Favorite musical performances

[JamesVincent]

Not to start another argument with Burnaby over the Canadianianship of the Band, still one of best and biggest influences in my musical life, especially this excerpt from the Last Waltz.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCSzL5-SPHM

[eric]

Not a bad choice... I can remember sneaking into their concerts in Toronto when they were still the Hawks (I was just a little underage). That being said, I was more interested in following the Good Brothers at the time, since I went to school with them.

[Burnaby49]

Not to start another argument with Burnaby over the Canadianianship of the Band, still one of best and biggest influences in my musical life, especially this excerpt from the Last Waltz.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCSzL5-SPHM

I have the DVD burned on my computer hard drive. Not to slight the Staples but I prefer Evangeline with Emmylou Harris and Who Do You Love with Ronnie Hawkins.

While their new years 1971/72 concert, released as Rock of Ages, was not filmed I prefer it for for the quality of the music and the song selection. The Last Waltz was too much of a grab-bag. Neil Diamond? That was Robertson paying off a favour.

[Judge Roy Bean]

Nothing touches this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASXYB_TQjpc

My mother and father were in the audience when he performed this at the Met in 1972 (with my musical tastes of the time I had no idea who he was). My mom teared up every time she recounted the story of the ovation. I only wish there was a video of it.

[JamesVincent]

I have the DVD burned on my computer hard drive. Not to slight the Staples but I prefer Evangeline with Emmylou Harris and Who Do You Love with Ronnie Hawkins.

While their new years 1971/72 concert, released as Rock of Ages, was not filmed I prefer it for for the quality of the music and the song selection. The Last Waltz was too much of a grab-bag. Neil Diamond? That was Robertson paying off a favour.

I always liked it because it expanded out the harmonies even further. Either that song or them doing I Shall Be Released at the end of the concert with a stage full of musicians. I have The Last Waltz on VHS, DVD, and on my computer and when I was growing up we had it on the old laser disc player, been around it a long time.

[wserra]

From the mid-80s through the very early 90s - pre-kids - my wife and I would go every year to the Saratoga Jazz Festival. It was held at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in the Adirondacks in upstate New York. Beautiful place that got the best musicians, year after year. It went Thursday (I think) through Saturday, with the headliner taking the last slot of the festival, midnight Saturday. In that slot we saw B.B. King, Miles Davis, Count Basie, Ray Charles (just magnetic) and others.

But the one I'll never forget was the Neville Brothers. Warm night but with a decent breeze, so not uncomfortable. By the end of their one-hour set - 1 AM - most people were standing on their chairs, despite the fact that they had been drinking wine and, well, doing whatever, for over twelve hours. Then the Nevilles encored with Brother John / Iko Iko. Within a minute, probably 90% of the audience was in a huge conga line, dancing and singing:

Hey now! Hey now!
Iko iko wan dey.
Jock-a-mo fina wan an dey
Jock-a-mo fina ney.

Unforgettable. This clip was recorded about the same time.

[Famspear]

What a coincidence! I also have The Last Waltz on DVD, and it's one of my favorites. In fact, my copy has been right here at my feet, on the floor next to my home desktop computer, where I had been "re-enjoying" it recently. Indeed, in early May, I ordered another copy from amazon, as a gift for an old friend.

It's all great, and I particularly like the Staples and Emmylou Harris, as well as The Band's rendition of "It Makes No Difference," plus the Joni Mitchell, Ronnie Hawkins, and Clapton performances.

Where would one begin to name his favorite performances? Almost everything from the Woodstock documentary, especially Santana's "Soul Sacrifice."

How about Steve Goodman's live version of "My Old Man"?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6BB1FbCA2I

[Famspear]

In late 1972, my first wife and I had tickets to see the Allman Brothers and the Grateful Dead at a concert at Hofheinz Pavilion at the University of Houston (co-incidentally, the arena where my law school graduation ceremony was to take place years later). Unfortunately, a few days before the show, Berry Oakley was killed in an accident, and the Grateful Dead did the entire show alone.

I don't know of any recordings of the performance that night. I had not been a huge fan of the Dead, although I liked them fine. But, that night, I don't know if it was because I was stoned or what, but they were the most astonishingly tight band I think I ever heard. They had a way of playing -- it was as though they really weren't a group of separate people, but really just one "instrument." Even in the breaks between the songs -- I don't know how to describe it -- they seemed to exhibit a "discipline," a cohesiveness, that I guess I wouldn't think you would expect from a bunch of guys who probably, umm, let's just say: smoked at least as much grass as I did back then (which was a lot, believe me). A really mellow, solid sound. I think the Dead always had a reputation for giving live performances that were just a lot better than their records, and that was certainly true in my experience.

PS: Just for the record, although I smoked a ton of grass from 1969 to the late 1970s including some Indian weed that was supposedly laced with opium, I never inhaled.

[JamesVincent]

PS: Just for the record, although I smoked a ton of grass from 1969 to the late 1970s including some Indian weed that was supposedly laced with opium, I never inhaled.

Yes, yes, and it was international waters. We know.

PS: We already figured that that was where the limericks came from since someone has to be stoned to laugh at them.

[JamesVincent]

My favorite live performance of being in the audience will always have to belong to Metallica. Especially the '93 Summer S**t tour. When I saw them the lineup was supposed to be Alice in Chains, Suicidal Tendencies and Metallica at Merriweather. Unfortunately that was one of the times that Laye Stanley ended up in rehab and Candlebox took over their slot, which was kinda ...ehh. The energy Metallica brings to a concert, still to this day, is unreal. 30 minute long renditions of Master of Puppet, One with fireworks going off in the crowd, and their whole stage presence is something that must be experienced. You can see the concerts on their Live S**t DVD from '93 or from the Mexico City DVD. They actually set 2 world records, recorded in Guinness, for bands. One is for playing for 9 hours (3 3 hour sets) in one day in Paris and the other for playing on all 7 continents in one year after they did a benefit concert for the people stationed in Antarctica.

[Famspear]

PS: Just for the record, although I smoked a ton of grass from 1969 to the late 1970s including some Indian weed that was supposedly laced with opium, I never inhaled.

Yes, yes, and it was international waters. We know.

PS: We already figured that that was where the limericks came from since someone has to be stoned to laugh at them.

Yes, yes, international waters, of course.

And my limericks aren't intended to be funny anyway. Instead, they represent my earnest and serious attempts to create -- to reach out -- to connect with others -- in a way that, ummm..... to paraphrase Arlo Guthrie .... helps me grow and develop and take a meaningful shape in today's complex society.

Yeah, that's the ticket.....

[Cpt Banjo]

How to choose? Doc Watson in 1964, at the very beginning of his career; the Stones in 1965; Otis Redding headlining the Stax-Volt Revue package show in the late 60's; Stephane Grappelli in 1992 (the guy was 84, but he blew everyone in the audience away with his violin and, to my pleasant surprise, piano mastery).

But the one I'll always remember was an early 90's show by Emmylou Harris and the Nash Ramblers, featuring Sam Bush on mandolin and John Randall Stewart on guitar. They played two shows on a Saturday night and as I couldn't get tickets for the earlier one I did my best to stay awake for the one that started at 11:30 pm. It was worth the wait -- it was absolutely the tightest performance I've ever witnessed, with beautiful vocal harmonies and acoustic instrumental virtuosity. They knew it, too: after their encore, they high-fived each other as the audience gave them a standing and screaming ovation.

[Judge Roy Bean]

I once had the opportunity to see Emmylou in an Austin City Limits production from back stage - I still get chills up and down my spine when I hear her.

[Burnaby49]

I'm a big Emmylou fan myself. As I said, she was the best part of "The Last Waltz". I posted this in Chief Rock's discussion in February. Shows you what I listen to at 2AM;

Back to court. Society lawyer heading to closing. He said the Chief said in Examination that he wouldn't comply with any court order, possibly because of his belief system. Chief said "That is incorrect". Judge told Chief that he'd get his chance. Society lawyer really liked Meads v Meads, "extraordinarily comprehensive analysis of the OPCA movement". Brought up two issues in Meads he thought relevant. First split personalities. Chief complicated Examination by going on and on about split personalities. Chief Sino Rock General? Oh, right, that's the guy who's owned by the government. Not me, I'm Hajistahenhway.

just ask me to dance all the slow ones,
hold me close and take me across the floor,
I'll gently lay my hand on your shoulder,
and pretend this never happened before.

Sorry! I'm listening to EmmyLou Harris as I type this and "I'll be your San Antone Rose" distracted me. It's 2:30AM and I'm starting to fade here. Back to the Chief.
. . . . . . . . . .

Get up rounder, let a working girl lay down,
Get up rounder, let a working girl lay down,
You are a rounder.
And you're all out and down.

Weepin' Like a willow and moanin' like dove
Weepin' Like a willow and moanin' like dove
There's a man up country that I really love

[Duke2Earl]

I have rather wide and varied musical tastes...there is very little in music that I won't listen to. Over a long life I have been to more live musical concerts than I can count. But the two concerts that I personally attended that were the peak musical experiences that have stayed with me for years and I can still hear echoes of today are...

Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock
Leonard Bernstein and the Boston Symphony performing Beethoven's 9th at Symphony Hall

And this is not ignoring many other fantastic live concerts I have been to including the Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac, Eric Clapton, and even Bette Midler, and many others over a misspent life..... Alvin Lee and Ten Years After blew my mind and Bonnie Raitt was amazing...and while in Law School I spent wonderful evenings with Arthur Fiedler and Boston Pops at the Hatch Shell but those two listed above were my top musical experiences ever. In truth, I must admit that my Jimi experience may well have been influenced by the crowd and the combustibles I had consumed but all I had consumed when I saw Leonard was a glass of champagne. Music is one of the few things that can transport you out of this world for a time and I truly wish I could have had to opportunity to have enjoyed some of the other incredible experiences described in other posts in this thread....especially that Otis concert.