Doesn’t have to have been in person, just has to have been hella cool.
Weird Al. No joke. Different outfits and sets for every song. Wildly talented and wholesome man.
Saw Emo Philips open for Weird Al in a rather small venue.
I don’t think you really appreciate his talent till you see him live.
That must have been so good. I saw Emo Philips at a comedy club a few years ago without knowing who he was. I don’t go to many comedy shows, but that was definitely the best one I’ve seen. Probably even moreso because I had no idea what he was like. :D
Hell yeah, I’m not a big fan of watching Emo’s shtick on recordings but seeing him open for Weird Al let me see how good Emo is in person doing his version of standup and interacting with the audience.
That tour really drive home how much musical talent Weird Al’s band has without the costumes or showmanship of the bigger tours. All of that is just icing on top of the music.
Not music but my city has a surprising handful of puppetry troops that put on absolutely phenomenal performances.
They use really elaborate hand built stages, puppets, and other contraption. projectors and paper cut outs for wild visual overlays, compelling emotionally engaging scenes and It’s always for crowds of ~30 or fewer people sitting on a floor. It really feels like the textbook definition of childlike wonder. They are by far the events I get most hype about when I see a flyer / post.
That’s honestly awesome, I love it
I used to work for the largest record company in America at the time, and saw a LOT of concerts of all kinds. My favorites:
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Ella Fitzgerald with the Count Basie Orchestra: Two genuine legends, at the top of their game.
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kd lang: A private performance at a convention, and it was a PERFECT performance. It’s hard to describe what I mean, but I’ve never seen an audience react like that. A few weeks later, I saw her interviewed on 60 Minutes, and she mentioned that every now and then she does a perfect performance, and I knew she was thinking about that night.
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Debbie Harry/ Tom Tom Club: Tom Tom Club (Talking Heads without David Byrne) opened with a blistering set, and then backed up Debbie Harry, who also had her guitarist Chris Stein with her. Just an incredible show.
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Beethoven: Symphony #9: the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt, with Thomas Hampson and Dawn Upshaw, at Carnegie Hall. Harnoncourt was one of my favorite conductors, very influential on my musical education, and seeing him conduct the greatest music ever composed was one of the most memorable musical moments of my life.
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Prince - Saw him twice, and he was unbelievable both times. Frankly, I don’t think those performances were anything special for him, I think he was just that good, all the time.
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Lindsey Buckingham - Private performance in a conference room with about 20 people. He played acoustic guitar, and sang three Fleetwood Mac songs. He sings so intensely, he turns bright red, and he looks like his head will explode. I met him after, and got a photo with him that I still have.
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In person? Streetlight Manifesto at a shithole venue during the dog days of summer on the Somewhere in the Between tour. It was so goddamn hot that the security guys were paying more attention to spraying the crowd with cold water than making sure people were safe. Stage diving, crowd surfing, insane energy the entire time.
On tv? Hard not to say Gojira at the Paris Olympics.
The floutist society in my city had tull in for a concert in the park. I think they made a point of playing the most flute intensive songs from the catalogue or maybe were asked to. Anyway best concert of my life and it was free. Great weather, in the park, near the lakefront.
GWAR in the 00s! I randomly was invited by a customer during my shift at retail. I went in my work uniform. I never washed that uniform.
TJ Richter (Mind Plasma) was in incredible performer, too. I would be shocked if anyone on Lemmy was able to see him; he mainly did performances at warehouse raves and techno festivals, but for the set and setting, his performances were INCREDIBLE to stumble upon and lose yourself in. Rest in Plasma.
IDK how to pick but my late ‘90s to early ‘00s viewings of AFI, HIMSA, Motörhead, Dio, Bad Religion, and Priest are probably contenders for the best.
Either Mr. Bungle on the Disco Volante tour, or Jamiroquai on the Travelling Without Moving tour. Both bands were at their absolute peaks and they were both insane shows.
Chemical Brothers on the Surrender tour and NIN on the Downward Spiral tour get honourable mentions…and i saw the Bob Marley Babylon By Bus tour when i was 5…but i don’t really count that, because i was more interested in the beach balls floating around the crowd than the music.
I would kill to be on the DV tour. I did see them on the California tour which was incredible, and also saw the Easter Bunny two years ago which was cool in a different way.
Just cool: Angine de Poitrine, you’ve probably seen it by now.
In person, probably Black Sabbath on their 13 tour. I cheered so hard that I had to take a knee at one point. First sign of getting old, I guess lol
For music, Thievery Corporation is absolutely fantastic, so is Sylvan Esso
However, I’m a performer and sideshow freak so I end up at a lot of shows. I’ve seen a loooooot of crazy shit. The only one that genuinely chills me to my bones is a stunt called “The Man Who Can’t Be Hung”. Big nope. The coolest was probably when I got to coordinate my friend breathing fire through a fire whip explosion directly above his head. We had three safeties just for that stunt. I also got to coordinate a full body burn. I love being a safety lead.
so is Sylvan Esso
Hell yes. I’ve seen them three times. Absolutely love them live.
Sounds like a cool job!
Probably Blue Man Group in Las Vegas. Great music, great performance, good comedy sketches. It was a great experience all around.
Pink Floyd Division Bell tour, at an outdoor stadium during the city’s annual Exposition festival. Seeing all the rides going, the slingshot was busy all night, David Gilmour down on the stage.
I’m going to see Rush, Geddys getting a little long in the tooth, but there’s a new drummer girl, Anika Nilles.
Seeing the Justice Hyperdrama tour live was incredibly transcendental, and an experience I wish I could experience live again. The lights were so damn cool. https://archive.org/details/justice-live-accor-arena-18122025/Justice+(Coachella+2024+-+Week+One).mkv
The stage production of Spirited Away was magical and captivating enough to hold the attention of my seven year old. For three hours. With subtitles. From the cheap seats. It is really really good.
Penn and Teller’s stage magic show was really something. Some of what I saw has stuck with me for years.
Itchy-O, the marching band from hell, does a show that will leave a permanent mark on you. We were fortunate enough to see them on Halloween, and everyone was in costumes. Hard to beat that.
Afrique en Cirque was incredible, we saw that and 360 All Stars at the Edinburgh fringe one year. That same week, we saw The Shadow Kingdom which was transformative. It’s like a whole animated film that they just create right in front of you with nothing but puppets, a light, a boombox, and two people. It’s truly unique, and I don’t know why more people don’t do a show like this.
Paul McCartney at a music festival in 2013. I know that part of it was just being starstruck by him, but also, it really was an amazing show. I was also as close as you could get without being in the VIP section. He was like, right in front of me.
Cirque du Soleil performances are way up there, too.
