best concert sound systems.

leftwinger57

Being of age I've heard hundreds of different sound systems and P.A. systems. By far the worst ever was the revolving stage at the Spectrum for the Cream's farewell tour. When they faced you for a few fleeting moments it blasted you then as they revolved away it sounded like a train leaving the station. I don't remember if they had hanging system to augment or using the house P.A.
On to the best 4

4. Rolling Stones--always had great openers and quality sound

3.The WHO awesome sound clear as can be and only saw them once where the Grateful Dead opened (using their own WOS) and then the Who comes on and plays rings around them w/ their own P.A. that was shrouded by giant painted murals of a scenes from the U.S. the ocean then stage right was an English setting.

2. Grateful Dead's Wall of Sound- when balanced and dialed in the cleanest most powerful sounding system to this point. It was so large they had leap frog 2 sets to make it to gigs.

1. Pink Floyd-- even from the early days they had a surround system before surround was even an idea for home use. Saw them at Town Hall and Rick Wright the keyboard player had a joystick to rotate the sound and as we were near one of the columns the whole row ducked as the sound was so intense. At Roosevelt Stadium for the break out of DSOTM for the second set and they do know how to do stadiums. Finally in '94 Yankee Stadium where on Jerome Ave. was a line up of Caterpillar semi generating trucks for power as this by far was the best sounding concert I had ever attended even at a stadium. You want great sound and true spectacle for great effects none better than Pink Floyd.

I will add the hanging line arrays used almost exclusively these days far and away better than the stacked black boxes of years past. Including the VOT of Altec fame.

dromunds

Agree on the Who and Floyd. I've seen the Stones about 8 times and except once sounded excellent, and that time was probably my seating more than anything. '89 or '90 Steel Wheels tour I remember was particularly good sound. Surprisingly, I've heard Bob Dylan with extremely good sound, I've seen him more than 50 times and sometimes not so good, or it takes awhile to dial in, but also have seen some shows that had spectacular sound. It seems that sound men in general have gotten much better in more recent times dialing in a house, but in the old days it was really hit or miss. I remember hearing Jethro Tull back in the day and it was just terrible sound, so loud I couldn't hear for three days.

chumlie

Funny you mention Dylan, Was gonna put him in worst category. Seen him more than a few times and his sound always sucked. Only time I could say he sounded good was when he plugged into The Deads system when they toured together. Best sound at a concert I have heard would be Floyd, The Grateful Dead & Steve Miller Band.

[Deleted User]

Roger Waters, The Eagles, Dylan and the Dead sounded pretty good...
at large venues...

whgarrett1394

The best sounding concert i've ever heard was The Cure. They were amazing. In the beginning I spent about 10 minutes pissed off because I thought he was lip syncing and the music was pre recorded.

Most professional rigs are heads and tales above what they once were. If a large act sounds bad today it's because of the band itself or the company running sound. The equipment is hardly the weakest link.


Most of the time concerts are mixed way too loud. It borders on the ridiculous.

whgarrett1394

Saw Dylan last Fall and it was phenomenal. Paramount Theater in Seattle.

MrBuhl

whgarrett1394 wrote: »

Most of the time concerts are mixed way too loud. It borders on the ridiculous.

Yea - part of the concert problem is often this, or the venue itself. Even the best sound systems sound like crap in some of the bathtub arenas we have around the country. (Lakeland Civic Center comes to mind).

That being said, I have always found Rush to have enjoyable systems, as well as Genesis back in the day.

dromunds

Dylan typically sounded best since around 2000, but I've seen some since then that were not good. Before that, it was hit or miss. One band I never saw live was Rush and I've always regretted it. Also, had a chance to see Yes and Led Zeppelin both in '74-'75, and REALLY regret passing on those shows. My friends said Yes sounded phenominal, Zep was a great show but sound quality itself they said was typical for that time period.

pitdogg2

seen rush about 7x awesome show sound depended on where they were at some were excellent some not so excellent.
Queensryche for me was one of my best shows. Seen the Promised land tour and they played the entire Mindcrime and Promised Land album as well as many from prior albums. The show was 3+ hours. and I was in the front row looking at the band.....

dromunds

Bruce Sprinsteen solo acoustic was also excellent sound

dromunds

As was Neil Young solo acoustic. Now my brain starts functioning. Fer Cri Yi. Its only noon.

leftwinger57

You know I did see Yes at The Cow Palace in S.S.F. and while they held multiple concerts there again the Dead, Clapton, The Who which I missed and famously Keith Moon was so out of it he fell over and Pete just asked anyone from the audience who knows how to play drums come on up. While YES instrumentally sounded fantastic Jon Anderson's voice just grates against me and very similar to Steve Perry's high pitch. Never saw Dylan unless he was part of the SNACK concert Bill Graham put on for a benefit of S.F.'s school funding or lack of it. Once I heard Larry Campbell was part of his later band that would been great to see. He was.

http://www.punkhart.com/dylan/tapes/75-mar23.html

MrBuhl

Have seen Yes many times, they're usually a good sound as well I agree. Funny you have all seen the Stones, Dead, Floyd, and I wish I had seen them!

[Deleted User]

"One band I never saw live was Rush and I've always regretted it. Also, had a chance to see Yes and Led Zeppelin both in '74-'75, and REALLY regret passing on those shows. " WHA?

I've seen Rush so many times I won't go back. The one I missed was
Pink Floyd Animals at the Cleveland Stadium. I didn't have my license
and couldn't get anyone interested in taking me who did.

Nightfall

Anything at Red Rocks Amphitheater - Saw Primus there and it sounded fantastic.

I haven't been to an indoors show that sounded good in all of Denver. It's always way too loud horn loaded speakers that just grate at your ears.

GDP

Joe Bonamassa was the best hands down, Floyd was better indoors than out, the Who also sounded good. Boston sucked!

leftwinger57

Another minor system fact that I clearly remember was w/ the Stones in '71 high lighting the Sticky Fingers lp. Stevie Wonder opens w/ Talking Book and is guided around to play multiple instruments and was fantastic. Then the Stones come on and rip into Brown Sugar and never looked backed and rattled off what seemed like 40 songs. Now the sound was great for the older MSG but it was the lighting system they used that really interested me. This was only done once were there was a bank of mirrors up behind the band and the Super Trooper spot lights would hit the mirrors and reflect down on to whom ever. This was way before computer controlled vari lights and lazers for shows were available.

chumlie

rednedtugent wrote: »

"One band I never saw live was Rush and I've always regretted it. Also, had a chance to see Yes and Led Zeppelin both in '74-'75, and REALLY regret passing on those shows. " WHA?

I've seen Rush so many times I won't go back. The one I missed was
Pink Floyd Animals at the Cleveland Stadium. I didn't have my license
and couldn't get anyone interested in taking me who did.

You missed a good one Red. So good I drove to Pittsburgh to see it again.

dromunds

Yeah, I saw that one at the Milwaukee stadium and it was indeed a good one.

dromunds

Another one that had good sound quality that really surprised me was Bob Marley in 1978. "Babylon By Bus" also has excellent sound quality, on original vinyl anyway. That album pretty much is a representation of those years of Marley touring.

[Deleted User]

Was it at the pepsi cola amphitheater?
Took the wife to see them there. Front row left by Alex.

I want to see Rush on crutches at the Richfield Colosseum in... 1982?

chumlie wrote: »

rednedtugent wrote: »

"One band I never saw live was Rush and I've always regretted it. Also, had a chance to see Yes and Led Zeppelin both in '74-'75, and REALLY regret passing on those shows. " WHA?

I've seen Rush so many times I won't go back. The one I missed was
Pink Floyd Animals at the Cleveland Stadium. I didn't have my license
and couldn't get anyone interested in taking me who did.

You missed a good one Red. So good I drove to Pittsburgh to see it again.

55LS70

A couple of bands with sound systems that surprised me were Aerosmith and Humble Pie. I saw Aerosmith in about 1976 (between there Toys in the Attic and Rocks albums) and Humble Pie in about 1980. Both great concerts and I had a blast. Steven Tyler drank a full bottle of JD during the song "Toys in the Attic" and just before going into the final course, finished the bottle off and smashed into the stage floor. Now after about 15 to 20 minutes later, just as I was thinking that nobody could down that much alcohol and walk away, he stated to stagger around and this then degraded to the point where he ran into Joe Perry. Now Joe Perry responded by punching him in the face, where then Tyler fell to the floor. Now, one could tell from the look of the rest of the band member's faces they were beginning to realize they were in trouble. Finally a roadie grabbed Tyler, pulled him behind stage and then the band improvised for the next 20 minutes or so until a revitalized Tyler remerged and put on a great show including one of the best versions of "Train Kept A' Rollin" I ever heard. BTW, they were backed up by Rush, who I think were on there 2112 tour.

Humble Pie, who were ironically backing up Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush, surprised me with another great concert that comes first to my mind when the subject of concerts comes up. They sounded better than "Rockin' The Fillmore". Matter of fact, they blew it away. It made the Omaha news the next day.

Now, getting back to the sound systems, both bands sounded excellent. Clear, powerful and not too harsh. I seen a lot of concerts during the seventies and eighties but these two are couple of ones that first come to mind.

voltz

For me the best sounding concert (I Think ) or atleast the one I enjoyed the most was a "Blue Oyster Cult" concert.

KISS was so loud in 77 I could not hear for days.

gmcman

I remember a Scorpions concert back in the day that left my head ringing.

Best audio I've heard so far was Paul McCartney at Nats stadium.....amazing clarity and timing. Never saw Floyd...cry, but Roger Waters "The Wall" was a close second.