Best/Worst/Loudest/Weirdest gigs ever?

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BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW

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BEST GIG?

I just can't pin it down to one. Verve at Glastonbury 1993, Iggy Pop Hammersmith Odeon 1987 (I think), God Machine somewhere in north London in the early 90s, Flaming Lips Birmingham a few years ago.

WORST GIG?

There have been many, but I had to walk out of Cornershop at the Bull And Gate Kentish Town many years ago, same with The Damned at Oxford 4 years ago.

LOUDEST GIG?

Add N to X/ Hovercraft at The Garage Islington back in the 90s, physically painful, Butthole Surfers at Reading pushed them close though, but atleast I could go further back for that one, which I did.

WEIRDEST/SCARIEST GIG?

Faust at The Garage back in the end of the 90s. I thought I was going to die, and I wasn't alone.

http://ankst.co.uk/en/ankst117-faust-dvd-nobody-knows-if-it-ever-happened/
 

relocated

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Two bests, at opposite ends of the spectrum, in the mid-sixties.

Geno Washington and the Ram Jam Band because they pumped and the whole audience pumped with them - exhausting but brilliant.

Champion Jack Dupree because he was an old man with a piano and he completely enthralled the audience. We all sat down, silent, in awe of this old boy.

Wierdest, was a Dire Straits gig in the early 90s where Lyle Lovett was a support. Despite his very great efforts everyone ignored him and he gave up. DS were brilliant.
 

MrReaper182

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Best gig

Rammstein at the Brixton Academy in London, Opeth at Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms, Melody Gardot (female jazz singer) at the Barbican in London, Seasick Steve at the Royal Albert hall in London and the Eels at th Astoria in London to name but a few.

Worst gig

Deftones at the Brixton Academy. Sound was rubbish that gig.

Loudest gig

Could not pick one.

Weirdest/scariest gig

I saw Finbegin at the WC2 12 bar in london and it was a weird gig because Finbegin make very wierd music.
 

BenLaw

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Loudest gig was definitely British Sea Power at the Ritz in Manchester about five years ago. It was horrible, which was quite upsetting as I loved the band at the time. Clodagh wangled ear plugs from the bar staff and it was still way too loud for her.

Lots of 'best gigs' here too, but two in particular spring to mind. Mercury Rev at the Manchester Academy, a wonderfully mixed crowd in terms of particularly age, really good natured, and everyone seemed to tbe aken over by the hypnotic and brilliant music. Editors in the first year of Ibiza Rocks (before it got taken over and made sh*t) in San Antonio, probably our favourite band at the time, intimate, packed crowd in a modestly sized venue, and a top atmosphere which was a big surprise from what would have expected to be a dance crowd.
 
Best gigs? Probably The Jam with Big Country in support at Wembley in 82. Also Crowded House (96), their (first) farewell concert was superb. But you could add Dr. Feelgood in the late 70s or The Who... too tricky to pin down.

The Loudest: No question Status Quo (Just Supposing tour in the early 80s) at Hammy Odeon. Also the weirdest as a friend and I were dressed as mods, due to our love of all Wellerisms at the time. A sea of dandruff and Denim was slightly off-putting. Great memories, though.
 

Paul.

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Best gig, A toss up between NiN at Brixton Academy, 65DaysOfStatic at The Croft, or The Electric Soft Parade at The Firestation in Bournemouth. The Electric Soft Parade was a surprise, the album turned out to be a bit weak but the gig itself was a 6 pedal prog meltdown. It was awesome :)

Worst and loudest, I saw Spineshank at the Beirkeller in Bristol (who were good) but were supported by Dry Kill Logic, who were absolutely shocking. I like noisy noise, but it needs to at least have a bit of a tune to it. It was so loud it is possible there was a tune and I couldn't hear it...

Weirdest (but in a good way) I saw 65DayOfStatic play in a cinema doing a live re-score of Silent Running. Odd, but amazing :)
 

BillDay66

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Best

Springsteen - Hyde Park 2012 or maybe Bowie - MK Bowl 85

Worst

Bob Dylan anytime / anywhere in the last 20 years, makes me angry just thinking about how he wilfully mangles the songs that casual fans want to hear 'cos he's bored of them

Loudest

I take my daughter to the Capital FM Jinglebell Ball at the O2 and its just a mess of overblown bass from start to finish - she thinks its good :?

Weirdest

Easy, George Clinton at the Brixton Academy in the 80's - red, white and blue dreads to go with his nice purple dress!
 

richardw42

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Best

ive been to lots of great ones. But I saw Inspiral Carpets at the Oasis in Swindon 20+ years ago. I was completely knackered afterwards.

more recently. Muse last year in a more civilised 40 something way. Saw Goodfrapp last week which left me stunned.

Worst

only ever walked out once. The Beautiful South, again a long time ago.

Loudest

ive seen Rammstein a few times. And that's loud. Raging Speedhorn were uncomfortably loud.

Scariest

saw The Cult in MK. MENTAL, people were crying to get out of the front.
 
plastic penguin said:
Best gigs? Probably The Jam with Big Country in support at Wembley in 82. Also Crowded House (96), their (first) farewell concert was superb. But you could add Dr. Feelgood in the late 70s or The Who... too tricky to pin down.

The Loudest: No question Status Quo (Just Supposing tour in the early 80s) at Hammy Odeon. Also the weirdest as a friend and I were dressed as mods, due to our love of all Wellerisms at the time. A sea of dandruff and Denim was slightly off-putting. Great memories, though.

Just remembered: Muse at the Brixton Academy in early 2000s, with Cooper Temple Clause supporting. Staggeringly good.

The most disappointing: Eric Clapton. Expecting him to play his blues stuff, but he was reluctant and most of his playlist was ballardy stuff. After about half an hour we trooped off to the bar (many others followed).
 

jjbomber

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Best: Zeppelin at Knebworth 4th August 1979 or Bruce Springsteen Independence day 1985 at Wembley

Worst: Dire Straits 1985. Died of boredom.

Loudest: Motorhead 1981/1982

Weirdest: Deep Purple NEC 1992. It stated off with Blackmore throwing a pint at Gillan then storming off. He played most of the gig sitting behind his cabs. Ho only appeared for the instrumental bits when Gillan walked off stage. Every guitar solo was cut short as Blackmore's guitar was switched off and he strummed in silence. Then Blackmore would walk off so Gillan would reappear.

.... though I could nominate Guns n Roses for all 4 categories!!!
 

chrisr1718

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Best Gig: Got to go for two here, Queen at Hammersmith Odeon (or any other Queen gig) and Bowie at Fairfield Halls Croydon. Both gigs absolutely blew me away.

Worst: The Glitter Band, need I say more... :oops:

Loudest: Slade were the loudest band I ever saw, at The Orchid Ballroon in Purley and at The Palladium. Came away from both with my head banging and my ears ringing. Amazing live band!

Wierdest: Fripp & Eno! Came away from that thinking, "what was that all about". Another one, not so much weird but totally unexpected, The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, support band to ... Slade.

Well thats my lot. I'm sure I could think of other ones but they were the ones that sprang to mind.
 

richardw42

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Just to add one for weird category.

More strange really.

Some weeks ago I went to see John Harle & Marc Almond perform their album The Tyburn Tree. I do like the album but knew it wouldn't be long enough for a live performance, so hoped we might see some of Almonds solo stuff.

Arrived at Colston Hall, all quiet. Then on time John Harle and musicians walk out and sat down, still silence and then proceeded to play half a dozen songs for 45 minutes or so. Pretty excruciating stuff. And no Marc Almond.

Second half was much better, almond came out and did the album. No real interaction with the crowd.

I knew the friend I went with prob wouldn't be into it, but she reminds me every day how much she hated every second of it.
 

DIB

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My worst gig? Definitely The Fall, at Rafters in Manchester around 1978. Words cannot describe how bloody awful it was. Me and my mate still talk about how bad it was.

.
 

Big Chris

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Best gig? Still have a place in my heart for my first ever gig. Metallica, Wembley Arena, May 1990..... Back when they were still good. Have to say that in more recent times, Opeth's Roundhouse gig and Meshuggah's The Forum gig from a couple of years back are stand-outs.

Worst gig? Fear Factory at The Astoria was pretty bad, Fear Factory weren't too bad, but far from their best, it was more to do with the venue packing in waaay too many people than it could safely accomodate. Me being a great hulking lump, it wasn't too bad, but The Wife was actually getting a bit frightened so we left early..

Loudest gig? Probably Meshuggah at The Forum. Like being hit by a sonic juggernaut but still able to hear every note perfectly...... Their sound guy should get some kind of award.

Weirdest gig? Mmmmm....... Nothing stands out more than one of my own band's gigs in Newport last year..... The support act had a bloke in a wedding dress and Halloween Witches mask twirling around in front of the stage during their set...... The whole set..... :O
 

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