Top 3 live shows you’ve seen…
Bruce Springsteen. Leeds Arena. July 2013
Just a pure celebration of his songs. Like a Boss jukebox. Such a privilege to see him perform live. Genius. Such a great atmosphere, the crowd into every chord of every song.
Pet Shop Boys. Birmingham NEC. June 1991
Mind-blowing show – if you’ve never seen it, you should watch on YouTube. Ground-breaking production. A friend lent my DVD of the show and thought it was a collection on video promos, which tells you how good it was. Influenced most live shows going forward.
Morrissey. Sheffield City Hall. February 1995
Just after Vauxhall & I, he was at the height of his powers on this tour. Came on with a knuckle-duster and cuts to his face and hands. Crazy, before the real craziness of today. The songs from the album sounded amazing.
Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen, Hammersmith Odeon, about 1976.
Some of this was taped for ‘We’ve Got a Live One Here’. I knew I loved the band but had no idea to what new levels Norton Buffalo, on harmonica and trombone, could take them, inspiring a whole Ozone Brass section. Transcendant.
Dr John, House of Blues, NYC, about 2005.
Terrific old style supper club show that just kept on delivering.
Dawes, Shrewsbury Folk Festival, 2016
Without knowing a lot about the band, this just had me weeping with joy.
Bubbling under:
Albion Band, Royal Festival Hall, about 1979
Dead Can Dance, Hammersmith Odeon 2019
The Beach Boys 50th Anniversary – Wembley Arena 2012. The last date of the tour and the last time Brian will play with the band. Epic show and far better than I expected.
Led Zeppelin – The O2 2007. Just because I was lucky enough to get tickets and they were terrific. I did see them in 1969, but really can’t remember much. The sense of occasion was palpable.
The Who/Spencer Davis Group package tour – Edmonton Regal June 1966. My first ever live gig and I was hooked.
Bubbling under…
Live Stiffs Tour 1977 (?) – in a warehouse shed in Bristol. Fabulous.
Paul McCartney – Wembley Arena 1991. As close to a Beatles show I will ever get to, and he did a whole heap of their stuff for the first time.
The Rolling Stones – Empire Pool 1973.
Graham Parker/Southside Johnny and the Asbury Dukes at the Rainbow ?
The Who at Hammersmith Odeon: ‘George Davis is Innocent’ Christmas Show 1975?
Talking Heads at Montreux Jazz Festival 1981?
Exact dates are long gone!
My dad’s cousin was one of the vandals who dug up Headingley Cricket Ground as part of the George Davis Is Innocent campaign. So that’s nice.
The Fleshtones – Night Moves, Glasgow, November 83. 90 minutes of FULL ON GARAGE ROCK, which left the band and the audience totally spent. Still an inspirational thought, and still my favourite gig ever. (I’ve seen the Ramones umpteen times, Link Wray, Dick Dale, Mavis Staples, The Cramps, The Clash, Iggy, Suicide …. but THIS GIG RULES)
Patti Smith – Glasgow Royal Concert Hall – 2006 (?) Tom Verlaine on guitar, an emotional evening of deep heart-felt poetry and rock and roll, she told us it was Fred’s birthday [but the chat afterwards in the pub was that this was a “Gene Pitney’s Birthday Cake” tale, rolled out at every gig on the tour.] Nonetheless, she was raw and fabulous, poetic and dynamic.
Miles Davis – Glasgow Jazz Festival, 83 (?). MILES FLIPPING DAVIS!! The set consisted of “5 from the new album, 4 from the album before that, and as a concession to the old fanbase – one from the album before that.
Miles Davis…..well, you win the white carnation…..
He always gets that one in.
I saw him around then. I’ve Got a tape of the Melbourne show I saw and was staggered at how many bum notes he played in his few solos. Aura over actual.
Could have been worse, imagine all those poor sods who turned up and had to sit through him footling around on a keyboard half the night.
Ooh, good question. I’ll try to answer quickly without thinking about it too much.
Spiritualized, Glasgow QM Union 1993 – Heads down, “quiet quiet LOUD” drone rock. I’d just never seen anything with the same intensity and focus before. The fire alarm went off in the middle of the gig and it took a minute for everyone to realise it wasn’t just part of the act.
Beta Band, Glasgow G2 1998 – Art rock with magpie tendencies and a focus on fun. Rejuvenated my love of music just when I starting to get bored.
The Avalanches, Glasgow Arches, 2001 – Art rock with magpie tendencies and a focus on fun. Rejuvenated my love of music just when I was starting to get bored (again).
All three are Glasgow – yeah I haven’t travelled much for my gig experiences!
Steely Dan – Palace Theatre Manchester May 1974 – hooked by Pretzel Logic and the proud owner of Reelin In The years and My Old School on 7″ me and my fellow 16 year old mate went along to see what all the fuss was about…..highlights included a storming opener of Bodhistva and a beautiful vocal from David Palmer on Dirty Work. (2 weeks later I saw Lou Reed at the Free Trade Hall on the Rock n Roll animal tour not a bad fortnight for a young un!)
The Jam – Saddleworth Arts Festival June 1979 – the Jam in a tent plugging All Mod Cons in magnificent midnight blue mohair suits….100mph version of Heatwave for an encore
David Bowie – Lancashire County Cricket Club – August 2000. A typical summers day in Manchester saw the heavens open for most of the afternoon (it didnt spoil a great support set from Suede). Then miraculously as Bowie took to the stage the rain stopped and the sun appeared….and Bowie starts off with a stately Life On Mars…..it just got better with basically a greatest hits sets with a sprinkling of tracks the recently released Heathen.
Bubbling under…..
The Faces Kings Hall Belle Vue 1974
Roxy Music Kings Hall 1975
The Clash Manchester Apollo 1978
The Smiths Free trade Hall 1984
Dylan at the Albert Hall, 1966.
Lyle Lovett/K D Lang, Forum, Kentish Town 1986.
Neville Brothers (with John Goodman on cowbell!), Forum, 1989. Supported by Del Amitri, but I don’t remember a thing about them.
*edit* or was it Bowie/Ziggy at Oxford Town Hall, 1972? Hmmm…
Re: Lyle Lovett/K D Lang, Forum, Kentish Town 1986.
Hey – I was at that gig. too!
We must’ve … somehow missed each other, Mike.
And what a great night it was, eh?
Almost impossible.
1. Paul McCartney – Montreal 2018
2. Bruce Springsteen and the E St Band – Stafford 1981
3. Rolling Stones – Orpheum Theatre, Boston 2002
1 wasn’t the greatest performance I have ever seen, but my most enjoyable concert going experience, to witness many of the songs that have soundtracked my life together with my 12 year old daughter who loved them equally.
Bruce was just the best rock n roll show one could.possibly witness. Incredibly intense, moving and joyous.
3rd to see The Stones close up in a tiny theatre just unimaginably exciting. Awesome setlist too, think I lost about 5 pounds because of the crazy heat in there though. Drank no beer and about 6 bottles of water to keep going.
Most of the concerts I saw when I used to go to concerts were big names in big venues, and big venues just suck. The only act I’ve seen able to carry it off was Springsteen at Wembley Arena (River tour, 1981) so he would be my number one. He was amazing. All the others (Who, Stones, Bowie, Dylan, Petty etc.) were a waste of time and money. Although my first ever concert was Queen at Wembley Arena in ’78 and I remember them as being quite good.
Some of my favourite acts on record (like Japan, Prefab Sprout and EBTG) turned out to be dull as ditchwater even in small venues.
I guess the university circuit was my favourite way to see live acts. I enjoyed Echo & The Bunnymen and The Smiths, at Kent University, even though I didn’t know any of the latter’s tunes when I saw them. I think they’d just released This Charming Man. Morrissey was in his full gladioli and hearing-aid stylee and was absolutely captivating. So I’ll say them for two and three.
Aztec Camera – McGonagles Dublin 1985? My first proper gig. I sat between the monitors and touched all of Roddy’s guitars as the roadies brought them on. I loved every minute of it. Bought my first guitar soon afterwards.
Tack>Head Kilburn National January 30th 1990. Having first encountered them at a rain sodden Reading the year before, this was my first proper Tack>Head gig. I dragged friends along and we were all blown away by the sheer noise and the merging of technology, live mixing and great musicians. It sounded like the future. Keith le Blanc was the coolest man on the planet.
David Byrne 3 Arena Dublin last year. I wasn’t the only one on here raving about that tour. Great songs, great musicians and such imaginative staging. A musical joy.
Honourable mentions to the Waterboys on various occasions and the Hank Wangford Band anniversary reunion in the Mean Fiddler sometime in the early 90s.
Very jealous of your first choice @Bamber must have been brilliant
It was absolutely brilliant @dave-amitri and included most of the first two albums plus the (then) mindblowing cover of Van Halen’s Jump as an encore. Nearly as good was the High Land Hard Rain 30th Anniversary show in Glasgow a few years ago but in a different way.
Jealous x 2….
I also saw Aztec Camera, but at London’s Dominion on what must have been the same tour as you @Bamber , with The Go-Betweens in support, who I was also getting into at the time. A great gig all round really, except for the bit at the end of the encore cover of “Jump” when Roddy Frame did a teeth-gridingly awful metalesque solo for what seemed like ages and then threw the guitar up in the air at the end, for it to land broken on the stage. I hated “rock and roll” behaviour like this at the time and was a bit appalled by it. I’d have happily taken it off it hands if he didn’t want it…
No Go Betweens in Dublin tho’ ya jammy git..
No it was “the name of this band is Ambition in Glass”. I can still hear the laughter. Never heard of them again.
Really? They were the Manchester United shirt sponsor a couple of years back…
(*it might have been a sh*t name but neither you nor I nor, I suspect, most people there have ever forgotten it – so, an achievement of sorts…)
Wilco – Metro Melbourne. Went out live on the interweb. Over 4 hours and not an ounce of fat.
TPOK Jazz (sans Franco aved Josky Kiambakuta) ,Une Deux Trois Club, Kinshasa.Trekked across Africa to see this band. Alas Franco in Belgium at the time but still incredible. Palm tree lined courtyard. The band came on around ten and was still going when we left at 4 am. Musicians would just swap over as the groove continued.
Hmm only one choice. left Talking Heads, San Francisco Stop Making Sense tour. Full staging, big suit etc. A month later I was back in Melbourne and saw the same tour again, alas with half the staging – such is our lot down here, the tyranny of distance. Honourable mention to David Byrne’s show last year.
I think Wilco can’t really be beaten these days. couldn’t choose one over many others U have seen though. Looking forward to 2 gigs (plus a Jeff Tweedy show) later this month at Solid Sound festival.
@dai Friends have seen the Tweedy solo shows down here a week or so ago and it sounds like they were good without anyone “gushing”.
Me and Mrs T are off to Brussels next week, Wilco on Thursday, Kevin Morby on Friday then hop on the train to Amsterdam to see Wilco again on Sunday followed by Kevin Morby on Monday. Really looking forward to it.
@Harry-Tufnell Not sure who this Moby fellow is 😉 But you will see some of the first Wilco shows in almost 2 years. Pretty exciting. @Junior-Wells I have seen a few solo shows, prefer Wilco, but he has the songs and is a charismatic solo performer. At Solid Sound he will be joined by “friends”, his son on drums I presume and various others. Last time I was there he played a stellar set including some interesting covers Lennon’s God, Neil Young’s The Losing End and Madonna’s Into the Groove (with a guest vocalist).
https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/jeff-tweedy/2015/mass-moca-north-adams-ma-4bc9478e.html
Difficult question, but off the top of my head……
Kate Bush / Before the Dawn 2014
– being a mega fan since young, this was not only a concert but a major event. Flew all the way from Singapore just for the concert. Fortunately it did not disappoint.
Sigur Ros / SIngapore Fort Canning Park 2012
– small venue (about 9000 capacity) and outdoors in a natural amphitheater. The whole atmosphere of the concert was amazing – which was reinforced by the heavens opening just as they started the encore of Ekki Mukk. No one in the crowd cared they were getting soaked (we have tropical rain not light showers) and just carried on regardless. Sublime.
Wet Wet Wet / Manchester Boardwalk 1991
– maybe a surprise entry (and certainly not cool!) but managed to get a ticket for there club venue warm up tour at Boardwalk whilst I was still living in Manchester. Very small venue and they could really play.
Many that I could have included – Genesis at NEC Birmingham 1984 (my first proper rock concert), Springsteen at Wembley 2016 (finally getting to see him live after many many years), AC/DC at Perth Australia (not especially for me, but just seeing the reaction of my AC/DC fan 18yr old at his first rock concert), BB King Blues Festival 1997 at Mountain View California with Dr John, Neville Brothers (just look at that lineup….)
Ooh, I left out Kate. Was incredible, but not really a “gig” (apart from 5 or so songs) more a theatrical experience.
Considering the amount of gigs I’ve seen (probably less than thirty) it’s surprising how little I remember about most of them. The best ones will always leave me wishing I had the opportunity to get up on stage and perform – just once, at the local village hall. The worst ones will often reaffirm my belief that music is better enjoyed at home, away from other idiots.
Favourites (in no particular order)
The Bootleg Beatles – The closest I’ll ever get to seeing the real thing. Their mannerisms and attitude were spot on. Concerts should always be this enjoyable.
Manic Street Preachers, 2009(ish) – Part of the Journal For Plague Lovers tour. They played the latest album from start to finish and then returned for an second half of greatest hits.
The Coral, Liverpool 2005 – At the time they were my favourite band and to see them in a small venue as part of an exclusive fan-club event was special. My abiding memories of the gig were inadvertently accepting the offer of a smoke before the band came on (I soon realised what I’d done and graciously turned down their invitation); and being mesmerized by Lee Southall’s minimal guitar fills during ‘Don’t Think You’re The First’
Bottom 3 (again, in no order)
Haim, 2018
Though the band themselves were on reasonable form, the size of the crowd (at the Ally Pally) and extreme temperatures suffered meant Mrs Japansese and I abandoned the gig halfway through.
Midlake, somewhere in Leicester or Birmingham.
We’d actually gone to see John Grant. Unfortunately we got stuck in traffic and missed most of his set. Midlake were headlining and we left after two songs – they were that bad.
Daughter, 2014/15, Cambridge
We made the mistake of going to a gig on Friday night (after work) thirty or so miles from where we live. I’d been up since 4.30am and the combination of tiredness + standing close to three girls who considered themselves extras from a Kate Bush video (at one point during the performance one of them turned to face the crowd, closed her eyes and got ‘lost in the moment’) meant we abandoned ship before the night was over.
“my belief that music is better enjoyed at home, away from other idiots.” I’m so totes agree with you there, oriental one. Must be even worse now than it were back in my day, what with all the cell phones being held aloft.
The word “other” is crucial.
Who would be my ultimate nightmare companion at a gig?
Me.
Totally disagree. Live performance is the essence of music.
I’d say it’s the other way round. Music is the essence of live performance. Take that out of the equation and what have you got? Eh? Eh? I have no idea what I’m going on about right now.
As a Chinese colleague was wont to say about being referred to as ‘oriental’, ‘I’m not a carpet’.
I first started going to gigs in 1972 when I was 14. I couldn’t afford to buy many albums in those days but gigs were cheap. I’d go into Liverpool on a Friday night and queue up at one of the venues not really caring who was on. This balance of affordability, plus my availability, continued into the early eighties. Then, life’s responsibilities took precedence and now I find that concerts are incredibly expensive and albums extremely cheap. However, technology and the reliability of equipment is such that the live experience is consistently of a much higher quality than it was back in the seventies. For example, I was wowed by Talking Heads in 1979 but David Byrne in 2018 was in a completely different world. Roxy Music were wobbly in the seventies but magnificent in a tent at Liverpool Docks in 2006.
A top three is simply cruel. I’m going to go in chronological order:
1. Dr. Feelgood, Mountford Hall, Liverpool University 1975.
The support act was a Tull tribute band. Most of the audience wore long hair and cheesecloth. There was a whiff of cannabis and joss sticks. When Dr. Feelgood hit the stage, the thrill was palpable. I’ve never got over it.
2. Buzzcocks and Joy Division, Loughborough University, 1979.
When I lived in Birmingham, the number of venues within striking distance quadrupled and I could always go ‘home’ for a weekend and visit Liverpool or Manchester. As a result, I could and would see acts multiple times on the same tour. Acts like Echo And The Bunnymen, The Undertones, The Beat, Specials, The Jam, Elvis Costello, Ian Dury And The Blockheads. In 1979, Buzzcocks and Joy Division did a joint tour rotating the headline. Their styles contrasted but their intensity was a score draw. It didn’t always work but at Loughborough University, both were phenomenal, performing at a peak I never saw either achieve before or since. I couldn’t tell you what was more unsettling, Ian Curtis’s thousand yard stare as his arms flayed or Pete Shelley’s curled-lip snarl as he thrashed his guitar.
3. Nile Rodgers & Chic, Castlefields Bowl, Manchester, 2018.
I first saw Chic forty years ago and have seen them multiple times since. That evening, that venue, that occasion was simply perfect. A year on, I’m still basking in its glory. I wrote a Nights In about it, if you want more detail.
I could give you another list of top five David Bowie gigs if you like.
Picking up on your Loughborough Uni reference Tig, I only ever saw one gig there, but what a gig. The Specials, The Selecter and Dexy’s Midnight Runners in full soul boy mode, pre-Geno. Each of them put on a funky soul-stirring show that would have been more than fine in isolation. Couldn’t say who was better, they were all fantastic. The Selecter were funky as hell. The Specials were so full-on and the crowd so rowdy it was like a punk gig at times.
Two more? OK, how about The Tubes at Hammersmith, November 77. The most amazing spectacle I’ve ever witnessed at a rock show. I wrote a blog about it: http://bangnzdrum.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-tubes-how-they-conquered-london-1977.html
And for sheer intimacy, seeing the Pat Metheny Group at the Half Moon, Putney in the mid 80s was astonishing. I will forever be in admiration of Metheny as a player after that.
I was there that gig, too. Front right almost touching the stage. Buzzcocks/Joy Division just edge it for me. Echo & The Bunnymen were magnificent there too. They really filled the room.
Happy days.
I wonder where Suzanne is now…
Metheny with Group (about 10-12 others on stage) at the Warfield in San Francisco in the early 90s was astonishing. I’d been listening to his albums for years and assumed a good chunk of it was half a dozen people/tracks of synthesizers, turned out it was him on his own.
I couldn’t afford to buy many albums but gigs were cheap.
Tell that to your kids
Indeed – and often in smoke filled rooms.
1). Joe Zawinul & the Zawinul Syndicate, November 1998. Highlight was Sabine Kabongo singing Duke Ellington’s “Come Sunday” with just Joe’s keyboard accompaniment.
2). Taste, Isle of Wight Festival 1970. Rory completely on fire.
3). King Crimson, Hyde Park 1969. Unleashed on an unsuspecting public.
Not sure which way round for 2 & 3.
Bubbling under, the 1977 Stiff Tour at King’s Hall Aberystwyth, with Ian Dury & the Blockheads as standout.
Matching Mole at Kingham Hall Watford in 1972. Their first ever full gig.
The Jam, Whitley Ice Rink 1982- First ever gig and still the best. My friend and I entered the arena in trepidation after hearing stories of regular trouble at Jam gigs and half expecting there to be an immediate response of people pointing in our direction enquiring what the hell we were doing there. Makeshift mats were placed over the ice but they were no barrier to the coldness that could be felt coming up through to my feet. I had a mild cold and suspected I would end up with pneumonia due to this. Anyway the band came on and kicked off with the low key Ghosts from The Gift album with little crowd interaction, before lurching into The Modern World and then Town Called Malice. By this stage the crowd had gone apeshit crazy with people fainting and needing to be dragged out. By the end every single item of clothing I was wearing was wringing wet with persperation. Nice. My cold was cured also, which was a bonus.
Elvis Costello and the Rude 5 Holmdel New Jersey August 1989. Around the time Frank Sinatra got peeved at Sinead O’Connor objecting to the American national anthem being played before her gigs. Costello allowed the The Star-Spangled Banner to be played, only for it to be followed, at the “request of Mr Costello” by La Marseillaise, indicating he was in a somewhat mischievous mood. There followed an uptempo, full throttle, almost antagonistic run through his back catalogue. He was in a Spikey mood, so to speak.
Roger McGuinn South Shields Customs House 1995- What really made this special was the intimate nature of the venue, sitting middle front row with Rog right in front of me. Couldn’t get over the fact this 60s legend was there almost within touching distance. Did a great set, was witty, told some great tales, did all the classics. Particular highlight watching him do the guitar solo on I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better
Top three is difficult but here goes :
1 Stones at Earls Court 1976. This was the first time I ever saw them live and was a real sense of occasion
2 Bruce – I’ve seen him coming up for 40 times and can’t really choose between any of the gigs, possibly one of the times I’ve seen him in Paris – early 2000s or at Manchester on the Seeger Sessions Tour
3 Fleetwood Mac at the Rainbow 1977
Ooh lots, but those which spring to mind are:
1. Tom Waits – London Apollo, 1981. Right on the cusp of the supper club act and the junkyard era. “Heartattack and Vine” had come out the year before and I knew every note. During the day we’d been to the Edmund Hopper exhibition at the Tate so it was a hipster boho day. Unforgettable.
2. Rory Gallagher – Manchester Free Trade Hall – circa 1978. Rory on top form, still with the 4 piece band and a night when he seemed to be plugged directly into my brain playing every note I wanted him to play as if by telepathy.
3. Lynyrd Skynyrd – Knebworth. I loved Lynyrd Skynyrd then and now. New guitarist Steve Gaines had joined the band and they had backing singers for the first time. It was my first festival, the day was glorious and it fell in the middle of 10 days when my teenage band and I went away to a cottage in Northamptonshire to spend all day every day making a glorious racket and evenings drinking beer and unsuccessfully chasing local lasses. Skynyrd were the best band of the day, and when Ronnie VZ called “What song is it you wanna hear” we all bellowed “FREEBIRD” as one. As the fast bit started people in front of me stood up so I had to too – and believe me there is no finer way of passing your time than throwing shapes whilst playing air Gibson Firebird along with Allan Collins and 250,000 other like minded souls.
Lynyrd Skynyrd -there’s a band I wish I’d seen.
I saw Tom Waits touring Blue Valentine. It was a lunchtime gig at my university – Monash. All smokey late night bar atmosphere except with us eating our sandwiches and Tom scratching his head and repeatedly asking “what time is it again”. Excellent show all the same.
I saw Tom Waits at the Bridge festival in 2007. He only played for about 40 mins or so (which was typical of the day), but it was absolutely stunning. One of the finest performance I have seen.
I was there! But all I recall was Freebird, perhaps even more in my imagination than reality. Luckily I, um, revived for 10cc and (most of) the Stones. I remember Todd Rundgren bored me witless, perhaps explaining consumption induced amnesia of the Skynyrds, a band I actually loved and still hold dear in my heart. For the first 2 records only, mind.
1. The Jam Manchester Apollo 1980. Second ever gig.
2. The Smiths The Hacienda 1983 – This Charming Man had just come out, they were the hottest band in Britain and it is still vividly etched on my mind 35 years later.
3. Pixies. Reading Festival 1990. A band at the absolute peak of their powers.
Bubbling under
Einsturzende Neubauten drilling into the Hacienda walls and showering the audience with liquid concrete. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds at the old Academy in Birmingham in the early 00s. REM at the NEC in 2005. The Cramps at the same Reading as the Pixies.
Depeche Mode – Music for the Masses tour 1987. I was at a good age at a happy time. I think it was because the band themselves were still very young and hungry but they had years of touring and 6 albums of material (plus stand alone singles and b-sides) to call on. They were beginning to “break” America too. This was at Wembley Arena and was the first time I had seen them really connect to a large, devoted crowd of fans. When the very, very loud opening bars of the instrumental PIMPF started, the entire audience rose as one and roared for the next two hours. My ‘neutral’ friends who came with me were just as loud as everyone else – the hysteria was infectious and it was impossible not to be swept away.
Marc Almond – Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool 1985. There were no Soft Cell songs in this show but that was totally fine and expected. I have never witnessed to this day a singer who can captivate an audience like he did. It was a student crowd with quite a few chatty piss takers and lager drinkers but by the end there was none of that. There’s an element of I-hope-he-makes-it with his singing but on this night he was spot on, confident and strong.
Gary Numan – 2009ish in Auckland, NZ. He performed Pleasure Principle in its entirety and then a second half of other greatest hits. Older crowd of course and an older, more relaxed Gazza happy to talk between songs and tell stories. I had seen him many times and always felt he was uneasy in a live setting, getting it over with. Not now though – comfortable in his skin and enjoying the experience just as much as the crowd.
David Byrne – last year – just perfect
Shelby Lynne – Waterloo records,Austin – in store performance of songs from Just a little lovin. I was crying. Literally the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.
Emmylou Harris and Mark Knopfler – MEN – their duet of Why worry was a thing of beauty
Just remembered two that would bubble under or act as decent replacements:
Was not was at Shepherd Bush Empire – absolutely brilliant – why did they break up they were brilliant live.
Green on Red played a gig in London Astoria that they had cancelled 20 years earlier. It was a one off. Chuck Prophet guitar solos that night were astounding.
And then Nils Lofgren solo acoustic at Birmingham Ronnie Scott’s – seen him several times live – this was the best.
I saw Was (Not Was) at the Town & Country Club in Kentish Town, not long after “What Up Dog?” was released. An unadvertised gig that was recorded for the BBC. A friend got to hear about it, probably on the radio that day.
It was a bitterly cold winter night with either snow or heavy frost on the ground as we queued outside for ages before getting in.
Soon warmed up when they started playing.
What a band!
Only three? That’s tough. But these three would definitely be in there pitching…
In chronological order:
1. Talking Heads, Hemel Hempstead Pavilion, 9 December 1979
They were my favourite band at the time, and I was right at the front. We got the Fear of Music album in all its glory.
2. Muddy Waters, Alexandra Palace, London, 12 July 1980
The blues was the wellspring of almost all the music I loved, and here in front of me was a man who embodied it as much as anyone. At the age of 67, he seemed to be absolutely at his peak, playing those flint-hard, elemental songs with an undiminished drive and power. My life as a gig-goer would never be the same again.
3. Tom Waits, Dominion Theatre London, 23 October 1985
Front row seats. The Rain Dogs tour. Marc Ribot on guitar. I had sky-high expectations, but they were surpassed, and then some.
Pity I didn’t have room for Keith Jarrett solo improv at Konserthuset, the Waterboys at Chippenham, 1986, Costello & Nieve 2003 ….
Actually Costello and Nieve was going to be in mine – saw them twice on that tour about 3 weeks apart. Both exceptional- the second gig has 13 or 14 songs that weren’t in the first show. They certainly know how to mix it up a bit.
Especially at Symphony Hall: bloody hell! Short set, long encore, even longer 2nd encore. Elvis singing mike free using the glorious acoustic of the finest concert hall in the UK.
(Which doesn’t always mean the best place for a gig, but for that sort of pin drop show, o, yes!)
1. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – Royal Albert Hall 2012 – Truly superb. Went alone as none of my mates were that much up for seeing him or the ticket price. Loved every minute.
2. Led Zeppelin – 02 Arena 2007. For a long time I placed this as number 1 but repeated showings of Celebration Day dvd have perhaps dulled the effect. It was more an event than a superb gig. But still comes high, it was great, just Petty and The Heartbreakers are such a good band. My mate won 2 tickets on the ticket lottery so only played the standard £135 ticket price.
3. Smashing Pumpkins – Raymond Revue Bar London, 4th July 1993. Acoustic show just before Siamese Dream was released. I was 21 and they were “my” band and somehow I won a ticket through either Melody Maker or NME, I didn’t take the call so not clue which of the two it was. I remember standing outside in my SP tee shirt with a few soho ladies trying to proposition me. I politely declined and gripped my ticket even tighter. Superb show, a great band both electric and acoustic.
Good point, I saw Tom Petty in 1981n touring Damn the Torpedos and her was utterly brilliant.
Gosh, in no particular order.
The Mission supported by All about Eve , Düsseldorf about 1988/9. Really don’t know why it was that good but it was. Lot of hype about AaE at the time. My mate talked to a girl!
The Chameleons. First night of the reunion tour at the Wytchwood 2000. Bloody ace. With my best mates and had never thought I’d get to see the Cams by then.
The Church. Last year at Bush Hall. A band at the height of their powers and playing to the converted.
I’m sure I really enjoyed Magnum, Krokus, Gillan etc during my early 80’s metal phase too.
Stiff Little Fingers, Dunelm House, Durham 1979 – age 14, 1st gig, 1st song Suspect Device. Nothing would ever be the same again.
Echo & The Bunnymen, Hammersmith Palais, London 1981 – the band in their pomp, and me ending up with the girl who became my first girlfriend
Roy Orbison Mean Fiddler London 1987 – his last ever UK gig. The Big O looked like Benny Hill in a Beatle wig, and sang like a dream.
Plenty bubbling under: House Of Love at various London venues in ’87, ’88; 10 000 Maniacs Town & Country Club 1990; Husker Du, Town & Country Club 1986.
Husker Du Town & Country Club, London 1987
Bunnymen were awesome in 81, their show at the Royal Court in Liverpool makes my top 10.
I saw them at the Apollo Manchester on the Porcupine tour, on the Crystal Day in Liverpool as well as a festival at York Racecourse – they were a fantastic live act in the first half of the eighties.
I saw the Bunnymen at the Apollo Manchester on the Porcupine tour as well.
We must’ve … missed each other somehow, moseley.
3 gigs is impossible, but the ones that stick in the mind most I think are those that you completely ‘lost yourself’ in or were completely surprised by.
So I’d plump for:
Kid Creole & The Coconuts at The Lyceum 1982 – THAT is how to put on a show & how to work a crowd
King Sonny Ade & His African Beats – Glastonbury early/ mid 80′ s – perfect in every way – beautiful weather, good company , right at the front, a killer band who could have kept the groove going for another 5 or 6 hours easily.
Velvet Underground – Forum/T & C – early 90s – a dream come true & a stark contrast to seeing them at Wembley earlier in the same week – only ‘big’ gig I’ve ever been to, & never again – in Kentish Town the VU were sublime & worth every penny of my tout’s price.
.
Kid Creole seconded. Coati Mundi the secret ingredient for me but those Coconuts were spellbinding.
Put those pop-eyes back in, feller!
King Sonny Ade made me pick my third place choice – Remi Ongala and the Ochestre Super Matimbele, who (bizarrely) played Stockton Riverside festival several times in the 80s and were totally brilliant. They even got me dancing.
Really third place could be anyone of several (Velvets, Radiohead, The world’s greatest band [the undertones], James, Gil Scott Heron….) but there are two clear winners. And they are not even my favourite artists or memorable for emotional reasons.
Nile Rogers and Chic at Bingley Festival, the week Get Lucky was number 1. They turned the sound off at curfew and the crowd just kept singing and dancing.
Number one was Beck, Manchester Apollo during the Loser era. Just astonishing.
Ade is it? Reminds me of a tumbleedtastic thread o’mine…
I also saw King Sunny Ade at Glasto in ’83.
Great vibe.
1. Billy Joel Earls Court 1994
He was on fire for at least 2 and a half hours – was amazed at his vocal power and general dynamism.
2. U2 Hammersmith Palais 1983
Has no one mentioned U2 yet?! It was a very passionate and emotive performance particularly by Bono.
3. Art Pepper Fairfield Halls Croydon 1981
I think this is one of the first gigs I went to. (The one before that was seeing Dean Friedman at the Fairfield, bit of a contrast!) I don’t think I knew his music beforehand, or had heard any real jazz but as it was local I went along. It really blew me away, the instruments, the playing, the grooves etc
Bubbling under – Judy Collins, Fairfield Hall Croydon 2010. Wonderful and joyous.
The Fairfield Halls – it seemed so sophisticated at one time. Was it’s acoustic design not regarded as the best in the UK upon its completion?Certainly sounded great when I saw Elton and Wishbone Ash in the early ‘70’s.
While I’m here best three (as mentioned elsewhere) Brooce at Wembley late ‘70’s and early 80’s – never a great lover of his music but my God, the energy and shared celebration of rock ‘n roll was astonishing.
But, but, but, Steely Dan, Glasgow Armadillo, 2000 was just mesmerising.
Fairfield Halls is currently being re-furbished. Because of my ‘career’ and where I sometimes have to work, I walk past it a couple of times a month.
I once saw Hawkwind there. Or, more accurately, I saw a lot of dry ice there with the band somewhere within it.
Fairfield Halls – Toilets once cleaned by Prog and Psych Ray Burns and Chris Millar
(or Captain Sensible and Rat Scabies as they were soon known)
Where I saw the Fairport Live version of Fairport, Sandy Denny back in the team for her 2nd lap. 1975? Forgot that one, tho’ I remember little belong Brian ‘Goldbelt’ Maxine coming on to guest in the encores.
He was ridiculous then – the silly glasses, the pretentious sleevenotes, the Russians Love Their Children Too.
And yet… the lute. It’s his equivalent of Kevin Rowland’s tranny phase – it will simply never be forgiven.
(sorry, this ^ is clearly in the wrong place, as Mrs M often tells me)
Yes the acoustics were meant to be top-notch but like a lot of 60’s “iconic” designs it had become badly dated inside, hence the re-furb Beezer mentions. Also apparently that there wasn’t enough space backstage for big name bands and their fancy set ups. Whether they will come in the future to Croydon when it is all done remains to be seen though! Before it was shut, it was mainly “Spirit of Ireland” acts, v old middle-rate 60’s bands and psychics.
They also shot a few films in it lately (eg Made In Dagenham) as it was so untouched with the 60’s ambience.
In order of wonder….
1/ Echo an The Bunnymen at Royal Albert Hall 1983 on my 18th birthday. I was just in awe of Mac but found myself drawn to Pete de Freitas for most of the night. What a drummer he was. Just highlight after highlight. For years I had the poster and the ticket stuck on my wall. It’s sadly long gone but I really should see if I can still find a poster. ..
2/ The Alarm Hammersmith Palais Christmas 1983. Just an astonishing 3 hours of live entertainment. They were never able to match the live “Alarm” on record and you had to be there and I’m delighted I was. Closing on Slades Merry Xmas Everybody as midnight was approaching was fantastic.
3/ Justin Currie Bush Hall 2008. On the back of his frst solo album as my marriage fell apart it was just a quirk of timing, emotions and music that sealed my love of the man. A very personal choice. ..
Never saw The Jam or The Associates which are my biggest gig regrets.
A special mention for the bands I saw with my boys as they grew up. In the very special category are Muse, Foo Fighters and the remarkable Biffy Clyro who are firmly in my top 5…
Adam & The Ants – Grimsby Central Hall, November 1980
They’d just been on TotP with Dog Eat Dog and Adam was going from zero to hero in front of our eyes. Literally hero – the guy had such charisma that if he’d led us out to storm Parliament we’d have followed him. The drums! The drama! The yodelling! The light boxes! I was seven and I thought all gigs were like this. Ho hum…
Public Enemy – Manchester Apollo, March 1990
Speaking of charisma… Fear of a Black Planet was just about to come out. What we’d heard of it showed that, despite the turbulence of the previous year, PE had gone to another level and were now simply Wiping The Floor With All Music. Contract on the World Love Jam came on and the famous cross-hatch logo was like the flag of a conquering army. Terminator X pumped it up (hur) to compete with a crowd that was making a sound like Niagara Falls being detonated in a nuclear fireball. Chuck D, that odd mix that he is of arrogance and diffidence, called us to order with that mighty boom of a voice. Flavor Flav, still 90% human then, hyped the crowd – as if they needed it. And all through was the Wall of Bomb Squad thundering in the index – it was almost like the S1Ws were there to protect us from the music. This wasn’t hip hop, this was genocide.
One of the people we were with, who had overcome a certain amount of scepticism to be there in the first place, got half way back to the station afterwards before being able to hoarsely mutter “Jesus Christ…. Jesus fucking Christ!!”
Salif Kieta, Normandy, 1996
The guitarist came on, alone, grinning beatifically, playing a little circular riff that cast a magical spell that wasn’t lifted until long after we’d left the auditorium. The others came on, various things happened – I don’t remember them in detail. This was joyous music with the timeless sadness of Salif’s voice at its centre. Cor de blimey.
JJ Cale, Hammersmith Odeon, 1996
He never toured. Certainly not outside the US. All of a sudden he’s announcing some shows in London. I’d have been a twat not to have gone along. I did. I was way up in the Gods and he was fucking brilliant.
Dr John, either The Town and Country Club or the Festival Hall (I forget which) 1994.
He was touring very regularly then. He and his small 3-piece band swung like an elephant’s willy. Such a night (ba-doom tish)
BB King, Newcastle City Hall, 1983.
Myself and a pal scored unbelievably great seats. Third row, centre. When he came on we seemed to be directly under his belly and ‘Lucille’. I could see up his hooter. We’d never experienced a chitlin circuit revue type of show before. Jump instrumentals, medleys, long patter-filled anecdotes. And I’d certainly never heard a live brass section funking it up before. He was as you would expect absolutely titanically in control of his guitar, the band and us. What a showman.
Saw BB King on that tour in Leeds. He was great. We were told it was “last chance to see” – I think he toured for another 20 years. Which is a good thing.
That’s right. We saw him again at the same venue two years later. Pretty much the same, excellent, show.
Rubbish seats though. No opportunity to look up his conk.
Three gigs? even 30 is unfair, and I must have seen hundreds going on a thousand in the past 45 years.
The best gigs for me create a timeless world which goes through different phases, and like a dream, could be 5 minutes or 2 hours.
Top gigs that did this for me were:
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, 1976 – (supporting The Who). What a live band. Utterly compelling with chops, incredible sense of presence and theatrics, and a sly sense of humour. I enjoyed them more than the bluster of The Who, and that was when they had Keith Moon. Incidentally, the SAHB were preceded by Little Feat, who were also excellent, but simply not as exciting regarding the required riffage going to appeal to a 15-year old me.
Pat Metheny Group, 1998, London, touring “Imaginary Day”. This was a sublime night of instrumental progressive jazz rock without the elves, bad vocals, or lumpen solos (though solos there naturally were). It was scorchingly warm in the Shepherd’s Bush Empire, and the band were also on fire, playing almost all of ID, plus plenty of other tracks, some jazzy, some latin, some reflective. The music was astonishing , the presentation slick but not excessive. It was the best of the 6 times I’ve seen them, and the playing is always stellar.
Sting, Edinburgh Playhouse, January 1986. The tantric one was touring “Dreams of Blue Turtles” with a nifty jazzbo band and did said album plus plenty of Police tracks and a few b-sides. the playing was tight, you didn’t know what was coming in some of the rearrangements, and it was generally like a fantasy MTV gig of a superstar savant able to be wise and rock while having hits to die for – which Sting does.
Bubbling under: Siouxie and the Banshees, Hammersmith Odeon, Christmas 1982. What was i saying about atmospheres and timelessness? This gig went across a string-quartet enhanced “Voices” and “Fireworks”, Robert Smith on guitar when the Banshees were their most psychedelic, a jazzy “Cocoon”, and an audience like a 70s Bowie one; fans dressed in various versions of the lead singer. There was a lot of smoke, and a lot of black, but it was also a colourful “happening”.
Ian Dury and the Blockheads – Hammersmith, May 1978: the songs, the presence, the band, the warmth, the wit, the kick in the bollocks. Before he became coke-egoed and lost a bit of mojo. The mojo returned i think (some of the later songs were tremendous) and he remained well-regarded, but the massive success came and went remarkably quickly, when you think about it. i think he probably liked the transience, even though he didn’t.
That Sting tour is documented on the excellent Bring On The Night album – great band indeed. Branford Marsalis!
I was thinking about that just the other day. Loved the video as a kid, would frequently watch it. I was fascinated by the band “getting it together” in some sort of French château.
Yes he’s a bit ridiculous now with his lutes etc but that film was good.
He was ridiculous then – the silly glasses, the pretentious sleevenotes, the Russians Love Their Children Too.
And yet… the lute. It’s his equivalent of Kevin Rowland’s tranny phase – it will simply never be forgiven.
Mind you, he was excellent in Twin Peaks.
The Blockheads were an incredible band when led by Chas Jankel. They were equally good the following year touring Do It Yourself.
And still a fine band now.
It may not be a Top 3 contender, but the effort they put into as lunchtime show at Butlins (where the venue stank of p*ss) shows they’ve still got “it”
Do they still pull off that climb to the summit, then fall off the cliff on What A Waste!? Must be a bit of a struggle at their age.
True, age may affect altitude. But they still try and get there (and Norman Watt-Roy is regularly sweatier than Lee Evans on a particularly manic night)
Blockheads are a top night out. Saw ’em twice with their boss and twice since. Remarkably as good without as with.
Off the top of my head. Siouxsie and The Banshees – Cabra Grand Dublin 1980. Kid Creole and The Coconuts – Stadium Dublin 1982. Dexy’s – Barbican London 2012. There have been many more.
The best concert I have ever seen is Bruce Springsteen at Sunderland football stadium june 21st 2012. It was also my youngest sons 21st birthday & I chose to spend the night worshipping the Boss – He forgave me (eventually).
All 3 of my best concerts were/are Springsteen, but for the sake of variety I am going to declare in joint second place Madness at Doncaster racecourse & The Specials at an outdoor venue in the middle of Leeds 10 years ago on my 53rd birthday.
Happy days.
Certainly not the best, but the one that stuck most in my mind…and makes me laugh…the mighty mighty Badaxe.
I saw them a couple of nights after the Concorde crash in Paris.
Being on the ball, the band had of course worked up a tribute song.
After asking the audience to make paper aeroplanes from the suspiciously large amount of flyers left on tables, we were invited to set light to them and throw them at the stage during the song.
The mayhem was only added to by the landlord rushing about the stage with a CO2 extinguisher.
Springsteen in Cardiff, July 2013 (the night before the gig in the OP). I’ve seen him several times, he never disappoints but somehow this one was next level. Absolutely barnstorming showmanship, a crazy setlist and the expanded Wrecking Ball band with the horns and backup singers.
Mercury Rev, Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms, January 1999, touring Deserter’s Songs. Superb gig, I think I may have spontaneously levitated during Car Wash Hair. I was waiting for the encore thinking where can they go from here, and then Grasshopper started playing the opening notes of Cortez The Killer….
Calexico at Vicar Street, Dublin 2004(ish). Always a superb live act, but this was the first time I ever saw them, and it really blew me away. They are still the band I’ve seen in more countries than any other.
Bubbling under…Fugazi, either Nottingham 91 or Exeter 02, New Model Army countless times, but most specially the four sets over two nights at the Astoria for their twentieth anniversary, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds at Brixton in 2000(ish), Fields Of The Nephilim Plymouth 1990 (one of the very first gigs I ever went to, goth goth goth), Iggy Pop & Somic Youth (not together) at Reading 91…
Soil & Pimp Sessions at the Lantern, Bristol 2015(very -ish). Hooo!
Most memorable concerts were:
1. Roxy Music – Kensington Club, Newport Sth Wales – 1972(?). First album had just/was about to be released. Stood there – no doubt dressed in loon pants and greatcoat or the like – with mouth open watching what seemed to be people from another planet playing great and very different music.
2. Stackridge – Cheese & Grain, Frome – 2011. Had not heard any of their songs for almost 40 years. Stood there (not wearing loon pants!) wiping a tear away when they played Syracuse the Elephant.
3. King Crimson – St David’s Hall, Cardiff – 2018. They were my first proper concert back in 1971. Loved them then; loved every single moment this time as well. Also enjoyed the lack of screens being held aloft in front of me, the lack of audience chatter and the lack of platitudes, etc, from the group themselves. Wondered to myself where all the years had gone… and what had happened to the loon pants (which might just have been yellow, if anyone is really interested).
Bubbling under: Faithless somewhere around the time of Outrospective. The Who supported by Little Feat in 1976.
John Martyn, Glasgow Pavilion Theatre, 1978 – solo, still touring One World – truly astonishing that someone quite so …. enhanced….could produce such an astonishing set – truly psychedelic…
Yes, Glasgow Apollo, 1977 – I remain convinced that I levitated during And You and I….
Lol Coxhill, Scarborough Theatre in the Round, 1979 – first exposure to live free jazz…mind remains blown to this day…..
Bubbling under must be the Floyd Wall show, 1981 – speechless for a good few hours after that, and the live shows knocked spots off the album….
I too was left speechless after The Wall show, but I suspect for different reasons.
The Wall fell on you?
I think I heard about that, it was worse than that poor lass with the chimney.
Top 3 is tough; I mean, how can I discount Bryan Adams on the ‘Into the Fire’ tour at Brighton? Or Mike Sanchez in Portsmouth? Or Runrig anywhere?
1. OMD, 9.30 Club. I put a “Nights Out” review up just after seeing them. The band were great, and Andy McCluskey was dancing like he didn’t GAF; his singing was spot on. But the relationship between audience and crowd was better than anything I’ve felt.
2. WWPJ at Jammin’ Java. First one I’ve been to where I want to say that the roof almost lifted. It’s not a big venue, and the ceilings aren’t very high, and it was packed, and they were really fucking loud. Tons of energy, and the fact that they were so unknown in the US at the time meant that everyone there WANTED to be there. I was chatting with one guy who’d motorbiked 4 hours in. Just incredible. Bonus points also for coming out and chatting, signing the merch I’d bought and having a drink.
3. It’s a Greg DUlli concert, but I’m not sure which. One was a slightly stripped down event at the Synagogue on 6th and I. Intro was some slam poetry, but the concert was lovely. Melody, harmony, and some clever string arrangements. A bit different from 9.30 Club where it was full on Whigs, and a genuinely fantastic support called Har Mar Superstar. Again, all positivity from the crowd, which Dulli recognized, and voice that was in fine fettle, which I understand may not always be the case…
The Specials – Hammersmith Palais – July or August 1979 – the week Gangsters got into the charts. I was 15 and visiting my sister in London in the summer holidays. The energy was amazing – the whole audience dancing, even at the back on the tables. The support bands weren’t too shabby either – the Selecter and Linton Kwesi Johnson.
The Birthday Party – London Victoria Venue – 1982 – Their last gig in London before departing to Berlin. An awesome racket – total controlled mayhem with the bonus of sardonic commentary from Nick Cave on the audience, London etc.
Leonard Cohen – Glastonbury 2008 – A dream come true for me and my sister who have been fans since the 70’s. Would he be any good? From the opening bars of ‘Dance me to the end of love’ it was a religious experience. His presence – unlike any other performer I have seen – made the whole show totally intimate. Amazing band. 80 minute set meant every and I mean every song was a total show stopper. Grown man crying around me. Afterwards we were planning to rush off to see Manu Chao but totally stunned instead we went to the quietest bar in the quietest field to come down gently and reflect.
Dylan, Springsteen and McCartney have all given me gigs I’ll never forget, but here’s three others which really stand out
Van Morrison, Dominion, early 80s. Incandescent, electric. A fantastic band at that time, and Van on fire particularly in songs like Summertime in England and And the Healing Has Begun.
Paul Simon, Hammersmith Odeon, early 80s. Simon is always an immaculate live act, but I remember this one as particularly outstanding. Again, a great, rocking band, and the material from that underrated album standing up well alongside classics from earlier in his career
Eric Clapton, Torquay, 1976. Clapton undertook a strange tour in summer 76, playing various seaside resorts. I was in the area and managed to get to his gig in a relatively small standing venue in Torquay. It was the Yvonne Elliman, Marcy Levy, George Terry, Jamie Oldaker etc band. I now realise that Clapton was almost certainly completely out of it, but the gig was amazing. He opened with three strummed acoustic numbers, which caused some disquiet. And then, he picked up the Strat, tuned up for a minute or so, and suddenly, without warning, went into Layla. The set included stuff from throughout his career, including the likes of Crossroads, Badge and White Room. Brilliant stuff.
Underrated PS album? Do you mean One Trick Pony or Hearts and Bones?
If they did Late In The Evening I may have to kill you.
I meant One Trick Pony and they did indeed do Late in the Evening and indeed much of the album – it was the same band that was on the record. Kill me now….
Mind you he also did Late in the Evening last time I saw him, at Manchester Apollo. If we were doing three outstanding moments in gigs I might well pick from that concert his solo performance as his final encore of American Tune just a couple of days after Trump had been elected. Stunning.
*fingers in ears* Laaa laaa, can’t hear you!
Steve Gadd used four drumsticks on Late In The Evening. Bloody show-off!
Rob Townsend asked Steve how he came up with the, er. very “particular” rhythm for 50 Ways.
“I had smoked a big one” was the helpful reply.
I saw that Clapton tour, at Belle Vue (as in circus) in Manchester. I think actually in the big top though I could be imagining that bit. Yvonne Elliman. I was 18 and it was all a bit much.
Yes I was a similar age and had a similar reaction…
It’s a very difficult task pinning it down to 3 but here goes…
Echo and The Bunnymen, Guildford Civic Hall, 1984. Having left school about 3 months before, I was there with loads of mates. With lots of Mac clones present, the aroma of hairspray, Marlboro lights and cider was heavy in the air and the band put on a mesmerising show. Pete DeFreitas was the unsung hero of that band but Les Pattinson was also part of the engine room. The reformed latter day Bunnymen can never be as good due to their absence. Support band Let’s Active were good too, led by early REM producer Mitch Easter.
New Order, Reading Festival 1998. The start is on youtube if you’re interested. Just a great show with good song choices and the audience loving every second. My first festival with the woman I later married.
Ian Dury and The Blockheads, Guildford Festival, 1998. Poor Ian was clearly ill with cancer but this was still a superb show, with everyone pulling out all the stops to ensure a memorable performance. Just like an old school music hall act actually.
Was that the Guilfest when it was at Loosely Farm, the ice-cream company farm? Fabulous festival and the 2nd time I saw Dury/Blockheads. Oysterband, Show of Hands and Chumbawamba also played, the first time I had seen the latter, immediately smitten. And an odd interim version of Steeleye, with Gaye Woods back in the band, as well as Maddy Pryor, before Maddy then left for a short break.
David Bowie, Western Springs, Auckland NZ 1980 (I think). Mesmerising. Started with DB playing one of the pieces from Low on what I later learned was a chamberlin.
Jimmy Smith, The Basement, Sydney, 1990’s?? Extraordinary – tightest band I’ve ever heard. I was right up close. He didn’t even count the musicians in, they just all started together, totally in the pocket from the downbeat. A treat.
Henry Cow, London 1973. The first time I’d ever heard music where I genuinely didn’t know if it was composed or improvised. I was an impressionable 19 year old fresh off the boat from NZ and this was thrilling new music to hear
I haven’t included Little Feat or Frank Zappa (both 1976 in NZ) because I can’t remember a thing about the music…
And David Byrne last year gets an honourable mention too. Smug? Absolutely not
Lana Del Rey – Birmingham O2 (2012?) Lucky enough to get tickets to see her in a tiny venue just before she exploded on the world stage. She held the audience in the palm of her hand from the off – apart from the numpty stood in front of me who spent the whole gig recording the first 30 seconds of each song on his ipad and posting on Faceache.
Hazel O’Connor – Birmingham Glee Club (2017) We took a punt on this one. It was a showing of the film ‘Breaking Glass’ followed by a live Q&A session. She then performed the whole soundtrack live with a full band. It was either going to work or it wasn’t. Turned out one of the best nights out I’ve ever had.
Cigarettes after Sex – Bristol (2017?) The venue is on a boat and was heaving with hipsters. I must have been the only male there without a beanie & beard, and my wife stood out by not wearing wooly tights. On the plus side there was never a queue to the bar (millennials greatest gift to the world)
I love this band so Mrs. 0510 made a weekend away of it and spent a fortune. 2 months later they announced they were playing at the pub at the top of our road 🙂
Had a (slightly) similar experience to your 3rd a little while back.
Trekked all the way from home (Watford) to the Half Moon in Putney one evening to see Norman Watt-Roy play a rare gig under his own name. Good-to-excellent with a great band. Towards the end on came special guest Wilko Johnson to do a couple.
Less than a week later and purely by chance I discovered Norman was playing at The Horns pub in Watford, just a brisk walk from my gaff. Same band, same good-to-excellent set. Towards the end on came special guest Wilko Johnson to do a couple.
Glad it’s not just me!
Saw Hazel O’Connor in 1980, wasn’t too special. The support act was Duran Duran!
This is near impossible. Some gig’s are great because you like the act so much it fills you with joy to be there with the creator(s) of your favourite music – David Bowie right up there for me. Some gig’s are seeing a favourite act in a really small venue. Tom Tom Club at The Wag the same week they played with/as Talking Heads at Wembley on the Stop Making Sense tour (I was lucky enough to be at both). Wishbone Ash at The Marquee club (the same week they played Wembley). Some gig’s you just catch the act at the crest of their wave and it all comes together. The Verve at Brixton Academy 1998 Urban Hymns tour comes to mind. Seeing an act at one of their really early gig’s or seeing an act who rarely play live – Kate Bush The London Palladium 79(on my own as a mate didn’t turn up to que for the tickets). So here goes could change in five minutes.
David Bowie – A reality tour Wembley 2003. It could have been Hammersmith Odeon Oct 2002(also a great gig where he played The Bewley brother live for the first and only time I believe) but I had tickets for about row ten centre floor for the reality tour and a friend of mine managed to blag me on to her corporate night out (BT actually – thanks) row three right in front centre. I was in heaven and it was a fantastic show. Probably his best band too.
Kate Bush – The London Palladium 1979. Not only was it a great show in a fab venue but it was as we know one of the few gig’s she has ever done. For quite a long time it gave me some serious bragging rights too!
Thin Lizzy – Hammersmith Odeon Live and dangerous tour 77. The band were on a crest of a wave and they were so good live.
Others that have come to mind –
Big Audio Dynamite – Forum Kentish Town mid eighties one of their first gigs. I remember they played Princes 1999 for an encore and took the roof off. Just a really happening gig all round.
The Verve – Urban Hymns tour Brixton Academy.
Nils Lofgren/Tom Petty – Hammersmith Odeon 77?
Who/Alex Harvey/Little Feat – Charlton76?(as many others from here were at too it seems).
I’m going again, coz I feel like it and 3 is just silly.
Gabriel Shock the Monkey tour. Scaffolding, head piece mics. Hammersmith Odeon. Crowd singingalong as one. I was just in London from Africa. Ace.
Nick Cave and Bad Seeds. Melb , his hometown, high junk period, small club, stalking, threatening, Adamson on bass Tupelooooo
Stones 73. Sticky Fingers and Exile showcased. Afternoon shows in90degrees had Mick fainting but this was Sat night with Chip Moncks lights to full effect on Midnight Rambler. I had just turned 16.
Didn’t Gabriel pioneer the “being carried by the hands of the crowd from the stage to the back of the venue and back again” on that tour? Titanium cojones, that man.
Dunno if he pioneered it but he did do that. I’d forgotten actually.
I think it would be difficult now… The lithe fella at Battersea Park in 1979 had become somewhat portly by the So redux tour of 4 or 5 years ago, enough to look distinctly humorous as he leapt up and down and rolled on his back.
I’m pretty sure he invented it. Or rather he and his punters did. There’s a picture of it on the back of Plays Live…. although because of the way it’s cropped, if you don’t know that it’s that, you will be mystify.
Sorry! Mystified! Sir yes sir!
The Smiths, Essex University, 18 February 1984. This was before the first LP was released but we knew all the songs from Peel sessions and the Derby Assembly Rooms gig that had been VHS’d off the TV. I saw them a dozen or so times but I remember this as the most exciting – I was 18 and up close and personal in a tiny venue with what already felt like the most important band in the world.
The Velvet Underground, The Forum, London, 5 June 1993. Right at the front in the middle of the stage watching my favourite band at a gig I never thought I would live to see. Some of the reunion shows got a bit of a kicking, but this was an absolutely thrilling and captivating evening.
The Jam, Cliffs Pavilion, Southend, 20 September 1982. I’d been hanging on Paul Weller’s every word since I was about 13 and as soon as this show was announced we bunked off sixth form to queue for tickets. This was my only chance to see them, and they split three months later. One of my happiest musical memories.
Might make the top three on a different day – Pixies, Husker Du, Orange Juice, Iggy Pop, The Pogues, Bo Diddley, New Order at Glastonbury in the rain, David Byrne in Brighton last year
Bruce Springsteen – Sid James Park, Newcastle, 5 June 1985. I only know the date thanks to a post on David Hepworth’s Twitter feed yesterday – The Hep answered a post to say he was there as well (in the directors box, swanky sod!). Some of us were on the pitch. Fabulous show, as ever, oddly my most vivid memory is Nils Lofgren’s enormous cowboy hat. As a Boro fan, I did my duty and made sure I dug up some divots from the pitch.
Joy Division, Sheffield Top Rank, 1980-ish. The tour where they supported Buzzcocks. I have never, before or since, been so totally enraptured by a live band. Unsurprisingly, Buzzcocks were something of an anti-climax.
Graham Parker & The Rumour, Leeds T&C, 2012. A bucket list gig for me, and I wasn’t disappointed. Charismatic front man, band tight as a gnat’s chuff and thoroughly enjoying themselves. Excellent support too, Dan Tashien from The Silver Seas solo.
Sid James’s Park. It is worth the log in’s here. There is gold in these hills.
There’s always a real carry on there…
[Throaty laugh] yak-yak-yak-yak-yak-yak…
Probably:
Ashford and Simpson at the Hilton, Birmingham, 2005-ish: Thought it would be a quick couple of greatest hits medleys, possibly to backing tapes, but no – on they came with a full 10-piece US band and ran through their musical history in two blissful hours. The Marvin/Tammi classics given proper respect, then the Diana Ross work and their own duo classics – but they also went deeper with lesser-known cuts that were just magnificent and absolutely right for a soul weekender crowd who were in bits. Underlined for me what a magnificent musician/songwriter/producer Valerie Simpson is.
Art Pepper at a pub down Narborough Road, Leicester: arrived late, packed venue and obviously looking a little confused until his wife Laurie walked past and said I could sit next to her about four feet away from her hubby on the stand. He was magnificent – as were the band – and blimey those ballads…
Chic at City Hall, Sheffield, late 70s: just after “Risqué” was released – Edwards/Thompson rhythm section, string quartet, Sister Sledge medley, disco crowd – a woman wearing a spangly boob tube danced with me – and I touched Nile Rodgers’ hand
Others:
Allen Toussaint at Joe’s Pub, New York, 2005?: post-Katrina playing a small club Sunday lunchtime – New Orleans musical history and solo classics – just him and a piano
Roger Chapman at Sheffield University, 1979: just phenomenal, touring his first solo album?
Lynyrd Skynyrd at Lancaster University 1975?: a great “lost venue” – the band were such a powerhouse live
Shalamar at Sheffield Lyceum, mid-1980s: post-“Friends” – hit after hit, stupendous band and beautiful up for it disco crowd
Chappo’s first solo album did indeed come out that year. Who Pulled The Nite Down etc. Excellent it was.
And it was called, er, Chappo.
Um…
Manic Street Preachers 21st December 1994 at London Astoria. I’ve seen them 5 or 6 times since (they were fantastic at the Albert Hall a couple of years ago), but this was the first gig I went to (aged 17) and is all the more poignant now for being RIchey Edwards’ last. My ears didn’t work properly until Christmas, but it was utterly thrilling.
Flaming Lips at Glastonbury 2003. The only gig ever to make me cry. Think that’s all I need to say.
The Darkness at Dorking Halls (yes) in 2013 – They really are as good & daft as you’d expect them to be. Great fun.
Manics at the Manchester Apollo (?) 1997. First time I saw them, and the biggest show they had played until then I think. Also on the 20th anniversary Holy Bible tour in 2015 in Toronto. Awesome, and more thrilling that it was just the 3 (or 4?) of them, rather than the huge lineup they seem to have these days.
Jim Jones Review at the Metro in Sydney. Astonishing waves of energy. I felt like Pete Murphy in that Maxell advert. Oddly, not repeated the following year at the Annandale, nor on record either. They broke up not long after.
AC/DC at their first Donnington Monsters of Rock show (81?), touring Back In Black they were immense, and a great bill with them too. Slade were particularly fine as a late stand in.
David Byrne American Utopia last year in Sydney. I grinned like an idiot throughout, a fantastic show.
This has taken a bit of thinking about, as I wasn’t sure what criteria to use. Visually the best show would be Christina and the Queens in Manchester last year, for the anticipation of seeing them it would probably be the first time I saw Dylan, McCartney, Kraftwerk, Gary Numan or Sophie Ellis-Bextor (yes, really!), for always putting on a fantastic show it would be any time I’ve seen Suede, The Proclaimers or Springsteen, or for spectacle it would be when I was on the Creation guest list at Knebworth, particularly as it was The Charlatans first gig after the death of Rob Collins, and I’m more a fan of them than Oasis. But I have gone with the three that exceeded expectations the most.
1 – The Lilac Time at the Limit Club, Sheffield, 1988 – this was the first show I paid to go and watch and it was their second or third ever gig. I’d been to loads of concerts at Sheffield City Hall in a work capacity (as a voluntary first aider), the first being Elton John 3 years earlier, but I’d never even considered paying to see a gig till this point, cos I just didn’t have the money. The chance to see Duffy live was to big to miss though. I remember being outside the venue as they had just finished their sound check, when they came out and got into their tour (mini) bus, which was painted lilac (IIRC) and had The Lilac Time painted on the side. It was like their version of Scooby and the gang’s Mystery Machine. The show was in support of their first album and they played it all, along with a cover of Jambalaya. It was fab, and the first of umpteen times I’ve seen him play. Annoyingly we’ve come full circle and I’ll miss his first (albeit brief) show in donkeys years this month for financial reasons again (our fault for moving back north!). Hopefully he’ll venture north when their new album comes out in the summer.
2 – Cosmic Rough Riders at ULU in 2001 – We nearly didn’t go to this one. It was before we had move in together. I was living in Mill Hill in north London, the missus down in Beckenham. We’d spent the previous night at mine and she had forgotten to fetch her choice of footwear for the night out (!), so we had to go to hers after work. Once we’d sat down and had our tea we were both knackered and considered not bothering, but I dragged her out of the house and to probably my favourite ever show. From the moment Daniel Wylie walked on to the stage singing Ticket To Ride right up to the finale they never let up. They had just released Enjoy The Melodic Sunshine, which doesn’t have a bad track on it and they just played one great tune after the other. When we were queuing up for our coats at the end we saw them receiving big bear hugs from Alan McGee down the corridor and I thought we were set for a few years of bigger and better albums, but Wylie went and split with the band shortly after and neither he solo nor the band without him ever quite hit those heights again. A great shame.
3 – OMD at some 80s festival or other a couple of years ago – the wife had never been to a festival, so we decided to go to this one, Flashpoint I think it was called, near Leicester. It was a family friendly one and had a great line-up, including family fave, Ms Ellis-Bextor. We saw ABC, The Lightning Seeds, Marc Almond, Ian McNabb, Glen Matlock, The Farm and more, with OMD headlining the final day. I quite like OMD, but would never have gone to see them at one of their own concerts, whilst the wife thought she only knew one or two of their songs, so she was surprised that she knew nearly all of them. But they came out and absolutely blew everyone else off the stage. Hit after hit, they never let up. The sun had gone down, so there was a great light show to go with it, and Andy McCluskey’s ‘dad dancing’ of course. Best moment was when Paul Humphreys took to the front of the stage to sing his two numbers, Souvenir and Forever (Live and Die), which are two of my favourite songs. I guess the object of festivals like this are for artists to show casual fans exactly how great they are live and how many records they’ve made that you know and like without realising it, so they certainly did that. The kids loved it too and were dancing away with us (I joined McCluskey with some dad dancing).
If I could stretch it to 4 I’d choose Darts at the 100 club, about 10 years ago, cos they were brill and Big Den is bonkers.
Hmm.
Tori Amos in a tiny venue above a club in Middlesbrough. Just her and a piano. Spellbinding and intimate. This would have been in 1989, I guess? I bumped into her on the stairs as she was leaving (fleeing) the venue as there was no backstage area. Unfortunately this led to an infatuation for a few years when I joined her extremely Fotherington-Thomas fan club. It was called “Hello Clouds” or something and was very earnest.
Waterless Pink Floyd at Wembly Stadium in 1987? We deliberately sat way back to enjoy the spectacle, and it was suitably amazing. Unusually for a Stadium gig, it sounded great as well. (Honorable mention for the Division Bell tour later, if only for the final solo on Comfortably Numb, Sam Brown on backing vocs and the big mirror ball thing that was cool, and got even cooler when it split open into a shiny flowery thing.). Also to Water’s recreation of the Wall, and his most recent, Animals heavy set – both amazing pieces of theater.
Some Thommo gig when he was on – I’ve seen many, and a couple of crackers stand out – one electric band , two solo
Maria McKee at St Bonaventures in Bristol, which could hold maybe 100 people. I have no idea why she was there, but she was amazing. Mostly solo guitar and keys and her voice which is a thing of profound beauty.
Honorable mentions – Kirsty MacColl, not too long before she was killed. Fleece and Firkin in Bristol, just warm and wonderful, and a great catalog of songs. All About Eve in the gym at Bath college of Higher Education. Again, no idea what they were doing there, there weren’t even any stage lights to speak of, but they had Marty Piper-Wilson from The Church on guitar and played fantastically.
That reminded me that I saw Tori Amos solo when she was just starting – probably would have been the same time / tour but at Manchester Uni
Yeah, one of the last things I did at university was booking her to play the Monday evening jazz club slot in the Student Union bar during Fresher’s Week. I’d had the Little Earthquakes LP for months and loved it, but she couldn’t get arrested. Over the summer break, she suddenly hit big.
I went back for the gig and remember a huge articulated lorry pulling into the tiny car park, with a grand piano in the back. She played a blinder. She got the standard jazz club fee of 50 quid.
This was Monday, she was now on tour. On the Friday she played London, somewhere like the Palladium. I went to that as well, The Divine Comedy were the support.
I’ve had worse weeks!
Prince; the Sign o’ the Times tour (1986?). I had two tickets for the Saturday gig at Isstadion in Stockholm, one of them a birthday treat for my brother. Then he had to work that day so I went to the ticket office trying to exchange it for a ticket to the just announced extra Sunday gig. It wasn’t allowed, but I looked very sad and poor and managed to soften the heart of the angry lady in charge (with some partial lies), so now I could see both gigs.
The Saturday one was ten times better than any gig I’d ever been to, and the Sunday one was ten times better than the Saturday one. Insane atmosphere, audience participation harmony-singing that wouldn’t stop, Prince and the band playing as if posessed by the God Of Funk. All that and MUCH better seating as well! I’ve seen him at other times after these two, and always very good, but never this incredible. I’ve always said, and I’ll keep saying it: If I could relive one single day of my life; I’d choose that Sunday – despite the long day before the gig being very dull!
I think I’d also have to say Phil Lynott at Gröna Lund in -82 (possibly -81) as well, because that was the first gig I attended (not really meaning to – it was meant to be a fun day at the amusement park, we didn’t know he’d be playing at their main stage) that completely mesmerised me. I went to the record shop that week to buy his solo albums, having never been very aware of him or even Thin Lizzy much before. Of course I was very disappointed with the albums…what he did with those tracks live was so much better that it took me years to begin enjoying the recorded versions even a little!
And then it starts to get difficult to choose just one third gig…perhaps Taj Mahal at Göta Lejon a few years ago – because I’ve loved him for so long and to finally see him live and hear some of my favourite songs live in a small sweaty club, standing that close to the stage…it brought a few tears to my eyes.
But maybe it should be Dungen at the SM&A festival in 2016? Another favourite band seen live for the first time and an amazing gig in front of an audience that was so into it and gave so much love back to the band that you could see that they were quite surprised and moved by it.
Or, oddly as I was never a fan at all; the one-off comeback gig by Peter LeMarc at SM&A in 2014, because it surprised me how bloody good he was and how moving the experience was for everyone there. I found myself with tears streaming down my face for most of it, suddenly enjoying songs immensly that I’d never liked before, and feeling elevated by the gig for weeks after. It made me buy a Best Of, and no; I don’t love it. But that gig was stupid good!
Geez you go from Prince SOTT tour to tubby recycling late period Taj Mahal !
One of my first and biggest musical heroes, and he was really good! Small sweaty club gig and I was just in front of the low stage. If I’m as vital and energetic in my 70s as he was, that beats winning the lottery!
Minty – Freedom Cafe, London (1994?)
Leigh Bowery gave birth to a full grown adult woman, live on stage. Weirdly moving and brave performance.
The Fall – Heaven, London (1984?)
The mighty Fall in their absolute pomp. The noise that two drummer line-up made remains one of the greatest things I’ve ever heard.
The Undertones – The Lyceum, London (1981?)
A spur of the minute decision. We’d gone to the Marquee to see REM, I think. Or was it The Alarm? Well, whoever it was, we couldn’t get in so we walked up the road to the Lyceum and saw the Undertones instead, who were just glorious (even though they didn’t do Teenage Kicks).
Difficult, this. Let’s try:
Jethro Tull, Stadium, Dublin, 1969. My first big gig, they were pushing their new album, Stand Up (a new copy of which I carried all day hitchhiking and got 3 of the group to autograph) and showing off their new guitarist. Fantastic when you’re 14.
Little Feat, Essen. Germany, 1977. The first Rockpalast and broadcast on radio and tv, also very shortly before Lowell’s death: the great man was fat and grumpy and duly left the stage while the band did their “jazzrock” Day At The Dog Races, which he didn’t approve of. Support band was Rory Gallagher.
Art Ensemble Of Chicago, Wuppertal, Germany, mid-90s. Just an honour to see this band and their mind-boggling collection of instruments at a relatively small venue. 3 of the 5 now gone.
Bubbling under: Soft Machine, Talking Heads, Focus, Zappa, Mahavishnu, Horslips, White Stripes, L.Shankar, John Zorn.
I’ve been mulling this over a lot.
Radiohead – Astoria 27th May 1994. The Bends performed a year before The Bends came out, in fact My Iron Lung is the live recording taken from this gig (with vocal overdubs). I was in the front of the mosh pit. Absolutely thrilling.
Bjorn Again – Marquee, 1991 or 92. A surprise gig announced that afternoon on the Radio 1 drive time show. It was rammed, sweat dripping from the ceiling. I remember someone dancing wearing a pair of Y-fronts on his head. Absolutely bonkers.
Helen and The Neighbourhood Dogs – Royal Papworth Hospital centenary fete. I was manning the desk, my pals (and my daughter) were on stage, the sun was out, the WI were supplying me with tea and cake…