What classic bands have you seen live - or which concerts stick out in your memory?

[David Raphael]

I've seen Genesis a couple of times - once on the IT tour (it rained. And rained. And rained) and then again at the Silver Clef concert in 1990 at Knebworth, which also included Dire Straits, Pink Floyd, Page/Plant, Paul McCartney, Status Quo, et al. It rained.

I saw Floyd in 1988 in manchester, UK, which was great. Lasers, flying pigs, flying beds, who could ask for more?.In Manchester I also saw Queen in 1986 (the last tour for Freddie Mercury) and Fleetwood Mac in 1989 (Stevie Nicks was high and had to be restrained by roadies when she tried to climb up the scaffolding).

In 90 or 91 I saw Eric Clapton at the Royal Albert Hall. Phil Collins played drums and Mark Knopfler played 2nd guitar. A great concert - very intimate - and PC played In the Air Tonight.

I won't go into all the great jazz concerts I've seen - Dave Brubeck, Jacques Loussier, Ornette Coleman...

My last great gig was Peter Gabriel in Dublin on his Warm Up tour. Talk about rain....

dR

[Tom Eiselberg]

If we can stick to our own definitions of "classic bands" then my top gigs would be: Pink Floyd - Earl's Court 81, Wembley '88 and Earl's Court '94, Genesis Brighton '80 and Milton Keynes '82, PG Brighton '80, Echo And The Bunnymen Hammersmith Palais '81 and '82 and Royal Albert Hall '83, U2 Hammersmith Palais '82 and The Velvet Underground, Forum London '93 - they were probably crap, but I just couldn't believe it was happening.

[David Raphael]

Wow, Tom, you saw some really defining gigs. The Wall live? Woulda loved to have seen that! Milton Keynes 82, too (what a gig!) and PG in 80. Maybe one day we'll get to see that Milton Keynes footage, for it surely exists! :)
I could have seen VU in the early 90's in London, but for some reason I didn't go. They kind of belonged to the late 60's in my head, I suppose.

[Leon Alvarado]

I would have to go through my closet to see the dates and so forth. I have been fortunate to have seen most of the bands I like in concert. I will have to say that the first time I saw Genesis left the biggest impression on me. I was even able to sneak my Nikon and took some pictures (some are on my page). When they played Supper's Ready from beginning to end it took me by surprised and it was an incredible show as I was in the sixth row and almost dead center. Since then I saw them on three more opportunities including the Turn it on again Tour. I saw Pink Floyd four times and they always lefty me mesmerized. The first time I saw Peter Gabriel was during his tour supporting his fourth album. I saw Eric Clapton over at the Royal Albert Hall and it was fantastic. I've seen The Who on five occasions. I always like to go to a YES concert because they always put a great song that I had never seen live on their set list. As a child I got invited by the people across the street to see a concert. I was seven at the time but got my parent's blessings since the crowd included the next door neighbors entire family. We went to see Santana and as a kid I was almost in disbelief. That was actually the second concert I went with that family, the first one was Blood Sweat & Tears. As I grew older I got choosier with the acts I went to see. In high school I went to several shows whilst living in Ohio but none of them were really my favorites. Later on when I could pretty much could choose who I wanted to see playing I attended to a ton of great concerts. Among them were: Bill Bruford & Patrick Moraz, Roger Waters (3), Dave Gilmour, Pink Floyd (4), Eric Clapton, Yes (6), Anderson Bruford Wakeman & Howe, Jethro Tull (5), ELP, Robert Plant, Plant/Page, John Paul Jones, The Firm, Deep Purple (3), Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel (3), Genesis (4), King Crimson (3), Robert Fripp, Adrian Belew & The Bears, Al Dimeola, Jean Luc Ponty (2), Jeff Beck (2), Alan Holsworth, Asia, Blue Oyster Cult (2), Frank Zappa, Zappa Plays Zappa, Radiohead, Supertramp (2), David Bowie (2), Rick Wakeman, Rush (2), Phillip Glass, The Police (2), The Who (5), California Guitar Trio (2), James Brown. There are a few more but I can't quite remember them without checking my tickets stubs. In all I feel I have seen some great shows and there are only a few bands that I wish I could have seen such as Queen, Roxy Music and Marillion.

[David Raphael]

Oh, yes. I forgot that I saw Yes on the Union tour.
I would have loved to have seen The Who with Keith Moon. Live at Leeds has to be one of the best live albums of all time.
I missed Philip Glass when he toured with Dracula and the Kronos Quartet. Wish I'd seen that one.

[Leon Alvarado]

I saw Philip Glass doing the soundtrack for Koyaanisqatsi as they played the movie in the background. It had to be one of the best shows I have ever seen. It was the sort of show that gave you goosebumps.

[SnowCherry]

Do solo artistes count? I was lucky enough to see Leonard Cohen,Mike Oldfield and Neil Young all in the space of three months in the 1990's and Pink Floyd at Earl's Court in 1994- all were amazing.
Very very happy times indeed.

[breadbin]

Hey, OP (David) I saw that Pink Floyd tour in '88 in Providence RI...they encored with 'Run Like Hell' and I've never been the same. What a senses-feast.

[Ed Kuszajewski]

I've never seen a bad Rush show and I've seen every tour of theirs since 88. Other standouts are Pink Floyd in 94, a dual bill show in 96 that had ELP and Jethro Tull. Another dual bill was Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jeff Beck back in the winter of 90 and I was so fortunate to have seen SRV since he died in August of that year. Clapton on his Crossroads tour (with Mark Knopfler on 2nd guitar), Van Halen on their 15th anniversary tour was really good too! I saw Peter Gabriel when he brought WOMAD to the states in 93 and of course the highly under appreciated Kings X on their Ogre Tones tour in a small theater in Pittsburgh pumping enough volume for an arena show. And even though this wasn't technically a concert seeing Steve play a 1/2 hour acoustic set at borders to promote To Watch the Storms and to get a chance to meet and talk to one of my major influences as a guitarist is one of my most cherished memories.

[Leon Alvarado]

Ed, I saw Stevie Ray Vaughn three times, once opening for the Who, the second one he opened for RUSH and the third time was in a small bar in Austin, Tx called Antoine's. He came in through the door and started jamming with the Lu Ann Barton band, it was very incredible. Of course, this was back around 1984 or 85. In those days Stevie was pretty big in texas but he just started to grow outside of the state. I also have seen King's X only once although I've done some work with them and we have visited each others' places. I would have loved to have seen Steve Hackett play at the Borders near my house, I bet that was fun.

[Rych]

Nice, I saw SRV a couple months before he died. Also saw Anderson/Bruford/Wakeman/Howe. Other Classic bands would be The Moody Blues and Rush. Unfornatley no one from the Genesis camp. Fear its probably not going to ever happen. Ow well

[Hans Noorlander]

I've seen many classic bands in the 70's: Genesis (1978), Pink Floyd (1977 Animals tour), Yes, Santana, Frank Zappa, Soft Machine and Dutch bands like Alquin, Ekseption and Solution. Later on I've seen Chris Rea and Rolling Stones.

[Leon Alvarado]

I knew I forgot somebody, I've seen the Rolling Stones twice. The last one was the Steel Wheel tour, the first time was for the tour promoting the "Tatoo You" album.