As per title. And at which venue did you see them and why were they the best?
For me it would have to be The Cure at Wembley Arena London in 1985...awesome. I've seen loads of bands live including Guns'n'Roses 5 times but The Cure really hit the spot. What's your best memory of a live band?

Best live performance, Geno Washington and the Ram Jam band during one of his many comebacks, god, that man could perform. At Keele University.

edit: The Pogues , The Fall and Hawkwind were all good live too but they were all bands I liked before I'd seen them, never heard of Geno Washington before I saw him

I've been to a slipknot show before. I had a blast until some fool threw up on the back of my T-shirt. I knocked him out and went home shirtless. Great time.

Arctic Monkeys. I'm a svcker for them my fave band of all time and i've finally seen them this year.

Sounds like a proper rock concert situation.LOL
I had a similar experience in 93 I think it was at Earls Court London, saw Pink Floyd 2 nights running and both nights somebody was ill on me and my then girlfriend. Great times!

Good band, those boys can rock!

Hawkwind were the best I've seen (even better than Pink Floyd) but their performances can be very inconsistent, and I've been to a few of their gigs that have been a bit "meh". And the worst was probably Suzanne Vega, I'm not really sure live performances are her thing.

Some of the most fun performances I've seen are bluesy pub bands.

Either the Misfits/Megadeth show at a tiny hockey rink where I broke my foot in a mosh pit and met Dave Mustaine or the Grateful Dead a month before Jerry died. The crowd and tailgating was an awesome experience.

The Mountain Goats at the 9:30 Club in DC. Fantastic performance.

Pantera ~ Last time I went to see them 1996 in Augusta, Maine with White Zombie and the Deftones. My ears are still ringing from that show. I've been to a lot of different concerts and Pantera never disappointed. I miss them...

That's a tough one. I've seen more shows over the years than I can count. Before my kid was born I was probably averaging 5 shows per month for at least a decade.

I'm sure I'm not thinking of all of them right now, but the first that popped into my head were Tool at the Fuji Rock Fest in Japan in 2001 and Queens of the Stone Age at Red Rocks last year. Part of that last one is likely due to http://denverlibrary.org/files/redrocksamp.jpg being a redonkulously breathtaking venue (with amazing acoustics to boot) and that being the most recent show I saw there.

The Who in the summer of 1968. I was 15 at the time. I saw them at a small club north of Chicago called The New Place. The New Place had an indoor theater (I believe) and also an outdoor area where bands could perform during the summer. The stage was set up in front of the fence that separated the outdoor performing area from the parking lot on the other side.

I found myself standing about five feet from the PA speakers on the left-hand side of the stage. When they turned the PA on, just the hum from the PA alone was so loud it almost knocked us backwards.

It was the loudest thing I had ever heard in my life. They probably heard it in Indiana and Iowa. Roger Daltery was swinging his microphone way out over our heads, people were ducking, Pete Townsend was jumping up and down and Keith Moon looked like he was trying to hit every piece of drum equipment he owned all at once. It was actually kind of frightening, at first. We all stood there with our mouths open.

At the climix of My Generation they destroyed their instruments. I knew the finale was coming because I spotted Pete Townsend changing guitars. Keith Moon sent one of his tom-toms into the air, right over the fence into the parking lot behind him. After the concert a group of us gathered around the car, touching the huge dent in the hood made by the tom-tom as though the dent were a holy relic, LOL. The tom-tom itself had already been spirited away by the time we got there.

I have never seen or heard a more viscerally thrilling concert in my life.

I have only been to one rock concert. That was for Rush performing in Omaha, NE for their Signals Tour in 1981 or '82. I'd say it was the greatest concert I have ever seen, but since I've only been to one, that doesn't hold much weight

[EDIT]

I suppose I should clarify that I have a "thing" about huge crowds in closed in spaces

I still remember going to see them one time and they had a bad equipment failure and lets say a large proportion of the audience had taken chemical aids to help prepare themselves for the performance and weren't happy it was delayed.

I saw Hawkwind blown off the stage at Nottingham Rock City, but only because Gong were the support act.

It's really hard to pick a favourite, I've seen so many amazing shows. But some that really stand out as unforgettable are...
David Bowie
Tool

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds

Ween

Judas Priest

Saw David Bowie for the 1st time at The Milton Keynes Bowl in 1983 on his Serious Moonlight tour, excellent performer and he knows how to write a timeless song. Also saw Judas Priest at some rock festival but I can't remember much about it, was happy to eventually get home though.

I haven't been to very many (concerts are getting insanely expensive) but of those I have seen live, Nightwish and Halestorm can put on some damn good shows.

Saw Bowie once on the Glass Spiders tour in 87. It was good although getting a bit too arena by then.

I don't really fit here. But the event I describe was performed by what is sometimes referred to as a band, though not often in the USA. Back in the late '80s, stationed in Southern California, I heard a concert by The Academy of Saint Martin Martin in the Fields, under Sir Neville Marriner. They played a variety of shorter works...shorter by classical music standards. Prokofiev's "Classical" symphony, Rimsky-Korvakov's "Flight of the Bumble Bee", Mozart's 40th Symphony, and the Beethoven second. The first three blew me away, Mozart in particular. Up until then I'd considered the 40th my least favorite (but still loved) of the final three. But Marriner's rendition opened my eyes to its glory. It was, for me, magical. I've not heard its like since. The Beethoven, while in no way a disappointment, didn't catch fire for me until near the end.

Ironically, the preceding year I heard the Vienna Philharmonic on tour, under Claudio Abbado in the same hall, perform Beethoven's first and third symphonies. It was a disappointment. The orchestra either had an off night, suffered travel fatigue, or both. Too many flubs (by top tier orchestra standards) and the performances themselves didn't gel. Not for me in any case. (The lady bassoonist I attended the event with felt much the same.)

Hmm, tough one for me.

System of the Down is GREAT! and completely unrelenting in their live performance. Not once did they stop at all to allow the crowd to cheer, and they were very enjoyable.

When I saw Tool on the 4th of July at Summerfest in Milwaukee, WI, they put on an extremely fantastic show, and played a REALLY great live version of their 10,000 Days song (part 1 and 2). And damn, when they started off with Jambi, the bass was just soooooo heavy and GREAT!

When Rush played at Chicago for their 30th anniversary, they really put out a spectacular performance. Heck, despite Getty Lee having a bit of a cold, he sounded FANTASTIC! Alex Lifeson was phenomenal and probably did one of the best La Villa Strangiato performances. And Neil Pert was just as great as always

Gun n' Roses recently came to Chicago a year or two ago, and Axel Rose was amazing as ever. The band he brought with were extremely great and talented. And holy hell, when they played Shackler's Revenge and Paradise City as their encore, the place just completely exploded!

Steve Vai also put out an extremely fantastic concert in Milwaukee, WI and was definitely one of my more favorite concerts

Jane's Addiction was utterly superb when they were last together in Lolapalooza, and everyone there seemed to be performing top notch.

The only major band I've seen live was U2 as part of the 360° tour, which is the highest grossing concert tour of all time.

It was quite good.

The Cure in 1992, arguably their prime period, and again in 1996. Have very fond and nostalgic memories of their shows.

Linkin Park in 2001 was insane.