Best ‘all round’ live performance by a guitarist you’ve seen live.

zepp76

Dimebag, because he just fucking ripped the place to shreds with his playing.

Peter Green, not because of any of the things you mentioned but because I just got to stand in front of my idol.

Edit: How could I forget Tony Iommi the riff Lord himself.

relic245

Mark Knopfler on the brothers in arms tour.

Not only was he singing and playing amazing guitar he was directing the band at the same time. He reminded me of a conductor in front of an audience.

A man totally in control of what was happening on that stage.

Woodandwires

Alan Murphy, Randy Rhodes and Juan Martin, three different genres, but each equally on top of their respective game.

springhead

Stevie Ray Vaughan at Hammy Odeon, totally in control and flawless.

Jeff Beck at the Indigo playing 50's and 60's rock and roll with Imelda May and her band. He got through quite a few guitars - Strat of course but also Les Paul, Gretsch, Tele.

JD Simo. Excellent everytime but on the first occasion he just had a vintage les Paul into a JTM 45, no pedals, didn't touch the amp all night and he played clean, jazzy, crunchy and full on blues rock. 

Wilko everytime. There are many more...

scrumhalf

Another vote for Micky Jones of Man. For the life if me I cannot understand how underrated he was. There were nights when I went home after a gig convinced that I'd seen one of the greatest guitarists of all time.

I'd add Eric Johnson to the list. When I saw him there were emergency dentists on standby, such were the number of jaws hitting the floor. 

BahHumbug

+1 for Mark Knopfler.  I saw one of the Brothers in Arms shows, but also when he was playing second guitar for Eric Clapton in 1987.

This thread also needs a mention of Alex Lifeson.  I was lucky to see Rush on the Hold your Fire tour.

...and going a bit left field, Kris Drever of prog-folk trio Lau, is an extremely versatile musician.

lysander

Cols said:

In a band context, Nuno Bettencourt of Extreme.  Jaw-droppingly good and absolutely flawless, with the one exception of throwing a hissy fit during More Than Words and flinging his acoustic to the floor.  Possibly it was the end of a long tour and he’d had quite enough of playing acoustic ballads night after night.  But everything else - funky riffs, soaring solos and covering backing vocals while doing so - was spot on.

As a solo act, Nick Harper.  He’s unfairly talented and creative.

Came to say this. I saw them live a few years ago on the reunion tour and damn they’ve still got it.

Leiversalone

Another vote for Nuno. Saw the Pornograffitti tour and it blew my tiny mind. Everything was amazing. Still remember it as one of the best gigs and probably the best overall performance by a guitarist I've ever seen. It showed me what was possible and how lazy other guitarists could be in terms of performance and playing. 

Redlester

@deadman He was good. I saw him at a place in North London- O2 something or other. A place with a balcony. I had a great view. 

Have done some digging on the web and the guitar player is called Mike Randle, part of a band called Baby Lemonade. As I say, he did a really convincing job of recasting the Forever Changes arrangements onto guitar. The ultimate 'session gig' if you like. 

@Danny1969 Jeff Beck is good. Do try and see him if you have the chance in the future. I would say that the Ronnie Scott's DVD is a good alternative to being there. This'll probably piss you off, but I could have gone to one of those gigs. Tix were available but I didn't really want to pay the crazy face value prices they were charging. Let's get some perspective here (too much feckin' perspective some of you may say). 

merlin

George van Eps 

Rowby1

Frank Dunnery, It Bites in the late ‘80s. Saw them a load of times back then.

Teyeplayer

Nels Cline, just wow...

richardhomer

If we’re limiting to a single performance, Richard Thompson with his electric trio at Gawsworth Hall in 2018. Staggeringly inventive playing, with exceptional technique - yet always musical. 

I can genuinely say I was in awe of him. He was jaw-droppingly good.

stickyfiddle

I’m not hugely into the guitar hero thing, but the one that sprung to mind is Joe Perry, about 12 years ago in Hyde Park, with Aerosmith, obviously. Played his ass off all night - flashy stuff, simple stuff, classic riffs, improv solos, a bit of singing and plenty of theatrics. 

Just an absolute superstar

Cols

zepp76 said:

Dimebag, because he just fucking ripped the place to shreds with his playing.

Peter Green, not because of any of the things you mentioned but because I just got to stand in front of my idol.

Edit: How could I forget Tony Iommi the riff Lord himself.

I’d forgotten Iommi.  I saw Sabbath on the 13 tour, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a guitarist with such effortless economy of movement.  He didn’t even look like he was trying particularly hard, and everything was note-perfect.

In fact, the whole band were on absolutely top form.

adampeter

Angus, seen countless times, as well as being a great guitarist, and i would argue a frontman, how he does what he does without oxygen is amazing, i doubt most could get around like he does without playing the guitar at the same time

munckee

The ones that stay with me are Peter Buck at Milton Keynes in 95, Johnny Greenwood in a smallish venue in 1993, John Squire in the Seahorses and recently Joey Santiago at Ali Pali. 

As a complete band Gomez swapped instruments after virtually every song and no one seemed weak at playing anything. 

TheMarlin

Rowby1 said:

Frank Dunnery, It Bites in the late ‘80s. Saw them a load of times back then.

I saw It Bites maybe seven times, also seen Francis Dunneey’s solo act too. 

He is a great guitarist, and it was cool to see a top flight player wielding a Squire rather than a Fender. 

I agree he was great, never missed a note, but the songs haven’t worn well. It’s very rare I spin an ‘It Bites’ LP, and think back on my younger years.....but at the time, great pop. 

Redlester

adampeter said:

Angus, seen countless times, as well as being a great guitarist, and i would argue a frontman, how he does what he does without oxygen is amazing, i doubt most could get around like he does without playing the guitar at the same time

Doesn't he/ didn't he smoke like a chimney? 

Must be pure adrenalin. 

Grumpyrocker

Adrian Smith. Every time I've seen him live he's absolutely nailed his playing despite all the craziness going on around him. An amazing player in every way.

Marty Friedman holy hell that guy can play, amazing to see in the flesh. But Megadave was pretty damn great on the night too.

Chris de Garmo and Michael Wilton were a force to be reckoned with when I saw them in the mid 90s. 

More recently I was super impressed by the Nameless Ghouls when I saw Ghost live. Really great riffing and solos, great interplay with the rest of the band, and a fun solo spot where they traded licks.