Probably a tie between Radiohead - Grant Park (2001) and Nine Inch Nails - UIC Pavilion (2000)

Phish
6/17/1994
Milwaukee, WI
Eagles Ballroom
The OJ show

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Queen 1982, I believe Billy Squier was the opener.

Prince
Sign O' the Times tour
Omni, Atlanta

Sheila E. was on percussion and I saw Prince walking on the periphery in disguise during the break.

Stevie Wonder in a one man benefit show at the Chicago theater in 91.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

Not the best, but my favorite concert moment was back in college...in an altered state of mind, a buddy and I thought we could talk our way onto Talib Kweli’s bus after his show. We were surrounded by thots (and were the only white people in the area), and somehow thought we could finesse our way through to...do what, I’m not exactly sure. In hindsight the implication is minorly terrifying.

Suffice to say the thots made their way through, God bless them, while my friend and I stumbled back to the dorm.

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Garth Brooks circa 1992. The man was literally leaping off a 30 foot stage onto swinging ropes at a full sprint as he was singing white-guy drinking songs and then taking his momentum back to landing on the stage without breaking stride.

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You know me like that.

Jack Johnson freshman year 2010, mainly because of the people I was with. That was the first time he toured around the U.S.

Private corporate concert at Disney for Lotus Development's annual user conference before they got bought by IBM.

Earth, Wind, and Fire on a 40 degree January night. They could have mailed it in, but they did an extra long set and were amazing. I was about 8 feet from the stage against a wall blocking me from the wind. Only about a third of the attendees went because of the weather, and most of them were on rides. So maybe 300 people tops were watching. Probably 1996 or 1997.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

That’s the 1994-ist sentence ever typed.

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You know me like that.

Pretty much. Early in my career part of my job was building workflow apps using Notes pre-Internet, so my employer would send me to the user conference. The president of Lotus at the time had one rule for his staff about the user conference: he got to pick the music act on the last night. Ray Charles was a bored piece of shit, Gladys Knight was great, EWF, Aaron Neville, the Doobie Brothers (early setup without McDonald or Baxter).

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

Roger Waters’ tour of The Wall.

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David Gilmore at the United Center April 4th 2016.
A dream come true.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Phish is mine as well. Pick any of the 8 shows

Only other I’d say is The Rhythm Devils, Mickey Hart, Bill, and Mike Gordon’s band. Saw them on my 21st birthday, I think at the Chicago theatre, when I turned 21 and just because of the night overall that’s one of my better memories.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

The Who @ the United Center, 2nd row, doing Quadrophenia, my favorite album.

ACDC, Bradley Center, 8th row, on acid.

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Pearl Jam 2007 - Vic Theater. Fan club only show. Supposedly Chelios and Dempster wrote the set list. Probably not, but I like to believe it.

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-- source

That radiohead show was fucking great.

NIN at the Mecca in January of 1995.
Deftones at the Riv. April of 2011
Slipknot at Allstate in March of 2005.
Smashing Pumpkins....too many to list.

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@audioidkid

I saw Phish numerous times between 1993 - 2000. 1 or 2 stinkers in there, but most were really great shows. The OJ show was in a class by itself....nothing ever came close to that one.

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Paul Simon's Graceland tour at Poplar Creek in '87
Depeche Mode's Violator tour at The World Music Theater in '90
Lowen & Navarro Walking on a Wire tour at College of Dupage in '91 or '92

Easy one. Van Halen opening for Black Sabbath around 1978 at the Amphitheater.

And Rush on acid was pretty incredible too in 1983

That's the only Doobie Brothers lineup I recognize.

Saw Joe Walsh open for the Doobies at Poplar Creek, I believe. Both were great. Not the best concert I ever attended. I'd have to think a bit more about that.

I've been to a couple I would consider the best but for me it is likely the following:

Feb 17th 2018
Bradley Center - Milwaukee
Bon Iver

They came through Milwaukee to perform and celebrate the 10th anniversary of their debut album For Emma, Forever Ago. They played the entire album, though not in order, as well as a few covers and other songs of theirs. Put on an awesome show and it happened to be my little brothers first birthday after he had passed away in 2017 so it was a bit emotional.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Page and Plant at the United Center in 1998---the one time I saw Page play. During Going to California Plant held the longest note. I'll never forget it.

The Bulls just won their 5th or 6th Championship and Dennis Rodman came on stage at the end.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o139tYKCiZg&t=4124s

The other was U2 at Soldier Field for the Popmart tour in June '97.

That's a really hard question for me to answer. I've seen a lot of great shows. R.L. Burnside at Double Door is one that's really memorable though.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Kash, and Don

Saw Page and Plant in Chicago as well as Milwaukee. Looking back on it I was really glad I did it as we were all big into Zeppelin around that time.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Wow, that's badass.

It wasn't the best show, as they were starting a tour and the performance was wrought with mistakes, but seeing Pearl Jam from the front row has been my favorite concert I have attended.






Missoula MT, August 2005

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People have no idea who good the U2 concerts at Soldier Field in '97 were. All three shows from 6/27-29 were sold out. They had the largest TV screen you ever saw in your life and a walkway that went out into the center of the floor area for Bono. I went Saturday the 28th. The weather was marvelous that day and everyone in Soldier Field was anticipating a great show. The setlist was their greatest hits until that point. The concert ran over 2 hours. So many great songs they played that night, like New Year's Day, Bullet the Blue Sky and Under the End of the World. Their last four songs were phenomenal: With or Without You, Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me, Mysterious Ways and One. Fortunately, there's some excellent video of the 29th Sunday show. A truly amazing performance and great spirit by Chicagoans. Encores start at 1:42.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieW92ws-504

Peter Gabriel, Braden Auditorium Illinois State University, December, 1982

I've only attended 3 concerts in my life. Marylyin Manson, Live, and The Rolling Stones.

I liked them all, but my favorite was Live. I was 22 and was really into that band at the time. They put on a good show.

The Stones were good, but I went with my parents for that one. They wanted to see them. That was at Soldier Field in the early 2000s. I'm glad I saw them though.