Best Performances

[ebass]

OK so Brother Dave listed Conception s PP performance on the other thread as stellar, it was a great year for live shows for me I know starting in Jan and ending in late Dec.

I hated missing that show and Kamelot never made the west coast those were two I wished I had been able to see. Also Kino in europe with SB before we arrived for our little swing over there.

So what were some others people?

 

[Ze Dan]

gigs in 2005 ? I have to say, and I mean it Ed, that I definitely had the greatest blast in a while at Enchant's gig @ Headway.
At last you uys were able to play a show as headliner and we had the opportunity to hear some great material of yours live (Interact : and I had a nice day).

Also had my first live Opeth experience and man, this band rules big time. If they had to give music they could easily reconvert themselves as poetry teachers lol. It was so damn cool

Anathema was great too when they opened for Porcupine Tree which also played a kick@$$ gig in Paris.

Queen + Paul Rodgers' gig was great as well. Good to see May & Taylor on stage after all these years and Rodgers was excellent.

And finally Dream Theater's last gig in France really made love the band again. Great gig/setlist/performance/LaBrie.

That's a wrap for me in 2005

 

[ich bin besser]

Hmm, I saw many great concerts (also see the link in my sig).
I think I liked Echolyn best. These guys really blew a great audience away. Small club, first Echolyn-tour in Europe ever.

Second place goes to Enchant. And this is not because I'm posting here on their forum. I saw them in Aschaffenburg and decided to follow them to Oberhausen, too. And the Oberhausen gig was almost perfect. They definately get the award for the band that has the best contact to their fans.

Third would be Styx. They were my first favorite band and I saw them for the second time. Fantastic performance, funny guys, great interaction with the crowd. I was singing along all songs. Man, that was fun!

Best frontman award goes to Mikael Akerfeldt. What a funny and calm guy.

Nicest suprise: I brought a cowbell to the Spock's Beard gig in early 2005 (there's a story behind that referring to the recording of one song and a video of NDV on the Octane bonus-DVD). When they played that song, I handed it to Nick and the song made it on the "Gluttons For Punishment" live-CD.

 

[The Stormbringer]

Dream Theater at the Philipshalle in Düsseldorf, Germany. Anything that Ze Dan said about their gig in France applies here as well.

 

[slowhand]

Porcupine Tree in Munich. Perfect. Gavin Harrison rules.
Didn' t see Enchant this year.

 

[Viadragon]

Porcupine Tree at the Grand in San Francisco was a wonderful show--at the time I thought it was the best of the year. It was a totally satisfying show. Then, based entirely upon positive words here on the forum, I saw Kings X at Slims in San Francisco. I literally had only heard a few snippets of their music online. Their stage presence was so engaging--they really interacted with the audience, and their music was powerful and exciting. Awesome show. Then best of all--another band I heard about on this forum. Way back someone mentioned Dredg, I bought 'Catch without arms' and have barely ever stopped playing it. My kid and I both wanted to see Dredg, but the Fillmore show in SF was already sold out. I impulsively bought tickets to one of their gigs at the Roxy in Hollywood, got 'em just before they sold out. :Spin: What a freaking amazing show! Those guys made some sounds that I couldn't believe! Not a lot of banter between songs, but there seemed to be many long-time fans there who knew all the words and all the 'crowd responses' that it had this kind of classic feel to it. Just a really good vibe happening. The club was small and the music just took the place over. That was a show I didn't want to see end. I should have bought tix for the new year's show as well--what a way to end the year! Only thing better would have been seeing Enchant again, that is, seeing them perform again!!

Happy New Year! And here's to us ALL having Enchant on our best performances lists in 2006!

Kristin
Viadragon

 

[Sevlar]

Hi dudes!

The Best performances and gigs I saw this year in Brazil were:

Pain of Salvation
Dream Theater
Evergrey

See ya!

 

[Stoffi]

I didn't see much shows this year, but I was stunned by James LaBries vocals, because I did expect much less. The rest was perfect as ever.
Octavarium live rulez! And they did Afterlife.

 

[slowhand]

And they did Afterlife.

Okay...that's a point.
One of their best songs ever in my opinion.

 

[drummerboy58]

i thought the Gigantour was awesome! even if i only really went to see a few of the bands playing, they didn't disappoint! Dream Theater was of course excellent and it's probably a given that Megadeth was killer, but my pleasant surprise was Symphony X. i wanted to see them last year when they were playing with Devin Townsend, but i missed out.

this year i saw them in Huntington, WV and while there wasn't much a turn-out, i'm so thankful that these bands come to visit, and hopeful they do so again. meeting the guys from Symphony X was a true thrill as well, really nice and down to earth guys. they were humble enough to sign my cd and Jason Rullo gave me what was left of his sticks, hehe

 

[Soundscape]

hmm..lots of great shows this year..Marillion trio, DRUMPAD show with Portnoy's Rush tribute, Dredg, Thew Mars Volta, TMV/SOAD, Porcupine Tree, Umphreys McGee, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, Jethro Tull,..but the 3 shows that stick out in my mind looking back right now all were done in my hometown, 1 being a band nobody knows about outside of MN and possibly Germany.

Pat Metheny Group - THE WAY UP live with a hs's jazz group intro'ed..the album itself is good, but has me feeling like it drags a little, but live I was floored. He even did some goodies after the full 50min album, 1 being from my favorite PMG album, the title track from FIRST CIRCLE.

Victor Wooten Band - 2nd time seeing him..this time in a smaller venue..with his brothers..the "teacher" Regi Wooten..fastest guitarist in the world..and his other brother Joseph on keys..extremely versatile and tasteful on Theremin amongst other things. And Victor of course..but to top that all off, the encore went for 1 hour and they were joined by Prince's guitarist Jelly Bean Johnson and Paul Petersen of "The Family".."one of my favorite bands of alltime" as Victor said..on bass. Paul has got to be one of the funkiest and loudest bassplayers I've ever heard..

8-HEAD Reunion - a reknowned local act from the mid 1970's in Minneapolis, they did a reunion this past year in town playing nearly 3 hours to some classics, ethnic, and cover pieces..most notably IN A SILENT WAY..Dean MaGraw I've preached many times..the best guitarist in MN and more or less best unknown guitarist in the world..so tasteful..diverse..layered..melodic. They did some African, bluesy..having not been familiar with their material from the 70's I didn't know exactly what to expect. Their may never be another 8-Head reunion..I am sure glad I didn't miss this one.

Kyle

 

[purplica]

OK so Brother Dave listed Conception s PP performance on the other thread as stellar, it was a great year for live shows for me I know starting in Jan and ending in late Dec.

I hated missing that show and Kamelot never made the west coast those were two I wished I had been able to see. Also Kino in europe with SB before we arrived for our little swing over there.

So what were some others people?

i heard from someone *cough* "actively" attending the conception show, it could've been even better with some more practice.
missing this re-union show sucked seaweed for me since i missed them during their germany tour with stratovarius & elegy years ago. without public announcement in advance, they got kicked off the tour a week before it started!

2005 wasn't a great concert year for us ...
from the few shows we saw, enchant (aschaffenburg) ruled absolutely and kamelot (nürnberg) come in second.

hopefully, we'll be able to make it to more shows in 2006 ...

 

[sccaldwell]

Because I had a very busy year (moving to NC, among other things), I didn't get to many concerts this year, and the best performances all happened to be at ProgPower VI (Thanks, Glenn!):

Conception - To actually be able to see them live (7 years after they broke up) was simply magical. Great performance, and super nice guys.

Circus Maximus - Wow. If it weren't for my love of Conception and how seeing them live was a dream-come-true, this festival *opener* would get my "performance of the year." Highly technical music (but great songs) performed *flawlessly*. I was wondering how they'd pull off their intricate vocal harmonies live, and they completely nailed them. Their lead singer is simply phenomenal...their vocal lines are far from easy, and he nailed every single note live. (He also joined Conception during their stage for some cool background vocals).

Stride - I'd seen them before, but they were even better this year. Definitely on the "up-and-coming prog bands" list.

Interestingly enough, these were the ONLY three bands at ProgPower VI that I really enjoyed...the rest just weren't my thing. I literally fell asleep during Stratovarius' set...phenomenal musicians and singer, but their music just bored me (I understand why others liked them, though).

 

[sccaldwell]

Because I had a very busy year (moving to NC, among other things), I didn't get to many concerts this year

I forgot one...Trans-Siberian Orchestra. My girlfriend took me to see them, and it was AWESOME. Unlike any other show I've ever seen...the orchestra, light show, music, etc worked together perfectly. If you get a chance to see them next Christmas, DO IT!

 

[Machster]

I would have to say the summer jamfest or otherwise known as "OTTSTOCK" or the gig at the seafood peddler Ed got us. Those were the most memerable moments for me!

 

[FRANK Juninho]

2005 was definitely amazing for me. I finally saw ENCHANT at Headway and this gig was amazing for particulary reasons, I have no words to discribe, simply the best gig of the year so far. FATES WARNING also at Headway was pretty cool. Here in Brasil this last year was excellent, we had a lot of great concerts: Pearl Jam, Nine Inch Nails, Flaming Lips, Dream Theater and Kamelot, but the best gig I saw in Brasil in 2005 was the Pain of Salvation, the band is perfect, brilhant music and lyrics. Can´t wait to 2006...

 

[rushjackson]

2005 was a tough year for my area as far as shows so I only saw a few. One incredible show though was Stratovarius! It was the first time the guys came out to the states and the certainly rocked out the venue I saw them at! It was an incredible show, really fun and full of energy, I haven't had that much fun at a show for a long time. They played a great set and I was fortunate enough to get my album signed by most of the members after the show!

Cheers!

 

[|ngenius]

Uhmmm, tough situation... let me see:

1) Asia: Probably the best gig of the year. Guthrie Govan was surprisingly funny and expectedly skillful, John Payne at a high vocal level, even when he was standing still most of the show. Geoff Downes was the most boring musician on stage, but anyway, the sound and songs rocked.

I attended many gigs, but can't remember anything else worthy of being rated. Royal Hunt sucked, I missed half of the show of Freak Kitchen and they weren't headlining, Gotthard did great but I disliked the set list, Masterplan sucked again (these guys happen to find quite difficult to understand that high volume on guitars and low volume on the vocal part won't make them sound better, and I love Jorn Lande's vocals!!). I don't know, it's been a poor year when it comes to gigs...

Since Enchant won't make it to Spain, the average level decreases. Understandable.


|ng.