Concerts that ruled, Concerts that sucked.

[Batty]

Goodies:

 

Status Quo: Hammersmith Odeon 1975

Status Quo, Hawkwind, The Strawbs and Curved Air: Cardiff Castle 1975 all same concert

Queen: Westfallen Halle, Dortmund 1984

Iron Maiden, Scorpions, Judas Priest and Micheal Schenker Group: Dortmund 1984  all same concert

 

Forgetable:

 

Deep Purple: Hammersmith Odeon 1975 - didn't rate Tommy Bolin as a guitarist.

Jimmy Barnes: Thebby Theatre 2001 - I had been in Aus just under a month and had no idea who he was.

[cazzesman]

2 hours ago, frednork said:

Saw them at Festival Hall Melb, They seemed to play ok but the mix was not up to it, Was loud tho

 

That was the one the mixer threatened me with bodily violence.

 

I was in the balcony directly above him and kept screaming at him to turn Corey's vocals up and the rest down.  

 

Regards Cazzesman

Edited November 2, 2020 by cazzesman

[April Snow]

1 hour ago, Peter the Greek said:

Best:

- Adele at Stadium Australia. 96,000 people. Incredible

 

I saw her in Brisbane - it was an incredible show - how about the fire works - "Fire to the Rain" .................what an artist.

Always sad she cancelled the tour before she did Wembley where it was going to be filmed - was hoping for a DVD of that concert..........

Such a great concert and should have had a release on DVD.

[muon*]

I always wanted to see No Doubt live in the day, looking at the concert DVD's they were high energy and fun!

 

 

Edited November 2, 2020 by muon*

[Janjuggler]

Hi All,

 

Some goodies that come to mind:

 

Led Zeppelin - February 1972

 

Rolling Stones - February 1973 and March 1995 

 

Jethro Tull - July 1972 and July 1974

 

Black Sabbath - January 1973 and November 1974

 

Uriah Heep - November 1974 

 

Tangerine Dream - March 1975 and November 2014

 

Hawkwind - Cardiff mid 1976

 

Pink Floyd - February 1988

 

Page and Plant - March 1996

 

Some not so good:

 

Deep Purple - Sunbury 1975

 

Any Jimmy Barnes / Cold Chisel

 

JJ

Edited December 13, 2020 by Janjuc

[Guest Peter the Greek]

1 hour ago, April Snow said:

I saw her in Brisbane - it was an incredible show - how about the fire works - "Fire to the Rain" .................what an artist.

Always sad she cancelled the tour before she did Wembley where it was going to be filmed - was hoping for a DVD of that concert..........

Such a great concert and should have had a release on DVD.

 

Such a shame about the DVD. One day perhaps. It'd be nice to have some really high quality recordings for her. I don't think much of her existing records (recording quality that is)

 

That was such an awesome concert in Sydney. It was our daughter's first. She was 5-6 I think if I have my dates right

[surprisetech]

I'll throw in a couple that met both criteria in different ways.

 

Elvis Costello & The Attractions at Melbourne Concert Hall.

The performance was great.  Energetic and fun.  Steve Nieve in particular was having a ball.

But;  Stupid choice of venue.  All seated and concert hall acoustics not suitable for a PA system like that.  Elvis did start to get noticeably frustrated.

 

Stevie Nicks at Festival Hall.

Paul Kelly & The Dots did a great opening set.  Sound was actually quite good in the barn and she had an amazing band.  Percussionist as well as a drummer and Waddy Wachtel on lead. Would have paid the ticket price just to see him live.

But;  End of the tour and Stevie's voice was shot.  She still put on a great performance, but it really took the gloss off.

 

I'll come back later with some rulers and fizzers

[Ooogh]

2 hours ago, surprisetech said:

I'll throw in a couple that met both criteria in different ways.

 

Elvis Costello & The Attractions at Melbourne Concert Hall.

The performance was great.  Energetic and fun.  Steve Nieve in particular was having a ball.

But;  Stupid choice of venue.  All seated and concert hall acoustics not suitable for a PA system like that.  Elvis did start to get noticeably frustrated.

 

Stevie Nicks at Festival Hall.

Paul Kelly & The Dots did a great opening set.  Sound was actually quite good in the barn and she had an amazing band.  Percussionist as well as a drummer and Waddy Wachtel on lead. Would have paid the ticket price just to see him live.

But;  End of the tour and Stevie's voice was shot.  She still put on a great performance, but it really took the gloss off.

 

I'll come back later with some rulers and fizzers

Any friend of Warren Zevon gets the thumbs up from me, but playing with Stevie Nicks just lost Waddy two cool points......then again if he ruled he can have them back!

[April Snow]

2 hours ago, Peter the Greek said:

 

Such a shame about the DVD. One day perhaps. It'd be nice to have some really high quality recordings for her. I don't think much of her existing records (recording quality that is)

 

That was such an awesome concert in Sydney. It was our daughter's first. She was 5-6 I think if I have my dates right

Adele didn't film any of the other concerts with a DVD in mind, the Wembley gig (last one of the tour) was the one that was to be shot for the DVD - so alas - we have to put up with You Tube videos.................

I was shocked how good it was to be honest. I brought my ticket last minute that morning from someone that could not go and selling it off Gumtree - went on my own, but loved it anyway and was glad I took the gamble not to have fallen victim to a scalper - hahahaha

Edited November 2, 2020 by April Snow

[BugPowderDust]

Winners:

Nick Cave at Collingwood Town Hall the week before Christmas 1994. Brutal show, the band we’re on fire and really gave me thought as to how hard he could rock.

 

Ministry at the Palace January 1995. I’ve only once ever been to a gig that loud since. For a bunch of heroin victims they play the most precise music with aplomb.

 

Atari Teenage Riot at the Fleece & Firkin in Bristol in 1999. Totally off the hook, almost a mini riot in the audience. One of the rare times I’ve thought about safety in an audience.

 

Frank Black at the Palace in 1994. The first time any of us had seen him and the walking heart attack he was at the time.  I’m amazed his band could pull of those songs the way they did. Simply stellar.

Smashing Pumpkins at the Prince Of Wales in January 1994. Siamese dream tour, the band were playing small side shows and totally blew the doors off.

 

Mercury Rev At the Forum in 2000 (I think). Such beautiful music, played wonderfully. You could have heard a pin drop.

 

underworld at Homelands Dublin September 1999. They played the headline show and it was the best I ever saw them. They spent the first hour basically jamming then rolled the hits one after another. A very special show.
 

TISM - too many occasions to pick just one. One of the most singular Australian bands ever.

losers:

the Breeders in January 1994 on the Last Splash tour. They were awful. Could barely keep the songs together.

 

porno for pyros at the Palace on January 1996. Totally boring and unengaging. The only time people lit up was when they played an old Janes Addiction track. The rest of the gig was execrable.

sisters of mercy - corner hotel in January 2011(2). So bad I left about 4 songs in. I love their records but they were worse than a karaoke band playing their songs next door. One band I wish I had have seen in their prime...

 

Something For Kate - pretty much every occasion but one in particular is especially memorable. I fell asleep standing up at a show at the Prince Of Wales, sort of like how a horse does. No other band could invoke that feeling in me.

[Wimbo]

Can't remember the majority. Havent been to a concert for 30 odd years.

Ones that come to mind though were

Rock Arena 1977 Sydney Sports Ground. Kevin Borich Xpress. Santana, Little River Band, Fleetwood Mac.

1997 { I think)Old Fogies Concert at the Olympic Basket Ball Stadium. Alice Cooper, Peter Frampton, Paul Rogers, Gary Brooker, Roger Daltrey, Billy Thorpe and Jimmy Barnes.

1978 Jethro Tull at the Rainbow and Manfred Manns Earth Band at the Rainbow.

1971 I think. Deep Purple, Free, Manfred Mann and Pirana (Great Band) in Randwick.

Police at the Hordern in 1977 when Sting blew up his amps.

Numerous AC/DC concerts with Dave Evans, Bon Scott and Brian Johnson. (Scott way ahead).

Numerous Rose Tattoo and Mental as Anything gigs in the Down Under Bar, Stage Door in Broadway.

Ohh, even saw Autumn play "Yellow River" and Freshwater play "I aint got the time"  at school. Think this was in 70.

Edited November 3, 2020 by Wimbo
Old age.

[April Snow]

I cannot believe how many of these gigs / artists I have never heard of !!

Loving the thread .....

[Demondes]

6 hours ago, Pigpen said:

Living Colour - one of my all time favourite bands, would kill to see them live.

I remember back in the mid to late 90s Craig Calhoun (brother of Will Calhoun, Living Colour drummer) used to play the basement in Sydney regularly.  I am positive Will appeared at a few of those gigs.

 

the band was funk rather than rock 

[Ooogh]

16 minutes ago, April Snow said:

I cannot believe how many of these gigs / artists I have never heard of !!

Loving the thread .....

Wish I hadn’t heard of half these bands, it would mean I was young!

[April Snow]

Oh gosh -

just remembered another one and you will all pay me out for it - 

Britney Spears

Circus Tour

Brisbane

 

It was brilliant - we all know she mimes but wow it was such a well thought out and clever show -

I have to dig through my tour books and concert tickets I think...........

Best part living where I do, you can get to see most shows if they come to Oz as they usually include Brisbane........

[ado]

1 hour ago, BugPowderDust said:

Ministry at the Palace January 1995. I’ve only once ever been to a gig that loud since.

I was also at that Ministry gig.  It was so so loud.  I bought earplugs at the show but my ears still rang for days!

[metal beat]

Best - far too many, but hear are a few off the top of my head.

 

Hunters & Collectors - 1982 - Manly Vale pub " Bryants" - back when Hunters were so edgy and aggressive.

 

INXS - probably saw INXS maybe 6 times during the 80's and always at pubs - Manly Vale, Narrabeen Sands, Dee Why Hotel

 

Machinations - Dee Why Hotel - around 1989 - Freddy is such a nice guy - OI even got up on stage with him at the end to scream You Got No Say In It!!

We took my daughters to see the Machinations live @ Narrabeen RSL and Freddie was nice enough to pose for photo's with the girls afterwards - total gentleman.

 

Smashing Pumpkins circa 1994 - @ Selina's Coogee Bay Hotel - never seen Selina's so packed as that night - they were GOD like

 

Prince - 1992 on his Diamonds & Pearls concert - 3rd row in front of his piano - amazing

 

PSYCHEDELIC FURS - 1995 in House of Blues Anaheim - they rocked the house.

 

Depeche Mode - 2017 in Amsterdam - friggin unbelievable

 

Queens of the Stoneage -  2018 - @ the Horden - superb big sound.

 

Brian Jones Town Massacre - 2016 @ the Forum @ Fox Studios and 2018 @ The Metro - both times kicked arsse

 

Peter Murphy - libe @ The Factory in 2019 - sung 2 hours Bauhaus - heaven.

 

Not so Good

 

The Fall - @ The Metro in 2016 or 17 - Mark E Smith spent most of the time jibbering back stage and actually played for 20 minutes - It was a great 20 minutes, but also piss poor.    He dead not long after.

 

Nice Cave - he played a half Grinderman /  Half Nice Cave gig @ the Metro in maybe 2007/2008. Grinderman was awesome and every one was pumped - In the 2nd half Nick sat at the piano and gave his Elton John impressions of slow boring music.    If he flipped the order, it would have worked a lot better.  

Edited November 2, 2020 by metal beat

[lebowski]

in my yoof, back in the 80’s we would be out every weekend in Ye olde Adelaide town and with enough beer I think they were all awesome.

Saw many Australian classic pub bands - 

Lime Spiders

Ed Kuepper

The Divinyls

Hunters & Collectors

Beasts of Bourbon

Painters & Dockers

Mental As Anything

The Clouds

Spy V Spy

Cruel Sea

And I’m sure many more that I can’t remember ... they must have been great though.

 

More recently - Nick Cave at the Regent (Melbourne) incredible show, amazing performer.

Ben Folds Five at the Palais back in the late 90’s

The Black Keys at Sidney Myer Music Bowl - they sure can rock.

 

First concert - The Police in the early 80’s, and a few months later Gary Numan

 

Saw Iggy Pop at one of the Big Day Outs which was pretty cool, plus Sonic Youth which I think was his support act. 

 

[lebowski]

1 hour ago, Wimbo said:

Can't remember the majority. Havent been to a concert for 30 odd years.

Ones that come to mind though were

Rock Arena 1977 Sydney Sports Ground. Kevin Borich Xpress. Santana, Little River Band, Fleetwood Mac.

1997 { I think)Old Fogies Concert at the Olympic Basket Ball Stadium. Alice Cooper, Peter Frampton, Paul Rogers, Gary Brooker, Roger Daltrey, Billy Thorpe and Jimmy Barnes.

1978 Jethro Tull at the Rainbow and Manfred Manns Earth Band at the Rainbow.

Deep Purple, Free, Manfred Mann and Pirana (Great Band) in Randwick.

Police at the Hordern in 1977 when Sting blew up his amps.

Numerous AC/DC concerts with Dave Evans, Bon Scott and Brian Johnson. (Scott way ahead).

Numerous Rose Tattoo and Mental as Anything gigs in the Down Under Bar? in Broadway.

 

haha.. just remembered a Party Boys gig in the 80’s at Falls Creek when Angry Anderson was the lead singer. Outrageous night, we were all on tables dancing and singing along with the band.

[mattd2308]

Some ripper memories from everyone, obviously not too much "critical listening" with some of the bands mentioned, particularly ones from the 70's. I wasn't even a teenager until 1980!!

@Batty mentioned Status Quo at the Hammersmith in '75. Is that the one which was a live album?  If so, my elder siblings had that album, I remember some great guitar listening to that in late 70's.

Well, memorable for me: 1st ever concert, Waverley  (VFL Park) December 1980, "The hottest band in the land.........KISS!!!!! Well its any wonder i didn't have permanent hearing loss after that, geezuz!!

1981 - Doobie Brothers -  Festival Hall. A great line up, 2 drummers Keith Knudsen, Chet Mcracken, Willie Weeks-bass, Bobby Lakind-percussion, Michael McDonald - vocals. Just class.

1984 - Simple Minds - Glasshouse Melbourne , supported by Eurythmics and Psuedo Echo. Was Australia Day weekend. As a 16 year old seeing your favourite band, just an epic concert. Crowd went bersek when "Minds finished with "Love Song".  Eurythmics were slick also, had brass section which did okay. Pseudo Echo "I said,  you said weren't you Listening".

They were all here for Narara concert in NSW. Talking Heads and Pretenders were playing the next night.

1989 - U2  Tennis centre _ Loves Comes to to town tour. Only time Ive seen them, just fantastic hits up to that stage. The start of Streets have no name-epic.

1994 - Peter Gabriel - Tennis Centre - Melbourne, brilliant show, supported by Not Drowning, Waving.

2006 - Simple Minds - Palais Theatre, Had been 17 years, and they didn't disappoint, great vibe and energy. Jim Kerr, great frontman and engaged the crowd. Band were pumping, Mel Gaynor - great drummer.

 

Honourable mentions: Hothouse Flowers, Clannad, Loreena Mckennit, Nils frahm, dead can dance, Eric Clapton

**Elder brother was a postie in Toorak in late 80's-early 90's, and had Michael Coppel on his round (tour promoter) Managed to get some pretty good tickets (seats) during some of these concerts.**

The not so memorable: 1985 ? Bruce Springsteen , Showgrounds Melbourne, needed binoculars to see him on the stage -meh.

1988 - Bryan Ferry Tennis Centre, encores started after 80minutes, didn't play near enough of his better songs.

Can't think of more, obviously didn't leave much of an impression.

Great thread.

 

[mattd2308]

Forgot to mention, Feb, 2018- The War on Drugs -The Forum, effing great show.

[Red MacKay]

47 minutes ago, mattd2308 said:

 

1994 - Peter Gabriel - Tennis Centre - Melbourne, brilliant show, supported by Not Drowning, Waving.

 

Now that's a stellar gig I missed!  Both total class acts.  The music, the words, the aurora they create in their performance is utterly spellbinding and takes you (well me) somewhere totally different with no need for any recreational assistance.

 

The only other gig that I regret I never went to see was Peter Allan at the Hilton just a couple of months before we lost him.  The Hilton being so "ritzy and up market," and me being so pedestrian - I believed at the time that it was two classes above my station in society so I bauked.  What a huge mistake for me.

[deannepal]

Winners

Eagles - Perth Entertainment Centre 2016

Bob Dylan - Perth Convention Centre, Riverside Theatre 2016 (incredibly tight sounding backing band with great sound quality except for the gravelly voiced singer)

500 year Anniversary of Valparaiso, Chile 2016 (got adopted by local drunks for the night as couldn't find travelling companion, and ended up 50kms away after catching the wrong collective taxi as driver or other passengers couldn't understand my drunken Aussie Spanglish!)  - Great bands from all over South America with 1 exceptional unknown Brazilian rock group!

Santana - Adelaide Entertainment Centre 2010?

Angels - Coogee Bay Hotel, Sydney numerous times during the mid eighties

George Thorougood - Darwin Ampitheatre 1980's

John Mayalls Bluebreakers - Nightcliff Hotel Darwin 1980's

Canned Heat - Nightcliff Hotel Darwin 1980's 

Kiss - VFL Park Melbourne 1979

 

Losers

Kevin Borich Express - Broome 1980's as normal good music but far too loud

Pete Murray - Darwin Convention Centre 1990's atrocious acoustics

[Guest Old Man Rubber]

10 hours ago, April Snow said:

Oh gosh -

just remembered another one and you will all pay me out for it - 

Britney Spears

Circus Tour

Brisbane

 

It was brilliant - we all know she mimes but wow it was such a well thought out and clever show -

 

Ha you just reminded me of one I completely forgot.

 

I was in South Africa for a couple weeks back in the nineties and felt so claustrophobic stuck in Johannesburg I hired a car (foolish) and drove out to Sun City just to clear my head.  Sun City was completely booked out because Enrique Iglesias was playing.

 

Jagged a ticket.  he was fantastic.  The crowed was super engaged and a really great show (his band were great).  Didn't expect to like it at all, not really a fan still but I do fire up "Rhythm Divine" every now and again.

[cccrchairman]

Hit

Morphine - Annandale  Hotel (maybe 92/93 - Bughouse support act)

 

Miss

Beck - Metro (94 - Jon Spencer slayed him as support act. Love Beck. He has come along way)