Best live concerts you've ever been to

I've seen some posts like this on Facebook and it always just looks like a bunch of people bragging about awesome concerts they've seen, so I'll try it here and see if anyone wants to exchange experiences. Not just your favorite artists you've seen live, but concerts that went above and beyond for you for one reason or another. I'll keep it to a top 10, only somewhat in order, and in multiple genres:

1. Les Paul

2. Red Hot Chili Peppers

3. Amanda Palmer (featuring Neil Gaiman) (Also a very honorable mention to the Dresden Dolls on a separate occasion)

4. Paul Mc Cartney

5. Christian Mc Bride (featuring Dee Dee Bridgewater and Benny Green)

6. Sting & Peter Gabriel

7. Hot Chip

8. Albert Lee

9. Jethro Tull

10. Asaf Avidan & the Mojos

Honorable mentions: Roger Waters, The Stooges, John Cale, Patti Smith, Lenny Kravitz, The Black Keys, My Morning Jacket, Hot Tuna, "Weird Al" Yankovic

Edited by itamark on Jan 2nd 2020 at 5:40:37 AM

1. Godspeed You Black Emperor a few weeks after 9/11. They just played non stop for about 90 minutes and the encore was the Slow Riot EP in it's entirety. I have a bootleg mp3 of that gig and it doesn't come close to matching what I felt.

2. King Crimson a few years back, my favourite band playing songs from their glory era.

3. Cryptopsy. Some time in the mid 2000s after they'd reunited with Lord Worm for the first time. Played None so Vile in it's entirety. Gig was in the middle of a summer heat wave and the venue had no AC. Intense as fuck.

4. Seeing Esoteric in Darby UK late 2000s. Very small gig. Incredible experience.

5. Seeing TSO's production of Gotterdammerung, mid 2000s.

6. Slayer on their farewell tour. I know they tarnished it by playing a few new songs but it'll be the only time I saw them.

7. Cathedral. One of my fav bands ever just a few years before they called it quits.

8. Do festivals count? Both times I attended Supersonic in Birmingham (07 and 09 IIRC) were amazing, exposed to so many different bands and sounds.

Can't think of any more.

Edited by Wabbawabbajack on Jan 5th 2020 at 6:25:39 AM

Man, I'd love to see King Crimson live. What was the line-up when you saw them?

Gavin Harrison (drums)

Bill Rieflin (drums & keys)

Pat Mastelotto (drums & allsorts)

Tony Levin (bass & vocals)

Mel Collins (Sax, flute)

Jakko Jakszyk (guitar & lead vocals)

Robert Fripp (guitar & keys).

Smoulder, Blood Ceremony, Pagan Altar and Cauchemar last year. Skipped the second and third bands but Smoulder are riduclously invigorating for a doom band while Pagan Altar translated a lot of the 70's hard/folk/prog rock eclecticism into a doom/NWOBHM context very well and even added an extended instrumental jam to the end of I think "The Time Lord".

Red Hot Chili Peppers in Germany, Muse at Wembley Stadium in 2007 (Golden years of Muse), The Police in Madrid 2018, Radiohead in Glastonbury 2003, Scorpions in Athens 2018, Metallica in Berlin 2019, Devin Townsend in Wacken 2014, Foo Fighters in Chicago 2014

Edited by mandalorian41 on Jan 12th 2020 at 5:41:32 AM

I've only seen two so far, which were Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets and King Crimson. The Nick Mason one was good, but that King Crimson one... holy shit. We were late to the concert and missed Pictures of a City but I don't care. The performance of The Court of the Crimson King left me yelling "oh my god!" (They have a recording up on their website, you can probably hear it there).

Weezer and Pixies in Montreal 2019. They both put on a really good show, but it’s awkward when one band has Multiple Demographic Appeal and the other one is unknown to half the audience. Weezer likes to co-headline with other bands, so it’s pretty interesting.

I remember skipping school just to watch this concert live online. And I dare say it was worth it for being practically the only actually live concert I've been to.

I’ve only been to one so I don’t exactly have much choice, but last July I went to a Yes concert, and it was Incredible. First off, the last surviving member of ELP and the lead guitarist of Moody Blues were openers, but also there was a guy cosplaying as Abbachio, so that was cool. It was disappointing how they didn’t play Owner Of A Lonely Heart, but it was made up for by...well the whole fucking concert. Even the lesser songs they played were great, and during Roundabout (which everyone went insane upon hearing the opening notes to), there was baseball game with fireworks to left of the stadium and to the right, I shit you not, there was a lightning storm a couple miles away. It was awesome. Oh, and Steve Howe told us all to shut up.

The first time I saw Alice Cooper, maybe 12 years ago or so. I'd been listening to his music my whole life but had no idea what to expect from his concerts. What I saw had me hooked for life. Alice stalking and snarling round the stage, heaps of costume changes, guillotines, swords, knives, electric chairs, iron maidens...The man puts on a show.