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I watched a really good documentary about Nirvana’s first UK tour and it got me thinking about how all the great bands stated life doing small gigs and for the fans attending it must have been a great buzz being at the start of something special.
So which great bands/artist have you seen play live either at the beginning of their career or in their prime?
I’m sure some of you must have some great stories.
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Greatest band/artist you’ve seen play live… on 08:59 - Oct 14 with 2365 views
Greatest band/artist you’ve seen play live… on 08:17 - Oct 14 by SMBRANGER
The Beatles 4th January 1955 Hammersmith Odean The Rolling Stones and The Animals Student Rag Ball 20th November 1964 (The Animals were by far the best band on the night, blew The Stones away) Little Stevie Wonder California Ballroom Dunstable around 64/65/66 The Who The Links Youth Club Borehamwood can't remember the date. Seen hundreds of concerts but for atmosphere hard to beat Status Quo whom have seen six times. My favourite past time live concerts and loftus road (Best atmosphere at a match I attended, Qpr V Oldham it was incredible even before the kickoff)
You saw the Beatles five years before they formed..?
Doc Brown, that you?
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Greatest band/artist you’ve seen play live… on 11:05 - Oct 14 with 2295 views
Too many in my own right to choose a stand out best, but possibly the Dead Kennedys at the Music Machine, which was the first time I saw them. I also saw them at every following UK tour, but the first time was something else.
The first time is a continuing theme First gig I took my son to (his choice), was the Zutons at Hammy Odeon. The look on his face when the band started, and you hear your heroes for the first time and the music goes through you...the look on his face was priceless, and you know that you've done your job as a parent.
Similar with my daughter...she was still at school, and I took her and her mates to see the Kooks. I went down the front and had another proud moment as my daughter came crowd surfing over my head.
[Post edited 14 Oct 2021 14:09]
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Greatest band/artist you’ve seen play live… on 13:32 - Oct 14 with 2242 views
Greatest band/artist you’ve seen play live… on 16:57 - Oct 13 by ted_hendrix
They were brilliant no question about that, unfortunately when me and the Missus saw them at Bracknell they were way-way late on stage, we didn't know why at the time but found out later that Paul Kossoff was slowly succumbing to his heroin addiction. I saw an interview with Paul Rogers a long time ago and he said they couldn't get Paul Kossoff straight and sometimes before a gig he'd be laid out back stage in a mess.
Paul Kossoff with his Gibson Les Paul Standard was a top ten blues guitarist, dead at the age of 26.
What a band, I wish I had seen them live. My wife is a massive fan too.
I can play "My brother Jake" reasonably well, well, the chords at least, and whenever I play it, I get emotional thinking about Kossoff's tragic demise
"Things had started becoming increasingly desperate at Loftus Road but QPR have been handed a massive lifeline and the place has absolutely erupted. it's carnage. It's bedlam. It's 1-1."
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Greatest band/artist you’ve seen play live… on 13:37 - Oct 14 with 2235 views
Greatest band/artist you’ve seen play live… on 00:41 - Oct 14 by hamptonhillhoop
I saw the inspiral carpets at subterranea. Was it a secret gig early 90's. I obviously missed the free beer though!
Saw The Smiths last ever gig at Brixton Academy in December 86. Such a great live band.
Blur at Shepherds Bush Empire on the Parklife tour in 94 were also very good. A band on top of their game at that time.
Honourable mention to Pulp at Glastonbury in 95
[Post edited 14 Oct 2021 0:48]
I saw the Inspirals at Brixton Academy and really enjoyed it. Apologies to anyone who I annoyed at the merchandise stand when I asked for a receipt for the vastly overpriced "Mooo!" T-shirt I was buying; it took ages for them to get me one but the wait was worth it because the print started coming off after the very first wash.
I contacted the supplier and they said I wasn't only one who had complained. They then sent me a free T-shirt which was not only far more stylish (gold printing on royal blue akshully), but durable to boot. I still have it well over 25 years later and it still looks good. Hats off to them, very decent of them.
RIP drummer Craig Gill, another tragic death...
"Things had started becoming increasingly desperate at Loftus Road but QPR have been handed a massive lifeline and the place has absolutely erupted. it's carnage. It's bedlam. It's 1-1."
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Greatest band/artist you’ve seen play live… on 13:50 - Oct 14 with 2217 views
Greatest band/artist you’ve seen play live… on 16:51 - Oct 13 by MrSheen
Ummmmm, am I the only person here who hadn't heard of either of those? Sorry RFA, I'm sure they're great!
[Post edited 13 Oct 2021 21:30]
Don't worry, they're not exactly mainstream
Exhibit A
Exhibit B
"Things had started becoming increasingly desperate at Loftus Road but QPR have been handed a massive lifeline and the place has absolutely erupted. it's carnage. It's bedlam. It's 1-1."
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Greatest band/artist you’ve seen play live… on 14:27 - Oct 14 with 2191 views
Greatest band/artist you’ve seen play live… on 12:28 - Oct 13 by terryb
I saw Free at Dunstable Civic Hall shortly after All Right Now had been at number one.
They were very good & they honoured all the bookings they had prior to becoming well known.
Saw Free at the second gig they did at the Half Moon Putney. Loads of people turning up thinking it was "free" to get in. Members of the band clad in fur coats accompanied by stunning looking girlfriends, periodically disappearing with them to the back room. Pretty damn good.
Greatest band/artist you’ve seen play live… on 21:47 - Oct 13 by PeterHucker
In the lockdown last year I made a spreadsheet of all the gigs I've seen since the first one (The Alarm, Southampton Gaumont 1985) Turns out I've seen well over a thousand so picking a favourite is pretty impossible really.
Lots of the gigs seen during formative teenage years left a massive impression and I can still remember loads of details of gigs by 10000 Maniacs / Pogues / Style Council / Depeche Mode / Green On Red / Five Thirty / Sugarcubes / Big Audio Dynamite / Flowered Up / Pixies / Inspiral Carpets / Waterboys etc.
Others that come to mind.....
Johnny Cash, Shepherds Bush Empire 1994 Manic St Preachers, Manchester Apollo 2010 Radiohead, Olympia Theatre Dublin 2001 Radiohead again, Le Zenith, Paris 1997 Scotty Moore & DJ Fontana (Elvis Presley's guitarist & drummer), Mean Fiddler Harlesden, 1999 Ezra Furman, Ritz Manchester 2016 Sinead O’Connor, Guildford Civic Hall 2002 Every Bruce Springsteen gig I've seen but in particular Ricoh Arena Coventry 2013 The Burning Hell, Deaf Institute Manchester 2019 Tindersticks, Bloomsbury Theatre 1995 Super Furry Animals, Brixton Academy 1999
and loads of gigs by The Wedding Present & Elvis Costello, the 2 bands I've seen the most (30ish times each)
You can look up the setlists from millions of gigs at https://www.setlist.fm/ then choose I was there. It then creates your own list of gigs. Mine are under Collegeranger!
Off to see The Boomtown Rats tonight at The Palladium. Have a feeling it won't make my top ten of all time but were a favourite of mine in my school years!!
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Greatest band/artist you’ve seen play live… on 14:38 - Oct 14 with 2177 views
Then there was Stevie Ray Vaughan,Hammersmith Odeon 1988. It was so loud members of the audience were leaving with hands over their ears. Oddly though one of the greatest impact gigs was seeing the first on the road outing at The Marquee of Jethro Tull,playing support to The Savoy Brown Blues Band.This before they descended into the folksy material- Mick Abrahams (later of Blodwyn Pig) in the band,mixture of Blues,Jazz and Rock.....1968.Superb.
Greatest band/artist you’ve seen play live… on 14:38 - Oct 14 by Sonofpugwash
Then there was Stevie Ray Vaughan,Hammersmith Odeon 1988. It was so loud members of the audience were leaving with hands over their ears. Oddly though one of the greatest impact gigs was seeing the first on the road outing at The Marquee of Jethro Tull,playing support to The Savoy Brown Blues Band.This before they descended into the folksy material- Mick Abrahams (later of Blodwyn Pig) in the band,mixture of Blues,Jazz and Rock.....1968.Superb.
[Post edited 14 Oct 2021 14:39]
I used to love Stevie Ray Vaughn and was gutted that I never got to see him play live.
Shows by The Cure, Portishead, My Bloody Valentine, Sigur Ros all spring to mind, but the following was a great night out for me and my boy...
On the eve of my son's 13th birthday, I took him to see Kacey Musgraves on her Oh What a World tour (supporting the Golden Hour album). We got meet-and-greet tix, so got to chat with her before the show, get selfies taken, etc., etc. I mentioned to her that it was the boy's 13th birthday as a conversation starter. Anyway, we got led down to the front after the meet-and-greet. Toward the end of the set, before the final chorus of "Follow Your Arrow," Kacey stepped to the mic and says "We have a boy right here in the front...he just turned 13 tonight! Let's all sing just as loud as we can. Two, three, go!"
And so the crowd roars the chorus in unison:
"Make lots of noise! Kiss lots of boys! Or kiss lots of girls if that's something you're into. When the straight and narrow gets a little too straight, roll up a joint--I would!--and follow your arrow wherever it points!"
Anyway, while the crowd is imploring my son to roll one, Kacey is looking down at him, doing the hand-slash-across-the-throat gesture. She jumps in at the end of the chorus and, while looking back at my son, says, "I'm sorry...don't do drugs!"
Someone captured the moment on video and sent me the file.
[Post edited 14 Oct 2021 15:09]
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Greatest band/artist you’ve seen play live… on 18:42 - Oct 14 with 2065 views
Ian Dury and the Blockheads. Brighton Centre, July 1979. Been to many brilliant gigs, but this is my stand out one, perhaps never to be bettered. Remember it still like it was only yesterday. Thin Lizzy at the Hammersmith Odeon in 1982 comes a close second and Curtis Mayfield at Crystal Palace [not the ground] 1983 in third.
There aint half been some clever bastards.
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Greatest band/artist you’ve seen play live… on 21:01 - Oct 14 with 1957 views
My Bloody Valentine Reading University 1991, was both the loudest and best gig
Stone Roses Heaton Park 2012 though not at their prime was 2nd best gig
Early gigs
Pulp as 3rd support to Lush at the New Cross Venue in 91
Muse, I had a little digital agency at the end of the 90's and their record label Mushroom were one of our clients and we had our Xmas party at their party at The Church in Brixton in 98 and Muse played
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Greatest band/artist you’ve seen play live… on 20:56 - Oct 17 with 1737 views
Greatest band/artist you’ve seen play live… on 14:28 - Oct 14 by collegeranger
You can look up the setlists from millions of gigs at https://www.setlist.fm/ then choose I was there. It then creates your own list of gigs. Mine are under Collegeranger!
Off to see The Boomtown Rats tonight at The Palladium. Have a feeling it won't make my top ten of all time but were a favourite of mine in my school years!!
If there was a football version of that I could write my life off for a couple of months
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Greatest band/artist you’ve seen play live… on 06:14 - Oct 18 with 1620 views
Greatest band/artist you’ve seen play live… on 21:28 - Oct 13 by PeterHucker
Saw James Brown play at V Festival in 1999. I'm sorry to say it was a bit shÃt.
His band (who were great musicians of course) playing the Sex Machine groove for about half an hour & getting us to repeatedly chant his name. Occasionally JB would come out onto the stage, say "get up" a couple of times, do the splits & then fück off again.
Hardest working man in showbusiness my arse.
Was thinking more 60's or 70's James Brown rather than the gun toting, car chasing James Brown in his later years. Still doing the splits at 66 years of age? They must of had to help him back up!
Smells like a trout farm in here
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Greatest band/artist you’ve seen play live… on 07:22 - Nov 11 with 979 views
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