RQ007: Most memorable concerts you've ever attended.

[Antdude]

Genesis - 1974: L.A. Shrine Auditorium. The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway tour. Incredible stage show and just incredible musicianship. Peter Gabriel was mesmerizing.

Pink Floyd - 1974: The infamous LA Sports Arena concerts. Lots of arrests. My brother and I had nosebleed seats in the colonnade, just underneath where they hung the plane that would fly down to the stage during 'On The Run.' When the house lights came up for the intermission, the cloud over the floor area was really thick and pungent.

Yes - 1975: Anaheim Stadium. Yes at their most experimental. Probably the best stage and light show I've ever seen. The Relayer Tour featured a set designed by Roger Dean, with strange amorphous shapes lit from within, several lasers, and a multi-layered backdrop incorporating rear projection and shifting set pieces. I've seen Yes several times over the years, but this was the highlight. Amazing.

Tangerine Dream - 1976: Santa Monica.  I think this was TD's first American tour. Inspired live performances, augmented with a laser artist who would choreograph his laser dynamically with the music, as well as the musicians taking their improvisational cues from his visuals. There were rotating mirror columns on either side of the stage reflecting the follow spots, sending beams of colored light shooting around the hall, well defined in the smoky haze, and yes, there was a lot of smoke there. 

Return To Forever - 1976: Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. The Romantic Warrior tour. God, these guys were so talented. How could Chick Corea break this band up?? Anyway, tremendous show. Stevie Wonder came out for their encore, and they played 'Superstition.' Incredible. I thought my head would explode.

Emerson, Lake & Palmer - 1977: Long Beach Arena. OK, so it was the Works tour, not the Brain Salad Surgery tour, but still…ELP. They even played 'Rondo' and 'America' from Emerson's days with The Nice.

Frank Zappa - 1976-77: UCLA Pauley Pavilion. I think it was the Sheik Yerbouti album period. Terry Bozzio, Patrick O'Hearn, Adrian Belew, Eddie Jobson, Ruth Underwood and more were in the band that night. Frank could make you laugh, then you'd be dazzled by the musicianship there. At one point, when someone else took a solo, Frank put down his guitar, pulled up a stool, lit a cigarette and sat back and watched the band play. Also, Adrian Belew could do a great Bob Dylan impression. It was also the first time I heard the great composition 'Titties and Beer.'

The Police - 1981: The Ghost In The Machine tour. This was the loudest concert I ever went to. Oingo Boingo opened for them and the PA system was screaming. When the Police came on, the sound was a little more balanced, but more powerful. Sting's bass was something I could feel in my chest more than hear. This band was pretty powerful live, it's a shame they never released a live record. Excellent show, but my ears were ringing for three days.

[mystified]

Einstuerzende Neubauten-- Tabula Rasa tour

Not my favorite album, but the live show was excellent. I caught the gig in Chicago, where industrial has usually been received with a large audience. A highpoint was watching Unruh play tones with these huge vertical pipes. He looked like a crazed monkey on speed. Awesome!

[Scott M2]

Woke up this morning with this topic in my head. How could I not have thought of Bruce Springsteen before?
I somehow obtained a single 3rd row seat at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa for the Born to Run Tour, an elegant but staid venue.
He was dramatic and serious then funny and ebullient. Well before Rosalita and the Detroit medley everybody was already dancing in the aisles like I'd never seen there. 
The pre-Darkness tour opened with Something In The Night (in Ottawa), all backlighting, moans and rising power. (I've never found a recording to match it.)
The River Tour - endless twists and turns until Rosalita blew the roof off. I could go on and on about later tours. The band acts like an organism,
ready for any change in dynamic or setlist for that matter. Springsteen and the Es embody the purest Rock & Roll to me.

[Brian Bieniowski]

Stereolab/Mouse on Mars, mid-late nineties, Coffman Union, U of Minnesota.  I had just worked almost 24 hours straight, and was utterly exhausted.  I stood front and center, right by the stage, so I could lean on it.  I was pounding coffee to stay awake.  Mouse on Mars were unknown to most of the crowd, so nobody got too enthused for the first 15 minutes, but by the end of their set, the place was going nuts.  Stereolab put on a stunner of a show, chaotic and hypnotic - for an encore, Mouse on Mars joined them onstage for a massive improv jam.  In my half-awake haze, it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever heard, truly trance-inducing rhythmic bleeps, gorgeous organ chords, chiming guitars, and squiggly synth lines.  I've seen Stereolab several times since, and they never came close to the energy of this night.  Mouse on Mars left that night with several hundred new fans.

I saw the same tour when it hit NYC (Dots and Loops tour), and Mouse on Mars had the same effect on the crowd.  You could tell it was more of an indie-rock audience and they weren't "into" techno, but by the end everybody was bopping around and having a good time.  They played a great set.

[Scott M2]

Stereolab/Mouse on Mars, mid-late nineties, Coffman Union, U of Minnesota.  I had just worked almost 24 hours straight, and was utterly exhausted.  I stood front and center, right by the stage, so I could lean on it.  I was pounding coffee to stay awake.  Mouse on Mars were unknown to most of the crowd, so nobody got too enthused for the first 15 minutes, but by the end of their set, the place was going nuts.  Stereolab put on a stunner of a show, chaotic and hypnotic - for an encore, Mouse on Mars joined them onstage for a massive improv jam.  In my half-awake haze, it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever heard, truly trance-inducing rhythmic bleeps, gorgeous organ chords, chiming guitars, and squiggly synth lines.  I've seen Stereolab several times since, and they never came close to the energy of this night.  Mouse on Mars left that night with several hundred new fans.

I saw the same tour when it hit NYC (Dots and Loops tour), and Mouse on Mars had the same effect on the crowd.  You could tell it was more of an indie-rock audience and they weren't "into" techno, but by the end everybody was bopping around and having a good time.  They played a great set.

Saw that tour in Toronto - though being in the balcony of a large club (The Phoenix) I didn't get the same transcendent experience.
Mouse On Mars made new fans of me and my friends though. They were so full on energy tweaking away at the mixer and Lovetone boxes.

This thread is great for stirring the sediment and bringing great memories to the surface. Thanks John.

[ffcal]

I'd have to say my most memorable concerts were:

Genesis - Wind & Wuthering tour (Santa Monica, '77)(Gabriel-less, but still pretty good)
PFM - Jet lag tour (at the Roxy in LA, '77; I have vivid memories of this show.  One of my all-time favorite prog bands from the 70s)
Codona (late 70s, Santa Monica) - memorable trio with the late Don Cherry, the late Colin Walcott (of Oregon), and percussionist Nana Vasconcelos--they walked off the stage still playing, and came back on stage, still playing, for their encore)
Ride/Slowdive - (1992, SF) - the golden era of shoegaze
The Verve - (1998, SF) - their last tour before disbanding (only to reform 10 years later with their original guitarist)
The dB's - Berkeley Square, 1988 (great powerpop; their last show (until reforming just recently))

Forrest

[Sunbreak Music]

Billy Idol "Rebel Yell" tour was the first, so it was pretty memorable.  I saw Eric Johnson play a few feet away at a bar back in my hometown in Texas when I was around 18, and that was pretty unbelievable.  I occasionally throw on the DVD of that tour which is on Austin City Limits and remember exactly what it was like back then.

Other than that, of course Michael Hedges' shows (which got progressively weirder).  Queensryche's "Empire" tour (included the entire Operation Mindcrime album), Missing Persons' "Rhyme and Reason" (Dale Bozzio...wow), The Fixx's "Phantoms", all the "Rush" ones, most of those by "The Rippingtons" (much more rockin' than their smooth jazz albums)....

Never a big Metallica fan, but saw the formerly known as "Monsters of Rock" tour in '91 or '92 with them, Faith No More, and G N R.  Metallica "opened" for GNR, but they were so good that once GNR played a couple of tunes sans Axel (he was refusing to come on stage again), we all left.  In droves.

[sraymar]

My first arena concert was Deep Purple '74 the "Stormbringer" tour,  a let down  album after "Burn" but the band was great with Cloverdale and Hughes. Also on the bill was ELO and Elf featuring Ronnie James Dio. Long Beach Arena.

My second arena concert was Led Zeppelin on their Physical Graffiti tour in '75. San Diego Sports Arena. Loved watching a small red laser beam appear at the head of Jimmy's Les Paul durring his solo on Dazed and Confused which eventually stretched slowly up across and to the top of the opposite end of the arena.

The Who at the Anaheim Stadium in '76 with Keith Moon, quite a few bands on before them like Little Feet and Chaka Kahn with Rufus.

Bruford in '78 at the Roxy in LA minus Alan Holdsworth replaced by the "unknown" John Clark. I have seen Holdsworth many times since though as well as Bruford with Earthworks.

The Dixie Dregs same year at the Golden Bear now long gone.

Weather Report in Long Beach in '79, and a couple days later at the Santa Monica Civic, they were a revelation to me back then.
 
Yes also in '79 in the round at the Forum, then a year later again in the round at the Long Beach Arena.

Jeff Beck at the Greek in '80 There and Back tour. A synth duo came on first doing rhythmless newage stuff. The audience wasn't kind at all, lambs to the slaughter, they must've had an impact on me for I too was doing the newage synth thing a few years later. 

VH at the Forum in '87 I believe on their 5150 tour, sound was beyond excellent! Eddie definitely inspired me to get a synth! Guitarist gone synth thing.

Too many jazz concerts to mention at the old(and new) Catalina B&G, and quite a few here in Fullerton at Steamers. 

David Arkenstone with a Windom Hill lineup in Hermosa Beach featuring Liz Story, The Angels of Venice, and a good guitarist I forget the name of. No drummer but a good percussionist, lots of world music, very little synth.

I've also caught Robert Rich in LA and Steve Roach in Palm Springs, the only ambient concerts I've ever attended, they're hard to come by here on the west coast. I will get to the PiNG soon, this I vow!

Steve

[ffcal]

Bruford in '78 at the Roxy in LA minus Alan Holdsworth replaced by the "unknown" John Clark. I have seen Holdsworth many times since though as well as Bruford with Earthworks.

Steve

I was at this show!  I went with some high school buddies because Dave Stewart of Hatfield & the North/National Health fame was touring as their keyboard player.  We had fun yelling out obscure Hatfield song titles as requests ("Your majesty is like a cream donut"! "Going Up To People and Tinkling"!).  Someone sent me a boot of the show on cassette; it's around somewhere.

Another memorable show I forgot about was the Pat Metheny Group's "white album tour" from '78 in St. Louis.  I was a volunteer roadie for the show and got to handle Lyle Mays' Oberheim keyboards.

Forrest

[sraymar]

I was at this show!  I went with some high school buddies because Dave Stewart of Hatfield & the North/National Health fame was touring as their keyboard player.  We had fun yelling out obscure Hatfield song titles as requests ("Your majesty is like a cream donut"! "Going Up To People and Tinkling"!).  Someone sent me a boot of the show on cassette; it's around somewhere.

Another memorable show I forgot about was the Pat Metheny Group's "white album tour" from '78 in St. Louis.  I was a volunteer roadie for the show and got to handle Lyle Mays' Oberheim keyboards.

Forrest

Interesting. I was just starting to become aware of synths back then and I remember Dave had long hair at this show and seemed to have about 10 Roland Space Echos.  There's a live CD called The Bruford Tapes that captures this era pretty well. I've got a 7" reel of them I recorded off the radio somewhere. I doubt if it would still play.

I found out about Metheny around this time too and bought American Garage, then Bright Size Life. It seemed I was waking up to this new world of progressive-jazz-rock within a three year stretch, into the instrumental realm. 

Steve

[Scott M2]

I saw Bruford and then the very next week League of Gentlemen at a large club on the Quebec side.
I dearly wish I'd seen them in the reverse order because the League seemed lackluster and tame after the full-bore blast of Bruford.
Stewart and Bruford were the ones I expected to pay the most attention to but Jeff Berlin grabbed the spotlight and held it in a mighty grasp.
Some may not be fans of his - but my jaw dropped and my table of friends were all blown away by his musical skills that night.
Hell of a band!

[Scott M2]

I'm now reminded of the first time I saw King Crimson (on the North American Lark's Tongue tour).
Bruford was on a high platform front and center on the stage with all the main lights on him.
He was treated like a god in overalls and proceeded to show us why with his glorious playing and enthusiasm.

Strawbs (touring Ghosts) opened (and I met a girl who soon became my girlfriend). Damned fine night!

[hdibrell]

I'm now reminded of the first time I saw King Crimson (on the North American Lark's Tongue tour).
Bruford was on a high platform front and center on the stage with all the main lights on him.
He was treated like a god in overalls and proceeded to show us why with his glorious playing and enthusiasm.

I saw King Crimson on that tour also. Bruford was great! The thing that impressed me the most,  though,  was the two mellotrons. David Cross and Robert Fripp both playing simultaneously at times.

[jdh]

Some incredible concerts here.I was a bit too young to see Yes,Led Zep,Floyd,Genesis in the mid 70s but WOW.
I recently saw the film "It might get loud" and when Jimmy Page plays Whole Lotta Love,you could see the awe in The Edge and Jack White.
A few more to add;

Massive Attack-2005 with Liz Fraser of Cocteau Twins as guest vocalist.
Robert Rich-2006 in front of 50 persons.
Roger Waters-2005,played Dark Side in sequence.
Durutti Column-1981 LC tour,lovely.

[Wayne Higgins]

Best out of a couple of hundred.  Wow.  That took some time to think.

The first concert of course:  The Guess Who with Gypsy, 1971.

Alice Cooper 1972 Billion Dollar Babies tour.  I was 15.  I happened to meet Alice before the show.

Amboy Dukes (Ted Nugent) 1975.  Houston County Farm center, Dothan, AL.  It was a place that had a dirt floor.  A place to uction livestock.  About 50 people at the concert.  Ted walked out on stage after the gig and said, "I've really go to change."  A year later, top of the heep.

White Witch.  Dothan (same place, a few months later.)  If you are familiar with White Witch, you need no explinations, if not, it won't matter.  Stevie Stilleto and the Switchblades also fall into this catagory.


Emerson, Lake and Palmer, 1978 Mobile, AL.  The trip there was intense. (How many bongs can you have in one car?)  Creme and Circus printed that Rush would be there that night.  Stampede in the door, run like hell to get a seat, we were about five rows from the stage.  18000 kids at an ELP concert, all there to see Rush.  ELP gave them their money's worth, one of the heaviest bands I've ever seen.

Rush.  Dothan, AL.  A better place.  Spring break, 1978.  I liked it so much, I went to Jacksonville three days later and saw them again.
The Jacksonville gig.  OMG!  First, Molly Hatchet, a Jacksonville band, was having their first album release party.  Second, it was the last gig on the Rush tour with Pat Travers.  Rush came out wearing masks during "Getting Better" and danced around the stage. Then, during "Cygnus X-1", Pat Travers's bassist came out wearing a dress and Pat Travers was wearing nothing but his whitey tightys.  Geddy was laughing so hard he couldn't finish the song.  Then, "2112", Travers came out and plugged in and jammed.

Somebody else mention Devo in 1981.  I saw the tour in Dallas.  The thing is that if you expect a band to be great and they are, they meet your expectations.  If you expect them to be ok and they are great, your blown away.  Devo met this catagory.  So did The O'Jays, Heart, Steve Miller, and Huey Lewis and the News.

Grand Funk Railroad.  2000 (I think)  The radio ad said "Don Brewer, Mel Schacher," and two other guys I had never heard of.  They came out on stage, and then "suprise", Mark Farner runs out.  Unbelievable!!!!  It's amazing what a great band can do with no props or lights.

There's been a few that I got to meet after the show.  Johnny Rivers, Tommy James, Rod Argent, Ron Bushy.  But the most memorable occasion was sitting in an office with a club manager on the verge of a breakdown, due to low attendance and no money, and Thurston Moore and Steve Shelly telling him "It's cool.  Just give us enough gas to make it to Orlando, we're gonna clean up there."  Unheard of.

Just the most memorable ones, huh?  Ok.

Ravi Shankar.  The first time I saw him, I almost cried when the old guy walked out on stage.
Lynyrd Skynyrd.  Rickey Medlocke is an incredible guitar player.
ZZ Top.  I've never seen a band that did not count down one song.  They all just started.  Inhumanly tight.
The Swans.  I called it the "we've still got a few more people to piss off tour."  One note.  No kidding.  The entire night, every song.  One note.  But sounded GREAT!
Robert Plant Alisson Krauss T. Bone Burnett.  "The Battle of Evermore" live.
Tom Jones.  See him once, you have to see him again.  The second time, we took my wife's father and girlfriend.  80 years old, she had never been to a concert.
Arlo Guthrie.  The first time was the aniversary of Alice's Restaurant.  We've seen him again since, we'll see him again when we get the chance.

Our family has a Jethro Tull and Alice Cooper tradition.  A couple of years ago, the four of us saw Alice Cooper and Heaven and Hell.  WOW!  Just WOW!  Seeing Alice and Dio in the same night.  I went crazy.  Something about seeing Alice after 30 years.  Emotional moment.  I became 15 again.

More recently, my wife and I saw Judas Priest in St. Augustine.  Hot as hell that night, concert was in a swamp in August.  I thought Bob was going to die.  The website mentioned that they were going to do the British Steel album.  I didn't expect them to open with entire album, song for song.  Never seen that before.

Two to end this rant, and (oh yeah... Queen with Paul Rodgers),  (Eric Clapton jamming with Robert Cray on "Crossroads") oops (BB KING!) anyway...

I never did like Bruce Springsteen until the second time I saw him.  About halfway through the show, I got it.  I have just about every Springsteen album now.  Next time, we're doing the lottery.

Saving the best for last.  We're (wife and me) taking the kids (son and daughter in law) to see The Dropkick Murphys in March.  Last time we saw them, the place was alive like I have never seen.  We were up on the stage.  I swear I suffered permanant hearing damage from them.  The biggest mosh pit ever.  Can't wait until March.

The next concert wife and I are going to is Flogging Molly in Feb in Atlanta.

(Damn, I forgot to mention Ringo.)

[Sighthound]

Jimi Hendrix - 1968 - New Orleans -  Mind Blowing.  Don't even remember the opening act.

Pink Floyd - April, 1972 -Lyric Theater in Baltimore - DSOTM had not been released, so, we were expecting sets of old material.  Wow!  Were we surprised.  They opened op with Dark Side, and it was just mezmerizing.

Genesis - 1972 0r 73 - Allentown Fairgrounds - Nursery Crimes and Foxtrot - Gabriel in full costume.

Yes - 1974 - Tales of Topographic Oceans tour - Harrisburg Farm Show Arena - the sets were amazing, - Roger Dean brought to life.

Genesis - 1978 - 79 - Then there were three tour - Penn State.

Worst concert - The Doors - '68 or 69 - Morrison's voice was terrible, and the crowd was antagonistic ("Morrison's dead!" chants) Las Vagas

[jkn]

Howard Jones - around 1987 ish?   Can't remember exactly.   Main reason for it being so memorable was that he played the Beatles - A Day in the Life...   and at the very end during the huge orchestral / tape / etc.. build up...   a jet was flying low overhead and it almost like it was planned (of course, it wasn't).    It was just incredible and gave me chills.

Tears for Fears - Seeds of Love 1989ish...  saw them in St. Louis.   One of the single best concerts I think I've seen.  Everyone was 'on' - Oleta Adams was touring with them as well.   Great great great show.   

Depeche Mode  I saw them 4 times...  Black Celebration, Music for the Masses tour twice, and Violator.    All were memorable in different ways...  The 1st Music for the Masses date was really cool - it was a "warm up" show in Chicago at UIC - and they played quite a few non-hits.   Violator was an amazing show - Nitzer Ebb just kicked as the opener - fantastic.

David Bowie - Sound and Vision around 1990 - what a band!   what a show!  Wow.   Someone mentioned this tour earlier in the thread - totally agree...

Skinny Puppy - Too Dark Park again around 1990 ish...  they were playing at a college in Indiana - a bunch of did a road trip over there.   What's ironic is only maybe 20 or 30 people total were there (and some of them were the people selling t-shirts).   Tiny little practice gym is where the show was held.   There were so few people that essentially everyone was front row.    The show was visually stunning - I'd seen nothing like it live...  Stilts, 30 tv sets (more tv's than people... ha!) showing faces of death idiocy, buckets of blood...  musically amazing, visually draining.    I actually started getting nausious after awhile...  I remember watching part of the show from just outside the gym through an open door to get a bit of a breeze and fresh air - and to avoid being sloshed with blood... :-)

Tori Amos - mid 90's - I wish I could remember who opened for her... guitarist - lots of looping, gorgeous almost ambient stuff.   Tori was mainly solo piano throughout the show - no band backing her up.   I went into the show liking Tori, I came out loving her live performances.

Sponge / Ned's Atomic Dustbin / Letter's to Cleo - a mid-90's show in a now closed theater in Peoria... small show.  Sponge was just, wow, so much better live than anything on their records.   Ned's was a wall of fantastic noise - again - so much better live than their records.   Even Letter's to Cleo which I was expecting to be fairly light and poppy - just rocked at a level I wasn't expecting at all.   It was definitely a good night for music!

[drone on]

Kiss-1979 Dynasty tour, Cow Palace San Francisco.  I was 11. How could you forget a show like this?
U2-1984 San Francisco Civic.  Before superduper stardom.
Rush-1985 Power Windows tour, Oakland Coliseum.  3 incredible musicians.
Echo and the Bunnymen/The Church-1985/86?, Oakland CA.
Peter Gabriel-1986 So tour, Oakland Coliseum.  Amazing performer.
Shriekback-1987 Big Night Music tour, One Step Beyond Santa Clara, CA-Probably the most fun I've ever had at a concert, I don't dance but I did that night.
Cocteau Twins-1990 Heaven or Las Vegas tour (once at Zellerbach, Berkeley, twice at Warfield San Francisco) Their live sound was totally mesmerizing.
Slowdive-1994 Slim's San Francisco.  Like one long orgasm.
Dead Can Dance 1993 Zellerbach, Berkeley.
Swans-1989/90? San Francisco.  My ears rang for a week.

 

[SunDummy]

A few more...

Grapes of Wrath, sometime around 1987, 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis.  Small, hot, packed club; these guys just tore it up.  One great song flowed into the next, super high-energy, no breaks between songs - incredibly tight and spot-on performances too.  The crowd knew most of the material, so everyone was dancing and singing along - the band were laughing and smiling the whole time, totally having a blast.  One of those shows where all the stars are in alignment and everything just clicks.  These guys should have been HUGE; such beautiful, well-crafted pop songs.  Their records are great, but live, they were absolutely incredible.

Godflesh, "Streetcleaner" tour, early 90's, 7th St. Entry.  I could feel the bass in my bowels.

Seawhores, mid '90's, 7th St. Entry.  These guys opened for Helios Creed, and blew them away.  One guy on bass, one guy on guitar, and in the middle, an old wooden console TV, which was showing a videotape of the drummer, with the audio fed through the mixer.  Beautiful - not a drum machine, but a live drummer who just wasn't...  well...  live.  They also had a 4-track that was supposed to be playing a backing track, but they couldn't get it working; the guitarist was pissed, and thought the whole set was a total disappointment.  But since I had no idea what they were trying to sound like, I thought it sounded fantastic - like Hawkwind's extended jams, but more minimal and sparse.  I talked to the guitarist after the show while Helios was setting up; he just kept apologizing for the crappy set, while I tried to convince him it was great. 

The Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem, early 1986, The Ordway Theater, St. Paul.  My college roomies & I were all obsessed with Irish folk music, so we HAD to catch this show.  These guys were the masters, and they did not disappoint.  I managed to see them several more times (and just "Liam and Clancy" as well), and no matter how old they were, they always put on one hell of a show.  They're all dead now; I'm so glad I had the opportunity to see them when I did.  "The Dutchman" still brings tear to my eyes every time I hear it. 

[LNerell]

Pink Floyd - 1974: The infamous LA Sports Arena concerts. Lots of arrests. My brother and I had nosebleed seats in the colonnade, just underneath where they hung the plane that would fly down to the stage during 'On The Run.' When the house lights came up for the intermission, the cloud over the floor area was really thick and pungent.

I was also at that show except it was April 1975, not 74. It was the first rock concert I ever went to, I was 14 at the time. I didn't see much of the show as my ride was one of the 100s busted trying to buy a joint, the LAPD swarmed the show with narcs and undercover cops to bust as many people as they could. I spent most of my time waiting for my friends parents to come pick us teenagers up. They had no idea we went all the way to downtown LA to see a show. Boy was I in trouble when I got home.  I think I may have enjoyed more their performance of The Wall at the same venue 5 years later.

Probably the most memorable performance was King Crimson on their Discipline tour at the Roxy in LA 1982. Standing room only, we were leaning against the stage, Fripp was about 3 feet from me, just an amazing show.

Loudest concert by far goes to Glen Branca Ensemble at Schoenberg Hall (where I now work) around 1984. They posted signs out front warning that the concert would be loud enough to cause permanent ear damage, they handed out ear plugs as you entered the hall. It was so loud you could feel the air preasure change in the room.