What are your favorite live concerts?

lasselu · August 2025

I've seen Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes a few times and they've always delivered...

Bietfriek · August 2025

My all time favourite is a Dutch artist called Spinvis. Every performance I have seen from him is totally different:

Alone with a looper.
On stage with a full band and some performance artists.
On stage, just with a band.
Quite recently in an intimate setting with an old friend/musician of Spinvis.

I also liked this years performance of AIR in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, especially because of “the box” they are currently playing in and the industrial venue.
I’ve also seen the Prodigy (with Keith Flint) years ago, a few months ago I have seen Liam and Maxim but I really disliked Maxim’s performance/energy.

Other honourable mentions:
Madness, Muse, Korn, Bob Vylan, Kid Kapichi, Kraftwerk (with Ralf and Florian), Noisia, Snoop Dogg (twice and twice too late), The Wailers (without Bob), Lee Perry (performance was meh but hey it was Lee…), Toots & the Maytalls, The Doors (with Ray and Robbie), Metallica, Rage Against the Machine, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bruno Mars, Santana (House of Blues, Vegas), Elton John (Caesar’s in Vegas), Diana Ross (Venetian Vegas), Mariah Carey (Dolby Live, Vegas)

Current wishlist:
DJ/Livesets from Legowelt and Tsuruda.
JPEGMafia

stown · August 2025

Biggish bands doing amazing shows that I was lucky to catch:

Love and Rockets and Jane's Addiction at UCI in 1987 (The Bubblemen played too!)
Clan of Xymox (Twist of Shadows Tour) at Club Postnuclear in Laguna Beach (!!!!) on July 26, 1989
Ministry ("Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste" tour) at the Hollywood Palladium 1990
Einstürzende Neubauten (Haus der Lüge Tour) at Helter Skelter 11/17/1990
two weeks later Dead Can Dance at Wadsworth Theater, Los Angeles 1990
one week later... Cocteau Twins (Heaven or Las Vegas tour) at The Wiltern, Los Angeles
one week later Skinny Puppy (Too Dark Park tour) at the Hollywood Palladium 1990
Nine Inch Nails (Sin tour) at Helter Skelter 2/6/1991

wow.... I really had it lucky living in Southern California. Helped that I had a car in college too!

As for smaller bands that were freaking amazing live...
Stars of the Lid and Angels of Light at Spaceland in 1999 was amazing. SotL blew me away but bored my friends to death. :P
Kaffe Mathews at Spaceland in 1999 (I think) inspired me to finally buy a laptop and also to get off my ass and make music and perform.

now I listen to more dark ambient and it's generally not the most amazing stuff live. :P
Although attending the Cold Meat Industry 30th festival in Stockholm was amazing.
Also... some stand out live acts in that area.. Sanctum, Nordvargr, Arcanna, Brighter Death Now....

And one last smaller band above all...
Babyland! Loved seeing them live from the early 90's through most of the 2000's. Totally infectious energy live. Pretty much anyone who attended a show would never forget it and would crave seeing them again.

They were the first electronic band signed to punk label Flipside records. Here's this totally apeshit early performance
of theirs at Flipside records "picnic"

enough from me.... :P

Ben · August 2025

@rottencat said:

@Ben said:
@rottencat , you saw Rolling Thunder! My friend, you witnessed a part of modern musical history.
I hope it was as grand as I believe it was.

For the record, I don’t consider the Avett Brothers to be country.

It’s funny @Ben how you can live through something and not realize its importance without the perspective of history.
On August 17, 1974 I went to one of the Schaefer Concerts in Central Park, NYC. Mainly I went because some cute girls that I liked were going and I was 19 and…well, you get the picture.

It was a weird bill -Brewer and Shipley, Anne Murray and… Bruce Springsteen!

Springsteen opened for Anne Murray! It’s true!

Anyway, it turned out to be a famous gig - the last time Bruce was not a headliner.

Ya never know…

Another great experience. The take home message is save those ticket stubs!
Except there are rarely hard copy stubs anymore.
Thanks for sharing!

jwmmakerofmusic · February 23

Saw this last night at the Pabst Theater.

Mania - Abba Tribute Concert. It was fucking phenomenal!

pedro · February 23

Favorites that I attended

It’s been a while though

Dav · February 23

One of my favorites is probably Miles Davis, early 90’s, Charlotte NC, right before he passed away. I could not go to sleep that night after the concert, was just on a musical cloud nine. Had to stay up and record music like I heard.

My most favorite: Doc Severinsen. Being a trumpet player, i couldn’t miss hearing the worlds best trumpeter when he came to NC. I heard him play a jazz gig when I was in high school. That really inspired me to study trumpet. He now lives in NC , still playing gigs at almost 100 years old.

Once had a front row seat listening to the yellowjackets (fusion jazz band). Because the stage was being repaired they played on the floor in front of our seats. i was sitting so close to the drummer I could touch his cymbals had i wanted to. Awesome experience! Great band.

If personal concerts count, I had a gig playing trumpet in the house band for a jazz festival. One of the guest artist we backed up was a great guitarist named John Scofield. Totally blew me away with his solos. I had never heard a guitar played like that before. Nice dude too. There is something special about his jazz style.

Paulieworld · February 24

@Dav I saw Miles in the 90s at an outdoor festival on the lakefront in Chicago. He was clearly tired and nearing the end, and had his back to the audience most of the time. But still, he was Miles! He played Tutu. The ultimate “cool jazz” song of all time.

I once sat directly in front of Art Blakey at Jazz Showcase. My feet were literally in his kick drum. He looked at me and said… what you lookin at white boy?

Dav · February 24

@Paulieworld said:
@Dav I saw Miles in the 90s at an outdoor festival on the lakefront in Chicago. He was clearly tired and nearing the end, and had his back to the audience most of the time. But still, he was Miles! He played Tutu. The ultimate “cool jazz” song of all time.

I once sat directly in front of Art Blakey at Jazz Showcase. My feet were literally in his kick drum. He looked at me and said… what you lookin at white boy?

Lol! Well, you sure have heard a lot of great musicians, @Paulieworld.

stown · February 24

oh. one more. Randy H Yau at Beyond Baroque in Venice Beach, California. Before his set he stood poised in front of a wall of amps. He rocked back and forth on his feet doing some sort of mental countdown and then leaped with his mic at the array of amps. Total feedback noise music madness. I wanted to leave the show mic-drop style after his set because it was so incredible. But there were several other artists left that night (K2? MSBR? I forget). Anyway.... absolutely incredible.
Here's a similar sort of set with far fewer amps.

filo01 · February 24

Vulfpeck "Live at Madison Square Garden". I love watching these guys.

bygjohn · February 24

This is probably a stupidly long list, but hey… and in no particular order.

Zeppelin at Knebworth - second week, when they were a bit rough, but still: Zeppelin. And my first big outdoor gig.

Pink Floyd doing The Wall at Earls Court.

Yes at the NEC on the Union tour, did the most amazing version of Awaken, magical.

Rush at Stafford Bingley Hall on the Hemispheres tour.

AC/DC with Bon Scott at Birmingham Odeon not long before he died.

Weather Report at Birmingham Odeon (post Jaco, I think the album they were promoting was Domino Theory).

Bowie on the Serious Moonlight tour, at both the NEC and Milton Keynes Bowl.

BB King at Birmingham Odeon.

Motörhead at Birmingham Odeon on the Bomber tour (saw them a couple of other times, but that lighting gantry was amazing the first time I saw it - shaped like a plane complete with propellers that swooped and banked).

I saw Genesis a few times so I’m a bit hazy about which tour it was, but it was the first one they did with the varilights which were mind blowing.

Kraftwerk on the TDF Soundtracks tour in Manchester when Florian was still with them. I also saw the classic lineup (I think) in Liverpool on The Mix tour, but the TDF tour had the edge.

Sabbath on their farewell tour in Birmingham.

Sabbath on the 13 tour in Birmingham, mainly because it was the first gig I went to with my other half. Kind of a cultural exchange: he took me to the National Eisteddfod (where he was performing in a Welsh folk dancing group) and I took him to see Sabbath!

Public Service Broadcasting on the Every Valley tour in Bangor (North Wales). Hugely emotional due to the Welsh audience.

Kodo at Birmingham Symphony Hall.

Robert Plant in a village hall in Monmouth, while he was recording his second album at Rockfield. With a 13 year old (IIRC) Jason Bonham on drums for a couple of songs.

Peter Hammill, playing support for Marillion on the Script tour. Hammill was a seriously tough act to follow!

robosardine · February 24

Rush - Glasgow Apollo
AC/DC - Glasgow Apollo
Simple Minds - Glasgow Barrowlands
The Clash - Glasgow Barrowlands

Tovokas · February 24

@bygjohn said:
Yes at the NEC on the Union tour, did the most amazing version of Awaken, magical.

I was just going to mention this: Awaken on this tour was basically a spiritual experience!

DavidEnglish · February 24

Chuck Berry - Wake Forest University
Doc Watson - Wake Forest University
Ralph Stanley - Old Fiddlers Convention in Galax, VA
Bill Monroe - Old Fiddlers Convention in Galax, VA
Neil Young and Linda Ronstadt - Roanoke, VA
Bob Dylan and The Band - Charlotte, NC
Grateful Dead and The Allman Brothers Band - RFK Stadium in Washington, DC
McCoy Tyner - Bottom Line in NYC
Charles Mingus - Bottom Line in NYC
Weather Report - Beacon Theater in NYC
The Chieftains - Alice Tully Hall in NYC (on St. Patrick's Day)
Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians - Town Hall in NYC
Ali Akbar Khan - Town Hall in NYC
Pandit Pran Nath with Terry Riley - Dia Art Foundation in NYC
La Monte Young - Dia Art Foundation in NYC

Wyvern · February 25

@michael_m said:
Where to start…

One that was great was Queen in 1986 (one of the 2 gigs that made up the Live at Wesley 1986 album). Thought that Queen were done as Freddie was warned to rest his voice, and rumors were that they were going to take the money from the tour and call it a day. They were phenomenally good though.

Saw the Subhumans in a tiny venue (that was a converted Masonic lodge) in something like 1983. At points there was more of the audience on the stage than in the auditorium, but they played through it all and were so, so good.

Motörhead with the classic lineup in 1981 was something to behold, but the ringing in my ears for 3 days after was a little worrying.

Caught the Jam on their final tour in 1983 I think. Everyone from the upstairs seats sneaked into the downstairs standing room, and it was shoulder to shoulder everywhere, but being there on the final tour for such a well-loved band was something else.

Got to see tons of other artists that were honorable mentions (in no particular order): Bauhaus, Stranglers, Chemical Brothers, Anti-Nowhere League, UK Subs, Beth Orton, Nine Inch Nails, King Kurt, etc.

Also lots of great orchestras during my time working in theaters.

@michael_m said:
Where to start…

One that was great was Queen in 1986 (one of the 2 gigs that made up the Live at Wesley 1986 album). Thought that Queen were done as Freddie was warned to rest his voice, and rumors were that they were going to take the money from the tour and call it a day. They were phenomenally good though.

Saw the Subhumans in a tiny venue (that was a converted Masonic lodge) in something like 1983. At points there was more of the audience on the stage than in the auditorium, but they played through it all and were so, so good.

Motörhead with the classic lineup in 1981 was something to behold, but the ringing in my ears for 3 days after was a little worrying.

Caught the Jam on their final tour in 1983 I think. Everyone from the upstairs seats sneaked into the downstairs standing room, and it was shoulder to shoulder everywhere, but being there on the final tour for such a well-loved band was something else.

Got to see tons of other artists that were honorable mentions (in no particular order): Bauhaus, Stranglers, Chemical Brothers, Anti-Nowhere League, UK Subs, Beth Orton, Nine Inch Nails, King Kurt, etc.

Also lots of great orchestras during my time working in theaters.

I was at the Queen gig in Knebworth 1986, which was Freddie’s last time with Queen. I was working in one of the beer tents, and the final Jam gigs were December 1982. I was at the second and fifth nights at Wembley Arena. Phenomenal band. We may have walked past each other 😀

oldsynthguy · February 25

@bygjohn said:
Robert Plant in a village hall in Monmouth

He does a lot of small impromptu gigs, a few years ago he played unannounced at a pub in Bishop’s Castle. Unfortunately I missed that one!

Meek3 · February 25

Psycho killer talking heads

michael_m · February 25

@Wyvern said:

@michael_m said:
Where to start…

One that was great was Queen in 1986 (one of the 2 gigs that made up the Live at Wesley 1986 album). Thought that Queen were done as Freddie was warned to rest his voice, and rumors were that they were going to take the money from the tour and call it a day. They were phenomenally good though.

Saw the Subhumans in a tiny venue (that was a converted Masonic lodge) in something like 1983. At points there was more of the audience on the stage than in the auditorium, but they played through it all and were so, so good.

Motörhead with the classic lineup in 1981 was something to behold, but the ringing in my ears for 3 days after was a little worrying.

Caught the Jam on their final tour in 1983 I think. Everyone from the upstairs seats sneaked into the downstairs standing room, and it was shoulder to shoulder everywhere, but being there on the final tour for such a well-loved band was something else.

Got to see tons of other artists that were honorable mentions (in no particular order): Bauhaus, Stranglers, Chemical Brothers, Anti-Nowhere League, UK Subs, Beth Orton, Nine Inch Nails, King Kurt, etc.

Also lots of great orchestras during my time working in theaters.

@michael_m said:
Where to start…

One that was great was Queen in 1986 (one of the 2 gigs that made up the Live at Wesley 1986 album). Thought that Queen were done as Freddie was warned to rest his voice, and rumors were that they were going to take the money from the tour and call it a day. They were phenomenally good though.

Saw the Subhumans in a tiny venue (that was a converted Masonic lodge) in something like 1983. At points there was more of the audience on the stage than in the auditorium, but they played through it all and were so, so good.

Motörhead with the classic lineup in 1981 was something to behold, but the ringing in my ears for 3 days after was a little worrying.

Caught the Jam on their final tour in 1983 I think. Everyone from the upstairs seats sneaked into the downstairs standing room, and it was shoulder to shoulder everywhere, but being there on the final tour for such a well-loved band was something else.

Got to see tons of other artists that were honorable mentions (in no particular order): Bauhaus, Stranglers, Chemical Brothers, Anti-Nowhere League, UK Subs, Beth Orton, Nine Inch Nails, King Kurt, etc.

Also lots of great orchestras during my time working in theaters.

I was at the Queen gig in Knebworth 1986, which was Freddie’s last time with Queen. I was working in one of the beer tents, and the final Jam gigs were December 1982. I was at the second and fifth nights at Wembley Arena. Phenomenal band. We may have walked past each other 😀

I was at the fist night of the two recorded Wembley Stadium gigs, so I always say that the Live at Wembley album is my debut album.

bygjohn · February 26

@oldsynthguy said:

@bygjohn said:
Robert Plant in a village hall in Monmouth

He does a lot of small impromptu gigs, a few years ago he played unannounced at a pub in Bishop’s Castle. Unfortunately I missed that one!

Yeah, saw him again later in a school hall near where I live. The man just likes singing!

I only saw the Monmouth gig because a friend was working there at the time.

Loopy Pro: Create music, your way.

What are your favorite live concerts?

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