What are some of the most mind blowing, incredible things you have seen done live. (Could have been a video.) I'm not really talking about the music so much, but more so the lighting, props and everything that adds to the music. For example when Pink Floyd played Comfortably Numb live on the Pulse tour, (My dad got to see it, lucky bastard...) a huge orb like object descended from the ceiling during Gilmour's solo. The thing started opening up, the lights were going crazy, and it basically made it the most epic solo ever played live. (The talk about Floyd in the Now Playing thread made me remember how incredible that live solo was.)
So any others to share??
I saw that same show in New Orleans on my birthday! Absolutely fucking mind-blowing! The coolest part for me was during "Wish You Were Here", when the entire 60,000 + crowd and I were singing at the tops of our lungs to the point where David Gilmour backed away from the mic with this enormous "it's-so-BLOODY-good-to-be-me" grin on his face and just let the crowd take over. I can only imagine what an unbelievable high that must've been from where he was standing. It's almost unfair to compare other bands to Floyd live, there's simply nothing I've seen that can hang.
From a strictly musical standpoint, seeing Stevie Ray Vaughan from about 10 feet away at the absolute peak of his game was damn near a religious experience. The sheer passion, energy, authority and naked SOUL that guy played with is something I've never witnessed either before or since, live or on record. The guy was a fucking WITCH, period! Seeing Aretha Franklin in the early 80's was the only thing I can think of that even comes close. Aretha sang so good and with such soul back then it would make your fuckin' dick hard!
I've had lots of other great concert experiences, and what really makes a great live experience for me is when the band can consistently deliver a near record-quality performance, particularly on vocals. Some of the bands I've seen more than once that have managed to pull this off pretty much every time would include Rush, King's X, U2, Eric Johnson, Santana, Queensryche (although Geoff has definitely lost a gear over the past 10 years or so), Testament, Queen, Dio and Iron Maiden. I've only seen Opeth once, so far, at PN '08 in Orlando, and the mix was terrible for them (you could hardly hear the vocals at all), so I'll hold my judgement on them until I see them again in a couple of months on the headlining tour. I have a feeling from seeing them then and on the DVDs that they'll easily deliver, though! Also, after watching the simply incredible "Arriving Somewhere" DVD by Porcupine Tree, I really can't wait for a chance to catch them in person whenever they come back to the States again.
