Knights & Knaves Alehouse

Genisis 1984 Mamma tour. I've seen a good number of groups perform, but somehow this was my all time favorite. BTW Genisis is not (by a long shot) my favorite group, but they outperformed every other band Ive ever seen (great performance, great extended versions of cool songs like "home by the sea", incredible sound system, good seats, played for a LONG time, crowd was into it, etc.). Of course it was one of my first concerts as well, that may have alot to do with it.

In second place would have to be Cheap Trick believe it or not (who openned for someone, can't recall who).

Let me tell you, I've seen a lot of the greats perform but ... they were never any good. Pink Floyd was terrible (this is post-Waters so that certainly may have had something to do with it) and the two times I've seen Rush in concert they were totally phoning it in.

Now the little club shows? Those have been phenomenal. I saw KMFDM at Masquerade in Tampa and that was stellar. The Beastie Boys played at a long-closed venue here in Orlando called The Edge and it was awesome.

Three stand out for me.

3.) Metallica and CoC. Admittedly CoC was a little weak that day but Metallica had and awesome show.

2.) Trans Siberian Orchestra, I know half the show is christmas stuff but it was still awesome. The second half was mostly classical based, O Fortuna was incredible.

1.) Type O Negative in a small club in West Springfield. These guys are unreal in a small show.

It's a toss up for the best:

Jethro Tull - Broadsword & The Beast tour ('83?)
Moody Blues w/full symphony orchestra ('95?)
Cheap Trick, HoB, ('03)


Runners-up:

Heart, HoB ('05) (they did a Zeppelin tribute for their encore that rocked beyond belief)
Bruce Springsteen (2000)
Day of Rock, ('82?) included Foghat, REO Speedwagon, Ted Nugent and Heart


Most disappointing:

The Rolling Stones - Love You Live tour ('77) my date & I walked out although the Doobie Bros kicked total ass as an opener.
Rush (84?)
Jethro Tull - Underwraps tour

TheRedPriest wrote:
Moody Blues w/full symphony orchestra ('95?)

Holy crap! I can't believe I forgot about the Moody Blues at Tanglewood.

DD: "Now the little club shows? Those have been phenomenal."

Funny you should mention that. Perhaps the most incredible rock experiance of my life was seeing Meatloaf in Gainsville about 2 years before he came back with his Bat out of Hell 2 album. It was about 89 or 90, and a Friday night. Well, I show up thinking this thing is going to be huge, ends up maybe 300 people show up (poor guy). Half of them don't even know who Meat Loaf is ( there litterally waiting in line asking each other..pathetic). Anyhow we get through the doors and his concert is in a f..cking ball room (it might have sat 500, like for a small wedding). Apparently he thought he was doing a much bigger gig as his speakers took up the entire front of the room. I hadn't seen old meat loaf since Saturday Night Live, and wondered WTF this was going to be like. I remembered he sweat alot so I stayed back about 30 feet (everyone else crowded to the front). He comes on running out and blows everyone away. By the end of it he's got his tounge down some chicks throat and every girl is at the front screaming covered in Meat sweat. Last time I saw him he had an audiance in an outside arena.

It's tough, but I think the winner for me is Iron Maiden (Dance of Death tour, 2003).

Top Contenders:
Sammy Hagar (Fall Jam, Houston, TX 1995)
Queensryche (2004, performed all of Operation: Mindcrime)

My first real concert was Ted Nugent and Lita Ford, of all things, in 1987.

Memorable ones...

KISS and Alice in Chains on KISS's (first) reunion tour in St. Louis. I'm fairly sure that's the last time AiC performed live (outside of the MTV Unplugged session, that is).

Iron Maiden and Anthrax on Maiden's No Prayer tour. Great show. Both bands were in top shape.

Radiohead in Grant Park, Chicago on the Amnesiac tour. Phenomenal!

Primal Scream on their Exterminator tour in a little club in Chicago.

Prince twice. Once in a little club, once in a big arena. Both times, fabulous.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club about a year ago in a little club in Chicago. Great show.

The Clash of the Titans Tour, Slayer, Megadeth, Anthrax, and AiC in 1991. Awesome!!!

I saw one of Pavement's last few shows at the Vic in Chicago. For a band that was about to break up, they weren't showing it. Very tight... or at least as tight as you'd expect a bunch of slackers like Pavement to be...

I believe I've seen Metallica and KISS more than any other major acts - five times each. Of the Metallica shows, the first one I saw, with Queensryche opening, in 1988 was the best.

I've never really had a big rock show experience but that is due mostly to the type of music I prefer. I think some of the more memorable shows that I've been to are Social Distortion, Public Image Limited/Big Audio Dynamite, the Selector, the Specials, Special Beat, Murphy's Law, snd Fishbone. All of those were quite a while back. These days I don't get much of a chance to check out live music but I hope that changes when I get to Europe.

Living in Hollywood for the last 10 years I've been lucky enough to see lots of good rock shows, mostly in small clubs. Here's a baker's dozen that stand out as particularly memorable (in geek-tastic chronological order!):

Portishead - Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, 3/28/98
Elliott Smith - Troubadour, 5/20/98
Richard Thompson - Troubadour, 3/27/01
Kool Keith - El Rey, 6/12/02
Gillian Welch - John Anson Ford Amphitheatre, 7/1/02
Neko Case - Derby, 11/13/02
Maria McKee - Roxy, 4/25/03
Adult. - Echo, 5/6/03
Goldfrapp - Henry Fonda, 10/8/03
Miss Kittin - Key Club, 8/1/04
Tegan and Sara - Henry Fonda, 8/1/05
Belle and Sebastian - Hollywood Bowl, 7/6/06 (my av & sig here are in honor of this show!)
Ladytron - El Rey, 10/31/06

T. Foster wrote:Living in Hollywood for the last 10 years I've been lucky enough to see lots of good rock shows, mostly in small clubs. Here's a baker's dozen that stand out as particularly memorable (in geek-tastic chronological order!):

Portishead - Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, 3/28/98
Elliott Smith - Troubadour, 5/20/98
Richard Thompson - Troubadour, 3/27/01
Kool Keith - El Rey, 6/12/02
Gillian Welch - John Anson Ford Amphitheatre, 7/1/02
Neko Case - Derby, 11/13/02
Maria McKee - Roxy, 4/25/03
Adult. - Echo, 5/6/03
Goldfrapp - Henry Fonda, 10/8/03
Miss Kittin - Key Club, 8/1/04
Tegan and Sara - Henry Fonda, 8/1/05
Belle and Sebastian - Hollywood Bowl, 7/6/06 (my av & sig here are in honor of this show!)
Ladytron - El Rey, 10/31/06

I did see Gillian and Neco Case before I left Seattle. They were both fantastic. They played at the Zoo Tunes outdoor concert series. I really miss those. With young children, it is about the only way I can attend a show right now.

I've not been to many. A fwe stand out for me.

B.B. King with John Hammond about five years ago.
Allman Bros in the early 90s.
Tab Beniot at a little club in Blacksburg, VA. He wailed!

Bonnie Raitte was also good when I saw her (ten years ago maybe). I went to hear one song, her version on Prine's Angel from Montgomery, and it was the last one she played. It was cool.

I always regret not being able to catch Queen sometime between late 70s and mid 80s. I guess they didn't do a whole lot of dates in the States though.

Can't believe I forgot to include this on my list above (especially since it's in RA's sig, staring me right in the face in this very thread):oops: :

Arthur Lee & Love - Henry Fonda, 9/27/02

Also mentioning that while outside of the scope of this thread, many of what I'd consider the all-time best concerts I've been to were classical music, not rock/pop, including Anne-Sophie Mutter performing Beethoven's violin sonatas, the first time I saw the LA Philharmonic in Disney Hall, and, probably the single best concert I've ever been to, the Michael Nyman Band at UCLA's Royce Hall.

The best show I've seen was Moody Blues and the Virginia Symphony. I was a bit chemically altered, which made for an even better show.

My favorite show was probably the Beach Boys in '99, or so - the only reason being as they were also my first show as a wee lad.

The most memorable show (mainly because my brain isn't what it once was - damn old age. ) was Seventh Gate, Three Faces of Eve, and A Heachache This Big a few months back. It was in a record store and including whichever two bands weren't playing at the time, had maybe 25 people in the audience.

rogatny wrote:My first real concert was Ted Nugent and Lita Ford, of all things, in 1987.

Memorable ones...

KISS and Alice in Chains on KISS's (first) reunion tour in St. Louis. I'm fairly sure that's the last time AiC performed live (outside of the MTV Unplugged session, that is).


I believe I've seen Metallica and KISS more than any other major acts - five times each.

I was at that KISS concert too. It was one of the best I had ever seen. I think KISS is one of the few groups I have seen more than 4 or 5 times. First time I saw them was back in 1976 or 1977 in Kansas City, not too long after I had seen Fleetwood Mac for the first time. Fleetwood Mac is the only other group that I have seen more than 4 or 5 times. I think I have seen KISS and the Mac at least 6 times each. I remember the Nugent/Ford Concert as well. First time I had seen Lita live. It was a pretty good show all around.

I think one of the best over all concerts I have ever been to was Summer Jam 1982 in Kansas City. REO, Journey, Foreigner, Nugent, Charlie Daniels were the main acts. I think any of the KISS concerts had to be the best for sheer spectacle and of course kick butt music. The Fleetwood Mac shows just for the greatness of the music performance. Lindsey Buckingham gets far less credit than he deserves for his guitar playing - for that matter John McVey has never got the kudos he deserves for his bass skills.

I guess I really cant pick just one concert but I think the top ten Rock concerts in no particular order would be,

KISS
Fleetwood Mac
RUSH
Blue Oyster Cult
Peter Frampton & Stevie Nicks
Sammy Hagar
ZZ Top
Cheap Trick
Queen
Beach Boys with Jan and Dean

Non Rock concerts only five really stand out,

Boston Pops with John Williams
Trans Siberian Orchestra
Garth Brooks (who I normally can't stand- but what a show! )
Charlie Daniels
U.S. Air Force Band