Best Live Gig

Supertramp 1979 Wembley arena 1979 absolutely mind blowing , saw them again at Earls Court in the early eighties & later at Sheffield at the arena , also went to see Roger Hodgson in Manchester in 2013 who was outstanding , I have been to cartloads of live gigs but these guys were the best .

 

Focus Sheffield City Hall about 1972. They played a 2 hour set, went off, came back for the obligatory encore, went off came back for another. After coming back for the nth time, the power was cut off to the stage and the house lights came on. Jan Akkerman picked up his acoustic guitar and Thyjs van Leer started playing the concert grand piano at the back of the stage. After a few minutes the power came back on and the lights went off. They played well over 3 hours.

 

Showing my age..... 2001 Sheffield Arena The Reunion tour Roxy Music. My missus had most of their albums and I loved 'em. 1 st 3 minutes the sound was pretty sh*t and sounded like Bryan Ferry's voice had gone but both suddenly hit their stride and it was brilliant. Lighting/set was outstanding and we even had the pleasure of seeing a chorus line line of dancing girls a la Folies Bergère. The rest of the band was on form too with Eddie Jobson on violin replaced replaced by Lucy Wilkins who did a sterling job on the Out of the Blue solo.

Another condender, in part due to the venue was Zucchero (the man credited with bringing Blues to Italy) 2016 Verona Colisseum on his World 'Black Cat' Tour. Many wont have heard of him but he plays places like San Siro, Albert Hall, etc to sell outs. He played 12 sell out nights at Verona. Over two hours with the backing of 14 top musicians from around the World e.f. Kat Dyson, Brian Auger (legendary B3 Hammond exponent. The set amazing with giant hi def screens at either side and an enormous heart shaped one at teh back of the stage. Two hours none stop music from the man.

Worst gig was the same year and venue as the Roxy one above. Neil Young and Crazy Horse. The set looked like some students had thrown an old curtain over a pole. It hung at a strange angle and looked like it needed ironing. I only bought tickets as a present for my wife who was a big fan when she was a student and he was only playing two (or 3?) gigd in the UK on his World tour and had said he would never be back in the UK again she saw him at Wembley stadium many years before. He did a spot midway through the set with just his voice, guitar and harmonica which was OK but the rest with Crazy Horse was terrible. Cr*p lighting, dodgy sound and no big screens (in an Arena!!??) Even my better half said most of the gig was rubbish.

EDIT: Anyone remember Barnsley Civic when John Simmons ran it. He had booked two Bands 'Selector' and 'The Specials' who both charted the same week they played the Civic. At the time I didn't really appreciate them and was more etertained by some of the crowd who for some reason had strapped their legs together and were 'pogo-ing' around the hall bumping into one another. Fun gig though. Spent most of my time propped up at the bar at the back watching the crowd's antics

 

The list is too long.

James Brown about '97 at Leeds Fest
REM '89 Sheffield Octagon
Pixies '89 Sheffield Octagon
Undertones - Top Rank Sheffield '82
Husker Du - Leadmill '86
Thundercat - Brudenell, Leeds 2016
Stanley Clarke - Brudenell, Leeds, 2017
Jeff Mills - Supeconductor, Leeds 2004
PJ Harvey - Duchess, Leeds 1991
Sparklehorse - Sheffield Leadmill 1998

would be touching the tip of a melting iceberg

Maybe Slade - Shoulder of Mutton, near Chesterfield 1983 for comedy value.

 

Dr Feelgood ... Essex Uni about 1974 and Sheffield city hall.
Thin Lizzie ... Sheffield City Hall.
Oscar Peterson trio ... Sheffield Crucible.
Buddy Rich big band ... think it was Barnsley Civic.
Dave Edmunds ... Sheffield Lyceum.

 

Bunch of stiff tour 1977, Elvis Costello, Ian Dury, Wreckless Eric, Nick Lowe and Larry Wallis wasn't bad.

Also Springsteen at St James's Park, Newcastle in 1984.

King Crimson in Nottingham 2018.

 

Oasis Knebworth on the Saturday. Some day out and Barnsley’s finest boxer outside flogging tour t shirts.

Bananarma with my wife on backing vocals was another highlight.

 

I saw Roger Hodgson at Arrow Festival in Holland 2007 he was brilliant , I’m not an avid Supertramp fan but he was impressive . Aerosmith headlined , probably for another thread , but it was the best entrance by a band to the stage I’ve seen

 

Memorable ones include Super Furry Animals, Kraftwerk, Manics, Gorkys Zygotic Mynci and Future of the Left. Recent highlights have been Young Knives, the Wildhearts and Cribs. But if I had to choose one as being on a completely different level it would have to be Leonard Cohen. A truly amazing three hours unlike any gig I've ever experienced.

 

Seen some beauties, but the festival ones are the ones that catch you by surprise, when you are between bands and look at the stage planner and think ‘I’ve heard of them so I will give them a watch’ and finish up getting blown away. And that ranges from Ray Davies (Kinks) through to George Ezra.
But my best bargain gig has to be 2013/14 ish, Mosborough Music Festival (not exactly the highlight of the festival calendar) where we got tickets for just £5 off Groupon.
Artists were a really good Oasis tribute band, Nev Staples of The Specials (fantastic) but, amazingly, Paul Heaton was on too having spent a bit of time out of the spotlight. Anyhow, as I made my way to the front, my wife stood a bit further back clutching her rather large handbag (that she had basically taken to sneak a box of wine in). When I went to grab my pint from her she was talking to a woman who I had never met, but looked strangely familiar, and she was saying what a great idea the big booze bag was and how she wished she had thought of that. I made my way back to the front when Paul Heaton announced his friend was in the crowd and asked her to get up and join him for a song. It was her, ‘bag woman’, who turned out to be Jacqui Abbott. And within months they were back releasing songs and touring together again.
Not that remarkable a story, but top day for a fiver.

 

Thats right. Still in their punky image days.

Great small venue the Octagon. Only held about 900.

 

Roger Hodgson is a super talented guy & his solo show is something special but to me Supertramp are one of those rare groups who are actually better live than on vinyl , they are amazing ,especially their early album tracks

 

Any mid/ late 90s gigs by Prodigy, Underworld or Orbital. Pretty special times for anyone who went.

 

That PJ Harvey gig was immense. The walls were sweating. I interviewed her briefly afterwards. One of the best nights of my life. I had seen her support the Family Cat there before that and didn’t think it could be bettered. She proved me very wrong.

 

Pre fame I saw them at The Adelphi in Hull. Crowd was very sparse. Paul Jackson who ran the place had the deafest dog you’ve ever seen it mooched down the front and fell asleep next to the stage. They played like their lives depended on it. We had a very drunk game of footie with them outside after not sure where Ritchie was but he didn’t join us!!

 

Saw them at GMEX in 1997, up there too.

 

Was at the Sonic Youth / Pavement gig. My mate lost his shoe in the mosh pit.

 

Im off to see hooky at holmfirth next month, cant wait!

 

Agree with that. Only saw The Prodigy at Knebworth, but they were insanely good. I saw Orbital a couple of times in Sheffield and they were very impressive from what I remember. Hazy memories! Chemical Brothers around the same time were also pretty awesome.