# Top Live Rock Band Performances



## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

What are some of your favorites over the years? I'll list a handful of mine.

Led Zeppelin - Dazed And Confused
Deep Purple - Highway Star
Little Feat - Spanish Moon
The Band - It Makes No Difference
Zappa - RDNZL from the Helsinki Concert
Allman Brothers - Mountain Jam
Grateful Dead - Dark Star
Peter Frampton - Lines On My Face
Wings - Maybe I'm Amazed
The Who - Young Man Blues
Santana - the opening medley from Moonflower
Genesis - Cinema Show


----------



## Kjetil Heggelund (Jan 4, 2016)

Here's a pretty famous concert! I saw Living Colour in Oslo a few years ago


----------



## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

For a brief while back in the day, Fanny was amazing live, hanging out a lot at the Whiskey A Go Go.


----------



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

The Dictators - _Next Big Thing_ from _Dictators Live - New York, New York_ (1981):
Hawkwind - _Time We Left This World Today_ from _Space Ritual_ (1973):
Jimi Hendrix - _Machine Gun_ from _Band of Gypsies_ (recorded 1969):
Slade - _Get Down And Get With It_ from _Slade Alive!_ (recorded 1971):
Talking Heads - _Burning Down The House_ from _Stop Making Sense_ (1984):
The Who - _Young Man Blues_ from _Live At Leeds_ (1970):
David Bowie - _Heroes_ (Live Aid 1985):
War - _Get Down_ from _War Live_ (1973):
The Rolling Stones - _Little Queenie_ from _Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out!_ (1969):
Grand Funk Railroad - _Inside Looking Out_ from _Live Album_ (1971):
The Beatles - _I've Got A Feeling_ from _Let It Be_ (recorded in 1969):
Led Zeppelin - _The Ocean_ from _How The West Was Won_ (recorded in 1972):
Mountain - _Mississippi Queen_ from _Twin Peaks_ (1974):
Black Oak Arkansas - _Hot And Nasty_ from _Raunch 'N' Roll Live_ (1973):
Bob Dylan - _Like A Rolling Stone_ from _Bootleg Series Vol. 4: 'Royal Albert Hall'_ (recorded in 1966):
Free - _Fire and Water_ from _Free Live!_ (1971):
MC5 - _Ramblin' Rose/Kick Out The Jams_ from _Kick Out The Jams_ (recorded 1968):

God, I could go on for ever!


----------



## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

All various sub-genres of prog for me!

Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (24th January 1975 at the Shrine Auditorium)
King Crimson - Larks Tongue in Aspic (15th October 1973 Santa Monica Civic Auditorium)
YES - Close to the Edge (4th August 1972 Long Beach Arena)
Magma - 1999 House of Blues Hollywood
Deus Ex Machina (Italian band) - (12th November 1995 Progfest, Variety Arts Theater Los Angeles)
UK (with Bill Bruford and Allan Holdsworth) - (12th August 1978 Santa Monica Civic Auditorium)
Univers Zero (Belgian band) - (15th March 2007 BajaProg Mexicali Mexico)
Frank Zappa - (17th September 1975 Royce Hall)
Gentle Giant - (1 November 1975 Shrine Auditorium)

There are so many more that reached the same, or close to the same level.

Camel at the Roxy in about 1979, Bruford at the Roxy in about 1980, PFM - Paspartu tour at the Roxy 1978, After Crying (Hungarian band) at BajaProg festival in 2000, Happy the Man at the Roxy, THinking Plague at Nearfest in 2001, just to name a few more.


----------



## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Are those bootleg shows, Simon?


----------



## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

starthrower said:


> Are those bootleg shows, Simon?


Oh, I thought we were listing live shows we attended in person.


----------



## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Simon Moon said:


> Oh, I thought we were listing live shows we attended in person.


I should have been more specific but attended performances are fine too.


----------



## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Some live concert performance favorites of mine, drawn from past _Strange Magic of:_ posts. Not in any order: I include a mix of rock, pop, blues as I am an equal-opportunity listener. Here are ten selections--there are hundreds more.

Go Your Own Way: Fleetwood Mac





Losing My Religion: R.E.M.





Just Be Good to Me/Borrowed Love: SOS Band





Watching You: Luther Allison





Dress You Up: Madonna





The Ghost of Tom Joad: Bruce Springsteen/Tom Morello





Eyes of a Stranger: Queensryche 





Hella Good: No Doubt





Voodoo Child: Stevie Ray Vaughan





Pretend We're Dead: L7


----------



## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Seeing Gentle Giant would have been exciting. Unfortunately I missed the peak years of the 70s as I was a few years too young. I didn't get to my first concert (ELP) until 1978.


----------



## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

Philadelphia, July 24th, 1968 at the JFK Stadium. Sponsored by the Philadelphia Department of Recreation and billed as The English Invasion. Forget that this concert headlined The Who, as well as featured The Troggs and Procol Harum. At night's end everyone was saying "Who are they?" It was the unbilled band, a late addition to the ticket, who owned the night: Pink Floyd, especially after the rain started. 

And you thought it was Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra who defined the "Philadelphia Sound"?

By the way, I have heard that it was a stomach ache gotten while touring in Philadelphia that inspired Roger Waters to write "Comfortably Numb", which is apparently how he felt after a doctor gave him a shot of a painkiller prior to his taking the stage for a concert. (Not the concert referenced above, for your information, but a later date.)

Of course, too … while we're on the subject … there was that happening in Woodstock, New York in August of '69 … not that anyone noticed.


----------



## Jay (Jul 21, 2014)

SONNET CLV said:


> … there was that happening in Woodstock, New York in August of '69 … not that anyone noticed.


Even fewer noticed the Atlantic City Pop Festival a couple of weeks earlier....


----------



## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I've never seen the Woodstock movie or listened to the album. I know there was a big box set released last year that sold out immediately. I've watched some performances on YouTube. The Santana is great, and I like Johnny Winter. Haven't seen much else except a bit of Hendrix, The Who, and Joe Cocker.


----------



## gregorx (Jan 25, 2020)

As previously mentioned by EG. Their magnum opus.


----------



## philoctetes (Jun 15, 2017)

Shows that truly rocked...

Leon Russell and the Shelter People OKC 1972
Rod Stewart and the Faces San Diego 1976
David Bowie Mtn View 1990


----------



## gregorx (Jan 25, 2020)

Do not care to start an Airplane v. Dead debate, but I think this is the best California band of that era. They were incredible live, with a great rhythm section and one of the great rock guitarists of all time. When Casady and Kaukonen start jamming it's as good as Bruce and Clapton - there is definitely more than one line of music going on there.

From one of the greatest live rock albums ever.


----------



## bz3 (Oct 15, 2015)

Simon Moon said:


> All various sub-genres of prog for me!
> 
> Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (24th January 1975 at the Shrine Auditorium)
> King Crimson - Larks Tongue in Aspic (15th October 1973 Santa Monica Civic Auditorium)
> ...


Considering I wasn't born for most of these concerts you attended I can't be too jealous I suppose, but I'm quite jealous nevertheless. Especially Camel in 1979 (though I think that was after the keyboardist of their glory days had left), Yes on the Close to the Edge tour, and that era of King Crimson.


----------



## Jay (Jul 21, 2014)

Hendrix @ Woodstock. When you're stuck with what is essentially a pick-up group, your best option is to just _go for it_. Jimi did.


----------



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

Good as Jimi was at improv I wonder if most of his Woodstock set would have been something of a shambles had Mitch Mitchell not been there - at least he had the smarts and insider knowledge to know where Jimi might take things.


----------



## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

I'm not keen on live albums, but this double album is excellent.


----------

