Your greatest gig/show of all time?

One 48

One 48

One 48

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Sexy Grey Fox got me thinking about this with something he said and how it might be a good topic OMG .. I've had a quite a few.

No particular order.

Rammstein ... obviously and recently last year at Coventry ... band was heard up to 12 miles a way ... what more can i say :)

Erm ... Aerosmith back in late 80's, show near Edinburgh (Ingleston) met Steven Tyler that time, biggie for sure meeting him and icing on that shows cake.

Queensryche doing Operation Mindcrime in their prime at Edinburgh Capitol ... we gave them a standing ovation and cheered so loud, the band appreciated it so much, Dokken support on that one I think?

Couple of early Ritchie Blackmore Rainbow shows .. my first ever Rock show in life was seeing Rainbow with Ronnie James Dio and Cozy as part of that old power trio ... it was crazy, was near the front and there was Ritchie right in front of me, his Strat he smashed was a copy though .. what a cheapo, saw him again 1984 and arguably more in his Rainbow prime and he played some blinding good moments on his guitar this ... was Ingleston near Edinburgh again .. and yes it was a replica Strat Ritchie destroyed that night too :) Seen him a few times since and its sad to say Ritchies hard rock days are over now, still great fun though ... massive Deep Purple fan still and along the way have become friends with Jerry Bloom and even Babs whome was Ritchies wife once ... she has a great sense of humour and often slips her love of Ritchie and the good old days into her posts ... bless her :)

Rush .. only saw them once at R30 Glasgow ... pure Magic.

Its really difficult to choose my best show ever .. Pink Floyd at Earls Court, Metallica in London .. I've been spoilt and despite my disability got some good shows coming up soon.

Oh, have to mention Ghost, first time I saw em was supporting Metallica at London 2019 just before Covid ... I'd just heard of them, but by time they finished loved them, saw them later that year before Lock Down and again since ... what an amazing band.

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Couple for me:

Steven Wilson - Royal Albert Hall. This gig was just insanely good, some great guests (Akerfeldt coming on and doing Drag Ropes was a highlight for me)
Nine Inch Nails - Wave Goodbye tour. One of the best band lineups NIN have had and a show filled with quality material.
 
Have been so many great gigs over the years, from obscure black metal bands in dingy basement clubs in Scandinavia to countless gigs at The Wheatsheaf (@SexyGreyFox will know what I mean there) to Metallica and other huge bands in massive stadiums/arenas. Plus was on the mailing list for a few metal record labels back in the day, so used to get backstage passes in the mail for countless gigs like Ozzfest and Monsters of Rock at Donnington.

So it's a tough choice, MoR '88, '91, '92, '95 and '96 are all up there, but seeing as how it's the only time I saw Pink Floyd live it has to be Knebworth '90.

 
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For anyone into Japanese music, I went to see Number Girl when they briefly reformed in 2019. It was just a surreal, "is this really happening" moment for me.
 
Easier to name the worst gig and the only band I have left left after paying good money.

The Mac lads at rock city in the 90s appalling for so many reasons.
 
Nirvana, Rock City 1991

Leftfield were also good there a few years later.

Edit: Oh and Andrea Bocelli sometime early 2005(?) in Newcastle

Kemistry & Storm in the 90's - absolute cracking night
 
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LCD Soundystem for their 'last' UK gig at Brixton Academy in 2010/2011...pretty epic, even though wasn't their final tour!

I saw Foals a lot before at small venues before they released their first album, always incredible gigs.

Young Fathers supporting Massive Attack in Köln, epic.

Kraftwerk at Bestival 2009.

Sigur Ros at Main Square festival in Arras, France.

Fatboy Slim doing a DJ set in an igloo on a mountaintop in Austria.

Flaming Lips at Bestival.

Oof too many. Haven't got to as many shows in recent years.....first festival I went to after (during) COVID was totally lame and kinda put me off!
 
Rammstein at both Downloads and MK
Iron Maiden and Donington '88
Russkaja at Manchester last year.

seen many many other superb shows, but those are the very tops.
 
wolfie138 said:
Rammstein at both Downloads and MK
Iron Maiden and Donington '88
Russkaja at Manchester last year.

seen many many other superb shows, but those are the very tops.
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Suprised to see you mention Donington 1988 my friend, was there too and weather was not great, brill line up for sure ... the two kids accident marred it for me, also the going down there and coming back were 12 of us and of the 12 of us who returned ... 4 died in short order from that trip, (2 were eventual suicides) One was my dear friend Sarah Darnelly who later became infamous as the first lady to die in a North sea oil related accident returning home in a Helicopter ... not superstious or anything, just dont have that many fond memories of that particular show any more.
 
My first proper gig was in 1971 but the best gig I've ever seen is Ghost in Nottingham 2019.
It was perfect, the songs, musicianship, comedy, lights and so on. I will never forget it.

Another amazing gig is a band I thought I'd never see are Clawfinger and they ended up playing a rock pub near me as a favour for the Landlord.

Boston around 1980, that was perfection.
 
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One 48 said:
Suprised to see you mention Donington 1988 my friend, was there too and weather was not great, brill line up for sure ... the two kids accident marred it for me, also the going down there and coming back were 12 of us and of the 12 of us who returned ... 4 died in short order from that trip, (2 were eventual suicides) One was my dear friend Sarah Darnelly who later became infamous as the first lady to die in a North sea oil related accident returning home in a Helicopter ... not superstious or anything, just dont have that many fond memories of that particular show any more.
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Damn that's a lot of sadness in one post, no wonder you don't think fondly of that gig.

Damn. :(
 
Thanks Adidan, never meant to post so sad, but you are right, the real life events overtook that occasion in lots of ways.

In many ways, some of the smaller shows Ive seen bring back happier memories than the bigger shows .. go figure :)

This one from local Inverness recently closed Rock Club Iron Works ... damn I loved that place, was in a bit of a rut at time, but a dear Girlfriend got me coaxed out of my shell and never looked back really!

I was huuming and Haing and trying to wriggle out of it, but went and wowee, got right back into the swing of things again and not looked back since ... hello Cleveland!
See if you can guess who the band are :)

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Your greatest gig/show of all time?​

For me the answer to the above question is very very simple. Knebworth 1976.................like most i had actually gone to watch the Rolling Stones. But there was also another band on called Lynyrd Skynyrd, up to that point i'd never heard of them let alone actually heard them.
By the end of that set the, the entire audience were on there feet rocking like no audience i had ever been a part of before or since. It was almost like a religious experience where everything just makes sense......... i will never ever forget it.
 
SPG said:
Easier to name the worst gig and the only band I have left left after paying good money.

The Mac lads at rock city in the 90s appalling for so many reasons.
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Whaaa? The Macc Lads are great! :cry: Have had loads of fun at their gigs back in the day! Saw them again only a few years ago lol.

Until recently I would have wrestled with deciding a "best gig" as there have been so many awesome shows for different reasons. From epic stadium gigs with Metallica to David Gilmour at RAH. But now it's pretty easy.

1. Rammstein
2. Rammstein
.
.
.
.
.
.
3. Anything else

(I've seen them twice :p)
 
Freakbro said:
aaa? The Macc Lads are great! :cry: Have had loads of fun at their gigs back in the day! Saw them again only a few years ago lol.
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In the late 80s I used to be in a band that did 8 Macc Lads songs and twice when we played Macclesfield two of them turned up, Muttley and Beater. Absolutely fantastic guys and of course I went to several gigs. As you know you had to approach a Macc Lads gig with a different attitude and get ready for a comedy evening.
I've also met at least 10 characters from their songs like Julie, Fat B****** and Alopecia who were in a pub called the Jolly Sailor :)

Another thing with the Macc Lads was I worked on a massive factory with both sexes and all ages from 18 to nearly retirement and there was always arguments about the music being blared out. The only music that everybody didn't complain about was The Macc Lads because everybody was singing along and having a laugh.

For your entertainment this was the band I was in doing Macc Lads songs, very rough round the edges but that was on purpose because we did all Punk songs mainly.
The band was called Pop-Eye and his Semen.
This is the cleanest one I could find because the Landlord ordered me not to swear :) Blackpool
 
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One 48 said:
I was huuming and Haing and trying to wriggle out of it, but went and wowee, got right back into the swing of things again and not looked back since ... hello Cleveland!
See if you can guess who the band are :)

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Enjoy the videos and music that you love, upload original content and share it all with friends, family and the world on YouTube.
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Blocked !!
 
I think context is extremely important for this.

Guns n’ Roses were one of those bands that many teenagers discover and thinks they’ve found god, particularly in my case set against 90s UK pop dross (pop music is soooo much better and deeper now that the abysmal twee ‘pop group’ nonsense that existed back then).

This was songs about ****ing and fighting - hell yeah!

When I saw them in London on their initial reunion tour, it was with thousands of people who knew all the words to the songs and never thought they’d see them live.

It was like a mass karaoke with everyone having the time of their lives - I absolutely love it when you and a stranger are belting the words at each other.

And that’s why that Guns N’ Roses gig was the best I’ve been to. For pure euphoric fun, nothing has come close :)
 
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Nitefly said:
I think context is extremely important for this.

Guns n’ Roses were one of those bands that many teenagers discover and thinks they’ve found god, particularly in my case set against 90s UK pop dross (pop music is soooo much better and deeper now that the abysmal twee ‘pop group’ nonsense that existed back then).

This was songs about ****ing and fighting - hell yeah!

When I saw them in London on their initial reunion tour, it was with thousands of people who knew all the words to the songs and never thought they’d see them live.

It was like a mass karaoke with everyone having the time of their lives - I absolutely love it when you and a stranger are belting the words at each other.

And that’s why that Guns N’ Roses gig was the best I’ve been to. For pure euphoric fun, nothing has come close :)
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Something similar but with Bon Jovi. Yes I liked slippery when wet and they made those type of anthemic songs, but I wasn't a huge fan of theirs overall. One of my g/fs at the time was a big fan though, so I took her (a little begrudgingly) to see them at MK bowl. Well, it ended up one of my top 10 gigs as you just couldn't help be swept away with 10s of thousands of other fans all singing in unison. Combined with him being an excellent performer and they played for hours, with him having to be physically dragged off stage by the road crew as he ran on for his nth unscheduled encore!
 
Probably The Supernaturals at Rock City in 1996 or so. Not the biggest band and not even my favourite band but what a gig. Went with a friend in June it was stinking hot, it was tiny room (200-300 people maybe) and the stage was barely more than a dais with a barrier. Wearing tight t shirts and flared jeans pogo-ing to some belting indie pop. Probably the greatest atmosphere I've been in only a few Super Furries and Arctic Monkey's gigs get close from my pool of experience. We came out ecstatic, sweating buckets and absolutely knackered after jumping up and down for 80 minutes or so everyone had massive smiles on their faces. The planets aligned or something for that gig.

My first Artic Monkey's gig was pretty special, before they'd released a single or the album in the Oxford Zodiac, a Yorkie friend of mine said his mate said they were good and bought 2 tickets. I hadn't heard a single song before going and loved them from the start. As soon as I got home after the gig I rung my cousin to buy tickets for a gig 2 weeks later in my hometown.
 
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