Rock concerts are a huge part of modern life, but some stand out more than others.
While there are many criteria for notable shows; largest gross, largest attended, most bands played, etc., truly great concerts are measured in their influence and impact on music, art culture, and sometimes the rock bands themselves.
The Top 10 Rock Concerts Of All Time list includes these truly great rock concerts, and the reason why. We are sure there will be plenty of debate and personal opinion about this list, and we would love to hear your views in the comments below!
Top 10 Rock Concerts – #10
Simon and Garfunkel at Central Park, Central Park, New York City, September 19, 1981: More than 500,000 people attended the historic show, where Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel seemed to forget about their decade long separation. It was a homecoming for the duo, who performed their timeless hits, and produced a stellar live album.
Top 10 Rock Concerts – #9
Peter Frampton Comes Alive, Marin Civic Center, San Francisco, June 13/14, 1975: As comedian Mike Myers once commented, “Frampton Comes Alive was delivered to every American’s door along with a sample of Tide laundry soap”, or something to that effect. But in reality, the Marin Civic Center shows produced the best selling live album in history, with over 16 million units sold. Peter Frampton and crew performed brilliantly, and produced timeless live hit after hit.
Top 10 Rock Concerts – #8
Led Zeppelin at Madison Square Garden, New York City, 1973: Three consecutive shows by Led Zeppelin at Madison Square Garden in 1973 led to the celebrated live video, “The Song Remains the Same.” The band was on top of their game, as documented in the video, and the performances of each song have reached legendary status.
Top 10 Rock Concerts – #7
The Rolling Stones at Wembley, Wembley Arena, England, September 13/15, 2003: Just when you thought the Stones were through, a two-day, sold out 40th anniversary concert proved that the aging Englishmen had a lot more under the hood than anyone realised.
Top 10 Rock Concerts – #6
The Who Live At Leeds, University of Leeds, Leeds, England, May 16, 1970: The Who, performing at University of Leeds in England, recorded the show and released one of the must-have live albums in rock music history.
Top 10 Rock Concerts – #5
U2 atop a liquor store in LA, Los Angeles, California, March 27, 1987: U2’s twenty minute show to thrilled onlookers resulted in the LAPD pulling the plug, and appearing on the group’s “Where the Streets Have No Name” video. This stunt was neck-and-neck for our list with the Beatle’s legendary 1969 “Rooftop Concert” in London, differing only in the Beatles managed 42 minutes before police pulled the plug, and the fact that fans couldn’t view the action.
Top 10 Rock Concerts – #4
George Harrison’s Concert for Bangladesh, Madison Square Garden, New York City, August 1, 1971: 40,000+ fans packed into Madison Square Garden in New York City to see Harrison, along with Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Ravi Shankar, and Billy Preston, perform a benefit show for humanitarian relief to the troubled country of Bangladesh.
Top 10 Rock Concerts – #3
Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” Tour, various venues worldwide, 1980-1981: Massive visual effects, including the famous “exploding wall”, and animatronic puppets, gave rock concert goers new meaning to the phrase “really big show”. Technical difficulties abounded, but the Wall tour was hugely successful. It also marked the end of live performances with David Gilmour and Roger Waters together in the same stage.
Top 10 Rock Concerts – #2
Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock, Woodstock, NY, August 18, 1969: Woodstock has always held many concert records, but it was Jimi Hendrix’s performance that made it even more memorable. Although only about 30,000 fans were left at Woodstock by day three, they witnessed Hendrix’s unforgettable performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner”, which became the anthem of an era when civil rights and anti war protests were in full swing.
Top Rock Concert Of All Time
The Beatles at Shea Stadium, New York City, August 15, 1965: The first ever stadium concert was held at Shea Stadium in New York City featuring the Beatles. Help! Had just been released to the US market, the Fab Four had just appeared on Ed Sullivan, and the roar of the 55,000+ fans turned the show into a deafening experience for the band. The Beatles refused to play live not long after, as they simply were unable to perform over all the noise.
Let us know what your top 10 rock concerts of all time are in the comments below.
By Scotty Smith
Guitarist Rock ©2008-2011
zeppelin at MSG-number 8 you nuts definately 1 or 2 ,and you forgot about zeppelin at knebworth definately,good day……
Oasis at Knebworth? Talking Heads with Stop Making Sense?
wtf, thats crap, where is Queen 1986?
Agree with the idea that Stop Making Sense should be on the list. The 1977 Emerson Lake and Palmer tour with the complete orchestra should be on the list – it was a great show and the DVD really catches them at their zenith. Pink Floyd “Pulse” should be in consideration also….yes, it is without Waters, but the concert is fantastic.
For goodness sakes where is QUEEN Live at Wembley 86. Freddy was the ulitmate rock performer. Nobody has ever come close to Freddy.
I definitely think that queen at Wembley should of been in the top 10. I have it on DVD
Queen at Live Aid IS commonly recognised as THE greatest rock performance ever.
Whoever came up with this list must hate the group with a passion not to at least put them in there – when realistically, they belong at the top.
Hey Guys,
I love Queen too, so does my 2 year old daughter and my 7 year old son! We have got “Queen Live At The MK Bowl 1982″ on DVD and it’s been flogged to death!!
This is not my list, but a list put together from research. If it was my list, Queen would certainly be in the top 3, no question.
Actually, I might even update the list soon as it really shits me that Queen aren’t on there
Cheers – Scotty
For me the best concert ever is the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert!
Good choice man, that was a rocking good concert!
Surely, Oasis at Knebworth was brilliant
QUEEN, c,mon x
Hey Michael,
Queen rock man! There’s no doubt that Freddie and the boys were some of the best that ever lived.
Definitely one of my favourite bands of all time.. RIP Freddie!
nirvana is the best band all time….nirvana live at amsterdam….rotterdam unplugged at mtv………kurt cobain vocal best grunge vocal…..
I have been to tuns of shows beacuse I could. There was a run of shows at R.F.K stadium in DC that were the best for me one summer around 87. The Stones, Dead, Who and Floyd was a great summer for me.
At the Greatful Dead, I went alone, sat at my seat for ten seconds, walked down the steps, jumped 15 feet to the field, strolled up the side and around back, up some steps, and saw Gerry Garcia play Teripin Station from 50 feet.
But the best that summer was Pink Floyd, and I had the best seat one could get, 11th Row, in front of David Gilmore.(NOT ON THE BEST LIST?) The wind that night played with the smoke and sounds.
So for me, a good show is only how close I can get.
You don’t know what ur talking about. The Rolling Stones played for one and a half MILLION people at Copacabana beach, in Rio de Janeiro. I said MILLION. That’s all.
The Rolling Stones Madison Square Garden 1969…. absolutlely incredible. The Stones toured BEFORE releasing their Let it Bleed album…( some say Let it Bleed it was Mick and the other bad boys response to the Beatles ” Let it Be” ) Concert audiences got to hear those incredible songs live before they became available when the album was released AFTER the tour.
Gimme Shelter… Let it Bleed…Midnight Rambler…You Can’;t Always Get What You Want…Country Honk…etc. played publically for the first time live for concert audiences. I was 17 … seen many of the greats…and fantastic concerts…nothing ever topped this.
No Video? Lol…Must have been a great show!
Metallica live in Moscow 1991 has got to be on this list, over 500,000 people were in attendance at a time where the Soviet Union was literally collapsing. Throughout the show the crowd clashed with the military force that guarded the stage. Helicopters flew overhead while people chanted “DIE” to the song Creeping Death. It was reported that there were over 200 rapes and 11 deaths at this show. The only thing stopping Metallica from ending the show was the fact that there were so many people there, they didn’t even notice the mass rioting that was happening before their eyes. This concert wasn’t just an amazing performance in front of a giant crowd, it was a statement at the power music, and especially heavy metal, has over any form of government or military. And you’re telling me that a 20 minute jam sesh on a liquor store in L.A. was better than this beast of a concert? Give me a break.
Thanks for your input Charlie, I agree.. Metallica at Moscow was a fckn awesome concert, gives me a buzz every time I watch it
In view of the “20 minute jam sesh”… which one do you think would be more memorable to the global population?
Queen ’86 at Wembley – undoubtedly one of the finest.
Hey, why don’t we talk about Monsters Of Rock Live in Moscow 1991?
Genesis – The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway tour. Just before Peter Gabriel left the band.
How about Isle of Wight 1970? Or The Rolling Stones @ Hyde Park in 69? How you define ‘top’ is purely subjective imho. For me it was the time, the atmosphere, the people and the weather…..The Who at Charlton FC was awesome too, as were Lynyrd Skynrd and the Stones in Knebworth in 76. Not the biggest gig (theyre probably all in Rio these days) but an amazing weekend….
jesus, Queen at Wembley ’86?
Red Hot Chili Peppers at Slane Castle was pretty awesome.
Where the HELL is Queen Live at Wembley 1986? Most rock scholars STRONGLY agree this was a top 10 concert of all time. Damn shame it’s not here!
OMG! I love Justin Bieber
Justin bieber sucks
Van Halen Fair Warning Tour @ MSG Greatest Show I’ve ever seen
My dream was to go to a Led Zep show! Greatest Band EVER!
I died a little bit inside when they played in London in 2007 and I couldn’t go!
watchin THEM live would be a dream come true!
Where’s Metallica’s in Seattle 1989!
Yes, I strongly agree dude wheres metal god
Seattle ’89 is the mother of all concerts ! Period.
By not including Stop Making Sense you make yourself irrelevant. And you hurt the name of your business because I will consider you, as such, irrelevant. The Heads concert is so obviously the greatest ever conceived and you are–how do I put this nice-like–uniformed. May your gravestone at this website be reminder to do better research as a journalist. Hell, we all have our failures.
Stop making Sense is most certainly the best. concert. ever.
The live versions were even better than their already incredible music. I’ve listened to the CD about 60 times and love it every single time.
Marcus, That’s just your opinion. Let other have their’s without speaking like an “irrelevant” goober.
How about U2 at Live Aid ?
If you are going to bring up Live then get it straight – Queen blew everyone out of the water that day.
Queen was truly heaven sent.
Ahuh,QUEEN….On that day Freddy was in control and Queen showed the world who was boss…
Queen Wembley 1986 and Live Aid is nice too.
However, I liked old Queen, I thought Freddie’s music was better when he composed with the piano and all the interesting guitar solos and riffs.
Where’s the Allman Brothers Live at Fillmore East?
Where the hell is Queen concert from Live Aid ’86??
No Grateful Dead?! Man, you haven’t been to a concert..
wherez eric clapton brother..ya 4gt him ofc..
How the hell is QUEEN at wembley in 1986 not number 1 let alone not even in this list at all? whatever muppet did this list needs shooting.
You are so right about Queen being the best concert at Webley Stadium and I would to go as far as saying Queen at Live Aid. Even thought they played for only I believe 15 min. they stole the whole concert.
Thank you. How is this show left off the list. Should be number one. I love the Beatles as a band more than Queen, but come on! At Shea nobody could even hear the music. How is listening to 50 thousand screaming girls considered great let alone good. That show shouldn’t be on the list at all.
It’s not surprise to me you’ve listed 4 top concerts that took place in New York City. Shortly after buying my new Manhattan condo in the 70s, I was able to attend lots of the great concerts coming here. There’s too many exceptional ones to choose from.
I sure would love to catch one of the big rock shows in New York someday Candace! Would be a blast.
where’s AC/DC on this list??? They’re HOT!!!
It’s a shame there wasn’t more room Rosee, I love AC/DC myself, just seen them live in Brisbane 3 days ago actually. One of the best rock concerts I have been to!
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