Bill Monroe at the Calif. BG Assn's Father's Day Festival in the mid 80s was my second favorite. Old, somewhat failing, he came off his bus and KILLED. He still had a right hand rhythm to die for.

My all time favorite was at the Fillmore West in 1968. B.B. King, determined to break out of the chitlin circuit and into a wider audience, appeared several times (thanks Bill Graham). With one of his greatest bands, Sonny Freeman and the Originals, B.B. gave performances stronger than anyone I've ever seen, stronger than any he's given since. He was still in his forties then and the fire was hot. He did all his early classics from the fifties and early sixties. I still remember 'Sweet Sixteen' and 'Worry, worry' and 'Sweet Little Angel'.

At the end of the regular program he would invite all the rockstars up on stage to play. At the end of the jam sessions there was figurative blood all over the stage and wasn't none of it B.B.'s. I've never seen anything like it since. B.B. accomplished what he set out to do.