Mount Rushmore: live concerts attended

[cartman]

This one should be all over the board. Criteria is simple. The top four concerts you have attended. Here's my list, in no particular order:

A lot of recency bias in my list. I've been to a lot of live shows, but these four stick out.

U2 - Joshua Tree Tour, AT&T Stadium, May 2017

An incredible show, start to finish. Don't think I've ever been to a concert where a band played an entire album in order, then supplemented with a set of greatest hits.

Guns 'n Roses - Not In This Lifetime Tour, AT&T Stadium, Aug. 2016

Another awesome show. Slash was in his element, you could have laid his playing down over any album track, and it would have matched 100%. They covered the outro from Layla, and he made his regular guitar sound like a slide guitar. He nailed every solo in November Rain.

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Amalie Arena, Tampa Apr. 2017

They were on point and in rare form. They hit most of their big songs, save for Under The Bridge and My Friends, which they never play in concert these days anyway. The encore started with the guitarist playing "I'll Be Back Again" by The Beatles all by himself. It was unforgettable.

The Cure - American Airlines Center Dallas TX, May 2016

Robert Smith, don't ever change. They played several encores, and the only hit they didn't play during the show was "Friday I'm In Love". For a long time Goth band, they still have it, and can put on a great show.

[Izulde]

Harborfest - June 15th/16th - Don't remember the year - Gin Blossoms and a couple other bands I don't remember
My buddy got me a ticket to this because he wanted to see some other band playing, but knew I loved Gin Blossoms. Phenomenal concert on Lake Michigan in my hometown, and the encore of "Little Dinosaur" is my favorite obscure track of all time. When I left, it was after midnight and officially my birthday. One of the best nights of my life.

Nintendo Power Tour - Don't remember when
Same buddy as the first one (he'll appear in another one). He wanted to see Cold, and I wanted to see Evanescence. Crowd was unruly asshats up there in Milwaukee, but it was so worth it. I was close to the stage, and Amy Lee as a goth schoolgirl, sitting on the floor of the stage, playing piano and singing "My Immortal" - auditory heaven. I'll never forget it.

Laserfest - Don' remember when
Yep, same buddy. Godsmack was headlining, but I fell in love with Trapt at that concert and their albums became the soundtrack to my mid-20s, which was the best time of my life, and my best relationship.

Ingram Hill - Fayetteville, AR - Fall of 2008
I'd seen Ingram Hill once before, who pulled off a Trapt style unexpected surprise at Harborfest in another year with a different buddy. Uncle Kracker headlined that night and he was fucking TERRIBLE. Most disappointing concert experience ever. Anyway, so Ingram Hill comes to town my first year of school at UArk. Went by myself and had an amazing time. It was even better because I got to talk to the band afterwards when I picked up some merch. One of my best nights of two and half pretty miserable years in Arkansas.

[EagleFan]

Disturbed - Boardwalk Hall Atlantic City, October 2016

Full of energy. They put on a great show. The only thing that can hold this one back would be the opening acts not being good (Chevelle and Nothing More).


The Eagles - Wachovia Center (or whatever it was called back then) Philadelphia, ??? 1994

I forget what month it was. It was part of the Hell Freezes Over tour. This was just a very surreal concert. All about the music. No opening act and they played for 4 hours (8 to midnight).

Queensryche - The Spectrum Philadelphia, can't remember the date; it was The Empire / Livecrime tour

The opening act sucked, which was a down. They did a great job live and about halfway through they kicked into doing the full Operation Mindcrime live. What was funny was that you could tell the girlfriends that went to the concert because they heard Silent Lucidity and like that on the radio, they had such a lost look on their faces when Mindcrime started.

The Scorpions / Great White / Trixter - The Spectrum Philadelphia, probably sometime around 1990

This will seem like the odd man out of the bunch but all three did a great job live. We had great seats and I think this may have been the most bang for our buck at any concert up until that point.



Honorable Mention
Shinedown/Staind/Hailstorm - Saw them at Penn's Landing. It was a great show but I had back issues which took from the evening (as it was standing room only general admission and we ended up with a great spot but we were in the mosh pit). If not for the back this would have taken the spot from The Scorpions. Also a note, Chevelle was in this one too and they sucked then too.

Don Henley / Susanna Hoffs - Taj Mahal in Atlantic City - This was a fun concert and Susanna Hoffs surprised up. What really stands out here is that we ended up meeting Susanna Hoffs in a bar after the show. Hot doesn't begin to describe her.

Upcoming one that I hope makes the list is Nightwish. Going to see them in March. Though I really want to see them in a European show sometime. Wacken would be a great place to see them.

[AlexB]

1993 (I think) Leeds Town & Country Club - Jamiroquai
Not my usual type of music, but it was an amazing gig - Jay K was awesome!

1993 (I think) Leeds Town & Country Club - Teenage Fanclub
One of my favourite bands, and the first time I saw them live. Two hours of literally bouncing.

Google tells me it must have been 1989/1990 - Leicester University - Dogs D’Amour
Not for the Dogs - saw them twice, both times the support act was miles better. This time it was Burning Tree, a one album and done band that are probably to this day the best rock band I have ever seen live, and whose sole album is still one of my favourites

Just so they were not all 25 years ago, and seeing as I was the only one of my group who didn’t go to Knebworth to see Oasis, we’ll go for Muse at Glastonbury 2016. Just unbelievably good.

Edit - after posting I saw another post with honourable mentions as well, so the others that sprung to mind were Crazyhead in Leicester circa 1990, Kasabian in Leicester a number of times, and Motley Crue at Birmingham NEC, and Alabama 3 at The Charlotte about ten years ago.

[Groundhog]

Rage Against the Machine - Big Day Out Festival, 1996
Mainly because this concert (as well as the sideshow, which I didn't attend) was used for the music video for Bulls on Parade. I wish I could remember the show more.

Yes - State Theatre Sydney, 2014
I saw Yes tour with their "classic" line-up maybe 10 years ago, and I didn't expect to enjoy this concert more, especially without Jon Anderson and in support of a new album. Chris Squire just flatout owned the stage, and I'm glad I got to see him one last time before he passed away.

Magma - Thebarton Theatre Adelaide, 2016
I never expected to see these guys live, but they made a surprise appearance at the Adelaide arts festival last year for their first Australia tour date in their nearly 50 year history. Great show, was fun watching the reactions of the crowd who were mostly there for the headliner - a drone/prog band called Sunn O))).

Flaming Lips - Big Day Out Festival, 2004
I was a fan of the Flaming Lips before this gig, Yoshimi and Soft Bulletin in particular, but this 60 minute set is maybe the best musical experience I've ever been part of... To the extent that I've never gone to see them since because I don't think it could live up to that again.

[CrimsonFox]

Rush - 2007 Snakes and Arrows Tour

A potpourri of the best of the old plus lots of amazing rarely played deepcuts. They made a LOT of new movies and bumpers including some featuring Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas (Great White North) as well as a South Park one. Due to going to a venue restricted by one road all the way...I was very late. I vowed to see it again. I ended up seeing this show 5 times. And the songs from the new album were very very good. Their sparks flying on Far Cry was a highlight. Loved their fire infused One little VIctory and WItch Hunt.

Yes - 2002 Tour.

Rick Wakeman FINALLY rejoined Yes and boy did it pay off. After years of seeing them with revolving keyboardists, seeing them once again with Wakeman was a total joy. I don't think I had seen him with the band before. And the song selection was very Wakemancentric, featuring long cuts like Awaken, South Side of the Sky and Close to the Edge. I think they played Revealing Science of God too but I might be mistaken. Revealing had made the rounds before. The tour after they played Ritual but this year it was the sweet spot.

Rush - Counterparts 96

Very closed was the Presto tour...which was my very first Rush show. But Countverparts featured a lot of the oldies they stopped playing after. LIke Xanadu and Bytor and Force Ten even. Each with a nice little abstract animation with it. And for the first time in a LONG time they played 2112 in its entirety. The 3rd part began with Geddy retreating to the back of the dark stage, opening a refridgerator and getting out a beverage as Alex played the opening tuning section.

Rush - Vapor Trails 2002

This was the first show they did after years of hiatus after Neil's child and wife died. By some miracle I got 7th row tickets. Everything was perfect. I saw it at the GOrge Amphitheatre, an amphiteatre carved into the mountain/cliff in the middle of Washington State. The son was descending perfectly behind the stadium revealing the beauty all around as the played. My favorite track was Natural Science where I twirled my glowrope around over my head like a helicopter to match the music. And the fire explosion on One Little VIctory singed my hair we were that close. So good.

Joe Jackson - Volume 4 Tour - 2003


A very intimate club/bar venue. So good. So good. He had his original Joe Jackson Band with him. Graham Maby, Dave Houghton, and Gary Sanford. They played a lot of old 70s tunes and his hits he played in different styles than the original. I've seen him many times and the gimmick I never get tired of is how he walks on stage and plays a song by himself, then another member joins him for song two, then the rest come on for the rest. At the close of the last encore they leave in turn one at a time, leaving him and his piano playing off quietly...

They Might Be Giants - Flood Platinum concert - 2011 - sodo Showbox

I have seen them several times. My first time was at the Moore theatre where they removed all the seats. We were right up front and left. Was SOOOOOOO good. They played Fingertips even. I think they've played that song every time I've seen them. John F signed autogrphs after. Great guy John F.! Came right out to us. But the sodo showbox show was the best. They were celebrating the status of their arguably most popular album Flood had gone platinum and not only that it was the SLOWEST Platinum album in history It was the 20th Anniversary I think? THey played the album in its entirety. Since that is MOST of my TMBY knowledge....yeah it was a good show. (except for the girl behind me singing loudly offkey)

Others that were memorable
Billy Joel - Storm Front, the first show I ever saw. My brother drove up from college to pick me up and we saw it in indianapolis. I was a massive Joel fan in high school. I remember him jumping up and down on his piano and it bent under his weight during BIg Shot.

INXS/Cheap Trick - 5 of us drove about 7 hours to Wisconsin for this show senior year high school. I liked like 2 INXS songs. I was more interested in Cheap Trick who were awesome. BUt INXS were okay. THey played the 2 songs of theirs that I liked. We were tired so we kinda slept. Then the long drive home in the rain.

Nine INch Nails/David Bowie - The only time I got to see bowie in concert. I have respect for Reznor now but comparing them...all reznor did was scream and shout into the mic then knock it over. A short roadie would put the mic back up every 10 seconds.
Unfortunately this was beyond the point Bowie said he would never play his old catalog again. Instead he played his newest album, Outside, in its entirety. It's pretty much a hot mess. He did play Breaking Glass.

The POlice - 2007? - They finally did it. They FINALLY got back together. And I got to see it!

The Australian Pink Floyd SHow - Never got to see the band...but I saw this brilliant touring cover band who filled the wall behind with brilliant animation and played everything perfectly. I hadn't prebought a ticket...I just showed up and said give me the best seat you have. They gave me front row center which they had JUST released for purchase. So yeah...it was a wonderful show. The girl who sang The Great Gig in the Sky was amazing. The crowd exploded and gave her a standing ovation right there and then.

Nearly Dan - Another regional touring cover band. It took 14 people on stage to replicate the great Steely Dan.

CSNY2K - 2000, Tacomadome
Wasn't the only time I've seen them but the very best time.

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by CrimsonFox

Yes - 2002 Tour.

Rick Wakeman FINALLY rejoined Yes and boy did it pay off. After years of seeing them with revolving keyboardists, seeing them once again with Wakeman was a total joy. I don't think I had seen him with the band before. And the song selection was very Wakemancentric, featuring long cuts like Awaken, South Side of the Sky and Close to the Edge. I think they played Revealing Science of God too but I might be mistaken. Revealing had made the rounds before. The tour after they played Ritual but this year it was the sweet spot.

This was probably the same tour I saw with Wakeman and co. Only thing I didn't like was that they played a number of songs from Magnification, which I found a pretty dull album overall (at the time at least, haven't listened to it since then).

[CrimsonFox]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

This was probably the same tour I saw with Wakeman and co. Only thing I didn't like was that they played a number of songs from Magnification, which I found a pretty dull album overall (at the time at least, haven't listened to it since then).

yesyes every 2000+ album Yes did was boring and bland. Total bathroom songs. I blame Alan White for not being interesting.

[thesloppy]

I had a hard time cutting this down to 4.

[dawgfan]

Pearl Jam, "Drop In the Park" Seattle, 1992

A legendary free hometown show set up outdoors at Magnuson Park, they were on fire and Eddie was in his scaffolding-climbing/crazy stunt prime.

Radiohead, The Gorge Ampitheatre, 2001

First and (unfortunately) only time I've seen them live, they were outstanding. I wasn't sure how well they'd sound live given the studio trickery of Kid A and Amnesiac but they sounded amazing.

Lollapalooza II, Kitsap County Fairgrounds, 1992

Kind of cheating a bit with this, but between Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Lush, Jesus and Mary Chain and Red Hot Chili Peppers all in great form, it was an amazing experience.

Grateful Dead, Autzen Stadium, 1993 (day 1)

First time I saw the Dead. Partly influenced by me being under the influence, but it was everything I could have expected. The show was preceded by a trippy pre-recorded "radio broadcast" that really set the mood. I know Jerry wasn't in the best of shape by that point, but they were still good and it was a bucket-list type of concert (I ended up seeing them a few more times before Jerry died).

Honorable mention:

Lush, RKCNDY (Seattle), 1992

Terrific club show, just an impressive wall of sound from the best of the shoegazers, and in their prime.

Joy Formidable, The Crocodile (Seattle), 2011

Another really good club show from an under-rated band touring behind their best record.

Ladytron, Neumos (Seattle), 2005

Yet another club show, terrific show by another under-rated band.

Peter Gabriel, Tacoma Dome, 1994

Amazingly inventive show. There's a DVD from this tour which gives a good idea of what it was like.

U2, B.C. Place, 1992

The Zoo TV tour - they really helped transform the big concert experience with this, and of course it was in the wake of their best record.

Jane's Addiction, Seattle Center Arena, 1991

Second time I saw Jane's; they were primal and exciting and blazing a new trail. Outstanding show.

[thesloppy]

Originally Posted by dawgfan

Grateful Dead, Autzen Stadium, 1993 (day 1)

First time I saw the Dead. Partly influenced by me being under the influence, but it was everything I could have expected. The show was preceded by a trippy pre-recorded "radio broadcast" that really set the mood. I know Jerry wasn't in the best of shape by that point, but they were still good and it was a bucket-list type of concert (I ended up seeing them a few more times before Jerry died).

I was at that one too. Cool! Autzen shows were a good time. I only chose the one in my Rushmore list because we ended up coming home to the OJ chase, which made it even more surreal than any of the other of the handful of Dead shows I went to thru the '80s & 90s.

[Marmel]

Roger Waters - The Wall in 2015
The Who -2017 finally got to see them (whats left of them)
Billy Joel - 1995? at the Carrier Dome
Live 1992 - right before they hit it big, it was in an airport hangar somewhere in central NY

Honorable mention to Live in around 1995 in Hartford cause I first met my wife there, though I wouldn't really get to know her for another 6 months.

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by CrimsonFox

yesyes every 2000+ album Yes did was boring and bland. Total bathroom songs. I blame Alan White for not being interesting.

I think maybe the sole exception is Sad Night at the Airfield from Fly From Here, which IMO might be the best thing they've done since the 70s, even sans Anderson.

[Landshark44]

1. Queen -1980ish Spectrum Philly The Game Tour- Freddie Mercury was amazing live

2. Grateful Dead- 1990ish Silver Bowl Las Vegas, I'm not a Deadhead, and saw them a few other times and was bored.... but this night in Vegas, with Sting as the opener, was just a really good show, Mountains in the background, some lightning....

3. U2- Spectrum, Philadelphia 1984 Just before they got really big... You could tell they were special

4. Rush- Any of the 20 shows I went to in the 80's and 90's were amazing.. I don't like much of their new music, and don't go to many shows these days... I didn't see the last few tours...

[thesloppy]

Originally Posted by Landshark44

2. Grateful Dead- 1990ish Silver Bowl Las Vegas, I'm not a Deadhead, and saw them a few other times and was bored.... but this night in Vegas, with Sting as the opener, was just a really good show, Mountains in the background, some lightning....

They were spotty in most of the years I saw them (within that same time period), but when they were on, or if the venue/crowd/haze/weather was right you could still capture some magic. The set in my Rushmore had a light rain set in, and to start the second the set the band shuffled around for about 15 minutes before starting a cover of the Beatles' Rain that got an awesome crowd ovation, as a rainbow came up over the stadium. Duuuuuude!! Maximum hippy!



..also, this one time I saw GWAR on St. Patrick's Day and Oderus Urungus sprayed green jizz all over the crowd from his mutant 3-foot dong. OK, now I feel better.

[tarcone]

1- Ted Nugent Cedar Rapids, IA- 1980s. Man does he rock. He opened for Aerosmith and shamed them, IMO.

2. Pink Floyd Madison, WI 1988. Wow. What an experience. For some reason there was a haze of smoke hanging over the stadium. Samp Randall was a great venue.

3. Janes Addiction Davenpert, IA 1980s. Small venue. Great music.

4. Mojo Nixon Iowa City, IA 1980s In a bar. I love Mojo. just a fun show.