#1 - Peter Gabriel. I was 14 and had only been to a couple of concerts before. This is still my most memorable concert experience to date, and I've been to quite a few now. Fantastic music, excellent stage and props show. I still get shivers thinking about Peter coming up from under the stage in a bright red phone boot singing Come Talk To Me to open the show. To close the show he did Biko and the whole Saddledome chanting together with the end of the song was the first time I'd heard anything like it. Thousands of people united in song.
#2 - Metallica. I've seen them 7 times and every show has kicked ass. I've been backstage in Vancouver thanks to MetClub and stood face to face with Jason beating his bass front row in the Dome. Metallica always destroys their audience with metal up their ass. The outdoor show in Vancouver was another great experience like above with the whole crowd chanting along during the hurdy gurdy part from The Memory Remains.
#3 - Rob Zombie. Flew out to Vancouver to see him on tour for Hellbilly Delux. Awesome stage show, great mix of Rob's stuff and White Zombie classics. After the show and the place had mostly cleared out Rob came back out and signed autographs and chatted. Was totally unexpected. Wish I'd had a camera.
#4 Ozzy Osbourne. Seen Ozzy three times. The Retirement Sucks tour after Ozzmosis was released was my favorite but the last time he passed through Calgary he still put on a great show.
#5 Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. I almost passed this one up because while I like Tom Petty, I wasn't sure it'd be that great live. Holy crap am I glad I decided to go. Every song from start to finish was a memorable hit and even had some Travelling Wilburys for good measure. Easily the best setlist of any show I've ever been to.
HM - Ozzfest '99. Just look at the line up - Black Sabbath, Rob Zombie, Deftones, Slayer, Primus, Godsmack, System of a Down, Fear Factory, Slipknot and some others. Dino from Fear Factory came around the side of the stage after their set and signed autographs, I offered him $5 for his bottle of water and he said "You were feeding me good out there man, I saw you front left bangin' away. Here you go!" and hooked me up after he signed my ticket. Joey Jordison, drummer for Slipknot, came around the side and signed stuff for fans too after their set.
Worst Concert - Marilyn Manson. I had won tickets off CJAY92 to his show back in '96 during the height of the Antichrist Superstar tour. Then our lovely conservative government banned him and I never got to go to the show. When he finally came back a couple years ago and played the Jube, holy crap, it was brutal. He played for just under an hour, 80% of the setlist was stuff off the most recent album at the time and the hits he did play were all half-assed. He even cut Sweet Dreams down to a 3 minute piece of crap for some reason. Such a disappointment.
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