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I've seen Sinatra a few times, Tony Bennett twice, Sarah Vaughn with Count Basie once, Lena Horne, Sammy Davis Jr., Paul Simon, Elton John, Rod Stewart, Ray Charles, Jethro Tull, Dianna Ross, Sly and the Family Stone and others. Most recently caught Paul McCartney in L.A. I have always loved the Beatles, loved most of McCartney's solo stuff, but had considered myself more of a Lennon guy, but I'll tell ya, that was the best concert I've ever seen. Three and a half hours of him giving everything he had, I was impressed by his generosity, and really his humility, because he didn't have to do that.
Concerts I still want to see: Bob Dylan, Sheryl Crow, Led Zeppelin, Stevie Wonder, Stones, (if they would ever play anywhere other than a football stadium), James Taylor, etc. How 'bout you?
The Floyd will never be quite the same. (http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Music/09/15/obit.wright.ap/ - broken link)
Music is so visceral, a good concert has a give and take energy between performer and audience.
Sometimes the raw immediacy is merely sloppy, but that's okay.
I've already posted here before about some of the best concerts I've seen.
Many of them were 20-30 years ago: Grateful Dead in Boulder, Springsteen at Red Rocks, The Who in a tiny sweaty concert hall, but not all of them were in the distant past. The White Stripes at Red Rocks were excellent in 2005, as was Richard Thompson in a garden amphitheater on a summer evening in 2002, Mark Knopfler at Red Rocks in 2001, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers in New Orleans in 2007.
Concerts I want to see live: the front porch soul of MOFRO.
The best one I ever saw was Scars on Broadway at a tiny little 600 capacity venue in Birmingham here in England. The support act was pretty bad and then came on 45 minutes late but it was totally worth it because when Scars came out they blew everyone away. They were only actually on stage for about an hour but it was the most insane 60 minutes of my life.
As for who do I want to see? I would love to see Rammstein live as they have been my favourite band for years now. A bonus would be to see them in Berlin but anywhere would be good. They're planning a massive world tour in 2009 so I'm going to try and get tickets to see them in Germany some time as the atmosphere when they play there is incredible.
Best complete show I have seen:
Nine Inch Nails/A Perfect Circle
Best Live Bands I've seen:
Pink Floyd
Roger Waters solo
Tool
Stabbing Westward
Failure
Faith No More
Alice in Chains
Rage Against the Machine
Breaking Benjamin
I'd think that Led would be one of the best classic rock bands to see live. I've had a couple of their albums over the years, Led I and either II or III, I can't remember, but it was the one with "Gallows Pole" on it. Recently I saw a documentary that featured a lot of live clips, and seems to me that's where they'd really shine. There's a great deal of improvisation in their live music, something you don't get on their albums. Plant and Page are like jazz musicians in that way. Anybody ever see them live? Do I overestimate?
Big Country (on a comeback tour of sorts) at First Ave in Mpls
Bruce Springsteen: St Paul Civic Ctr 1984 (Show #3 of the Born in the USA tour)
The Jam: Wembley Arena Dec 1982 (their farewell tour)
Paul McCartney: Xcel Arena, St Paul (2003?) awesome show, Macca was in great form!
U2: Northrup Auditorium (u of M, Mpls) May 1983: the War Tour--Bono marched all around the auditorium waving a banner
Rubyhorse: Fine Line (Mpls) back around 2002. The band may not be well known, but they put on an incredibly tight set
Randy Newman: Fine Line (Mpls) back around 1993
Blue Rodeo: late '90s at Fine Line
I saved the best for last:
The Zombies: three outstanding shows (two at First Ave, one at Harriet Island) between 2003 and 2008--this band sounds great together, and they almost seem pleasantly surprised that their music is so well-received!
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