5. Rush - at the Corral
4. Hothouse Flowers - RDS Dublin
3. Blue Rodeo - Trafalgar Square Canada Day concert
2. Foo Fighters - Wembley 1. AC/DC - Black Ice tour - Wembley. I thought I’d left it too late to see them live. Boy was I wrong - what an emotional time!
Honourable mention - The Kids - Hollywood Roller Gardens ;0
No wonder it's your #1, a couple of buddy's wanted me to go but because I saw them the year before I got cheap and declined. still kick myself for that.
The Mars Volta on the Bedlam in Goliath tour, a 3 hour concert by one of my all time favourites at the absolute zenith of their career.
Matt Good at the coke stage - Avalanche tour. Short show but I was completely floored by how well Matt sang that day, I've seen him a couple other times but he never sang nearly as well again.
NOFX - warped tour, they played The Decline in it's entirety, I love that ####.
The Tea Party - no one show sticks out but I'm always impressed by how great they sound live.
Pretty Lights - Shambhala. Hard to compare the Shambhala experience to any other concert, but Pretty Lights was my favourite of them all.
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The Mars Volta on the Bedlam in Goliath tour, a 3 hour concert by one of my all time favourites at the absolute zenith of their career.
Saw them 4 times on that tour and yeah those were pretty great shows. They were definitely at their peak but I saw them in California a few years earlier a few months before Frances the mute came out and it was my favourite of all the times I saw them, mostly because Jon Theodore was still their drummer and their live playing was still pretty chaotic.
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NOFX - warped tour, they played The Decline in it's entirety, I love that ####.
I’d forgotten about that one but that was pretty sweet too.
My favourite show was probably Soundgarden in 2011 because I’d waited so long and they actually blew my expectations out of the water, Mars Volta opened so it was definitely the best overall show I’ve ever seen.
A band that really surprised me when I saw them was Sloan. I only knew some of their songs going in so I really didn’t expect much but they were pretty great.
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^^ regarding Sloan, I am a pretty big fan and therefore biased, but have seen then many times and they rarely disappoint, the two that stick out though are the first and last times I saw them, the first was circa 1993 in Edmonton, they would have still be touring off Smeared at that point and just a great high energy show by a group still finding their way, the last was probably 20 years later at a smaller venue in Halifax where around midnight they came on to play Twice Removed in its entirety
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^^ regarding Sloan, I am a pretty big fan and therefore biased, but have seen then many times and they rarely disappoint, the two that stick out though are the first and last times I saw them, the first was circa 1993 in Edmonton, they would have still be touring off Smeared at that point and just a great high energy show by a group still finding their way, the last was probably 20 years later at a smaller venue in Halifax where around midnight they came on to play Twice Removed in its entirety
I love Sloan. I see them any time they come to town. They’re the Canadian Beatles in my book. Ok, I’m not claiming they’re as talented but all four members write and sing their own songs.
I actually saw Danko Jones when he opened for Sloan in the 90s. I was being facetious in my previous post but he’s a great performer.
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The Tragically Hip- Another Roadside Attraction tour at Race City Speedway, 1993. Awesome show. Midnight Oil played 2nd last and were so goddamn good, I remember thinking there's no way the Hip could top them. I was wrong. They were at the peak of their live powers during this period and Gord Downie was a tornado of energy and charisma on stage. Dude didn't stop moving the entire show and was completely drenched in sweat after only the first song.
That one is right up there.
Other big ones for me:
Rheostatics in that theatre that was in the Barron building (Uptown?). Really intimate show in the upstairs theatre and they did an acoustic encore in the lobby on the way out. It dumped snow that night and I was just buzzing walking home.
DMB at Piazza Navona in Lucca Italy. They hadn't played Italy in years, the crowd was ready for a great show. A magical setting in the old city square.
Oddly - Coldplay at the Dome. Not really my thing but it is maybe the best stage show I've seen.
Clapton came to Calgary probably 30+ years ago and had Mark Knopfler in his band on that tour. Buckwheat Zydeco opened.
The Tragically Hip- Another Roadside Attraction tour at Race City Speedway, 1993. Awesome show. Midnight Oil played 2nd last and were so goddamn good, I remember thinking there's no way the Hip could top them. I was wrong. They were at the peak of their live powers during this period and Gord Downie was a tornado of energy and charisma on stage. Dude didn't stop moving the entire show and was completely drenched in sweat after only the first song.
I was at the Edmonton show, which I think was the following day. that is my recollection and that show ended the tour.
Weird Al at the Coral when he came during Comic Expo was my favourite live concert. He played all his greatest hits. The entire show, between the music, costume changes, videos between songs, etc was just an amazing spectacle. It was also my two son's first concert and they had a great time so I'm sure that added to my experience.
Close second was REM/Radiohead back-to-back days at Thunderbird Stadium in Vancouver in 2003. REM was promoting their greatest hits album and Radiohead had released Hail to the Thief. Stipe and York played the encore for each other's nights.
Last edited by KTrain; 12-31-2021 at 04:01 PM.
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[*]Rheostatics in that theatre that was in the Barron building (Uptown?). Really intimate show in the upstairs theatre and they did an acoustic encore in the lobby on the way out. It dumped snow that night and I was just buzzing walking home.
One of my favorite festival performances were the Rheostatics and a few other bands doing a side-stage workshop at the Calgary Folk Festival. It was back before the current stage alignment, when there was a stage at the very west tip of Princes Island. Anyway, there was a storm coming down the valley, the trees were starting to shake and the sky was all intense and moody, and they did wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, and thinking about that performance still gives me a chill.
Hard to believe that was almost 20 years ago. This thread can at times makes you feel old, but then when you read some of the concerts other posters are mentioning that feeling goes away.
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Weird Al at the Coral when he came during Comic Expo was my favourite live concert. He played all his greatest hits. The entire show, between the music, costume changes, videos between songs, etc was just an amazing spectacle. It was also my two son's first concert and they had a great time so I'm sure that added to my experience.
Close second was REM/Radiohead back-to-back days at Thunderbird Stadium in Vancouver in 2003. REM was promoting their greatest hits album and Radiohead had released Hail to the Thief. Stipe and York played the encore for each other's nights.
Weird Al is actually an incredible singer/musician
good pick
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1. Chris Cornell at the John Anson Ford Theater -1200 person outdoor venue was like watching him perform in his backyard
2. Myles Kennedy at the Troubador - my favorite artist at a small intimate club supporting his first solo album
3. Springsteen at the LA Sports Arena - the boss live - enough said
4. The Hip at the Troubadour - again small club setting to watch an iconic band
5. Metallica at the Wiltern - easily the loudest concert of my life. It was cool standing in line to get in and Flea shows up in his pick up pulls his bass out of the back as he joined the band during the encore
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1. Chris Cornell at the John Anson Ford Theater -1200 person outdoor venue was like watching him perform in his backyard
2. Myles Kennedy at the Troubador - my favorite artist at a small intimate club supporting his first solo album
3. Springsteen at the LA Sports Arena - the boss live - enough said
4. The Hip at the Troubadour - again small club setting to watch an iconic band
5. Metallica at the Wiltern - easily the loudest concert of my life. It was cool standing in line to get in and Flea shows up in his pick up pulls his bass out of the back as he joined the band during the encore
I saw Teenage Fanclub at the Troubadour about 20 years ago. My friend practically lived in that place and I could’ve seen Queens of the Stone Age there but couldn’t swing it. I need to get back one day.