Mine was a year ago. I'm not even sure why it's my favorite concert. But even after every one i've seen since than and before it only stands out as the best concert experience of my life to date. That would have to be:

The Return of the Spice Girls

Indiviually they are less than the sum of their parts. Without all 5 they are kinda lackluster. But all 5 of them together on one stage singing the songs that are the soundtrack to my high school/college years and my coming out experience made it an amazing experience. From the moment the lights went down til they came back up I was in heaven having a blast singing dancing clapping and just have a good time. I wanted that night to go on forever!

first!

Gosh, I dunno where to begin. I've seen so many great ones. This is something I might actually be able to list.

The Bad Tour
The Velvet Rope Tour
Musicology Tour
Prince at the Palladium NYC in the 90's (Lenny Kravitz joined him on guitar for "Get Wild")
The Girlie Show
The Confessions tour

totaldiva said:

YOU SAW THE GIRLIE SHOW?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

i'm so jealous!

Prince's Xenophobia celebration in 2002 probably has to rank #1 for a whole lot of reasons, only some of which have to do with Prince himself.


George Michael and Tina Turner were pretty great this year.
Loved Tori last year and Stevie Wonder.
U2 and the Stones in 2004 were awesome.
Loved Bowie in 2004 for A Reality, 2002 for Area 2 and 2003 for that fanclub only show in Poughkeepsie

And Paula Abdul in 1992 has a special place in my heart as my very first. And Janet Jackson in 1994 when I was front row and caught her sweaty towel.
[Edited 12/7/08 15:26pm]
[Edited 12/7/08 19:22pm]

I forgot to mention:

The Voodoo Tour D'angelo Roseland NYC
Larger Than Life Tour Jody Watley
Patti Labelle
Jill Scott

totaldiva said:

sick!!

Terence Trent D'Arby: Vibrator tour

Janet-Velvet Rope, All For You and Rock Withchu
Beyonce-The Beyonce Experience

the rolling stones tour of the americas 1975
led zeppelin 1977
prince 2002 celebration at paisley park
elvis costello imperial bedroom tour 1982
talking heads stop making sense tour 1983
david bowie station to staion tour 1976
the cure disintegration tour 1989
frank zappa 1980 spring tour

to name a few

medoc2003 said:

*fucking sick!

2008 Stevie Wonder's A Wonderful Summer's Night Tour

Barkays, confunkshun, starpoint, atlantic starr( ), doug e. fresh - 1985
Barkays, evelyn"champagne" king, kool& the gang - 1984
Janet jackson's rhythmn nation tour - 1990
Cameo- 1995
Gap band -1995
United we funk all stars(barkays, confunkshun, gap band, dazz band, sos band)
all throwing down together on stage - 2000

Mint Condition- 2006,2007,2008
[Edited 12/7/08 19:47pm]

Cinnie said:

uber-jel!

some highlights...

Bjork's shows are always the best thing I've ever seen right after I've seen them. But only one can be the best. I'd have to go with seeing her at the House of Blues in Chicago for the Homogenic tour. Moonsongs and I drove all the way there from Michigan with no tickets and all of the scalpers were totally dry and trying to get tix themselves. Somehow at the venue, a shady security guy was selling extra general admission wristbands for $50 each. Score! They stuffed the club WAY beyond capacity. She had paper wings and makeup like a panda, had the audience dancing like we were at a rave and sobbing by the end of the show. I swear, everyone was hugging, laughing, sweating and lying on the venue floor when the show was over, it was THAT FUCKING CATHARTIC! So yeah.

k.d. lang this year in her home country of Canada. She had me melting in my seat and crying like a baby.

Tori Amos last year at The Vic in Chicago when she pulled out "Me and a Gun" as Pip. A life-changing show, for sure.

2 Tori shows on the same night in '96, tripping my balls off on pot brownies and magic mushrooms. Good times.

Getting front row for Madonna's Drowned World Tour at bouncing around like a fool with my brother on the DVD and HBO special.

Sneaking out of the house to see Madonna's Girlie Show cuz it was strictly forbidden by my born again Christian mother.

PJ Harvey's To Bring You My Love tour with Tricky opening the week his debut dropped. The best double bill ever! Standing in front of Martina... :wank:

Prince in a small club in Vegas, getting to talk to the guy and watching my brother perform on stage with him.

Prince's 2002 Celebration Night 5 for a bazillion reasons. Transcendent.

Prince's 7-7-7 aftershow at First Avenue with kitties galore.

The Circle of Sexxxy at the Tamar show made that a really special night.

Bowie's Bowienet gig at Roseland Ballroom in 2002 the day that Heathen was released when he performed Low and his new album back to back in their entirety. WTF!?

Bowie's birthday gig in Detroit when he asked if they went all night and then proceded to play 35 songs for over 3 hours.

The Cure Curiosa festival, dancing and singing like crazy people in the pit with the org's beloved violett.

George Michael twice this year. Can't decide between the shows cuz they bleed into one glorious experience at this point. Spectacularly performed.

Front row at The Rolling Stones in Comerica Park with Aaron, my mom and her best friend Sandy. Security had to speak to them cuz they were dancing on the seats and these were 50 some year old women. That's how good it was.

Lollapalooza '94 - The Pumpkins, Beastie Boys, Tribe Called Quest, George Clinton, Nick Cave, Breeders, Luscious Jackson - need I say more?

Sigur Ros in Ann Arbor for the Takk tour. I don't think I said a word or moved the whole time.

Getting scalper tix with my mom and bro for the janet. tour and seeing her again 4 years later with my dad included cuz we were staying in the same hotel as her in the room right beneath her. My dad did laundry with her stage manager and was hooked up with center seats near the front.

OOOH! The Pixies reunion tour a few years back. They flew through song after song and rocked my fucking socks off. Really special.

Cyrpess Hill, Erykah Badu and Outkast together in '98.

Those are some ones that come to mind off the top of my head. I've probably seen over 300 shows in my life, so I'm sure I'll come up with more.

Prince Lovesexy Tour,November 11,1988 in Oakland.Best concert I've ever seen!

The Barkays, Con Funk Shun, and Klymaxx (1985)

1. Prince, Musicology 2004, when my daughter got to sing.
2. Bruce Springsteen, Born in the USA tour, he actually wore me out physically
3. Dan Fogelberg, 1980, never saw an entertainer having so much fun
4. Del-Lords, mid-80's, most underrated rock band I know of and seeing them in a two-story house was just so great
5. Jerry Jeff Walker, 1998, private concert with just 6 other people, what a talent
6. KISS, 1977, no one I've seen before or since put on such a spectacle
7. Garth Brooks, 1992, he actually made the Astrodome shake
8. Tamar/Prince, 2006 and not just because I got to sing with Prince, his guitar work that night was the best I've ever seen by anyone
9. Blue Oyster Cult/Rush/Starz, 1977, my favorite heavy metal show
10. Every other concert I've ever been to except for the Beastie Boys, who are the only act I've ever seen get booed off a stage and I am proud to say that I was booing as loud as I could!

def jam tour 1988 frankfurt, germany (run-dmc p.e. beastie boys)
run-dmc/naughty by nature 1993 fayetteville, n.c.
doug e. fresh/mad skillz/kut klose fsu homecoming fayetteville, n.c. 1994
mad lion/krs-one fsu homecoming 1995
redman/busta rhymes (fsu homecoming 1997)
pastor troy (fsu homecoming 2000)
norman brown (2002 finlay park columbia ,sc)
wayman tisdale (2003 finaly park columbia,sc)
ludacris/lakeside/ohio players (2003 three rivers music festival columbia,sc)
victor wooten (2005 headliners columbia,sc)

THE BEST EVER: The last night of Prince in Vegas and the aftershow where we sat behind his microphone and Sheila's drumkit. Prince called me and my girls his "Pips" and announced it was "A party ova thurr!" Not to mention he stepped on my toes during a guitar solo he performed IN my face while bending me backward over my chair. We rocked that joint til 7 AM. I miss Vegas.

Sorry, what was the question again. . .

I sat in the center purple chair.




[Edited 12/8/08 17:26pm]

i can't choose just one. here are ten, in no particular order:

1. prince & the revolution (purple rain tour) - this was my first concert ever, and it's true what he says...the first time is always the greatest.

2. deee-lite (dewdrops in the garden tour) - it's freakin deee-lite. nuff said.

3. patti smith (lollapalooza 07) - the only time i can think of that a rock concert actually brought me to tears.

4. david bowie/NIN (outside tour) - bowie and trent onstage together, performing "reptile", "hurt" and "scary monsters". hell yeah.

5. princess superstar/b.j. snowden (brownies, NYC, 1998-ish?) - it was just a small club show, but it kicked my ass. the opening act ended her set by going into the audience and hugging every single person in attendance. the main act ended her set by wrapping herself in christmas lights and rolling around on the floor in some kind of erotic yuletide guitar solo temper tantrum. it was a beautiful night.

6. prince, 7/7/07 - the first ave aftershow will probably stand out in my mind as the most monumental part of the day, but the whole thing was pretty special.

7. the cramps (stay sick tour) - you ain't seen rock'n'roll until you are witness to lux interior, clad in nothing but a g-string and a pair of stiletto pumps, bash himself in the face with a microphone and sing "all women are bad" with a bloody mouth. it might sound a little brutal, but it was fucking fabulous.

8. eartha kitt (cafe carlyle, NYC) - that old bird can MOVE. she can bend and twist in ways that i sure can't, and i'm 1/100th her age!

9. kiki & herb - i can't narrow it down to one show. i've seen them tons of times and they own my ass with every performance. the first time, years ago at flamingo east in NYC's east village, was a very special night. but every performance manages to re-create what's so special about discovering them. color me fam.

10. love & rockets (lollapalooza 2008) - i love it when i go to a show and every song makes me jump up and down and scream "OMG IT'S MY FAVORITE SONG!" such was the case here.


i know there's more, but these come to mind first and foremost.

...
[Edited 12/8/08 19:19pm]

My favorite concert this year probably was seeing Lucky Soul @ Joe's Pub in New York.

I met sextonseven [OMG!] @ the concert and it was awesome. Totally nice surprise!

Also, I got the autographs of all of the band members and chatted with them all after the gig. Plus, I bought a t-shirt and when I got the wrong color I ran back to the venue and Ivor Sims (the lead guitarist of the band) [very far right, last in the picture] went in the back of his tour van and got me a different color ...you couldn't ASK for a better concert experience.

Gotta. love. Lucky Soul.

Early 1994, Nine Inch Nails in Frankfurt Germany.

It was in a small club , tightly packed, intimate,... long and fucking loud

Mara said:

Jealous . There was only one concert sextonseven and me could have both attended, but we hadn't started talking yet and he chose another concert for that day .