Springsteen @ the Coliseum in '85
INXS @ the Warfield in '85
Tom Petty @ Shoreline in '89
Oingo Boingo @ the Warfield '93

Worst: The 3 New Order concerts

Iggy Pop in the '80s played a tiny club in SF that has long since burned down. Was 20 feet away the whole night and DRENCHED in sweat afterwards - amazing performance.

A couple years ago The Waterboys played at the Regency Ballroom in SF - was like a rollicking Celtic revival meeting, just brilliant

Also a couple years ago, The Church played 3 ENTIRE ALBUMS at the Great American Music Hall - the concert lasted more than 3 hours and the musicianship and vocals were stunning

I hadn't realized how lucky I've been until reading this thread. Been to a lot of the concerts in the list. I loved those Days on the Green too. I was in front row at Police protecting this girl from the crush. She ended up going home with me...oh man she was cute. That was better than the concert. Faves:

1) Clash and English Beat also in Santa Barbara.

2) Smiths Palladium

3) Pretenders acoustic in church in Islington London

4) Manic Street Preachers London

5) Blur in San Francisco

6) LCD Soundsystem farewell show at Madison Square Garden

Impossible to narrow it down to one performance.

Rush at Oakland Coliseum Arena, 1981
Van Halen at Boston Garden, 1981
Ozzy Osbourne (with Randy Rhoads) at Cow Palace, 1981
ARMS concert for Ronnie Lane at Cow Palace, 1983 - Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, and Eric Clapton all on the same stage.
Stevie Ray Vaughan in Austin, TX, 1988
Rage Against the Machine in San Jose, 1996 - Rowdiest concert I've ever been to. The mosh pit failed because of the crush of the crowd. You had no control over your positionthe wave of the crowd would displace you several feet in any direction. By the end everyone was dripping wet. Apparently the concert was recorded and is on YouTube. I linked to one of the songs from that concert.
Rush R30 tour at Shoreline, 2004 - Seventh row, center. Best seats I've ever had.

Also:
Andrs Segovia at Masonic Auditorium, 1984 - Segovia was 91 years old at the time. Past his playing prime, but he was a legend.
Narciso Yepes - don't remember the year
Every Lila Downs concert I ever went to
Every Badi Assad concert I ever went to
Every Michael Hedges concert I ever went to
Every Pierre Bensusan concert I ever went to


Worst concert I ever went to was Stanley Jordan. He put everyone to sleep.
Second worst concert was Sharon Isbin. I love her playing but she has terrible stage presence.

1. Springsteen Dec. 1978 Dallas Convention Center. Played as was his custom two lengthy sets, and 3-4 encores. But a little extra on this one - said he thought he would like to play a little longer if we did not mind - played another 30 mins. Hit stage about 845. Ended just before 1 a.m. Seats on floor not too far back. Seen him several times since including 3 times in a week in 1980 but this was the best.

2. Outlaws. 1977 McFarlin Auditorium SMU. Southern Rock at its best in a fairly small venue.

3. Best old guy stuff -Robert Earl Keen - any number of places.

Edit- The Who, Austin, 1980 -this should have been higher on list.

1976 - The Who at Winterland.

Runners up but not even close to the winner...

Boz Scaggs at the Greek

The Tubes at the Palace of Fine Arts

1971 Slim Whitman at Whiskey a Go Go. During a particularly robust yodel, everyone's eyeglasses shattered.

Dylan 1962 Carnegie Hall - his first concert outside of MN. We looked at each other and said, "Who is this guy?" Looked 12, dressed in plaid flannel shirt, stood there mumbling and wrapping his untrimmed strings around the tuning pegs, incessantly.

Gary Burton Q 1964 Golden Bear in Huntington Beach. Magic. Still is.

Lang Lang Rachmaninov Piano Concerto #2 and Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini 2005 Kennedy Ctr. Guy gets it. Love his playfulness.

You asked.

CalBear68;842117356 said:

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Talking Heads, Greek Theatre, Berkeley 1983.

http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/talking-heads/1983/greek-theatre-berkeley-ca-3bd39858.html

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Was also at that one -- great show!

liverflukes;842117359 said:

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If anyone says they saw CCR within the first 8 rows, I'm gonna be sick. That's another group I wish I caught. Before my time though...

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My senior year of high school they played at an assembly. Back then they we known as "The Blue Velvets". The drummer, Doug Clifford lived down the street from me.

Lots of good ones.
Talking heads at Greek 1983.
Greatful Dead at Greek evening after my last law school final 1984
Zeppelin at LA forum 1977
The Who with the Clash at Oakland in 80s
Pink Floyd animals tour 1977
Counting crows at concord Pavillion a few years ago

All day SF school benefit concert. "Students Need Athletics, Culture and Kicks". SF City schools had no money for sports and music (gee, what's changed?).

http://blog.sfgate.com/thebigevent/2012/03/12/the-colombo-files-bill-grahams-1975-concert-for-the-kids/

From the Bill Graham Memorial Foundation website:"S.N.A.C.K. Sunday stands as the precursor to the multiple star, mega benefit concerts that would raise funds for future causes in the years to come". The line up, all for $5:

Eddie Palmieri and his Latin Orchestra
Tower Of Power
Graham Central Staion
Jefferson Airplane/Starship
Niel Young
Joan Baez
Santana
Greatful Dead
Doobie Brothers
Bob Dylan and members of The Band

Between sets Willie Mays and others celebs spoke to the crowd. Then, late in the day Marlon Brando got up and went off on Native American issues...which confused everybody. But we were already pretty "confused!"


But I must admit, my first ever concert at Winterland in 1972 with Tower and Santana will always be my favorite. I saw dozens of shows at Winterland, The Cow Palace, and many of the Days On The Green. Amazing music, amazing time for sure.

Unless I missed it, no one has named the concert I most wish I could have seen -- the Band's Last Waltz show at the Winterland.

Some of my favorites:

Chuck Berry at the Keystone Berkeley in 85 or 86: he was doing two shows that night. I went to the early ones and, because it was delayed a bit for sound system problems, they let us stay for the second show too.

The Kinks at the Greek in 81 or so: fun show and we got to go up front with very little difficulty.

Lyle Lovett at the Greek: Shawn Colvin opened. It was a few days after Jerry Garcia died, so Lyle opened the show with his cover of "Friend of the Devil."

I've seen Van Morrisson many times. My favorite was probably one at the Masonic Auditorium around 93 or 94.

bearister;842117410 said:

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1971 Slim Whitman at Whiskey a Go Go. During a particularly robust yodel, everyone's eyeglasses shattered.

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I believe old Slim was an original inductee into the K-tel Hall of Fame. I think he holds the record for the most 8 track tape sales under that label.

This thread reminds me of a story I heard a Texas sports radio guy, Mike Rhyner, tell on himself. When it comes to music (and baseball) he is one of the most knowledgable guys I have heard which makes the story all that more surprising.

In 1964, he is in junior high, and the Beatles come to Dallas that September in their first American tour. At the last minute, someone, I want to say his older sister offers him a ticket to the concert. He turns it down - had plans to see high school football game. I hope it was an unforgettably great game.

Easily
1.). Boz Scaggs - Paramount Theather, Oakland, Spring, 1974.

2.). Annie Lennox - Warfield - about 6-7 years ago.

They opened with "London Calling", and toward the end of the concert played "White Riot" in the pouring rain. I remember standing in a packed, joyous mob in front, tightly pressed together and crazily jumping around during the verse of "Should I Stay Or Should I Go". Kurtis Blow, one of the earliest rappers, opened.

Marijuana smoke was everywhere, and I was shocked when two cute twin sisters standing next to me started snorting white powder from a little spoon.

this cat, front row for free, stockholm jazz fest, yr before he left

~

almost like bb king, "i can name that guitarist in 1 note"








:woohoo:Lindsay

Janis, Airplane

Talking Heads, Ramones, Blondie@cbgb

The Band

Ray Charles,

James Brown@Apollo

Grateful Dead in Las Vagas - same stadium where the Veags bowl is now played.

last concert in memorial April 1990 had a great time Paul made fun of the hillsters who were complaining at the time

Any Neil Young from C,S,N,Y to his Crazy Horse days until now..

Any U2

Any REM

Rolling Stones, Oakland 1972 (Exile on Mainstreet) - we spent the night on Telegraph to line up for tickets.

The Who - Wintergarden 71

Jethro Tull - 1970 The Forum, LA

PJ Harvey - Opening for U2 2001 all over the USA!

Country Porn - Berkeley Community Theatre, l971

Only have dull memories unfortunately of most..:p

Springsteen at the Sports Arena in 1985. 3.5 hour show with Clarence Clemons still able to move around.
Aerosmith in Sacramento in the early 90's but only because we had front row seats.
James Taylor on a beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon in 1983 at the Greek Theater.

Been to a ton of shows over the years. But one really memorable concert was Guns N' Roses at the Forum in Los Angeles in the early 90s for the Use Your Illusion tour.

Played for almost 4 hours, did the entire Appetite For Destruction album. Unreal.

This was my first concert when I was 14. My only visit to the Rose Bowl.

Best classical two years ago seeing Houston Symphony performing Gustav Holst's "The Planets". The music was accompanied by images and video from NASA. Absolutely stunning effect.

Best rock concert I wish I had attended my wife saw, unfortunately before we had met. Pink Floyd at Rice stadium. Concert ended early because of a thunderstorm right over the stadium. Since the last song they played was "Run Like Hell", the concert has often been called "Rain Like Hell."

Steel Pulse at the Greek, 1983. Sunny Berkeley afternoon, 75-ish. Excellent vibe, great fit of group and venue on that particular day. Lots of smoke. Made better by being last minute, free and unplanned thanks to friends at KALX.

RHCP were probably the weakest of the 3, as they were passing the torch to the grungy dudes. I had just seen Nirvana at the Warfield six weeks prior, right when Nevermind broke.

Tie for the best:
- Shemeika Copeland at Jazz Alley in Seattle touring in support of her first album. Small venue with a lady who has the pipes to perform in a much larger space.
- B.B. King, Dr. John, Shemeika Copeland, and some others at the pier in Seattle on one of the rare nice days in Seattle.

Close:
- Preservation Hall Jazz Band at Stern Grove in San Francisco.

San Francisco Symphony, Beethoven's ninth, about June 2003-4?
Carlos Santana in concert at Atlanta Olympic park a couple days after the bombing there....(Summer 1996)

1970-1971 spooky tooth led off followed by joe cocker & then the who in a beaten old ballroom in Chicago - the Aragon Ballroom. Girlfriend sat on my shoulders for 2 hours (no wonder I have a bad back)

Great thread flukes. It looks like there isn't a lot of indie rock or hip hop love so I'll throw some out off the top of my head for change of pace:

Frank Black in Brooklyn in 2002

Decemberists at Bimbos in 2004 (Okkervil River opened)

Radiohead at the Greek in LA 2000 (Handsome Boy Modeling School opened)

Blackeyed Peas (back when they were awesome). Epic show at citywalk with eminem, the Roots, Macy Gray and for some odd reason Everlast. BEP closed down the show after the lights went out and the security staff tried to clear the joint

Flaming Lips at the Wiltern (I think) in 1999

Florence + the Machine at the Fox in 2010

Taleb Kweli and Blackalicious at the Independent in 2005ish

Faith No More at the Warfield

The Shins at Great American Music Hall in 2002

The Hives at Slims

THE WHO Berkeley community theatre June 1970. Sophomore year at Berkeley High. The stones wished they were as great.

Run-DMC and Egyptian Lover about 25 years ago. Downtown Oakland at the Convention Center.

Damn, George Jones died today. I feel like a whiskey.