Can't resist.

Going back to Alex's list (uh, depending on when you read this you might have to scroll down), here's wot aye fink:

Sonic Youth: see below.

The Ex: never saw them, hardly heard them. Ergo, no comment.

The Jesus Lizard: never saw them; preferred Scratch Acid. David Yow is however indeed touched.

The Cure: as below, no comment. Just...no...comment. at. all.

Radiohead: never saw them. Would like to. Love their records immensely although I've had a little difficulty with them lately. Just a bit too monolithically gloomy. Life's hard enough.

Fugazi: adored their first three records; very much liked some of the others. Only saw them once, around 93 maybe. Very good. Not brilliant. Maybe a little great. I lay part of the blame for it not being better on the venue and crowd; both were strange that night.

Black Flag: god. First true punk rock show. Changed my life.

Buzzcocks: never saw them. Wasn't a huge fan, but dug them.

Glenn Branca: see below.

Bruce Springsteen: don't own any, never liked, never saw, but have warmed to the idea of liking him. The whole "Born in the USA" thing really annoyed me, but I take it on faith from people I trust that I ought to give his earlier records a fair listen. One day soon I will. I want to like him. I do.

...

Who of those would I include on my list? Sonic Youth and Black Flag for sure.

Who would I add to it?

The Art Ensemble of Chicago. Both times were unspeakably great. The first time might be the single greatest night of music in my life.
Husker Du.
B.B. King.
The Swans
Einsteurzeunde Neuhoweveryouspellitbauten.
Pharoah Sanders, Billy Higgins, Juno Lewis, with two unknown guys on piano and bass respectively at a semi-private memorial service.
Horace Tapscott...several times. He was that good.
Cecil Taylor. I nearly fell out of my chair. Mad.
Maybe some of the early Jane's Addiction shows; prior to the XXX release.
Buddy Guy.
Charles Lloyd.
Drive Like Jehu. One of the most intense, compressed, crushingly great 35 minutes in a club ever.
Van Halen (in 1983...stop laughing bastards! They were something else...or maybe it was the sheer spectacle of being one of 600,000 people and very stoned and maybe a little drunk; thank you Steve Wozniak!)

Okay, those are the really shining nights (or days, as the case may be) that come to mind. I'll probably think of something else later, but these are the ones that always spring to mind without any prompting or chin-stroking. There've been so many other stellar shows though; really first rate stuff, but stuff that was maybe that one or two points shy of being, you know, THAT great.

Sadly, I've also seen some truly genius artists put on some terribly bland shows; Miles Davis comes to mind; both times. Gil Evans too.

Too, there's the strange phenomenon of remembering that I was utterly transported by certain bands--surely then I'd have rated some of these as 'greatest ever's--only to have those memories age rather badly. I remember being transported, but I also now, somehow, remember the performances themselves without the veil of those former memories. Make sense? I'm thinking of bands like U2 (saw them three times; all mid-late 80s, including one gig that produced a song that is on Rattle and Hum), the Rollins Band, whom I thought were the last word in music right about 89 and I now realize I was quite wrong; quite a lot of punk bands, a few reggae acts, and a number of other bands. Mainly, for some reason, the first two really stick out. I was so enamored of both bands...and both of them now leave me feeling awfully indifferent.

Right...enough of that.