Just now realizing it was almost 20 years ago that my wife, my son, and I became somewhat taken with Dream Theater, thanks to their Scenes From A Memory album. We saw them 4 times in a 5-year span. It’s the only act I’ve seen more than once.
It would be hard to top Queen on The Game tour in 1980. The quality of sound and performance were defineitely the best I’ve ever experienced. But Frank Zappa a year earlier, Judas Priest a year before that, and Stanley Jordan/Jean-Luc Ponty in '87 were all very memorable, and certainly worthy of mention.
Not far. I think it would be a near-tie between Philadelphia, Asbury Park, NJ, and NYC, each drive-able from home in under 2 hours.
Well, I nearly got to see Led Zeppelin, as told in this post, so that’s a definite one, but it would be easy to add Pink Floyd, Edgar Winter Group, Fuel, Steven Wilson, Symphony X, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Buckethead, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, (some permutation of) Steely Dan, and quite a few others to the all-time wish list.
Not really, but I do generally prefer theater-style settings to arena or stadium events. The Theater at Madison Square Garden (now The Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden) is a good one.