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don't ask me why but i was thinking about nye concerts today. i think the whole concept of the "holiday" is overblown to begin with, and sometimes nye party performances can reflect just that.

but then there's nye concerts that seemingly broke the mold and were magnificent and/or culturally significant in some way. im thinking about the rhcp/pearl jam/nirvana in '91, phish in 2000 (i know, sounds lame, but the millenium hoo-rah was a big deal to organizers)...

and i'm talking anywhere at anytime.

what were some of the big ones in edinburgh? was there ever a time when the times square ball-drop wasn't lame?

i have a bootleg of tjl live at cbgb new years 96. it's pretty kickass. they do "blue shot"

the band of gypsys performance was new years eve 1969.

I saw Mr Bungle/Melvins/Fantomas/Nomeansno/Kids of Widney High at an art gallery in San Francisco for NYE 1999/2000.

Man, that was good. Except we ran out of cigarettes.

yeh here's what i came up with yesterday:

elvis presley 1976 last new year's of his life. considered one of his best concerts, latter-day

rather than say phish's millenium concert, i'd say their 1995 concert. that what the 'heads consider superior anyway.

instead, id submit barbra streisand's millenium concert in las vegas, which (if the stats hold up) was the highest grossing single concert in Las Vegas history to date.

in germany in 1939, the vienna philharmonic began playing its yearly show. very dark period in germany in world history. the event is dedicated to strauss family. "initially conceived for a local audience as a reminder of better times and a source of hope for the future" according to the website

dick clark's first new years' rockin' eve: more like Three Dog Night's New Years’ Rockin Eve. 1973.

bruce Springsteen almost gets banged up by fire-cracker onstage at a New Year's Eve concert in Cleveland in 1979.

in 1976, the cars played their first show at Pease Air Force Base in Portsmouth, new Hampshire.

the grateful dead and the blues brothers rocked out in 1979 as San Francisco's Winterland Auditorium shut down

first day of 1960 Johnny Cash performed for the inmates at San Quentin Prison north of San Francisco. it went, you know, well.

In 1977, Joe Strummer and The Clash headlined the grand opening of the Roxy. Formerly a gay disco, it became the venue for punk in London.

Prince gave an after-midnight New Year's Eve charity concert to benefit the homeless in Minnesota -- and was joined onstage by Miles Davis. in 1988 i was six. i wish i couldve been there.

jimi Hendrix, Buddy Miles, and billy cox are recorded live at the Fillmore East on nye 1969. The resulting album, Band of Gypsys, is the last Hendrix album to be released before his death. heckuva year.

With my brother, I saw Primal Scream with Ian Brown supporting on New Year's 2000/2001. This confirmed to me that Primal Scream were an awful band who had lucked on some good music through choice of collaborators, and that I find Ian Brown eminently watchable regardless of how badly he's singing. Asian Dub Foundation also played, who I tried hard to like, unsuccessfully. We had a fun night.

EDIT: I'll try to be a little for faithful to the title of this thread. It wasn't a famous night, but there was an enjoyable feeling that most of the crowd thought it was.

Maybe not famous, but infamous: Pogues at the Palladium in NYC, New Year's...I can't remember when.

It was amazing, and total freakin' chaos.

MajorEverettMiller wrote:I saw Mr Bungle/Melvins/Fantomas/Nomeansno/Kids of Widney High at an art gallery in San Francisco for NYE 1999/2000.

Man, that was good. Except we ran out of cigarettes.

Yup...I was there as well...and "man, that was good." I don't think anything could beat that one.

I knew some folks that saw the Nirvana/RHCP show.

They said they were totally blown away.

I wish I could have gone, but was touring myself.

i didn’t go to it but i’d have to think that the all time greatest new year’s eve concert would have been december 31st, 1999 at whatever club/arena prince was playing. he wrote a song predicting how great it was years in advance of the actual event.