Okay, here we go... Best 10 bands you've seen live?
misterorange
Kamala, you're FIRED!
1) The Police, at the old Brendan Byrne Arena in NJ, opening band Black Uhuru. Ghost in the Machine Tour.
2) Pink Floyd, at Nassau Colosseum in Long Island, opening band... don't remember, I was on acid.
3) Grateful Dead (with Jerry Garcia) at Madison Square Garden. No opening band, they just came out and jammed. Couple years before Jerry passed.
4) The Scorpions at Barclay Center in Brooklyn, opening band Megadeth. Saw Scorpions probably 15 times dating back to the mid-80's, but a few years ago they still rock. Even got better I think. Megadeth was fuckin great.
5) Meat Loaf, back in the 80/90's. Dude fucking brought the house down. Probably saw him 5 times.
6) Ted Nugent, my first ever concert when I was about 12 or 13. Krokus and Blackfoot opened. My friend's dad took us and we had 1/2 pints of Jack in our socks. Mixed it with Coca-Cola. Saw him about 10 times since then. They call him the Motor City Madman for a reason.
7) 311 at Roseland Ballroom, NYC. I had a girlfriend 10 years younger who dragged me into the mosh pit. Got a black eye. Awesome.
8) Tony Bennett at the Felt Forum. Special guests: Natalie Cole, Elvis Costello, Michael Buble. Tony's 80'th birthday tour. He still had it together then. Sounded great and told some good stories about the old days in Vegas and mentoring Stevie Wonder.
9) Luther Vandross, saw him 3 years in a row on Valentine's Day at Radio City, with different girls each year. Got laid every time. Nuff said.
10) Metallica. Opening bands were Volbeat and Avenged Sevenfold. Awesome show. Probably should be much higher on the list but it was an outdoor stadium concert (New MetLife Stadium) which I hate. The sound quality sucked.
Only two outdoor venues I know of where the sound is good: Jones Beach on Long Island and the Pavilion in Boston. PNC Arts Center (near me in NJ) fuckin sucks. Always has. I'll never go to another concert there. Saw Steve Miller Band, Scorpions, Ozzy, and believe it or not, Bobby Vinton... every time the sound was awful.
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-Interpol/U2 at the Meadowlands
-ZZ Top/Guns & Roses at the Sunbowl
-Soundgarden/NIN at Jones Beach
-Lionel Richie at Jones Beach
-Def Leppard/Journey Toyota Center in Houston
-Phil Collins at Madison Square Garden
-Huey Lewis and the News at Eisenhower Park
-Goldie at some underground spot in a Chinese restaurant down in Chinatown, NYC
-Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden
-Three Days Grace/Breaking Benjamin at the Prudential Center in Newark
Guns N Roses
Alice Cooper
Rammstein
Queen w/Adam Lambert (never saw Freddie rip)
KISS
Ghost
Iron Maiden
Poison (my first show ever in 1986)
Van Halen
Bruce Springsteen + E street band
http://www.gipsykings.com/
Funny you mentioned Meatloaf watched a 2-hour Documentary on him last night. Seen him in Cleveland many years ago he's definitely a performer.
The Stones in Detroit at the old silver dome stadium. Absolute nosebleed seats couldn't understand the damn thing they sang but fuck it was a stone
Laugh saw Cher twice with the SO. There were maybe 1,000 straight people and easily 15,000 gay with most of them dressed like Cher. I'll have to admit was a good show and a lot of fun although a little disturbing standing at the urinals.
Bon Jovi in the early years, Halestorm, jackal, and Rob zombie to name a few.
Looking forward to July just picked up three tickets to Halestorm
I saw someone mentioned Tony Bennett. Saw him when he was in his mid to upper 80's and he sounded good for a song or two but had his daughter with him who was simply terrible.
Yeah I like Halestorm a lot but never seen live. Have to check that out.
REO Speedwagon with Chicago
Santana
Slash with Myles Kennedy on vocals
Halestorm with Three Days Grace
Alter Bridge with Skillet
Badflower, Pop Evil, Seether and Shinedown
Diana Krall
Martina McBride
Brothers Osbourne
Evanescence
1. Michael Jackson - Bad Tour / I was just a kid
2. ELO - can’t remember what tour but it was 1981, again just a kid
3. Police - the reunion tour, that was around 8-10 years ago
4. Van Halen - For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge tour
5. Nine Inch Nails - I have seen them many times but the best was the Lollapalooza tour, it was either the 1st or 2nd Lollapalooza (can’t remember which one they were on)
6. Bill Joel - first concert EVER in Gund arena (now Quiken Loans arena) home of the Cleveland Cavs. He played a couple of Elton John songs because Elton John was scheduled to play a few day later
I think that’s it. I’ve been dragged to a million Jimmy Buffet concerts, I saw Sting on the Soul Cages tour and fell asleep, I’ve sat through, Cheap Trick and Hall & Oats concerts - all of which do not belong on my top 10!
Chris Ledoux
George Strait
Allan Jackson
Brooks N Dunn
Tricia Yearwood
Garth Brooks
Tracy Lawrence
Tracy Bird
Clay Walker
https://www.halestormrocks.com/tour
Pink Floyd, saw them 3 times over the years but the dark side of the Moon tour under the stars with my GF early in my concert going experience stands out as the best of the 3.
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, killer band!
Roxy Music, again with my then GF.
Springsteen, saw him 3 times.
Meatloaf, first tour, Rock N Roll opera is what I remember it as being. The guy had a strong voice, saw him twice.
The Who
Saw the Stones 3 times, Zep twice.
Stills/Young band
There were many others. At one time my count was over 80 national acts but I eventually lost count same as I've lost count of the number of chicks I've fucked over the years.
2. Public Enemy
3. STP
4. Cypress Hill
5. Garbage
6. Dido
7. Arcade Fire
8. No Doubt
9. Fiona Apple
10. Econoline Crush
The Cure is one band that I regret never seeing.
#1: Disturbed- fucking amazing hometown performance in Chicago at Twisted 7. They were the opener, but the fucking band of the evening!
2: Live
3: Ludakris
4: Dave Matthews Band
5: Cypress Hill
6: Eminem
7: Metallica
8: The Killers
9: Rage Against the Machine
10: Hog Leg
Thin Lizzy and The Pretenders. Still the best 2 concerts I ever been to. Maybe I changed a lot too. These days I won’t get high and go crazy at a concert like I did back then.
1. Beach Boys (in the late 60’s)
2. Buffalo Springfield
3. Crosby, Stills and Nash
4. Hollies
5. Ray Charles
6. Dave Brubeck
7. Dizzy Gillespie
8. Blood, Sweat and Tears
9 James Taylor
10. Bonnie Raitt
There are a lot more. I do feel lucky to have seen so many greats.
2. Simon & Garfunkel (Concert in the park)
3. Dire Straits
4. Bruce (late 90's)
5. The Who (early 90's)
6. REO
7. Pretenders
8. Frampton
9. Aerosmith
10. Jackson Browne
The one I really regret missing was Harry Chapin. I had a Civil Engineering final the next day and I was failing the course; decided I needed to study. he died 3 months later.
punk
plasmatics
dk's
black flag
circle jerks
rock
the who
deep purple
ac/dc
country
brooks and dunn rodeo show
allen jackson
garth brooks
Other
john prine
parliament
nwa
bb king
echo and the bunnymen
billy bragg at the brawl room in chicago when U2 opened and got booed off the stage
funniest concert
parents did not like the punk influence on me so moved to the country, took a bunch of farm kids to see frankie goes to hollywood at a gay/alternative club. you've never seen a group of country boys and girls as terrified as that.
And Naughthy by Nature at some USO jam
2) Guns and Roses
3) U2
4) Foo Fighters
5) George Strait
6) Aerosmith
7) Lynyrd Skynyrd
8) Hank Williams Jr
9) Shania Twain
10) Greenday
Two more great concert that seems out of place in a list like this were seeing Yo Yo Ma with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and watching the Three Tenors sing in New York.
Neither are my usual type of music but the woman I was dating at the time wanted to see them and I wanted to make her happy. They were truly among the greatest performances I have ever seen.
Those two performances were incredible because they were a chance to see someone whose pure talent was unmatched by anyone else in their field. The same way someone that doesn't like the NBA could be drawn in watching Michael Jordan play or someone who doesn't like golf could enjoy watching Tiger Woods playing Agusta on a Sunday back in his prime.
2. Steve Miller band - Daughters of the American Revolution Constitution Hall
3. Steve Goodman - Lake Whippoorwill VA
4. Ryan Shupe and the Rubber Band - Prescott AZ
5. Seldom Scene - Birchmere Restaurant
RUSH (including the first time they ever performed "Moving Pictures" in its entirety, as they were gearing up for their final album)
Police
Sting
Billy Joel
Dire Straits
Rod Stewart
Kansas
The Fixx
Berlin
I was so bummed, they were doing a free concert in Old Vegas and I was leaving the day before they were playing. They used to have some concert series hosted by Nina Blackwood of MTV fame and had a bunch of 80s bands lined up to play weekly.
Meatloaf (of course!)
Heart
Boston
Styx
REO Speedwagon
Sinead O’Connor
Nora Jones (twice)
Billy Joel
Blonde
Susanne Vega
Brad Paisley
Linda Ronstadt
Chely Wright
Dixie Chicks
John Denver
Little Big Town
Kathy Mattea
Lee Ann Womack
Bucket List (probably won’t happen):
Bruce Springsteen
Dolly Parton
Elton John
David Bowie with Eric Clapton filling in as lead guitar
Springsteen
James Taylor first concert back in Chapel Hill
Buffet- more time than I can count
Genesis
Boston
REM used frequently play at some bars in college
Finally I saw the band that probably gave us the one hit wonder phrase - A Flock of Seagulls
Even without the props which were mainly added for comedy the band was so good they easily rank among the best concerts I witnessed.
Brian Setzer Orchestra
Damned
Lords of the New Church
Public Image, Ltd
Social Distortion
X
Stiff Little Fingers
Alarm
Plimsouls
-Pink Floyd doing The Wall London 1980
- Beach Boys at Anaheim Stadium July 3 1976 This marked the return of Brian Wilson. A crowd of 50,000 Southern Californians on their feet.
- Marshall Tucker Band with Charlie Daniels 1975
GratefulDead was a close fourth
Fishhawk, would like have to have seen Kris Kristofferson in his prime.
Dropkick Murphy's (w/ original singer)
H20
The Who
Death Threat
The Businesses
Metallica. Cypress Hill, Green Day, Red Hot Chili Peppers
Hundreds of punk and HC bands.
Lollapalooza in early nineties with Rage Against the Machine, Soundgarden and Metallica
Tool multiple times/locations always a great show as they tend to play smaller venues
Primus in Clearwater on the Chocolate Factory tour, so trippy
Korn (original) in 99 or 2000, in Miami. No opening act at all. No bs, no stage talk, just 2 hours of musical mayhem
Slipknot. West palm beach. Fuckin hell. Best pit ever
OutKast with Ludacris opening on Miami. Best Rap concert I've seen by far
Chicago co headlining with Earth Wind and Fire in Tampa. Great musicians and energy
Method Man and Redman in St Pete. Lots of weed on the air
Steel drivers. Some amazing modern bluegrass
I saw The Clash in 1984 in Providence. I enjoyed it at the time, but they were depleted by then and sliding off the train tracks.
I saw Reverend Horton Heat open for Motorhead in Boston.
I saw the Grateful Dead (Santana opening) at the UNLV stadium. That was an off-the-charts fantastic show.
I miss '80s punk concert fliers. They were low-tech, ugly, and amazing.
I still listen to punk and hardcore on occasion, but I'm not that wound up and angry anymore. And a mosh pit (at least an '80s mosh pit) would be a really silly suicide for me at this point in my life.
2. U2- Joshua Tree Tour-Indianapolis-Hoosier Dome '88
3. Pink Floyd- Momentary Lapse of Reason Tour-Indianapolis '87
4. Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Robert Cray- Wisconsin- Alpine Valley '90
5. John Mellancamp- Indianapolis-Market Square Arena '86(wish I could say that I was at the Bluebird in Bloomington when he performed full set unannounced and was joined by Lou Reed and John Prine before Farm Aid, because I was there regularly that fall, but missed that night.
Depeche Mode
New Order
Erasure
Heart
Van Halen
Outfield
B-52s
Howard Jones
Pat Benatar
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_Aid#P…
Led Zeppelin
Black Sabbath
Joan Baez
Phil Collins
Mick Jagger/Keith Richards
Crosby Stills Nash & Young
Judas Priest
Etc etc
ZZ Top
Rush
Bryan Adams
Huey Lewis and the News
REO Speedwagon
Steve Miller
Trans-Siberian Orchestra
I did go to a Cure show once, but it was only to tell ‘em to play “Wimoweh” lest I go all wildebeest on their mopey asses. Got ‘em to do it, had my giggles, then the lion slept that night. After fuckin’ a few groupies of course. ROAR!!!
And some old skool house DJs. Bad boy Bill. Jose 2 hype. Dj enrie. Armand van holden. Carl cox.
The most memorable show was a band whose name i don't remember. At a punk bar. The lead singer stripped and projectile vomited onto the crowd......
Pearl Jam (MANY times)
Temple of the Dog (ok, so this was just a couple songs when Chris Cornell came out during Pearl Jam's encore in Santa Barbara in 2003)
Rage (99)
Stone Temple Pilots (99 or 00)
Smashing Pumpkins at a tiny little bar outside of AZ State Uni - they did a free show tour through a few cities in early 00
Foo Fighters (four or five times, I think)
Tool
Audioslave