What was the best concert (or two) you've ever been to and one that you wished you had been to?

[Rustynaerduwell]

210. The Lone Grateful Dead Show In Niagara Falls: April 17, 1984

It's gone down in Dead history as one of their best shows, and the only one ever in Niagara Falls. With an intimate crowd in what seemed like an over-sized high school gym- bleachers and all- there was plenty of space on the concrete floor to whirl and spin to your heart's delight. More than a dozen of us crammed into a VW Bus to get there. I've been to scores of Dead shows. I've seen Springsteen several times and without a doubt, he puts on the best shows I've seen. The first time I saw him was in a small auditorium that held about 2,000 people. I was at the first concert The Who put on after the Cincinnati tragedy. I was among a half million people in Central Park to see Simon & Garfunkel. Name a major band from the sixties and seventies and I've probably seen them at least once. Except for two. I had tickets to both Led Zeppelin and Jethro Tull, but a tragedy caused the cancellation of former and the sudden and not quite expected wedding of a very good friend (and my sudden unexpected obligation to be there) prevented me attending the latter.

But nothing will ever come close to "been there" moments of that Niagara Falls concert, the drive there and the Falls themselves after. The Dead were at their peak. 'Jack Straw' opened and began a Bob Weir dominated show, but Jerry shined that night.They played 'Throwing Stones' and 'Touch of Grey' (which closed the show) years before they were released on vinyl. While I spent most of the night dancing, whirling ,and hugging a lot of friends and a few strangers, for about twenty minutes I was under the bleachers getting high, listening to the 'Space' and an unknowable number of people surrounding me who clanged along on the pipes.

You can see the show on YouTube, but it won't be the same.

You had to be there.