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
In no order:
1968 Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Soft Machine, Janis/Big Brother, and Chambers Brothers at Flushing Meadows, NY. This was on a revolving stage - Janis almost fell down several times. They would start it moving anytime, no warning.
1968 Jefferson Airplane at Electric Factory, Philly (amazing)
1973 Frank Zappa in Lowell Mass
1971 Capt. Beefheart and The MAgic Band at the Academy of Music, Philly
1970 Ann Arbor Blues Festival
Time warp anyone?
Nothing hotter then the Godfather himself JAMES BROWN.
1956-NOW and still doing his thing.
Jethro Tull, Fleetwood Mac, Heart, ELP, Rush
Don't know if I could put them in order but Tull might have been the best. All were in the mid to late 70's in IL or WI. The Emerson Lake and Palmer concert was with the 72 piece orchestra (the tour that bankrupted them) and was a helluva show. Rush was at a small venue (about 2000 people) and stole the show (Cheap Trick [my hometown boys] and REO Speedwagen also played. This concert was in my hometown of Rockford IL at the local armory. Heart was also in Rockford at the local speedway in 76. Rick Derringer, Foghat and Head East were also there. The Fleetwood Mac show was outdoor in WI, right after Rumours came out and was an unbelievable show, certainly one of the best I have ever seen or heard.
This is a tough one to pick only five since I am in my 50s and have seen countless shows since the late 60s. I am only going to list one though. I experienced a concert at Yale New Haven in the neat little old theatre there in '71? The bill was Tower of Power and Graham Central Station opened. Both groups were truly on fire that night and they really got the place jumpin'and way funked up.