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Best Live Band You've Seen?

Spent a lot of the 70's at concerts , from Wembley to the local pub. Went to college in 1973 , and there were bands arriving most weeks.

Roxy Music, Pink Floyd,Led Zepplin , Yes ,Genesis , Who were runners up to Dire Straits.
 
Sox_Fan said:
Cowboy Mouth
Journey
Def Leppard
Dave Matthews Band
Ben Folds Five
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Cowboy Mouth puts on a surprisingly good show.

Live was one of the best bands, hands down. They were a lot of fun.

Best recently was probably 3 Days Grace. They put on a killer show.
 
dazeedmonds said:
Cowboy Mouth puts on a surprisingly good show.

Live was one of the best bands, hands down. They were a lot of fun.

Best recently was probably 3 Days Grace. They put on a killer show.
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I haven't seem them in about 20 years, so I'm sure Fred has slowed down at least some. Saw them I believe 7 times in a 4 or 5 year period and loved every one of them. Even have 4 or 5 drum sticks somewhere that I caught.
 
Sox_Fan said:
I haven't seem them in about 20 years, so I'm sure Fred has slowed down at least some. Saw them I believe 7 times in a 4 or 5 year period and loved every one of them. Even have 4 or 5 drum sticks somewhere that I caught.
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It was about 20 years ago for me too. We stumbled on a concert of theirs in MS.
 
I have to add Genesis. Phil Collins and band were/are a great show. So much talent.
 
ACDC when the Black Ice tour was on. That was a hell of a show.
 
Saw Garth in '91 around the time of No Fences in Stillwater at OSU's basketball arena when it was still only 6000 seats. That was fun to see him in that intimate of a venue.

Bon Jovi's shows over the past 15 years have been super fun and will be seeing them again when they stop in Dallas later this year.

Justin Timberlake put on one heck of a show last year. Very enjoyable.

Probably my favorite overall was Harry Connick, Jr at Red Rocks Amphitheater. Three and a half hours of amazing music in an incredible setting.
 
Slayer...enough said.
 
Haven’t been to many. From a production standpoint U2. I really really enjoyed Counting Crows. Adam left it all on the stage and a few of his lyrics really hit home. Got a little dusty there
 
jim54 said:
Grateful Dead...27 times
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Lol, I’ve seen them twice but I have a 60 year old brother who was/is a dead head and saw them over 100 times.

They only artist I’ve seen numerous times is Prince. I was growing up in Minneapolis when he got big in the early 80’s and I saw him at least 20 times a First Avenue.
 
Blood, Sweat and Tears, 1969 lineup, was incredible for the musicianship.
For vocals, Under the Streetlamp was tough to beat.
 
jim54 said:
Grateful Dead...27 times
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tahoebum said:
Lol, I’ve seen them twice but I have a 60 year old brother who was/is a dead head and saw them over 100 times.
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I saw the Dead back in the 70's at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. The Shrine was owned by The Shriners, you know, the organization of old guys that wore the red fez hats and do amazing charity stuff. Anyway, for that concert they had a sign just inside the doors, one that I hadn't seen at any other concert there, it said:

"THIS IS NOT A SANCTUARY FOR SMOKING MARIJUANA!"

Really? At a Dead concert? That was absolutely taken as a challenge, and by the time the concert started you could get a contact high by just going up to the cheap seats and breathing in the cloud of smoke that was filling the auditorium.
 
BB King about a dozen times, Yes at an outdoor show at Tanglewood in Mass. Genesis before they were big in a small place called The Palace Theater in Providence . Aerosmith when they were a Bar band at my Uncle's Bar.
Pretty much all the big names from the 70's.
A standout was Kiss opening for Peter Frampton, they blew the place up. Fleetwood Mac was great and I got within 5 ft of Stevie Nicks, she was something to see back then.
I have agree with olddude that Alice Cooper put on a hell of a show, my sister was a mega fan and forced me to go to the Billion Dollar Babies show. It was something to see.
My Uncle was the Manager of the Providence Civic Center for a while and we saw a lot shows just to go with backstage access, memories are a bit fuzzy....we had a lot of fun back then.
 
Garth Brooks Live is probably my favorite followed closely by Eric Clapton and Tom Petty.

There are a couple I love going to for the whole experience: Jimmy Buffett and Gaelic Storm
 
Easily the Foo Fighters but Michael Jackson was pretty good on his History world tour.
 
Stones.

But if I really want to hear an artist who "owns his swing" (like Moe Norman), I think about all the Ian Tyson shows I've been too. Neil Young thinks Ian's Four Strong Winds is the most beautiful song ever written. Me too.
 
I've been to too many shows to narrow any one of them down to the best, so I'll follow FernDogs lead and rate them by category

Straight up kick ass hungry band performance: Cinderella opening for Bon Jovi. As a musician you could tell that these guys were HUNGRY. This was on the Slippery When Wet Tour for Bon Jovi (when they were at their peak). As far as I was concerned Cinderella blew them off the stage from an effort and gritty rock and roll show aspect. I didn't go into that show as a fan of either band (I was only there to escort my little sister to see Bon Jovi). But I left with a ton of respect for Tom Keifer and Co.

Bucket list show: KISS. I had actually seen KISS in the late 80s without their makeup and had ZERO interest. It was a little depressing because KISS was my first true musical love (started at the age of 4). But by that time I was a full blown thrash addict and was actually there to see their opening act: Anthrax. I finally got to see the original line up in 2000 with their make up on. It was my daughters' first concert. I definitely had some tears rolling down my face as they came down on that platform from the rafters.

Thank God I made it show: I ran away from home to see Metallica open for Ozzy on the Master of Puppets tour in Denver, CO. Another hungry, young band. Cliff would be killed a few short months later.

Scariest: Slayer. Denver, CO. Ran away to see this show, too (Reign in Blood tour). The only time I actually feared for my life at a concert. Unbelievable experience. The single most violent musical experience I have ever been a part of. A close second in this category was W.A.S.P. Blackie Lawless was a BIG, scary mother trucker to a 14 year old kid and he had COMPLETE command of that audience. Add to it that he did a mock mutilation of a nude woman on stage and, let's just say, he left an impression.

Most disappointing: Motley Crue. Three. Times. Saw them on the Shout at the Devil, Theater of Pain and Girls, Girls, Girls tours. Vince Neil was such a drunk piece of sh!t at all three that he sounded like sh!t and didn't remember a bunch of the lyrics. HUGE, HUGE disappointments. A close second in this category was Stevie Nicks. I grew un on Fleetwood Mac because of my uncle, so I was really looking forward to this show. She was so coked up an uninterested that it just sucked. Luckily Joe Walsh opened up and saved the day.

Concerts that sucked so bad that I actually fell asleep: Only two in my lifetime. Pearl Jam and Aerosmith. That's saying something considering I've seen the likes of Terri Gibb and Barry Manilow.

I'm sure I'll think of more later.
 
Most talented? Muse - this was an easy choice for me.

most influential? Neil Young -went with my now wife a few months before our wedding at Desert Trip (along with Paul McCartney, bob dylan, The Who, Roger Waters, and The Rolling Stones) and changed our first dance to Harvest Moon the next day

Most fun? Run the Jewels - spent a lot of time in mosh pits when I was younger, and this was almost like an adult version where you could do your thing and not worry about taking a fist to the face

most surprising? Bela Fleck and the flecktones - introduced me to a whole new type of music I never knew I would love.
 
Caught this guy live in Hawaii a few years back and have to say he was good live and in person. Wound up even picking up a Guitar where this video is while I was out there.

 
Radiohead at Red rocks amphitheater. I think it was 2001.
 
Difficult to pick one, I’d say Frank Zappa’s band on the Joe’s Garage tour. Frank was an extraordinary musician and always had a first class band but this Group was exceptional.
 
Some great mentions on this thread.

Mine is Tool.
 
KCSmitty said:
Some great mentions on this thread.

Mine is Tool.
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I worked backstage at a Tool concert once. Taking the drunk’s info as they got tossed out. Got some time to watch a few songs. They really put on a good show.
 
dazeedmonds said:
I worked backstage at a Tool concert once. Taking the drunk’s info as they got tossed out. Got some time to watch a few songs. They really put on a good show.
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If anything they don't hold back on theatrics. Easy to get absorbed in the show.

My guess would be comparable to a new age Pink Floyd?
 
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