Favorite band to see live in concert?

drgonzo1969

drgonzo1969

Well-known member
Just curious to see what some of your favorite live bands or experiences are? For me, it's High on Fire. I saw them for the first time back in 2007 or 2008 at a little bar in Lawrence, Kansas called the Bottleneck. It's a small venue that holds maybe 200 people. They had such killer energy and hung around and talked to fans after the show. lots of dudes look to Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Eddie Van Halen or John Mayer as their guitar heros. For me, it's Matt Pike. He sparked my love of amplifiers. I have mad respect for all those that came before(i've seen clapton at new orleans jazz fest) but Matt Pikes riffs and tone speak to me on another level. What bands or guitar players inspire you guys?
 
Guided By Voices has been fun, saw them a few times.

Gwar was fun. Not good, but fun.
 
Bricksnbeatles said:
Ween and Squeeze are two live favorites of mine
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I "sort of" saw Ween. Twice.

The first time (maybe' 95-96ish), my friend wanted to go, but it was sold out. We sat outside the venue and heard some of the muffled songs from the street.

The second time (maybe 97-98ish), I was having lunch with my parents at a restaurant bar (owned by Alice Cooper in Phoenix). There was a band playing a sound check for their show later that night, and we got to watch them go through a few songs, and I was really digging it. I thought the guys looked familiar but I couldn't place who they were. I looked up the venue's listing in the paper when I got home (this was before we had internet in our pockets) to find it was Ween, and the familiarity clicked.

I had been aware of Ween since the early 90s but don't think I ever really listened to them until 10 years ago, otherwise these "sort ofs" would have been actual.
 
Some of the most compelling live performance I've ever seen in person was The Claudia Quintet.

This video has a substitute on bass. The two times I've seen them it was Drew Gress on upright who's an absolute monster.
 
Experiences? Mahavishnu Orchestra played at my local high school with their original lineup. Jazz metal, LAF.

Saw Charlie Mingus play a tiny club in Boston unamplified and tell the audience to sit down and shut up, or else.

Sun Ra gave me a stern scowl when I fell out of my seat laughing, about eight feet away from him. Then he decided it was cool and gave a little nod.

Went to see a show my friend was tech director for, couldn’t find him anywhere, but Jack Bruce walked up and chatted me up for a while and tried my bass that I had with me. He wasn’t billed but was part of the opening act.

Reverse scalped a ticket to see a show on Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust tour, five bucks got me in.

When I was in college Aerosmith used to play out on the sidewalk in front of the student union building pretty regularly, ca. 1971. Sounded exactly like Aerosmith, go figure.

I was lucky enough to see hundreds of killer rock and jazz shows all through the seventies and eighties; one big favorite was/is Pat Metheny, who I’ve never seen do a bad show. Other favorite shows were Jaco with Joni Mitchell, Duane Allman with Delaney and Bonnie, Ornette Coleman’s crazy mid-80s double trio, Pink Floyd doing Dark Side when it was still called Eclipse, that Sun Ra show in NYC with about a dozen sax players sitting in, Mountain at Fillmore East on NYE 1970, Faces with Ronnie Wood, Jeff Beck on the Wired tour at a country club venue, and King Crimson on the Lark’s Tongue, Discipline, and Beat tours, all three from fifth row or closer. Then there’s the DeadHead/jam band stuff I used to be into, what I can vaguely remember of that time… :cool:

Haven’t done an arena or stadium show in eons, it’s mostly smaller clubs or nothing for me in my geezer phase.
 
drgonzo1969 said:
little bar in Lawrence, Kansas called the Bottleneck. It's a small venue that holds maybe 200 people.
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The Bottleneck is killer. That venue has had amazing groups roll through it. Definitely a top 5 in KC spot. Also one where they don't complain about the band getting some real stage volume going.

Currently Goose is a favorite and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. I love a band that doesn't mess around on stage and plays close to 3 hours in a show.
 
Passinwind said:
Experiences? Mahavishnu Orchestra played at my local high school with their original lineup. Jazz metal, LAF.

Saw Charlie Mingus play a tiny club in Boston unamplified and tell the audience to sit down and shut up, or else.

Sun Ra gave me a stern scowl when I fell out of my seat laughing, about eight feet away from him. Then he decided it was cool and gave a little nod.

Went to see a show my friend was tech director for, couldn’t find him anywhere, but Jack Bruce walked up and chatted me up for a while and tried my bass that I had with me. He wasn’t billed but was part of the opening act.

Reverse scalped a ticket to see a show on Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust tour, five bucks got me in.

When I was in college Aerosmith used to play out on the sidewalk in front of the student union building pretty regularly, ca. 1971. Sounded exactly like Aerosmith, go figure.

I was lucky enough to see hundreds of killer rock and jazz shows all through the seventies and eighties; one big favorite was/is Pat Metheny, who I’ve never seen do a bad show. Other favorite shows were Jaco with Joni Mitchell, Duane Allman with Delaney and Bonnie, Ornette Coleman’s crazy mid-80s double trio, Pink Floyd doing Dark Side when it was still called Eclipse, that Sun Ra show in NYC with about a dozen sax players sitting in, Mountain at Fillmore East on NYE 1970, Faces with Ronnie Wood, Jeff Beck on the Wired tour at a country club venue, and King Crimson on the Lark’s Tongue, Discipline, and Beat tours, all three from fifth row or closer. Then there’s the DeadHead/jam band stuff I used to be into, what I can vaguely remember of that time… :cool:

Haven’t done an arena or stadium show in eons, it’s mostly smaller clubs or nothing for me in my geezer phase.
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You win! Talk about being born at the right time and place!
 
jimilee said:
You win! Talk about being born at the right time and place!
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Yeah, I lived within walking distance of several world class venues at one time or another and concert tickets were not very expensive at all back in those days. I'd go to 2-3 shows a week pretty routinely for a few years there. And then I've been lucky enough to get comped into many shows because of my MI tech background.
 
One great show I saw a few years ago was Earthless. I just saw they are on tour so I'm doing a plug for them. Check them out!
 
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