Grateful Dead

Taj Mahal Trio 2006 Asheville @ Warren Haynes XMAS Jam - Everything that is awesome about music. Santana puts on as fine a show as there is, in my estimation. Best pure musicianship I have ever seen on stage - Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. Is there anyone better at their instrument than Bela? Any answer would have to be an all-time virtuoso.

Arlo Guthrie at the Marlboro MA Middle School ! Peter Gabriel, King Crimson, Dregs, old Tull, Edgar Winter's White Trash Uncle Merle ! The worst show ever........KISS. MusicRx

The last show I went to was in Spokane, Wash. July 2004. The woman I was dating at the time wanted to go see Shania Twain. At first, I was reluctant about it. But since Shania is easy on the eyes, I agreed to go. I was pleasantly surprised. Most of the members of her band are from Australia. Their music is not country western, it's more like Jazz-Fusion. The musicians are very talented and their music was really good. And, I've never seen anyone move around so much as Shania Twain. She is constantly in motion during the entire show. The opening act was a band called Emerson Drive. The lead guitarist was wearing a Grateful Dead t-shirt. During one of their songs, they broke out into an extended instrumental, which morphed into Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" for a while. I have to admit it was pretty good. ; )

Brian Wilson (January 2007) with old pal Beach Boy Al Jardine trading lead vocals in Long Beach, CA. Brian has a tremendous band and his show bears no resemblance to the farce that is the current Beach Boys, which is actually a disinterested Mike Love and some hired guns. Los Lobos (June 2007) just plain blew the roof off the Coach House, a long time nightclub in San Juan Capistrano, CA. The wolf will indeed survive!

If you haven't checked these guys out you should. I saw them a few times in the Bay Area before I moved to Maui (that was 6 years ago) and i think they sound better than ever now - they came to Maui about a year ago - they played at a small club called Hapa's - when we got there i went onto the floor and could feel the bass come up through my feet - tears of joy streamed from my eyes because i finally felt like i was "home" . . .Not much in the way of lyrics unless a lovely woman by the name of Audio Angel accompanies them during a set - but great jams/improv/drums - these guys are the shit - there are a lot of live shows on archive.org and also you can listen to sts9 radio at sts9.com if you want to check it out. . .highly recommend it:) ~KRISSY~

I live in the desert, which is very hot in the summertime of course. In the mid-eighties, Santana played a show at the Celebrity Theater in Phoenix, Arizona. It's a small circular building with a round stage which revolves in the center of it. It was a moderately hot summer night and the temperature wasn't really unbearable. At the beginning of the show Carlos Santana announced that he didn't want to play in a closed air-conditioned building. So he requested that all the exterior doors to the theater be opened up and the air-conditioning turned off. He wanted to allow the instruments "To Breath!" Santana shows draw a really diverse crowd and everyone was into it. We were all hot and sweaty, but it was great fun. It was a great show. Come to think of it, I've yet to see a bad Santana performance. ; ) The months of July, August and September are the monsoon season in Arizona. Storm fronts develop out of the Gulf of California or the Gulf of Mexico and blow north across the desert. The rainfall and the drop in temperatures are a welcome relief to the summer heat. First, southern Arizona and Tucson receive rain showers in morning. As a storm moves northward the wind picks up sand and dirt from the desert floor and forms a large wall of dust. By late afternoon the dust storm reaches Phoenix. Usually, it's followed by a heavy downpour. The wind knocks over trees and the lightning knocks out the power in various parts of the city. The rain really cools things off, but the storms can be hazardous as well. Well, one July evening in the early eighties, the Pat Metheny Group was scheduled to perform at the Mesa Amphitheater in Mesa, Arizona. It's a medium-sized venue with a terraced lawn and open seating. On the afternoon of the show a monsoon storm was approaching the Valley which raised concerns about the safety of the crowd and the equipment on stage. Instead of cancelling the show, they decided to move all the equipment inside the Grady Gammage Auditorium on the campus of Arizona State University in Tempe. It's a beautiful, Frank Lloyd Wright building designed with acoustics in mind. Since it was an open seating show, you could sit anywhere you wished. :) We sat in the balcony and the sounds from Pat Metheny's guitar filled ever small space of the auditorium. The musicians seemed to really get into the acoustics of the space and the sounds they created. It was one of the best performances I've ever attended.

If not the best, the one with the most energy flowing around i've ever seen, 50,000 people dancing and singing, the Rolling Stones Friday 6/7/07 at the Olympic stadium in Rome, my city

....the fucking Eagles!!!!!! Actually, unlike my silver screen hero (The Dude) I saw the Eagles in the 70's (78 or 79, I think) at the Capital Center in Largo, MD and they were awesome! They played everything! Jimmy Buffett opened and no one knew him, then. He was actually very good, as well (I have to admit). Man I wish I had seen the Outlaws. I just re-discovered "Green Grass and High Tides Forever" and it reminded me of the great guitar players we had "back in the day" (and how many there were). Not that there aren't any around now a days. I never saw Phish but I wish I had, as well. I do have "Live from Brooklyn" dvd and the second disc is one of my favs. I've seen Trey with Phil three times and they've all been brain burners. I've seen Trey with Dave Mathews twice (Bonnaroo 2004, Dave & Friends Cruise 2006) and both were great although the Dave & Friends Cruise concert was completely off the hook, until the winter squall came on us and nearly washed us off the island. Trey is awesome! The Dude Abides!

used to see the nighthawks in Richmond 79-81 or so, Thackery was awesome, great band...once saw them on a blues cruise aboard the Spirit Of Norfolk out of Hampton Roads Harbor....other stuff, hmmm Eagles were great, Little Feat, Outlaws at William & Mary College,John Prine, James Taylor, ooo and Jackson Browne with Bruce Hornsby both solo at the Mosque...Can i add seeing Jerry at the Lunt-Fontaine with Sandy Rothman, Peter Rowan, & John Kahn...but last couple of years Govt. Mule is seriously KICKING

a few favorite concerts (other than the dead) Living Colour-1989. My cousin took me to see the Stones at the Medowlands in 1989. Living Colour opened and blew the Stones away. They really had no business even coming on the stage after the torrent of rock offered by Living Colour (Unknown musicians) 1991-1993. Gettysburg bluegrass/music store. Every Friday night these local bluegrass musicians would gather in the small storefront in downtown Gettysburg and play the most amazing bluegrass I've ever heard. These were old-timers right off South Mountain or the farm. My friends and I made it a point to catch them most Friday nights. I wonder if this still happens? Rush/Primus- 1992. I think I still have hearing loss after this tight and intense show! Tommy the Cat at home in La Villa Strangiato! Pearl Jam (Lollapalooza 1992). I've seen them about a dozen times since, but this will always be my favorite. The Meat Puppets- 1993. Psychedelic cow-punk! Husker Du meets the Grateful Dead. I was at a loss for words for like three days after seeing these guys. Whatever happened to them? Phish- (Halloween 1994) My friends arranged this road trip to Glens Falls as my going away present (I left for the Navy three weeks later). Second set, three words: THE. WHITE. ALBUM. Insanity. Vacuums. Trey on drums. I love my friends! Allman Brothers 1997. Right after Christmas in Jacksonville FL. The first time I'd ever seen them. Hooray for Warren! String Cheese Incident 2002. Radio City. Burning Down The House! Bob Dylan 2004. I know Dylan can be hit or miss, but this particular show at American U was crazy. I almost wet myself when he played Hazel. Incredible. Dylan was on fire. My Morning Jacket (bonnaroo 2004) You know how the Dead could sometimes seemingly control the weather? Well, My Morning Jacket opened the heavens at the end of their set with a face melting 13 min Steam Engine.