Concerts you can brag about.

[Huggy Love]

Semi-inspired by the "best live album" thread by crgtr, but with a twist. I know there have been "Best concert" threads but this is more of a "I was there" kinda thing.

I've been to some great shows in the past but this is not about how great the sound was (Steel pulse) or how incredible the performance was (Return to Forever reunion tour), it's about the shows you've always been able to mention in conversation and get "oohs & aahs" from music lovers and people that don't get to concerts often.

I grew up walking distance to the Cow Palace in SF and my crew of juvenile delinquents knew at least 7-8 different ways to sneak in, we kept in practice by sneaking into rodeos, the circus, and even the boat show. So when a good show came through we were ready to hit the Palace and a couple other choice venues that we actually had to pay to get into.

My list:
Led Zeppelin-1977
Prince- Purple rain tour
Nugent-Cat scratch fever
ZZ top-before they had long beards
Bowie (RIP)-Let's dance tour
Chuck Brown(RIP)-the father of DC go-go funk
Kiss- 1st west coast tour
(*honorable mention-Carlos Santana & Al DiMeola trading licks at the end of a show in Maryland in the early 80's)

With all the music lovers here, I'm sure you have a couple good ones, share them with the family.

 

[Huggy Love]

My bad, this should be in the Artist & Music section, Mod can you move this thread?

 

[Alan Manning]

IN no particular order
Bowie 3 times
Bob Marley
Rick Wakeman
Queen
Peter Frampton
ELO
Clash
Jam
Sex Pistols
I think that'll do for now guys!!!!

 

[goat-n-gitter]

AC/DC - Back in Black tour
Eric Johnson - Numerous shows before his first solo album, and after, including a show in Georgetown in 1990 where a young PRSh sat in with the opening act.
Michael Hedges - several times.
SRV on his final tour W/Jeff Beck
1979 Texas Jam including Heart, Boston, Van Halen, Hagar, BOC, etc.....
Genesis in 1982 and 2007
Lots more.........

 

[toothace]

Jeff Beck and Stevie Ray Vaughn - 1990ish
Joe Satriani- 2nd row for the Extremist tour at the Orpheum in Boston, and 3rd row at Berkeley(Boston) with Eric Johnson opening
Spinal Tap
there are probably others but I'd have to flip through my ticket stub collection when I get home tonight...

 

[Mike Duncan]

toothace!!! NO Vaughn! It's VAUGHAN!!!

We are not savages! Goodness!

 

[WEDGE]

Iconic tours I have been lucky enough to see....

Prince- Purple Rain tour
Bon Jovi- Slippery When Wet tour
Journey- Escape and Frontiers tours
Michael Schenker supporting the first Michael Schenker Group album
Van Halen- 1980 Invasion tour for the Women and Children First album
Frank Zappa in 1984
Stevie Ray Vaughn- Soul to Soul tour
Iron Maiden- Powerslave tour
Dio- Last in Line tour
Monsters of Rock- 1988- Kingdom Come, Metallica, Dokken, Scorpions, Van Halen- besides the Killer music a highlight was a twenty minute plus food fight between thousands of fans- lemonade sold at the show had half lemons in them.....for almost a half hour thousands of these were thrown around the stadium. Was awesome sight to see.
Nirvana- In Utero tour

 

[Mike Duncan]

I'll show my age, love of non-standard music, love of non-standard PRS Guitar music:

Some of the best concerts EVER!

Flogging Molly
Matthew Sweet
Weezer
Pearl Jam
Eric Clapton
The Mavericks
Buddy Guy
Steve Earle
Rancid
Mighty Mighty Bosstones
R.E.M.
BB King
Dick Dale
Metallica
ZZ Top
They Might Be Giants
The Dead Milkmen (first show at The Boathouse in Norfolk, VA...1988, I was 15)
The Smithereens
The Ramones
Brian Setzer
Dropkick Murphys
Social Distortion
Bad Religion
Beastie Boys
Cake

Not a lot of PRS action in that grouping.

 

[Alan Manning]

toothace!!! NO Vaughn! It's VAUGHAN!!!

We are not savages! Goodness!

I can fully understand that miss spelling.
it must be difficult typing and sorting someone's filling at the same time !!!

 

[WEDGE]

Jealous of Beastie Boys. Bet that was a fun show.

 

[John Beef]

The Dead Milkmen (first show at The Boathouse in Norfolk, VA...1988, I was 15)

Nice! I saw a bunch of bands at the Boathouse in the early to mid 90s. Smashing Pumpkins, Alice in Chains, Screaming Trees, The Jesus Lizard, Helmet, Failure, Local H... Could have seen friggin' Tool there in '93 had I not been a chump and missed it.

My 1st show was John Denver at Hampton Coliseum when I was 6 or 7, early 80s. I saw Metallica there on the Black Album tour when I was 15. Oh, I saw Nirvana with Breeders at William and Mary Hall in Williamsburg.

 

[toothace]

I can fully understand that miss spelling.
it must be difficult typing and sorting someone's filling at the same time !!!

Dude! There's so much on my plate right now I'm lucky I remembered the shows I listed!

 

[veinbuster]

Springsteen - born in the USA
SRV in a cozy venue
Bowie - Let's Dance
Jeff Beck - ages ago
Keith Urban - always has a fun show
Lilith Fair - yah, I know

Based on the title I thought we were going to try to dig up shows we played that we wanted to brag about.

 

[dmatthews]

Yes and Genesis same show
Jethro Tull
Jeff Healey and Joe Cocker same show (Cocker was incredible)
Tragically Hip final show in Vancouver (Sad and awesome at the same time)

 

[AP515]

Vince Gill and Amy Grant - Christmas concert
REO speedwagon (It was LOUD)
ZZ Top
Journey
Pink Floyd
Linda Ronstadt
<<looks around to see if anybody is listening>>
The Commodores (hey, it was 1980 and she asked me to go with her)

 

[Huggy Love]

<<looks around to see if anybody is listening>>
The Commodores (hey, it was 1980 and she asked me to go with her)

Hey no worries mate, I snuck into their show for the "Brickhouse" tour, "ooww she's a..."

Some really great shows listed by the fam, and to all those that got a chance to see SRV, I'm hella jealous!!!

 

[Dusty Chalk]

Dude, I went and saw Madonna because of a girl, so you'll get no guff from me. It was the tour the Beastie Boys opened.

I saw Camille (Dalmais) at the French Embassy in DC
Saw Pink Floyd on the Division Bell tour, but I don't think it was taped or anything.
4 of my first concerts were Styx (Pieces of Eight tour), Rush (Hemispheres tour), Triumph (Rock&Roll Machine tour), and Heart (Dog & Butterfly tour)
I saw Kraftwerk on the Computerworld tour.

Saw Neal Schon with Journey from like the 8th row, just around the time of Captured, I think. When the singer announced they were going to play a song we hadn't heard before, I yelled out "Dixie Highway" and he looked right at me and threw me a dirty look.

 

[László]

In no particular order...and some of these only earned bragging rights in hindsight and for historical reasons...

James Brown
Muddy Waters
Albert King
Eric Clapton
George Harrison
John Lennon
Bob Dylan with The Band
Cream
MC5
The Cars
Stooges
Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen (my college band also opened for them, so this one's personal)
60s Grateful Dead
Bowie
Chicago
Vanilla Fudge
Roxy Music
Jackson 5
Ray Charles
Temptations
Supremes
Four Tops
Traffic
Earl Klugh
Wes Montgomery
Pat Metheney
Herb Ellis
Ravi Shankar
'71 Steven Stills
60s Jefferson Airplane
Rahsaan Roland Kirk
Joni Mitchell (with Robben Ford and Tom Scott in the band)
Michael Hedges
Aaron Copland conducting Fanfare for the Common Man, Appalachian Spring, Rodeo
Oh, and I was kinda tripped out on something when the Woodstock movie came out, so I thought I was there...

I forgot the rest. Sorry.

Can I include seeing my son on tour with 30 Seconds to Mars, and on tour with his band, Partybaby? Because of all these shows, these were the most exciting for me...it's a dad thing.

 

[alantig]

Ozzy with Randy Rhoads on the Diary tour.
Ozzy with some band called Metallica opening on their Master Of Puppets tour.
Zappa in 1988. Final tour, what he considered to be one of his best bands.
Hedges on his final tour.
Kiss on the last tour with the original lineup.
Dethklok with Mastodon as one of the openers.
First Ghost US tour (and all but one since).
Clapton with Mark Knopfler.

 

[Dusty Chalk]

Oh, c'mon, Les, I thought you said you and Mozart were tight.

...or was that Schubert...?