What's the best blues show you've ever been to?

1970'something. Summerset Blues Festial. Concerts on the Common, Boston, MA

B.B. King

Bonnie Raitt

Paul Butterfield

Allman Brothers Band

J. Geils played lead guitar with the Allman Brothers on Stormy Monday and was just outstanding that day.

My top concert was Buddy Guy last year at Edgemont Community College in Tarboro, NC.

I found out about it on the radio, it was so small even my usual Blue listserv missed the listing.

The man is amazing and still plays like he's in his prime. Comes out into the audience, sits in the chairs and jams out. He actually had a little kid strum for him and still played great blues.

Leaned up against a wall where I was sitting, 5 feet away from me... I'll never forget that.

The second best was Ten Years After in '07 at Ziggy's (since closed) in Winston-Salem, NC. No Alvin Lee, but Joe Gooch was as incredible. Great venue to see a legendary band. The stage was maybe a foot high and I was able to get plenty of high fives from the band, who also stayed after the show to sign merchandise.

Muddy Waters at the Tick Tock Lounge in Bloomington Indiana about 1975.

Ray Charles w/ the Honolulu Symphony at the Westin Kauai Resort in 1990. The stage was built over the pool. Ray pretended he was going to fall in the water as he came on stage over a little bridge.

In the early 1980's at Whaler's Cove restaurant on Kauai, Taj Mahal asked the solo guitarist if he could play a few songs. He borrowed the guys guitar and proceeded to entertain the 30 or 40 diners for over an hour in his inimitable style.

About 1977 at The Golden Bear in Huntington Beach California. It was a reunion of alot of the original Electric Flag lineup: Mark Naftalin, Harvey Brooks, Nick Gravenitis and of course Michael Bloomfield. MB just sat in a chair and kept playing and playing every style you can think of and some no one ever has. Among other things it was the best Reggae I've ever heard.

No best, many outstanding ones:

Willie Kent, Eddie Shaw at Blue Chicago

Mark Naftalin, Matt Murphy, Buddy Guy at Buddy Guy's Legends

2001 Chicago Blues Festival ( Rob Stone and the C-Notes, Wayne Baker Brooks, Chuck Berry, Pinetop Perkins, Ike Turner, Eddie King, Homesick James)

2005 Chicago Blues Festival (David "Honey Boy" Edwards, Savoy Brown, Henry Gray, Hubert Sumlin, Bob Margolin, Mick Taylor, John Mayall)

Speaking of Buddy Guy he is playing 16 dates at his club, Legends, this January. If you have never been there I highly recommend it. The place drips of blues history.

I'll echo my buddy Kman's answer-no best, but many great moments.

Lots of great shows when I still attended the Long Beach Blues Festival in the 80s/90s-Big Joe Turner, Gatemouth Brown, Little Milton, Johnny Otis w/ Little Ester Phillips,......

The San Francisco Blues Festival was always a great show regardless of acts because the backdrop was the bay, Alcatraz, and the Golden Gate. Sadly canceled this year after several decades due to the economy :( John Hammond was one highlight that sticks out.

Charles Brown w/ Red Callender at the Ojai Bowlful of Blues

I've never seen a bad show by John Hammond (seen at least 30 times), Tom Ball & Kenny Sultan, (seen at least fifty times) especially at Cold Springs Tavern near Santa Barbara. Saw them there yesterday in fact with company in town from Portland, Or. http://www.coldspringtavern.com/

Never seen a bad show by Rod Piazza and The Mighty Flyers either, whom I've seen at least a hundred times. However, I haven't seen them since Bill Stuve finally left the band a year or so ago.

Mid 70's BB King, Albert King, and Bobby Bluebland. in Cleveland, don't remember what the place was called, but it was round and the stage spun.

A nice veneu that would be like the Ventura Theater, This was a converted large downtown theater in Youngstown. Muddy Waters. I would love to have that one back. I did not pay enough attention. I mainly remember his presence was like one of the 4th kind.

I am in NC now. I have seen Mojo Collins a couple times. One time their was, our group of 4, and 5 or 6 other people in a nice bar. He played like it was a packed house. The man oozes blues.

I saw Savoy Brown, they was excellent, but I was in denial, because Youlden was gone.

Those are the ones I recall at the moment to be the better ones .... oops Taj Mahal in the early 70's and late 80's is big ones. 70's a major concert hall in Cleveland. 80's a small Oprah theater in NC.

I'm only 15 so I missed some of the greats like SRV and the Blues Brothers, but I saw BB at the Genessee Theater in Waukegan outside of Chicago. It was absolutely amazing.

the best blues shows i've seen have been the random guys whose names weren't spoken or i didn't remember.....just wandering down a side street and into some bar, or stoppin to tip a guy on the sidewalk.....yeah, the sidewalk....i think the best stuff i've heard has been at train stations and parks.

of course i would've loved to see Vaughan, and i hope i get to see Buddy and Lonnie...but you know what i'm sayin.

Buddy Guy and it was fairly recent. That man walked off the stage and down into the audience playing like crazy. He'd stop in front of people and it was unbelievable.