Live music: first, best, worst, weirdest, whatever

The first person I saw in concert was Cilla Black !!!
since then I have seen loads .. Sparks, Alison Moyet, Kylie, Celine Dion, (Gary Glitter ugh) to name a few .. but the best was Donna Summer at the Royal Albert Hall in 1996

The first band of note I ever saw, was Osibisa at Thames Polytechnic, in 1971 /72...can't remember exactly. It's all a bit "hazy"...which made it all the more enjoyable.

The last gig I went to, was Lucinda Williams a few weeks ago, at the Union Chapel. A brilliant night.

The best one? After a few minutes of racking my bryan cell, I would have to say Prince at Wembley in 1988, on the Lovesexy tour. I don't think there's ever been a better live act...and that tour was the absolute pinnacle of his genius.

It was a fantastic show . Micks voice is just as it sounds recorded he didn't sing a wrong note . We knew all the songs and for much of the time the crowd were singing as loud as him !
He acknowledged the success of the football team in the Euros to the delight of the crowd .
Some even started singing " please don't Send me home" when the band disappeared !
It seemed over too quickly but that's because I'd enjoyed them .
Other people who I've since discovered were there really enjoyed it too !
Not bad for 31+ years singing !

Worst and also First: Going to see & hear The Beach Boys at the Liverpool Empire sometime in the late 60s.
They certainly wern t all awake! I told my parents later that they had looked drunk, but it wasn't until later that I realised they must have been 'on' something. A dreadful performance! - and in front of hundreds of fans!

Best and more recent: Going to see Paul Carrack (formerly of Mike & The Mechanics) at Buxton. Brilliant!

First: I think, was Level 42 at Wembley in 1987.

Best: Easily Nine Inch Nails at the O2, London, in 2014. Trent Reznor is the gift that keeps on giving. I slightly fancy him, but don't tell my wife.

Worst: Justin Timberlake. To be fair to him, he is not an act for me (I was with my daughter and her friend), and it wasn't anything to do with him that made it worst. Being in a confined space with that many teen girls did.

Most disappointed in (as opposed to worst): Tears for Fears, 1990ish.

Weirdest gig: David Byrne, Brixton Academy, July 92. Travelling on the Victoria Line, two friends sat opposite me, they started that kind of half-concealed laughter when someone got on and sat down next to me. I look to my right and sure enough there is a man sat next to me with masking tape stuck to each of his eyelids, and top lip. Not so that his eyes and mouth were taped shut but so they moved as he blinked, for example. Three stops I had to endure that. At that same gig I chatted to David Byrne as he was in the audience during the support act, a busker that he had got from outside Brixton Station having been let down by the booked support. At that point I also realised I went to school with the busker. In 2010 I met David Byrne again - he was on his bike in Blackfriars Bridge Road, lost and looking for the way towards Tower Bridge. I helped him and reminded him of that night all those years ago...he was honest; he remembered the busker but not me. We had a coffee and chatted cycling.

Gig most likely to unfold exactly as you imagine: James Brown at Valentines Park, Ilford, 1991 (I think). Bless him. Stupidly late, of course, and you know you're in a for a ride when an announcement goes out for "a trained hair styling professional" to make themselves known to the organisers.

Gig I wish I could still be at: Joe Jackson, Royal Festival Hall 1997.

Acts I wish to got to see but never did: Talking Heads / David Bowie

My wife's worst gig: Level 42, Crystal Palace, August 1991 for the very reason that this was the first day of our honeymoon, and she's never going to let me forget about it.

And I don't blame her!

My loudest was The Who at the NEC in 79 or 80. My ears didn't go back to normal for about three days.