Coolest "Who have you seen live" thread

This sounds like acts I wished I had seen: Joe Ely, Ray Charles, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Albert Collins, Cheap Trick (who we were supposed to see this summer with Blue Oyster Cult at the Orange County Fair)

 

I saw Felix Fermin hit a homer, one of only four for his career. Does that count?

 

Following up on some acts mentioned upstream, I saw Steve Winwood open for the Allmans at Darien Lake in western New York in the summer of 2013. Perfect spot for him, crowd loved him and he brought the house down with a killer version of "Can't Find My Way Home". Was hoping he'd join the Allmans for a song or two but there was nothing that night, although he did as the tour went on.

Saw the Stray Cats a few times. First time was at Massey Hall in Toronto for a show that was filmed for broadcast (there are clips on YouTube) and they were great. Saw them in the summer of 1984 in the front row (thanks to a girl I knew who worked at the local Ticketron outlet) and they were awful, they were on the verge of breaking up and churned through no more than 60 ho hum minutes. Saw Brian Setzer a couple times in his roots rock days.

 

The best concert I've seen in the last 4-5 years was the Glenn Miller Orchestra, playing at a local theatre/fine arts pavillion. They were awesome, had a singer with them too, just like in the old big-band era. I love that music, inherited several of my parent's greatest-hits CDs I play frequently.

 

A Grammy-winning group is from my town and comes to my church from time to time. I've never seen one of their concerts, but technically I have even sang with them from the very next pew.
For that matter, they actually did did a photo shoot on my property several years ago. They stopped by and asked to shoot in a specific location. I said sure, thinking they were just going to walk over and do it. They said they'd be back. In about an hour a whole fleet of vehicles pulled in the driveway with all manner of equipment, people, costume changes, and the whole works.

 

I saw a version of the Glenn Miller Orchestra some years ago and it was great. I saw Harry Connick a couple of times when he was touring with a big band and have seen acts like Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and there is nothing like a big band at full blast.

 

I was never a Stray Cats fan. Saw them once at the Us Festival. After the first song Setzer looks out at the crowd and says "Well well well, how y'all doin' tonahhht?" Really heavy southern accent. Talked that way the whole show.

Dude is from Long Island.

 

Living Colour, December 1990.

I was pressed against the stage rail at a G/A club. My Celtics starter jacket got destroyed.

They were gods.

Corey Glover dapped me and Will Calhoun gave me a drumstick and thanked me for coming.

17 years old and Corey Glover dapped me and Will fucking Calhoun thanked me for coming.

I was a god.

I bought two t-shirts which lasted until The Great Closet Purge of 2011.

I love them forever for that night.

 

I'm positive I saw Oasis at a small venue in Manchester circa 1993-ish before they became anything of repute, but I have no way of verifying it.

 

Vernon Reid, one of my favourite guitarists, replied to one of my Tweets once. I can die in peace.

 

The Go-Go's at Billy Bob's Texas in Fort Worth in 1983. Then I briefly met bass player Kathy Valentine at the Texas Book Festival a few years back because we have a mutual friend. Then I had a one-on-one interview with Valentine in a community area inside an Austin grocery store in March, just before social distancing became a thing.

 

Love this thread!

Tragically Hip. More times than I can count. Saw them when they were just starting out and playing the university pub as well as arenas many years later. Was always without fail a great show.

Iggy Pop when he had his big comeback. Opened for The Pretenders and then a few months later played our university again. A frenzy on stage with crazy charisma.

Prince on the Lovesexy tour in the old St Pauls Civic Center. Had tix on the floor in the 8th row. An amazing combination of music, stagecraft and performance. Still the best concert I’ve seen.

The Cult and Guns and Roses. The old Winnipeg arena would do a concert bowl set up where they would use one end of the arena and use the seats and have a sizeable general admission area on the floor. GnR was terrible and we were like “who the fuck are these guys?”

Less than a year later they blew up and Welcome to the Jungle was on heavy rotation.

Run DMC. This was when they were well past their prime but venue was great, refurbed theatre with a steep low hanging balcony. They came out and first thing said was “this ain’t no movie show” and invited people to rush the front of stage area. Crowd was a mix of aging hip hop fans and kids who knew them from that Jason Nevins song. They absolutely killed the crowd, nobody was sitting, could feel the balcony moving. Signed autographs for 2 hours after.

Stompin Tom Connors. Front row tix in a great theatre setting. Show was awesome and crowd was super diverse. Tons of old people along with every punk rocker in the city, just a great show.