew they couldn't match it; they didn't. Funny thing is like most, I was there to see EL&P. They were forced to have another concert the following night by popular demand. Virtuoso musicianship, “Poco” - This group could put on a show. I saw them 4 different times in the many various stages of their evolution. They never had the commercial recognition of some of the other great bands of their era but they sure made up for it in their live performances. No one stayed seated during a Poco concert. “Rod Stewart and Faces” - Ron Wood on guitar and Rod Stewart strutting all over the stage. Rod was probably the greatest natural Rock showman I ever saw, including Mick Jagger. His uninhibited manner and constant movement and soulful vocals brought the house down. The crowd wouldn't let him go after the 5th encore so he invited everyone ("especially the pretty young ladies") to his hotel to “party on”, and so they came; Led Zeppelin I had to include them because next to the Doors and of course Jimi Hendrix they were my favorites of that era and I never did get to see either of the other two. The acoustics were bad and they played so loud you couldn’t really hear the music. But they were great none the less and it was special to me. The best should be kept for last. "The Who" was acknowledged as the best concert band at the time. Getting tickets meant getting in line and waiting. I imagine at the time the only tougher ticket would be the “Beatles” and they weren’t even together then. They didn’t disappoint. The reaction of the audience was beyond anything I ever saw at a live concert before or since. The band was so cohesive and the energy they put out put them into a different realm. They just have to be on a very short list of the best live bands ever.
tubegroover
1. Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band -- Dallas, 1975.
2. Paul McCartney & Wings -- Dallas, 1976.
3. Trisha Yearwood with Orchestra -- Morton Meyerson, Dallas, not sure of date -- mid to late 90s. Yes, she was phenomenal.
4. Chris Isaak -- Private Party, 2000.
5. Glenn Frey -- Private Party, 2001.
5. (Tie) Tina Turner -- Dallas, 2000 (with Lionel Ritchie)

These are the top 5 that come to mind tonight (Not a ranking, however!)...
Great thread! Although I feel a bit like Jim on taxi, here goes (from what I remember), in no order:
Yes, Bob Seger, and Donovan at Rich Stadium '78
Eagles Hotel California tour '80
Springsteen Tunnel of Love tour '88?
Stones Voodoo Lounge tour (the only stones i've seen, sure there were some better ones)
Emerson Lake and Palmer BSS '78

Many many honorable mentions, and expanding from rock into other genres would yield a much bigger list of course (like CDB w/Marshall Tucker in country, Return to Forever in Jazz, Arlo w/John Prine in Folk, etc)

David99: sounds like you're from my old stompin grounds. Remember the old Genesis and Renaissance concerts in Rochester? I would have put Renaissance appearing with the Rochester Philharmonic on the list, but Annie Haslam had a sore throat that night, and was merely great instead of her usual spectacular. And was the Rich Stadium promoter consistently schizophrenic or what? Yes+Seger+Donovan??? CSNY+Santana? Stones+Outlaws?
Saw Metallica's last concert at Long Beach Arena, they aren't allowed there anymore because of glass damage to the arena [about 4 stories of the glass facade were totally gone] and seat cushion damage [they were removing them and throwing them like fresbees probably at least a hundred in the air continuously]. Gee, I wonder why they didn't play" fight fire with fire". Sounded very good. Santana sounded perfect when I saw him in 99.
Stones - Steel Wheels, Clapton - Journeyman, Stephen Stills, all electric in 1986 in a bar, Jethro Tull - 1976, tied for 5th Allman Brothers and Neil Young with Booker T and the MG's. All concerts were either front row or very close to front row which makes a difference.
Greatful Dead- Allmans 1973 rfk
Bruce Springsteen 1975,78.80.81,etcetc
Traffic with Dave Mason as part of the band 1970
Jimi Hendrix 1968
Frank Zappa & Captain Beefhart sometime in the mid 70's
These are but a very very few as I have attended many thousands of shows. Coming soon will be a full list of shows and a history of our involvment in the audio business for the past 30 years+.Check this out on HIFIFARM.com in about a week