What's the best concert you ever saw?

[mrisch[$]]

This is a tough call for me, as every concert is different. How lame is it that I can't even answer my own questions. Here are some categories for me:

1. Biggest "awe" factor - Pink Floyd, 1988 - I love Pink Floyd and seeing the ultimate show in person was simply unbelievable.

2. Best "show" - Janet Jackson, 2001 - She has a simply amazing choreography and show

3. Best live music - Dave Matthews Band, 2000-2001 (5 shows total - so far). Enough said. If they are in town, I will get tickets.

4. Most personal - Jewel, 2000 at Mountain Winery. We were close enough to read the label on her water bottle. I wrote an epinion about this one

5. Most fun - Barenaked Ladies, 2000, 2001 - If you haven't seen these guys, they are great in concert and really funny

This leaves off many, many great concerts, but gets the ball rolling here.

I tend to think of concerts/performances differently:

Large Outdoor Venue - Pink Floyd 1988 at Ohio Stadium

Large Venue Indoor - Eric Clapton 1999 in Compaq Center

Small Senue Indoor - Warren Zevon 1988 in Rockefelers

[lynnzop[$]]

I'm almost embarassed to admit this, but Garth Brooks...I actually have been to two of his concerts - one "pre" popular (Friends in Low Places had just been released) and one a couple of years ago.

He puts on quite a show.

There was a laser Yes concert I went to back in the 70's that was rather memorable too, but it was more because of the stuff that was being passed around and the effect that the lasers had after breathing in that rather, uhm, shall we say, thick air. (No, I didn't actually partake, just being in the same arena was quite enough!)

Lynn

[mrisch[$]]

Originally posted by lynnzop
I'm almost embarassed to admit this, but Garth Brooks...I actually have been to two of his concerts - one "pre" popular (Friends in Low Places had just been released) and one a couple of years ago.

I am not a country fan, but I hear you. My sister just loved the Brooks and Dunn show at Western Frontier Days in Cheyenne this summer.

[kurt_messick]

Best pop concert -- Pet Shop Boys, Performance, in the early 1990s, in Chicago (roughly 2000 people venue)

Best classical/etc. concernt: Joshua Bell, violin, in London.

[mrisch[$]]

Originally posted by file13
Large Outdoor Venue - Pink Floyd 1988 at Ohio Stadium

Same tour I was talking about - that was a heck of a show, wasn't it?

Yes, it was. Lasers, lights, pig, bed... you name it, they had it. I was most impressed by David Gilmour and company growling out the sung-by-Roger lyrics. Wasn't Roger, but then it was never about Roger... the guitarwork and keyboard work was the original core of the band.

Ohio Stadium was packed... like 80k people or so... amazing for something that's not a Buckeyes game.

Never did see them when they played at Rice stadium...

[magenta321]

I think the most fun I've ever had was a Jimmy Buffett concert. There's just something about the Parothead atmosphere and the "Songs You Know By Heart" that created a ton of fun.

Of course, Metallica always puts on a great show too.

[sylvanb]

Mahler, Symphony of a Thousand, Boston Symphony & Boston Boy Choir, Symphony Hall, 1966

[quasar]

I went to the New Bedford Folk Festival Summer 2000 and I was introduced to two newish Folk artists I'd not heard before - Lucy Kaplansky and Richard Shindell. They had separate one hour shows back-to-back but they sang harmony for each other (as they do on their records) so it felt like one longer show.

It was outdoors on a 100 degree humid day, I was sitting in a really uncomfortable folding chair, and I managed to forget all of that for almost two hours.

Before that, when I lived in New Mexico there were two types of music: Country and Heavy Metal. I wasn't a big Country fan but I found myself at the Country bars because I hate heavy metal. The bar about a mile from where I lived had a series of concerts often with very well known Country artists. David Lee Murphy played there the day he found out he got his first Billboard #1 song. His enthusiasm was really fun. Plus he has the bluest eyes and longest legs I've ever seen which did not hurt at all

Janice

Best "show" - NSYNC, 2001 PopOdessy Tour

Most personal - Edwin McCain, 2000 tour with Hootie & The Blowfish

Biggest "awe" factor - Craig David, just a couple of weeks ago

Best Live Music - Evan and Jaron

Most Fun - Billy Idol, this past summer

[ms_n]

I really enjoyed Al Jarreau at an outdoor ampitheatre. That man
knows how to use his voice and charm the crowd.

[mrisch[$]]

Originally posted by kristinafh

Most Fun - Billy Idol, this past summer

Oh yeah! Billy Idol ROCKED at Bridge School Benefit.

[Joubert[$]]

I like the venue idea.

Big Venue: I don't do big venue anymore. If there will be more than 20,000 - I ain't going.

Arena: Meat Loaf - Storytellers in Washington, D.C. 1999. Playing tunes selected by the audience right out of his fake book. What a hoot. And what a set of pipes.

Medium Venue: Chris DeBurgh - 1980 in Raleigh, NC. I was working as a music critic at a newspaper in Rocky Mount and covered the Eddie Money concert. DeBurgh was his opening act and his manager spent an awful lot of time trying to convince little old me that DeBurgh was "a modern day minstrel". I glibly replied, "What? Did we lose Harry Chapin?" and six months later, we did.

Small Venue: Stephane Grappelli - 1983 in Charlie Byrd's Blues Alley in Washington, D.C. He was Django's Reinhart's violinist and in his 70s when I saw him. He was astonishing, and his band was superb.

[mrisch[$]]

Originally posted by joubert
I like the venue idea.

Big Venue: I don't do big venue anymore. If there will be more than 20,000 - I ain't going.

Arena: Meat Loaf - Storytellers in Washington, D.C. 1999. Playing tunes selected by the audience right out of his fake book. What a hoot. And what a set of pipes.

You would miss some great concerts not going to a big venue.

I bet Meatloaf was just fantastic in that atmosphere.

[Joubert[$]]

Originally posted by mrisch


You would miss some great concerts not going to a big venue.

I know - I'm getting old.

I even try to wrangle corporate box seats in arenas. When did I become my parents?

[taurusmoon]

LOL. I don't do big venues either. If it's too big for a coffee house or cabaret, it's too big for me.

Grandma Sara

[frazzledspice]

I saw Meatloaf on the Storytellers Tour, too. He does a wonderful job of combining theatre with music--I loved his rendition of "Paradise by the Dashboard Lights" where he was directing the action of audience members brought up to the stage.

My overall favorite concert performer was Harry Chapin, who always gave 50% of his concert proceeds (and sometimes more) to World Hunger, and gave 150% to his audience each night.
And I've written a few reviews about him. He died too soon.