Best Live Concert

[merciscool]

We all like music here.

What has been your favorite live concert you've been to?

Who was it and why is it your favorite?

[A Guy]

Pink Floyd Animals Tour 1977. I can actually post a link to 1/2 the concert if anyone wants. They played most of Animals, Dark Side Of The Moon, and Wish You Were Here, along with Echoes, One Of These Days, Careful With That Ax Eugene, etc. Best concert I ever saw. Led Zeppelin probably next, 1980 or so. Just amazing song after amazing song. Thin Lizzy, perhaps one of the most underrated groups of all time, killer live show in a small club. Robin Trower, ultimate power trio, mind blowing guitar, again in a smallish club...so many, but those are my tops. A Guy

[atomicadam]

I went to see A perfect circle and Mars Volta in Tacoma, WA a couple years ago and it was epic. APC opened with Vanishing and I could feel my heart changing rhythm with every punishing drum beat.

[atomicadam]

	Quote:			Originally Posted by A Guy
	Pink Floyd Animals Tour 1977. I can actually post a link to 1/2 the concert if anyone wants. They played most of Animals, Dark Side Of The Moon, and Wish You Were Here, along with Echoes, One Of These Days, Careful With That Ax Eugene, etc. Best concert I ever saw. Led Zeppelin probably next, 1980 or so. Just amazing song after amazing song. Thin Lizzy, perhaps one of the most underrated groups of all time, killer live show in a small club. Robin Trower, ultimate power trio, mind blowing guitar, again in a smallish club...so many, but those are my tops. A Guy

I saw pulse when I was a kid and always wanted to see Floyd live.....*sigh*

[A Guy]

Wolfgang's Vault is Bill Graham's concert archive. You have to sign up, but it's free. All kinds of amazing concerts there!

Roger Waters - bass, vocals
David Gilmour - guitar, vocals
Rick Wright - keyboards, vocals
Nick Mason - drums
Dick Parry - sax, keyboards
Snowy White - guitar, bass

Pink Floyd's 1977 tour is widely considered to be one of the band's most memorable. Following the truly massive sales of Dark Side Of The Moon and Wish You Were Here, the Animals album had not been as commercially successful, but the group's popularity was at an all-time peak. The tour sold out arenas and stadiums across North America and Europe, eclipsing all previous scale and attendance records. The tour was also the first since 1972 that the group did not use backing singers, with the only augmentation to the core band being Snowy White adding guitar and occasional bass parts and Dick Parry playing sax and occasional keyboards. The shows were structured so that the band played the Animals album, in a different sequence, during the first set and following an intermission, performed the entire Wish You Were Here album in its exact running order. The encore would usually consist of either "Money" or "Us And Them" from Dark Side Of The Moon.

With technology and audiences both at a monumental scale, the tour was not without problems. Technical issues plagued many of the shows and audience members were often disruptive by yelling and screaming during quiet passages or by setting off fireworks. However, when the band landed in California for a two-night stand at the Oakland Coliseum, these were not issues. The first night, May 9, 1977, is often considered to be one of the greatest performances of the band's career. The band members seemed to enjoy the show just as much as their rapt audience. This show turned out to be the longest of any show on the tour, with the band delivering two powerful sets, followed by both Dark Side Of The Moon songs. The audience was so enthusiastic that the group returned to the stage and performed "Careful With That Axe, Eugene" for the first time since 1973 and for last time ever.

Bill Graham's partial soundboard recording of this legendary performance begins near the end of the first set, approximately eight minutes into the final sequence of "Pigs (Three Different Ones)." The piece is relaxed but focused, with Rick Wright's spooky synth and one of the band's heavier jams highlighting this set-ending performance.

Following the intermission, the show resumes with the Wish You Were Here album performed in its entirety. Fans of this album will be thoroughly delighted as this is a near flawless performance, with all the songs held together by extended sonic interludes. Prior to the vocals, the first part of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" has a distinctly bluesier edge than its studio counterpart and David Gilmour's guitar playing remains superb throughout the set. He even approaches jazz territory in his soloing during the later parts of this song, when they return to it later in the set. In between are poignant renditions of "Welcome To The Machine" and "Wish You Were Here" and a truly powerful performance of "Have A Cigar." On the latter, Roger Waters and David Gilmour are both laughing through much of the first verse, further exemplifying the camaraderie and good feelings that permeate this night's performance.

Following the Wish You Were Here album and an overwhelming roar of approval, Pink Floyd offers the audience a double dose from Dark Side Of The Moon. It begins with the familiar sound of change hitting a cash register. "Money" lasts a full ten minutes and features a memorable jam within. Waters informs the audience that the last song will be quiet one and the familiar synth sound leads into the spacey free-floating groove of "Us And Them" to close the show. Unfortunately, the soundboard tape runs out a few minutes in.

Certainly one of the strongest, most cohesive performances of the 1977 Tour and possibly the greatest performance of the Wish You Were Here album ever. The group would never perform another tour that so richly emphasized this material. They would also be augmented by additional musicians on future concerts, diluting the sound of the core band. Many fans consider this tour to be the greatest of the band's career and this concert to be the definitive show of that tour.


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A Guy

Lol, my memory says they played more Dark Side songs, but it was 32 years ago, and there was weed involved

[extremis]

Siouxsie and the Banshees some 15 years ago.

[Shaddow2008]

A tie. One of the so-called Farewell tours that KISS did with the original line-up with Ace and Peter, and Alan Jackson where he closed the show with Where were you when the world stopped turning.

Both shows were vastly different, but also both shows were my two favorite live shows.

One add on, I saw Chely Wright near Indianapolis, at a local radio station's hometown tours concert. She was performing at a 4-H facility, and it was only her and two guitarists on the stage unplugged. If I had to pick a truly spectacular concert that would be it for it's level of intimacy with her and the audience.

[holaschaus]

Roger Hodgson, this very year. The ex Supertramp leader, came to my country and gave us a show i'll never forget.

[jackherb]

This may sound weird, but I'd have to go with Garth Brooks in Dallas. I haven't been to many concerts.

[blondelover]

Metallica....They haven't been back for 7 years, and the concert was loud, sold out and fans were on their feet the whole time!