Gigs

[MarkW]

For no reason other than that I've just had this conversation with my eldest son, I thought I'd post a few thoughts about gigs I've been to over the last 25 years or so.

GIGS I MOST ENJOYED:

Eric Clapton (Royal Albert Hall, sometime in the early 1990s). "Layla!..."

Jeff Bridges and the Abiders (Monterey, 2016). And yes - he did say the rug he was on really tied the room together.

Creedence Clearwater (Reno, 2017). 'Fortunate Son' in a hall packed with pissed-up Americans isn't something I'll forget in a hurry!

STRANGEST GIG:

Steve Harley. There were only about 50 of us in the audience and he spent ages chatting afterwards.

GIG I ENJOYED THAT I DIDN'T EXPECT TO:

Paul Simon. I got a couple of tickets from a friend who'd bought them for his girlfriend before they split up. It was during his 'Call Me Al' phase and I wasn't expecting to enjoy it, but it was pretty good!

GIGS I WISH I'D SEEN:

Elvis with the TCB band (although I do know his bass player ).

Queen.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS:

Deacon Blue.

Bon Jovi.

Come on - let's have yours!

Edited December 22, 2018 by MarkW

[NeilM]

Most enjoyed . Stone roses. Leeds 2017. Both kids were with me and it was like passing on the baton to some extent.

Didn't expect to enjoy.. wonderstuff. Brescot stadium. 92 ish. Leg was in plaster. Ending up Sat in the stands with most sympathetic lass.....lol

Strangest.. manic street preachers. 91 I think. Blizzare. Just blizzare.

Wish I'd been. The housemartins. 86. Hamburg. (Looks excellent on you tube)

Honourable mentions..... Cud. Oasis 95. PWEI. Beautiful south

[Bender]

Thought this was going to be about a bloke called Ryan

Too old and too many to list

Most memorable Queen by far.

[MarkW]

Most memorable Queen by far.

 

bast*rd!

[Bender]

Most memorable Queen by far.

 

bast*rd!

 

Ohhh didn't get that till I re read the first post

Sorry, if it's any consolation I was going to see Michael Jackson

Ohhh and bon Jovi were better early on.

[MarkW]

I'm also pretty jealous of my wife, who saw Primus back in the day. "Jerry was a racecar driver..."

On the other hand, I'm glad she'd got most of the cock-rock gigs out of her system before we met. Skid Row, FFS...

[Topper]

Not as rock and roll as you guys.

Gary Newman

Police

Fleetwood Mac

Queen

Status Quo

ACDC

Robbie Williams

Madness

Midge Ure

Rick Astley

[MarkW]

Not as rock and roll as you guys.

Gary Newman

Police

Fleetwood Mac

Queen

Status Quo

ACDC

Robbie Williams

Madness

Midge Ure

Rick Astley

 

Believe it or not, my kids were listening to 'Cars' on YouTube when your post appeared!

[oldgrump]

GIGS MOST ENJOYED

Led Zeppelin Bournemouth Dec 1971, Awesome.

Black Sabbath , Deep purple and any of the 16 Rush shows.

GIGS DIDN'T EXPECT TO LIKE TO MUCH.

BB King and Gary Moore, love Gary Moore but had never listened to BB King, but thoroughly loved it.

GIGS OR ARTIST WOULD HAVE LOVED TO HAVE SEEN.

Stevie Ray Vaughan.

STRANGEST GIG.

Prince at Wembley, Kept us waiting so long, then a short set!!!!

WIERDISH TICKET BUY!!

Standing in a queue for tickets at Poole Lighthouse for some show, guy in front buy's tickets for Concert next week for The Jeff Healy Band WTF!!!

Never Advertised, Wife said did i get the tickets for the show, nope i got tickets to see Jeff Healy Brillant.

[MarkW]

GIGS MOST ENJOYED

Led Zeppelin Bournemouth Dec 1971, Awesome.

Black Sabbath , Deep purple and any of the 16 Rush shows.

GIGS DIDN'T EXPECT TO LIKE TO MUCH.

BB King and Gary Moore, love Gary Moore but had never listened to BB King, but thoroughly loved it.

GIGS OR ARTIST WOULD HAVE LOVED TO HAVE SEEN.

Stevie Ray Vaughan.

STRANGEST GIG.

Prince at Wembley, Kept us waiting so long, then a short set!!!!

WIERDISH TICKET BUY!!

Standing in a queue for tickets at Poole Lighthouse for some show, guy in front buy's tickets for Concert next week for The Jeff Healy Band WTF!!!

Never Advertised, Wife said did i get the tickets for the show, nope i got tickets to see Jeff Healy Brillant.

 

Some cool stuff there! Would love to have seen BB King, SRV and Led Zep. I'd also like to have seen The Who before Keith Moon was unable to make it through 'Won't Get Fooled Again' without passing out on his kit.

[Tango]

Most memorable:

Led Zeppelin at Knebworth

Pink Floyd - The Wall at Earl's Court

Iron Maiden - Seventh Son tour at Wembley (saw Bon Jovi there the night before!)

Elbow at Cambridge Corn Exchange just as they were making it big

Rush - Hemispheres tour at the Hammersmith Odeon

Joe Bonamassa at Cambridge Corn Exchange

Matt Schofield at the Junction in Cambridge

Strangest:

Captain Beefheart at a small venue near Victoria train station

Loudest:

Motorhead at Cambridge Corn Exchange

Most disappointing :

Rush at Wembley Arena - Great band, sh*t acoustics. (The reason I don't go to big gigs anymore)

Who I regret not seeing :

Stevie Ray Vaughan (died the year before he was going to do a UK tour)

Hawkwind - in their trippiest era (early 1970's)

Genesis - in the Peter Gabriel era

Love live music.......

[MarkW]

'Nursery Cryme' was one of the first albums I owned as a kid, which I got when I started high school. Having spent almost 11 years listening to my mother's music (Boney M, Leo Sayer, the Everly Brothers etc) it was a revelation! I completely lost interest in them after Peter Gabriel left though.

I'll bet Motörhead were memorable: I only have two rock'n'roll claims to fame: one is that I know Jerry Scheff (bass player for Elvis, The Doors, John Denver, Bob Dylan etc) and the other is that I went to the same school as Lemmy.

Edited December 23, 2018 by MarkW

[ThePhatomfart]

Been going to live gigs/festivals right from the 60s, First live big band was Ike and Tina Turner in the 60s , regretted not seeing Chuck Berry also the Funk Brothers

[MarkW]

Been going to live gigs/festivals right from the 60s, First live big band was Ike and Tina Turner in the 60s , regretted not seeing Chuck Berry also the Funk Brothers

 

Never mind the bands - I wish I'd seen the 1960s, especially in London or San Francisco! Everything back then looked so much more interesting than it does now - the music, the fashion, the design. I was looking through some old photographs of the places I've lived that were taken in the 60s and they all looked much nicer: loads of different independent shops rather than the homogenous identical high streets we have now, fewer cars, colourful flower beds instead of car parks or one-way systems, and a damn site fewer people. My mother isn't much comfort when I say that not having been born until the early 1970s makes me feel that I missed out on a unique time to be alive:

"The 1960s were amazing. Everything nowadays is shite."

[ThePhatomfart]

Been going to live gigs/festivals right from the 60s, First live big band was Ike and Tina Turner in the 60s , regretted not seeing Chuck Berry also the Funk Brothers

 

Never mind the bands - I wish I'd seen the 1960s, especially in London or San Francisco! Everything back then looked so much more interesting than it does now - the music, the fashion, the design. I was looking through some old photographs of the places I've lived that were taken in the 60s and they all looked much nicer: loads of different independent shops rather than the homogenous identical high streets we have now, fewer cars, colourful flower beds instead of car parks or one-way systems, and a damn site fewer people. My mother isn't much comfort when I say that not having been born until the early 1970s makes me feel that I missed out on a unique time to be alive:

"The 1960s were amazing. Everything nowadays is shite."

At the fear of sounding old and samey , they were good times , flower power added to that culture people were better to each other, and we all had fun, I have a Juke box in my music room deicated to 60s music also have 100s of cd from Bessie Smith (brilliant) to Rag n Bone man, love my music

[Throttled]

Best, as in most memorable;

Whitesnake (first gig)

Neil Young with Booker T and the MGs

Sigur Ros (first time)

Mogwai (second time)

The Who

PIL

The Rolling Stones (second time)

Robert Plant and Jimmy Page (second time)

King Crimson (first time)

Peter Gabriel (all four times)

Iggy Pop

A Danish double header of Efterklang and Slaraffenland

Deep Purple (final tour)

Blur (T in the Park)

Devin Townsend (first time)

Best supporting act;

Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros (played lots of The Clash)

Most unusual;

A performance of Terry Riley's "In C" by Ars Nova from Denmark.

A Peter Gabriel free gig at the UN in New York. I just happened to be there!

Regrets;

turning down a chance to see U2 touring their first album

turning down a chance to see ELP (as in "and Powell")

Looking forward to;

Massive Attack (which will be my 93rd gig according to my Songkick gigography)

[oldgrump]

Strangest:

Captain Beefheart at a small venue near Victoria train station

Most disappointing :

Rush at Wembley Arena - Great band, sh*t acoustics. (The reason I don't go to big gigs anymore)

Who I regret not seeing :

Stevie Ray Vaughan (died the year before he was going to do a UK tour)

Hawkwind - in their trippiest era (early 1970's)

Genesis - in the Peter Gabriel era

Love live music.......

 

Now that is someone who I would have loved to see Captain Beefheart, still play it when out in the workshop Got into him and Zappa + The Fugs at 15 when I started work!!!

But yes know what you mean about Big Gigs, last one was Rush Birmingham Clockwork Angels Tour, so disappointed had so much feedback on Neil's drums ruined the show.

But years ago Bournemouth Pavilion had a concert nearly every week! you payed on the Door, Thought of another strange one Van Der Graf Generator at the Pavilion

[Glorian]

Foo fighters!

Went back in June. Pretty sure i still can't hear a little thanks to them..

[ThePhatomfart]

By the way if you haven't seen this guitarist yet , get a ticket. Brilliant

">

[Mickly]

Best:

Stranglers - B’ham Mayfair Suite, 1976

Clash - B’ham Toprank 1977

X-ray Spex - B’ham Barbarellas 1978

Damned - B’ham Barbarellas

Unexpected:

An unknown UB40 - B’ham Uncle Sams

Wierdest:

Iggy Pop - B’ham Barbarellas

Worst supporting:

Athletic Spizz 80 ( supporting Clash )

Best supporting:

Steel Pulse ( supporting Stranglers)

Rezillos ( supporting Clash )

[xMachina]

Not been to many but the best was Fun Lovin’ Criminals at The Junction in Cambridge.

Weirdest was Electric Six in Leicester.

[rennie]

Been to so many gigs I can't remember most of them! (nothing to do with drink honest)

Best: either Fleetwood Mac (twice) or Rush

Strangest: David Soul (I was on a promise)

Worst: Wizard

Regrets: Elvis or Pink Floyd

[MarkW]

By the way if you haven't seen this guitarist yet , get a ticket. Brilliant

">

 

The guitarist in my old band was her teacher in the early days, and another mate has played drums on a number of her tracks.

[MarkW]

Best:

Stranglers - B’ham Mayfair Suite, 1976

Clash - B’ham Toprank 1977

X-ray Spex - B’ham Barbarellas 1978

Damned - B’ham Barbarellas

Unexpected:

An unknown UB40 - B’ham Uncle Sams

Wierdest:

Iggy Pop - B’ham Barbarellas

Worst supporting:

Athletic Spizz 80 ( supporting Clash )

Best supporting:

Steel Pulse ( supporting Stranglers)

Rezillos ( supporting Clash )

 

Steel Pulse - blimey! Got into them for a while in the 80s after Selwyn Brown appeared on an episode of Rock School!

[Tango]

Strangest:

Captain Beefheart at a small venue near Victoria train station

Most disappointing :

Rush at Wembley Arena - Great band, sh*t acoustics. (The reason I don't go to big gigs anymore)

Who I regret not seeing :

Stevie Ray Vaughan (died the year before he was going to do a UK tour)

Hawkwind - in their trippiest era (early 1970's)

Genesis - in the Peter Gabriel era

Love live music.......

 

Now that is someone who I would have loved to see Captain Beefheart, still play it when out in the workshop Got into him and Zappa + The Fugs at 15 when I started work!!!

But yes know what you mean about Big Gigs, last one was Rush Birmingham Clockwork Angels Tour, so disappointed had so much feedback on Neil's drums ruined the show.

But years ago Bournemouth Pavilion had a concert nearly every week! you payed on the Door, Thought of another strange one Van Der Graf Generator at the Pavilion

 

Saw Frank Zappa at what was the Hammersmith odeon. .......He brought Dweezil on for a couple of songs. I guess Dweezil was early teenage.