5 most important prog concerts you have been too

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I consider live concerts essential to truly appreciate music. If a band isn't good on stage I am less interested even if they may have made some great albums. I want to see bands reproduce their sound live.

By important I mean what are the most definitive or special progressive rock concerts you have been to which helped define your progressive music tastes or set you off on the road to progressive rock obsession? (ie keep it limited to the prog area). I realize not everyone has had the chance to experience some of their favorite bands live, but a list like this might give people insights on what we like and why.

For me:

in no particular order

1977 Renaissance at the Mississippi River Festival--Novella tour

Just a magical night in a great outdoor venue near St Louis. Renaissance was at their peak and I had been obsessed with them for several years. Brought a date (I was in high school) who had never really heard of Renaissance, and this concert made her a life long fan. We had pretty good seats up fairly close---behind the seats was a natural hill amphitheater were you could picnic and bring your own beer etc, believe it or not. I was amazed at how Renaissance could sound symphonic without an orchestra--just the 5 band members. John Tout's piano was incredible, and I really remember Jon Camp's Rickenbacker bass as "lead". Annie Haslam of course wore a long flowing gown, they used a lot of dry ice, almost a perfect concert. I remember my date thinking I was ignoring her because I was so engrossed re what was going on stage. Will never forget Mother Russia and Ashes are Burning live, and I believe they did Song for All Seasons which at that point was not yet released.

1980 Genesis at Kiel Opera House---Duke tour

the last  "small theater" tour Genesis ever did. Kiel was a great 3500 seat opera house with a very close balcony. We were up in the balcony but it seemed like we were hanging right over the stage. Phil still had the full beard and the Hawaiian type shirt if memory serves me. Started out with the pulsating Deep in the Motherlode. Back in the days where you couldn't get setlists off the internet, none of us knew what they were going to play. Played games beforehand of "guess which song they would open with/play etc". The Duke suite was great---Duchess played with pulsating green lights as Phil screwed around with a drum box or something. Ripples was simply sublime, the Cage medley was great, and the highlight for me was the Dance on a Volcano/drum duet/Los Endos medley, which just sizzled and cooked. "Crosses are green, crosses are blue" as the lights changed from green to blue. It was so cool to see them close in that small theater. I remember having to take a leak in the worst way near the end, but didn't want to miss a note so I had to hold it through the encores. All 10 Genesis concerts I have seen are special, but this one holds a special place.

1983/4(?) King Crimson at Graham Chapel, Washington University

Crimson had stopped touring by 1976 of course when I really was of age to go to concerts, so I never saw the first incarnations. The release of Discipline and Three of a Perfect Pair resurrected my interest and I jumped at the chance to see them in this tiny campus chapel, believe it or not. This place couldn't have held more than 800 people, and a fellow prog diehard and I were sitting in the 5th pew, dead center, right in front of Bruford's drum kit, including that huge electronic wall setup he had. At that point, I don't think I even knew what Fripp really looked like, and so it took me a minute to realize that guy who came out and sat on the barstool in the far right corner was Fripp. You could barely see him as he came out first and started playing, and then one by one the others walked onstage, Bruford last. I couldn't believe I was finally seeing Fripp/Bruford et al in person. I didn't know much about Levin at that point other than he had played with Gabriel, and had never witnessed the stick played in person.

What a beast of a band. I was utterly transfixed all night, a mere 20-30 feet away. The sound in that small chapel was incredibly powerful, and I remember my friend and I standing outside on the parking lot afterwords saying to each other, what did we just witness, our jaws wide open with amazement. We felt like we were just knocked upside the head. Incredible.

1987---Pink Floyd St Louis Arena

One of my biggest regrets in life is never seeing Floyd in their 70s prime. Too young for the Dark Side tour, too ignorant at 15 or so of the WYWH tour, and no explanation for missing the Animals tour other than they must not have played in St Louis.  So when they "reformed" it was a no brainer. An air of regret knowing no Waters, but still, to hear One of These Days, Comfortably Numb, some of Shine On and Dark Side etc with at that time the state of the art round video projection screen and the inflatable pig etc, and hearing Gilmour play electric guitar live was great. The cavernous old Arena wasn't ideal soundwise, but I still remember being mesmerized by Gilmour particularly during Sorrow---love that solo and the extended jam of that song-----and during Comfortably Numb of course. We've seen it all on video now, but to finally see it in person was so new and 'real'.

2001 Nearfest--Bethlehem PA

Having discovered Porcupine Tree, Flower Kings and the "prog resurgence" a few years earlier, when I learned that PT was going to play in this festival, my rebirth back into prog big time was commenced. I had never been to a prog festival seeing multiple bands like this, so the whole experience was new. Fantastic 1000 seat venue with pristine sound, I was blown away by all this new music I had never heard----Birdsongs of the Mesozoic, White Willow, Djam Karet, the astounding After Crying from Hungary, and the legendary Banco from Italy among others. Porcupine Tree just blew the roof off the place on Sat night, launching into Even Less with the loudest guitar playing I had heard in a long time.(I am told they shattered a few hall lights).  Played early classics Up the Downstair and Voyage 34 as well as a good chunk of Stupid Dream and Lightbulb Sun songs, including the superb Russia On Ice. Encore was Radioactive Toy, which I knew well from Coma Divine, my first PT purchase. The chance to personally interact and meet the bands, the amazing cd vendors with stuff I never knew existed----it was overwhelming. Hearing all that music live in one venue, with all those differing styles, was a revelation

2003 Nearfest---Trenton NJ

I could just as easily list the 2002 Nearfest also, where I finally got to see Steve Hackett with full electric band, along with reunions of Caravan and Nektar, but the 2003 lineup is hard to top. Day 1 ended with the Flower Kings and Magma. I had been waiting to see the Flower Kings in a proper theater setting after seeing them in a crowded bar setting which was less than ideal. They didn't disappoint with a great  but too short set including the closing of Stardust We Are. Magma I was really not a fan of, but curious to see them in a live setting---certainly unique. The next day we got Sleepytime Gorilla Museum at 11 am Sunday morning, Glass Hammer with a special guest appearance by Rich Williams of Kansas doing Portrait (He Knew), Kraan from Germany, and then an incredible one-two punch of Anglagard (3 mellotrons!!) and Camel. I was blown away by the end of the night. Anglagard I had only recently heard about back then and knew this might never happen again. And seeing Andy Latimer doing Ice, Lunar Sea, Never Let Go, Lady Fantasy etc live was a dream come true, although I was suprised he started the set with Lady Fantasy. Has to be one of the greatest prog lineups for an event ever.

Yes 2002 Tour Riverport St Louis

I have seen Yes dating back to 1977 on the Going for the One, Tormato, Drama, Talk, Open Your Eyes and Masteworks tours, so hard to choose one best Yes concert, but this and the Masterworks tours really stand out. Masterworks would have been perfect if Wakeman had been there. I wanted to see Yes again with the 'classic lineup' so bad, so this was special to hear Wakeman in his rightful place playing those gorgeous keyboards again on Heart of the Sunrise, Revealing Science of God and Awaken, the ultimate Yes song imo. Set list wise, the Masterworks tour was incredible---Close to the Edge, Starship Trooper, Gates of Delirium!, Heart of the Sunrise, Ritual......wow. Honorable mention goes to the Drama tour, looking back now at how odd that whole situation was, but remembering that the music was fantastic. The later Yes concerts soundwise were so good----the cacophonous arenas of old did some mean things to that pristine Yes sound. I was already a Yes diehard so these concerts were more of a celebration of a lot of great prog music over the years.

Honorable mention to---ELP 1977 Works tour; Kansas Leftoverture and Point of Know Return tours; Genesis Encore tour 1982 (last time they played the complete Suppers Ready); all 4 Genesis 2007 reunion shows; Porcupine Tree Deadwing tour; Porcupine Tree FOABP tour (2 shows)........

well, that's more than enough typing---what are your defining progressive concerts?

Edited by Squonkman - April 17 2008 at 21:37

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