Memorable gigs/festivals - Ajarn Forum

zehner · 4th December 2006, 18:55

The first big metal festival i went to was Donington back in 1995. got to see Metallica, Slayer, White Zombie and Therapy?

i recall getting to the front of the crowd during white zombie and lushing after that fine bass player chick. Slayer were awesome as ever. just as they played the first few chords of raining blood it started to drizzle and there was a huge seething mosh pit with a cloud of red dust hanging over it. very cool sight indeed.

it was my first time seeing Metallica. worshipped them when i was a kid so it was a near-religious experience at the time.

i went to the festival with a large group of metalheads..some of them (not me btw!) decided it would be fun to loosen the straps on the ferry lifeboats on the way over

as a result we were escorted back to dublin on the return journey by plain clothes cops and given a nice little bollicking.
-------------------------

I lived in St. Paul Minnesota during the summer of 1997 and was pretty happy when i heard the Ozzfest was coming.

Had Ozzy headlining solo and the original Black Sabbath line-up for back-up!! Bill ward had to go off stage after a few tunes due to a big ticker though

mike bordin (faith no more) stepped in. was amazing to see them all playing on the same stage and knocking out the classics.

also got to see Pantera, Type O Negative, Fear Factory and Marilyn Manson. there were loads of christian fundamentalist freak types outside the gig pleading with people not go to in to see MM 'cos apparently he was the devil incarnate

wasn't very impressed by any of those bands though.

the two bests bands that day played on the second stage.

first was Slo Burn with ex-Kyuss lead singer John Garcia playing all the tunes off there first and last album "amusing the amazing". absolutely brilliant and i won't ever forget it.

second was the almighty Neurosis. loads of the muppets there didn't have a clue who they were and just stood then stunned by wall of noise being produced by these five crazy bearded motherfuckers. they played most of stuff from "enemy of the sun" with the 25 minute "cleanse" being one of the most incredible extended live drum performances i have ever seen..

----------------

the other gig that sticks out was Godspeed you Black Emperor!! in the temple bar music centre, dublin, just after their first album was released. the place was absolutely packed. panasonic and sigur ros supported (sigur ros themselves played for nearly 2 hours!!) Godspeed just blew everyone away...3 hours of intense slabs of noise combined with moments of pin-dropping silence backed up with a great visual display in the background. at the cresendo of the gig the crowd were stunned. nobody really knew what they were like previously but wouldn't forget it in a hurry.

--------------

so any old timers out there wanna add their memories?

natalie8 · 4th December 2006, 19:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by zehner

first was Slo Burn with ex-Kyuss lead singer John Garcia

Are you talking about Sloburn from Vancouver who sing Whatever? If you are, they're amazing artists who got screwed by agents. They got nowhere near the publicity they should have.

Mine would be Genesis live in Buffalo in 1982. It was their Mama tour and I was 15. I went with 3 friends. We got there straight and we were stoned out of our minds by the time the first hour was up. There were a few guys in front of us who kept passing the joints back.

Genesis were famous for their light shows and they had a second drummer playing completely in synch with Phil Collins at times. It was mind-blowing. When they did Illegal Alien, there were a few people on stage wearing black 97 Rock T-shirts and sunglasses, dancing to the song. It was great!

Another more recent one was Green Day at a summer music fesival in Toronto. At the end of their set, they smashed their instruments then set them on fire. It was a riot.

jonny danger · 4th December 2006, 19:57

Robert Palmer. I know he's probably shite to a Brit but he worked so hard .. two hours, not one break, not one word. Bob Marley in one of 13 concerts in the USA. Jeff Beck, with three different groups. John Mclaughlin and the Majanisue for 50 cents. The Almond Brothers. Mose Allison. Etta James. James Brown. Sly and the Family Stones. Jimi Hendrix in Monterey.
Cactus. The Fabulous Thunderbirds. Burning Spear. Steel Pulse. Billy Cobham. Carlos Santana in Guadalajara with Mana.

zehner · 4th December 2006, 21:36

slo burn were from california nat: http://rateyourmusic.com/artist/slo_burn

saw john martyn in dublin about 5 years ago. he was so pissed he had to start the gig three times and slurred his way through the rest.

also saw the "space-jazz" group sun-ra. that was really cool. about 30 people on stage going at it.

Nickyboy · 4th December 2006, 21:43

Stone Roses - Brighton Centre, December 1995.

Had waited 4 years to see my heroes. Amazing.

The Orb - Bristol (somewhere!) 1992. My mate was fucked on acid. I declined but had a wicked time!

natalie8 · 4th December 2006, 21:46

Is that the same band, though? They did Whatever?

Whatever comes and goes
Whatever comes and goes
Amidst the borrowed clothes
What have you I suppose

???????

zehner · 4th December 2006, 21:54

they're not the same band nat.

slo burn are stoner/desert rock. when kyuss split up john garcia started slo burn and then unida while josh holme started queens of the stone age.

would have sold a vital organ to have seen kyuss live before they split..

Uncle Harry · 4th December 2006, 22:01

So many from my dedadent youth...where to start?

Led zeppelin- Wembley Empire pool in 71 and at Alexandra Palace in 72

Pink Floyd, Edgar Broughton, Kevin Ayers and others, free concert in Hyde Park 1970

One of the best -Free at my local college in 70 just before Alright now was released and they stopped playing in small halls. I was at the front and touched Paul Kossoffs foot! Ticket was 9 shillings(45p)!

Alex Harvey - London Palladium 1974

Reading festival in 73 & 74. The Faces, Focus, Rory Gallagher, Traffic and many others

Genesis twice in 1970 at two pub halls in my area. They were still fairly small time then and brilliant! Around 100 people packed tight, mesmerised by Gabriel.

zehner · 4th December 2006, 22:11

rory in '74? lucky bugger!!

thin lizzy played in a dance hall down the road from me in a backwater called pallasgreen around then. would have been nice to have been alive then

Uncle Harry · 4th December 2006, 22:37

Actually Rory was in 73, the year before that I saw him at the BBC, Paris studios Piccadilly with about 100 other lucky souls.
Thin Lizzy were also at Reading in 73.

LDMA · 4th December 2006, 22:52

Glastonbury 1999 - Orbital as Sat night headliners...they blew my mind.

mangoedout · 4th December 2006, 23:41

I went to Glastonbury three times back in the day dand thought it was great. The first two times were incredible - it was dry and sunny, and 80,000 people were just chilling out with spliffs and lazing about on the grass, or high on something and dancing their nads off in the press of the crowd, whatever they fancied. The police were present but never interested in anything as long as it was peaceful, which by and large it was.

The third time was harder work though - it was pissing with rain the first two days and people were getting washed out in the night, or finding they had rather unfortunately pitched their tent downhill from some flooded and overflowing toilet areas. wellington boots were selling for the price of a drugs shipment. the next two days it was sunny and the two feet of water turned into leg-sucking mud that sapped your strength and made it impossible to sit down anywhere. still, most persevered and the bands made it worthwhile!

best band i've ever seen live though - the red hot chili peppers in brixton hall, london. at one point the lights went off and no-one could see anything. suddenly, in kicks a bitchin' bass line and i thought, Flea's the best... then the lights go on and anthony kiedis was playing. well, he says, you don't hang around flea for long without learning a thing or two...

LDMA · 5th December 2006, 00:49

I was there in 98 and I know about strength sapping mud...nasty. We did manage to pitch on this tine patch of relatively unscathed ground which was lucky. Saw Underworld that year which was incredible.

666 · 5th December 2006, 00:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by zehner

The first big metal festival i went to was Donington back in 1995. got to see Metallica, Slayer, White Zombie and Therapy?

Great thread.

My first big concert was in 1984.

I went with 3 friends to see Iron Maiden on their "Powerslave" tour.

The opening song was "Aces High" preceded by Churchill's opening speech on "defending the island.

Great rock and roll. I think the ticket was $14 USD back then. I was fourteen years old and really loving music.

I later saw many "big shows" but then grew to appreciate to small, local venues.

esoteric1 · 5th December 2006, 01:21

World Series of Rock
Cleveland Municipal Stadium 1979
All day affair

AC/DC...Aerosmith... I think... and hell I can't even remember the rest of the 8 or 9 other groups that played that day.

Got whacked out of my gourd and ended up in the medical tent later in the day. It was hotter than hell(no pun intended) and they were spraying us with firehoses. While we were waiting to get in in the morning we started the festivities by drinking MD 20/20 and taking a couple of purple microdots...more blotter later, plenty of mary jane, beer. Christ I don't think I've ever been more fucked up then that day. Wow!

Here's a clip of AC/DC from that day(sound on this sucks):

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcjAFrdsV8M[/media]

another AC/DC cut:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykVokC9sRwo

Oh yeah Ted Nugent was there, Thin Lizzy, I think Foreigner and Scorpions as well...what a wild ass day that was!

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Series_of_Rock

"The World Series of Rock was known not only for its “arena rock” spectacle, but was also notorious for the rowdiness, rampant drug abuse and drunkenness of the crowd."

Heh heh...no kidding