Best Ever Live Musical Performance

[Alex Alex Dawson oo! oo!]

the Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert, in particualr the last act, did it for me.

I heard they weren't bad that night but the Toby Jug at Tolworth (1969) was a more intimate/inclusive venue.
Btw, if I hadn't hadn't been working abroad during the ticket auction for REMF then I would have outbid you for THPP's spare - b*****d (only joking).

 

[SeagullSongs]

Joss Stone at the Paradiso in Amsterdam. Beautiful voice, beautiful woman, spoke to the audience a lot, and the calling for the encore was so loud my dad put his fingers in his ears!

 

[angmering albion]

Linkin Park at the O2. Seen them twice and they are AMAZING!!!

 

[PFJ]

Too many great gigs to choose from . Any Queen gig for starters .

The two that always stick out for me are poles apart musically and venue wise.
Pink Floyd performing The Wall at Earls Court in 1980.I had just never seen anything like it at the time.
The other was The Business playing for free at a mate of mines birthday party at the old Free Butt. Admission by invite only and an unbeleivable gig.

 

[Norman Potting]

• Elton John with the original Elton John band (Davey Johnstone, Dee Murray and Nigel Olson) on a wet night at the Centre in late '82 I think. Elton rocked, the live performance of "Rocket Man" was probably the best live song I have ever seen/heard.
• Richard Thompson at Crawley around ten years ago. Just him and a guitar, with Dave Mattacks on simple drumkit for a couple of songs. Magic.
• Thin Lizzy at the Centre, 1979/80?. Phil Lynott owned the audience from the first note.
• IIIrd Tyme Out at the Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, August '97. Never really paid much interest to Bluegrass as a genre until then but to see/hear 5 guys with complete mastery of their acoustic instruments and spot on 5 part harmonising was music at its' purest.
• Richard Shindell supporting Show of Hands (also excellent) a few months back. Had never even heard of the guy before, got into the concert a couple of songs into his set and was captivated after the first chorus of his next one. Superb singer songwriter with captivating lyrics.
• Madness, Brighton centre early nineties, one of their pre Christmas tours. Seeing the standing area of the Centre transformed into a heaving sea of nuttiness as soon as the started the set with "One Step Beyond" was a site to behold. Every hit, over and done in just over an hour - the perfect singles band?

I think I am lucky not to have been to any really bad gigs from big artists (Asia live were perfect musically, just dull, and I like Rush on record but have never got much out of their live shows).

 

[Gary Gurr]

Frank Zappa - Finsbury Park
Warm Dust - Sussex University
Colosseum - Reading Festival
Terry Reid - same reading festival
Yes - Bournemouth Winter Garden
Van Morrison - Hastings White Rock Pavilion - i sat 4 yards away from the stage.

 

[Barnet Seagull]

Supergrass and the Bluetones at the Crypt in Hastings.

Still not seen better.

 

[Cpt. Spavil]

Rammstein at the O2

AMAZING

 

[getz]

Sammy Davis Jnr at the Hipperdrome Brighton late 1950's .The ultimate showman! Count Basie orchestra for pure excitement More recently Bonnie Raitt at the Dome. jazz vocalist Lianne Carroll from Hastings at any venue near you.

 

[unklbrian]

Marvin Gaye - Royal Albert Hall 1976 .
5 Blind Boys Of Alabama - Event Brighton 1992
Bhundu Boys - Concorde [original] 1992 [ish]

3 of the best gigs I've had the pleasure to attend

 

[shaun_rc]

The Fall, Brixton Ace 1983 playing mostly stuff from Hex Enduction Hour. Two drummers, really heavy bass, MES prowling about (before he got too panto), really powerful.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Spiritualized at the Royal Albert Hall, performing with a massive gospel choir and a string orchestra. Absolutely stunning performance.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, I saw them at Concorde2 a couple of years ago when they did a Glastonbury warm up gig and it really did blow me away. Only 3 backing singings though, and no orchestra!!

Another gig I saw that I had no expectations for, but their performance was brilliantly improvised, and passionately played was Ocean Colour Scene in Braintree in 1996. Amazing, they really elevated their material beyond what I could have expected.

 

[bassking]

Marvin Gaye - Royal Albert Hall 1976 .
5 Blind Boys Of Alabama - Event Brighton 1992
Bhundu Boys - Concorde [original] 1992 [ish]

3 of the best gigs I've had the pleasure to attend

5 blind boys agree with with that as one of them. Also the Hives at the dome about 4 years ago, that is one of the most chaotic, mental, shows ive seen live.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Probably The Clash in Victoria Park or Underworld in Stanmer Park.

 

[Eric Potts]

Jedward last night on the pre Eurovision thing were particularly remarkable .

 

[Northstandite]

New Order, Portsmouth Guildhall c. 1984

The Smiths, Brighton Poly c. Feb 1984

Big Country, Top Rank Suite c.1983


Would love to have seen The Police in 1979 and The Jam, but was too young.

Seeing Mercury & Queen on TV, they appeared to be the ultimate performers.

 

[BadFish]

Paul Weller - Royal Albert Hall - mid 90's wild wood tour
Radiohead - the Richmond 1993
Brian Jonestown Massacre - The Forum in Melbourne - Last Saturday

 

[wellquickwoody]

The Cult - Two occassions, Top Rank Suite in Brighton and Finsbury Park in London. The band most able to recreate their studio sound whilst playing live, without backing tracks etc..

 

[tedlit]

Sugar at the Dome in 1992. My ears are still ringing.
Catherine Wheel at the (old) Concorde in.. oh.. 1997? About ten people there, but they played like it was Wembley... with a low ceiling, warm beer, and peeling paint.