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here are the beetles
welcome to watch mojo and today we're
counting down our picks for the top 10
most
iconic music concerts
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for this list we'll be ranking the most
influential or otherwise stacked
concerts and music festival lineups
did we miss any iconic moments in live
music
sound off in the comments with a
memorable concert moment of your own
number 10 the u.s festival september 3rd
to 5th
1982
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apple co-founder steve wozniak didn't
just focus his energies on computers
as evidenced by his involvement bringing
this three-day music festival to san
bernardino california in 1982
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the us festival was presented in part as
a reaction to what wozniak saw
as a period of self-obsession during the
1970s
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the lineup for the inaugural edition was
brought together with the idea of
promoting community activism
and international relations during the
cold war and featured bands as diverse
as the ramones
pat benatar fleetwood mack eddie money
and the grateful dead
the u.s festival was a success despite
reports of violence and drug overdoses
among some audience members
with a sequel featuring genre theme days
of new wave
heavy metal rock and country being
booked a year later
i look forward to the rest of the 80s
number 9
johnny cash at san quentin february 4
1969. call this next concert one that
you'd love to see
just not under the same circumstances
that's because
the audience in question for johnny cash
on this record just happened to be
prisoners at san
quentin penitentiary san quentin i hate
every inch of you
the country icon was no stranger to
performing in front of an incarcerated
audience
as evidenced by cash's other hit live
album at folsom prison
and the energy the prisoners give back
to cash is palpable
songs like a boy named sue i walk the
line and folsom prison blues feed off
the give and take between the audience
and the performer
just like good live albums should while
the track san quentin is actually
performed twice at the crowd's request
oh to be a fly on the wall at this gig
i'd like to say a special hello to all
the men here at the prison that are
not with us tonight that they couldn't
get find a key to the door or something
they couldn't let a bunch of them out
here i wish every one of you could have
been out here with us
all you guys i understand they're piping
the show in to you
number eight james brown saves boston
april 4th 1968.
the week following martin luther king
jr's assassination was marked by
historic riots and unrest in major
cities such as chicago
and washington dc boston was another
major hub marked by civil unrest
yet this powder keg of potential
violence was quelled by the godfather of
soul himself
james brown
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his show at the boston garden was
broadcast on a local television station
in an attempt to keep people in their
homes while brown himself got personally
involved
when fans and police clashed in front of
the stage hold up wait a minute wait a
minute
let me finish the show let me press the
show for everybody else all right
the show was not only dynamite from a
musical and performance perspective
but its cultural significance as a
snapshot of american history cannot be
overstated
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number seven the concert in central park
september 19
1981 benefit shows are usually a great
way to promote awareness or raise money
for a good cause
but they're even more special when you
manage to reunite a major recording
artist for the event
raindrops fell the concert in central
park did just that with simon and
garfunkel who were booked to play a set
of hits from their solo careers
as well as their iconic 1960s
collaboration
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the performance did not disappoint
either despite the pair's old tensions
rising almost from the get-go
sometimes the most combustible
relationships can create some truly
affecting music
as evidenced by art garfunkel's
definitive delivery of bridge over
troubled water
or paul simon's reworking of the classic
kodachrome
for a live rock audience
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it's pure performance magic number six
freddie mercury tribute show april 20th
1992
the void left by freddie mercury's death
in 1991 was immense for fans of rock
icon's queen
life had just begun
however this tribute show held a year
later did a great job at promoting aids
awareness during a time where
a lot of misinformation still existed in
the public consciousness
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the lineup boasted an impressive mix of
acts who offered up musical tribute to
queen's work
including metallica and def leppard
while queen themselves headlined with a
virtual who's who of guest vocalists
axel rose elton john robert plant seal
annie lennox george michael and more all
joined the band for a set that not only
paid respect to queen's music
but to mercury's legacy as rock's
undisputed master showman
number five altamonte speedway free
festival
december 6th 1969. hey man i'd like to
mention that the hills angels just uh
smashed marty bellen in the face and
knocked him out for a bit
i'd like to thank you for that sometimes
an iconic part of the rock festival
experience
for better or worse is an element of
danger that frightening thrill of what
could go wrong
well everything seemed to go wrong for
the altamonte speedway free festival in
1969
a perfect storm of events that made the
concert a turning point in american pop
culture
you're talking to me i'm gonna talk
tonight i'm talking to you man i'm
talking to the people that hit my lead
singer i'm talking to my people
many point to the show's half hazard
organization and violent clashes between
audience members and hell's angel
security as the unofficial death of the
60s hippie ideal
one member of the crowd meredith hunter
was even attacked by hell's angel
alan passaro after drawing a gun during
the headlining set by the rolling stones
there's so many of you
just be cool down the front and don't
push around the incident was caught on
camera and released as part of the
stones documentary gimme shelter
we're splitting man if those cats don't
stop beating everybody up inside
i want them out of the way man
i don't like units
number four the monterey pop festival
june 16th to 18th
1967. speaking of the hippie ideal a
comparatively more optimistic tone is
struck by the next festival on our list
a three-day precursor to another famous
rock concert we'll be getting to later
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monterey pop was a hub where both fans
and artists alike were exposed to
exciting new musical voices
often for the very first time groups as
diverse as the jimi hendrix experience
otis redding ravi shankar jefferson
airplane and laura nairo
all brought their folk soul and
psychedelic rock to a receptive audience
while janice joplin's performance of
ball and chain went on to become the
stuff of legends
if you're looking for a true document of
the peace love and music era of the
1960s
this is a great place to start
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number three live aid july 13th 1985.
it doesn't matter whether or not you
view large-scale fundraising festivals
as a vehicle for social change
or an excuse to get out there and rock
no one could ignore live aid back in
1985
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the festival's lineup was just too damn
impressive with performances from queen
u2 and david bowie being simulcast all
over the world
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sure there was that impromptu led
zeppelin reunion with genesis drummer
phil collins sitting in
that's become somewhat let's say
infamous still there's no denying that
live aid wasn't just a rock concert
it was a moment in time when bob
geldof's global jukebox for
ethiopian famine relief made just about
everyone sit up and take notice
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number two woodstock august 15th to 18th
1969. it's the de facto example of an
outdoor rock festival
the first thing that comes to the mind
of many when they think of the 60s
hippies and psychedelic rock
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woodstock went beyond a mere three days
of peace love and music
it became a definitive statement for a
generation a group of young people who
were excited to break away from the
traditions of old and blaze a trail for
personal freedoms for music
sexuality and community
and they couldn't have asked for a
better soundtrack with performances from
crosby stills nash and young
jimi hendrix santana and joe cocker
setting the stage for what would become
one of the most famous concert
experiences of all time
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before we name our number one pick here
are a few honorable mentions
pink floyd the wall tour conceptual prog
rock at its most grandiose
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elvis presley's 68 comeback special the
king can still kill it
i used to smoke drink
led zeppelin's first american tour
infamous for the debauchery as well as
the music
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led zeppelin showed up did an opening
set that
reportedly wowed the crowd and set them
on their path to start him
monsters of rock 1991 heavy metal goes
behind the iron curtain
michael jackson's bad tour the king of
pop dominates worldwide
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number one beetlemania at shea stadium
august 15
1965. here are the beatles
beatlemania was officially here to stay
during this landmark concert at shea
stadium
the band were on their second american
tour and capitalizing on the momentum
afforded to them by their iconic
performance on the ed sullivan show
this show was a landmark for the british
invasion's influence on american culture
and the excitement present here by the
throngs of screaming fans
is feverish to the point of madness
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sure the beatles hadn't yet begun their
experiments into psychedelic and
progressive recordings
but it didn't matter songs like can't
buy me love
a hard day's night and ticket to ride
might as well have been
throbbing tribal dances for the
rapturous beetle faithful
in this case the old adage remains true
you just
had to be there
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