Best (& Worst) Live Gigs

Been to see some big acts - U2, Radiohead but the gig that I thought was best was Kila , Olympia Theatre Dublin, March 17th, 1999.

Why? Small venue, pumping atmpsphere, the performance was great, they had trapize artists above the stage and stilt walkers dressed up as St. Patrick and the snake lady!

So whats the best gig /performance you have ever been to?

[ 08. April 2003, 03:35: Message edited by: Kat ]

Well, t'is quite simple maybe.
TooL is probably the best show in all of the world.

Seeing System Of A Down is normally quite amazing. They put more energy into their show than any other heavy band.

On the flipside, Portishead at Glastonbury was pretty amazing. I didn't have anything to make it more amazing at all

Finlay Quaye was really good in the sunshine

Muse were really good in the rain

I saw Beck once, he is a marvelous showman, whoever knew I liked harmonica solo's so much?

Fear Factory are always good for a laugh

Eric Clapton definately had the blues

The Roots where very freindly, shaking our hands and that, not quite cups o' tea, maybe next time.

The rare Groundwire performances were normally spectacular. ish. Well they kept time well anyway.


But who was the best??? Umm probably the time I saw Let Loose at the Radio 1 Roadshow in Exeter. Those mofo's went off man, there was the most mental mosh-pit. I died 7 times
Music right, its reaallllyy brilliant right

Roger Waters at Glato last year on shrooms..


Faithless are pretty good..

I'll also say that Finley Quaye is good in the rain too! It's just sunshine music..

Err who else.. Eat Static at a small invite only gig in Reading years back were blindin.. Celtica, and Dread Zone..

and back even futher.. the Magic Mushroom Band in some random tent at Glasto (the muddy years) was something that I stumbled into.. and just kept stumblin might have been something to do with the 'breakfast' I'd had..

Muse were Damn awesome when i saw them as well...

Blackalicious can get a crowd groovin like no one else

but my all time favourite band to see live would have to be Machine Gun Fellatio, they are so awesome and diverse, they truly defy categorisation. if you havent heard them, you should track their music down and have a listen, you won't regret it...

I agree, muse were tops... saw em at the Leeds fest last year... WOW!

I like the artistic fringe more than any main stream concert, to tell you the truth. Big concerts are fun because they are loud and full of pumped up people and such. The thing is, anyone can blow stuff up on stage. There are a million bands out there who jump around and play to the audience and stuff.
The shows I have always enjoyed the most had ingenuity and musical quality.

Stomp and Blue Man Group (going to see BMG again, now that they are big).

For mainstream theatrics...Kiss, hands down.

For fun..Bare Naked Ladies or Enter the Haggis.

For sheer music quality, has to be a toss between Yanni or Tori Amos.

The concert with the most incredible examples of what to do versus what not to do was a still underground band (Industry), Cold, Staind and Godsmack. Industry was amazing. I had never heard of them and when they came on people tended to not pay attention, then they started to play and work the crowd. Holy shyte...they were captivating and musical and amazing! Then came Cold, unfortunately. They sucked. Couldn't understand a word. They stood back as if they were afraid of the lights and we just really boring. Staind has musical talent and yet, they hurt to watch after awhile. At first I was impressed with the passion they put into their music but then when I realized they had no real intention of recognizing the fact that the audience paid to see them, it was boring.
Godsmack is really musical and impressive to see, but the little known opening group showed them all up hardcore. That was really interesting to think about as I was trapped in my head from the ringing in my ears on the way home!

I love live performances so that I can see what does or does not work and blend it into my performances as well!

ooooo, good post kat

choosing one is a bit harsh though innit?

the roots (@ glastonbury 99 and the jazz cafe earlier this year) - for how hip-hop should be live.

ozomatli (@ glasto 99) - for how to start and end a gig properly.

portishead (at night, in the rain with strobes @ glasto 97) - for sheer atmosphere (and i took the same stuff that moohaahaa didn't ).

jill scott (sometime in 2001 @ sb empire) - it felt like she was singing just to you. crazy feeling.

adf (@ any festival) - for going mad in a field.


tool -

I'm a little short on choice, I've only been to see one live act and that was Aerosmith when they played Wembley Stadium about 4 years ago, that was pretty awesome more like a mini festival what with the bands that they had supporting, Three Colours Red, Lenny Kravitz, Stereophonics and a couple of others i can't actually remember now. I can remember that it was damn good concert though.

WOW! id really like to see Aerosmith.

My fave time so far would have to have been...foo fighters...16th Nov 02 and Chili Peppers 12 March 03...i also liked Goldfinger in 2000 sometime and Dry Kill Logic were good to at Manchester uni..small venue is always better.

Looking forward to see the chilis and foo;s again at v2003.

Chili Pepper

Kraftwerk!!!!! Finally saw them in January just gone after 18years of waiting!!!!

Pitch Black from New Zealand are also rather amazing

Bentley Rhythm Ace @ Reading '98
Sepultura @ Portsmouth Pyramids, October '98
Metallica @ Big Day Out, July '99
Levellers @ Ryde Theatre, September '00
Ozric Tentacles @ Southampton Brook, Summer '02
Queens of the Stone Age @ Southampton Guildhall, Halloween '02

NIN at the Worcester Centrum and Smashing Pumpkins at the Tsongas Arena.

i have seen most of the bands mentioned here but the most impressive live act i have to say is muse

iop - you've done well to see most of this - there's a *lot* of good acts here!

seriously though; go see tool

and while you're there - make them do a british tour so i can follow them round

TOOL - amazing audio visual experience

Mr Bungle (during their Disco Volante tour) - More technically amazing than anything I'll ever see

Incubus at the Enmore in Sydney - Every person in the crowd sang every lyric to every song (aside from the couple of as yet unreleased tracks they played)

Bad Religion - I'm not really in to these guys but they had (literally) a 2 second break between every song they play for 1 hour and every band member sang all the lyrics to their songs (even the guys without a mike) which showed great faith and solidarity in the messages in their songs.

Alternative Nation 1995 (one day music festival) - in one day I saw NIN for first time, Faith No More, TOOL for the first time, PRIMUS for the first time, Pennywise for the first time, Therapy? for the first time, saw Body Count for the first time, SuperGroove, Regurgitator.....just one of those amazing days at a festival.

Now that I think about it there are so many that were the best in different ways, like favorite movies or books it's so hard to pick just one. As usual a very diverse range of tastes being reflected here. Good readin'.

Placebo - Astoria last month (They played "Where is my mind?" Damnit!! How cool!! )
Lamb - April 5th 2002
Lemon Jelly - Kentish Town Forum last month
Ben Folds Five - Porstmouth Pyramids
No Doubt - Brixton Academy
Radiohead - The tent concerts they did
Jools Holland & Rolf Harris - Guilfest 2002

Lemon Jelly @ Manc Academy last month. Great fun.
Prince several times, he one short, funky, mutha.
DJ Shadow @ Manc Academy last year
Radiohead in a park in Oxford. Their first home gig. Rockin'!!

I'm off to see Public Enemy this Sunday @ Rock City I'll be back with a report

1987-ish, jane's addiction opening up for love and rockets , on the "jane's addiction" self titled album tour, and l&r's earth sun moon. my first concert ever!!!!!!

skinny puppy, "too dark park" and whatever the next album was, can't remember. i almost threw up at this one, they had some scary animal rights films playing. but it was still a great show.

the first lollapalooza. man that was fun. course i think the really good drugs helped

freaqnasty, and dj lorin and other buddies last year and burning man.

NIN, pretty hate machine.

oh yeah, doing fire during uberzone wadn't all that bad either

I've only seen Raffi when I was like 5... but I still remember it. Does that count?


Kinudin

what?? No ONE has mentioned GWAR??? extremely dissapointed ..Not RITM? Hmm, funnest sho was Ministry/L7, Coal Chamber n 40 Below summer for the thrash, Juno Reactor for trance, Tech itch for jungle, NAHA for the hardkore...

okay now, i'm gonna tell you something, and i'm totally serious here. seriously. really, for real.

i just saw pigface, and THEY ROCKED ME SO HARD it looked like i jumped out of a shower on to the dance floor

i haven't been rocked that hard in a looooooong while. dangit, if they come to your town and you don't go see them, a plague of dragonflies will come and eat all the hair off your face. that's including the eyebrows, man, and you need those!

The first gig I ever went to was Metallica when I was 13 back in 1990 and that was pretty cool. I think the best bands I've seen have been in little tents at festivals like Tragic Roundabout and the Tofu Love Frogs.Other faves have been the Levellers,Chumbawamba,Faith No More,Global,Zion Train,New Model Army...Too many to mention really!

i love love LOVE live music! im verging on 17 and have already seen so many awesome bands live and im SO grateful!! i saw silverchair on March 23rd and they were unbeleivable - i had been waiting for that for so so long!! George are amazing live and John Butler Trio are so talented and beautiful to listen to. i agree with Pele though that alot of the best live music is away from the mainstream festivals and have seen so many spectacular bands at local gigs and small festivals. I think Jack johnson and ben harper later this month will be unforgettable.

love yas all!

The Pogues - Horden Pavillion, Sydney (c. 1990)
why - shane mcgowan wasn't as drunk as a skunk and managed to perform quite well, I also almost got squashed in the crowd - ever tried to dance, when your feet aren't touching the floor, and you can't breathe?

Anthrax - Horden Pavillion, Sydney (c.1991)
why - amazing show, amazing energy, amazing company

Vicious Circle - Journalists Club, Sydney (c. 1988)
why - because I finally got to see my all time favourite band in a small venue

Pretty tricky to pick just one..... those would be my top three.

Oooh I forgot George! They are absolutely AMAZING!! I've seen them a few times now. Katie has such an incredible voice and Tyrone is pretty incredible too.

I'm going to see MGF at Byron Bay over Easter. I can't wait!!

Hmmm seems to be some tip top gigs to get to!

Indeed it is very difficult to pick just one.

So what is the WORST gig you have been to?

For me, the worst gig was probably the Smashing Pumpkins, Dublin 1995

A girl died and people were crushed. The band stopped on numerous occassions and warned people to stop crowding (people with tickets for upstairs were let downstairs and there was a hige crush of drunken teenagers).

So naturally we were all distraught first and foremost that some poor girl had her life end by being at a concert. Needlessly.

On a more shallow note the gig ended early, the promoters did not refund us and there were a helluva lot of sad fans.

Hands down the best thing you can do in ten days is the Burning Man Festavul its heald in the US. state of Navada preaty much anything goes..Its in the end of Aug. 24 to september 03 id say their were aproximatly 32,000 people with about 3000 of them being fire spinners .Their are no orginized bands like a normal consert; but who wants to be normal? Its quite hard to describe just go to burningman.com then you might understand just a little bit of it.

Soundgarden were really good live - back in the day, as were Rage Against the Machine. I saw them both at the Big Day Out festivals.

More recently I saw Faithless - very cool, and Massive Attack - also excellent.

I also saw a group called Opsimath from Melbourne at a tiny little gig at the Adelaide fringe a few years back. That was amazing.