yes during there Heaven or Las Vegas tour...in San Jose....opening was Mazzy Star.....great performance.......the lights the sounds the beauty.....

Yes... HoLV tour for me too, in Seattle for the second leg of the tour. (also saw them for 4CC tour, but was not blown away).

That HoLV show was absolute bliss... I was floating an inch or two above the floor, 15 feet away from both Liz and Robin.

Standing there at the front of the floor before the show, the burly security/crowd control guy in front of us kept saying something like "You need to stay back... you need to back up a bit... I don't want anything to get out of hand here..."
We of course were laughing at that last bit.
I asked him "You haven't heard these guys before have you?"
He shook his head no.
"You think this is going to be punk rock with crowd surfing and moshing, right?"
He kinda went "Well..."
I said "Don't worry, there will be no wildness here... this band is different. You'll have an easy night."

So the show starts ("Dials" plays over the loudpseakers as the lights go down, and as Simon, Robin and finally Liz enter the stage), first song starts playing (I don't have the setlist handy, but I think it was "Blue Bell Knoll") and everyone gets all crazy and floaty simultaneously. The crowd control guy twists his head (he's facing us) during the first few songs from time to time to sneak a peek at Liz as she sings. By the 3rd or 4th song, he's angled his body so he doesn't have to crane his neck. At one point about midway through the show, I notice that he is somewhat open-mouthed, eyes locked on Liz... presumably in some sort of rapture. I elbowed my companions to get them to see this guy - we all got a great laugh out of that.

Highlight of the night though... when Carolyn's Fingers went into the instrumental break that the song ends with, Robin and Simon cranked it up a bit... right as the lasers flicked on... and the whole place went nucking futs.
Ahhhhhh.... such a great show.

Wish I could have caught em for the Milk and Kisses tour.
That's my main regret...

I remember completely missing them (as I do with ALL shows in my life) when they played at UCIrvine while I was working on a student dance piece durring the war (the FIRST time we bombed the fuck out of Bagdad)

saw HOLV in NYC and SF. Not so awesome. Saw 4CC in NYC, s'ok. Saw M&K in L.A.. I fucking wept!

nearly saw them in '87 i think, had tickets and everything but they cancelled the N.A. tour.

Yes, in the early 80's, the "Heaven or Las Vegas" tour I think. I saw them at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles. Mazzy Star opened for them, whom I remember thinking at the time was the whiney. The lead singer actually stopped singing during the second song and made some complaint to the sound guys. She seemed all in a huff and a mood through the set. Not a good prelude to such a serene band as The Cocteau Twins. Then the Cocteau Twins entered, Elizabeth last. I remember thinking that she was dressed so plainly. I had imagined flowing Stevie Nicks-type gypsy clothes, but she wore a turtleneck seater and jeans. They began to pour out dry ice smoke along the stage, and she began to sing. I just sat with my eyes closed for long minutes listening to the music I had been making love to flow out. She truly has the most moving voice.

I saw them at the Warfield some number of years ago probably for Milk and Kisses. I was amazed at the sound quality since their stuff uses so many effects. What I remember most is standing next to this guy who was at times sobbing and so weak in the knees that his friends had to hold him up, he screamed "WE LOVE YOU ELIZABETH" over and over. I myself didn't cry but totally understood what this guy was experiencing. It was just incredibly beautiful...

I've actually seen them 5 times...

Twice on the HOLV tour (at the Wiltern, and at the Bren Events Center at UCI), twice at the Warfield for the 4CC, and once (at the Warfield) on the Milk & Kisses tour.

Had I suspected that this would be their last album/tour, I would have become a groupie on that last tour.

I must say that the 1st and last tours definitely impressed me the most. Liz was going through an interesting phase during the 4CC tour, where the music sounded the same, but her vocals were really out there.

The first show was probably the all time best for me... being that I was having an "ecstatic" experience... and having that wall of sound coming at me for almost two hours was sublime. I really felt like I had reached Nirvana. I just held my friends' hands and cried.

I would disagree that the shows sound anything like the albums... this primarily because Liz can't really overdub herself in a live venue. However, the overall effect was blissful every single time.

A dear friend of mine visited September Sound studios shortly after the Milk and Kisses tour, and saw some reels with the "working" names of songs that were in progress for the forthcoming Cocteau album. When they broke up shortly thereafter, I started to contemplate how many years it would be until we would eventually hear "The Lost Cocteau Twins Tapes"

One can only hope!

I saw them also on the Heaven or Las Vegas tour. I was in the 12th row at the Greek Theatre at UC Berkeley and that night I realized that Elizabeth Fraser is one of the most beautiful women ever (her voice, her presence...). That still lives in my memory as one of the best shows I've ever seen.