Jeff's post in the Black Crowes thread made me think of this... I wouldn't be surprised if this thread has been done before, but I'm not aware of it. My favorite concert of all time was Lindsey Buckingham's "Out of the Cradle" show at the Backroom in Austin. It was rather bizarre because the Backroom is a sleezy joint.... I almost got beat up before the show for severely kicking some stoner's butts at pool repeatedly on the quarter tables. Anyway, the show was Lindsey's first solo tour, and also one of the first stops on that tour. After years of playing stadiums and such, he was playing one of the first solo concerts of his life. There were about 10 musicians on stage with him, 2 GIGANTIC mixing boards in the audience (what appeared to be equipment for a much, much, much bigger event), and about 150 people in the audience, which wasn't even even close to capacity. I can't explain why no one was there, but the review in the Austin Chronicle said, "It was like having Philip Glass conducting an orchestra in your living room." He had quite a bit of solo guitar stuff (from that album's instrumental tracks), and also played old stuff. The most memorable part of the show was actually the opener when he played the solo acoustic version of "Big Love" from the Tango in the Night album with all the lights in the place shut off. The concert was in 92 and that song was from 87, but I had never heard it done that way, and it wasn't released in that form until 97 as far as I know. I was actually sick that night with a pretty high fever, so I may have been hallucinating the entire event, but my memory is still telling that it was an amazing show.
i have to make this short so no story but mine would have to be Ministy in 96' i was a sophmore in highschool. i have been to a ton of concerts and shows with many types of music. but this was the best in my book because every single person there was into the show so much. a close 2nd would be some of the Tool shows i have been to.
I can't narrow it down to just one favorite. * Prince's last tour at Toyota Center * Every Janet Jackson concert (I've been to 3) * Public Enemy - I saw them play in a small club in Nashville. It was kind of a warm up concert before they were to start opening for U2. It was incredible. It went on and on and on...
I don't think I can pick a favorite so I'll make a list of all the bands I've seen, or at least can remember seeing. Triumph 7 KISS 8 Ozzy 3 Motley Crue 4 Metallica 6 Rush 9 Primus 6 Pantera 3 Styx 2 Nirvana Pixies 3 Frank Black 7 GWAR 6 Elvis Costello 4 Iron Maiden 4 Stevie Ray Vaughn 1 White Snake Ministry 4 Front 242 5 KMFDM 3 Public Enemy Fish Bone 2 Gomez 2 Bo Didley Van Halen 3 Scorpions 2 Deep Purple 2 Neil Young 3 CSNY 1 Paul Simon 1 Bob Dylan 2 Skinny Puppy The Smiths Morrisey ACDC 4 Depech Mode The Reivers 5 *anyone remember them?* Chicago Heart Def Leppard 3 Robert Plant 2 The Firm Bad Company Willie Nelson 10+ Molly Hatchet Fleetwoode Mac Yes 6 The Who Rolling Stones Nine Inch Nails 2 Jethro Tull 2 Psycodelic Furs 2 The Clash Black Flag 2 Aerosmith ZZ Top Merle Haggard 2 White Stripes 2 DMB Phish 2 Greatful Dead Pearl Jam 2 Sound Garden 2 Guns & Roses I'm sure there are a bunch that I can't remember right now. If I had to pick a few favorites I'd say the Ministry Land of Rape and Honey tour at numbers, the KISS first reunion tour with the original members in their makeup at the summit (I sat across the isle from Matt Bullard), Nirvana at that place off washington (the abyss?), The pixies at the same place, and some of those yes and rush shows where I just left the show thinking man these guys are great. Wish I had all that money I spent on tickets and tshirts back. I left off a bunch of local bands I've seen over the years.
Zappa at Hofehinz Pavillion in '75 or '76 Black Sabbath at Sam Houston Coliseum '78 (Van Halen opened) Neil Young and Crazy Horse numerous times in Houston or Dallas. "The Third Best Garage Band in the World" tour circa '81 or '82 with Sonic Youth was probably my favorite. More recently, Bob Dylan in Austin in '01 or '02 was good
Like most people here, I've been to a TON of shows. Some good, some OK, and a few truly great ones. I won't list all the great ones since the thread is only asking for one. The best I can do is narrow the list down to 2 shows. Honorable Mention: Ten Hands, UH Campus, 1991? - It was some concert where there were a bunch of bands playing all day long. Ten Hands was last. I've seen these guys at least 20 times and this was the best they've ever sounded. They flipped over a bunch of tables and used them as a barrier. I was in the front row (like I was for every Ten Hands show) and my knees kept getting pushed into the table. They were black and blue for a few days afterward, but I didn't care. I even got to meet and chat with the great Earl Harvin (drummer) during the day. By Far The Best: Living Colour, Club Xcess, 1988 - This was right after Vivid came out and Cult of Personality was just starting to get some airplay. THE most intense show I've EVER seen. These guys were absolutely SMOKING live! They opened up with Funny Vibe and the whole crowd was 'pogoing' during the entire show. Cory did a couple of stage dives and got his shirt ripped off. I happened to be wearing a Zildjian shirt and when the band was walking off stage, Will Calhoun pointed to me and gave me a 'thumbs up'. I compare every show I go to to the Living Colour show and to this day none of them have matched it. Not even close, really.
Living Colur played at Xcess (no longer ther). The Bo Deans opened. I was there. My favs: Black Crowes - Coliseum (1992) Kings X - Tower Theatre (1990?) Chick Corea Acoustic Band - Rockefellar's (1990) Robert Plant - Summit, Manic Nirvana Tour (1988) Prince - Hoffeinz Pavillion (2001) Joe Satriani - Xcess (1990)
I was at the same show. Wasn't the club named "Xcess" or something like that? I still have the sweatshirt I bought at the show in my closet. Brilliant show.
oomp, we've talked about that show before, haven't we? Xcess, that's it! I thought Driving and Crying opened up for them. I could be wrong, my memory is a little blurred. Either way, I wasn't impressed. Wow. I saw them in Jones Hall around the same time. Can't imagine seeing them at Rockefellar's.
Wish I could have been there... when Living Colour played the Texas Union Ballroom on their Stain tour, I saw Vernon Reid walking down The Drag at lunch time taking pictures of the bums and freaks with a killer 35mm setup. He was dressed pretty much like you see him in pictures, so he blended in real well there. I was going to say something to him, but luckily nothing came out... it probably would have been annoying and stupid. I never saw King's X either which I regret. My honorable mention (I haven't been to nearly as many shows as a lot of you guys) would be Brian Wilson, Pet Sounds at the Backyard in Austin. Not because it was the best show necessarily, but because I worship the music and it was like visiting Mecca. But, the quality was in fact pretty good. The Beach Boys were known for lame shows, and this group of musicians (Brian Wilson, Poi Dog Pondering, and some extras) could really play.... and sing a little too.
Just remember that Xcess was opened for the sole purpose of Ecstacy. They'd give you a pill with the $15 cover. That is, until X was declared illegal in 1986.
off the top of my head, in no particular order 1. beastie boys - unicorn 1992 2. sonic youth/pavement/painteens - unicorn 1992 3. fishbone/primus - unicorn 1991 4. prince - sbc center 2004 5. coachella festival - pixies/radiohead/the cure/air/flaming lips/ect - 2004 6. phil lesh/les claypool - red rocks, colorado - 2001 - more b/c of being at red rocks than the music. i think i would enjoy seeing the backstreet boys there. amazing place! 7. beck - austin music hall - 1996 8. radiohead - woodlands (2001 or 2003) 9. spiritualized - liberty lunch 1997 10. spiritualized - la zona rosa - 2001
I've seen too many shows, which is why I am so deaf, but these are my favorites: Blues Traveller at the Sigma Chi house at Vanderbilt, spring of 91. (Another good BT show was at Numbers in 95 when an unknown gal named Sheryl Crow opened up for them....KRBE got 100+ people to show up see Crow and then they all left, so BT played to about 30 of us. Still, the Sigma Chi show was better, Popper in his prime, pre-motorcycle accident, right after they released their first album) Crowes at the Fox Theater in Atl in 93. Most pot smoke I have ever seen in a venue in my life, and the bouncers seemed to not care...in fact, a lot of them were smoking. Metalllica at the Colliseum in Jan 89....when people started throwing chairs around. Wow. I was deaf for days, too. Janes Addiction at Numbers, fall of 88...cost $5 to get in cause they were feuding with Warner Bros. "Nothing's Shocking" Tour. Duran Duran, 1984, the Summit. I won 2nd row tickets from 93Q. I was surrounded by teenage girls screaming and I thought I had gone to heaven being that I was this dorky 13-year old. Police 1984/3 (?), the Summit. First concert ever. Bela Fleck and the Flecktones...Rockefellers...the year before it closed. Nobody was there and Bela had the remote going. He sat at our table and plucked away at "Mr Sinister". Awesome. Grateful Dead and Sting, summer 93. RFK stadium. I got in early and stood front row center. Sting was awesome, Jerry jammed with him in Fortress Around Your Heart. I have seen better Dead shows...mostly New Years shows in SF or a weekend trio in Mountain View, CA, but having Sting there was solid. Live, the Woodlands, late 90s, for the Secret Somethingorother tour. My buddy Ed Spoto was their head soundboard guy, and he got us free passes...which was good because their was this evil storm outside and anyone braving the lightning on the hill deserved a medal. I thought Live was going to be terrible but they really put on an amazing performance. Pink Floyd, Astrodome, 1987. The Rice show was good but rained out too early. Rolling Stones, University of Alabama, 1989. Widespread Panic, The Backyard at Bee Caves, 96 I think. Little Sister opened for them. The Backyard is an amazing venue. Seen Panic about 25 times, this one stands out. Phish..Liberty Lunch, 1993 I think. Small venue, back when they were cool and quirky. Beastie Boys, some small club in Dublin, summer of 94. Ill Communication Tour. The club was extremely small (think Satellite Lounge)...so much energy. Wow. Smashing Pumpkins, some club in Chicago, 1994. My buddy had me drive up to Chicago to check them out. I was drinking Irish Carbombs during the show and got pretty hammered, but when I heard "Disarm" for the first time, I was hooked.
I was at that show. It was nasty outside and Live did put on a great show. I had completely forgotten about going to that show until you mentioned it. Wasn't the lead singer Ed (?) running around all over the place?
I could've sworn it was the Bodeans, but Drivin n' Cryin' is also a possibility. I saw them at Liberty Lunch in Austin one year and they were actually good. For the Chick show, I sat literally right in front of Patittucci. I actually knew him a little bit and he invited me backstage and we hung out for an hour or two. Weckyl was an ass and both Chick and John were making fun of what a pansy he was sometimes. Pretty funny. I remember it was Easter weekend because John (who was and is a Christian) was looking for services Easter morning since they would be in town. I think he ended up going to Unity's outdoor sunrise service on Buffalo Bayou. Really sweet guy.
I hope someday I get to see as many shows as you guys do. I've only been to Buzzfest once and U2 a couple years back (I don't count the Rodeos). I don't think I've been to enough shows to really say that I have a favorite concert.
My favorites: DMB - Central Park -- I wasn't there, but I watched it over the internet, and it was just awesome. The huge number of people there, and the excitement of the whole thing was just great. Plus they played a great set with a few twists and it was a tremendous amount of fun. DMB - 7/15/00 -- My first DMB show. Played about a 3 hour set, it was hot as HELL in Texas Stadium, I probably had the worst seat in the arena, but the music was incredible. My favorite moment was in Lie In Our Graves, Butch and Boyd played these incredible solos, and when Butch's was over, Boyd hugged him. It was one of the neatest things I've ever seen at a show. David Gray - at CWMP, date? -- AWESOME show. I wasn't expecting anything nearly like what I saw. I had the best seat I could have hoped for (dead center, 10 rows up), and it was just so high-energy. It was just one of the neatest concerts I've ever been to, because I was expecting kind of a mellow show, and instead, we got something that looked more like a DMB show energy-wise, with him even playing a few songs off of Flesh (best album IMO). That cemented DG as one of my top 10 favorites. Guster -- 2004 at Meridian -- I don't know if this is the best Guster show I've been to, but it was the most fun. My sister is a HUGE Guster fan, and it was her first Guster show. We got there about twenty minutes after the doors opened, and stood right at the front of the stage for about five hours, until the show ended. I have never seen anyone more excited about anything than my sister was for that show. That made it for me. We threw Ping Pong Balls during Airport song, and sang along to virtually everything. She was jumping up and down the whole time. And then we got to see the "Fire Drill" Center of Attention, which was one of the hits of the show (each band member moves over one spot and plays that guy's instrument -- the song turns out horrible, but it's incredibly funny). A few other greats: New Monsoon a few years ago at Last Concert Cafe Nickel Creek at ACL The Polyphonic Spree and David Bowie at CWMP last year
Pink Floyd in '94 at Rice Stadium. The rain only hit for the two last songs, and the only song the didn't play b/c of it was "Comfortably Numb." The low clouds/wind/storm and the way the lasers interacted with it for 2 hours more than made up for getting a little wet. Lollapalooza 2 @ Ft. Bend County in '91 I believe. The lineup was: Lush, Pearl Jam, Screaming Trees, Soundgarden, Ice Cube, Ministry, & The Chili Peppers. Amazing sets - especially Ministry's. Lenny Kravitz opening for The Cult @ The Summit, early 90's. It was right before Mama Said & such got big. Amzing show - especially when he came out during The Cult's set as well (The Cult's set sucked pretty much, though). Mojo Nixon's farewell show at the Continental was pretty damn good as well.
