The best concert I ever saw was....

Go.

ELO

Motorhead, Iron Maiden, and Dio all toured together a few, maybe 10, years ago.

Thats the first the comes to mind, in a close second is Roger Waters doing a Dark Side of the Moon tour in 2004 or 2005.

I go to a lot of shows, but those are the only two that really stick out as special.

Van Halen 1984

Not into concerts. Never actually been to one. I do love a good Bluegrass festival though. One that runs four or five days with acts on stage all day and most of the night. Many good times have been had.

Ween opening for Sonic Youth opening for The Flaming Lips. That was awesome.

Or Dinosaur Jr in a pretty small club on their reunion tour.

Or Of Montreal. That was weird.

Rage Against the Machine at Rock the Bells. It was pretty nuts seeing the entire audience lose their mind when the band started playing. It ended with the crowd getting maced. Seemed fitting for a Rage show

Cast iron filter, Murphys bar, boone nc, 2001. Holy E36 M3 that show changed my life.

Jars of clay (worked stage at that one) Appalachian state University 2002.

Got stoned with nickleback and marvelous 3 back in the day as well.

I used to be security/roadie at the local music venues back in the late 90s and early 2000s.

best I ever worked was Trans Siberian Orchestra.

The best was probably Tom Waits.

The Buzzcocks reunion show was pretty spectacular

The pixies on the Dolittle 20th anniversary tour was amazing too.

Genesis during the Mama tour. 1984 or so.

Here Come The Mummies

Hilarious, funky, rocking. A lot of fun live show.

Eagles "Farewell One" Albany NY '03. You know when they all "retired." No opening act, about 2.5 hours of just them, and they played a lot of Henely's and Walsh's solo stuff too.

Saw the Foo Fighters in Memphis Nov '16, great seats, and great show, but first saw them when they opened for the Red Hot Chili Peppers back in ~'99 during Californication in Little Rock. Enjoyed the RHCP, but Foo Fighters were what I remember most, Dave came out on into the crowd, made a few loops of the arena while singing, talking, rocking. When their set was done, as Dave walks off the stage he says "thanks for not killing me Little Rock!"

Bush opened for Nickleback (don't judge me, SWMBO likes them) Columbus, OH ~'13. I'm a big Bush fan, they open their set, pitch black arena, black stage, the opening chords of Machine Head ring out, a single spot light from behind back lights Gavin, I had a "teenage girl moment." Best part of the night, some girls sitting next to us were "groupies," and had followed them from their previous show to the one we were at, and had back stage passes at the last show. These girls must have made an impression on Gavin, he somehow got word where they were in the audience, and came out into the crowd to sing to them. It was pretty amazing, he was close enough I could have touched him.

I saw Jason Boland solo acoustic right after he got sober, small venue maybe 100 folks in the crowd, absolutely amazing, I'd seen him with the Stragglers several times, but nothing like that. It was a super intimate evening, he talked and sang about his addictions to us like we were old pals, and put more heart into his music that evening than anyone I've ever seen.

Dec. of '06-ish I got to hang out and drink and bullE36 M3 with Charlie Robison after one of his shows. No surprise his marriage to that Dixie Chick didn't last, based on the stories and info he freely divulged to me, some random fan he'd just met.

Joe Ely, Guy Clark, John Hyatt, and Lyle Lovett. All together on stage at the same time. Just 4 badasses and their guitars.

Either that, or Reckless Kelly for one specific show in the middle of nowhere.

Odd that I can narrow it down to those. I've seen a ton.

I was lucky enough to be married to someone who got tickets to EVERY show at EVERY venue in town through her job when I was a younger man. Saw a lot of great shows from 1990 - 2005. They all kinda melt together, but one stands out:

U2:Zooropa.
Got in free, walked towards the stage and found 2 empty seats 10 rows back, right next to the thrust stage, Trabants flying overhead, Larry Mullen Jr and Bono walk out to do a few instrumental numbers right next to us...just an awesome show.

So many Honorable Mentions; The WOMAD Festival, Lallapalooza, Trombone Shorty , Beastie Boys, Buffet Shows, Johnny Lang, Nine Inch Nails, Rolling Stones, The Royal Hounds...

Nov. 4th 2014, election day, SWMBO and I went to a $10.31 a ticket local rock station Halloween promo concert. Someone, Korn, and Slipknot. I'm an above average Korn fan, Slipknot, meh the theatrics and masks aren't my thing, but I like a song or two. This concert was on a Tue. night, SWMBO and I were dressed business casual, since we had left work and went to the concert, that morning we went and voted, so we both still had our "I voted" stickers on.

As we're being funneled through the doors, we take in all the sights that a Tuesday night Slipknot crowd has to offer, interesting hair styles, tattoos, all kinds of piercings, and graphic tee shirts. Needless to say, we didn't fit in. Security is patting everyone down and emptying pockets. SWMBO and I get to the door, security guy looks at us, does an up-down visual scan, and with a slightly puzzled look on his face says, "come on in," he didn't even touch us.

So if you ever need to smuggle something into a rock/metal concert, dress like you have a job, and wear an "I voted" sticker.

Concert was pretty lame, Korn had a super short set, like 5 songs, and I remember wishing I'd brought hearing protection for Slipknot's set, but getting in through security the way we did was pretty awesome.

I'd say it's a tie.

The White Stripes back in 2000. Tiny little place in Detroit called the Magic Stick. A friend told me to come and there was such a huge amount of energy coming off the stage. I couldn't believe it. They just blew the roof off the joint.

And Sleater-Kinney last year for their big reunion tour. Medium sized venue. they started strong and somehow kept pouring it on and got even better as the night went on. Seeing Janet Weiss live on drums was a dream come true for me. What a show.

Ugh, no way I could pick a "best"...

Saw Dio twice - first was in '87 at Markets Square Arena with the full robotics/laser show & Megadeath opening. Second time was in a bowling alley in Rantoul, IL in the late-90's. I was ~5' away from him off the front of stage for most of the show. He kicked just as much ass in a bowling alley as he did in an arena.

I got to see Rage Against the Machine in Indy on their first tour. Seven Year Bitch opened & Cypress Hill was the headliners. There were so many young girls there to hear "Insane in the Membrane" but had no idea who Rage was. About the time the pit opened up most of them started begging the security guards to get them out!

I got to see the Geoff Tate version of Queensryche a few years ago in a tiny little theater...maybe 200-people in the audience. They kicked ass & it was great hearing the full Operation Mindcrime album live.

Kenny Rodgers also put on a damn good show when we saw him several years ago. Top-notch entertainer.

Gwar.

/thread.

Rage at 9:30 Club Pearl Jam at a Tower Records store, and later in the day at Ritchie Guster in someone's basement (seriously) George Clinton and P Funk at Rechter Dave Matthews at Blenheim Gorrillaz in Philly

Either Great Big Sea or Badfish(sublime tribute).

Clapton in 1989-1990 (that school year) or Bob Dylan in 1991 or Pink Floyd in 1992 or 1993 all those shows were years ago hence the fuzziness on dates but that is the general era.

Ray Charles in 1988 at the Cape Cod Melody Tent. The stage rotates and the seats only go back about 15 rows. There are no bad seats there.

Saw George Carlin and Gallagher there that same summer

Prince in Louisville two years ago was pretty cool.

Saw Everclear open for Bush in 1995 at a club in Northampton and hung out drinking with the band afterward.

I saw David Bowie and U2 on a Wednesday and Friday of the same week. Both shows were amazing, but the complete opposite of one another. Bowie was like a broadway show. U2 was four guys on a stage and I was fifteen feet away.

But I probably had more fun seeing Springsteen in 1985, Cheap Trick, Joan Jett and the Spin Doctors at UConn, or NRBQ and The K-Man Band a hundred times each, or Meatloaf at Toads.

Springsteen in 2000 was disappointing.

Tom Petty and ZZ Top came along right when I needed them at a particularly low point in my life in 1991.

Lyle Lovett and John Hiatt were probably the best songwriters that I've ever seen.

Cheryl Crow sold me a copy of her cassette single after a show one night. I thought she was pretty good, but probably too old to go anywhere.

Elton John was a huge disappointment as he decided to go to rehab in the middle of the show, and the Black Crowes just sucked.

I saw The Band on a night when a friend of mine got backstage and shared a smoke with Garth Hudson and Rick Danko, and I've been told that I saw Little Feat one night in 1989 or 1990.

I even saw Linda Ronstadt when she was still smokin hot.

I am old.

Pink Floyd in 88 at Syracuse university, then later that year in foxboro ma. Momentary lapse of reason tour. Amazing show both times. AC/DC put on a good show too. I did not fully appreciate at the time, but the Beastie boys license to ill concert was pretty awesome looking back on it.

Good thread, good memories. Thanks