Supposedly momentous concerts you were at, that you didn't find momentous at all.

Radiohead, South Park, Oxford 2001

http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/84/f5/8d87828fd7a0017bdbed5110.L.jpg

I was fourteen, and left early.

I learned last month that the Morrissey show at UCI in 1997 that I saw where he said "Sometimes I wish I had been born Mexican!" followed by a huge roar from the crowd -- and which was a genuinely thrilling moment -- is seen as this legendary event by a lot of younger Latino fans. Thing is, the concert itself was good but it wasn't some all-around best-ever event, it was just that one moment!

Nirvana, Reading ,1897, the second time (preferred them the first, because I'm a total snob). Cobain in wheelchair.
I was very pissed though - they were probably quite OK

Mudhoney, Tad and Nirvana at the London Astoria, 1989 I think. Tedious and mypoic, I thought at the time. Probably still would.

Myopic that is

Morrissey has latino fans?

He's absolutely enormous in Mexico for some reason tat's entirely beyond me.

i would like to see nirvana in 1897

steemgrunge

http://img26.picoodle.com/img/img26/4/5/8/f_steemm_96e5d0c.jpg

l-r: krist novoselic, kurt cobain

or 1991 the year steempunk broke if you wish

did you have a bad view or something alex?!

I went to all three of those Astoria Lamefest shows in 1989, but I don't remember any of them being described as momentous concerts. Nirvana's first show at SOAS on the other hand was pretty memorbale for many, but I remember thinking Mudhoney had been much better a few months before!

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000028U0Y.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

I was fourteen, and left early.

A+

He's absolutely enormous in Mexico for some reason tat's entirely beyond me.

-- mehlt, Saturday, May 17, 2008 10:52 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Link

tons of mexican gays

actual LOL there hurting.

did you have a bad view or something alex?!

Gimme a break. I was fourteen and summarily obsessed with Devo, the Ramones and Pink Floyd's The Wall. How was I to know it was gonna become this big ass live album? Had I known, I'd have probably stuck around. My sister did.

Saw Nirvana play a dorm party in the spring of '87 - one of their very first live performances. Fun show (on the second floor, when people jumped in unison, the whole floor would trampoline about a foot, some drunk guy fell out a window), but I didn't really love 'em. Not like a lot of my friends did. Preferred stuff like Dangermouse & the Melvins. Best thing about 'em - to me, at the time - was the big Elvis/devil painting they hung up behind the "stage" area.

He's absolutely enormous in Mexico for some reason tat's entirely beyond me.

-- mehlt, Saturday, May 17, 2008 10:52 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Link

tons of mexican gays

-- chaki, Saturday, May 17, 2008 9:50 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Link

i saw a bit of a documentary or something about his Latino fanbase & he suggested that maybe it was due to the fact that Latinos have always embraced crooners. but the gay thing is much more on the $$$

Grateful Dead , Soldier Field, Chicago7/9/95-their last show. Not bad, I'd seen, and heard, better shows from them.

You killed Jerry

http://www.seinfeldonline.com/bania.jpg

I killed, Jerry!

(sorry)

Kraftwerk, Sydney, a couple of years ago. BORING. If I wanted to watch four well dressed Germans stare at laptops for an hour, I'd employ a small Munich architecture firm to build me an unusual house.

Who's to say they didn't do just that for you.

They were probably watching reruns of the Tour De France. I was certainly listening to them.

I'd always heard that Sydney Kraftwerk show was momentous.

Yeah, I'm with Z S here. Talk about something MOMENTOUS, moley. Like, you know, Radio Birdman's first ever show and you pointed and laughed and pissed in their guitar cases.

INXS first play Sydney and you're the guy up in the balcony saying "Kill yourself y'bastard."

If I wanted to watch four well dressed Germans stare at laptops for an hour, I'd employ a small Munich architecture firm to build me an unusual house.

lol

I was at the foetus show that was released as male. I was a huge foetus fan and his band was stocked with the cream of nyc's noize crop, but it wasn't clicking and I spent half the show at the bar.

Aha. It appears that I need to reframe my understanding of the question. And now I am rather embarassed, for it appears I have never been at a truly legendary gig. I even missed out on the Tempe brickpits performance by SPK, which was just down the road.

WELL JEEZ

Make some plans to be historical in the future why don't ya.

I was at that Boredoms 7/7/07 show but didn't get in and listened from a park just accross the way, so everything sounded pretty muted. I'm sure it was momentous if you were actually amongst the drums.

^^ should be in "supposedly momentous concerts you couldn't get into, that you didn't find momentous at all" ^^

And there was i expecting : 'Spike Island was actually shit'
responses.
I guess the whole point is what was actually "momentus".
For me, i guess one example would be Morrissey getting bottled off @ the original Madstock.
After all, this became the start of the Moz vs NME story following the front page feature that followed this momentous event.
As for my take - well I was a long way back, and never saw any bottles flying, so had no idea as to the controversey.
In fact I didn't realise he'd walked off early, as he had played for 45 minutes, and so thought that he had come to the end of his performance.
Wasn't until I saw the NME that i realised all the trouble that had happened.

^^ should be in "supposedly momentous concerts you couldn't get into, that you didn't find momentous at all" ^^

but technically I was there. I could see the concert and hear it!

an alternative thread would be "supposedly momentous concerts you didn't go to because your parents wouldn't let you camp out overnight for tickets at Cobo Arena (or insert your local venue here)"...

The Ritz, 1992: Pavement, Superchunk, My Bloody Valentine

Pavement were great when Gary Young wasn't babbling. Superchunk were ok. And My Bloody Valentine were good but they played that chord for literally 30 minutes.

That Glastonbury (2001?) where Coldplay supposedly became the biggest band of our times. I was utterly utterly bored and ran off to get drunk with my friend Martin.

And I suppose I should include the two times I've been unfortunate to see Babyshambles and stand amongst wide-eyed cult-of-Doherty people.

while there's lots of sydney talk on this thread, the much lauded mogwai/trail of dead double bill at sydney's metro theatre in 2003(?) wasn't so spectacular at all. it was amusing seeing jason reece jump into an extremely vacuous crowd for a bit of vertical surfing, but apart from that, the ToD set was sloppy with vocals that were so quiet i had to squint my ears. as far as the 'magnificent' mogwai performance goes, if i want to see a short, bald man jump up and down and amuse himself with his collection of about 60 guitar pedals, i'll go and see another mogwai show.

oh and well done, Hurting! that's one of the funniest things i've seen on ILM in a long while

who lauds this?*

Mogwai's "quietest show ever" at Newtown RSL in 1998ish, now that deserves a minor forgotten footnote in an out-of-print encyclopedia of rock. (They were doing two nights in a row at the same venue, so, not having to travel the next day, had gotten slaughtered after the first one and thus played very delicately so as not to make themselves ill.)

*prob 2002 anyway, if that was a sideshow from Livid - the 'gwai also brought visa-less Arab Strap as roadies and played a harbour cruise with 'em.

Saw the first Jesus and Mary Chain tour in Edinburgh. Waited for ever, they came on pissed and fell over. That was it.

I had become seriously tired with Phish and their fans by this point. I went anyway because I figured that if they were playing all night, they might pull out some old and neglected tunes that I had always wanted to hear. Essentially, the 7.5 hour megaset was just like two of their regular shows combined. Nothing to write home about at all.

but the gay thing is much more on the $$$

I know Chaki is just being typically troll-ish with that, but that's pretty stupid. I suppose it's not for this thread, but there are a ton of reasons for Morrisey's popularity with Latinos.

(I don't really care about Morrissey that much, but I think it's a really interesting phenomenon).

i thought it was pretty funny, but yeah, it is an interesting footnote in Morrissey's career & i don't really care about him much either. also, i've never been to a really momentous concert on a grand scale. i did go to day 1 of Coachella last year with plans to check out as many bands as possible, but slept through most of the day & really only caught Jarvis Cocker & Bjork.

I remember Carter being SECOND top of the bill at Reading on the Saturday (1991) and stealing the show; the headliners (James, who came on at around half midnight or so) needn't really have bothered turning up. Earlier on, Blur were a bit listless and De La Soul wanted everyone to wave their hands in the air like they just didn't care which was rather disappointing.

carter??! they TOPPED reading in 1989? really?? nah surely... a tent maybe? gosh..

Closest I can get: All Tomorrow's Parties: 2000, 2001, 2002 -- almost every act sucked (and there were a lot of acts in one year, let alone three years). Fortunately there were other people around beyond the woeful bands.

Yr right, James were after Carter.

The DeLaSoul spot was great for their reaction to the "You Fat Bastard" shouts. And hey, still thought they were great.

I forgot Blur were on that day, "Leisure" time, must have sacked them to watch someone/thing else.

First year I went! Fuck knows what I did on Saturday because I definitely didn't watch any of those.

http://www.ukrockfestivals.com/reading-89-advert.gif

who or what were TACKHEAD? did they have a big indie hit or 2?
lol @ mbv under the mighty lemon drops.

Tackhead = Adrian Sherwood, Gary Clail, Keith Leblanc... that sorta thing?

right right. so the ON U sound system by any other name. i wonder how far
WORLD DOMINATION ENTERPRISE got with their erm world domination enterprise.

Mark G to thread!

Yeah, I saw that they were on, on that day, but didn't go: Not enough other bands I wanted to see.

Mind you, in retrospect, look: My Bloody Valentine!

I saw Eric Clapton joining onstage Zucchero for a couple of songs.
The following day, Italian newspapers informed me it was a "momentous" night.

everyone who saw MBV at ATP in new york was freaking out! I thought they were boring and mixed bad, so left in the middle of their set to watch Eyes Without A Face in the criterion theater.

It was mostly just me and some dude and Patti Smith hanging out, so I don't totally regret it.

what, PSmith sacked the gig as well?

Having performed with Kevin onstage a couple of times, I think she can be forgiven.

Wow, Ned, I didn't know you performed with Kevin -- way to go!

the Alice Cooper pie-in-the-face gig..

huh? what's that about?

The Cincinnati Pop Festival in 1970: Alice Cooper was performing and somebody threw a pie at him. It hit Alice in the face. Cooper wiped off some the pie, ate some too, and continued performing. It's famous because (A) It was filmed for TV (footage that's long been a bootlegger's favorite and was once on youtube), (B) Lester Bangs saw the broadcast and wrote about it in his legendary epic review of Fun House by The Stooges (who were also on the bill at the fest), and (C) IT WAS ALICE COOPER GETTING HIT IN THE FACE WITH A PIE.

Hold that thought, the Pie Incident is still up

Pie at about 4:03

Wow, Ned, I didn't know you performed with Kevin -- way to go!

What, you never heard of audience participation! :-D

Actually now that I think about I *have* been on a bill with Kevin Shields -- the band, that is.

(Show = not momentous. But fun.)

Nirvana, Reading ,1897, the second time

^^ this is creating such wonderful images

lester bangs makes that pie-in-the-face thing seem like the most historic and momentous thing. alice cooper was a really big deal in america? see to me he's like that bloke who sang POISON and was in WAYNE'S WORLD. i honestly had no idea.

He's absolutely enormous in Mexico for some reason tat's entirely beyond me

of course, latin american music fans are supposed to like only salsa or some shit like that

- Big Black, Cat Club 1987. Expectations far too high.
- Any Pixies show after early 1988.

every single Pixies show for two decades was "supposedly momentous"?

yeah PIXIES in brixton. only gig where i was actually *embarassed* that i wasn't as into them as everyone else. stood at the bar for most of it.

Also, who knew that the 'legendary' MIRVANA gig at Reading in 92 had a bloke indie-dancing onstage thru-out??

Whole affair looks...grim as a kitchen sink drama. Filthy stage, rubbishy lighting, tatty leathers, bad jokes... sheesh. Rock n roll eh?

that's Nirvana obv.

Jeff Buckley at the Garage in Highbury - summer 93 or 94? Always gets in Time Out lists of London's Best Gig Ever! and gets referred to as one of those "breakthough" performances. God it was boring. The version of Kanga Roo that went on for several weeks. The narcissism. The people in the crowd who hadn't paid - which was at least half of them that night - all talking throughout. An off-his-face Evan Dando shouting random heckles at the stage throughout.

Nirvana on their first visit to Britain. Rubbish. Their Leeds show was the first thing I ever reviewed. I told the world Nirvana were going nowhere, but we should all follow headliners Tad, who were destined for great things.

Saw Nirvana on that tour with Tad, at Newcastle Riverside. They were OK, pretty good actually, but not awesome. Tad were pretty bad, but more entertaining somehow. Mudhoney, who I'd seen supporting snc yth, would have blown either band off stage (they cretainly blew SY offstage).

I also saw them on the tour they did with (IIRC) the Vaselines and Shonen Knife, this time it was at Newcastle Mayfair. Nirvana were pretty bad, they sounded tired. Vaselines (or whoever it was) were terrible, Shonen Knife were (fortunately) great.

Both gigs I'm sure were "momentous", the Riverside one especially. Plenty of ppl said they were there, post Nirvana making it huge who weren't. I wonder if Nirvana actually weren't that much cop live, or did I just happen to see them on 2 off nights?

I've quite liked all the shows I've seen that later got a momentous reputation so I have nothing personal to add, but I can share a third party anecdote -- Clint Conley completely unimpressed by the first ever Velvet Underground concert: http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=18083736&blogId=33544773

this thread is much less "Losing My Edge" than I expected...no one has thus far copped to being at Woodstock, Altamont, the PiL gig in New York where they played behind a screen, the "ever get the feeling you've been cheated" Pistols gig, the inflatable penis Stones gig, the Alice Cooper pie-in-the-face gig, the bat-biting Ozzy gig, Madonna/A Certain Ratio at Danceteria, ESG at the Paradise garage swan-song, Iggy rolling on the broken glass @ CBGB's, etc...

My husband was at the the 1969 Miami Doors show where Jim Morrison (supposedly) showed the crowd his dick! He can't give any insight into the did-he-or-didn't-he controversy, because he was looking at something else when it happened.

any more?

The Cincinnati Pop Festival in 1970: Alice Cooper was performing and somebody threw a pie at him. It hit Alice in the face. Cooper wiped off some the pie, ate some too, and continued performing. It's famous because (A) It was filmed for TV (footage that's long been a bootlegger's favorite and was once on youtube), (B) Lester Bangs saw the broadcast and wrote about it in his legendary epic review of Fun House by The Stooges (who were also on the bill at the fest), and (C) IT WAS ALICE COOPER GETTING HIT IN THE FACE WITH A PIE.

I watched the broadcast but my (older) friends Rick & Tim went to the festival. Tim claims he handed Iggy the infamous jar of peanut butter - yeah right - while Ricky says he can't remember ANYTHING cause it was the first time they got drunk on whiskey

haha $10 says Madonna/ACR show actually sucked.

shows at the garage were usually 4AM "track dates' (lip sync) so yeah. when I saw Madonna in in 1985 after a song or two I WISHED she was lip-syncing

no "momentous" concerts happened in the past ten years??

y'all are old.

Grateful Dead , Soldier Field, Chicago7/9/95-their last show. Not bad, I'd seen, and heard, better shows from them.

― Bill Magill, Monday, May 19, 2008 6:00 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark

I was in Chicago at the time, had friends that were going & was offered a free ticket. So I bought some drugs in the parking lot & left, cursing the hippies for causing a huge traffic jam as I drove back to MI. b/c I fucking hated the Grateful Dead.

Now I like them & wish I'd gone!

o well

No, no, no. Mid-90s Dead shows were shitty. Just saying. I saw a show on that tour and have heard the Soldier Field tapes. I only hope your drugs were good.

only good thing about hippies is the quality of their drugs iirc - so yeah, the fact that I don't remember is prob a good sign.

My younger sisters both walked out of a show on the Talking Heads Stop Making Sense tour after they played the then-current hit "Burning Down The House". I still tease them about it.

I was at the first ever Lollapalooza show (in Phoenix). Maybe not momentous, but the only show I've been to that MTV was there to cover. Every performer bitched about the heat. Trent Reznor threw his equipment around and left the stage after one song. Perry Farrell and Dave Navarro got into a shoving match on stage and Perry stormed off. Ice-T was great though.

Free tibet '95. Totally succeeded in freeing tibet, what did your so-called momentous concert free?

god, that hurting post of johnny cash live at folsom made me lose my shit just now.

i've been at a couple of momentous concerts, but more because i have a knack for seeing people right before they die. Odetta, James Brown, Elliott Smith...the list goes on.

the one where vordul got sonned by a wite kid

not exactly momentous, but i was at that morrissey performance at coachella where he stormed offstage in a huff (and remained off for 20 minutes) because he claimed he could smell burning meat in the air. at the time i thought it was pretty funny, but it seemed to piss a lot of other ppl off. oh, and the actual performance was good.

some great stuff in this thread.

I spent the first half of Orbital's 94 Glastonbury set cowering in my tent after smoking too much pot. I was absolutely sure that if I left the tent I would be shot (some kid had apparently been shot earlier that day in a drug deal gone wrong). I left when I later realised a bullet could penetrate the side canvas of my safe haven and quite enjoyed the rest of Orbital, if not a little paranoidly.

Funnily enough, we were smoking pot in the tent when we heard Richey Manic say that he wished "they'd build a motorway over all this." Hmm.