Best gig you ever went to

[Rare Bird]

I'd love to say ELP but not

Hawkwind 'Sonic Attack' Tour gigs seen Hawkwind 12 times now..

[Beechwoods]

Oooh... it's easy to come up with a bad, one harder to think of the real standouts. I've been to a few good 'uns, eventhough I never seem get out these days, with rare exceptions

Prong + Godflesh - The Venue, London c. 1992

Genius pairing, with both bands at the height of their powers. Fantastic atmosphere, great mosh-pit, and plenty of crowd surfing!

Military Surplus RDF - Endorse It In Dorset Festival 2006

I saw Radical Dance Faction at a punk-allnighter in Peckham around 1992, and that was a great night. Very chilled out, playing in a pub that was packed just enough to get a good vibe going. The band disintegrated by 1996, but reformed for a long-anticipated reunion show at the Endorse-It festival. I went on the strength of their appearance there. They didn't disappoint. The line-up was based on their earlier 'Military Surplus' incarnation. I'm still waiting for the promised reunion album.

Toshimaru Nakamura - The Cube, Bristol c. 2004

Toshimaru performs minimalist electronic music using a 'No Input Mixing Board' - part of the 'circuit bent' scene. All sounds are generated through feedback, hum manipulation of hum, crackle, and tones generated by the shorting of components on a modified mixing board, without any external inputs. Sounds daft, but one of the most amazing performances I've ever seen. His albums are also good, but the impact is lost via crappy YouTube videos. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eia_A523Z1Q

Whither The Sixties Underground event - The ICA 1997

This was a full day of talk, reminscence and performance by those involved in the '14 Hour Technicolor Dream' at Alexandra Palace in 1967. Arthur Brown performed, and Malcolm Boyle did his amazing 1-man play 'The Madcap'; a tribute to Syd Barrett. Not enough people attended the event - maybe only 50 or 60, but it was fantastic nonetheless...

[Macca]

Steely Dan - at Aintree Racecourse 2007 - sat front row centre..

Also there was a free bar! - I'm afraid I was very, very drunk...



Martin

[John]

I have a few in no order
Jonas Hellborg and Shawn Lane Pizza Express
Zero Hour Headway Festival
Diamond Head Woolwich night after the riots
ZZ Top when they played the marquee
Thin Lizzy Rainbow Theatre

[alb]

Finsbury Park, London. Quite a few years ago.
First time i saw Neil Young. Along with 4 non blondes, Pearl Jam, James and Teenage Fanclub. All good in their own way.

[Themis]

Prince, at Nice, a few years ago. A great musician.
And one of the rare stars who get down from the scene, to go near the public and sign autographs.

[Joe]

John Cale, 1975.

[REM]

The Who, Liverpool Uni, May 1971. I think it was the first time they played 'Wont Get Fooled Again' in public, amazing gig from start to finish. We wondered what the three WW2 searchlights at the back of the stage were for but had forgotten about them when they announced the last number, WGFA. When Daltry and Townsend hit the BIG return, BANG on came all 3 of them. 1500 bonged out hippies blinded, dazed, confused, transfixed, totally blasted, now that's what I call a climax, incredible.

[Jason P]

The Waterboys, Brighton Centre in oohh, must've been around 1989 - it was the Fishermans Blues tour. They'd done a gig about a month before in the Top Rank suite (rank being the operative word there) and had all sorts of problems with sound and kit busting. So, Mike Scott announced at the end that they'd come back and do the gig again. No-one believed it, but sure enough they did. It rocked. They started with Fishermans Blues and proceeded to blow the roof of the Brighton Centre (not a great venue in terms of atmosphere) for around 2 hours - I think I pogo'ed for most of it....

Happy days.

Jason

[Alex_UK]

Probably predictable, but U2, Joshua Tree Tour, the first London date - 2nd June 1987 (I was 18) - in Wembley Arena when it was an arena - amazing show, got back home at 5am, went to work 2 hours later. 2nd best gig I ever went to? U2, Joshua Tree Tour, the second London date - 12th June 1987 - at Wembley Stadium when it was a Stadium - amazing show The support was pretty amazing too - World Party, Spear Of Destiny & The Pretenders. The only reason the second one wasn't quite as good as the first was that I was far too pissed the second time!