What's the best live music event you've ever been to?

Sonic Youth concert last June.

James Taylor, Nissan Pavillion, June 1999

Any outdoor Jimmy Buffett concert...

Both times I saw John Wesley Harding. He kissed me both times!!

Well, I had to ambush him and demand he do so, but a kiss is a kiss is a kiss.

Mentioning this will probably make half of you cringe, but I loved the Stones' "Bridges to Babylon" tour. That was one of the first rock shows I ever saw. I also liked Janet Jackson's "Velvet Rope" tour (was it called that?). I danced feverishly for the next six months. More recently, U2's "Elevation" tour was outta sight. I saw them in Miami and they were utterly cheesy and great. I loved the heart thing-a-ling.
I really like this survey

My senior year in highschool, I made the all state band, and took advantage of free concerts. The symphony orchestra was soooo awesome! It was highschool, but the music was like WOW!

The conductor said at the beggining of the last piece: "Remember, they've only been playing this for four days". At the end of that song everyone jumped up and roared out loud with smiles and the longest applause I've ever seen! The diresctor then tried to say something and raised his hand up, and the audience went even more berserk. Finally, after the conductor turned from the audience and we died down, he turned and said, "The song isn't finished yet" with a smile. That put the icing on the cake. It was so cool! Yes, yes yes!

I have only been to two live music events in my entire life. Paul Revere & the Raiders at MacArthur Court on the U. of O. campus in 1969 and Paul Williams at the Lane County Fair in mid to latter 70's. I don't get out much!

So far, I've liked all the concerts I've seen and can't really think of one that was the best. The most recent one is Dave Matthews which was a lot of fun

Probably the best was the U2 gig I went to recently in London. Awesome!

Did you actually get into the heart?

well, this is tough!! each time i go to see a new concert or performance i am just blown away usually. i guess if i had to pick, it would have to have been one of the three lilith fairs i have attended just because there was such a variety of artists who ended up on stage together. sarah mclachlin did such an awesome job with the concerts and is such a great performer to see as well!! i also saw prince or "the artist formerly known..." quite a long time ago and he was simply amazing!!!!
was this not done recently as well?? i like the survey, i just think it is a recent repeat.

No But I did go backstage

Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm??? I can't think of many. My old school's concerts were always good - our (sole) music teacher was voted the best in the country and he tried to get a lot of people involved. I was in the choir (anyone could join, even those of us who couldn't sing - there were loads of *really* good people though). Our concerts were always quite uplifting (quite clappy and dancy).

Apart from that, when I was at primary school, a local brass band used to play one evening near Christmas - I used to enjoy that. And Worrall Male Voice Choir is world famous - Worrall's the nearest village to mine and I've heard them a couple of times.

Lucky you! How did you manage to pull that one?

I saw Robbie Williams in concert and that was cool, but the best was when I won a competition on Key 103 radio to have backstage passes to the Smash Hits roadshow, and as well as seeing the show I got to meet loads of people including Westlife ( who were really rude so I called them w***ers) , Five and A1. Most of them were really nice, unfortunately I dont like pop music that much or boybands, my best friend was the one who wanted to meet Westlife! I've also been to two Boyzone concerts (dragged by my best mate again! But I couldn't get tickets to Linkin Park this september as they sold out too quickly and I was not impressed!

I've never seen anything live (in person) that I'm interested in. The closet I've come is watching Madonna's "drowned world" tour on HBO.

Low-cut neckline. Big smile. Gave one of the security guards my soda.

Gee, this survey is kind of similar to one I did about a year ago. Some people like to acknowledge such things. http://surveycentral.org/survey/5883.html

Blue Man Group at Luxor in Las Vegas. It was totally awesome and so much fun! I'm not counting on anyone else here ever having seen it, so just take my word on it.

Is that what you call it now? Your "soda"??

The Prince concert at The Gorge in George, Washington. It was a fabulous concert at what many artists have said is their favorite place to perform because it's so beautiful.

I can't remmember.

Wow!!!That place is just breath taking!!! So beautiful!!!Did you shoot the pic?? Good Eye!!

I have five.....
Santana at the Coors Ampitheatre in San Deigo
Alice Cooper at Humpherys By the Bay in San Deigo
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers at Irvine
Lenny Kravitz at the Los Angles Forum
& my very first concert,back in 1967 Sonny & Cher at the Honolulu International Center

No, I borrowed it from a guy's website.

It's hard to pin down a "best".
Maybe my first ever rock concert (INXS in 1985) because it was the first time I felt such electricity in such a huge crowd of people.
Maybe when I saw Yehudi Menuhin play in my home town because he was so masterful even though he was very old.
Maybe when I went to see La Boheme at the Metropolitan Opera last year because it was just incredibly good quality.
Maybe the Billy Bragg concert in 1989 when (I swear!) he looked right at me and smiled. I swear!
Maybe the first concert that one of my violin students played in because she did a good job and I taught her!!
Maybe something else.
There are just too many!

There was this moment- after a Tres Gunn concert, when these three guitarists came up on stage. I don't remember their name. They were playing, and I was hearing what had to be Bach, but it didn't make sense to me. I was watching their fingers and couldn't see any of them play what I was hearing. Then, slowly, it dawned on me, as it dawned on the whole audience, one person at a time... the three guitarists were playing this Bach piece... split note per note amongst the three of them. So the first guitarist played the first note, the second guitarist the second note, the third guitarist the third note, the first guitarist the fourth note, and so on. As my friend put it: "three guitarists, one brain." It was a very strange moment. Then they kept playing but started walking and walked off the stage into the audience (who all kept *completely silent*) and everyone formed a circle around them, transfixed and fascinated. It was beautiful.

Wow! I wish I had seen and heard that!

Next itme humor me!
Just say "Yeah,I took that picture & it was a difficult shot to make.Because of the positon,that the sun was in at the time,it made where I had to wait,till the lighting was juuuuuusssst right,before I could take the picture."

LOL I would feel too guilty taking credit for someone else's hard work.

lol lol lol Now how'd I know you'd say that?? Your the good one.

Sorry. I did search for the words "live", "music" and "event", but you didn't use any of them so it didn't show up. No-one mentioned it in qual, either. I'd have included a link if I'd known about it, but without someone telling me I couldn't!

Do you know if it was Béla Fleck and the Fleckstones?
I've heard that he plays a Bach piece.

There is a popular Brazilian artist by the name of Gilberto Gil. A genius in lyrics and melody. His music covers a multitude of musical styles; samba, rock, reggae, popular, romantic, satirical, "easy listening".

I saw him live in 1990 or 1991. Just Gil and his guitar. A truly stunning and emotional performance.

He has a song "Se Você quizer falar com Deus" translated as "If you might want to speak with God" (not a hymn, just a song), which drove the audience to tears and to it's feet.

A two-day Phish show in upstate New York. Or maybe Laurie Anderson's "Moby Dick."

It wasn't them- I've never seen Bela in concert (though I've heard that they're fabuuuu!). I think they called themselves something like "Tres Hombres," or something equally simple and descriptive.

Believe it or not, 4 Non Blondes... Although I did feel pretty special to just be in the presence of Nirvana and Pearl Jam.

I heard the same thing I would love to see them in concert.

Oh, we'll let it go this time. I just had to whine.

Where on the planet are you?

Oh, go give yourself a soda.

Less Than Jake. The drummer used flaming sticks at one point! And they let a crazy fan in a bird suit on stage with them, and everyone thought it was something the band had arranged 'till the end when the lead singer was doing a roll-call and said, "And this guy in the bird suit who we don't know!" It was hilarious!

A free concert in a park in Melbourne put on by the Symphony, Opera Society etc. one afternoon/evening. It was awesome.

Just a little bit North of you, in Quebec.

Aerosmith at woodstock rocked

I guess it would have to be the annual Irish Festival here.... Had lots of good Irish/Celtic music

Kiss's Farewell concert July 2000

Where's here?

It was pretty great!

Well, then, as I said when we were chatting the other day, we should look for Bela in Portland, ME, or something.

I'll check his tour dates

Cool- mandy likes you, so you have to be a good chap!

I'd say the Peter Mulvey show around the campfire out in Western Massachusetts. But it's a close call; I've been to a lot of great concerts.

Sawyer Brown. They put on a great show!
I love the lead singers bald head.

V2000. A two day music festival down the road from where I live. Camped out, saw some great bands, ate junk food, saw some more great bands, went on some very dodgy looking fairground rides, and it didn't rain once.

Oh yeah, that one was awesome, too!

So far there wasnt anything good on his tour dates :-s

Van Halen 1984

I was not (still not) much for live events. There are too many people! But if I had to choose, I think that Peter Gabriel gave me the best concerts I have seen. I even went again when he came back into town. The man has alot of presence on stage and gives a great show.

Once, at a Gary Newman concert, I was talking to a security guard that worked at the Forum for 15 years. He must have been near retirement at the time and not really into the music at these concerts. Being an employee there, is the only reason he saw these shows but he was telling me about this guy that put on the best show he had seen - he was describing Peter Gabriel!

Marilyn Manson Concert

He's the best chap around...I can't wait for Mallory to turn 18 so I can send her to Canada to marry Matt. He'd make the greatest husband. I've hand picked him.

I just got home from a wild, awesome, awesome Maceo Parker show in a pretty small venue.... funkin' right up close and personal with Maceo and the band... funkin' all night long! I'm pretty high on the endorphins of dancing for hours and hours.

There was a Celtic band who played for my son's wedding.It was awesome!

The Tragically Hip, Bill's Bar (Boston), Aug. 11, 1998.

Michael Jackson 'Dangerous' tour

Three Dog Night at Blossom (near Cleveland, Ohio) in 1973.
Jeremiah was a bullfrog...

Sweetstock.. because Blessid Union of Souls was there.. and it was a great time.. lots of great bands

I don't like stadium concerts either (and I particularly dislike the Forum, if you mean the one in LA). A big part of what made the Peter Mulvey concert I mentioned so great was that there were about twelve people in the audience.

I meant the Forum in Montreal (now replaced by the Molson Centre). I really prefer small stages in dark, smokey clubs!!

The best times I had were at Sun City & Garage Nation raves - they were wicked!

Do you like David Gray?

The truth is that I didn't even know Maceo until that night- I went on the recommendation of a couple friends and had a blast. If David Gray is related music, then I'm sure I would really groove on it, too. Do you recommend it?

I do I love David Gray.
Its not really like that, but still good.
http://www.davidgray.com/home.html
you can sample some of the songs on the site.

Meat Loaf.

The Diamond Rio and Sayer Brown concert. Wonderful!!!

Backstreet Boys concert and the play "The Wiz"

2 Backstreet Boys concerts; one on October 15,1999 and the other one on March 17, 2001. I was supposed to go to another one on October 20, 2001 but it was cancelled due to a benefit concert in New York on the same date.

The Communards in concert.

Brass band. How very Sheffield!

That's true - what was that film called?

Who played in that gig with the lovely picture?

Brassed Off? I can't remember. Smack the Pony did a good p**s take of it though this year on channel 4.

That's the one! I never watched it though.

PRINCE!

It wasn't Sinead O'Baldy!

Gal Costa, Brazilian pop singer, this year. Beth Carvalho, Brazilian sambista, several years ago. (tie)

who

i got to see santana in tucson az. for free so that made it one of the better ones. but the best of all time was jimmy page and the black crows.....im a diehard zeppelin fan

I love Santana!!!!!Saw him in 1975 in Hawaii at a festival called "Crater Festival" It was held in the extinct volcano called "Diamond Head" Was great fun!! The next time I saw him was 2 years ago.I took my(then)16 year old son,to his very first concert........"Santana" He LOVED it.He was tripping out on all the people,sitting around us smoking pot so freely & the standing room only,down in front of the stage area....It was held in the Coors Amphitheater,down in Chula Vista,in San Deigo..
Got a funny story about that Santana Concert(well,I can laugh about it today)I have this habit,of always wanting to be on time for everything my family & I attend.....so my son & I left for the concert 2 hours early(we're an 45 minute drive away),to allow for traffic,travel time,search for parking,& to just look around.Well,my son & I pull up to the gate & I ask him,"Honey,do you have the concert tickets?" As I'm looking for parking money.He says,"No mom,I thought you had it!" long story short,I call home,my husband says it's on our bed.I rush home driving like some lunatic out of ZIMA,I get home,in 1/2 an hour,driving 85-90 miles an hour.Drive all the way back to Chula Vista,just in time to catch the last half of a Spanish group called Mana.Thank god we didn't miss Santana!

i still need your email address

Did I not remember to give that to you???? **looking all sheepish & embarrassed** Whoops,my bad! What a space cadet I can be at times.

Here it is: dabprovin@msn.com

sounds pretty awesome to see a concert in an old volcano, sounds like a cool mom to take her son to a concert like that for a first.

Would've been even cooler if I hadn't forgotten the concert tickets at home. But we still had a great time.After the concert,I bought him his first concert T-shirt.That always makes the concert experience complete.

how do i get your e-mail address???????????????

Okay.......this is the third time tonight.

Say mimind,totally off the subject but,if you know Zang,go to Forum & leave him a message,today is his birthday.(3/16 Saturday)

dabprovin@msn.com

Family Values Tour 1998.

I just learned that Bela Fleck is opening for the Dave Matthews concert I'm going to on the 21st!

That's the one you sent me mail about, isn't it? I meant to write you back, then lost your message. I wouldn't have been able to make the show anyway. You are going to dance your booty off at that show! Have a Blast, and think of me.

Yes it was about that show, but at the time I had no idea he was going to do the opening act!