# The Greatest Live Show You Ever attended



## Pyotr (Feb 26, 2013)

What do you consider the best concert/show you ever attended? You must have been physically present. Can be a musical concert (either popular or classical), ballet, opera, or theatrical performance such as a particular Shakespeare play , etc. (no sporting events, or Vegas-type shows like magic acts, please). List the date and venue, if you can, and anything about the show that made it memorable. 

Mine was the performance of the ballet A Midsummer’s Night dream at The Academy of Music by the PA Ballet, in Philadelphia a few years ago, can’t remember the exact date. I was in the second row center. The music was so good, the performers were so beautiful; they included some special effects with the fairies. Just something about it which screamed perfect. I’ll never forget it.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

For presentation/visuals it was without doubt seeing Pink Floyd perform _The Wall_ album in its entirety at Earls Court in 1980. A few grumbled about the fact that no earlier Floyd tracks were going to be played but I can't recall anyone complaining afterwards - the show was stunning, especially the plane which came overhead from the back of the hall and smashed into the wall.

For significance it was seeing Led Zeppelin at Knebworth Festival in 1979 - their first UK concert for four years, which was like having to wait a lifetime back then. There were supposed to be have been 100,000 people there but rumours of over-subscription led to speculation that it was more like 150,000+. The group weren't fantastic - in fact, at times they sounded very rusty - but after one more performance at Knebworth the following week they never played in the UK again while John Bonham was alive.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

A tie:

Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet Ballet. American Ballet Theater. Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, NYC.

Britten Peter Grimes, Metropolitan Opera (Jon Vickers), Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, NYC.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Vickers at the Met - that's some gig. Who was conducting, HP?


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

elgars ghost said:


> Vickers at the Met - that's some gig. Who was conducting, HP?


Sir Colin Davis. I believe it was 1967 and I was so floored by this, that I purchased another ticket to see/hear it again a few nights later!!


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## Klassik (Mar 14, 2017)

Pyotr said:


> What do you consider the best concert/show you ever attended? You must have been physically present. Can be a musical concert (either popular or classical), ballet, opera, or theatrical performance such as a particular Shakespeare play , etc. *(no sporting events, or Vegas-type shows like magic acts, please)*. List the date and venue, if you can, and anything about the show that made it memorable.


Would a burlesque show making fun of opera count?


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## Room2201974 (Jan 23, 2018)

June 1975, Eric Clapton and Band! To give you a historical perspective, this was after Clapton kicked heroin and before his heavy use of alcohol. His band that night included Yvonne Eliman and Marcy Levy. Opening song was _Layla_!

It was festival seating with SRO in front of the stage. I was among the first 30 fans in the venue and set up about twenty feet in front of the stage where I could get an unobstructed view of Eric's fret work. It was, in a word, a revelation. Clapton's playing is based on correct fingering and hand positioning. There is no wasted movement. The logic of the fretboard displayed in the mode of the flattened third and seventh! He literally did not miss a note all night!

But it's not just about hitting the notes folks. It's also about tone production. Where, when, and how much vibrato to add to any run separates the players from the also-rans. There is a cumulative effect here that I'm not sure I can put into words, but that I've also heard with great classical performers.

But back to the performance. There was a jam at the end of the concert with the guitarist from the opening band. So yeah, I got to hear Eric Clapton and Carlos Sanatana jam to _Steady Rolling Man_ and _Little Wing_!!!!!!


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

A few candidates:

— A performance of Schnittke's Concerto for Piano and Strings by students of the St. Petersburg Conservatory. It was at the Cincinnati Conservatory, which they were visiting one winter just after the fall of the USSR.

— The Ganelin Trio in Pittsburgh in 1985. You could tell their minders by the bad suits! Awesome improvisation, like a cross between Stravinsky and early Weather Report.

— Ivan Fischer conducting Mahler 4 with the NY Phil in the 2000s. The scheduled conductor was taken ill and Fischer stepped in on very short notice. I don't think he even did all the rehearsals. One of the most beautifully nuanced performances I've ever heard.

— Weather Report in Pittsburgh with the I Sing the Body Electric lineup.

— King Crimson live at the Stanley Warner Theater in Pittsburgh (Now the Benedum Center for Performaning Arts) in 1974. Most of this can be heard on The Great Deceiver set.


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## bharbeke (Mar 4, 2013)

Vince Gill: These Days Tour
Brad Paisley: Time Well Wasted Tour
Garth Brooks: latest world tour with Trisha Yearwood

Touring productions:
The Lion King
Phantom of the Opera


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## Jos (Oct 14, 2013)

Prince, sign of the times tour.

Roger Water plays DSOTM

Both 50.000+ stadium concerts. A bit too much for me, although I did enjoy the concerts. 
Don't think I'll ever attend concerts of this scale again.


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## Guest (Apr 15, 2018)

I couldn't really choose between:

King Crimson: pre-Discipline tour (when the band was briefly called Discipline)

ELP: Brain Salad Surgery tour

Pink Floyd: pre-Wish You Were Here tour

Considering later tours, all three were in modest sized venues, which made it all the better. At the Discipline/KC gig in particular (Manchester Poly) I could have held my hand out to shake Robert Fripp's hand.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I was into jazz when I was young, and every summer Disneyland would have a different big band play for a whole week in their Carnation Plaza. There were no chairs; they just set up on the bandstand, and we would sit on the floor in front of them. But being that close to all those jazz legends was amazing: Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Stan Kenton, Harry James. 

Of all of them, Woody Herman put on the best shows. He had just hired a band with kids straight out of Berklee School of Music, calling them the Young Thundering Herd. They were enthusiastic, energetic, and not yet burned out from the road. And they played everything, from John Coltrane to Frank Zappa. 

I've been to rock concerts which were so loud I ended up with partial hearing loss for six hours afterward. That's volume but not intensity. But to sit ten feet away from those all guys and feeling the sound shooting through me, and it's not from some guy pushing up sliders on a mixing board, it's from real people, that's intensity. 

If I had a time machine, I'd like to experience that again.


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## Pyotr (Feb 26, 2013)

I would have liked to have seen the old super-rock bands like Led zeppelin and rolling stones in their prime, but tickets were so hard to come by. They seemed to sell out in hours back then.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

^
^

Same here - missing out on the great 70s acts is my only regret for not being about five or six years older.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

The Angels (known as Angel City in the US)
I've seen a few big line acts when they came to Oz live over the years including Springsteen (Born in USA tour), Elton John (early Eighties tour) and most Oz bands including Rose Tattoo, Midnight Oil, Cold Chisel and others but best was The Angels it was just a small town gig in the mid 1980's and only about 20 people turned up but they played their full set and some was a great night watching Doc and the boys do their stuff.


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

Pyotr said:


> I would have liked to have seen the old super-rock bands like Led zeppelin and rolling stones in their prime, but tickets were so hard to come by. They seemed to sell out in hours back then.


The first (professional) rock concert I ever saw was Zeppelin, in elementary school (1970? first or second American tour). They kind of sucked. Flabby 20+ min. version of Dazed and Confused, with a fifteen minute bow-wanking solo. Spinal Tap evoked the moment perfectly  . They were my favorite band at the time - on record.


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## Annied (Apr 27, 2017)

Three come straight into my head. 

The Jose Carreras recital at the ROH shortly after he'd recovered from leukamia and had begun performing again. It was the most emotional event to which I've ever been.

Opera North's "Attila" with John Tomlinson giving an absolutely electric performance in the title role. It's one of the most complete pieces of theatre of any genre that I think I've ever seen.

A "Last Night of the Proms" for the unforgettable atmosphere.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

> A "Last Night of the Proms" for the unforgettable atmosphere.







This one for me also, 2010 with my grandparents, they broke the house down.


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## chill782002 (Jan 12, 2017)

Nirvana - PNE Forum, Vancouver (January 4, 1994): The final tour, 3 months before Kurt took a one way trip to rock and roll heaven. Reasonably big venue (probably 20,000 seater or thereabouts) and I was a long way back but they were my favourite band at the time and the performance was excellent although Kurt seemed a little out of it. No surprise I guess, although rumours were already circulating at the time about his heavy heroin habit. A treasured memory and one that still gets me kudos with the new generation of fans too young to have seen them in person.

David Bowie - Wembley Arena, London (November 26, 2003): His final hometown show, although no-one there (probably including him) could have predicted that at the time. Good show but I couldn't help feeling a little sorry for him given that when he played the classics from the 70s everyone was up on their feet and singing along but when he announced, "this one's from the new album" literally half the audience got up and headed for the bar. I doubt he was that bothered though.

Kraftwerk - Brixton Academy, London (March 20, 2004): Just a great show with awesome visuals projected up behind the band while they were playing. It was a little surreal watching four guys my dad's age wearing suits perform the whole show off four tiny laptops though. Florian Schneider (who was still in the band then) was the only one who spoke to the audience albeit fairly infrequently and in German. Fortunately I went along with a friend of mine from Hamburg so he was able to translate. In fact, the version of "The Model" on the live "Minimum Maximum" album was recorded at that show.


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## chill782002 (Jan 12, 2017)

elgars ghost said:


> For significance it was seeing Led Zeppelin at Knebworth Festival in 1979 - their first UK concert for four years, which was like having to wait a lifetime back then.


I have that on DVD somewhere, the entire show was filmed for a possible follow-up movie to "The Song Remains The Same" but the project was shelved after John Bonham died. I agree the performance wasn't the best compared to some other live recordings of them that I've heard but I would love to have been there.


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## chill782002 (Jan 12, 2017)

EdwardBast said:


> - Weather Report in Pittsburgh with the I Sing the Body Electric lineup.
> 
> - King Crimson live at the Stanley Warner Theater in Pittsburgh (Now the Benedum Center for Performaning Arts) in 1974. Most of this can be heard on The Great Deceiver set.


These. I would give a non-essential body part to have seen these two shows.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

chill782002 said:


> I have that on DVD somewhere, the entire show was filmed for a possible follow-up movie to "The Song Remains The Same" but the project was shelved after John Bonham died. I agree the performance wasn't the best compared to some other live recordings of them that I've heard but I would love to have been there.


The highlight for me was a stunning version of _No Quarter_ - well, it sounded great to me. :lol:

I remember the crowd starting to drift away after the band played _Whole Lotta Love_ as a second encore thinking that was that, then they came on back once gain and played _Heartbreaker_. It was a long way back to the car and now it was pitch black so we kept on walking in order to avoid the rush once they were finally finished.


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