Most of my concerts, and especially my favorites, have been smaller bands in smaller venues.
Too many stadium bands don’t care about their sound. They just want to be loud or energetic. I saw Ac/dc in 2016 shortly before Brian Johnson retired. It was a great concert, but that was because of the energy not the sound. If you cared about hearing the music then live concerts were horrible with bad singing and who knows what kind of music. I always wanted to hear the music so I found most of the big concerts just were awful to hear. And hearing live recording on the radio? I never saw the point because the sound was awful and you weren’t there to feel the energy.
So, I tries to see mostly smaller bands or good musicians in smaller venues. And most of the bigger concerts I saw were rarely good sound wise and were only good if the musicians knew how to play to the crowd or had a good stage act, etc.
That is why seeing YES in 1977 was a favourite. They played in our old hockey arena, a venue known for its horrible acoustics, but their techs and sound people and others must have truly cared about audio quality because to this day, I’ve seen very few bands where the sound quality was sooo high. They basically ruined my concert going from the age of 14. I’ve seen some great bands where sooo much is lost because of a “need” for volume over clarity.
Edit: I’ll add that they had a rotating stage too which was something else I’d never seen since
Same here. Especially when the venue is general admission, so you can pick your place to watch from. Right up front, in amongst the crowd, hanging out at the back somewhere, whatever place feels right at the time.
My favorite song has always been Metropolis Part I. That was the song that got me interested and it’s been my favorite ever since. And it what has been the song I’ve used to get others interested in DT, too. A Change of Seasons is close second, tho. Learning to Live may be third. The Mirror and Space-Dye Vest are next and my favorite from Awake.
One of my favorite concert moments was the first concert for Awake. Mike was doing a long drum solo and lowly transitioned into just a slow (bum-bum-bum - pause - bum-bum-bum) rhythm. And then suddenly John appeared on stage and they suddenly started into the intro to Slayer’s “Raining Blood”. Just an awesome moment that I still remember clear as day.
First concert , Kiss 1976
lots of favorites- Pink Floyd-original Wall Tour 1980
A local bar used to bring in big names, saw Metallica probably 1983/4, Steven Tyler ( Aerosmith was broken up then) Ted Nugent, and Stevie Ray Vaughan there.
Another bar 45 minutes away, Alvin Lee and Ten Years After and Rory Gallagher, both great shows
Not to go down a Dream Theatre rabbit hole, but they have done some incredible covers. There’s a video on YouTube of them covering Rush’s “The Necromancer” live at Jones Beach, NY in 2003… If I was there, I would have flipped…
First was Love/Hate at the London Astoria in 1991 at 16 and have been lucky enough to see AC/DC, Megadeth and Iron Maiden at small London venues Hammersmith Apollo and Brixton Academy if memory serves me right.
Best is a tough decision between The Wall at the O2, Spinal Tap in 1992 at Royal Albert Hall, or The tiger Lillies but will have to go for multiple times at The Bulls Head in Barnes seeing Bill Posters will be Band - was the remaining members of the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, Bob Kerrs Whoopee Band and assorted guests - discounts on the door if your brought a teddy - wonderful memories
My first one was…Slayer, in June 1996 in Paris (Fr). I was 15 y/o
Absolutely chaotic (what else), they were late (were at a TV show just before), guitar/amps of Kerry King blew out and he got Araya’s bass…and the show lasted something like 70’…so everyone was kinda…upset
Then the best…Can be first time Metallica or recently Devin Townsend…pure entertaining genius.
There has been pipes and fiddlers at the Ceilidh in previous years. There’s also pipers at the Start, T1 and on top of the First Munro (weather permittting) so you get enough culture
First concert was Loverboy with Quiet Riot opening. Worst concert was Rat with an unknown band called Bon Jovi opening for them. Best concert was Billy Joel somewhere around 1986. No opening act, Joel just came out and played for about 3 hours. A great time was had by all.
