Too many gigs to count, really, but the two that really stand out were both Rolling Stones concerts. The first was the free concert in the Park in 1969, just after Brian Jones died - must have been 250,000 people there, and security was handled by Hells Angels (on their bikes), rather than by the police. Marvellous vibe. The only thing the Daily Mail had to say about it was that somebody had been mugged at Marble Arch tube station the same day.
The second, and by far the better, was a Stones concert in Cologne, the following year. There had been some crowd trouble outside from gatecrashers, and the police dogs and water cannon had been in action at the entrance, so there was already a fair bit of tension in the crowd by the time Mick Jagger burst onto the stage in his white jumpsuit, all Street Fighting Man and Jumping Jack Flash rolled into one. My god, the band were feeding on the electricity!
There was a less happy reason for the buzz, however. Before the show started, a compere had come on to announce (in English) the death of Jimi Hendrix earlier the same day - and the German crowd had promptly erupted at the mention of his name, thinking he was about to come onstage. (Whoops, tricky off-key moment there.
) So when the Stones came on stage they dedicated the performance to Hendrix, and I reckon they were giving it something special that night. I won't ever forget it.
Worst concert ever was a Rod Stewart gig in Berlin, 1972 I think. I don't know why I'd agreed to go really, since he was never really my thing, but I doubt that Mr Stewart has much personal recollection of the event. He was an hour and a half late on stage, and when he finally arrived you could see why. He was absolutely smashed, and hardly capable of standing up, let alone holding a tune.
German crowds were not particularly noted for their tolerance of this sort of thing, and they started booing Mr Stewart, which made him walk off the stage after two or three songs. After much crowd-pleading from the compere, he came back on but he was no better, and the booing resumed. His response was to pick up his microphone stand and hurl it into the audience - a heavy thing, because remember, there were no radio mikes in those days! And he stomped off again. I never found out whether he came back onstage, because we had headed for the bar by then, along with half the audience.
At the time we felt right royally ripped off by this total shambles. Hindsight allows the man a bit of slack, because the pressures of touring must have been horrendous. But whatever were his minders doing, letting him get into that state?
BJ
C
). Just a few that spring to mind....