The most amazing performance you've seen?

[the DW]

I have two to start off this thread.

1) I believe it was the early 70's when I was watching the Tonight Show (Johnny Carson) with the Buddy Rich Orchestra performing. They were swinging this uptempo tune, and as usual, Buddy was all over the kit, just wailing away. Towards the middle of the song, the camera zooms in on Buddy and while he's playing, he reaches out with his right hand to pull his bass drum back onto the riser! While he's doing that, his left hand is doing everything BOTH hands were doing!!! OH MY GOD!!! If you weren't looking at the TV, you'd never have known this was going on. There was not even the slightest break in the groove!

2) Back in the mid 80's, there was this show on TV called Sunday Night. Featured Dave Sanborn on sax, Jools Holland on keys, Omar Hakim on drums, Marcus Miller on bass, Hiram Bullock on guitar, and a couple of other guys I can't remember. On one show, they started playing the strangest song I've ever heard. It was as if everyone was just doing their own thing - kinda like a symphony orchestra warming up - everyone is just playing something different. It's a big 'mess'. Just about the time I think that "they're lost. How are they gonna get out of this?" THEY ALL STOP FOR 2 - 3 BEATS, THEN START GOING AGAIN!! No charts, no conductor, but they came to a dead stop, then "BAM" they start going again. Wow! Jaw on floor.

Any others?

[fastplant]

Dream Theater, this year. Absolutley amazing set list, like they knew what I wanted to hear. And played to near perfection. The show may or may not appear as a dvd from Portnoy's site.

[WillyRay]

This is a tough one.

I saw Monty Alexander/Jeff Hamilton/John Clayton this year, and was absolutely floored.

I think what wowed me the most was their ability to play very quietly, but still with complete control, articulation, power, etc. The fact that they were able to do that, and in fact, did it for most of their show, made the times that they really got ripping and loud more effective. It was the contrast between the restraint and the letting-loose that really brought me out of my seat. Hamilton is a total inspiration for me.

/w

[FitchFY]

The most impressed I've ever been is by a band from Martha's Vineyard called Entrain. They play an awesome mix of world, latin, funk/ska, with reggae... truly a unique sound.

Anyway, Tommy Major, their drummer, has independence like no one's business, and one night he took a single stroke roll on the snare and turned it into a solo over this weird ostinato he was doing with the hat and kick in a groove with the bassist. It was sick and increasinlgy dynamic... at the last second, he burst into these syncopated tom diddles and landed smack dab into the groove -- awesome!

[manoeuver]

Freaking Kraftwerk.
Oh. My. God.

[D Carroll]

incubus, drummer threw the stick in the middle of a solo, and kept going with one hand... and later on, the bassist pulled out a 3 piece kit, and they had a drum off

[WillyRay]

Originally posted by mondo_fire
the bassist pulled out a 3 piece kit, and they had a drum off

Out of his pants, right? :D

[drumsdb]

I am not 100% sure if this would qualify as the most amazing performance...but LAST NIGHT..

Paul Simon - with 2 drummers.
Steve Gadd and Robin Dimaggio...

Nuff said...

Amazing performance, though fairly simple...but strong.

[mraia]

...that thing that my first girlfriend used to do..;) :thu:

sorry. couldnt resist.:o

[portnoyfan84]

I saw "Zappa plays Zappa" in Stockholm in May. Really amazing......it was Dweezil Zappa and a really good band playing Frank Zappas music. There were some guest artists too... i.e Steve Vai and Terry Bozzio....not too shabby.

Do I have to say that it was a kick ass show . :)

[Old Steve]

Sounds cheesy, but it was Stewart Copeland with the Police on Thanksgiving night in 1983 on the Police's Sychronicity tour.

I love Copeland, and I truly believe that just before the Police imploded, he was at his absolute peak. I've seen him since (Oysterhead a couple years back) and he just doesn't have the same level of intensity he had 20 years ago.

At that point in time, Stewart Copeland was almost like Keith Moon in that he would go so far "outside" the beat that you'd think he'd be completely lost....like he chucked his kit down a staircase. Funny thing was, at the next "1", that kit-falling-down-a-staircase would land right on the beat and keep moving the song along.

Also saw Tim Alexander a couple years ago with Primus. That guy is a lot of fun in person.

[rockbeat]

Pink Floyd on the Mission Bell tour, playing Texas Stadium during a thunderstorm. Frkin' Rawkin!!!

[12OzEpilogue]

well just recently i saw slayer and that was un friggen believable like wow just woah and not too long before that i saw judas priest and they just seem to get better and better lol

[D Carroll]

Originally posted by WillyRay


Out of his pants, right? :D

if only... but it was during a drum solo, he was walking back stage, and bringing it out

[manoeuver]

Originally posted by Old Steve
Sounds cheesy, but it was Stewart Copeland with the Police on Thanksgiving night in 1983 on the Police's Sychronicity tour.


A. what's the opposite of cheesy?

B. you lucky dog.

[pjb]

Saw Pantera from the front row, far beyond driven tour, 1995. I wasn't prepared for that. Ferocious. Also, my first ever metal gig, Metallica at the same venue, festival hall, justice tour, 1989. They opened with 'blackened' and took my head off. Slipknot also at festival hall in 2000, the first 20 minutes were the most intense i've seen at any gig, even slayer.

[Robert Dyck]

Ringo doing wipeout.

[aqualung211]

Edited by Moderator.
Don't go here!!!

[Robert Dyck]

OMG...........hey DW ........you need to take control of your thread!

[aqualung211]

you know you like ithttp://www.superjointritualforum.com/phpBB2/images/smiles/groucho-marx.gif

[the DW]

Yup. That's pretty good. Now all my neighbors are up because it's 2 in the morning, and I just laughed my ass off in a loud fashion!


Gee.....thanks.

:D

[twosticks]

would have to be Phil Collins and Chester Thompson during the drum solo AKA " DRUM DUET"
I had seen the video of from Three Sides Live (1982) and the Mama Tour (1983) and Visible Touch tour (1986) but to see them in 92' for the "Way We Walk" tour was awesome!

They changed it up from year to year, One guy would lay down the groove while the other riffed on top of it. Back and forth, was truly awesome! Taught me a lot of how a solo isn't just wailing away on the drums but how the groove is king and little quiet fills are more emotion building than balls to walls soloing.

I had a friend of mine that played Drums/guitar/bass/piano that would play his set with mine from time to time. Is very hard to play a groove while he played his and not sound like two solo guitarist drowning each other out.

[part1sts]

The Karl Palmer Band performing at the Roxy on Sunset this year. He has recruited two of the best musicians from London's most acclaimed music academy. This sixteen year old guitarist who plays Emerson parts on guitar and pretty much whatever he wants to play like a machine, and this other young bassist who did things on the bass that I have never seen. To top it off Karl Palmers drumming was unbelievable. If he is still in town, you guys should check it out.

[DrummersDigest]

This year when I got to se RHCP in Copenhagen at a small VIP gig with no more than 800 something people in the audience, and we were of course in front. My photographer was even closer since she got to stand in the photo pit and flirt with the band.

It was a whole other thing than the last time I saw them which was with like 13,000 in the audience.

Link to photos & review (http://www.drummersdigest.com/en/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=110&Itemid=30)

[agogobill]

The Mahavishnu Orchestra in '72. Nothing like it before, nothing like it since. Not only Cobham, but each musician taking it to a another plane. After each song was silence - the crowd had to come back to earth before they could start clapping.

No sh!t.

[MattACaster]

Front row at a Reverend Horton Heat show a few years back. Scott Churilla just blew my mind.

[The Real MC]

One up and coming unknown is Stockton Helbing from the Maynard Ferguson band. This kid amazed me with his chops and groove - the last two years MF was in town I went there just to hear Stockton. Watch out for this guy.

[WillyRay]

Originally posted by The Real MC
One up and coming unknown is Stockton Helbing from the Maynard Ferguson band. This kid amazed me with his chops and groove - the last two years MF was in town I went there just to hear Stockton. Watch out for this guy.

YES! I saw Maynard when he was in Utah this spring. Helbing was AMAZING!

/w

[1001gear]

This is technically percussion and marginally on topic.
No one performance but they were all concert pianists; concerti w/orchestra as well as solo recitals. They just have that virtuosity thing wired, Period.
Close second is that girl cup stacking champion.

[jbc6]

Billy Cobham amd George Duke at the Bottom Line in NYC in the late '70s.

Those guys were great, of course, but Cobham was superhuman. I have never seen ANYTHING like that.

Unbelievable!

[ArtVandelay]

The Prodikeys dude.

[ArtVandelay]

I saw Joan Osborne perform as the opening act for The Who during their Quadrophenia reunion tour several years ago. I don't know who her drummer was for that show but he was excellent - played perfectly for every song with great live energy.

[theFoot]

One of the most amazing shows I've seen was PJ Harvey at CBGBs, around '93. Rob Ellis was pounding the snot out of those drums, and she was just grinding the crap out of that guitar. Great pounding rock from those first 2 albums.

Another amazing performance was Tortoise in '95, they played in the living room of an eating club at Princeton. I was blown away by the line-up always switching instruments, 2 drummers on some songs, vibraphones, beats and atmoshpere. It was pretty mind blowing for me. I've seen them many times since, but that was by far the best.

++++++++++++++++++++++
I wish I saw Cobham in the 70s. I didn't get to see him until the early 90s. Although the skills were awesome, the "musicalness" was a little weak.

[moon2112]

Jane's Addiction at Lollapalooza

[theFoot]

yeah, Jane's in '91 was pretty cool. saw them a few times that summer.

[zarazabas]

Definetely Tool on their lateralus tour, such a..... ermm... a.... ermm... journey? Words can do it no justice. Lets just say that. Haven't seen them on the 10000 days tour yet, they take so long to get over here to Australia!!!!

[Duardo]

The performance that seemed most amazing to me at the time was when I was in junior high and just starting to play drums...didn't even have my own kit yet...and I saw a band of ninth graders play "Purple Haze". It was loud as hell and the guitarist was amazing, they keyboardist-singer was good, and the drummer floored me. He had a huge kit of Swingstars with the bottom heads off and was all over the kit. Very inspiring. I'd be interested in travelling back in time to see how the performance really was. That band stayed together past high school and put out an indie CD or two (eventually supplemented by a bass guitarist) and were always very tight.

Aside from that, I've seen a few clinics that have really impressed me...Gerry Brown back in 1987, Dave Weckl in 1988, Dennis Chambers in 1995 (that was probably the first clinic where I saw a guy play stuff that I literally couldn't comprehend...when I saw Weckl play I was impressed and knew I couldn't do what he was doing, but I at least understood it), Terry Bozzio and René Creemers at PASIC 1995...

Probably the most influential performance was when I saw Rush play on the Presto tour in 1989 or 1990...Neil Peart rushed a fill in "Show Don't Tell" and that's when I realized I didn't have to be perfect...

-Duardo

[theFoot]

oh yeah and another one, well a bunch actually Wayne Krantz with Keith Carlock on the drums at the 55 Bar in NYC. It's a tiny bar that has these guys play electric trio stuffed in a corner on Thursday nights. They phrase the begeezuz out their stuff. One of the most impressive things I've ever been able to witness... repeatedly. Look 'em up.:D

[Just1n]

Billy Ray Cyrus on his Mullets of Mayhem Tour. HA HA HA!

Nah for real it would have to be Nine Inch Nails' And All That Could Have Been. Trent's face and actions represented someone that was going through the emotional rollercoster that are his lyrics right as he was singing them on stage at that moment. It was dramatic and meaningful to him, which made it so much more enveloping for me. Not to mention the effects of lighting, background art, smoke...it was done with perfection.

[1001gear]

Originally posted by theFoot
oh yeah and another one, well a bunch actually Wayne Krantz with Keith Carlock on the drums at the 55 Bar in NYC. It's a tiny bar that has these guys play electric trio stuffed in a corner on Thursday nights. They phrase the begeezuz out their stuff. One of the most impressive things I've ever been able to witness... repeatedly. Look 'em up.:D

There're a couple Oz Noy clips on Drummerworld. Killer ride, and live no less. :thu:

[Targ]

Has to be the greatful dead, outside in phoenix sometime in the early 80s.
They had two drummers and they had just kicked into a solo when the summer monson winds started to roar through the area, the whole stage was glowing a ruby red, the wind was howling and they were just into some intense beats feeding off each other.
What a show, the groupies were running through the crowd in a train weaving the air with hand movements... I could go on but you get the picture.

[btcvsolo]

neil peart, even on an off-night.

tommy aldridge

Yanni's drummer (don't laugh...i was dating a rich chick that wanted to go...)

[mraia]

Originally posted by btcvsolo
neil peart, even on an off-night.

tommy aldridge

Yanni's drummer (don't laugh...i was dating a rich chick that wanted to go...)

Peart on an off night is still miles better than most of the guys out there. I saw them for Moving Pictures and then the Signals tour. Wow, I still remember wanting to just quit the kit right then.
Sometimes, and Im guilty of this too, people seem to almost forget how good he really is. I mean I know he gets just about the most props of anyone on this site, but holy shit the guy is a walking metronome. Scary time, and super Precise. Thats why when he fucks something up like rushing a fill, it only makes him seem a LITTLE bit human.