10 Classic Gigs

This topic was started on another forum that I am a member of, but I thought i'd bring it to Progarchives!
I have been to watch many gigs over the years and some were memorable for one reason or another. Here is a list of 10 of some of my memorable and "classic" gigs to start you off. These are not in order (of faves) as such but the year is.
Come on guys lets hear some of your fave gigs of the past..........

(Please note all gigs were in the UK).

1976 Automatic Fine Tuning - Long Eaton, Nottingham (1st gig and still my fave gig)
1977 Rush - Birmingham Odeon, Birmingham
1977 Pat Travers - Loughborough University, Leicestershire
1978 Budgie - Kings Hall, Derby
1978 Van Halen - Birmingham Odeon, Birmingham
1978 Wishbone Ash - DeMontfort Hall, Leicester
1979 Led Zeppelin - Knebworth Festival, Hertfordshire
1982 Scorpions - Birmingham Odeon, Birmingham
1980 Robin Trower - Birmingham Odeon, Birmingham
1990 It Bites- Rock City, Nottingham

There's been loads of gigs that i've attended that were great over the years like UFO, Journey, Sammy Hagar, Riot, April Wine, Trapeze, AC/DC, Iron Maiden, King's X, Michael Schenker etc.....ok guy's lets hear yours!

I'll have to check on dates and get back to you.

Magma in Combs-la-Ville, March 2010, the third and the best concert I've seen them in. Most likely one of the best live bands ever. Mindblowing.
Jaga Jazzist, Paris, March 2010. Fantastic.
Tortoise, Paris, December 2009. Fantastic.
Gong, Paris, November 2009. Fantastic + that special feeling that you're lucky to watch real heroes while they're still at it.
GY!BE, Paris, January 2011. Definitely the loudest and most intense... experience ever. More like a contemporary arts performance than a music concert.
Any of the Kumm concert I've been to in Bucharest between 2007 and 2009.
My first byron concert in Bucharest, December 2007.

dates are approximate

This is going to require the time I don't have tonight to think. I'll get back to this one - great topic

Great topic!  I think I'll start with the best concert ever, and the rest in more or less random order.

1977 Renaissance at Massey Hall.  Absolutely superb show, in every way possible.

1976  FM, at A-Space.  FM consisted of Nash the Slash and Cameron Hawkins, and they played Nash's score for the Louis Bunuel film Un Chien Andalou (while the movie ran).  It is the only soundtrack I can imagine for this movie.

1977 Taj Mahal, at the New Yorker.  An absolutely mesmerizing performance, especially considering that blues is not a genre I much care for.

1979 Robert Fripp at the Bathurst St. Theatre, First night of two nights of Frippertronics.  A much more interesting and dynamic performance than the second night, which was oddly flat.

1973  Three Dog Night and T. Rex, at Exhibition Stadium.  I include this because of, well, Marc Bolan and T. Rex.....

1973  ELP at Maple Leaf Gardens.  Brain Salad Surgery Tour.  My first exposure to prog in all its exces--er, glory. 

1976  Van der Graaf Generator at Massey Hall.  First ever North American tour, these guys were just machines.  Hammill prowled the stage relentlessly, like he was looking for his last meal.

1981  King Crimson at the El Mocambo.  How much virtuosity can you pack into a small room?

early 1980s:  a bunch of shows at a small club in Toronto called The Edge.  The Two Garys brought in extraordinary acts:  Nico, Magazine, Fred Frith, Chris Spedding, the Police...and Kevin Coyne, who played the last show there.

Plenty of others, back in the day.....

I haven't been able to go to as many shows as I'd like, but from those I have seen, I think the most memorable are (don't remember the dates right now):
- Rick Wakeman playing the whole 6 Wives of Henry the VIII with orchestra at Hampton Court Palace.
- Roger Waters. As a matter of fact, the last 3 tours he has done (they were all great, though the crowning concert was the last Wall concert... it may not have had such a good selection of songs as the other two concerts, but the show was mind-blowing).

I have also seen Dream Theater on their last two world tours, and it's really entertaining to watch them play.

clarkpegasus4001 wrote: presdoug wrote: clarkpegasus4001 wrote: This topic was started on another forum that I am a member of, but I thought i'd bring it to Progarchives! I have been to watch many gigs over the years and some were memorable for one reason or another. Here is a list of 10 of some of my memorable and "classic" gigs to start you off. These are not in order (of faves) as such but the year is. Come on guys lets hear some of your fave gigs of the past.......... (Please note all gigs were in the UK). 1976 Automatic Fine Tuning - Long Eaton, Nottingham (1st gig and still my fave gig) 1977 Rush - Birmingham Odeon, Birmingham 1977 Pat Travers - Loughborough University, Leicestershire 1978 Budgie - Kings Hall, Derby 1978 Van Halen - Birmingham Odeon, Birmingham 1978 Wishbone Ash - DeMontfort Hall, Leicester 1979 Led Zeppelin - Knebworth Festival, Hertfordshire 1982 Scorpions - Birmingham Odeon, Birmingham 1980 Robin Trower - Birmingham Odeon, Birmingham 1990 It Bites- Rock City, Nottingham There's been loads of gigs that i've attended that were great over the years like UFO, Journey, Sammy Hagar, Riot, April Wine, Trapeze, AC/DC, Iron Maiden, King's X, Michael Schenker etc.....ok guy's lets hear yours! Wow, Budgie in 1978!-i would have given my left you know what to have been at that one!      Couple of Budgie stories-went to college in Ottawa in the early 80s with someone who saw Budgie quite accidentally-he was bar hopping in Toronto, Canada one night-drunk as a skunk, and stumbled into The El Mocambo, and Budgie were playing!        Knew another guy who met a member of Budgie (do not know which one) at the Gasworks, a popular bar in Toronto, and struck up a conversation with someone who said "I am in a group called Budgie"         Man, some people have all the luck I wonder who it was? Well I watched them on the Hide Your Pussy tour, the line-up was Tony Bourge, Steve Williams, Burke Shelley and Myf Isaac on rhythm guitar. I have only watched Budgie 5 times (perhaps suprising given i'm in a Budgie tribute band)  and every time they have had a different guitarist! Tony Bourge, Rob Kendrick, "Big" John Thomas, Andy Hart and Simon Lees. I have met Tony Bourge and original drummer Ray Phillips at the Boat Club in Nottingham UK but they were not in Budgie at the time. I also met Pete Boot because he came to watch one of our gigs. I met Simon Lees because he played with my band on an encore at one of our gigs (his band Anubis was supporting us as we were playing at a Budgie fan club convention). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJm9L_LkflQ My mate saw Budgie with Pete Boot on drums in 1974 when he was 13, as you say, some people have all the luck!

Budgie sure brings back memories-in the early 1980s, when i was about the biggest fan of the band on the planet, i belonged to a fan club called "The Budgie Zoom Club", that was fronted by a fan by the name of Ashley Ryan. Were you a member, and if so, do you know whatever happened to Ashley Ryan?

Fun thread. I have been to a fair amount of shows, but these are the ones that stand out. No particular order: