The Wire's '60 Concerts That Shook The World'
 

Ai-Tal - Tabyik Festival, Yakutsk, Siberia, 1993
The Aka Pygmies - Barbican, London, UK, 2003
Maryanne Amacher - Performing Garage, New York, USA, 1993
Anoyo no dekigoto - Adelphi, Leeds, UK, 2003
Arditti Quartet/Luigi Nono - Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, UK, 1995
Ascension - Louisiana, Bristol, UK, 1994
Autechre - ATP, Camber Sands, UK, 2001
Derek Bailey Verses Merry Pranksters - The Spitz, London, UK, 1997
Big Black - ULU, London, UK, 1987
The Birthday Party - Xtremes, Brighton, UK, 1981
Jacques Brel - Paris, France, 1966
Don Cherrys Nu - People Theatre, Newcastle, UK, 1987
The Clean - The Empire Tavern, Dunedin, New Zealand, 1981
Coil Presents Time Machines - Royal Festival Hall, London, UK, 2000
Ornette Coleman - Carnegie Hall, New York, USA, 2003
Concerto For Voice And The Machinery - ICA, London, UK, 1984
Tony Conrad - Lumiere Cinema, Christchurch, New Zealand, 1997
Crime And The City Solution - London, UK, 1990
Cut Chemist & J-Roc - Justice League, San Francisco, USA, 1999
The Fall - Surrey University, Guildford, UK, 1983
Faust - Royal Festival Hall, London, UK, 2001
Morton Feldman/Stephen Whittington:Triadic Memories - Performing Arts Technology Unit Studio, Adelaide, Australia, 1998
Fennesz - Cats Cradle, Chapel Hill, USA, 2000
Fushitsusha - Roskilde Festival, Denmark, 2003
Future Sound Of London & Robert Fripp - BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix, UK, 1993
Alastair Galbraith - Regent Theatre 24hr Book Sale, Dunedin, New Zealand, 1988
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Union Chapel, London, UK, 2000
Grateful Dead - Charlotte Coliseum, Charlotte, USA, 1995
Happy Mondays - Limelight, Belfast, UK, 1989
Hula/Cabaret Voltaire - Various Venues, Sheffield, UK, 1985-88
Jandek - Instal, Glasgow, UK, 2005
Usta Mashkoor Ali Khan & Ustad Hafizullah Khan - Hazrat Alludin Sabris Shrine, Dehra Dun, India, 2001
Laibach - Thermoelectric Power Station, Tabovlje, Yugoslavia, 1990
Last Exit - Shaw Theatre, London, UK, 1987
Live Listening Tour - True Vine, Balitmore, USA, 2004
Merzbow - Upstairs At The Garage, London, UK, 1995
My Bloody Valentine - The Empire Cleveland, USA, 1992
Nico - Squat Theater, New York, USA, 1980
William Parker - Kaffa House, Washington DC, USA 1996
Dean Roberts - Exeter Dining Room, Adelaide, Australia, 2006
The Roots - Lakota, Bristol, UK, 1997
Royal Trux - The Point, Oxford, UK, 1999
Sahko night - Quirky Club, London, UK, 1994
Schooly D/Public Enemy - 1000 Boomboxes and Car Stereos, New York, Usa, 1985-86
70: The Alternative Concept featuring Machel Montano & Xtatic + Maximus Dan + Junko - The Forum, London, UK, 2004
Nina Simone - Palais De Congres, Paris, France, 2001
Patti Smith & Friends - Sheperds Bush Empire, London, UK, 1996
Sonic Youth - Kilburn National Ballroom, London, UK, 1989
Stars - Corn Exchange, Cambridge, UK, 1972
The Stooges - ATP, Minehead, UK, 2006
Sun Ra - Ronnie Scotts, London, UK, 1993
Swans - Berkeley Square, Berkeley, USA, 1995
Teenage Jesus & The Jerks - Max's Kansas City, New York, USA, 1978
James Blood Ulmer/Calvin Weston/Amin Ali/Jamaaladeen Tucuma/Byard Lancaster - Tritone, Philadelphia, USA, 2003
Masayoshi Urabe - All Angels Church, London, UK, 2001
Voyages On Vinlandia Tour - 2037 Frankford Ave, Philadelphia, USA, 2005
I Wayne + Bascom X + Turbulence + Jah Mason - Stratford Rex, London, UK, 2005
La Monte Young & Marian Zazeela - The Dream House: Eight Years of Sound And Light, New York, USA, 1993
Thalia Zedek - Grace Emily Hotel, Adelaide, Australia, 2005
:zoviet*france: - Wilder Hall Disco, Orberlin, USA, 1991

Who the fuck are the first 8 bands? How did they shake the world if I've never heard of them??!! I demand answers!!

Thalia Zedek?? I saw her twice this year. SHe's not that good. Not at all. This list is mostly bullshit!! WHere are the Beatles?? Where is Hendrix?? Where are the Stones??

too arty for the farty power pop of the beat(le)s

that is a terrible list

big black rules!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_gfuN_Llqs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSivVYwKwZc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDDZgU4ZoH0

wow, i wasn't expecting that one of the ones mentioned would have been one that I and about like what 20 people here saw

My list would be one concert long:

Jimi Hendrix- live at Woodstock

That's it. There is no other concert ever as important. Unless they mean rocked as in Rock'n'rolled the world. Then any of those huge benefit concerts live AID would be up there, as well as live concerts on DVD/video/movie/tv that were really good.

All those concerts are just ones that The Wires writers were at and enjoyed a lot. But how many people have heard about any of those specific concerts, or seen footage of because they were so famous?

I have some shows from the same tours as some of these listings. I'm not so sure what the rationale is behind some of these choices, but one hopes it would be interesting.
For instance, why would Grateful Dead's pick be Charlotte '95? Is this the concert that theoretically supercharged the Phish/DMB/Widespread Panic set, Jerry's last great show, or what? It seems to me that The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (6/07/69) at Berkeley Commons (or the closing of Winterland, playing at the pyramids in '72...on & on) would make the list instead of Charlotte '95. Anyway, this is but one case of many that, for me, makes the list suspect and I feel I could make a better one. Like SpectralJulian points out, there's no Jimi Hendrix Experience at Woodstock (or Monterey, even).
...The Beatles playing Ed Sullivan Theatre, Shea Stadium, the farewell rooftop concert at Abbey Road Studios...hello?

Thanks for the topic though, jimbrim; it's nevertheless a fun list, cool thread, & good times.

that list sucks. it sounds like the 60 greatest shows one dude went to in his lifetime and shook his world, but hardly THE world.

apparently they've never heard of Radiohead either....

not many fans of Wire Magazine it seems

well it's a list of shows that shook the world of people who wrote for the wire. how could people possibly list shows that they haven't been to? fucking hendrix at woodstock... have a good time at that one did you, idiot child?!

i saw two of those shows (stooges & godspeed) and i wouldn't have included either in my list of pivotal musical experiences.

Its in alphebetical order though. i think Wire are over pretentious to be honest, no way did Derek Bailey or Autechre 'shake' the world. But you cant expect a 'pop' top 60 gigs in the list. Jimi Hendrix and The Beatles dont have a chance.

hey the wire caters to a specific set of people with specific tastes. if people wanted a list w/hendrix they could buy "classic rock magazine" or something. they are going to include bands that the people who buy the mag can relate to, and if they haven't heard certain bands, they can check them out on the basis of them being on the list. in my opinion it's a fine list.

Yes, each of these shows is picked by a different Wire writer or musician in some cases. It's based on their individual experience and the text at the beginning of the article makes it clear that whatever show they picked, they had to be there. Reading peoples personal epiphanies is much more interesting to me than a bunch of journos deciding for everyone else what the most important performances were.

I didn't read the list. I'm just amused by the phrase "Shook The World".

60 of The Wire's writers were asked to pick one concert each that has a significance in their own history. Writers for The Wire are mostly pretentious little fuckers, so it's a pretentious list.

A few years ago they did a list of "Albums That Shook The World". That was pretty damn pretentious too.


The fact that you've heard of neither Autechre nor Derek Bailey speaks volumes about your lack of musical knowledge.

That Ai-Tal gig was pretty awesome.

Hey there, naysayers, read the article. It's a great article, one of my favourite ones for the Wire for ages. It entirely hammers home the point that 1) a gig is an intensely personal experience - for instance, sonicl described NNCK at ATP as 'pretentious artschool bollocks' (or words to that effect), whereas many here thought it was top. My 'best ever' gig would be different to yours, even if it was the same gig.

2) The general list of 'best ofs' are always based on an assumption that all experiences are universally 'good'. I know a few people who saw the pistols in '77 and thought they were shit. None of you were there for the so-called 'best ever' gigs by the Beatles, Hendrix, Stones etc, so it's entirely ridiciulous to suggest, even if you've seen the DVD, that you're opinion on something that you weren't present for is somehow the right one.

Glad someone has seen some sense in this whole article.Christ!Sometimes you lot come accross as a bunch of whining indie kids!It's a fucking magazine and it's one of the many lists that appear on it.Can you not put things into perspective and enjoy the fact that at least they try to do something different from the many rubbish 'Best Of' nonsenses that you read day in -day out?