October 8th 2009: went to see The Pixies and was blown away – they’re a really class act. I went with four Romanians, and one of them, a retro punk musician and music producer (his own description of himself), asked me if it was the best gig I had ever seen. I laughed and said I’d been around a little too long for that to be likely.
But then I thought – which ARE the best gigs I’ve ever seen? I woke up the next morning and pondered in the early morning light.
It’s amazing what a bit of early morning pondering can do. Here are the top ten gigs I ever attended:
1 Has to be The Beatles, Ardwick Apollo Manchester, 1963. I was only 15, it was my first proper gig and so of course it made an impression on me. Plus it’s the only time I’ve ever been in a place that literally shook with excitement. The strongest memory is the perpetual screaming – hardly heard the songs at all. But the boys were dynamite. Roy Orbison was also on the bill. In fact, he had started the tour as headline act, and graciously gave over to the Fab Four because people started leaving when the Beatles had finished their set.
2 The Rolling Stones, Twickenham, about 5 years ago. It took me a long time to see the Stones, but after 30 seconds of Brown Sugar, I realised it was worth the wait. They sang all the classics as if they’d just written them. Loved it when they walked to the second stage in the middle of the audience and played a more intimate set, despite the 40,000 crowd.
3 The Byrds, Lincoln Folk Festival, 1971. I blogged a month ago about the amazing set the Byrds played at this otherwise very chilled international folk festival. They had been billed as an acoustic act, but asked if it would be OK if they did some electric stuff first. When they’d finished, they borrowed some acoustic instruments from other performers and did a brilliant country set. Other performers at the festival included James Taylor, Buffy Sainte Marie, Sandy Denny, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee and Tim Hardin.
4 The Band – Bob Dylan’s backing band playing what they wanted to play, Albert Hall London, 1970. I think it helped that we were on the front row, but they played all their hits with swash-buckling style.
5 Tina Turner, Woburn Abbey, sometime in the 1990s. I won the tickets in a raffle, and boy was I pleased. She is the best solo artist, male or female, I have ever seen on stage. What a voice, and what presence. Added bonus – support act was the marvellous Michael McDonald, ex-Doobie Brothers, and Steely Dan’s reliable backing vocalist. With James Ingram, McDonald also recorded the cheesy but infectious Yah Mo B There.
6 Steely Dan – Hammersmith Apollo, about 2000. They are my favourite band of all time. Only Walter Becker and Donald Fagen remained of the people who actually recorded the albums in the 70s, and they were approaching pension age. I was especially pleased that they played my favourite track Don’t Take Me Alive, which they never thought good enough to put on their Best of… compilations.
7 Pat Metheny – twice at Hammersmith Apollo. Metheny is a jazz guitarist, a complete joy to watch, and has the best backing band anyone could hope for, including Lyle Mays on piano. Everyone leaves the venue smiling and feeling the world is great.
8 David Bowie – Wembley Arena, in 1976. Was never much of a fan of Bowie’s singing voice, but his stage performance is excellent and the songs were driven along by the superb guitar-playing of the late Mick Ronson. The audience turned up with pink hair and Aladdin Sane stripes across their faces. Bowie walked on stage in a white shirt, black waistcoat and black trousers. He had moved on. As always, he was one step ahead of his fans.
9 Fleetwood Mac, with Jeremy Spencer and Peter Green (in other words, before Lindsay Buckingham, Stevie Nicks, Rumours etc), Reading University, 1967. This was the gig that persuaded me to take guitar-playing seriously. Peter Green, who had a few problems in his life, played blues guitar to make you weep, and Jeremy Spencer (whatever happened to him?) was a great foil to that, playing slide guitar and generally lifting the tempo.
10 And finally… Bob Dylan and Paul Simon, New Jersey, about 2000. My best friend Peter Leresche bought the tickets as a surprise birthday present. Dylan and Simon sang Sound of Silence together, which was a unique and hilarious experience, as Dylan really can’t sing in time (or indeed in tune) with anybody else. Peter suggested calling someone in the UK and letting them share the experience via the phone, but it was 2am UK time, so we decided to call the English Teaching Theatre office. The idea was that my work partner Doug Case could listen to it on the answering machine the next morning. I couldn’t hear a thing at the other end when I dialled and obviously got a wrong number, as Doug said there was nothing on the machine. Which means that someone in North London was probably screaming down the phone asking us what we were doing. When Dylan and Simon sang separately, they were wonderful – Simon with his eclectic mix of American and African musicians, Dylan with his latest versions of his songs, which often meant a completely new tune that no one in the audience (and possibly in his band) had ever heard before.
And the WORST gig I ever saw? No contest – Chuck Berry at Hammersmith Apollo – he looked like he couldn’t be arsed being there, sang for 55 minutes, actually left the stage playing the outro of his last song, and didn’t come back for an encore. OK, the guy was 65 at the time, but really….
Ken Wilson's Blog 
Some top class gigs there, Ken, and I’m envious of a lot of them. Off the top of my head, here’s some of my all-time favourite gigs – I think the key is catching the artist or group when they are going through a particularly creative period – I saw the Pixies a couple of years ago, for example, during their reunion tour, and loved them, but if I compare their performance then (at a festival in Barcelona) with the footage recorded in the 1980s at the famous Town and Country gig (available on DVD), there’s a big difference.
Well, here’s three that come to mind…
1) Radiohead @ Zeleste in Barcelona during the OK Computer tour – nothing before or since has come close to matching this – I’ve seen them play three times subsequently and they were excellent, but never as good as that first time I saw them
2) Leonard Cohen @ Royal Albert Hall during the Various Positions tour (1985?) – he’s one of the few people who can play a place this big and make it feel like you’re sitting round a campfire. I was reflecting on this a couple of weeks ago when I had the good fortune to see him play again, in Barcelona on his 75th birthday. He played for 3.5 hours and it was splendid and there were moments when not a single person in the audience was speaking (in the Palau Sant Jordi, capacity 20,000 people) – I don’t know how he is able to enchant and transfix an audience, but whatever it is, it works wonders.
3) Ali Farka Toure @ the 100 Club, London in 1989 (?) – incredibly intimate gig by the late great African blues guitarist – just him, his electric guitar and his enormous stage presence – I went to the gig by chance (on a recommendation in Time Out) not knowing any of his music and was truly blown away…
Thanks, Graham – your descriptions are terrific. I feel I may have missed something great not seeing Leonard Cohen live. The power of his presence that you describe is quite something.
What about Simple Minds circa 1986 – surely that was worth a mention? or Duran Duran around 1984/5?
re Simple Minds: yes, it was the best stadium gig I ever saw, but if you remember, they were your band rather than mine, and I spent most of my time worrying where you and Sarah were.
(For non-family members, Rowan is my daughter, and was 14 at the time of the gig).
re Duran Duran: I wasn’t there! You went with mum, and I remember her saying they were brilliant.
Wow, would have liked to attend some of the shows you and Rowan mention here. The only stadium gig I saw was The Police-Synchronicity tour in 1983 at the Olympic stadium in Montreal. It is one of my favourites, not for the fact that I was in that time in a Sting phase but mainly due to the fact that I was there with my closest friends. I believe it makes all the difference, who we are with, at the time of the concert and how you feel about the people performing on stage. That is why, my all-time favourite gigs were the times I saw my daughter Myriam sing on stage. Still remember the emotions that I felt at the time…
P.S. how come there is a picture of you on Rowan’s comment ? lol
Good question! Somehow during the summer, Rowan’s blog and my blog got a bit intertwined, and we haven’t completed sorted that yet.
I had a couple of tweet replies saying the same thing about the people and the time that you see a gig. A bit like the time you read certain books make them seem like the most important books in the world.
It’s a shame I didn’t know the Pixies. My current list (all Budapest, sorry):
1) Leonard Cohen 2009 (http://elekmathe.com/2009/09/12/leonard-cohen-in-budapest/)
2) Mark Knopfler 2008
3) Human Rights 1988 (Peter Gabriel, Tracy Chapman, Bruce Springsteen, Sting…)
4) Genesis 1987
5) Mark Knopfler 2006
My biggest regret is missing Peter Gabriel when he was here on his most recent tour.
Wow, Elek! Thanks for that! You’ve seen all the people I missed!! Would love to have seen Genesis in the 80s.
I love them but they were even better in the 70s – YouTube is my friend, though, so I can at least enjoy them there :).
I feel young! Thanks everyone ; P
I’d have to say, if you ever get a chance to see Bob Log III, do it. I’ve seen him twice here in Japan, in tiny basement clubs. He plays an electric slide guitar and bangs a drum with his foot. He sings through an analogue telephone attached to the front of the crash helmet he wears with his skin tight body suit. And his best song is called “Boob Scotch”.
Thanks for that, Darren. Bob sounds just plain weird, but will look out for him in West London…;-P
Very cool!
My top gigs were: Madonna, Prince: twice – I was there when he took on a symbol instead of a name, it was so powerful 😉 Christina Aguilera in Ecuador. Johnny Clegg and Savuka… hmm, the others have disappeared from my mind so those would be my top 5.
K
Oh no! One more. In Hong Kong, my ex-boyfriend and I and our environmental protection group hosted a huge beach music festival to raise awareness against an electrical company which wanted to take over the land belonging to a fishing village. We got sponsorship from the body shop, we lined up great local bands and Neal did the DJing… I got MTV to come and cover the festival and we won! They had to put the plant somewhere else. That was the best gig ever, ever.
I love the international flavour of your gigs, KS. This is one of the lovely results of being in this business, right? And what a wonderful thing you did in HK. Mega-congratulations.
Thread closed, we have a winner!! Nice work Karenne!
Just had a quick look at your blog! Brilliant list of gigs & artists! Great inspiring talk yesterday at BC & really good to meet engaging folk on such important subjects. Hope there’s more to come…
Best wishes
Amar 🙂
Thanks, Amar!
Best of luck with the DELTA – the world of teaching needs people like you with your enthusiasm and humour!
here’s mine ken:
1) Billy Bragg, Michael Stipe, Natalie Merchant Olomouc Czech Republic (Letni Kino) 1990
2) Cat Stevens , Walker Brothers, Engelbert Humperdinck, JImi Hendrix Wolverhampton Gaumont 1968
3) Cat Stevens München Olympiahalle 1975
4) Bronski Beat Hacienda Manchester 1984
5) Tori Amos West Berlin Trinitatis Kirche (day Kurt Cobain died) 1994
6) Velvet Underground Palac Kultury Praha 1993
7) Smiths last concert at Brixton Academy December 1988
8) Christy Moore/Sinead ‘o’ Connor Dublin Olympia theatre 1988
9) Pink Floyd Bingley Hall Staffordshire England 1976
10) Arctic Monkeys Wolverhampton Civic Hall 2006
Hello Mark, I don´t know, if you remember me – I didn´t forget this time, when you were live in Olomouc and show me your favourite music – REM, The Smiths and others. I loved your actions and you too:-) I was looking for you so long and now I found this site – I hope you answer me.
Best regards from Míša (Olomouc)
And your number one is my number one too:-)
Michael Stipe was amazing in Olomouc, he is my favourite singer from this time!
and of course the Smiths last concert was December 1986 and not 1988, didn’t know of course that it would be the last one………and if I can have an eleventh, the Stone Roses in Brighton Escape Club in 1989, a tiny little venue when I was standing right next to the stage, my favoured place at concerts, managed it last year here in Budapest for Pete Doherty…….he was wonderful!
Nice one, Mark! Or rather, nice eleven 😛
Interesting that you have 2 Cat Stevens concerts down. i can’t understand how I managed never to see CS in action. Looking back on what I said, it’s wrong to say that Chuck Berry was my biggest guitar influence – that was Cat. I even tried to look like him!
he was a huge influence on me Ken, got his autograph and talked to him after the gig in Munich as a raw young idealistc 18-year-old, hitch-hiking across West Germany, and really enjoyed his concert earlier this year that was broadcast on Radio 2. http://www.yusufislam.org.uk/ He’s doing 4 gigs this autumn in England but unfortunately I can’t make any of them 😦 “I know we’ve come a long way, We’re changing day to day, But tell me, where do the children play?”………..
Thanks for the shout, Mark. Albert Hall, 8th December. I will be there – and will take a pic with my iPhone to prove it. May not be able to get as close as I did to the Pixies, however 😛
Well, I went to loads of gigs by the Pink Fairies and Hawkwind in the 1970s, and would claim that as my ‘Golden Era’ for attending musical experiences. I thought I saw you at a couple of those, Ken…?!
Worst gigs? Ones where I actually played! I can remember actually throwing up after one particularly bad performance; a habit I retain to this day, except it’s limited to smaller performances – in the classroom.
Wouldn’t have been me at Pink Fairies, and would have loved to see Hawkwind (if only cos they had such a cool name) but never did. And I suppose I should have included the worst set the Solid British Hat Band ever did – at my wedding 😦
The Crusaders (with Larry Carlton) – Ham’smith Odeon, c. 1977
Robert Cray – Le Cigale, Paris 1990
Alain Toussaint – Hotel Palais de Congres, Paris 1993
The Neville Brothers – Paris, 1991
JJ Cale – Sheherd’s Bush Empire, c. 2000
The Five Blind Boys – The Barbican, c. 2005
Rockin’ Doopsie and the Cajun Twisters – Dingwalls, c. 1977
The Dixie Chicks – Royal Albert Hall, c. 2005
Fela Ransome Kuti – The Shrine, Lagos 1974-78
James Brown – Lagos City Football Stadium, 1969
I could go on …
It’s the venues I like – Lagos City Football Stadium 1969! Fab!
Dude, you lucky bastard..!!!!! To have seen Fela and James Brown in their prime..Amazing.. Robert Cray would have to feature in my list too. 1..Dylan, Wembley stadium 1984 joining him onstage- Clapton/Santana/Van Morrison/Mick Taylor 2..John lee Hooker/ Cray/Albert Collins@London Blues Festival 1991 3..Stevie Ray Vaughan 1988 Ham’smith Odeon 4..Frank Zappa Wembley 1988 5..Bill Hicks -Queens theatre 1992 6..Stones-Wembley 1990 7..Prince-o2 london 2007 8..Al green-Ham’smith 2005 9..Toots and the Maytals-London 2009 10..Grace Jones-royal Albert Hall 2010
I’ve just bought tickets for Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney (Hyde Park) in June so might have to make changes.!!
The detail is all of course …
Here’s a few more:
The Rattles, The Stones, Bo Diddley, The Everley Brothers and Little Richard – all on the same bill – Taunton Odeon c. 1962
Carl Perkins – ABC Plymouth c. 1964
Jnr Walker and the All Stars – Dingwalls c. 1977
Ry Cooder – Wembley Arena 1988 (and many other times)
Ike and Tina Turner – Ham’smith Odeon, 1973
Emmy Lou Harris (with Albert Lee) Ham’smith Odeon c. 1978
Jerry Lee Lewis – Finsbury Park Rainbow, 1977
Buddy Rich – Ronny Scott’s, c. 1980
Whatshisname the guy who first wrote and sang ” I Put a Spell on You ” – The Guardsman NYC, 1982
Pixies? Bob is going to be so envious! My best gigs:
Leonard Cohen at Edinburgh Castle
Cruxshadows (two different venues in Edinburgh)
Indigo Girls (Queens Hall Edinburgh (twice)
Dead Kennedys (Liquid Rooms Edinburgh (twice)
Aimee mann (Liquid Rooms, Edinburgh)
Ani di Franco (Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh)
kd lang (Edinburgh Playhouse)
plus loads of small Scottish bands at various places in Edinburgh,
If I’d known Bob was a Pixies fan, I would have got an extra ticket! 🙂 Seriously good gig, but VERY LOUD.
Bruce Springsteen, Sydney, some time in the late 80s. Almost three hours of non-stop rock, with half the audience up on the stage dancing with The Boss. Oh, how times have changed.
Have times changed, Jo? I think the Boss is still doing three-hour gigs – and I’m sure you’re still dancing 🙂
My favourite all time gig must be Led Zeppelin in Birmingham Town Hall about 1970. I think it was the first time I had seen a ‘real’ light show, that was amazing and the music very loud!
I was at the Lincoln festival in ’71 though :-)) For about 4 years we did Norwich, Lincoln and Cambridge festivals – lots of very good memories.
Blimey! You’re the first person that I didn’t actually go with who’s even HEARD of the 1971 Lincoln folk festival. I’m not a regular visitor to folk festivals, but I still think it must be pretty unique to find all that talent, particularly so much American talent, in an English country field. 🙂
The David Bowie gig you mention is actually 1975. The tour was to promote the Young Americans album, I know because I was also there watching all the fans of Bowie’s previous incarnation Ziggy Stardust with all the Glam Rock gear on. Then Bowie just appears looking like a Frank Sinatra type crooner. Absolutely hilarious!! Great Blog Ken.
Thank you, Andy – blogging is an absolute pleasure (and a terrible drain on time, but hey, who needs to eat?)
Are you absolutely sure the Bowie gig was in 1975? In my mind’s eye, I seem to remember being there with people I didn’t actually know in 1975. But I may be wrong – it IS a long time ago…
I’ve done what I should have done when I first wrote the post and checked online. The Bowie concerts at Wembley Arena were 1976 – this makes sense, as I was DEFINITELY there with someone I didn’t know in 1975.
I was one.
One what. Darren?
You’ve lost me there, mate!
In 1975…..
OK, you were at the Bowie gig in 1975 – so it’s two against one. I will amend the blog!
Happy Christmas, one and all!
No! (although I bet it was cool…)
I mean, I was still a mere babe in that wonderful year. And when Saints won the F.A. cup the following year, apparently my dad hoisted me on his shoulders to see the victory parade.
ah – you were ONE YEAR OLD… not ONE OF THE FANS… i did think you must have been a bit small, but I was 27 and everyone else looked about 12.
Right, will amend the ****ing post again! 🙂
That blond guy in Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac is Danny Kirwan. Played guitar almost quite as well as Peter Green did.
Nice pictures!
Thanks, Paul! That was worth waiting six months for!
Hi Ken, Wow, you’ve been to some killer gigs !! In particular, Beatles, Bowie and the Band.. Did we go to the same Chuck Berry gig at Hammersmith, I wonder?..It was the late eighties, possibly 1988 and the support act was Steve marriot..I (vaguely) remember a really great show from both acts.. Chuck’s band featured the legendary pianist, Johnnie Johnson..Anyhow many of my favourite gigs took place in london around that time..
Stevie Marriott most definitely didn’t feature in the Chuck Berry gig I saw – I’m sure I would have remembered that in the light of his subsequent tragic and avoidable death.
Berry is a mould-breaking great artist, and the main influence on my guitar-playing – but he really couldn’t be bothered that night, and that was the thing that really upset not just me – the whole crowd booed when he didn’t come back on stage.
It’s a shame you caught Chuck on a bad night !! What i remember most about that show was when Steve Marriott took to the stage. The audience,mainly rockabilly types, was deathly silent except for me, standind up and cheering madly.Steve and I began a call and respond cheer, to the amusement of the people sitting around me..Within a few songs , he’d got the whole audience going wild..What a man
I mentioned some of my fave gigs above, in response to Tim Horsler’s list, but the very worst gigs were by Dylan(roundhouse,2009), James Brown(brixton academy 1987), Van Morrison(shepards Bush emp 2005).. The fact that I was standing just 10 feet away from my heroes at those gigs, made it even more painful!!
Dylan I can understand being a disappointment… but James Brown??? What was wrong with him?
PCP..Apparently angel dust was his drug of choice at the time..James walks on stage wearing a bright green waistcoat, looking a dead ringer for that toad guy from wind in the willows..He starts with ‘living in america’ ; not one of my favourite songs, and for good measure, 5 songs later, plays it again..He moved across the stage switching from vocals to organ then guitar then drums.Every solo was truly excreble..
I’m so worked up about it I can’t spell execrable!!
Really loved reading this post, Ken. I’ve now nipped over to Spotify to check out Don’t Take Me Alive.
I’m very envious too and can’t possibly match that list! Only two concerts spring to mind, both in Bilbao as it happens:
1) Dire Straits, 1984-85? Brothers In Arms tour. Not my favourite album of theirs by a long way, but that didn’t matter.
2) Fito & Los Fitipaldis, December 2009. Quite simply the best group in the world right now (imho). Amazing guitarists, and the saxophonist is pretty good, too. They call them the Spanish Dire Straits!
Cheers
Don’t worry, mate – by the time you’re my age, you’ll have seem some great bands who haven’t even started yet – like my grandson Senan’s!
Love the vid of Fito and the gang!
So cute, Ken! He seems alright on the anti-clockwise twists. Needs to work on the clockwise ones now. Good sense of rHytHm! (I can only spell rHytHm correctly if I capitalise the Hs!). Thanks for sharing family vid. Had never heard the name Senan until today.
Seeing James as an opening band for the first time when they were nobody was amazing. I still have the playlist that was stuck on the stage. I think it was the Concert Hall in Toronto.
One of the worst gigs I ever saw was The Charlatans at the Commodore in Vancouver. They were a favourite band until they put on a terrible concert. It’s funny how a live gig can make or break a band.
Just stumbled across this post. It’s a fun way to get to know each other.
One good and one bad? Come on, Tara – you can do better than that – I want AT LEAST your top FIVE gigs! 😛