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Best Live Band You've Seen?

Some great mentions in here - I'll add Allman Brothers and Little Feat to the discussion.
 
I’ve been to a lot of concerts in my time and here’s my list of some of my favorites:
First: Tears for Fears
Best Hard Rock:AC/DC Razors Edge show
Best Classic show: Clapton,Journeyman Tour
Best visuals: Pink Floyd
Best Metal(sort of): Metallica
Best VIP experience: G3 Joe Satriani tour
Best outdoor show: Eagles Hell Freezes Over Tour
Best front row show: Def Leppard Hysteria: in the round stage setup
Best multi band show: Monsters of Rock
Best festival show: Lollapalooza 1992
Lamest show/embarrassed I went: Ratt/Poison
Best small venue show: Live on the Throwing Copper tour: weren’t well known yet and they were incredible
Wildest show: 2 Live Crew: didn’t start until midnight but worth it
Weirdest show(but good): Phish, saw them in a small place in Miami
Loudest show( and not sure why): Bryan Adams
Best live guitar solo: EVH eruption
Best live drum solo: Neil Peart
Best opening show: Queensrÿche for the Def Leppard show
Show I had tickets to but didn’t get to go in because 5 of my friends couldn’t get tickets at the door: Midnight Oil
Best punk show: Suicidal Tendencies
Lamest show that my wife made me go to with her: Counting Crows
Best show that my wife and I went to: Tom Petty on his last tour
Best acoustic show: Indigo Girls
Best show ever where I sang every word to every song with about 20,000 others: Foo Fighters

Well that was fun!!






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Would have loved to see Led Zeppelin as well as the Clash
 
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OldeDude said:
Always some good music threads going on around here, and "Best ...." threads are always fun, so who was the best live band you've ever seen?

I was a certifiable concert addict back in the 70's, saw just about every rock band/artist that played in SoCal, and everyone played in SoCal. If I didn't see them it was usually because I wasn't interested, not that I just missed them. Led Zeppelin was about as big as they get back then, saw them numerous times, and it was always a big event, a spectacle, a can't miss show, and they were rarely very good. So who do I think was the best Live Band/Artist I've ever seen? Can't nail it down to just one, so:

For live music and stage presence:
  • Paul McCartney and Wings - Went to two of the three nights they played the LA Forum on the Wings Over America Tour in 1976, absolutely incredible. Check out the concert movie Rockshow, most of it was filmed those two nights at the Forum.
  • Bob Seger - Great live, with or without The Silver Bullet Band. First time I saw him was in 76, the year he released both Live Bullet and Night Moves, last time was just a couple of years ago, always puts on a great show.
  • Humble Pie - Saw their last tour back in March 75, such a great live band, Steve Marriott was such a showman, with an amazing voice.
  • Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Finally got to see them in 99, and what can I say, they played everything, and were so good. At the end of the set you're thinking "what can they do for an encore, they've played everything?" Then they come out and play three or four more of your all-time favorites!
For the SHOW:
  • Alice Cooper - Hands down, the greatest rock stage show, every time! He (or they, depending on the era) truly brought theater to the rock stage, the show of shows, and really good live music to boot. I've seen Kiss, and a few others that were known for the Show they put on, and they were a lot of fun, but no one could compare to the Show that Alice put on.
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The last Gary Allan show I went to a few years ago was the best one of his I've seen, and he hasn't had new music in years. He's so good in person.

As more of a casual fan, the entire Buffett experience was fun. Camping out for tickets, preshow tailgating, the show itself.

A George Strait festival around 2001 with Asleep at the Wheel, Sara Evans, Lonestar, LeeAnn Womack, Brad Paisley, and Alan Jackson was the best of those festivals I went to. This was the only time I saw Strait and Jackson sing "Murder on Music Row" together. Paisley played "I'm Gonna Miss Her" before it was released for the radio; place went nuts. He had some big names in those shows over the years.
 
Just_Hacking said:
I haven't been to many concerts, but the Garth Brooks concert was by far the best. He absolutely leaves it all on stage. He is wide open the entire time.

2nd best has to be the concert Hootie and The Blowfish did at a college here in Georgia right after their album Cracked Rear View came out. The actually tried to get out of the concert at first as they could play much bigger venues, but played anyway and absolutely killed it. Even came back out for an encore after there was hardly anyone left in the venue. They just came out and jammed. It was very cool.
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I will agree with you on Garth! I am not the biggest country music fan and was floored at how well he connects with the crowd.
 
True "bands": White Stripes and Grace Potter and the Nocturnals

But I have to throw T Swift in this mix too.
 
I would have loved to see some of the great rock bands in their prime in the 60s and 70s. From my experience Green Day played an amazing show when I was a huge fan at 16.
 
Joe Bonamasa. I’ve kind of become a Bonamasa but. He is amazing as is the band.
 
Motley Crue, Red, White, and Crue tour. It was my first Rock concert and it was amazing. Basically had soft core porn playing on jumbo trons and strippers doing acrobatics on stage. It was some crazy ****.
 
GraniteRoost said:
Some great mentions in here - I'll add Allman Brothers and Little Feat to the discussion.
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Totally forgot about the Allman Brothers. Great show bad memory.
 
rallo said:
Most entertaining
KISS
Less than Jake
Reel Big Fish

Best musicianship
Black Keys
Ryan Adams
Guster
Avett Brothers
New Found Glory
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I played the **** out of Reel Big Fish’s “Why do they Rock so Hard” Album back in the day. Bet that would have been a fun concert to see.
 
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Springsteen
U2
McCartney
Prince
The Police
Billy Joel
Fleetwood Mac
 
1972 - Yes - Close to the Edge tour
1973 - Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon tour
1974 - King Crimson
1974 - Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention
1974 - Mahavishnu Orchestra
1975 - Yes - Relayer tour
1975 - Rolling Stones - Its Only Rock n Roll tour

These are the best shows I ever saw. Out of all the above, Yes and Pink Floyd are the best! The weakest was the Stones.
 
Best Show I've Ever Seen: Nine Inch Nails
Best Band I've Seen Multiple Times: Local H
Band That I Need to See Soon: Pearl Jam
 
 
I'd probably go with Muse. I've seen a few of their tours and each one has a ton of visual stimulation.
 
Boder said:
I played the **** out of Reel Big Fish’s “Why do they Rock so Hard” Album back in the day. Bet that would have been a fun concert to see.
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They were awesome, Aaron Barrett is way underrated when it comes to his guitar playing.
 
George strait was cool. His stage was triangular shaped and he kept moving from point to point making sure that all of the crowd got to see him.

Carrie Underwood was good too.

I took my wife to Vegas to see Bette milder. Great show. I didn’t realize realize my widen and I were some of the few straight people in the audience. I never knew she had such a large following of gays (her term).

Michael bubble was great in concert.
 
Tough to pick one "best" one, but ... The Hives!
 
sposey013168 said:
Saw most of the hair bands in the 80’s
Best sounding was White Snake.

Runner up was a tie between Great White and BTO

Best show was David Lee Roth on the Skyscaper tour.

Most over rated was Motley Crue. Love their albums but was very disappoint in seeing them live


Almost Fiddy Plus 2
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The worst I’ve ever seen - and it wasn’t close - was Kiss.
 
Concert featuring Foghat and Blue Oyster Cult was a blast.
AC/DC for those about to rock was great.
As others have mentioned, Garth Brooks put on one heck of a show.

Most "interesting" OZZ Fest

jim54 said:
Grateful Dead...27 times
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But can you actually remember any of the concerts? ;)

Speaking of not remembering. Buddy went to Woodstock. He remembers going into someone's tent on the first day. Then he woke up laying in the mud among the litter after everything was packed up and gone.
 
Pink Floyd
Def Leppard
Styx
Nickelback
 
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