Live list

Time for a list! Long intended and delayed partly because it feels like bragging, let's go with Top Five Live Performances.

I have been extremely fortunate in my opportunities to see live music over the years, getting to see many great acts, big and small and probably have some permanent hearing loss as a result. Since my brother and I got into a mild contest over who had seen more, I actually know who and how many, if not always when and where. It is fitting that I mention Brother Tim in this post as he is heavily responsible for my music tastes, and I will always be thankful for him rescuing me, as a middle schooler, from Captain and Tennille and KC and the Sunshine Band with judicious application of Joni Mitchell and David Bowie. Thanks, bro. Anyway, since we got into it I have at my disposal a list of the shows I've seen and am startled and gratified to see it stands currently at 57 different acts. There is some question as to whether to count acts seen only at festivals or as opening acts, but as I have had to concede defeat with either counting, I am counting everybody. So there. The list covers a fairly eclectic group - from Pat Metheny to Kiss - and runs the range from merely mediocre, Genesis, to the sublime that are listed below. I must say, however, that since I on some level don't really like big concerts - they are just too much work, not to mention heinously expensive - I was fairly picky about who I saw and as a result have very few acts on my list that I didn't enjoy. Before getting to the top five, let's have some honorable mentions.

Loudest: Neil Young and Crazy Horse in the LA Sports Arena. This beats Kiss and Nugent in the Garden (both seen in the summer of '77 by myself no less). My ears rang for a week.

Incongruous: X and The Blasters at Disneyland. Who let "Johnny Hit and Run Pauline and "Sugarlight" be played in Mouseland?

Virtuoso: Toss up between Buddy Rich (in Barnum Hall on the Samohi campus!) and The Dixie Dregs at the Ventura County Theatre.

Venue: The Wiltern Theatre in L.A. - it helped that I saw Robert Palmer from the front freaking row - thanks, Tara!

Festival: toss up between WOMAD (World of Music, Art and Dance, thank you Peter Gabriel) and Foo Fighters 4th of July celebration in 2015.

Weirdest overall experience: Bow Wow Wow at the Palace in Hollywood. Too much to tell.

Standout song: an extended and astonishing "Porch" by Pearl Jam. 

Showing Range: Los Lobos as Mexipunk rockers at the Roxy in LA in '90, to a genre defying oldster virtuoso combo at the Bardavon (vintage theatre in Poughkeepsie, runner-up in the venue list) in 2010, to an astonishing collaboration with Ballet Folklorico in 2016.

Amazing opener: Chrissy Hynde for Neil Young. Right? Runner-up Living Colour and Guns n Roses for the Rolling Stones in the LA Coliseum c. 1989.

Delayed Gratification: Police at Saratoga Performing Arts Center in 2008, having surrendered my tickets to what turned out to be their last performance before breaking up in 1984. Whew! Could almost be virtuoso as well thanks to Stewart Copeland.

Best guest spot: during Elton John at the Hollywood Bowl, Eric Clapton showed up. I had seen him a few nights before - also great - but seeing them together was nuts.

Top regrets for missing: Bowie, Zeppelin, the Dead (I know, I know), Prince and Audioslave

Top hoping to still see: Rage and Bruce

But I started this to list my Top 5 Concerts, so without further ado:

U2, Gillette Stadium, 2009 - My wife had seen the lads multiple times, but I was a late convert to them (thank you Pete Townshend for overcoming my allergy to hype) and they had been on my must see list for quite a while when we got the cheapest tickets available - determined despite being hesitant about the huge venue and potential for horrible seats. Then, lo and behold I won a random lottery for a major upgrade complete with pre-show party. Woo-hoo! Now I'm not talking VIP seats here, no first ten rows stuff, but I am actually glad because you needed to be far enough away to take in the multimedia spectacle that was this show. Cutting edge - no pun intended - digital video technology allowed for a screen, if that is even what it could be called, that really was spectacular. It grew, it broke into pieces, it shaded, it . . . I don't even know what half of what it did was. You know how sufficiently advanced technology starts to feel like magic? It was like that. And yet, as is sometime the case with such things, it never quite overshadowed the music and the band. It remained a support and an enhancer, partly due to masterful direction, but mostly due to the prowess and power of the four badasses on stage. But that needs qualifying. Mullen was way better than I ever realized from listening them, Clayton was rock solid and everything a stud bassist needs to be and both were definitely firmly in badass territory, but the show belongs to Bono and The Edge. I find much to be annoyed with Bono about - a lot of people do - but as a front man, a performer, a ringmaster, a singer, a leader? I gotta say he is absolutely the real deal. I've seen some of the greats - Jagger, Daltrey, Vedder - and he belongs in the pantheon. Charismatic and compelling, he really connects and sets the tone, but for my money that band belongs Edge. God, what a presence! Unless he literally stops playing he is the heart, the drive, the mojo, the soul of what they produce. And not for nothing, I have no idea how he does a lot of it. There were multiple time I was convinced there had to be another guitar on stage, but it was just the Edge doing Edge. He is, as described by Townshend, "a giant".

Peter Gabriel, Madison Square Garden, c.2003 - I have already mentioned his prowess as a frontman in a post on this space, but that referenced seeing him at WOMAD - see above - in 1993. And to be fair, part of my putting him in the Top 5 stems from the cumulative effect of seeing him more than once, but this show was special. It was in the round, which allowed all sorts of perspective shifts and creative staging, especially since the ring of the deck spun. The set list was from all over his catalog, and I think he went after every type of visual approach there is. During "Solsbury Hill" the band - featuring the incomparable Tony Levin - the band was placed around numerous set pieces to evoke the feel of a rural British village and Pete rode a bicycle around town while singing. An inverted cone of TV monitors dropped from the ceiling to back-up "The Barry Williams Show". He came out in one of those giant, bouncy hamster balls and performed from inside it, managing to bounce on the beat during "Big Time". And that is just a taste of the intense creativity that went in to the production. I had never seen most of it before and haven't seen any of it since. And the music was even better. "Red Rain" was haunting, "Digging in the Dirt" disturbing, "Blood of Eden" chilling, "Sledgehammer" hysterical, "Kiss That Frog" silly and both "Don't Give Up" and "In Your Eyes" achingly beautiful. He opened and closed solo at the piano, "San Jacinto" and "Here Comes the Flood", and was equally compelling despite the insanely different tones and contexts. I laughed out loud, gaped in wonder, jumped in surprise, sang along and cried my heart out. Gabriel puts his passion on display and you can't help but respond. 

Santana, Bardavon Opera House, 2016 - I was very lucky to get these tickets, as the Bardavon only seats about 1,500 but it was their fundraising gala event so as a member was able to get what felt like some of the last ones. This show stands in stark contrast to the Gabriel show as it achieved so much with so little. The lighting was borderline minimalist, the backing video was beautiful but sparse and the band just basically plays. But in the name of all that is sacred, do they play. Oh, and there was this guy on stage named Carlos. I almost hesitate to write about that night because it really feels like trying to express what it was like is just futile. There were so many elements that combined and careened and complemented over and around and through each other that there is no way to explain it. The precision and skill of the musicians, the amazing variety of the songs, the hypnotic rhythms (the rhythm section was insane), the ebb and flow of their extended jams ("Jin-go-bo-la" must have gone 10-12 minutes and never faltered), the reimagining of old standards, the fascinating exchange between the players as they improvised and shared space, just the beauty and majesty of it all. And benevolently present and powerful through it all - sometimes towering above, others seeming to slide inside or following along - but always there and always magic, was Santana. He actually leads the virtuoso list of people I've seen but I didn't mention him above because it would have been so inadequate. People joke about Bowie and Prince being from other planets, but I swear the best way to describe Santana's playing is otherworldly. Itis at the very least transcendent. It reeks of mastery but is somehow still inviting and accessible. The whole experience so flooded me with emotion that I literally didn't want to leave the venue because I knew when I did it would actually be over and the moment lost, and that made me ineffably sad. But the sadness was eventually outweighed by the joy of having experienced it and the feeling that sharing the planet with someone who could do that was enough to bolster my faith in humanity. Crazy, I know but it was that good and that's how I felt.

Neil Young, Anywhere, Ever - I am stretching here a but because I am including Neil on this list despite it not being one specific show but rather a body of work. I have him seen three times if you include the aforementioned ear-splitting set with the Horse. That show had its own charms - and horrors - but for my money the solo stuff is where he really shines. Now by solo I mean both the actual solo show in Wallingford, MA in 2010 - just Neil on stage with like eight instruments - and the band backed set I saw at Hartford meadows in 2000. They had much in common: the reliance on the great music and incredible musicianship rather than production or staging; a spectrum of interpretations of songs ranging from straightforward reproductions to complete reimaginings; and thorough engagement with the audience. But two things really stand out from these shows. The first is the scope of Neil's catalog. In 2000 the show focused much more on his more folk/country/mellow songs in his repertoire (much to the hysterical dismay of the drunken buffoons in front of me expecting the Godfather of grunge) but even at that got all over the place with straight rockers, exploratory jams, country stompers and ballads, and of course the usual and wonderful genre-defiers so characteristic to Neil. "Powderfinger" was amazing, "Harvest Moon" gorgeous and I was so stoked to hear "Tonight's the Night" I nearly fainted. The 2010 true solo (the promotional materials originally billed it as "solo acoustic" but Neil put that to rest quickly - "I said solo, they said acoustic" before busting into a blistering "My My, Hey Hey" on Old Black) show leaned much more on more mainstream, or at least known, stuff, but was no less eclectic for it. This was evident in no small way by Neil moving around the stage from electric guitar to organ, to acoustic, to piano, to steel and back, throwing in harp throughout. "After the Gold Rush" was sweet and sad while "Cortez the Killer" (one of my all time favorites) soared. So the range of what he produces is on display, and amazing, but one of the reasons I put him on this list for body of work is that only one song appeared in both shows. It was "I Believe in You" if you're interested. The other thing that sets him and his performing apart is his passion. I honestly don't understand how he can do it night after night, year after year, with such fervor and intensity. It feels like he is pouring his heart and soul into every song. It produces music that is so powerful, with such force of emotion, that it is sometimes so compelling as to be overwhelming. I find it at various times discomfiting, inspiring, joyful, painful and awesome, but it all springs from his amazing commitment to his music and passion in playing it. And he has been doing it for fifty freaking years. Thanks, Neil.

Queen, The Forum, c.1982 - Then there is Queen. The previous four aren't really ranked, apples and oranges and all that, but this is indisputably number one. Holy hell, what an amazing show! It hadn't really occurred to me until I started this list that this show in many ways combined the best elements of the other shows on this list, but aha! The Queen show had the giant production of U2, the creativity and flamboyance of Peter Gabriel, the prodigal prowess of Santana and the range and passion of Neil. No shit. From a production standpoint you have to put it in the context of 1982 - flashpots, timed lighting effects and a slide show than digital wizardry - but no less mind blowing for its practical nature. I will try to describe the opening number, "Fat Bottomed Girls". The lights dim and the opening harmonies are heard in total darkness. A spot hits Brian May as he spins out the opening guitar part, the rest of the stage still dark and Freddie singing offstage. They reach the first break, the light snaps off, and when they start again a spot on John Deacon is added as the bass part kicks in. Still no Freddie, still no drum kit visible. The lights on Roger Taylor finally come up as he starts the first fill, but you have only a few seconds to process as that fill leads to a huge explosion - figuratively of light but literally of fire - as Freddie Mercury burts strutting on to the stage. It was thirty-five years ago and I still see it in my mind's eye every time I hear that song. That's production. The creativity and range can both be addressed by looking at how their eclectic setlist springs form their insanely diverse catalog. One of the things you have to recognize about Queen is that they have more great songs that you've never heard on the radio than any popular band ever. They were huge - only the Beatles have more Brit top tens han Queen, and their biggest hits were downright gigantic. Everybody knows a lot of Queen songs - "We Will Rock You", "Another One Bites the Dust", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" but many of those same people have never heard "Year of '39", "I'm in Love with My Car" or "Sweet Lady". And all those songs from all over the map are the songs that allowed to them to rock, swing, serenade, dance, bounce, croon, even headbang in concert. They went nuts. Freddie changed clothes more times than I can remember - the floor length white fur cape over red and white striped leather hotpants does stick in one's memory however - and the band changed gears more than a Grand Prix driver. As for virtuosity, well I maintain that Queen is maybe the most underrated set of musicians in popular music. It has been gratifying to see these guys start to be recognized on various "best ever" lists but I am hear to tell you each one of them can just flat out play. They all got to show off at various points in the show and all more than impressed, but their individual prowess was matched by their tight, tight sound and were just great together. But like Santana, one ruled them all, and this show was all about Freddie Mercury. I obviously haven't seen all the big frontmen and missed some of the oft-considered greats - Plant, Cobain, Morrison, Bruce - but I will always maintain that Freddie is the hands down, no better, show-stopping greatest of all time. Yep, he's the GOAT and am profoundly grateful to have seen him. I can't possibly hope to convey his magnificence or presence or enormity of talent, but also can't imagine anyone surpassing it. To borrow from the man himself, "it's a kind of magic". All hail Freddie and Queen.