Radiohead put on some of the best performances and this was encapsulated in their Glastonbury 2003 Micheal Eavis said that it was the best he'd ever seen.
REM,used to be fantastic live,I saw them in '95 on the Monster tour and they were amazing.
I think for sheer brillience though the greatest in my opinion is Underworld,never the same show,always putting in little changes and this was shown in the Everything Everything DVD,which is possibly the greatest music DVD really shows that they are massively better live than in the studio,which for a dance band is generally unheard of.
Never saw Queen live ..its one of my biggest regrets .. the chance is gone forever RIP the late great Freddie, although they are the only band to have had no 1 hits written by each of the 4 members so it was by no means all Freddie. I recall their live aid concert when the other artistes all said ..."how can you follow that?"
You could feel the atmosphere positively pouring out of the TV that day
We were going to see queen on the next tour but God smiled and Freddy bowed out so i regret that too.
Have to admit i went to see West Life 2 years ago and that was fantastic, Takin my 7 year old to see Busted in December and im looking forward to it.
Genesis at their best were great live. Also saw Bowie who I loved live. Would have loved to have seen Alice Cooper as well LC!!!! Went to see Peter Gabriel who was brilliant and really was the first to use multimedia on stage - just brill. For a great night out though you cant beat Jules Holland and his band imho.
Used to go to so many gigs,really miss during the Budakhan tour was just like watching your life being played out on iIthink the best live performer is Springsteen,he just enjoys himself as much as the audience and the musicianship is awesome.
Worst was Bryan a ticket,played 50 minutes and walked off.
Went to Donington 94, which was pretty good.. glad I got to see one of the big names live (Aerosmith) although to be honest, it was more worth it for Biohazard enticing everyone onto the stage, oh and everyone chucking bottles of wee at Extreme.
My first gig, and nearly the best was Billy Bragg.. but didn't beat seeing a band called Clawfinger at our local rock club. Just something about being 2 feet away from the band getting everyone rocking made you feel like you were part of it. Cost me 4 quid to get in and was the best gig I've ever been to.
My favourite gig has to be Stiff Little Fingers at the Brixton Academy in '91. I queued all afternoon so I could be right at the front of the stage, opposite the lead singer (Jake Burns). I couldn't do much dancing though. The place was heaving and I was jammed up against the iron barrier. The atmosphere in that place was electric, the music so loud and so full of attitude.
well . . . .
i saw The Verve play to about 50 people before they'd even put their first album out. and they blew the place to pieces. they had to walk through the crowd to jump onto a stage 2 feet high! was a damn good gig.
think my fav though has to be Throwing Muses back in about 91/92. i was just mesmerised by Kristen Hersch and Tanya Donnelly and the sound they had live.
neil x x x x ;)
Counting Crows at Shepherds Bush Empire was pretty cool.
Saw Squeeze 4 times (slightly different line-ups each time), the thing that stood out compaired to other bands I have seen was the sence of fun, the band seemed to be having such a good time on stage. That sence of fun was transmitted to the audience making the gig and enjoyable and memorable time.
can you remember BOW WOW WOW was a great gig I went to, really just before they got famous I guess...it was in a school hall in Nottingham......great night but the reason it was the best was coz I got off with Annabella ...the lead singer.....oh memories memories !!!!!
But did you go wild, go wild, go wild in the cuntry?
To my lasting shame the best live act I have seen was Micheal Jackson at Wembley back in mid 80's (I think). Only bought the tickets to impress my then girlfriend, but the sheer showmanship of himself and his backing group was phenomenal. Not a note or a foot put wrong.
Shame that the boy wanted to be Peter Pan but turned out to be Icarus.
The support act was Kate Wilde, so that might give an idea of the era.
Jeff
You are soooo right S.A.
Live music is a great thing, even when they are terrible.
I think Swan Lee was the worst I've seen recently.... I sat down while waiting for the next band to come on. Lacked energy and didn't capture the crowd at all.