Heard a radio ad the other day for "the biggest musical event in history"....or least, that's what they were calling it in the commercial. It was advertising the now annual 2-day mega-concert that media beast Clear Channel Communications puts on featuring about 25 headline-caliber pop music acts. Of course, the mere fact that it involves the biggest corporate player in the radio game and a glut of established pop stars almost instantly negates any serious consideration for "biggest musical event..." in my mind, at least in terms of importance. It certainly is not the biggest event in terms of number of popular acts, size of audience....maybe amount of revenue generated (and Eye don't even know that to be true) but, that's precisely why it gets dismissed as nothing more than hype.

It got me thinking though, about what the general consensus has been in regards to the most significant concert events in history. Right off top, I'd say the big three would have to be Woodstock, Live Aid, and the Monterey Pop Festival. The Beatles @ Shea Stadium would probably be in the mix as well. I'm sure in the history of R&B, Rock, Country, Jazz, etc. there have been watershed moments that would make a top 25 list....but, what about Hip Hop???

Eye mean, let's face it...no matter what your opinion is about the current state of Hip Hop, there is no denying that, to a large degree, it has either directly unseated Rock as the dominant genre (read:pop) or influenced the styles of today's most popular artists in a way that makes it's imprint indelible on the ears of the music world. And it has been doing so now for the better part of 20-25 years. So where, then does Hip Hop's defining live moments fit in the bigger picture...and what are those moments?

For me, the most obvious choice is the original Fresh Fest in ATL. That original concert spawned the national arena tour that largely introduced Hip Hop to America formally. That show set the stage for the explosion of Hip Hop into the mainstream and established the dominant presence of the main instigators of that jump from sub-genre status...Run-DMC.

What other concerts, Hip Hop or otherwise, would you rate as among the most historically significant?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/19/2012 03:22PM by EyeGetzRaw.

Quote
EyeGetzRaw

It got me thinking though, about what the general consensus has been in regards to the most significant concert events in history. Right off top, I'd say the big three would have to be Woodstock, Live Aid, and the Monterey Pop Festival. The Beatles @ Shea Stadium would probably be in the mix as well.

I'd probably add in the, US Festival, back in '82/'83

Quote
EyeGetzRaw


For me, the most obvious choice is the original Fresh Fest in ATL. That original concert spawned the national arena tour that largely introduced Hip Hop to America formally. That show set the stage for the explosion of Hip Hop into the mainstream and established the dominant presence of the main instigators of that jump from sub-genre status...Run-DMC.

What other concerts, Hip Hop or otherwise, would you rate as among the most historically significant?

The Fresh Fest, for sure, was the catalyst....

...in the UK it would be the UK Fresh '86 (Historic event in UK which included artists like Afrika Bambaataa, Aleem, DJ Cheese & Word Of Mouth, Steady B & Grand Dragon KD, Captain Rock, Dr Jeckyll & Mr Hyde, Lovebug Starski, Just Ice & Mantronix, World Class Wrecking Crew, Sir Mix-A-Lot, Masquerade, Roxanne Shante, The Real Roxanne & Howie Tee, Mantronix & MC Tee, Grandmaster Flash & Hashim)


...perhaps the Raising Hell Tour ('86) being the biggest world tour (at that time, in the world of Rap)...that I can remember. excellent show, BTW.

..maybe the Def Jam Tour ('87)...another excellent show...


...present day - maybe The Rock The Bells tour....?






peace.

Good thread.

I'd say Rock the Bells is one of the biggest "mega" tours in the HIp Hop shows category.

For me personally, it was 1996s Smoking Groove's Tour with Busta Rhymes, A Tribe Called Quest, the Fugees, Spearhead, Cypress Hill and Ziggy Marley & the Melody Makers. I feel lucky for seeing all of those heavy hitters live at one time. Cypress Hill, not suprisingly was way over the top with giant bongs on stage, a buddah hookah, and kept stopping rapping midway through thier songs so they could "Hold up, I think we need another hit!" I remember they were literally throwing joints out to the audience and this was indoors at the Target Center in Mn. Cops were all around the perimeter of the place and they didn't do a damn thing it was kind of weird in hindsite. Tribe was incredible.

This Smoking Grooves tour went on for a few years in various forms, I wonder if it still does.

Don't get me wrong though, as far as mega tours go, that's not even close to the best, Rock the Bells in it's first year was a dream line up of MCs.

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I forgot to mention my 2 cents on Clearchannel, I am (not surprisingly) very anti CC when it comes to that old school monopoly that rules the airwaves, from payola to just plain bad taste in music, they are all that's left of the old music industry because they are in the "too big to fail" category. When they say something like "Biggest Musical Event In History" I take that with a grain of salt. Forcing me to go to this concert would probably be pure torture, although I don't know the lineup, I almost don't have to know it, I'm pretty sure it's the absolute schwaggest pop on the planet.

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@P...good call on UK Fresh....was a critical point for Hip Hop's international recognition.

Rock The Bells proved that Hip Hop could do the festival style events successfully (without having to be packaged with other genres).

Of course, all these more recent festival events (Bonaroo, Lalapalooza, RTB, Glastonbury, etc.) are all trying to recapture the Woodstock & Monterey essence.

@Wiscompton...couldn't agree more on the CC piece.

Missed Smokin Grooves...saw some video footage, would've loved to have caught that one live.


@All...so when considering the original premise (biggest musical event in history), where do you reckon some of these Hip Hop shows rank among the shows most often cited for such recognition? Is there a Hip Hop show in the top 10...top 5....top 3? (and for the sake of this discussion, I'm including factors like musical influence, size, performance, cultural impact, innovation, etc. in the definition of "biggest" )



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/2012 03:58PM by EyeGetzRaw.