Best Live Music Experiences

I don't see a lot of live shows, especially since I started graduate school. This summer/early fall, though, I have made it more of a priority with the large number of awesome bands coming through town, so this week I have been two two major shows. One of them easily broke into my "best live show experiences EVER" list.

Mumford & Sons - I saw them two days ago in Columbus. Their sound was incredible, stage setup was perfect (they had strings of lights that looked like extra-large old-timey Christmas lights, as well as some that were able to pull of an amazing candle effect), and the audience was PUMPED to see them. It was just fantastic - they played at least 5 of the songs off of their upcoming album, and I have never been more excited for an album to be released!

The other two shows rounding out my top three are Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (Cincinnati, Riverbend, 2005?) and Muse (I've seen three of their shows - the last, in 2010 in Cincinnati, stands out as the best of the three). I am also super excited for the release of Muse's new album, since that means they'll probably go on tour next year!

Lower on my list are Old Crow Medicine Show, John Mayer, Train, and Ben Kweller.

What bands/shows are in your "best live music experiences" list?

 

Wayne Shorter 4tet last year. It sounded great, and I can't express fully how it feels to have studied music for most of my life then just NOT. KNOW. WHAT WAS GOING ON.

 

Nothing great to share, but I do get dragged to the same mediocre live show every year because her concerts also support a worthy local cause. Unfortunately, Elisabeth Von Trapp doesn't live up to the family name.

 

arkana, would you please explain further what you mean?

Sonny Rollins has been a hero of mine since I was 14. Wayne Shorter too.

 

flat5:

I never know what harmonic palette Danilo Perez draws from... it seems entirely sonority based but also not atonal! I don't know formally what's going on and I don't know when they are deciding to do what they do! In other words, it makes perfect musical sense but I have so little idea of how it is constructed. I heard from someone that went to a Wayne workshop that he writes piano scores and that's the basis.

 

Eric Johnson... hands down the best musical experience. It was a relatively small venue, he was on a stage maybe four feet off the ground, standing 10 feet from me, playing "Cliffs of Dover" and "Waterfall (May This Be Love)". And he was playing them for me. He smiled at me. I'd not really heard of the dude before.

Leo Kottke was pretty awesome, but there was some emotional context to that trip that made it less enjoyable for me. He, himself, is an amazing musician.

We saw 311 in an amphitheater a few years ago... foumt the "sweet spot" in the venue and it was really awesome. But, hot. Fun times.

My very first concert as a grown up was Fight, Suicidal Tendencies, Candlebox, and Metallica at an outdoor fairground in Tampa. There is nothing like hearing "One" played from the gunfire at the beginning, through to the finish live and with awesome sound. My entire body vibrated from the bass. It's probably my favorite musical memory. Watching Stevie Nicks swirl around on stage was cool, Smashing Pumpkins on the Mellon Collie tour were spectacular, Mike Gordon was fun, the bajillion times we saw the Codetalkers were pretty great, but those four above are my most awesome live music moments.

I will tell you that the worst was G. Love and Special Sauce. He was so bad we walked out and grabbed shitty drinks across the street. After two songs. It was awful.

 

Anything at Red Rocks outside of Denver is epic. Rain, snow, hail... it doesn't matter, just makes the show better!

 

Linkin Park in Sacramento after their second album release was the best live performance ive ever been too. The experience had a lot to do with the sound at Arco and the energy level of the band and the crowd. Ive seen LP twice since then and, while they were still really good, it didnt compare to the first time.

The Killers (forgive the pun) killed it at the Cow Palace. I was a fan before but the performance has kept them in steady rotation on my playlist.

Ive seen a number of bands at The Warfield and love the sound there. The only exception is when My Chemical Romance performed. The whole show sounded "tinny".

One last thing - Chris Cornell is awesome anywhere. Go check him out if youre a fan.

 

I LOVE live music!! This should be easy for me, but I think I've seen too many concerts...I can't pick. I will have to go through my ticket stubs and get back to this thread.

 

The last concert I was at was the Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas. It was amazing and a lot of fun.

 

I'm disappointed that the Dukes of September Rhythm Review is not coming anywhere near me this fall.

The best concert I've seen recently was Boz Scaggs several years ago.

 

ow man, I've had a lot of "best" live experiences... will be hard to pick.
A lot depends of the mood you are into at the moment. I went bunkers when I saw Metallica for the first time after being a fan for about 5 years.
Pearl Jam was even worse, we were a fan for maybe 8 years, finally they came to Belgium and then they announced the day before on the festival that the tragedy in Roskilde happened and they cancelled the tour... we had to wait another 3 years when they finally came back. Now the moment 18000 people were cheering and waiting for them to come on stage was goosebumps!
Definately one of my favorites is TOOL, they are incredible live... they take you on a mind blowing trip, if you're into it offcourse

 

This is a difficult question.

I've seen a lot of good shows from TOOL to Jason Aldean to Flaming Lips to RATM.

If I have to pick out best experience based solely on the "good time" factor, then pick any of the Dave Matthews Band shows I've been to. It just never fails that I always have a good time at his shows.

 

a few weeks back I've seen Leonard Cohen for the first time on his new world tour...
I was really impressed and touched, I have a lot of his music at home, but live it's really more emotional.
His voice stands out above everything else, but he never abuses it. He stays discrete in everything he does... big respect for the old man. The artists he had with him on stage were among the best i've ever seen performing live...

 

i've been to way too many shows. trying to remember some of the best ones.

art ensemble of chicago at lulu white's in boston in the late 70s especially.
fela anikulapo kuti and egypt 80 at the troc in philly
sun ra arkestra lots of times.
acid mother's temple lots of times, but my favorite was at the khyber pass in philly when cotton casino was still touring with them.
cornelius at bimbo's in san francisco
massive attack at the warfield (sf)
einsturzende neubauten at the warfield
baba maal at the maritme hall (sf)
the congos and abyssinians at the maritime hall
roni size, dj krust & dj die at the maritime
gregory isaacs
ali farka toure and salif keita at la villette in paris
fred frith, john zorn, bill laswell and dave lombardo at la villette
p-funk allstars lots of times.
freestyle fellowship, justice league sf
pharcyde, justice league sf
x-ecutioners in philly. cant remember the name of the space
talking heads remain in light tour (1981 i think) at the orpheum in boston
ornette coleman at philadelphia symphony hall
dj cheb-i-sabbah at a few clubs in chicago spinning lovely bhangra sets
the vienna philharmonic playing berg's violin concerto
lots of shows by experimental musicians you've probably not heard of
dexter gordon at the jazz workshop in boston so long ago its almost embarrassing but it stays with me even now
miles davis in philadelphia
les tete brulees in ithaca
tribe called quest and de la 3 or 4 times
i saw gang starr alot.
mad professor spinning a jungle set in some club in san jose ca.

there's more that i thought really great, but that's a list of what stands out in my memory.

 

wow! jealous !!!

 

The Flaming Lips
Patrick Watson
Aimee Mann
The Handsome Furs
Yeah Yeah Yeahs

All put on great shows in Singapore.

 

Avett Brothers x3
My Morning Jacket x3
Reverend Horton Heat x20+
Pink Floyd in 1994
Drive By Truckers x5
Band of Horses x3