It wasn't the best ever, but the most special was a DTB show at an auditorium on campus at UPENN, somewhere around 2004. It was about $15 and 20 people showed up. It was like a private show with a living legend. I'll never experience anything like that again.
[Edited on 11/20/2014 by BoytonBrother]
Jack Pearson in Jamey's (berkhath) living room. - The most personal music event I have ever attended. This beat any MTV Unplugged show by hundreds of light years!
Jack w/ Jimmy Hall and the Prisoners of Love - Boogie McCain's -Gadsden, AL. - Jack and Jimmy would have been enough. At about 2:30 AM, when the show was over Jimmy started singing "Amazing Grace" a capella. Jack sat down at the thus far unplayed Hammond organ and started playing along. A 90 minute church service ensued!
I could probably list about a hundred similar shows, but I'll save bandwidth for others.
my brother and i took my dad to see the ABB at the Beacon for the 40th Anniversary of the EAP album. Got 3rd row. They crushed it. He finally understood why we loved the Brothers so much.
I love that for you, Sully!
I took my wife to her first show on Labor Day 2013 in Alpharetta, GA. They hit it out of the park that night! That was pretty special for me. It was the type of show that diehards and new fans would both enjoy...a tough thing to accomplish. I wish I had taken my kids too. I didn't realize it would be my last chance!
I did take my oldest son to see the ABB in Macon in 2011. It was a very good show, but it kind of lost momentum in the final 45 minutes of a very long show....one of those where it would have been better without a 20 minute late drums/bass section. It was also my brother and his wife's first show since 1989, which was one of their first dates. Still, a pretty special night.
My first one back in 1990 at Chastain Park will always be deep in my heart. I was with one of my best friends in the world and we took in a lot of ABB shows together and he even made 2 of the 10 Beacon trips with me. We still talk about the power of that night.
So many amazing concerts when I was younger it is hard to choose but here are some of my favorites.
1. Rolling Stones MSG 1975: first Stones show and loved the petal stage. Clapton guested
2. ELP Yale Bowl July 1974: the band had a quad sound system with speakers up in the stands, it was one of the loudest shows I ever saw but crystal clear. They played all of Karn Evil 9 which was amazing.
3. Guns N Roses 1987: saw them twice in small clubs in NYC right before Appetite was released so they were still hungry and put on killer shows.
4. Deep Purple MkII New Haven June 1973: Short show but they played well that night and was great to see the MKII band in their full glory. The volume was deafening.
5. Black Sabbath Ashbury Park 1975: Sabbath at the height of their power. Great show and there is an excellent SB boot of this show in circulation.
6. Aerosmith/ Ted Nugent @ Schaefer Music Fest August 1975: Great night under the stars in Central Park NYC. As good as Aerosmith was I was most impressed with Ted Nugent as he had just released his first solo album and was a relative unknown on the East Coast. He played the whole solo album and just stood there and played. No caveman act or political ranting and his band was fantastic. I ran out and bought his album the next day and wore that thing out. I miss the old Ted Nugent.
Honorale mention: Ian Hunter w/ Mick Ronson Toads Place New Haven CT: tiny club and I was close enough to Mick R to tie his shoes. They put on an amazing show. As a bonus Steve Jones (ex Sex Pistols) opened with his solo band and played his entire "Fire and Gasoline" album. Amazing night
Don't want to leave the ABB out. Saw them many times since my first show in Cleveland back in 73/74 but my favorite show might just be the last one I saw several years ago in Hartford when they co-headlined the Comcast amphitheater with Santana as I just love the Haynes/ Trucks lineup. Both bands were fantastic that night and it was great to see Carlos come out with the Brothers for a few songs.
[Edited on 11/19/2014 by Bill_Graham]
way too many but;
Stones in Aussie '02 at a small 2000 seater with Angus from A/C D/C jumping onstage-paid only $30 for this
Zepplin '70...mesmerizing
Allman Bros,'94 when a young 13 yr old unknown Derek joined them for 2 'slide' encores...explosive
Pink Floyd,Dark Side & Meddle entire albums..3 1/2 hrs of magic
Allman Bros..w/Duane...mesmerizing & special
Sabbath,'70 unheard of & unseen ever before,Sabbath at their best
....too many others...& the adventures continue......
Stones in Aussie '02 at a small 2000 seater with Angus from A/C D/C jumping onstage-paid only $30 for this
Tell us some more about this, ha
Did Angus play guitar on a song? Did he have his school boy uniform on?
What was Mick and Keith's reaction?
I assume it was pre-planned, but a cool story!
Shavian, I probably should've clarified little better.....I was looking to hear about unique shows, where something was out of the ordinary, making it kind of a rare memorable experience.
That Angus story is a great example. I'd love to know if it was planned and what he did up there.
I fixed the title
Unique?
ELP in Quad - as someone else mentioned.
Yes in the round - round, rotating stage in the center of the audience.
McCartney with Cirque du Soleil opener
Bella Fleck with Chick Corea - interesting fusion
Rave Up - back in the 70's the University of Alabama used to have free shows during homecoming week. One of these (1973?) featured Charlie Daniels (unknown at the time), Boz Scaggs and Freddie King. All jammed at the end on "Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone".
Given the parameters of the thread, I think these qualify:
Bruce Springsteen-Marz, 1994 and Tramps, 1995-club appearances
Bob Dylan-Roseland, 1994-Neil Young and Bruce appearing on the encores
Bob Dylan-Tramps, 1999-rare club performance and with Elvis Costello on encore
Who-Capitol Theatre, 1979
Rolling Stones-Palladium and Capitol Theatre-1978
Bobfest-1992, MSG
J.Geils Band-Great Gildersleeves, 1980
Heat wave, 1980-New Wave Festival in Hamilton Ontario with Talking Heads, B-52's, Elvis Costello, Rockpile and others
Santana-Bottom Line-1979
Peter Gabriel-Bottom Line-1977
Stevie Ray Vaughn-Carnegie Hall
Billy Joel-Carnegie Hall, 1977
Allman Brothers and Eric Clapton-Beacon Theatre, 2009
The above are just off the top of my head. There are dozens of others.
It wasn't the best ever, but the most special was a DTB show at an auditorium on campus at UPENN, somewhere around 2004. It was about $15 and 20 people showed up. It was like a private show with a living legend. I'll never experience anything like that again.
[Edited on 11/20/2014 by BoytonBrother]
I had a very similar experience. I don't remember the year, but DTB played a little place called the Green Room in Seaside Park, NJ, right on the boardwalk. It was a horrible, blustery, rainy night. Drove down by myself kinda spur of the moment. Very few people there. I was right next to the stage, next a super cool bouncer that would guard my spot if I had to get a drink or go to the bathroom. Great night of music. So close to Derek and the boys. It almost felt exclusive.
Unique? Laurie Anderson in the early 80's.
Primus 3D two Summers ago.
Laurie Anderson was more performance artist than musician. Her use of video was really on the edge.
Primus had a 3D light show. You wore the glasses and the laser light show was basically an arms length from your face. Great depth and color in the vectors. I'm surprised it hasn't been used more.
I'd have to say it was Stevie Ray Vaughn in San Marcos, TX in 1981 at a little dive called Cheatham Street Warehouse. Three-dollar cover and about 30 people. He wasn't even Stevie Ray yet, and performed as Steven Vaughn. At that time his brother was the famous one in the area, playing lead guitar in the Thunderbirds, the house band at Threadgill's right up the road in Austin.
A friend of mine said Jimmy Vaughn's brother was playing at Cheatham Street, so we went. Had no idea at the time.
Hendrix at Fillmore East on New Years Eve, not sure of year 69 or 70?
Unique in the respect that this is a very small, ornate venue, usually reserved for symphony performances and theater. This show was not advertised and sold out by word of mouth in about a week's time. I had never seen the Talking Heads and had always loved their music, so this was my chance to at least "dabble". I was absolutely blown away by David's stage presence and command of the material, to this day...top ten.
...more on the Aussie Stones show,both Angus & Malcolm Young joined the Stones for 1 or 2 songs & no schoolboy uniform.Marianne Faithful (Micks ex) was also in the front few rows too. I've never seen Keith & Wood smile & laugh so much on stage while playing,Mick seemed indifferent & I guess it was somewhat planned. After the show was over I asked the guy to my right from Denmark (who'd seen them 45 times) what he thought & he replied "u know,I think that was the Best I've ever seen them".
Prior to showtime there were choppers flying over the theatre circling the 4 blocks closed off.I guess this was a major event for Sydney,Australia.
Went to see DTB at the Webster Theater in Hartford around 2000. Near the end of the show Susan and Jimmy Herring showed up. Well, needless to say what happened, but a 1 1/2 hour show turned into 2 1/2 plus hour show. Unreal.
Jack Pearson in Jamey's (berkhath) living room. - The most personal music event I have ever attended. This beat any MTV Unplugged show by hundreds of light years!
Jack w/ Jimmy Hall and the Prisoners of Love - Boogie McCain's -Gadsden, AL. - Jack and Jimmy would have been enough. At about 2:30 AM, when the show was over Jimmy started singing "Amazing Grace" a capella. Jack sat down at the thus far unplayed Hammond organ and started playing along. A 90 minute church service ensued!
I could probably list about a hundred similar shows, but I'll save bandwidth for others.
Wow...very cool.
I've seen many, many, many shows through the years from dives & small bars to small venues, performing arts centers, coliseums to stadiums. Have seen just about everybody I've ever wanted to see except the Beatles.
But I'd trade some of those shows for the one Rusty just described in Gadsden. Those are two of my favorite musicians. I can only imagine Jimmy singing the closer.
SRV & DT -- Caldwell College (NJ) 1983 with a couple of hundred people.
Hubert Sumlin -- Landmark Tavern (NJ) with 15-20 people.
Luther Allison (NYC) -- 50 people in a club in the Village.
Memorable show because the Tubes stage clothing was stolen from their truck just before the show at the Roxy. They were known for their flamboyant outfits; Fee Waybill stepped up to the mic and announced that they would be doing the show in street clothes, possibly the only time they ever did this.
Gov't Mule with Dave Schools on Bass and Chuck Leavell at Five Points Music Hall in Birmingham. No more than 100 people in the room. That's a qualifier.
DB&GS turns into an ABB reunion in Central Park.How often does that happen?
Bob Dylan walks into Folk City about 3AM,gets on stage and plays a one song(Knockin On Heavens Door) show for me,my friend Joe,David Peel,and Peel's band
Outlaws at Giants Stadium(Todd Rundgren,Poco,Outlaws,Boston was the whole show).They walk on stage in close to 100 degree heat.They open with Hurry Sundown and the skies immediately darkens and it rains on us the whole set until the opening chords of the encore bring the suns out.Yep,Green Grass and High Tides.
An acoustic Warren Zevon at 'Norms" in Birmingham.
I posted earlier in this thread and of course, I left out some shows. One show I left out is the Foghat Blues Benefit at the Palladium in 1977 which included Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Paul Butterfield, Eddie Kirkland, Hubert Sumlin and others.
An acoustic Warren Zevon at 'Norms" in Birmingham.
I was there!
Also saw Zevon acoustic at UAB -Ulman Theater and at the Nick. Saw him with full band (including Kenny Gradney and Richie Hayward of Little Feat) at the Alabama Theater!
My wife threw a surprise party for my 50th birthday and Jimmy Hall was the entertainer for the evening. It was him and another guy on guitar in my brothers back yard! It was 2 hours of initimate AWESOMENESS!
"It's heavy; lay your burden down" WH
Hendrix at Fillmore East on New Years Eve, not sure of year 69 or 70?
I was there as well, FIERCE!!
I also liked Janis and Big Brother opening for the Jimi Hendrix Experience at the Singer Bowl the year before.
I count Buddy Guy and Quinn Sullivan's show last week as one of my favorites too, at 78 Buddy did a 2 hour set kicking his leg as high as a Rockette while playing, he really put on a show! 
Every March Fourth Marching Band I've seen. Out of 3300 shows I've never seen any other band that has 2 guys & a gal doing acrobatics on stilts & with a dance pole, female flaggers & hoopers, Burning Man-style marching band outfits & wild drum accoutrements. The Mutaytor wasn't far behind.
Saw an Oakland band called Sleepytime Gorilla Museum in Reno around 2001. They played several home-made instruments (including a custom-stringed bass instrument referred to as the Sledgehammer Dulcimer/the Slide Piano Log), which used piano strings and was more than 7 feet long; it was played with two sticks: one in the left hand generally used as a fret, and another in the right hand to strike the strings; it also had a metal slide w/ a battery on it), restaurant kitchen equipment, trash can lids and other "found" metal objects. The home-made instrument maker, guitarist & female fiddler were also in a band, Charming Hostess, which I saw a few times. The men dressed in drag & the women dressed as men. They incorporated doo-wop, Pygmy counterpoint, Balkan harmony and Andalusian melody. The women trained in Hungary. Here's the Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charming_Hostess.
Saw my step-brother, who is a world renown New Music conductor, in a 25 piece percussion orchestra performing New Music in SF in the mid-80s. He also conducted a quartet that performed New Music on 1700 or 1800 instruments (lute, harpsichord, etc.)
Saw The Tubes for free at noon in the University of San Francisco gym in the middle of the week in 1985. No wild costumes or any stage show as usual with them. They were wondering how & why their agent booked it, as they said they normally weren't even awake until a few hours later.
1 of the musicians in Split Lip Rayfield plays a homemade one-string bass, named Stitchgiver, built from the gastank of a 1978 Mercury Grand Marquis and a piece of hickory and strung with one piece of Weedwhacker line.
Bruce Springsteen sat in with South Side Johnny & the Asbury Jukes at a club in SF called The Stone. I was a few inches from him.
I met Van Morrison in 1992 at what's now the Boom Boom Room in SF during a Harvey Mandel show. There were about 6 people there & I had JUST mentioned Van's name in a conversation w/ a friend about the difference between great singers & singers with great voices when Harvey ended a song & said "We have a very special guest, please welcome to the stage, Van Morrison." I was dancing & chatting with Van's drop-dead gorgeous sax player. They had just come from their show at another venue. I walked up to Van in the back of the club & told him what happened & that I loved his show the previous year in Berkeley. He said that was a wild story & appreciated that I enjoyed his show.
I can probably think of others.
