10 Live Shows That Changed Music History

The entire concept of a touring musician revolves around the live stage. Though kicking back in the studio can be a blast from time to time, you don't really get to say you're a seasoned musician until you're able to play your stuff to the people face to face. We've come a long way from the theater crowd though...and things have gotten a lot bigger.

From every branch of the entertainment industry, musicians (and businessmen behind them) have come together for gigs that have become transitional moments for the art form as a whole. Rather than just rest on your laurels, a lot of these gigs manage to provide a certain amount of spectacle to the show, giving the audience as much of a performance as they were just a runthrough of the group's hits.

However, there are also gigs that just worked well for the public at large, either through a new way of approaching the medium or a cautionary tale as to what not to do whenever you hit the stage. Either way, these gigs stuck out just for their place in the book of music history. They might not be for the best reasons, but these were the gigs that stopped you in your tracks from the first time you saw them.

At the turn of the century, rock had certainly been no stranger to the music festival. Ever since the '60s, it was a good a time as any to put together a handful of huge bands under one roof to play to legions of rock fans in any given area. That was just rock and roll...get a load of what the Prince of Darkness did with it.

Being one of the first festivals named after a specific artist, Ozzfest became a one stop shop for every great metal band working in the metal scene at any given moment. While the main draw of this in the early days was the Ozzman himself, we actually have to give some just credit to Sharon Osbourne, who managed to make the magic happen to bring massive amounts of metalheads together under one venue.

Aside from being a fun excuse to see the Prince of Darkness in his element, the up and coming elements of the Ozzfest bill has proved to be a breeding ground for newer acts, with bands like Slipknot playing to their first massive crowds when opening their first gigs in 1999. Though it might seem funny to make fun of Ozzy's Metal Dad demeanor nowadays, it takes a certain stroke of genius to actually pull something like this off.