OT - Live Concerts, your favorite?

[gampelcrazies]

1. Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band
2. Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band
3. Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band
4. Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band
5. Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

I don't have the wide range of concerts most of you have seen. Not necessarily in order:

1 - Neil Diamond, various - I've seen all his tours since '87 or so. Some missed their mark - there was a period where he was very raspy, for example, and of course he has aged. But at his best - heck of a show.
2 - Billy Joel, Last Play at Shea. I also saw him once at MSG. Great energy.
3 - Boston - in the day - my first concert.

Enjoyed - Barry Manilow, Elton John, James Taylor and Anne Murray.
Enjoyed, but - Judy Collins, who forgot some of her words the last time I saw her
Didn't enjoy - Kenny Rogers (he was the lead in to Anne Murray) and a program where Art Garfunkle read poetry and sang parts of songs, recently).

OTH - I'm an organ fan, so let me recommend:
- Gordon Turk, The Great Auditorium, Ocean Grove, NJ
- Peter Richard Conte, The Wannemaker Organ, Macy's, Philadelphia

 

[Waquoit]

One of my top favorites was The Rolling Stones at Rentschler Field. Because it was the The Rolling Stones at Rentschler Field! And it was a great show!
The best concert week for me was The Clash and Talking Heads (Stop Making Sense tour) at the Agora and the B-52's at the New Haven Agora. (One of those things was not like the other)

 

[Lobo50Fan]

I don't have the wide range of concerts most of you have seen. Not necessarily in order:

1 - Neil Diamond, various - I've seen all his tours since '87 or so. Some missed their mark - there was a period where he was very raspy, for example, and of course he has aged. But at his best - heck of a show.
2 - Billy Joel, Last Play at Shea. I also saw him once at MSG. Great energy.
3 - Boston - in the day - my first concert.

Enjoyed - Barry Manilow, Elton John, James Taylor and Anne Murray.
Enjoyed, but - Judy Collins, who forgot some of her words the last time I saw her
Didn't enjoy - Kenny Rogers (he was the lead in to Anne Murray) and a program where Art Garfunkle read poetry and sang parts of songs, recently).

OTH - I'm an organ fan, so let me recommend:
- Gordon Turk, The Great Auditorium, Ocean Grove, NJ
- Peter Richard Conte, The Wannemaker Organ, Macy's, Philadelphia

I am envious, I would love to be able to see Billy Joel at MSG.

 

[DaddyChoc]

All DMV related. (mostly Maryland)

1. Earth, Wind and Fire at the Capital Center
2. Parliament Funkadelic and Cole Field House. Landing of the Mothership with Bootsy Collins and Mothers Finest.
3. Isley Brothers at the Capital Center
4. Eddie Murphy - Delirious at Constitution Hall in DC.

I recall seeing "One Nation Under a Groove"... they were amazing #PFunk #StarChild

 

[nwhoopfan]

I keep trying to respond, but I give up. I've enjoyed the majority of the concerts I've been to. Too hard to try to rank them.

 

[DaddyChoc]

1. Gladys Knight & The Pips(throughout their career)
1a. While home on leave in June 1974, I went to the Apollo Theater and saw The Voices of East Harlem, The Persuasions(highly underrated acapella group), comedian George Wallace, and Gladys Knight & The Pips on the same bill for a grand total of $5 per ticket for great seats. Talk about entertainment value.
2. The Jackson Five/Jacksons(1970-81) anywhere and everywhere from New York to LA including Lake Tahoe. I attended the Victory Tour in Denver in 1984; A huge disappointment.
3. Earth Wind & Fire(1977-78) Madison Square Garden and The Nassau Coliseum
4. Stephanie Mills at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles in 1980. She opened for Teddy Pendergrass and stole the show. Teddy never got the audience back that night.
5. In July 1972 the Rolling Stones were at Madison Square Garden(Stevie Wonder was the opening act; Imagine that). Tickets were sold in packages of four at $6.50 per ticket by lottery for which one had to submit a postcard(I do not remember if postcard submissions were limited). My postcard was one of the fortunate selections, so the train was taken into the city on a Sunday to pick up my tickets. A soon as I exited the line with my $26.00 purchase, there were hordes of people begging to purchase my tickets. I sold three of them right there for $20 a piece with every intention of attending the concert. The evening of the concert, I , again, took the train into the city and soaked in all the pre concert excitement that permeated the perimeter of the The Garden. It was electric. And there in the crowd was a stunningly attractive woman in bell bottom jeans and a tie dyed shirt holding a cardboard sign offering $25 for 1 ticket. Ignoring the attractiveness of the woman was much easier than walking away from a $18.75 profit, so I was on the next train home certain that I would one day catch The Stones in concert. It never happened. And it was not as if they broke up and quit touring. What did happen was that the ticket prices escalated past my discretionary income. I did, however, eventually see Stevie Wonder at Radio City in 1987(1988 maybe).
6. BB King at the Circle Star Theater in San Carlos CA in 1974. King opened for The Spinners, but it was King singing the blues and playing Lucille that won the night for me. There was a saxophonist in King's band that had been with him over 20 years.
7. Richard Pryor, New Year's Eve 1978, the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. Patti LaBelle was the opening act. Pryor was never funnier. it was the concert that would eventually be released as Wanted: Live in Concert.

Good stuff!

 

[bizarro aj]

I have been to so many shows it's tough to pick the best ones.
1. Led Zeppelin
2. Pearl jam
3. Rolling stones
4. The Doors
5. Queen

 

[msf22b]

When I hear the word concert, I still think of classical (out of date, I suppose).

Truly Memorable concerts that I have been involved in; played by the orchestra I ran at the time:
St Luke's:

1984 Semele. part of the Handel opera Series at Carnegie Hall; Sam Ramey, Marilyn Horne and Kathy
Battle in her coming out party...a frenzied, hysterical, Italianate audience, screaming.

1987 Nixon in China, opening night in BAM, John Adams/Peter Sellers magnificent work: a triumph.

Last summer: Orchestra of St Luke's at Caramoor...a brilliant, moving reading of Fidelio conducted by Pablo Herrera-Casado, one of the new generation of amazingly gifted conductors...tears at the end.

And one I actually conducted: an all Baroque concert, our first season at Caramoor, must have been 1980. In those days there was only cover for the sides and the largest part of the audience was unprotected. As we started the Bach 1st Suite, it started to pour, so I invited the audience on stage and they congregated right with us and around the columns...and we all had a cooking, good time, the group really finding all the excitement in the overture and the refinement of the dance sections...a blast for what was (in those days) a bunch of really gifted kids.

 

[DaddyChoc]

When I hear the word concert, I still think of classical (out of date, I suppose).

Truly Memorable concerts that I have been involved in; played by the orchestra I ran at the time:
St Luke's:

1984 Semele. part of the Handel opera Series at Carnegie Hall; Sam Ramey, Marilyn Horne and Kathy
Battle in her coming out party...a frenzied, hysterical, Italianate audience, screaming.

1987 Nixon in China, opening night in BAM, John Adams/Peter Sellers magnificent work: a triumph.

Last summer: Orchestra of St Luke's at Caramoor...a brilliant, moving reading of Fidelio conducted by Pablo Herrera-Casado, one of the new generation of amazingly gifted conductors...tears at the end.

And one I actually conducted: an all Baroque concert, our first season at Caramoor, must have been 1980. In those days there was only cover for the sides and the largest part of the audience was unprotected. As we started the Bach 1st Suite, it started to pour, so I invited the audience on stage and they congregated right with us and around the columns...and we all had a cooking, good time, the group really finding all the excitement in the overture and the refinement of the dance sections...a blast for what was (in those days) a bunch of really gifted kids.

How about the ones you bought a ticket for or laid out a blanket to watch?

 

[nwhoopfan]

When I hear the word concert, I still think of classical (out of date, I suppose).

That definitely counts in my book. I've been to the symphony a few times over the years, always a great experience. One that really stood out was Beethoven's 9th, they really raised the roof during the Ode to Joy finale! Vivaldi's Four Seasons was great too, probably my favorite piece of classical music.

 

[Teacherdeb]

James Taylor & Bonnie Raitt for free- before they were famous- UMASS, 70
Three Dog Night UMASS 1971
Jefferson Airplane UMASS 70's
Springsteen for free! Football stadium UMASS 73
The Who, Jethro Tull- Tanglewood 74?
John Denver Great Woods- 80's?
Tina Turner Worcester- 90's
Livingston Taylor - whenever he's near!

 

[Teacherdeb]

Reading back through these, I remembered 2 more- Arthur Fiedler, Boston Pops- playing the 1812 Overture at Tanglewood with cannons and fireworks- WOW and perhaps my favorite- Jay Black- 20 years ago at Foxwoods- grey hair, paunch, Brooklyn accent, and then he sang- what a voice!

 

[CajunHusky]

Years and years ago (37 about) I saw Kenny Rogers, just the ultimate showman. The show opened with a comedian I had never seen before by the name of Gallagher (yes the front few rows were issued raincoats) and also featured a fairly new recording artist Crystal Gayle

 

[msf22b]

How about the ones you bought a ticket for or laid out a blanket to watch?

Chicago Symphony Concert Rheingold at Carnegie in '83
OPERA: SOLTI CONDUCTS 'RHEINGOLD'

Levine's last Walkurie at the MET, that we saw in a Movie theater.
Levine told the orchestra that perhaps this was their last concert together and they played like mad-people with a perfect cast...absolutely electric

And back when I was a kid, much loved, very young Italian conductor Guido Cantelli died in a plane crash and the NewYork Phil under Dimitri Mitropolous performed Strauss' Death and Transfiguration in tribute and the Phil as the Met did above played like crazy people.
SYMPHONY PLANS CANTELLI TRIBUTE; Philharmonic to Extol Italian Who Died in Air Crash-- Mitropoulos to Conduct Toscanini Gets Word

One more: again way back to the late 50's/early 60's: Alexander (Sasha) Schneider used to lead concerts at the New School with a small orchestra made up of the best Marlboro players...I remember a exhilarating brace of Haydn Symphonies...got me into a lifetime interest in those pieces.
http://www.nytimes.com/1964/11/02/schneider-leads-haydn-program.html?_r=0

Amazing, I found notices...Enough?

 

[JordyG]

Chicago Symphony Concert Rheingold at Carnegie in '83
OPERA: SOLTI CONDUCTS 'RHEINGOLD'

Levine's last Walkurie at the MET, that we saw in a Movie theater.
Levine told the orchestra that perhaps this was their last concert together and they played like mad-people with a perfect cast...absolutely electric

And back when I was a kid, much loved, very young Italian conductor Guido Cantelli died in a plane crash and the NewYork Phil under Dimitri Mitropolous performed Strauss' Death and Transfiguration in tribute and the Phil as the Met did above played like crazy people.
SYMPHONY PLANS CANTELLI TRIBUTE; Philharmonic to Extol Italian Who Died in Air Crash-- Mitropoulos to Conduct Toscanini Gets Word

One more: again way back to the late 50's/early 60's: Alexander (Sasha) Schneider used to lead concerts at the New School with a small orchestra made up of the best Marlboro players...I remember a exhilarating brace of Haydn Symphonies...got me into a lifetime interest in those pieces.
http://www.nytimes.com/1964/11/02/schneider-leads-haydn-program.html?_r=0

Amazing, I found notices...Enough?

Did you get to see much Szell and the Cleveland? Or Reiner, or was he too early for you?

 

[msf22b]

Did you get to see much Szell and the Cleveland? Or Reiner, or was he too early for you?

Didn't see much Szell, but Reiner was on TV every week and we watch zealously.
Later, I bought all the Chicago records...What a wonderful orchestra Chicago was in the Reiner era.
Transparent, sometimes even light in the strings, but with flexibility in the winds and power in the brass.
In many ways, the orchestra I organized was in that vein.

 

[tomcat]

Way back in 1970 or 71, I believe, James Taylor and Carol King played at Worcester Poly. I was going to school across town and got tickets. Taylor was good as billed, but this Carole King person -- I'd never heard of her, and I was not alone in this (her breakthrough album, "Tapestry," came out in 71) -- blew the place away when she introduced a little song she said she wrote a while back, and sang 'Up On the Roof." Anyway, it was a fine show.

Since then, only a few concerts. There aren't all that many people I'd want to put up with all the concert b.s. to see. The only one, really, is Mark Knopfler. I am trying to make up for the fact that years earlier I could have seen Dire Straits and never bothered -- definitely my loss. We've seen Mark 4 or 5 times, the best being a show in Las Vegas a few years ago. Some of his music moves me to tears, but the tell on this one was the woman next to me, who'd come with her husband, and at the end of the show, as we were all standing and clapping, I noticed she was crying. She saw that and explained that the two of them picked up tickets because they were just looking for something to do that night. She didn't even know who Knopfler was, and there she was, sniffling away, saying it was the best show she'd ever been to.

 

[JordyG]

Didn't see much Szell, but Reiner was on TV every week and we watch zealously.
Later, I bought all the Chicago records...What a wonderful orchestra Chicago was in the Reiner era.
Transparent, sometimes even light in the strings, but with flexibility in the winds and power in the brass.
In many ways, the orchestra I organized was in that vein.

I'll never forget Solti's response upon taking over the Chicago. "The moment I heard them first play I said to myself 'Goodness, this is a world class orchestra. Who knew?' ". I think both Szell and Reiner had that iron fisted approach to their orchestra's and expected nothing less than perfection. As an audiophile I fell in love with Reiner early especially his interpretation of the German repertoire. Some have said Reiner was a little too sweet with the strings. As I've gotten older however I've learned to appreciate how Szell does so much well, the German as well as this and last centuries Russian repertoire. Was Reiner demonstrative or reserved with the baton?

 

[Rixxx]

In the 60s, Pat Boone at the Reading Fair.
In the 80s, Rolling Stones in the old Rosemont.
In the 00s, Eagles at the Santander Arena.

Yes, I have dated myself. Pat Boone was great. lol......

 

[Bigboote]

Reading back through these, I remembered 2 more- Arthur Fiedler, Boston Pops- playing the 1812 Overture at Tanglewood with cannons and fireworks- WOW and perhaps my favorite- Jay Black- 20 years ago at Foxwoods- grey hair, paunch, Brooklyn accent, and then he sang- what a voice!

I saw the Pops do the 1812 Overture at Tanglewood, too -- 4th of July, probably early-mid 70's. Was that an annual concert?

 

[ABachelor6CR]

I was going as for just ONE... but they'll never fly on the Boneyard so give me your top 5

5. Rick James (Hartford Civic Center)
4. Jay-Z (HOT Jam, Hartford Civic Center
3. Michael Jackson (BAD Tour, Hartford Civic Center)
2. Run-DMC, Whodini, Fat Boys, Beastie Boys, LL Cool J (Fresh Fest, Springfield Civic Center)
#1 MC Hammer with Vanilla Ice opening... it was so much energy on that stage (Hartford Civic Center)

5. Tom Petty with the Del Fuegos and Georgia Satellites (Traveling Rock-N-Roll Caravan tour) (Hartford Civic Center)
4. Dire Straits (Brother in Arms tour) (Hartford Civic Center)
3. Deep Purple (Perfect Strangers tour)(Hartford Civic Center)
2. Roger Waters (Pro and Cons of Hitchhiking tour)(Hartford Civic Center)
1. Roger Waters (Radio Kaos tour)(Hartford Civic Center)

 

[msf22b]

I'll never forget Solti's response upon taking over the Chicago. "The moment I heard them first play I said to myself 'Goodness, this is a world class orchestra. Who knew?' ". I think both Szell and Reiner had that iron fisted approach to their orchestra's and expected nothing less than perfection. As an audiophile I fell in love with Reiner early especially his interpretation of the German repertoire. Some have said Reiner was a little too sweet with the strings. As I've gotten older however I've learned to appreciate how Szell does so much well, the German as well as this and last centuries Russian repertoire. Was Reiner demonstrative or reserved with the baton?

Especially at the end, but indeed throughout his career, Reiner's beat was so tiny as to be the but of jokes and anecdotes, the most famous being that of a Double Bass player in Pittsburgh, setting up a telescope in the section so that he could better fathom the Maestros intentions.

It was once said that if 'Reiner ever raised his hands above his head, the Chicago roof would come down.

 

[DaddyChoc]

That definitely counts in my book. I've been to the symphony a few times over the years, always a great experience. One that really stood out was Beethoven's 9th, they really raised the roof during the Ode to Joy finale! Vivaldi's Four Seasons was great too, probably my favorite piece of classical music.

he "played" in those concerts... he's a professional symphony guy.

Im just talking about a concert you bought a ticket for, grabbed some popcorn, sat in a assigned seat based off the ticket and watched others perform... geesh

there's a concert in my bathroom every time the shower is running but I didnt list that lol

 

[meyers7]

Reading back through these, I remembered 2 more- Arthur Fiedler, Boston Pops- playing the 1812 Overture at Tanglewood with cannons and fireworks-

I saw the Pops do the 1812 Overture at Tanglewood, too -- 4th of July, probably early-mid 70's. Was that an annual concert?

My HS band did the 1812 Overture one year. We didn't have cannons though (go figure). We were in the auditorium and we used shotguns (blanks) fired into the old metal trash cans (the kind you used to be able to burn stuff in). Made quite the impression. Knocked a lot of dust and stuff out of the rafters.

 

[bizarro aj]

I have tickets for 2 shows for sale if anyone is interested just pm me. I have 2 good seats in the pavilion at the xfinity center for Tom Petty and Joe Walsh, i also have 2 great seats for Chicago at the oakdale in Wallingford.

 

[meyers7]

Never went to too many concerts growing up. I try to get to a lot of stuff now, but not big time acts. Only small venue, little known acts. Probably the coolest was at a small bar up in Northampton MA (actually Florence). Small being about 20 patrons in the bar. I sat at a table about 10 feet from the "stage". The Floorwalkers (from Ohio), The Delta Saints (from TN) and some local band who seemed like this was where they usually played. Kinda felt sorry for the local band who were supposed to headline the show. But after the first two bands it was pretty anti-climatic. They were almost embarrassed to be coming on after the other two.

But it was neat. Got to sit there listen to the music and talk and have a drink with the band members.

 

[JordyG]

Especially at the end, but indeed throughout his career, Reiner's beat was so tiny as to be the but of jokes and anecdotes, the most famous being that of a Double Bass player in Pittsburgh, setting up a telescope in the section so that he could better fathom the Maestros intentions.

It was once said that if 'Reiner ever raised his hands above his head, the Chicago roof would come down.

I understand Toscanni was the same, minimal in his beat. Yet I also understand that during rehearsal the maestro was wildly demonstrative. Perhaps Reiner was the same.

Did you ever have the chance to see any of my favorite string players: Rabin, Oistrakh, Heifetz--Starker, Rostropovich or Casals?

 

[Golden Husky]

That's typically a mistake if the break up gets messy.

Yeah, but I never have to wonder who's paying for dinner.

 

[Waquoit]

I've seen many big names but the best symphony concert I ever saw was the Pittsburgh Symphony at the Bushnell with Mariss Jansons conducting. They played Beethoven's Eight, Mendelssohn's "Italian" and The Firebird. But it was more than just what they played. I never saw a conductor and orchestra more in sync. It actually reminded me of a Bugs Bunny cartoon the way they sped up or slowed down and increased or decreased the volume on a dime. It was exciting.