Bands or Artists you saw in their prime?

[megomania]

KISS Love Gun Tour in '77 at the Seattle Center Coliseum (now Key Arena)

[Goblin19]

Springsteen in the early 80's is easily the best concert I've ever seen. Billy Joel put on a good show, too, though i'm not too big a fan of his any more. The Foo Fighters most recently put on a good show, as well.

[HardyGirl]

I really haven't attended a lot of concerts in my life, but I am happy to say I've seen Michael Jackson (RIP) in concert twice (once w/ his brothers and once solo), b/c I know I'll NEVER get that chance again. I've also seen Amy Grant when she was still doing Christian music, Billy Mumy's band The Jenerators (every month for 2 years) and as far as I'm concerned Rick Springfield is still in his prime since he's still making albums and touring year round.

[cjefferys]

I don't know about "prime", but my favorite concerts that I attended are:

-Metallica (And Justice for All tour) with Queensryche opening (Operation Mindcrime era)

-Metallica (...Justice...) co-headlining with Aerosmith (Pump era) at the CNE in Toronto back in 1990 (this was a small tour with only a few dates)

-seeing Jeff Healey perform at a small club in Buffalo not long before he passed away. Great show!

-Nine Inch Nails (Downward Spiral tour) with Marilyn Manson and the Jim Rose Circus opening, in 1994. What a show!!

[Captain_Dan]

I should list all the shows Ive seen, but one that is funny is I actually saw BonJovi open for RATT in 1985, that was a really good show, but its funny look at BonJovi now and where is Ratt.

[Brue]

I saw a lot of bands popular from the late 70's to the early 90's many mentioned in this thread by others in their heyday but none matter compared to seeing Queen at the Richfield Coliseum July 1982.

[Brue]

I should list all the shows Ive seen, but one that is funny is I actually saw BonJovi open for RATT in 1985, that was a really good show, but its funny look at BonJovi now and where is Ratt.

i saw bon jovi open for Donnie Iris in 1985

i was a huge Donnie Iris fan - never cared for Bon Jovi

[Hector]

I saw a lot of bands popular from the late 70's to the early 90's many mentioned in this thread by others in their heyday but none matter compared to seeing Queen at the Richfield Coliseum July 1982.

[cjefferys]

I'm immensely jealous of my uncle, who went to the Rock and Roll Revival Festival in Toronto back in 1969, where John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band (including Eric Clapton) made their debut live appearance, right when he was leaving the Beatles. It was kind of a surprise appearance (but there were strong rumours, which is why he went), and he said the whole thing was a fantastic show (the 12 hour show also included The Doors, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee-Lewis, Bo Diddley, Gene Vincent, Little Richard, Alice Cooper and a bunch more). Oh, to have seen that!

[david_b]

The problem with this thread is the word "Prime". A couple of people have mentioned McCartney tour in '89/'90, and I am a HUGE McCartney fan and saw him in a preview of his tour in '89 at the Lyceum Theatre in NYC...for FREE (Thanks the Wings Fun Club) , but in my opinion it wasn't McCartney in his prime. Prime would have been Wings Over America in 75/76.

I've seen Clapton like 6 times since his Behind the Sun tour in '85...was it his prime? Some say his Cream or Derek and the Dominoes stuff was his prime. Same goes for Elton John...I've seen him 6 or 7 times since his Reg Strike Back Tour...his prime was surely in the late 70's early 80's. So prime is all subjective.

On a side note...I'm a little surprised about Julian Lennon being mentioned twice. I saw Julian back in '86 Secret Value of Daydreaming tour at Radio City Music Hall. It was a great show...up until Sean came out on stage and sang with him on the last number of the night.

I would have liked to seen Macca on his last Wings tour (UK in '79).. The 'Last Flight' bootleg CD is OUTSTANDING.

As for Julian, I LOVED his show in '83, but saw him in Germany performing at a festival in '90, and it wasn't all that great. Most of his momentum was gone by then.

[Spawn67]

I'm immensely jealous of my uncle, who went to the Rock and Roll Revival Festival in Toronto back in 1969, where John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band (including Eric Clapton) made their debut live appearance, right when he was leaving the Beatles. It was kind of a surprise appearance (but there were strong rumours, which is why he went), and he said the whole thing was a fantastic show (the 12 hour show also included The Doors, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee-Lewis, Bo Diddley, Gene Vincent, Little Richard, Alice Cooper and a bunch more). Oh, to have seen that!

My Uncle saw BOB MARLEY 5th row! at the Cap Centre in Landover, Maryland 1978! He even shook his hand as there was a red carpet type thingy in the back of the arena as he walked to the tour bus!! Of course I am immensly jealous! He still rubs it in to this day!

[Duncan]

Back around 1990, I saw the Dead, The Who, Clapton, Tom Petty, Cyndi Lauper & Pink Floyd. Most were past their peaks, but all could still bring it. Clapton was outstanding. In hindsight, I wish I'd had a lot less to drink at these shows so I could remember them better.

[Adam West]

Favorite concert of all time was Billy Idol around 1986. It was the most memorable because I was with a lot of friends, we had lawn seats, partied (will leave it at that) and had a great time.

Other bands that really stuck out

Genesis (Phil Collins although I'm a huge Peter Gabriel fan)
Phil Collins
Journey
Night Ranger and Starship (not sure the name they went by)....someone else mentioned Night Ranger...the concert was the worst of all time for me. I really liked Night Ranger had 2nd row seats. This was the time when Starship had "We Built This City" and sang it 3 times (not kidding)....they did sing "White Rabbit" and few other classics but they were terrible. Night Ranger was just as bad....I was there with girls I wanted to hook up with and after a few renditions of "Sister Christian"...I knew it was a bad choice
The Kinks-Funny story...couldn't get tickets to Bruce Springsteen born in the USA tour so some friends and I went to a different ticket location and got 4th row seats to the Kinks
Oingo Boingo.....awesome
I also saw Stryper (heavy metal rock christian band) and

[Adam West]

Kix (a local band with a couple of hits in the 80's)... small venue and they both kicked arse.
Also saw Molly Hatchet but out of their prime...there were only 50 or so people there so that was cool with me. Finally, I attended High School with the lead guitarist and bass player from "Hootie and the Blowfish". The two of them were in a High School band and I attended quite a few High School parties where they played with their band at the time. They were really good but I never imagined they would make it big. I have some funny stories of things they did in High School but won't mention on this forum (it is true...nothing really bad but don't want to take the risk)

[BlackKnight]

Metallica
Pantera
Grunt Truck
Green Apple Quick Step
Local H
SoundGarden
Anthrax
Alice N Chains
G&R
Rob Zombie
Slip Not
Mud Vain
Limp Biscuit
Korn
Tool
M&M ( Before Anyone Knew Him )
God Smack
Lamb of God
Ozzy
Rage against the Machine
Velvet Revolver
Stone Temple Piolt
Nine inch Nails
Ramstien
Motley Crue
Skid Row
Screaming Trees
Helmet
Silver Chair
Peal Jam


I know there's an Arse Load More ..., Not sure Who was in there Prime.