Best 20 Concerts - and those that got away!

**scooterscot** · 30 May 2010, 21:34

I think Freddy commanded the best concert during live aid in my living memory...

**SouthernDevil** · 30 May 2010, 21:39

Anyone who doesnt have Dire Straits Money for Nothing tour just aint lived ......

**Troll** · 30 May 2010, 21:54

Originally posted by shaunbhoy View Post

and 10 I wished I could have seen........

Rammstein
Metallica
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Sensational Alex Harvey Band
Pink Floyd
Van Halen
George Thorogood
Bad Company
Queen
Accept

Ah well............still time for a few of those.
Anyone else got any thoughts?

I saw Queen at the Manchester Apollo and without doubt it was the most enjoyable (i.e. entertaining) concert I've ever seen (although I wasn't really a fan )
Saw Yes at Staffs which was tulipe
Joan Baez at Ephesus which was OK
All my mates went down to London to see Pink Floyd do the Wall - I couldn't be arsed & regretted it ever since
Genesis at loads of places were good (but predictable)
Tom Waits - brill
Meatloaf Bat out of Hell tour which was OK
Bob Dylan last year at the O2 - which was dire

**wurzel** · 30 May 2010, 22:34

The best ones for me would be Zappa on his last tour back in '88, Steel Pulse, Stones in '82 at Wembley & The Tubes.

Ones I missed that I'll probably never get to see would have to include Talking Heads and The Grateful Dead. Would have liked to have seen Hawkwind at Stonehenge too.

**NickFitz** · 31 May 2010, 04:21

Neil Young at Wembley Arena in 1982 on the Trans tour. Trans may have been a pretty poor album, but the band was phenomenal, including people from Buffalo Springfield, CS&N, Manassas, Crazy Horse... and Nils Lofgren on accordion

Well, Nils was only on accordion for Comes a Time - the rest of the time he was playing kick-ass lead guitar, and filled in with one of his own tracks (Beggar's Day) while Neil had a piss break
Hawkwind at Westbury Hill Fort (Bratton Camp, to give the site its proper name) in 1985 playing through the Summer Solstice eve and dawn for us three weeks after the Battle of the Beanfield, while the Police occasionally raced up and down the road at the foot of the escarpment with their sirens going, trying - and failing - to freak us out.
Roy Harper just outside Kings Somborne on Summer Solstice afternoon 1986: we'd been wandering around Wiltshire and Hampshire all night and all of the day, and we kept running into people who'd been given lifts by him, but nobody knew where anybody was going or what to do until word came through that a farmer was allowing people to gather on a couple of his fields (mainly to annoy the neighbours who wanted to buy them and build houses, it later transpired). Me and my then-girlfriend, the lovely physicist Deborah, were just getting on site as Roy was arriving, and pitched our tent as he was setting up. He wasn't all that well at the time, but he set up his kit, played Me And My Woman, packed it all up again and went home. Thirteen years later I was buying a CD off him after a gig, mentioned the occasion, and thanked him. His jaw dropped: he put the CD down, clasped my hand with both of his and shook it, saying "You were there? Thank you! You're the only person I've met since then who was there! I'm glad you remember! I'm glad you enjoyed it! That was a strange time..."

**moorfield** · 31 May 2010, 10:01

Originally posted by scooterscot View Post

I think Freddy commanded the best concert during live aid in my living memory...

A close second to the Stone Roses at Spike Island - I was there! Ah, Happy days.

**Sysman** · 31 May 2010, 10:16

The surprise entry was where I got volunteered under protest to take someone's daughter. Frankie Goes to Hollywood, which turned out to be a bloody good show.

**ControlG** · 31 May 2010, 17:33

Originally posted by NickFitz View Post

Neil Young at Wembley Arena in 1982 on the Trans tour. Trans may have been a pretty poor album, but the band was phenomenal, including people from Buffalo Springfield, CS&N, Manassas, Crazy Horse... and Nils Lofgren on accordion

Well, Nils was only on accordion for Comes a Time - the rest of the time he was playing kick-ass lead guitar, and filled in with one of his own tracks (Beggar's Day) while Neil had a piss break

I saw him on the same tour at the NEC in Birmingham in 1982 and couldn't agree more both about the album and the band he had with him

**darmstadt** · 31 May 2010, 18:18

A very difficult thread...

I've been to a few good Hawkwind concerts but I've also been to quite a few crap ones. Hammersmith Odeon, possibly this one:

was quite good.

Nik Turner at the Batschkapp might not have been brilliant but the atmosphere was great
Primal Scream at the Batschkapp was also pretty good
Monster Magnet at the Schlachthof was an eye opener
The End Of The World in Harold Wood was a glue sniffer paradise
Crass/Poison Girls in Witham was a one-off
Sex Pistols in Offenbach brought back memories
Yo La Tengo in Negativ was chilled but Chumbawumba was yuppiefied (sadly)
Supertramp in my parents front room was okay
Motorhead in Brentwood with 30 people was loud
Right Said Fred on Thursday in Darmstadt was (apparently) a riot and I wish I had of been there
But the best was the one I promoted in Warley, Brentwood with Gerry McAvoy (Rory Gallgher, 9 Below Zero...)

There are just too many and the memory is starting to fade

Best 20 Concerts - and those that got away!