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Good suggestions. My reflection is just that, gigs I have attended. Maybe I'm getting old nut good pointers and real enthusiasm is what it really is all about.

I'm quite old too, but not old enough to have really seen anyone that great in their prime.

Fugazi is the best band I have ever seen, and even then it was their last tour when they were all over 40 I think. Maybe the only really great live band I have seen at their absolute best is Mogwai between Come On Die Young and Rock Action, but then there's probably people who'd say they were better at little venues for Young Team or they are a more accomplished band now.

I dunno. You have to be 35+ to really reply to this properly I think, otherwise you're just coming up with stuff that isn't actually that good, you just think it is because you didn't see Nirvana at the Dog and Duck in Camulodunum in 1066 and you don't know any better.

Happy Mondays - Lancaster 1989
Sigur Ros - Islington 2000
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - pretty much anywhere any time but I'd say Royal Festival Hall when he curated Meltdown was the best
Tindersticks - Bloomsbury 1995
MBV - any date on the Loveless tour (saw 3 of them)
Oasis - Lille 1994

fugazi/laughing hyenas 1992
bob dylan/ 1997
arcade fire/gold chainz 2004
stooges/sonic youth 2003
the jesus lizard 1993/1994/1995
tool/tomahawk 2000
joanna newsum 2010
pj harvey 2001

With The Cranberries, Radiohead and Sleeper

Talking Heads, just before they released Fear of Music. First time I'd ever been completely transported by the experience of seeing a live band

The Birthday Party, a few times, first exposure to the glory of train-wreck rock nihilism

The Fall, 1981 or 82, immediately post-Hex. Enough said

Nick Lowe, mid 80s, pub gig somewhere in London. Just a perfect pop gig, with the awareness that you're in the presence of a bona fide rock legend

The Butthole Surfers, late 80s, on acid. Hilarious and utterly terrifying

Jon Hassell, late 80s, performing in Tokyo with a 9-piece Burundian percussion orchestra. Was expecting some sort of pointy-head Eno-ish ambient noodling, and instead they blew the roof off the place

The Cramps, New York, 1988. Probably the single best gig of my life to date. I'd seen them in Sydney a couple of years beforehand and had been a bit disappointed, as they were sick & exhausted & basically shite. Almost didn't bother going to this one. But they came on, launched into Surfin Bird, and basically cranked it up from there. I was right down the front, can remember Lux going into a crouch at the front of the stage, screaming Nick Cave style, while sweat poured out in a river from the sleeve of his patent leather jacket

Loop, early 90s, on acid

Masonna, mid-90s. First noise gig, only about 15 minutes long but the rush was like snorting a kg of ice. Felt wildly excited for days afterward

Yo La Tengo, late 90s. Small pub gig, hadn't heard much of them, was completely unprepared for their utter awesomeness

Electric Wizard & Church Of Misery, Tokyo 2004. Again, enough said

Comets On Fire, two or three years ago. Most dizzying combination of wild abandon and duck's-arse-tight musicianship I've ever seen, delivered with the energy of a massive star imploding

Black Boned Angel, last year. Fucking hell. For full-tilt psychedelic metal drone annihilation, this made Sunn 0))) look like Travis. Plus Campbell Kneale is just a solid dude

and then this hairy hillbilly going apeshit over on the side. Ethan Miller is a legend.

Oh, and they were supported by Grey Daturas, which was a massive fucking treat too

Lift to Experience - Leicester 2001
Spiritualized - Derby 1995
Black Grape - Nottingham 1998
all the times ive seen Trail of Dead and Orbital

Faith No More at the Astoria (first leg of Real Thing tour)
Faith No More and Prong at Hammersmith Apollo (as was) (at the time my two favourite bands)
Nine Inch Nails at the Astoria (first London headline show)
Beck at the Astoria (ditto)
Nirvana at Bristol Bierkeller
Therapy? and Copshootcop at Bristol Anson Rooms
Primal Scream (XTRMTR tour) supported by Death In Vegas at Shepherds Bush Empire
Godflesh at the Garage
QOTSA at Reading Fest/the Garage in 2000
Orbital at Brixton times untold

Up to present day...
Antlers at the Borderline

Presuming they were both 1989. The Mudhoney gig in particular is one of my favourites. Forgot they were in the same week!

Prince - (Headline act) Hopfarm Festival (2011)
Sigur Ros - Alexandra Palace (2008)
R.E.M. - Old Trafford Cricket Ground (2005)
Jeff Mangum - Union Chapel (2012)
Radiohead - Hammersmith Apollo (2006)
The White Stripes - (Headline Act) Glastonbury (2005)
Arcade Fire - (Headline Act) Glastonbury (2007)
Patrick Wolf - London Palladium (2009)

Sigur Ros
Public Enemy
David Thomas Broughton
Fever Ray
Philip Glass

Fever ray - Brixton Academy 10
Kraftwerk - Bestival 09
Liars - Primavera 09
Jay/Kanye - O2 arena 12 (and possible jay z glastonbury)
Gorillaz - Roundhouse 10

not sure which was better of these
new order/ happy mondays nec '89 or
new order/ elbow liverpool olympia 2001 or
new order reading 1989 with the sugarcubes, the house of love, swans, tackhead, that petrol emotion, mbv & spaceman 3
(earlier would have been better, say 1985, for them though. all the shows were great its the suport acts that make it hard to chose)

throwing muses/ galaxie 500 bristol bierkeller
or throwing muses/ pixies birmingham burberries
stone roses bristol bierkeller
radiohead/ sigur ros big top tour newport
julian cope bristol ansom rooms '95(?) the one after an audience with the cope in the bierkeller which wasnt as good
kraftwerk manchester velodrome
frightened rabbit bristol thekla
the joy formidable/ creatures of love dublin whelans
the fall birmingham hummingbird 1989

it was instantly the best gig i've ever seen in 16 years of going to gigs. it just didn't even need consideration on whether or not it got the top spot.

Mike Peters - Greenbelt 1984
Bruce Springsteen - Villa Park 1988
The Cure - NEC 1990
Wedding Present - Hummingbird 1990
Jesus & Mary Chain - Hummingbird 1990
Foo Fighters - Reading 1995
Smashing Pumpkins - Reading 1995
Trail of Dead - Wulfrun Hall 2007
New Order - Civic Hall 2007
Stooges - Apollo 2010

Rory Gallagher - Bristol Colston Hall 1978 (because it was my first)
Led Zeppelin – Knebworth 1979
Grateful Dead – Rainbow 1981
REM – Lyceum 1984 (Reckoning tour, back when Stipe had long hair)
Dream Syndicate – Marquee 1984
Julian Cope – Hammersmith Palais 1984
The Sound – Marquee 1985
The Triffids – Clarendon Ballroom 1985
Jesus and Mary Chain supported by Sonich Youth – Hammersmith Palais 1986
Pixies – Cardiff University 1989 (Doolittle tour)
Rollercoaster tour with J&MC, My Bloody Valentine, Dinosaur Jr and Blur – 1992
Beck – Cardiff University 1997 (around time of Odelay)
The Strokes – Clwb Ifor Bach 2001
Bjork – Covent Garden Opera House 2002 (or maybe Manchester last year)
Leonard Cohen – Manchester Opera House 2008
Sufjan Stevens – Primavera 2011
And just about any of the Nick Cave gigs I've witnessed over the last decade or so

The Afghan Whigs, Astoria 1993
Smashing Pumpkins, Astoria 1994
Blur, Glastonbury 1994
Fun Lovin Criminals, Astoria 1998
SFA, Oxford Zodiac 2004
The Cooper Temple Clause, Oxford Zodiac 2 2005
Muse, Reading Festival 2006
Metallica, Reading Festival 2008
Shady Bard, Flapper 2010
Everything Everything, Union Chapel 2010

Oasis at the Old Trout in 1994 was a good 1066 moment, but those early songs haven't aged well and the albums that followed...

The Arcade Fire- Manchester Academy (2005)
Sigur Ros- Latitude Festival (2008)
The Flaming Lips- Manchester Apollo (2006)
Sufjan Stevens- Copenhagen Vega (2011)
Joanna Newsom - Royal Albert Hall (2007)
Sunset Rubdown - London Luminaire (2008)
Wildbirds and Peacedrums - London Union Chapel (2010)
I'm From Barcelona - University of London Union (2007)
Dan Deacon - San Francisco Great American Music Hall (2009)

Radiohead:
South Park 2001
First of all, South Park as a day was one of the best days out I'd had out ever at that point - I'd been to gigs, albeit ones in small venues, and had never been to anything with more than 1000 people in attendance, so the sheer numbers were pretty amazing. The fact that it converted me on Kid A (The National Anthem was astonishing, and in retrospect I'm sad Thom didn't go on and do Motion Picture Soundtrack). My brother played in the first band on too. He was sick backstage, cos he'd never seen that many people in an audience. His band were sick also {this is a clever joke, btw}

The Flaming Lips
SHIT WHERE TO BEGIN: May 2002, November 2002, (November 2005(ish), Green Man 2010(?))
The first one was great. THE SECOND ONE I GOT TO BE AN ANIMAL ONSTAGE AND I WAS A LION. This is all. This was also probably the most fun I will ever have at a gig: Lips Doing lots of Yoshimi/Soft Bulletin, but with a few more from earlier on than they do now.. But my sister and I were both animals, and we were both dancing til the end. AND IT WAS AMAZING. Green Man not so much. Skived off them to go and watch Factory Floor, who were pretty great.

SFA - Royal Festival Hall Lightning Fryday, 2005
Three hour set. Could not have been happier. I confessed my sins to Howard Marx, but the best one was the guy who accidentally threw a goat down a well.

Spiritualized - November 2008
Got a guestlist spot through a friend, had seen them a couple of times before and had enjoyed it, but not so much as I would've hoped. But still, I have everything they've released apart from Fucked Up Inside, so I kinda had to go. It was free. It was a pretty average show, with Spaceman noodling about between songs, so much so that the background pure-phase sound was threatening to become as much of a feature of the gig as anything else, the beep from the start of Ladies And Gentlemen... went off, and the rest of the gig was just a blur of awetstruck amazement. Seriously. I had never been rendered mute by a gig, but that second half was transcendentally good.

Pulp / Janelle Monae / Big boi - Glastonbury 2011
Radiohead had been a bit of a damp squib (honey, that's just one man's opinion) the day before, so I wasn't expecting much. Was just sitting in hammocks above the Park Stage, vaguely watching the stage. Saturday was SUNNY where Friday had been ditch-grey, and I was vaguely listening to the stage, hearing the end of the introductory speech from Jarvis of "Glastonbury. Do. You. Remember. The First Time?"
I also stood next to Paul Weller.
From there on in, headed over for Monae/Left Foot, who somehow DIDN'T collaborate in any way shape or form, but were both great. I kinda view that entire 3 hour period as one blurry gig, so it gets in on that merit.

OLDIES
Neil Young - Manchester Apollo
He did everything I could've hoped for, Ambulance Blues included. Gets on the list for that, if nothing else.

Brian Wilson - June 2004
Touring Smile. I went with my dad and sister. Anyway, I wasn't expecting much, but the set was so flawless, and so beautifully performed, I started crying at the beginning of Surfer Girl, and the Smile section convinced me that Brian Wilson had written You Are My Sunshine. Skived off school a couple of weeks later to buy Smile so I could go home and listen to it. Still got the gig programme at home, was probably one of the more special gigs I'll go to.

[This space kept open for Bruce Springsteen, who I'm seeing on FRIDAY!]

NEWIES (people who I wasn't a fan of before seeing)

Caribou - Green Man 2008
It was rainy as hell on Sunday night, but I'd done all my stewarding, and was halfway drunk. It was Pentangle (who I would've gone to see had it not been, like, rainy as hell) or Caribou, so I thought I'd check out the beatles-y psychedelic electronica band from Canada. 45 minutes. UNREMITTING. It was apparently the very last night of the Andorra tour, and the band were ridiculously tightly-formed, and the music was ridiculously tightly-formed, and everybody REAAAALLY wanted an encore, from the packed tent to the band themselves, who were clearly grateful for the reaction, and ready to play. But no, said the stage-manager. Being a stage-manager must be the most thankless task. The tosser.

Monotonix - in a tiny hall in Reading, 2009(?)
At one point I was sat on top of a toilet cubicle, and wasn't the only person in this position. Fucking awesome.

Honorable mentions for ATPavement, and ATP Belle And Sebastian, featuring Belle & Sebastien, Crystal Castles, Pat Nevin's Indie Disco, and RANDOM DJS IN THE IRISH BAR PLAYING NOTHING BUT AWESOME HITS ON THE SUNDAY NIGHT IN CAPSLOCK.

for personal reasons more than anything else though

Manics - Astoria '94
Blur - Reading Festival '99
Evan Dando - UCL '01
Strokes - Liverpool Lomax '01
Tom Waits - Dublin Ratcellars '08

1. Pendulum at Reading - 2007
2. Pendulum at Reading - 2008
3. Pendulum at Reading - 2009
4. Pendulum at Reading - 2010
5. Pendulum at Reading - 2011
Really looking forward to the seeing the Pendulum DJ set at Reading this year

in Hammersmith in 2004 was pretty special, despite my seats on the very back row of the balcony. The guy just has amazing charisma & stage presence.

New Order at Brixton in 2001 was amazing too for the sheer volume and also, like all New Order gigs I've been to, thanks to the crowd down the front going completely mental.

Also I remember an amazing gig in Paris in 1992 as part of the annual Inrockuptibles tour - PJ Harvey, Drop 19s & Frank & Walters. All 3 sets were absolutely fantastic.

Seen them probably nearly 10 times live. Am I the only one of the opinion that they are never as good as you expect them to be? They're good, don't get me wrong, but they should be mindblowing. They have never managed that, for me.

AC/DC Liverpool Empire 1979. At the time AC/DC where my one true love. I was lucky to see them twice with Bon Scott, and they nailed it both times.
Rain Parade Liverpool 1986?. They were just utterly, utterly superb.
Big Black Manchester Boardwalk 1987. The ceiling dripped with sweat and people climbed on top of one and other to get closer to the front. We jumped in the van and unanimously decided we would go to Leeds to see them again the next night.
Arcade Fire Liverpool Academy 2005. Perfect. I've never seen them better it.
Shellac ATP 2004. It was my first ATP. It was emotional.
Coachwhips - London Plastic People 2006. The beginning of my love affair with John Dwyer. They exploded, and everyone joined in.
Battles - Greenman 2007. The festival was a mudbath. For a while no one gave a fuck.

Pink Floyd 1988 Maine road
Guns n roses 1988 monsters of rock donington
Flaming lips 2002 Birmingham Alex theatre
The Rapture 2003 medicine Bar Birmingham
Flying lotus at atp nbc 2011
Elliott smith 2000 wolverhamptom
Faith no more 1990 birmingham humingbird

Some that immediately spring to mind:
Cocteau Twins Notts Royal 1986 & Sheffield City Hall 1990. Beauty encapsulated. Saw them 4 times but these were the best.
Jeff Buckley Edward's No.8 Brum. Heard him on the evening session, heard he was playing that week so went. Amazing talent.
Iggy Pop Bham Hummingbird 1991. Rock star in full effect.
Lloyd Cole and the Commotions Bham NEC Forum. This always sticks in my memory as a favourite, must have been in love with them at the time.
Battles, Caribou and The Cave Singers at Greenman. All gobsmacking performances in the tent.
New Order et al on the Friday of Reading 89. Festival heaven, never really bettered.
Monotonix @ Vivid Birmingham 2009. Other bands are boring after Monotonix.
DJ Shadow @ The Institute Birmingham 2011. Redefined what a gig could be like, utterly absorbing.
My Bloody Valentine @ Manchester Apollo 2008 & Bham Institute 91. Glorious noise.
David Bowie @ Bham NEC 2001. Starstruck.
American Music Club Hotel Utah, San Francisco 1989. Emotions all over the place in two extraordinary shows.
ATP NBC 2011. Party weekend with endless brilliant bands. 8n)
Throwing Muses & Pixies @ Bham Burberries 1988. So good I went to London the following weekend on my own. I didn't know anyone in London, I just had to go. Life changing gig!
Bound to be loads that I'll wish I'd put in, but 400+ gigs is tough to organise in my brain. Good to see lots of Birmingham gigs here too.

Bjork and Sigur Ros in the fjords of Reykjavik
Kraftwerk's original line-up in Lenin's old steel factory in Krakov
The remaining members of The Doors in the Joshua Tree desert
Eels at Royal Albert Hall
Spiritualized doing, amongst their own songs, xmas carols at Union Chapel
Nick Cave/Primal Scream/Spiritualized/Beta Band all nighter at Brixton Academy
My Morning Jacket at Paradiso Amsterdam
Skatalites in Munich
Radiohead in South Park Oxford
Ryan Adams at Apollo Theatre

I could go on, so many perfect nights

Sonic Youth / Pavement at Birmingham Hummingbird around 1992
Ride / Mercury Rev, also at the Hummingbird around 1992

One thing I've noticed from a lot of the lists is that the Hummingbird did host a lot of great gigs in its time!

MBV at the Roundhouse, 2008
Wedding Present / Buffalo Tom, Bristol Studio 1991
Electric Soft Parade, Shepherds Bush Empire around 2003
Sigur Ros, Ally Pally 2008 (even though I hate the venue!)

When he was first doing the solo piano/guitar thing. The intensity of his performance, the sheer presence of the guy on stage - I mean this was JOHN CALE for fuck's sake, it was like seeing Moses or something - and the fact that it was in a tiny venue with about 80 people... all pretty magic.

Oh, and Jonathan Richman was the support act. The memory of that is slightly spoiled by the revelation that he was a massive dickhead. I remember at the gig that he came onto the stage, stood at the mic for a second, then walked off again without a word. A couple of minutes passed, then a guy then came scurrying out, adjusted the mic, and scurried offstage again. Richman then returned and did his set. The guy who adjusted the mic was a friend of a friend, and I later heard that Richman had come offstage and thrown a superstar cunt tantrum because the mic was too low.

Around the same time, I also saw Tom Waits, probably would have been the Heartattack and Vine tour. Small theatre, used to be an art deco cinema. Wonderful gig.

I didnt think Id ever see anyone mention gaye bykers on acid, I liked them.

Also the Cure at the NEC I saw that.

john cooper clarke and Nico at the tin can club (first hald of the 80s sometime) the tin can club was a strip club at other times and the stage had a heart cutout sort of shape, seemed seedily fitting.

- Have you seen that MC5 "Looking At You" clip on YouTube? It was a free gig & they were absolutely amazing. they premiered "Sister Anne" at that show, too.

- First NY Dolls gig in Detroit 1973. JoHansen sez from a dark stage "we were in jail in Memphis last night, & we've been drinking all day, so when I say I'm in love you best believe I'm in love l-u-v" Jerry Nolan cracks those drums & the stage is awash in blinding pink lights. They looked and sounded fabulous.

- Stooges Metallic KO show. I was drunk, stoned & very afraid.

- Ziggy tour 1973. You can imagine...one week earlier deadpan Lou Reed looking like Liza Minelli.

- Dr John, Gumbo tour 1972. He played guitar on top of a grand piano, welcomed stage invaders but they didn't call it that, and we were covered with the gilded splinters he showered on everyone. Juju indeed.

- Peter Tosh 1982. Singing at the lip of the stage, everyone blew pot smoke in his face and he just stood there & kept singing. He seemed like a badass gunslinger.

thus it was that I went to see

The Alarm (:D))
but they were actually a brilliant live experiance, the gig was far better than
gigs for far more critically aclaimed bands (and bands whose music I far prefer)
so they were better than -

The rolling stones (
cocteau twins (bad mix both times)
wedding present (OK but meh)
oasis (in their early days) ('flowered up' were better)
stranglers (OK but unable to get raucusy)
new order (late on, uninterested went off early, so we had a riot, which we did enjoy, me and hugh uprooted a plastic palm tree and threw it on the stage (tower ballroom)
morrisey (OK but not all that)
pulp (OK but somehow not magical)

The pretenders - leicester poly 1981

I know he is persona non grata....but imagine this.....at the end all the students..the locals.....the barstaff and even the bouncers (I had arms around a bouncer? were all in lines waving our arms and clapping and singing together...we were standing on chairs as well, the bar and door mostly unattended...Ive never seen that before or since..........I know its unpalatable but the truth must be told

digbeth city hall
early 80s

1. Tool @ Brixton Academy 11/06/2001

My favourite band touring my favourite album and opening with my favourite song of all time. They were quite simply stunning.

The Grudge
Stinkfist
Forty Six & 2
Prison Sex
Schism
Pushit
Disposition
Reflection
Schism (video)
Sober
Parabol
Parabola
Aenema
Lateralus

2. Soundgarden @ The Camden Underworld - 12/03/1992

Touring the Badmotorfinger album. I was about 10 feet from Chris Cornell. Still get goosebumps thinking about it

Searching With My Good Eye Closed
Hands All Over
Drawing Flies
Room a Thousand Years Wide
Gun
Flower
Little Joe
Big Dumb Sex
Face Pollution
Incessant Mace
Rusty Cage
Outshined
Mind Riot
Beyond the Wheel
Into the Void
Jesus Christ Pose
Somewhere
Slaves + Bulldozers

3. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club @ The London Astoria 22/11/2005

160 mins of absolute brilliance. Played nearly their entire back catalogue

Devil’s Waitin’
Fault Line
Restless Sinner
Shuffle Your Feet
Ain’t No Easy Way
Love Burns
White Palms
Screaming Gun
Punk Song
Howl
Sympathetic Noose
High/Low
As Sure As The Sun
Weight Of The World
Ha Ha High Babe
Awake
Red Eyes & Tears
Six Barrel Shotgun
Gospel Song
In Like The Rose
Rifles
Too Real
Still Suspicion Holds You Tight
Promise
---------------------------------------
Spread Your Love
Fail-Safe
Stop
The Line
Salvation
Heart + Soul
Open Invitation

4. VAST @ ULU - 16/11/2000

First time I'd ever seen them live. Sensational.

No set list available

5. Jane's Addiction @ The London Astoria 05/10/1990

Up The Beach
Whores
Had A Dad
Ain't No Right
Ted, Just Admit It
Standing in the Shower Thinking
Summertime Rolls
Then She Did
Been Caught Stealing
Mountain Song
Stop
Ocean Size
Pigs in Zen
Jane Says

Best of recent years

2012 - Puscifer @ Soverign Arts Centre, Reading, Pennsylvania 17/06/2012.
Highly unlikely Maynard will bring this to the UK so I went to the States to see him. What a show.

2011 - Monster Magnet @ The Garage, Glasgow 24/11/2011

Playing Dopes To Infinity in its entirity (but not in order). The best I've ever seen them

2010 - Jesus Deluxe @ Inspire, Coventy 02/05/2010

Little known Coventry band, but they are so good live.

2009 - Nine Inch Nails/Jane's Addictionn @ O2 Arena 15/07/2009

2 of my all time favourite bands playing together. It promised so much and delivered more.

2008 - A Place To Bury Strangers @ The Legion, London 08/05/2008

Playing tracks from their yet to be released debut album. They blew the place apart

I had arranged my huge rastablaster at the back on a sort of gallery to record the gig
and my mates slightly smaller one, as I was doing this other people came along and asked if i would do it with theirs (me and mate watched over them duing it) General Saint came up to me and asked what was going on, I told him, he was cool with that and he produced some doobies that we proceeded to have whilst we chilled together and took the p*** out of some of the ghettoblasters, mine was spared cos it had twin VUs, top bloke, he even pointed to me loads during the set.