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
Rush in 1992, Tucson, Arizona. What a phenomenal concert. Didn't hurt that we were 6 rows back.
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. First half all acoustic, solos, pairs, all together. Second half all together and all electric. Very nice evening.
1. bob marley in lawrence ks in 1979
2. jethro tull in st louis in 1972
3. elvis costello in kansas city in 1982
4. lynyrd skynyrd in springfield mo in 1973
5 bruce springsteen in st louis in 1977
ok 2 more
6. zz top in milwaukee in 1972
7. chuck berry at my high school in st. louis in 1971
ok 1 more ha
8. drive-by truckers in st louis in 2006
ok i,ll stop now, i have a problem with limits,,,ha
March 31, 1970 Phila. Spectrum - Led Zeppelin
April 1977(?) Fox Theater, Atlanta - The Tubes (night before was Dixie Dregs opening for Santana, saw that too)
Early 70's - Tower Theater, Phila - Genesis, David Bowie (and the Spiders from Mars), Beck, Bogart and Appice.
Pink Floyd multiple times at Spectrum in early 70's.
Electric Factory in Phila, May 1970 - Grand Funk Railroad with Rod Stewart and the Faces opening.

Many others, can't remember dates/years - CRS is kicking in. :)

larry
Missing Zeppelin is going to haunt me to my grave. Never even got to see Page in the post Zep incarnations. Had tickets to the scheduled Zeppelin show for October 1980 at then Rich Stadium (now Ralph Wilson Stadium) in Buffalo. Early September, they've finished the Copenhagen warmups, and a bunch of us are camped outside the Stony Brook Student Union to score Zappa tickets when they go on sale the next morning. Around 7 am, a rumor starts spreading- "John Bonham is dead." Didn't believe it, but after we got the Zappa tix (second row dead center to boot), it was all over the news....still bummed out. So stinking close, yet never to be. One other unexpectedly great show I didn't mention was Atlanta Rhythm Section outdoors at a St. Louis bar in 1994. Those guys were tight as hell, and rocked the place to the ground. Very pleasantly surprised.