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Following On From Andy's Elp Thread - Best Concert/Best Concert Outside/Worst Concert
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Best Concert - surprising perhaps as the venue was the Royal Festival Hall. Crusaders and they proved their reputation as the world's best backing band after the interval when BB King came on to solo.... Yes/Genesis/P-Floyd just behind - always wanted to see Dire Straits and held tickets 3 times(!) but work always intervened.
Best outside - hard to say - Supertramp in Belgium versus Bruce Springsteen outside Paris.
Worst - no question about that, Deep Purple in Norwich - minus Jon Lord. Truly awful.
Best outside - hard to say - Supertramp in Belgium versus Bruce Springsteen outside Paris.
Worst - no question about that, Deep Purple in Norwich - minus Jon Lord. Truly awful.
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Outside... Stone Roses.....Heaton Park.
Inside... Big Audio Dynamite....The Academy, Liverpool.
I have seen some top bands and individual artists over the years going right back to the mid 60s. Even saw Van Morrison before his mother knew him, in of all places Burslem. The list includes just about every band from the 60s and 70s, but the two I mention were incredible events. Mick Jones was magical during one, and Reni and Mani were a force of nature at the other. P
P.S. The Stranglers were heart stopping at Bangor University in the 70s.
Inside... Big Audio Dynamite....The Academy, Liverpool.
I have seen some top bands and individual artists over the years going right back to the mid 60s. Even saw Van Morrison before his mother knew him, in of all places Burslem. The list includes just about every band from the 60s and 70s, but the two I mention were incredible events. Mick Jones was magical during one, and Reni and Mani were a force of nature at the other. P
P.S. The Stranglers were heart stopping at Bangor University in the 70s.
Wow, hard to choose when you have seen as many musicians as I have!
Best is Bruce Springsteen, seen him five times, and the first was the best, on The River tour. When I mention that gig, I always tell people that I took my then-girlfriend, now wife to see her first ever proper gig. I had seen thousands by then of course.
When we came out, she asked me if all gigs were as good as that. I told her she need never ever see another live performance for the rest of her life because she will never see anything better than that.
I have been to thousands more gigs since then, but it remains my best ever.
The worst was BB King in Montreal not long before he died. This was my chance to see a living blues legend - this guy picked cotton in the fields as a child.
He was beyond dreadful. He had simply lost it, maybe just old age, maybe senility, I don't know, but he played 'You Are My Sunshine' (!!) and made it last twenty five minutes!!! His band just looked embarrassed, people started to leave, and believe me, Montreal audiences are the most adoring and easy-to-please anywhere in the world - they do ovations when musicians come on before they've played a note!
I found out from some contacts who knew his 'people' that his brother, who acts as his tour manager and looks after him, had been trying to persuade to give up live shows, but BB just didn't want to let go.
It was tragic, but I felt really sorry for the guy in the next seat to mine, it was his first gig, he'd driven four hours to get there, and it was his ambition to see a legend. What a let-down.
Best is Bruce Springsteen, seen him five times, and the first was the best, on The River tour. When I mention that gig, I always tell people that I took my then-girlfriend, now wife to see her first ever proper gig. I had seen thousands by then of course.
When we came out, she asked me if all gigs were as good as that. I told her she need never ever see another live performance for the rest of her life because she will never see anything better than that.
I have been to thousands more gigs since then, but it remains my best ever.
The worst was BB King in Montreal not long before he died. This was my chance to see a living blues legend - this guy picked cotton in the fields as a child.
He was beyond dreadful. He had simply lost it, maybe just old age, maybe senility, I don't know, but he played 'You Are My Sunshine' (!!) and made it last twenty five minutes!!! His band just looked embarrassed, people started to leave, and believe me, Montreal audiences are the most adoring and easy-to-please anywhere in the world - they do ovations when musicians come on before they've played a note!
I found out from some contacts who knew his 'people' that his brother, who acts as his tour manager and looks after him, had been trying to persuade to give up live shows, but BB just didn't want to let go.
It was tragic, but I felt really sorry for the guy in the next seat to mine, it was his first gig, he'd driven four hours to get there, and it was his ambition to see a legend. What a let-down.
Oh, I forgot, best concert outside was Springsteen at Wembley on the Born In The USA Tour, it was just mesmerising.
The band had opened every gig on the tour with BITUSA, obviously - good rabble-rousing tune, get them up and at it.
But we saw them two nights running at Wembley, and the first night was July 4, and they opened with 'Independence Day', and didn't say anything about it - just played that, then into the usual set, and the next night, back to the usual opening.
That remains one of the coolest things I have seen any musician do anywhere, ever.
The band had opened every gig on the tour with BITUSA, obviously - good rabble-rousing tune, get them up and at it.
But we saw them two nights running at Wembley, and the first night was July 4, and they opened with 'Independence Day', and didn't say anything about it - just played that, then into the usual set, and the next night, back to the usual opening.
That remains one of the coolest things I have seen any musician do anywhere, ever.
Sorry to hog the thread DT, but I have to give a mention to, of all people, Katie Melua.
I was due to interview her the following day after her show at the Montreal Jazz Festival, so I thought it polite to go and see her play, it was free for me, so I popped along.
I am always pleased when I have pre-conceptions broken by artists, she just shattered them!
I always had her down as really twee, 'Nine Million Bicycles' is a horrible song - but once the started writing her own stuff, and getting other writers in, she took off.
What did it for me that night was her opening with 'Diamonds Are Forever' which is a tough song for anyone to sing, and she just nailed it. She was heart-stopping, as a guitarist, as a singer, and as a stage presence. I was a little in love by the time I saw her next day!!
I was due to interview her the following day after her show at the Montreal Jazz Festival, so I thought it polite to go and see her play, it was free for me, so I popped along.
I am always pleased when I have pre-conceptions broken by artists, she just shattered them!
I always had her down as really twee, 'Nine Million Bicycles' is a horrible song - but once the started writing her own stuff, and getting other writers in, she took off.
What did it for me that night was her opening with 'Diamonds Are Forever' which is a tough song for anyone to sing, and she just nailed it. She was heart-stopping, as a guitarist, as a singer, and as a stage presence. I was a little in love by the time I saw her next day!!
//Wow, Van The Man in Boslum//
With Them, played Baby Please Don't Go at a little place at the top of Waterloo Rd.....knocked down now of course. For some reason they painted all the walls inside black and had strobe lights going and the psychedelic swirls being projected all over the shop. We were "dizzy" enough before we went in without that . Way back...1964/5, unreliable memory tells me Embassy Club but that may have been a later name for the same mad house. Every man Jack and Jill was under age and full on. Haha.
With Them, played Baby Please Don't Go at a little place at the top of Waterloo Rd.....knocked down now of course. For some reason they painted all the walls inside black and had strobe lights going and the psychedelic swirls being projected all over the shop. We were "dizzy" enough before we went in without that . Way back...1964/5, unreliable memory tells me Embassy Club but that may have been a later name for the same mad house. Every man Jack and Jill was under age and full on. Haha.
Best ... Barclay James Harvest with full orchestra backing, simply ethereal.
Best Outside ... Queen at Maine Road Manchester (City's old ground).
Worst.. and this pains me so much, as his music is magical, ... Van Morrison - I've seen tailors' dummies move more - highlight of that evening was a solo session from Georgie Fame in the interval.
Best Outside ... Queen at Maine Road Manchester (City's old ground).
Worst.. and this pains me so much, as his music is magical, ... Van Morrison - I've seen tailors' dummies move more - highlight of that evening was a solo session from Georgie Fame in the interval.
Just before he died i went to see Lonnie Donegan in a little theater 600 people perhaps,he was sounded and acted like he had always done,friendly, funny and played to the audience, And Bye the bye he told a story of when he was awarded the Ivor Novello Award to music
presented to him by Van Morrisson who suggested the made a record "Jesse James" as he said this Van the Man walked on stage sang with Lonnie, tipped his hat and walked off. Now i have seen some of the names mentioned and their light shows and voice enhancements but not like Lonnie with bare acoustics. So there
presented to him by Van Morrisson who suggested the made a record "Jesse James" as he said this Van the Man walked on stage sang with Lonnie, tipped his hat and walked off. Now i have seen some of the names mentioned and their light shows and voice enhancements but not like Lonnie with bare acoustics. So there
Used to watch Georgie Fame and the Blueflames up at the Place before he was famous as well Capito. The Torch was indeed a shrine AV. The picture in Tills link shows the stage on the left of the dance floor. The entrance was on the right at the far end of the fancy railing. Above where the shot is from is a balcony and bar, the stairs up to it being behind the viewer. I could still find that balcony blindfold.
Best indoor; Rolling Stones at Earls Court in '76 - could only get cheapest tickets and was expecting to be right at the back. However, the stage was more or less circular and we ended up with front seats at the back of the stage. Quite worrying at first but the stage was circular and the band played to it's every angle. So we were, in effect, in the front few rows:-)
Later that year (Aug/Sep) I was lucky enough to attend Queen's free concert in Hyde Park. Absolutely brilliant and the best live act I've seen, bar none. Never got to see them again afterward, much to my eternal regret.
When I was about 11 or 12, I attended a children's holiday home in St Annes, near Blackpool, during the July holidays. As a treat (??) we were taken into Blackpool to see Gerry And The Pacemakers and I thought they were dire. I mean, they may have been great, but even at that tender age, my musical palate was a tad more discerning in that my 2 fav bands were The Animals and The Kinks.
Later that year (Aug/Sep) I was lucky enough to attend Queen's free concert in Hyde Park. Absolutely brilliant and the best live act I've seen, bar none. Never got to see them again afterward, much to my eternal regret.
When I was about 11 or 12, I attended a children's holiday home in St Annes, near Blackpool, during the July holidays. As a treat (??) we were taken into Blackpool to see Gerry And The Pacemakers and I thought they were dire. I mean, they may have been great, but even at that tender age, my musical palate was a tad more discerning in that my 2 fav bands were The Animals and The Kinks.
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