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it's hard to pick "a best" show. fela anikulapo kuti & egypt 80 were pretty great. but so was the art ensemble of chicago, massive attack, einsturzende neubauten, cornelius, the p-funk all stars, sun ra, pharoah sanders, hamza el-din, acid mothers' temple, freestyle fellowship, gang starr, pharcyde, sarah vaughn, dexter gordon, steve lacy, roni size, solex, ornette coleman, and a whole pile of others (i'm remembering more of them as i sit here).....this not to mention great performances by other folk who you've likely not heard of because they are, for reasons that cannot possibly have anything to do with musicianship, in the "underground" (because they're fantastic players).
most of the "bad" shows i've seen were bad because the sound sucked.
the de la soul's tour for "3 feet high and rising" because they hadn't quite figured out how to do the live performance thing in a hip-hop context. every other time i saw them they were great. and i liked the show for what it was.
public enemy because the sound blew and chuck d was sick.
there are a bunch of shows i didn't like that i ended up going to knowing i wouldn't like them because i didn't like that kind of music.
i really really hated dire straits.
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a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear
it make you sick.
-kamau brathwaite
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