| Product: |
Top 10 Gigs |
| Date: |
28.07.01 (55 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: REM live - More Please!
Disadvantages: I wish I saw Elton John before he was wishy washy
A bit of a mix here. You will see that my musical taste got much better as I got older :)
10. Elton John- Vertans Stadium, Philadelphia, USA, 1993 - I have to admit to being disapointed by this gig. I really like the older stuff Elton did but the show was at the time he was entering the Lion King stage and it was just all wishy washy. The venue didn't help , I have to admit. However, that Rocket Man was a good moment and I guess I can always say I saw him live and I heard Candle in the Wind before it became the Diana song (ick).
9. Reba - Allentown Fairground, Allentown, USA - 1994 - I am by no means a country music fan but my sister wanted to go and she was too young to go on her own so I went with her. I must say this woman knows how to put on a show. She had her audience in the palm of her hand. I wasn't a fan and even I was really enjoyng it.
8. Billy Joel - Vetrans Stadium, Philadelphia, USA, 1993ish - Now a days I would never go to see him but he did a good job. You can't really fault a guy who can rock a whole stadium on his own. Piano Man was good but Allentown was amazing. It did help that we were 50 miles ( shor in American terms) from the real Allentown so it was a patricular fave of the crowd.
7.Paul Macartney- Vetrans Stadium, Philadelphia, USA, early 1990's - Was the hottest ticket all summer and my parents went nuts trying to get tickets. They are of the Beatles generation and wanted to finally see one of them live. The venue is so huge that it is hard to really get a personal connection with the band and we were on the 6th level of a 70,000 seater stadium. All this consdiered Hey Jude was a very memorable musical moment.
6. Mellisa Ethridge - Yes, I am Tour - Spectrum, Philadelphia, USA, June 1995 - The day after high school graduation. I never expected to be going to this show but a friend of mine's dad got a bunch of hospitality tickets through his job a
nd they gave them to us. We were in ninth row center. She was good fun. A highlight was All American Girl. Good especially since I wasn't expecting to go.
5. Placebo - With Out You I'm Nothing - Brixton Academy, London - My first concert in London. I had only just become interested in Placebo. They were suppose to be good live so I gave it a shot. They were indeed very good live. The audience was full of young werdios which I loved. I would have wished to be in the balcony because I am a bit short and once all the moshing ( of course) got started it was a bit hard to see anything but I managed. All the songs were great. Nancy Boy in particular. I wish I had known the songs a bit better but I made up for that later. I really wanted to hear Burger Queen but they didn't play it.
4. Presidents Of The United States Of America - Boston, Mass USA, 1996 - My first ever small gig. Had to be under 500 people there and it sold me on live music. The band was great. Music with no meaning at all. Just fun punk pop at the highest energy level. At the time Lump was out and that had us all jumping up and down. It was also the first time I went to see a band without owning their album. So, I only knew one song and frankly it didn't mater in the slightest. I went out the next day and bought the album. Peaches was great but so were Kitty, Naked and Famous, Kick out the Jams ( love that one) Boll Weevil and the fortune telling We are Not Going To Make It. The other plus of the gig was the opening act - Supernova. They were complete fun. I have never even met anyone else that knows who they are but I would very much like to see them again. Just silly little punk songs but so much fun. I do know that one of their songs showed up in Clerks.
3. Placebo - Black Market Music Tour -Brixton Academy, London - Second time seeing Placebo was the best. It was obvious that they had come a long way since the last tour. Fo
r one thing they actually had a stage set this time. I found Without You I'm Nothing to be a better album than Black Market Music but it seems since the last time the songs from both albums had really matured. They are always good but this time they were note perfect. Off of Black Market the best songs they did were Blue American (I must say the younger audience members cheering at the image of a burning American flag could have actually listened to the words of the song. Brian is half American..he was making a point in the song), Special K, Comercial for Levi and my album fave Hameoglobin ( a great song that is impossible to get out of my head after hearing it). Nancy Boy was good as usual and had the place rocking. They still didn't play Burger Queen. Anyone know why they don't play that?
2. REM - Up Tour - Earls Court, London - My second time seeing REM. I must say that Earls Court is a crap venue. It is souless. This took its toll on the opening act - Stereo Lab. They may otherwise be a good band but they just couldn't pull off the venue and it was torture knowing we were being kept from REM by them. I admit, it took REM about 20 minutes to warm up the venue after that but once they did they were just as good as ever. It was their first tour without Bill Berry and while he was of course missed the replacement didn't do a bad job at all. They did not play Everybody Hurts which for me was a disapointment but they played so many other great songs that it didn't mater all that much. They of course played a lot of stuff off of UP. I owned the album but the gig made it for me. At My Most Beautiful was stunning and Lotus was a good crowd pleaser. The oldies are still the goodies and Stipe did his usual romp through Man on the Moon with great ease. I totally impressed my friend by knowing Losing My Relgion was going to be played before even a note was played. It was just in the air..lol. Great show.
1.
REM - Monster Tour - Madison Sqaure Gardern, NYC, June 1995 - Simply the best live show I have ever seen and I suspect I will ever see. I grew up in Philadelphia and REM were planning on doing a show there but when the band started to have all their health problems my friends and I all decided that if we were ever going to get to see REM we better go to NYC incase they had to cancel the rest of the tour. We were all just turning 18 and were due to graduate high school ( a big deal in the States) just a week before the gig. We were so excited. None of our parents wanted us to go. After all it was 200 miles away from home and in New York. We wanted it so bad though that we went anyway. We booked a hotel room out of the city and went in really early. We ended up getting to the show far far too early. We had to sit outside on the steps for hours but it was so very worth it. The warm up band was Action Jackson and they were actually good. Very funnky and good fun. Then REM came on stage. Three intellegent mature young women went to total school girls. We shaked and we screamed. Our musical heros were on stage.
Monster is an album only fully appreciated live. The heavy sound just pounded the arena. Whats the Frequency Kenneth was their opener and it just had us leap out of our seats. REM is much more that just the wonderful Micheal Stipe and this song showed that. Six years on I can remember perfectly the way it felt to hear Losing My Religion live for the first time. The whole show was just so amazing, I am tingliing thinking of it right now. The single most amazing moment of any concert I have ever been to was when they played Everybody Hurts. I was on the second teir and I put my arm out at the same time Stipe did. Now, I know rationaly that there is no way he saw me but he was connecting directly to my soul and I am sure that most other people there felt the same connection. I long for such a musical moment again.
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