Who was the best live band you've ever seen?

[Jack Hanson]

Not surprising to read multiple reviews about the greatness of live shows by the Band. Music just dripped out of those guys. Especially the dirt farmer's son from Arkansas, and the tobacco farmer's son from Ontario.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nb_9kHCmi-U

[Larry Petree]

I agree with Bill, when Hank was using two steel players, PeWee Whitewing, and Bob White. Great twin parts.

[Joachim Kettner]

Not surprising to read multiple reviews about the greatness of live shows by the Band. Music just dripped out of those guys. Especially the dirt farmer's son from Arkansas, and the tobacco farmer's son from Ontario.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nb_9kHCmi-U

How good was Levon on the harmonica! I read his autobigrapphy and he said that Rick Danko had to work so much to make to make a living, that it wasn't good for his health.
He hated Robertson for breaking up the band for his convinience in making soundtracks for Scorsese.

[Pete Finney]

A lot of memorable shows for reasons beyond just the music, and some really great singers come to mind. But for "best live bands" these are on my list:

Sly and the Family Stone - Laurel(Md.)Pop Festival; Summer 1969
Mahavishnu Orchestra - multiple concerts 72/73
Danny and the Fat Boys (Danny Gatton's early trio) - many DC area clubs in the early/mid '70s
Milestone Jazzstars (Sonny Rollins, McCoy Tyner, Ron Carter, Al Foster) - Kennedy Center 1978
Redneck Jazz Explosion (Gatton/Emmons) - multiple shows in '78 at Cellar Door in D.C.
Joe Ely Band with Lloyd Maines - countless Texas club shows; 79-80-81
James Brown and his band, multiple shows in 80s/90s
Don Kelly Band with Brent Mason - many nights at the Stagecoach Club in Nashville in the '80s
Paul Motian/Bill Frisell/Joe Lovano - multiple shows over the years at the Village Vanguard.
Vince Gill's band w/John Hughey - I spent most of 92/93 as opening act (w/Patty Loveless) and rarely missed one of their shows.
Jim Oblon Band - various Nashville clubs in the past 10 years; amazing guitar player and always has great players with him.
The Timejumpers from their beginnings in the late '90s with Johnny Cox until now.

[Bill McCloskey]

"He hated Robertson for breaking up the band for his convinience in making soundtracks for Scorsese.
"
Two sides to every story of course. Check out the excellent documentary Once Were Brothers to get a very different take on what happened.

[Craig Stock]

Its a real hard question, I've seen so many shows over the years ranging from Rock, Blues, Jazz, and Country, but I always go back to the first live show I saw as a 16 year old kid in 1978.

It was at the Ocean Ice Palace in Bricktown, NJ, Charlie Daniels Band, one of the loudest shows but one of the best, I was a big fan and seeing him live and putting on such a great show was mind blowing at the time. My older brother drove me and two friends in our hopped up Gremlin (believe that, but it was cool), my other favorite would be the Crusaders at the bottom Line in NYC in the 90's, not the original lineup but David T Walker was on guitar and got to talk with their producer Stewart Levine, and Tommy Lipuma was with him which made it even better!

[W. C. Edgar]

Hands down, Elvis with James Burton on tele of course.

[Doug Palmer]

The Eagles.

[Stephen Silver]

I have seen a lot of shows in my 69 years. best band I have seen live, by far and away, was Paul McCartney at The Last Pick at the Stick, Candlestick Park, Aug 14, 2014. Never heard five musicians cover everything they covered, Paul never left the stage except for the encore fo over 2.5 hours, that band can sing and play the day away.

[John Macy]

Allman Brothers by 31 lengths!

[Doug Beaumier]

Led Zeppelin, The Who, Grateful Dead, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Allman Bros, Chicago, Emmylou Harris w/the Hot Band, Frank Zappa, Blood Sweat & Tears, James Brown w/full band, Roy Buchanon, The Byrds w/Clarence White, etc, etc... It was All good!

[Brooks Montgomery]

Allman Brothers by 31 lengths!

I don't doubt that at all. One of my biggest music regrets is that with all the concerts I saw in the 60's and 70's, it never worked out for me to see the Allman Brothers.
Live at Filmore East was on a continous loop, along with Eat a Peach back in 71-72 in my VW microbus.

[Dennis Brion]

Blues-Muddy Waters at Akron U 72-73
Trio-Phil Keagy Glass Harp...fastest hands on guitar ever
Rock-Joe Walsh with James Gang at Rubber bowl Akron
Country-Merle Haggard at Carousel Theater in the round
Country- George Strait The Gund in Cleveland
Best Total Show-George Strait, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, John Michael Montgomery, Asleep at the Wheel at the Shoe in Columbus Oh
Best Single performance at a show- Ricky Skaggs, four acts including Hank Jr and Ricky blew everyone off the stage

[Brett Day]

For me, there were quite a few concerts of live bands I saw that were awesome-in 1996, I saw the group Blackhawk opening for Wynonna. At the time, Blackhawk consisted of Henry Paul-lead vocals, acoustic guitar, and mandolin, Van Stephenson, vocals, electric guitar, and Dave Robbins on vocals and keyboards-their second record had just been released and even though they didn't feature a steel, they put on a great show. Henry Paul and Dave Robbins are still with the band-guitarist Van Stephenson died in 2001. A few years later, I saw George Strait at one of his festival shows with several opening acts-Mike Daily on steel with George, Denny Hemingson on steel with Tim McGraw, and Jim Bob Gairrett on steel with Kenny Chesney were there, then that same year I saw John Michael Montgomery and I wasn't sure if Monte Good was still playing steel-then I saw Vince Gill with John Hughey on steel, Vince's opening act was Jo Dee Messina, and her steel player at the time had played a Sierra-wasn't sure who was on steel at the time-I wondered if it was Steve Byam, then Ricochet with Teddy Carr on steel-Teddy played a Franklin steel with Ricochet and waved to me from the stage, and Jeff Bryant, who was the drummer for Ricochet had left the band due to carpal tunnel syndrome, but his brother Junior Bryant was still in the band, playing the fiddle and they had just welcomed their newest member, Tim Chewning, who started playing drums with the band after Jeff left the band. In 2001, I saw Elbert West, Chalee Tennison and Travis Tritt at a balloon festival called Freedom Weekend Aloft, and on steel with Elbert West(songwriter of many songs recorded by Tracy Lawrence) and Chalee was Jim Vest, who played a Derby. On steel with Travis at the time was Steve Sturm, who had been in Travis's Country Club Band since 1996, playing a white JCH D-10, electric guitar, and dobro. In 2002, I saw Darryl Worley with Eddie Gossien on steel-he was playing an Emmons in '02 and in '03, he played a Fessenden. In '02, when I saw Darryl, his song "I Miss My Friend" had just gone to number one on the country charts, and in '03 I saw Trace Adkins for the third time, and met steel player Randy Hess and Trace. In 1998, I saw Deana Carter with opening act Diamond Rio, and that show was awesome-there was no steel, but Jimmy Olander played some licks on his Telecaster that sounded like pedal steel because he uses a double bender on his guitar

[Andy Volk]

At age ten, my mom took me to a Tom Jones show. I don't recall the music but I recall the energy of the show. He was a force of nature in his prime. Women ran up to the stage to throw handkerchiefs to him. He'd wipe his dripping brow and toss them back into the crowd. The also, inexplicably, threw bras on stage. Got to hand out to him; the guys's still got it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=118zckalkJ0

[Joachim Kettner]

I don't exactly know how long he was with him, but I suppose that he was on the show your mother and you saw, Andy.
One of the best Rock'n'Roll guitar players ever, called Mickey Gee:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlEuV2VyLSQ

[Richard Sinkler]

It's impossible for me to say what band was the best, but the best concert I ever attended was, Elton John when he came to San Jose one year. He had John Jorgensen playing guitar with him. What made this concert so great was, you didn't have the hundreds (or thousands) of immature idiots screaming all through the concert. There was absolutely no screaming while songs were being played.

[Jack Hanson]

It's no surprise that many folks mention the Allman Bros. I saw them probably a half-dozen times in their early years, including that first show in Mpls mentioned in my original post, which is purportedly the first show they played north of the Mason-Dixon line. Some of those Allman Bros. shows were better than others, but all would rank in my personal top ten.

Somewhat surprising there's no mention of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, even though they're hardly straight from the country-western wheelhouse. Has no one seen them play live, or did I merely catch them on a good night? A very impressive outfit.

[Dale Rottacker]

Actually seen, probably Ricky Scaggs in the mid'ish 80's, maybe a bit later, when Terry Crisp was with him... King County Fair in Enumclaw WA... about 10' from the stage and they were nuts!!!

Or possibly Vince in the early 90's when John Hughey was with him at the Western Washington Fair in Puyallup WA.

[Larry Jamieson]

Best ever, The Time Jumpers at the Station Inn with John Hughey and Dawn Sears. Amazing group of musicians and vocalists. Also, Mel Tillis band live in Tulsa, OK many years back with twin fiddles. Another I saw just a few years back, Rhonda Vincent and The Rage. The talent in that band never stops...

[Bill Francisco]

Ray Price and the Cherokee Cowboys!

[Mike Bacciarini]

Most profound concert ever: Buffalo Springfield, August 19, 1967 North Shore Tahoe. Set my musical compass forever!

Best live band? Poco at Filmore West the last night Jim Messina played with them. Man, they cooked! The great Procol Harum could hardly follow them.

Moody Blues, saw them many times. Always a great show.

[Joachim Kettner]

Also Mighty Baby. This band developped out of the Action that had a minor hit with "Shadows And Reflections" It was in tne winter of 1970 when I went to a concert of Steamhammer, who were quite popular at that time. The announcer told us that they couldn't make it but they had another band coming, which was the Mighty Baby. I was blown away by them.

Buffalo Springfield, August 19, 1967 North Shore Tahoe. Set my musical compass forever!

Indeed they played Bluebird by the Springfield.

[John Davis]

Question is way too hard to answer i would need at least 3 sheets of A4 and still not know what to put at the top though i did enjoy The Yellow Rose band when Randy was with them..

[Bill McCloskey]

Most surprising: Jime Croce. I saw him at the Philly Folk Festival just before he died. One of the best entertainers I ever saw. He told a joke and sang a song that were decidedly not PG that I performed for years after hearing it once: The Rooster Came Into the Yard.