Difficult one. Biggest gig was the original madstock (madness) at Finsbury park. But as Ive always been into alternative music down the years, the venues have been smaller. But these have actually been the best gigs. Random psychobilly, or OK bands. Maybe some old style punk. There used to be a band called Macc Lads. I always remember their gigs being utter mental.
I remember them. Didn’t they do a song called sweaty Betty? When my cousin was a squaddie they all used to listen to them.
I saw Acker Bilk, legendary guy just down the road at the Tufnell Park Tavern. He was unannounced so had no idea he was going to be on there, just popped down there for a beer. I'm told I also saw Courtney Pine there but I was pissed up and don't remember it! I'm not into jazz at all! Best live performance, probably Zuccherro at the Royal Albert Hall when he was supporting Eric Clapton. I'd never heard of him but he was bloody awesome! As was Springsteen at Wembley, 1989 I think. 4 hours on stage! Fleetwood Mac at Wembley Arena, Stevie Nicks sung a song just to me, in my head anyway! Seen a few good gigs at the Cambridge Corn Exchange though the accoustics aren't the greatest. Deacon Blue, Simple Minds.
The Jam's final concert at Brighton in '82 was pretty emotional and you haven't fully lived until you have experienced a Bob Mould guitar solo live (never managed to see him play in Hüsker Dü though...). This is a brilliant site for people that love the history of music or is an aficionado of live music performances. it's called SugarMegs and it has a massive archive of concerts and the great thing is that you can stream them or download and keep them as a WMV or MP3 and they are all buckshee!. http://tela.sugarmegs.org/
Springsteen and the E-street band in Dublin , Birmingham and Wembley ( Acoustics at Wembley was truly awful .) Brilliant BOC At the Brook in Southampton ( They never played Astronomy ) .Mind Blowing The Eagles at Twickenham . Boring as F**K … Clannad at the mayflower , excellent .
Manfred Mann's Earth Band were very good live. As were The Moody Blues. But I sang some backing vocals in a Procul Harum concert with the LSO at Barbican Hall which has to be my highlight.
John Martyn obviously The Clash The Jam made even more memorable by being just being one of those nights when just for once everything goes your way The Pogues though they were also the worst i'd ever seen when Macgowan came on with a half empty bottle & already so pissed he couldn't remember more than a couple of lines from any song. Thin Lizzy. oh and a band i saw at a local dive club who put on a great performance but i never did know what they were called since i was just there for late drinks and spliffs
Saw John Martyn at Glastonbury, 1979 I think. He kept complaining about the sound, which seemed okay from where we were sitting.
Difficult for him to say from where he is. When you’re on stage it’s next to impossible to know what it sounds like ‘out there’. It might sound fine to you, until a roadie or sound engineer points out that the balance is way out and nobody can hear the vocals, for instance.
both the quality of his performances & his mood could be pretty variable but what else can you expect from a genius .
Hey. I was at that gig....oh wait, that was probably every Pogues concert!... ....He kept us waiting for nearly an hour at Southampton Mayflower and a group of Punks from Winchester ripped the seats out and started punching people around them! Thin Lizzy's Live and Dangerous must be one of the best recorded live albums ever released.
Guns n Roses were good as were Metallica. Best were The Black Crowes in some student union place in Norwich.
I saw Jocelyn Brown a few years ago and she knew right from the off that the sound wasn't right, she kept apologising for it. Do you not get any feedback from the speakers pointing into the stage?
