Opinion Best gig ever...

[Doogie]

Saw a doco on the Cosmic Psycho's the other nite. Apart from being seriously fckng awesome (blokes you can trust if you want to google it). Had met thinking of best gig I ever went to. Sure some of the Kennelers have some stories to tell.

To make it fair, probably should break it up into the 80s, 90s, 00's and 10's. Happy to throw out a couple...

91 - Jane's Addiction @ the Hordern. Crowd surfing from front to back over and over. Brawl on the stage between punters. Perry threw a punch at one of the guitarists, security grabbed him and he came back 2 mins later as if nothing had happened. Madness.
95 - Pearl Jam at Eastern Creek. Animal bus with 30 of us. Threw drugs over fence, walked 10m to security, went in and walked 10m to pick up our gear. Had VIP access so pinched a bottle of Chivas from the Sony tent. Went back with the boys, between the Meanies & Pearl Jam we surfed three portaloos down the hill (one had some poor cnt in it). Band was insane. Went back to bus, waited for #30 - he never showed so we left. Got our bus (yes a bus), caught in Maccas drive through. Police were called (Maccas bin was filled with about 20 bongs and $2k worth of ganga before they arrived). Had to be towed back out. Dude #30 came back 2 days later after sleeping through the entire next day at Eastern Creek.

Hope you guys can beat mine - if so there's some dingers out there....

 

[Hacky McAxe]

90's were packed with some of the best gigs I've ever been to. And I went to many. But here's some highlights:

93... maybe 94? - Ugly Kid Joe at the Hordern Pavilion. Not the best concert band wise but we had a fun time. The opening act was Chocolate Starfish. The band only famous for doing a cover of "your so vain". At one stage a dude in the audience gave the singer the middle finger. The singer said, "That guy gave me the middle finger. Everyone give him a hard nudge for me", then the whole crowd in unison gave the singer the middle finger and chanted "Get the fuck off the stage". Also, my mate tried to sneak in a goon bag in his pants. Security took it and put in next to a chair in the booth. We realised that after we were in, we could reach under the booth and steal all the alcohol they confiscated

95 - Slayer and Biohazard - No explanation needed. It was Slayer and Biohazard

96 - Rage Against the Machine - Great gig. After they finished we went outside for a smoke. Then we heard the start of Killing in the Name Of come on as an encore. The chick I was with was about 5 foot tall and about 30kgs. She charged back inside and barged her way through the crowd. In the process she ran into a bloke that was about 7 foot tall and 100kgs, and she knocked him on his arse. I helped him up and apologised and he just looked stunned. He said, "Fark, you've got a real woman there"

96 - Pantera - Great Southern Trend Kill Tour - To this day, still one of the greatest bands to ever grace this earth. Got drunk, security tried to kick us out, we fought some guards then hid in the middle of the most. Fun times.

Then there's all the local punk gigs we had in the 90s. Way too many to remember. I remember skanking to Porkers and Frenzal Rhomb, then getting drunk with them after the gigs. I remember going to a festival with Silver Chair playing and my mate hitting Daniel Johns in the head with a bottle. Fun times.

Of the more recent ones, Slipknot and Parkway Drive have put on some of the best gigs I've ever seen. Saw Slayer on their fairwell tour which was definitely a highlight even though I've seen them twice before. But special shout out to these guys...

Omnium Gatherum. Saw them in the Bald Faced Stag (or whatever the hell they call it now), in front of about 50 people. They played like they were in front of 50,000 people. Put all their energy into it. One of the most energetic bands I've seen considering there was basically no one in the crowd.

 

[TABOO]

It's too late now but I'm posting here in an attempt to remember to post tomorrow.

Awesome stories mate

 

[alchemist]

I haven't been to a concert in ages... but 'Oasis' at Hordern Pavilion, 'Def Leppard' whenever they have toured, 'Something for Kate' at the Enmore Theatre, 'U2' at the Olympic Stadium, and Eric Clapton at the old Sydney Entertainment Centre stand out for me

 

[SPEARTAKVIDREFS]

The most memorable -

My first pub gig, Splatterheads and the Hard Ons.

90's -

Alternative Nations Eastern Creek.

Smashing Pumpkins, Siamese Dreams era

Slayer

FNM


On a side note, also in the 90's I saw Terry Bozzio (Zappa) do a drum clinic. He was unbeleivable.

 

[N4TE]

I pretty much went to every Big Day Out from 2001 to when they finished so saw a lot of good bands snuck in one year through the drains at Homebush with a bunch of others and jumped the fence once or twice. Mate got caught with 3 pingers in his mouth walking in one day but swallowed them before the cop could get them. They were in glad wrap. Anyway cop asks him what was in his mouth and he was honest and said three pills. Cop takes him for a strip search and says.. look because you were honest with me I’m going to let you in but because it’s going to be 40 degrees today I suggest you go straight to the medical tent and tell them that you just ingested three ecstasy tablets. I think this was the year Metallica played anyway he didn’t bother the dumb arse but went the whole day drinking and never feeling a thing from the pills. We all end up on the train on the way home wrecked (ours obviously worked) and he starts pepping up ha ha ha the old leg rub eyes the size of the moon. He is like fuuuck boys who wants to go out. Everyone was done but he ended up going out somewhere in the cross until 5:00am ha ha. That glad wrap finally gave way.

Many many great gigs but I can’t say I have seen a more amazing crowd reaction than a capacity Stadium Australia just before Covid two years ago when Queen and Adam Lambert played. Every single person in the stadium singing. Somebody to love was amazing.

 

[Doogie]

I pretty much went to every Big Day Out from 2001 to when they finished so saw a lot of good bands snuck in one year through the drains at Homebush with a bunch of others and jumped the fence once or twice. Mate got caught with 3 pingers in his mouth walking in one day but swallowed them before the cop could get them. They were in glad wrap. Anyway cop asks him what was in his mouth and he was honest and said three pills. Cop takes him for a strip search and says.. look because you were honest with me I’m going to let you in but because it’s going to be 40 degrees today I suggest you go straight to the medical tent and tell them that you just ingested three ecstasy tablets. I think this was the year Metallica played anyway he didn’t bother the dumb arse but went the whole day drinking and never feeling a thing from the pills. We all end up on the train on the way home wrecked (ours obviously worked) and he starts pepping up ha ha ha the old leg rub eyes the size of the moon. He is like fuuuck boys who wants to go out. Everyone was done but he ended up going out somewhere in the cross until 5:00am ha ha. That glad wrap finally gave way.

Many many great gigs but I can’t say I have seen a more amazing crowd reaction than a capacity Stadium Australia just before Covid two years ago when Queen and Adam Lambert played. Every single person in the stadium singing. Somebody to live was amazing.

Tried to keep BDO's out of it - only did the Showground back in the day and was pissed about the move to Homebush. But yeah, did just about every BDO through the 90's and wild isn't half of it.

Remember sitting in the main stage grand stand in the top right corner, everyone else was out on the ground next to the stage. Iggy was playing and over my right shoulder was this massive skate ramp with pros doing tricks. Had a chick facing me bouncing up and down on my lap. Kept looking over the right shoulder and the skaters knew what we were up to. Swear as they were doing tricks they were giving me (or her) the thumbs up.

Good times....

 

[cntrbry bnkstwn]

too many to remember, but top 5,
pantera at sydney 94
suicidals and alice in chains at sydney 93
slayer at LA 95
metallica and hole at north pole 95
skid row and guns n roses at sydney 93

 

[Hacky McAxe]

I pretty much went to every Big Day Out from 2001 to when they finished so saw a lot of good bands snuck in one year through the drains at Homebush with a bunch of others and jumped the fence once or twice. Mate got caught with 3 pingers in his mouth walking in one day but swallowed them before the cop could get them. They were in glad wrap. Anyway cop asks him what was in his mouth and he was honest and said three pills. Cop takes him for a strip search and says.. look because you were honest with me I’m going to let you in but because it’s going to be 40 degrees today I suggest you go straight to the medical tent and tell them that you just ingested three ecstasy tablets. I think this was the year Metallica played anyway he didn’t bother the dumb arse but went the whole day drinking and never feeling a thing from the pills. We all end up on the train on the way home wrecked (ours obviously worked) and he starts pepping up ha ha ha the old leg rub eyes the size of the moon. He is like fuuuck boys who wants to go out. Everyone was done but he ended up going out somewhere in the cross until 5:00am ha ha. That glad wrap finally gave way.

Many many great gigs but I can’t say I have seen a more amazing crowd reaction than a capacity Stadium Australia just before Covid two years ago when Queen and Adam Lambert played. Every single person in the stadium singing. Somebody to love was amazing.

I remember that BDO. Went in the mosh for Metallica and some bloke split my head open. Ram up to the med tent and got it sealed up quickly. The guy treating me said, "you're going to need to go straight to hospital"

I said, "sure thing, just patch me up, quick". He patched me up then I ran straight back into the mosh.

 

[Hacky McAxe]

too many to remember, but top 5,
pantera at sydney 94
suicidals and alice in chains at sydney 93
slayer at LA 95
metallica and hole at north pole 95
skid row and guns n roses at sydney 93

That reminds me of two of the worst organised signings I went to.

Suicidals and AIC signing. They lined us up outside Utopia and said, "you can only get one signature. Either AIC or Suicidals"

Then the line went to AIC went past Psycho Mike. So you had all these people standing next to Psycho Mike awkwardly avoiding eye contact because they wanted AIC's signature. My mate went straight up to Mike to get his signature and said, "fuck those losers". The Kerrang photographer took a photo of him 'cause he was the only one getting a photo.

The other one was the Skid Row signing at Sanity... Or was it Brashers?

45 degree heat with 10,000 people lined up in more of a mosh than a line. There was no ropes, only one gate at the front. So it was a complete mess. People were passing out from heatstroke and everyone was getting annoyed. So the organiser comes out and says, "Skid Row will only do 10 more signatures"

The whole thing turned into a riot. They had to rush Skid Row out passed the crowd 'cause they were worried about people trashing the store to get to them.

 

[N4TE]

I remember that BDO. Went in the mosh for Metallica and some bloke split my head open. Ram up to the med tent and got it sealed up quickly. The guy treating me said, "you're going to need to go straight to hospital"

I said, "sure thing, just patch me up, quick". He patched me up then I ran straight back into the mosh.

The one where there was a storm off in the distance with this lightning show but they did t play ride the lightning. Was a mad day though. Man I have some funny stories from that particular day.

 

[cntrbry bnkstwn]

That reminds me of two of the worst organised signings I went to.

Suicidals and AIC signing. They lined us up outside Utopia and said, "you can only get one signature. Either AIC or Suicidals"

Then the line went to AIC went past Psycho Mike. So you had all these people standing next to Psycho Mike awkwardly avoiding eye contact because they wanted AIC's signature. My mate went straight up to Mike to get his signature and said, "fuck those losers". The Kerrang photographer took a photo of him 'cause he was the only one getting a photo.

The other one was the Skid Row signing at Sanity... Or was it Brashers?

45 degree heat with 10,000 people lined up in more of a mosh than a line. There was no ropes, only one gate at the front. So it was a complete mess. People were passing out from heatstroke and everyone was getting annoyed. So the organiser comes out and says, "Skid Row will only do 10 more signatures"

The whole thing turned into a riot. They had to rush Skid Row out passed the crowd 'cause they were worried about people trashing the store to get to them.

brash's, i was there too it was fucking insane people everywhere

 

[south of heaven]

too many to remember, but top 5,
pantera at sydney 94
suicidals and alice in chains at sydney 93
slayer at LA 95
metallica and hole at north pole 95
skid row and guns n roses at sydney 93

Remember the pantera met them at utopia before the show, and sepultura chaos tour was the month before at Hordern good times

 

[south of heaven]

Skid row blew gunners away at Eastern creek

 

[N4TE]

Remember the pantera met them at utopia before the show, and sepultura chaos tour was the month before at Hordern good times

Got my cousin a personal message from Max from the original Sepultura the other day and we have had a joke going since we were both kids about Greg my cousin bumming a fox in Massey park it’s a looong looong looooong story but he has always hated it anyhow in the message Max is like Hey Greg happy birthday you fucking champion stop bumming foxes in Massey park whatever that means and then played a riff from war for territory and it cost me $80 bucks he was almost crying laughing and reckons no one will ever top that present.

 

[DinkumDog]

Skid row blew gunners away at Eastern creek

100%. A mate and I were going off on Skid Row, particularly Slave To The Grind songs (much better album than their first). All these punters around us be like ‘How come these guys know every word?’
Guns were OK but Skids way better.

As for other memorable gigs, I’ve got kinda varied tastes so they’d include:

- Dire Straits @ Entertainment Centre ‘86. Brothers in Arms. I was a kid but still remember it after telling mum and dad there was nothing else in the world I could ever want. The show I was at was one of the record they set for the venue: ~22 shows on one tour.

- Nirvana / Violent Femmes @ Hordern ‘92
- Jeff Buckley @ Enmore ‘96

Seeing Billy Joel sing New York State of Mind at Madison Square Garden (that song has a whole new life of its own in New York).

- Coldplay at the Metro in 2000 when no-one knew who they were. A record company mate at the time said ‘You’ll like this’ and comped me. They played ‘Yellow’, ‘Trouble’ etc to about 100 people. He was right - they were good before trying to be U2.

- U2 at the EntCent ‘89. Rattle and Hum. When everyone brought out their cigarette lighters for ‘All I Want Is You’ that was the reason for the ‘No Naked Flames’ sign that was erected there after those shows.

- The Black Crowes @ Hordern 2008 - as I finally got to see them live and we went backstage to interview Chris Robinson and after that he said ‘hang around for the sound check’ so a mate and I were treated to a private performance for 45min. Still got the photos.

- In the late 90’s I went to several record company showcase nights connected with my work at the time. The most memorable was in North Sydney. It was a ‘new’ artist called ‘Chuck Benjamin’ who when he walked on stage was actually Ben Harper. About 4 songs in he invited ‘some friends’ to join him - Eddie Vedder and Donavon Frankenreiter. They were in Australia on a surfing holiday together and were road testing songs for upcoming tours. Sweet.

Honourable mention to the Goo Goo Dolls mainly for this: at their showcase, a loose unit gal I worked with at the time marched up to John Rzeznik (singer) and said ‘What’s the smelliest thing in the world?’ ‘Go on’ ‘An anchovies Karmichael Hunt’. Rzeznik being a New Yorker deadpanned ‘I’m taking that one home’ .

There’s probably more but they came to mind first.

 

[Doogie]

- Nirvana / Violent Femmes @ Hordern ‘92

Was that the BDO gig? The one that probably had 6000 people but 600000 people reckon they saw it Believe u but if so, cannot tell you how many people I've heard say they were there.

 

[DinkumDog]

Was that the BDO gig? The one that probably had 6000 people but 600000 people reckon they saw it Believe u but if so, cannot tell you how many people I've heard say they were there.

Yep that was it.
Ha ha, I agree I’ve heard lots of people say they were there. I try to catch people out by asking them which song each band played first but most say ‘Oh, I can’t remember’. For the record Nirvana was ‘Aneurysm’ and Femmes ‘American Music’. I’ve probably still got the t-shirt in my gig t-shirt museum that I’ve kept since ‘91. It was absolutely packed and a sweat box.

 

[Tuffers]

My taste is a little different but anyway...

-Joe Strummer and The Mescaleros at BDO 2000. Actually the whole day at that stage was great. Killing Heidi just as they went massive. It was fucking hot so people were climbing up the struts to access the fire hoses and spraying the crowd to keep cool. Beth Orton, Something for Kate, and Midnight Oil. But Joe was the highlight. I was never a big fan of White Man in Hammersmith Palais until I heard it live, with a lyric change to "Punk Rockers from Botany Bay". Playing the triangle from the top of the speaker stack for Yalla Yalla. I was on the rail just off centre the whole show trying to keep my girlfriend form getting smashed in the mosh. Got the setlist off the stage from the roadie after.

-Bruce Springsteen in 2013, second show at Qudos. Again was just off centre, one back from the rail. It was the tenth anniversary of the Iraq war so he opened with an acoustic Devils and Dust into a blistering Last to Die, only time it got played on that tour. My mate had to leave before the last song as his back packed it in, I stayed for 10th Ave Freeze-Out. Went to all three shows but that was the best overall. Backstreets on the third night was the best individual song played in that stretch of shows however.

-Red Riders at Cat and Fiddle, about 2003. Their first ever show as the warmup for my mates band, Meza. They were raw but you could see they were good. They went on to play support for Franz Ferdinand and The Living End. Saw them a heap of other times at Annandale Hotel and other pubs around town (and BDO) but its nice to say you were a fan before they got big. Not that they ever got as big as they should of.

-The Grates at Enmore in 2006, opening for Arctic Monkeys. This was when Arctic Monkeys were being hyped massively (I never really got it, only really like Crying Lightning) but the Grates were super. I don't usually listen to many female vocalists but love Patience, at least until she sang that stupid jingle for that gas company.

-Elvis Costello at Capitol Theatre in 1999. Best acoustic show I've ever seen, just Elvis and his pianist, Steve Nieve. The new arrangement of Temptation was brilliant. Was lucky to pick up a bootleg of the show from the Music Fair at Parra Town Hall (did you guys ever go to them?) so can playback whenever I want. He closed with Couldn't Call It Unexpected No. 4 with no mic. Unfortunately I struggle to listen to him play live now, his timing has gone, which is particularly jarring given the density of his lyrics.

 

[DinkumDog]

Cat and Fiddle
Annandale Hotel

Your story brings up two more from these venues. Saw The Whitlams at the C&F late 90’s when ‘No Aphrodisiac’ was big for them. ‘You Sound Like Louis Burdett’ and ‘Tangled Up In Blue’ went off that night. It was so hot but they couldn’t open the doors due to neighbour noise issues so the bar staff were spraying the crowd with water from their bar drink hoses.

That probably wouldn’t be allowed today, it would be ‘irresponsible service of water’ .

At the original closing of the Annandale as a music venue a massive crowd turned up and not everyone was getting in. You Am I were playing that night so Tim Rogers takes an acoustic guitar outside and says ‘You fuckers shouldn’t miss out’ and played about 6 songs for the punters out on the street for free before exiting with his signature line ‘God bless the fucking lot of us’. It’s moments like that that bring me back to why I love music and how it brings the tax dodgers together.