Steven Seaweed's
Ten top tenz Lists

10 BEST CONCERTS I’VE ATTENDED

10.) NASHVILLE PUSSY, FILLMORE, SPRING 2001
Opened for The Reverend Horton Heat.  So blown away we didn't even bother to stay for the headliner.  These Atlanta-based, heavy metal, psychobilly sleaze rockers got their name from a line in Ted Nugent's Double Live Gonzo album. Guitarist Ruyter Suys is a dirty little girl.

9.)  THE DOORS, COW PALACE,
JUL 25, 1969
Saw The Doors three times, this was the best! Whatever Jim Morrison had, it was electric and infectuous. The Soft Parade album had just come out, and this band absolutely tore up the Cow Palace that night. Jim had less than two years left of his life. Also on the bill, the great guitarist Lonnie Mack as well as Elvin Bishop.

8.)  SEX PISTOLS, WINTERLAND, JAN 14, 1978
The last Sex Pistols concert....ever.  Hell, they only did seven shows in the U.S. before they broke up.  The one thing I remember about this concert was Sid Vicious calmly walking to the front of the stage during Pretty Vacant, and kicking some guy in the face.  That, and some of the most outrageous, violent, raucous punk music the world would ever hear.  Three-minute blasts of rage, one after another.  Then it was over.  Pretty vacant indeed.

7.) PINK FLOYD, OAKLAND COLISEUM, SPRING 1973

This was the Dark Side Of the Moon tour (indoors at Oakland) and The Floyd kicked ass that night with an absolutely stunning presentation of Dark Side Of the Moon in it's entirety. The band was really on that evening, and when a spaceship crashed on stage during Brain Damage, I totally lost it and drove to L.A. the next day to see them at the Forum. Also caught the '71 Meddle tour when they played Winterland, the Animals tour of '77 in Oakland, and their very last tour (no Roger Waters, of course) in '94, also at Oakland. I've heard that their August '68 dates at the Avalon Ballroom were truly in the other world. Hey, Saucerful of Secrets.......

6.)  THE BAND, THE LAST WALTZ, WINTERLAND, THANKSGIVING, 1977

This was an awesome night in San Francisco.  They actually served an entire Thanksgiving turkey dinner to everybody before the show started.  Very tasty.  And since Martin Scorcese was filming, and the entire backstage area was taken up with equipment, all the musicians actually had to sit out in the audience, which was very cool. At one point I looked to my right, and there was Bob Dylan about six seats down watching Van Morrison belt out a killer version of Caravan.  Other highlights:  Joni Mitchell singing backup for Neil Young on Helpless, Dylan's I Shall Be Released, Further On Up the Road with Clapton and, of course, The Band themselves.  It was their Last Waltz.

5.)  THE WHO, SHORELINE, JULY 3rd, 2002

Yeah, not that long ago .... remember? John Entwhistle was found dead in his hotel room a week earlier, but Roger and Pete decided to go on with the show. Here's what I wrote in my review the following day: "Townshend's guitar playing was manic, Roger Daltrey's vocals were exceptionally good and Zak Starkey was THE BEST! Loved the lights and staging.....excellent sound from where I was sitting. The few references made to John Entwhistle's death were most heartfelt, like when Pete introduced Behind Blue Eyes noting that "Three of the original Who members had blue eyes. One of them was John Entwhistle." Or Daltrey saying, "Rock 'n' roll was never meant to be easy. Nor was life. You just get on with it.'' Absolutely epic versions of Who Are You, Eminence Front, Another Tricky Day, Baba O'Reily and My Generation-Won't Get Fooled Again.  After that song, everybody left the stage except Townshend and Daltrey who were genuinely appreciative of the reception they were given last night. Speaking of which, that's probably the last night most of us will ever see The Who. Great to be there, wasn't it?"

4.)  BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, PARAMOUNT THEATRE, OAKLAND, HALLOWEEN, 1975

This was the same week that Bruce was on the covers of both Time and Newsweek and the ushers wore t-shirts with the Time cover on the front, and the Newsweek cover on the back. Would love to have gotten one of those. Anyway, the Paramount is an awesome place to see any concert. Sixth row, center aisle, perfect sound. The Born To Run album had just come out and they did a bunch of things from it, including great renditions of Jungleland, Thunder Road, and the title track. I'd never seen a band work that hard before.  Four freakin' hours on stage! 4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy), Rosalita and New York City Serenade were also exceptional.  That was a great band.  I remember that night well.

3.)  U2, SAN JOSE ARENA, APRIL 19, 2001

This was the Elevation tour, their first since Popmart (the top-grossing tour of '97). Ok, I'll say it. I can't stand the San Jose Arena, mostly because of the inconsistent sound, but this night was absolutely the BEST!  But don't listen to me.  Willie Williams, a San Francisco resident, has basically been designing every U2 tour for the last 20 years and he posted daily at www.u2.com (awesome site).  It was a Friday night, the second of two shows, and in Willie's Diary he writes, "Its hard to know what to say about tonight's show, other than that it was one of the great transcendental experiences. We changed the set list, including "Stay" for the first time on this tour and "Kite" for the first time ever, both of which were spectacularly successful. The whole night just flowed and it was all we could do to hang on. Afterwards Bono seriously claimed it was the best show of his entire career and much as we all know that Bono is not generally a man prone to understatement, I have never heard him say anything like that before. He told me it was the happiest he'd ever felt on stage. I was pretty damn happy too, being a home town gig and all (and Bono thanked me from the stage tonight, which was major Brownie points).  What makes a show like tonight so great? Its hard to say, other than that the Eagle had landed, the Force was with us, Elvis was in the building......"  When Bono sang With Or Without You, it brought a tear to my one good eye.  An absolutely incredible night.

2.)  JIMI HENDRIX, H.I.C. ARENA, HONOLULU, OCT 5, 1968

I graduated from San Jose State in June of '68 and immediately transplanted myself to Honolulu, Hawaii, where I got a job selling tires for the Sears at Ala Moana shopping center.  There was that, and hanging out at the beach and looking for hot chicks and listening to a lot of killer music. It was either records (actual, genuine vinyl) or KPOI, the rockin' FM station that was presenting the Hendrix concert.  Electric Ladyland had just come out and Hendrix was at his artistic peak right about then.  As far as I was concerned, Jimi was unquestionably the coolest guy on the planet, and on that warm night in downtown Honolulu he made me a believer forever.  This was the heaviest concert I'd ever been to.  I'd never seen anybody do the things he did with a guitar. To stand there and watch Jimi Hendrix ...... yes, watch Jimi Hendrix ...... clobber everybody with Purple Haze was absolutely  spectacular.  Maybe you saw him at Winterland in San Francisco a week later?  I heard those three shows were epic.  Saw him two other times, but neither came close to this magic night.

1.)  LED ZEPPELIN, FILLMORE WEST, JAN 9, 1969

This was the Zep's first U.S. tour, and they played second on the bill to Country Joe and the Fish with Taj Mahal opening.  Regardless, they were the hottest thing on the planet and they hadn't even released an album yet!  Led Zeppelin I wouldn't be in the stores until the day after their three-night stand at the Fillmore West.  By the way, I loved hanging out at that place.  Being #1 on my list, you might get the idea that I was blown away by the Zeppelin that night.  YES I WAS!  It was Jimmy Page's 25th birthday.  Plant was just 21 and they positively rocked the joint with the most raw and powerful heavy metal you can imagine.  Led Zeppelin were showing off for America and we couldn't get enough.  My first dose of Robert Plant's voice was incredible that night, and for me, Jimmy Page was the second coming of God!  (sorry, Eric)  Some highlights: Train Kept a Rollin', Babe I'm Gonna Leave You, Dazed and Confused, Killing Floor, the Yardbird's song, For Your Love, and the most kick-ass version of  Communication Breakdown you'd ever need to hear in your lifetime.  Awesome.  Now I can die in peace.