Best gigs you've seen

[Twinkle Toes]

Motorhead, Bomber Tour, Cambridge Corn Exchange. Gig was so loud it made my rib-cage vibrate & I was completely deaf for 24hrs after. Pardon?

Rory G, Reading Festival, 1980. First time I ever saw the great man & was blown away.

AC/DC, 1979 @ Hammersmith Odeon. Bon Scott; fantastic performance; nuff said.

The Cult & Big Audio Dynamite at MK Bowl in the mid-80's were tres spesh.

Toy Dolls playing to a venue full of skins on snakebite in Stevenage was a crazy night! Constant stream of injured punters retreating to the back of the venue after being battered in crazed moshery/violence. Band went off after a few songs & refused to play if the shower of spit they were being bombarded with didn't stop. Bonkers Scenes.

The Prodigy in their pomp at The Phoenix Festival; Leftfield; Underworld; Bowie; Orbital @ Wolverhampton Civic; Prince at The O2; the mighty Half Man Half Biscuit in Bilston...

..Oh, & a very special mench to The mighty Nick Cave & TBS + the awesome PJ Harvey. Always boss live-turnary.

 

[Milton Keynes Seagull]

Bowie got a ban and a bill for rocking the Dome that evening. Several seats got torn from their bolts, as people were standing and dancing on the back of them. Only 8 months or so earlier he was there second-bill to The Groundhogs, and almost got booed off! Odd billing dichotomy, I thought.
Amazing what a couple of hits and a zig-zag of make-up on the cheek will do for an artist!

Blimey I was there for that gig. The Dome was about half full and Bowie played an acoustic set that everyone there thought was utter shite.

Other memorable gigs at the Dome (I'm showing my age here!) Family fronted by Roger Chapman (1971), Led Zeppelin supported by Strife (when Zep got banned for driving across the Pavilion lawns in a quick getaway) and a curious three biller featuring Lindisfarne, Audience and Genesis (during their Peter Gabriel period).

The best venue in those days was Big Apple in the old Regent Cinema ballroom. The Stones, the Kinks, and ELP played there.

 

[burrish-gull]

Seeing them in Eindhoven next week, provided my return flight the same afternoon from the compulsory mother-in-law weekend visit isn't delayed.

To be honest I'm not holding my breath expecting anything great. Having seen a few recent performances on youtube it seems Astbury's voice isn't what it was. And I listened to Love a couple of days ago for the first time in decades to refamiliarise myself with it. It sounded like She Sells Sanctuary, plus nine songs that sound a bit like She Sells Sanctuary, only not as good.

Basically I'm going for the one song, and if they pull that one off, I'll go home happy.




"One of the best..." ??

I'm a Love album man myself! I'll be at the Royal Albert Hall and Shephards Bush the week after. I agree his voice is not what it was, but considering he's 45 now its not going to be like it was in his 20's.

Looking back I can of cringe at their 'metal' faze in the late 90's but they are a unique british band and you can't really pigeon hole them. Billy Duffy is sounding amazing on this tour and the current line up are well established so I think you'll have a great night.

YouTube - The Cult | She Sells Sanctuary


"One of the best..." ??[/QUOTE]

Sorry THE best!

 

[Spun Cuppa]

The best venue in those days was Big Apple in the old Regent Cinema ballroom. The Stones, the Kinks, and ELP played there.

I remember The Big Apple, as my Dad worked there. Lots of bean bags, afros and blue smoke!

 

[Smith DID score]

been to shedloads but those that stand out now are those which are a bit spontaneous.

Saw Paul Rodgers at the Town & Country club about 10-12yrs ago when he did a Blues tour, the band included Jason Bonham & Journeys Jonathan Cain. Before the show I saw the playlist on the mixing desk and scribbled it down so was really suprised when on at least three occassions they added extra songs that they had rehearsed when fans yelled out for them.

Was also lucky enough to see a Bon Jovi charity gig at Hammesmith when JBJ and Richie Sambora did a 1hr. accoustic set went off for an interval and came back with the full band for another hour. Did a lot of different stuff one of which JBJ introduced by saying we really envey you in the UK because you got to see this band and we never did, this song is called 'the boys are back in town'. A good night.

One of the others that sticks out was being taken by a mate from Huddersfield to see The Alarm at the Boardwalk in Sheffield (the night after Jake Robinson got his Hat trick ) never thought much of the band before but the post cancer Mike Peters was just SO infectiously happy to be alive and performing that it rubbed off on everyone there including an old rocker like me, would love to see them again now.

 

[blue'n'white]

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band - September 30th 2009 Meadowlands New Jersey
The place absolutely crackled with energy and emotion, the band played for three and a quarter hours and ROCKED.

 

[METALMICKY]

IRON MAIDEN- 18 Times and they have never been less than excellent!

Honourable mentions going to:

Metallica last March at the O2- My first experience of a gig in 'the round' and wished more bands would do it!

Level 42 at the Dome last October- Firmly in the twilight of their career but great to welcome back Mark King with Mike Lindup and in a small personal setting rather than the arenas of their 80's hey day.

Gutted i never managed to see Thin Lizzy with Lynott and the guitar attack of Gorham & Roberston.

Would also love to see The Stranglers again but only with Hugh Cornwall back in the band.

 

[Slowhand]

Bowie got a ban and a bill for rocking the Dome that evening. Several seats got torn from their bolts, as people were standing and dancing on the back of them. Only 8 months or so earlier he was there second-bill to The Groundhogs, and almost got booed off! Odd billing dichotomy, I thought.
Amazing what a couple of hits and a zig-zag of make-up on the cheek will do for an artist!

I remember queueing up all night for those tickets, I still have my original ticket stub somewhere.

Someone threw a scarf on stage which he whirled around his head at the end of 'Let's spend the night together.' before throwing it back into the audience. I nearly ruptured myself trying to catch it, but someone else beat me to it!

Oh happy days!

 

[John Boy]

The Pogues at the MEN Arena in 2006. It was tied in with Brighton drawing away to Oldham so was a decent weekend

 

[GT49er]

The Who, the last gig before the 'Live at Leeds' gig.

Pink Floyd when their transport broke down and they had to borrow a few 4X12's a nd a drum kit from a local band, and a tiny PA (just for the vocals, no mixing desk either!) They just ripped through the stuff from their first two albums - brilliant!

Hot Tuna (half of Jefferson Airplane), standing on rubber mats in a thunder storm at the Bath Festival when no-one else would dare get out there and play.

Tiny Tim exiting the stage on a hot air balloon in the Isle of Wight.

 

[NMH]

Blimey I was there for that gig. The Dome was about half full and Bowie played an acoustic set that everyone there thought was utter shite.

Other memorable gigs at the Dome (I'm showing my age here!) Family fronted by Roger Chapman (1971), Led Zeppelin supported by Strife (when Zep got banned for driving across the Pavilion lawns in a quick getaway) and a curious three biller featuring Lindisfarne, Audience and Genesis (during their Peter Gabriel period).

The best venue in those days was Big Apple in the old Regent Cinema ballroom. The Stones, the Kinks, and ELP played there.

The Bowie supporting Groundhogs was incongruous - an upbeat androgenous glam rocker with spikey red hair and leotard, emulating oral with a feather-haired guitarist slathered in make-up :safeway2: , followed by depressed faded jeans and plimsouls staring at the floor . Bizarre.
It wasn't all acoustic though, he did 'Width Of A Circle' with a brilliant strobed 5minute solo from Ronson, and 'Starman', and 'Hang On To Yourself' if I remember rightly. He himself was armed only with an acoustic guitar though, except for 'Width' when he did that mime of being trapped behind a glass wall. People were jibing "sailor" and "cooee" at him between songs though, this was the first overtly gay act seen in rock!
I wondered if he meant us when he mentioned "the strange ones in the dome.." in 'Drive In Saturday'. :gossip:
His next show there was mere months later, and he presented 'Aladdin Sane' stuff, and his latest hit 'Gene Genie'.

I went to see Zep at The Dome, they got 3 encores ...including a short rendition of 'Jingle Bells', and Plant asked if we wanted to hear them play 'Heartbreaker' again as they'd run out of songs!
I went around the garden afterward and met 3 of them, but Page wasn't into chatting with fans or signing stuff. JPJones and Bonham left in a chauffeured Bentley.... but I heard they rode it just up the street and got in their own cars! :dasreich:

Odd about Lindisfarne headliner - I saw them at The Top Rank, Genesis opened and got turned off in their last song for using magnesium flares (low ceiling, fire risk), Rab Noakes was next and embarrassingly spat out his dentures during one aggressive bit of singing! I was sat about 5 feet from the stage, and his gnashers landed about 2 people away

 

[NMH]

I remember queueing up all night for those tickets, I still have my original ticket stub somewhere.

Someone threw a scarf on stage which he whirled around his head at the end of 'Let's spend the night together.' before throwing it back into the audience. I nearly ruptured myself trying to catch it, but someone else beat me to it!

Oh happy days!

Yeah! Girls were chucking teddy bears, and someone presented him with flowers at one point. I remember being slightly disappointed by the version of 'Let's Spend..' on Aladdin Sane as it wasn't anywhere near as good as that live version we saw and heard.

 

[getofftheropes]

The Specials=worthing
The Undertones=trs
BB King=croydon
Maze,featuring Frankie Beverly=Brighton Center

 

[dougdeep]

Osibisa. Saw them at the Dome many years ago and everyone was dancing in the aisles.

 

[John Bumlick]

PJ Harvey supported by Tricky in Bristol in 1990-something when I was a student.