Nick Danger

I work with someone who saw a lot of great bands over the years: The Who, The Stones, Led Zepplin. But what blew me away is that her mother drove her and her friends two hours to see The Beatles in 1964. Other concerts may well have been better, but . . . Wow! The Beatles!

In my case, it would be working volunteer stage crew at the university when The Ramones came. I got drafted into security, and spent the show between slamdancing fans and the stage. I was within three feet of Joey the whole time. I ended up black-and-blue all over, and I got a Ramones guitar pick.

Giles

not really impressive par se, but sympathy, the final Stone Roses performance at the Reading Music Festival in 1996

Pointyskull

If I follow your concept, it would probably be The Clash, on the London Calling-era tour. It was the last full tour that came to Chicago with the original four members, I believe...

j123vt_99

toss up between Spice Girls and NSync.. jk

Canis Firebrand

Too young for the truly great acts in concert.

But I did see U2's Zoo TV Tour. It was impressive to me, and that's all that counts.

wendersfan

Probably that I first saw R.E.M. before their first album was released.

I play in a band with a guy who saw The Beatles. He's seen just about everybody.

Brain Stew

One of my friends parents won a contest on the radio and chose tickets to the Yardbirds instead of The Beatles! That just blows my mind.

Dubya

While in college I saw Nirvana at a small club in Chapel Hill less than two weeks after the release of Nevermind. A friend dragged me along because at the time I had not heard of them. Needless to say, I became a fan for life after that night.

tommyp007

Pink Floyd on the Division Bell tour. I'm the only one of my friends to see them live, and they are jealous of that.

Turd Ferguson

I saw Stevie Ray Vaughan show with the Stray Cats as the opening act in the Summer of 1989. It was the first and only time Brian Setzer ever played with Stevie. It was special to me because they are two of my all-time favorite guitarists. Here's a snippit from Brian Setzer's interview archive where he remembers the show in question:

Q: I read that one time in Memphis, you played with Stevie Ray Vaughn. Is that true and what did you think about him? (Mark Elan from Memphis, TN & Chris from Crawfordsville, IL)

A: Yes, that's true, I did play with him. First of all, Stevie Ray was magic. It's funny because people always want to know about his guitars and his amps but what I want to tell you is that it was in his fingers. It had nothing to do with his guitar and amp. I think he could have been playing a Silvertone guitar through a transistor radio. That night at "Mud Island" in Memphis I was watching him from the side and he called me up onstage. He handed me his guitar and he said, "Play!". I didn't know what to expect. I thought it would be really loud and just, you know, all over the stage. It wasn't though, it was about as loud as I set my guitars. It even kind of sounded like mine. I was so surprised. He stood there in front of the pedal board with his arms crossed just hitting different pedals. At that moment I realized...jeez, it's all about what's in this guy's fingers. What can I say? He was one of the truly great guitar players. We never played together, at the same time but I'll never forget that night.

Cyberock

I use to do club promoting in Hollywood area. When I was doing that, I get invited to a lot of small club shows that bands were making surprise appearances. It was great to see huge bands at small clubs like the Viper Room that holds like 75 people. I've seen:

Stone Temple Pilots
No Doubt
Anthrax
Sugar Ray
Third Eye Blind
Motley Crue
Alanis Morrisett (spelling)
Lenny Kravitz

I'm sure I'm forgetting some but it always blows people's minds when I tell them about the small clubs I have seen them in.

Rivero

Guns N' Roses. RFK Stadium, D.C. '91.

Lateralus

Grateful Dead. The only groups I would be impressed with are groups that you can no longer see. I would be impressed with The Beatles and Led Zepplin.

nodeerforamonth

Nirvana at the Casbah in San Diego (150 capacity) in '90. Dale from the Melvins on drums.

"Smells Like Teen Spirit" video shoot, Culver City

Nirvana opening up for Dinosaur Jr. in Tijuana (June '91)

Guns & Roses opening for the Stones in LA (first night when Axl fell off the stage & quit the band saying "These are the last shows you are going to see GnR do.")

Janes Addiction at SDSU Backdoor in '89 or so. (capacity was 3-400)

Goo Goo Dolls various times in small clubs '89-'96 (anywhere from 15 people in the audience to about 300)

seeing Beck play acoustically in between sets of other bands at a LA club (he was too young to get in to the clubs, but asked the bands if he could play a couple acoustic songs while they were setting up. "I won't get in the way...")

Beck at other various clubs. Including playing at a BBQ party in someone's backyard. (bought a 12" of "Loser" that he was selling at the party for $4). He was mostly playing acoustic in those days. Once at Toe's Tavern in Pasadena, he broke a string on his beat up guitar. Didn't have any replacements, so he started doing some rap into the mike. Guys in the band playing after him were already set up, so they jumped up onstage and made up a weird jam over Beck's rap.

first Foo Fighters LA show (opening for Beck) at Spaceland.

2 or 3 guys from Anthrax doing a tribute to Husker Du at the Dragonfly in LA.

Neurotic Outsiders a few times at the Viper Room (Steve Jones from the Sex Pistols, Duff & Matt from Guns & Roses, some guy from Duran Duran w/ a ton of guests like the singer for Duran Duran and Billy Idol.)

Green Day at the Whiskey in LA before signing to Warner Bros.

Hole at the Whiskey in LA

Hole at the Palladium when she beat up Mary Lou Lord at the VIP afterparty.

Scream (Dave Grohl on drums) in '89 at a club in San Diego.

Joan Jett being backed up by L7 doing songs by the Runaways.

Slayer playing a club in San Diego (Feb '86). Memorable by the band because a guy jumped off the balcony and went THROUGH the stage! Memorable by me because Jeff Hanneman's guitar amp broke during the 3rd song, so he picked up Tom's bass and played that for the rest of the set. Didn't miss a note, either.

Aerosmith in '83. Tyler was really messed up and flashed his member to the audience. The guitarists were falling down on the stage, not even bothering to get back up, finishing the song like that. They were also spitting goobers into the audience.

Van Halen, October '82 on DLR's birthday in front of 30,000 people.

Motorhead at a small local club in '00 or so.

hmmm... that's all I can remember for now off the top of my head. Tons more...

nodeerforamonth

Oh yeah... forgot

Weezer at the Troubadour (opening for Overwhelming Colorfast). Also saw what was possibly Weezer's first show at some dive place. Both shows were '93 or '94, I think.

Goat3001

I wasn't there but I was impressed when I heard a friend of mine went to the last Dispatch show in Boston.

Coral

Beethoven on his farewell tour. Now try and top that !

The most impressive ones (which isn't that big a deal) are:

Pink Floyd - touring for Momentary Lapse of Reason:
The Who - 1989 (The Kids Are Alright 25th Anniversary)
Rolling Stones - Steel Wheels Tour

Can't say that these were monumental moments/periods in those bands careers - but it does impress some currently in their teens and early 20's.

Deftones

Probably Nirvana. It was one of their last domestic shows before Kurt died.

mike1978

I saw Jimmy Eat World (a band I don't like) open for a friend's band in front of roughy 12 people in Champaign, IL several years ago.

I saw The White Stripes (another band I don't like) with about 100 other people at a show they played with The Waxwings in Chicago.

emhello

Let's see...

Yes (w/both bands - Union tour)
Genesis - 1984
Iron Maiden - 1981 and 1985
The Who - 1982
Rush - 1981, 83, 84
King Crimson - 1984
Grateful Dead - 1982, 83, 85
Rolling Stones - 1981
Pink Floyd - Momentary Lapse and Division Bell tours
Nirvana - before first album released
Pearl Jam - same as above - in a club prior to first album
AC/DC - Back In Black tour
Van Halen - 1983, 84
Slayer - Reign In Blood, South of Heaven tours
Megadeth - Peace Sells tour
Metallica - opening for Ozzy on Master of Puppets tour
Allman Brothers - 1981
Many Bridge School Benefit shows in Calif.
US Festivals in Calif.
Monsters of Rock tour
Most of the Lollapalooza tours


hundreds more.....


An important one I forgot:

Stevie Ray Vaughan - Soul To Soul tour

sherm42

My mom would go see The Doors when they used to play the Whiskey. That always impressed me.

Ergyu

I don't believe I've seen any concerts that would justify an answer of my own in this thread, but a good friend of mine has seen a couple. She saw Green Day in a friends basement in South Dakota once way back in the day, and she saw Offspring in a Garage as well.

Giantrobo

I've got a friend who saw David Bowie back in the 70's and that's pretty cool. I, myself, have seen many shows but no one cares about the bands I like but me so it's hard to answer.

woofman

Pink Floyd

Grateful Dead

The Ramones with Social Distortion

Dolly Parton (Only because they know Slayer are my favorite)

B.A.

Sweet! Most of the bands I have seen have broken up by now.

I saw Smashing Pumpkins at the American Theatre in '93, and Rage Against the Machine at Red Rocks in '96 (I believe).'





I am still impressed that my mom went to see Alice Cooper when she lived in Denver in the early '70s. It's just too funny when you see my mom and imagine her at an Alice Cooper concert.