Coolest "Who have you seen live" thread

The Who (twice, could've gone a 3rd time, but don't think it's the same w.o Entwistle)
Pink Floyd (wish it was with Waters)
Bruce Springsteen
Neil Young
Rancid
Bob Dylan (once with Willie Nelson tour at Minor League Stadiums)
Jimmy Buffett (twice)
Allman Brothers (3x March Madness at The Beacon)
Foo Fighters
Alison Kraus (one of wife's favorite singers and Kirby Center in Wilkes-Barre is a cool place,
kind of like a smaller Beacon)

 

In no particular order:

Allmans from the eighth row at the Beacon (Steve Earle did two songs with them)
The Arkells, a Canadian band that sells out arenas and sheds here, in front of 200 drunk and rowdy Canuckistanis in a small club in Dublin last summer
One of the Toronto stops on the Tragically Hip's final tour
Tedeschi Trucks Band from front row at Massey Hall
U2, Police and Peter Gabriel at the Amnesty International show at the Meadowlands
Frank at the Skydome, shitty venue and he was way past his prime but fuck, it was Frank; Liza Minelli was a terrific opener
Billy Joel at the Garden (Tony Bennett came out for "New York State of Mind")
Paul Simon at the Toronto stop on his last tour
Split Enz opening for Tom Petty (@PCLoadLetter)
Dwight Yoakam completely blowing Hank Williams Jr off the stage at some country fest outside Toronto back in the 80s
Alabama, with Roy Orbison opening, back in the early 80s. Friend had an extra ticket and I went to see Roy but Alabama was terrific
Georgia Satellites opening for Tom Petty, probably 1987 or so; Keef once said on any given night some band somewhere is the best in the world, on that night, for 45 minutes, it was the Satellites
Stevie Ray Vaughan opening for Dire Straits at Varsity Arena in Toronto
I have seen The Who a bunch of times but the big band blowout they did on The Kids Are Alright tour was as much fun as any of them
Any Springsteen show of the eight I have seen other than the one from the Magic tour

 

Sigh.

 

Prince (1985; height of purple Rain)
Jacksons with Michael (unbelievable even in 1981)
Earth Wind & Fire
Commodores with Gap Band (1980)
Sade (what a sound)
Madonna (Like a Virgin)
Olivia Newton John (Lets Get Physical) best looking tour ever
Van Morrison (still fantastic)

 

Two remembrances, both in Chicago, separate trips. Chicago was especially good for concerts because of all day games back then.

Covering baseball we always checked the paper to see who was in town. One guy found this on the entertainment agate page, "Things To Do In Chicago." Clarence Clemons and the Red Back Rockers. The show was at Stages Music Hall. Hotel concierge got us tickets. We had no idea where it was, it could have been anywhere in Chicago. Of course, the Dodgers and Cubs play 15 innings, so we had to write quickly to try to make a 7:30 show. It's 7:15 as we're stashing our computers and briefcases in the PR office at Wrigley Field. We head for the exit behind home plate and ask the security guard if he can call us a cab. He said sure, where you going? We showed him the tickets that had the name and address of the place. He said to follow him. We went out the door onto the sidewalk. He pointed up the street. See that red awning? That's it. If Sammy Sosa hit a 500-foot foul ball, it might have hit the awning. We had to walk a couple of hundred yards. The place held maybe 500, had standup tables and six bars. The Big Man had a singer who could do Springsteen songs, and probably half of the E Street Band with him. It was fantastic.

Styx on the Utopia tour was playing at The Auditorium Theater. Kids growing up in Chicago dreamed about playing at that place. The Cubs assistant PR director -- Ned Coletti -- got the band rep on the phone. He happened to be from L.A. and was a Dodgers fan. He would give us 4 tickets in exchange for a Dodgers blue-sleeve undershirt, an autographed baseball and a signed Pedro Guerrero bat. The Dodgers PR guy got that stuff and we set off for the Stage Door Entrance. Once there, the guy made sure we had the bat, gave us tickets and let us in. 10 minutes before the slow started, I walked right across the stage. Really good show because they played a lot of stuff from their first and second albums, not just the third, which wasn't as good. We went to the after-party at the Intercontinental Hotel. James Young and Tommy Shaw where there, but not Dennis DeYoung. They didn't really like him and eventually kicked him out of the band.

 

I went to a lot of concerts in the 1993-98 period. Not so much since then except for a three-show Wilco burst in 2007: Quad Cities, Little Rock (thanks, Jay Farrar & friends), Columbia MO, the latter two on back-to-back nights.

Johnny Cash
Morphine
Hole
Cracker/Counting Crows
Bottle Rockets more times than I can count; saw them one night at The Office then again the next morning at Periscope Records. They were hurting.
Uncle Tupelo
Wilco, from Being There to Sky Blue Sky, nine or 10 times in all
Jayhawks
Rush, my first concert, on the Power Windows tour
The Firm, with Page using the fiddle bow
Concrete Blonde

Edit: Dwight Yoakam put on a great show during his This Time tour.

 

Couple others based on what some others have posted:

- Pete Townshend solo at Toronto's Massey Hall on the Psychoderelict tour (it was my birthday too, we came straight from the Jays-Rangers game), incredible show, great solo stuff and loads of awesome reworkings of Who songs

- Neil Finn solo in a small theatre show, the best of Crowded House, Split Enz and his solo career

 

Favorite experiences, no particular order...

Radiohead at the old 9:30 Club in D.C., my first show and their first American tour, I think. Haven't seen them since but I definitely want to.

Stone Temple Pilots/Butthole Surfers/Flaming Lips at the P.G. County Equestrian Center. Someone kept throwing a boot on stage at Scott Weiland and he lost it and said he'd walk off stage and drink in the back if people didn't stop throwing shit at him. The boots stopped. Also, one of the friends I was with had a broken arm and every time he tried to jump into a mosh pit with the hard cast, everyone cleared out. Don't blame them.

Jason Isbell at the Charleston Pour House in South Carolina. My first Isbell show. Someone bumped into me from behind and I spilled a little bit of PBR on a dude in front of me. I apologized, and he was cool, but his girlfriend lost her shit. Then my girlfriend at the time got involved and almost beat a bitch up. This show was right after Southeastern came out. Thankfully this kerfuffle didn't happen during Elephant.

Jason Isbell and Father John Misty at the Philadelphia Opera House last summer. Tremendous show, followed by myself and my buddy (both very white dudes), going for drinks at Johnnie Bleu, a bar that I don't think a white person had stepped in for at least five years. We had a fucking blast. Such fun people.

Tyler Childers at The Haunt in Brighton, England. Last show there before they renovated the venue. Scored two tix for 10 pounds from a dude at the train station and gave the other one away to someone I met at a pub. I did not know Brits loved Americana, but that show was bananas.

The Hold Steady at the National in Richmond in 2011. The night I stayed sober because I had to drive everyone back to Lynchburg and work early the next morning, and my two friends went on a fucking Jager bender then bought a warm 12 pack of Heineken from a Sheetz for the ride home. Of course one of the dudes passes out in the backseat and dumps a full bottle of skunk piss out on the carpet. Jackass.

Rush in Albuquerque. They played more than three hours, and Neil Peart's drum solo was exquisite. Great setting, great show.

The Flaming Lips at the National in March 2018. I was so, so very high for this show.

Wilco at the Durham Performing Arts Center. Cool venue, and Jeff just let the crowd sing the first verse and chorus of Jesus, etc. Killer vibe.

And a surprisingly good Dawes show on a Sunday night at the National. No opener, they played a double set, and it was terrific. Last second decision to go, so glad I did.

 

Chris LeDoux who opened for Tim McGraw. Chris was way better.

Merle Haggard, even past his prime was a treat.

U2 twice, Seattle and San Jose. The sound wasn't great at CenturyLink. Was right by the stage in San Jose, got some amazing pics.

Garth Brooks. Heck of a show even from the 300 level.

Santana. Wasn't sure how much I would enjoy it. Turned out to be a really fun show.

 

At an Alan Jackson show, warmup guy Phil Vassar was much better.

Saw Santana 3-4 years ago at The Joint at the Hard Rock in Vegas. The show was called "A Trip Through the Hits" so he played all of his older stuff, too. Just freaking blew me away. As an old drummer, I was trying to keep up. Afterward, my thighs were so sore I could hardly walk.

 

Phil Vassar, that's a blast from the past. But man considering this pandemic, Just another day in Paradise seems like a nice play.

Yeah, Santana's wife was his drummer for this show, and wow! She was the best part of the show, which was just stunning.

 

1-7 would be the times I've seen Jimmy Buffett.
After that: Allmans, Skynyrd, Outlaws, Molly Hatchet. All good shows. Marshall Tucker bad sucked.
Heck, I'll even throw out Smooth Sailor, this regional Yacht Rock cover group I saw early last month. That show was a blast.