No doubt that the best shows I saw were the Frank Zappa concerts I attended:

Cologne 1979, 1980 (together with Santana), 1982, 1988
Dortmund 1988
Frankfurt 1992 (The Yellow Shark)

Besides some Dylan shows incl. his recent appearance in Düsseldorf. Tom Petty 1992 in Essen was pretty cool as well.

The Night Hawks with Jimmy Thackery back in like 81'. They rocked back then.

Frank Marino 78'

ELP 77'

AC/DC W/ Bonn Scott 78'ish Char Col. Woo Hoo

The Who with Kenny Jones in Greensboro 80'

Almond Bros. 80'

Jorma Acoustic Love Aud. at Duke 82'

The Band opening for The Dead New Years 83'

Frank Zappa at the Greek in Berk. 84' WOW!

Jorma and Rick Danko in NYC 85'

Roger Waters Radio City Mus. Hall 85' Pro and Cons

U2 Providence and Hampton Spring 85'

Doc Watson Great American Mus Hall Oct 85'

Arlo Guth Great American Mus Hall Oct 85' ^the nest night.

All Phish shows (16) 93' on

Sting w/ Vinnie Colaiuta on drums!

Oh BB King about 10 times!

Buddy Guy

Eric Clapton (3)

Neil Young

Joe Cocker

Mutabaruka 84'

Jethro Tull

Gov't Mule Opened for Tull before Woody died. Few word sung. Jammed to the max. Awesome.

Bob Dylan (8)

Santana (5)

Paul McCartney 94' ish in Charlotte at the then Blockbuster Pavilion.

Roger Waters Dark Side of the Moon Sept. 06' Nissan, DC one of the best shows.

I have seen hundreds of shows by other artists over the years. I tried to put here only the ones that really left a mark. I am sure there are probably 10 to 20 more but my mind is not giving them up. ;)

Dougles

This year's Bonnaroo "Super Jam", featuring John Paul Jones (Zeppelin) on bass, QuestLove Thompson (Roots) on drums and Ben Harper on guitar was the sickest, most disgusting, face melting, psychedelic experience I've had in a long while (since Phil's Vegoose 2006 marathon, in fact).

The Flaming Lips @ this year's Bonnaroo was also one of the best shows I've ever seen. Now that they have a full time drummer, their music has gotten back to professional levels. They always put on a great show and Wayne Coyne is probably the most personable rock star in history. They did "War Pigs" for a sound check an hour before they actually started the show that was incredible! The whole show was a magical mix of music and imagery finishing with The Rolling Stones, "Moonlight Mile" for an encore. A very psychedelic show in many regards.

DSO @ The Funk Box in Baltimore, MD. 2003 & 2004 were two of the best shows I've ever seen, period!

ABB @ Bonnaroo 2003 with Herring, Trucks and Haynes - incredible!

Dave & Friends Cruise 2006 - "Private Island" concert featuring Trey on guitar was off the hook!

World Party's US tour last year. I saw three shows (Bonnaroo, Ram's Head on Stage and The Recher Theatre) and all were good. Bonnaroo featured Ian Dury (Blockheads) on guitar which gave it a special groove but this current version of Karl Wallinger's band hit their stride at the Ram's Head on Stage show, IMO. Karl shares the most personable rock star status with Wayne Coyne. Please come back to the US, World Party!!!!

Metalica, Summer Sanitarium Tour in 1998 (Baltimore, MD.).

Peter Gabriel during his last US tour @ The MCI Center (now the Verizon Center) in DC.

Last year's Bonnaroo "Super Jam", featuring Trey, Mike Gordon and the Benevento and Russo Duo was also killer.

Trey's 70 Volt Parade @ Ohio's Veteran's Theater in 2005(?) was a great show and performance.

Most every Particle show I've seen has been magical. I haven't seen them since Charlie Hitchcock left the band, though.

CSN&Y 2001(?) @ MCI Center (now the Verizon Center). Neil Young broke every string on his guitar playing the last song "Cinnamon Girl", then used the dangling strings like a drum on the body of the guitar and frets, leaving it on stage practically smouldering under a spot light. I saw why he was considered the grandfather of grunge, on that particular night anyway.

"That nug really tied the room together, did it not?"

Has anyone seen the Goosecreek Symphony? Someone recently turned me on to them but I have not seen them live. They are descibed as sounding like the Grateful Dead if they were from Kentucky rather than California or if Jimi Hendrix and Bill Monroe were in the same band. They went defunct in the 1970s and have recently reformed. I'd be interested to hear any experiences seeing this group.