The Good Ol' Concert Days

[Phylum of Alexandria]

I've been pining for the days of going to shows. There are plenty of bands or artists out there worth checking out live now, but my concert days are pretty much over. I'm not sure where I'd fall in the general ranking of "seen a lot" to "hardly at all," though I know some people who have been to many, many more than I have. Still, trying to remember the ones I've been to, it's hard to nail everything down, and I don't think that's due to old age. Here's what I came up with

1996:

The Pansy Division

The Queers (w/ Groovie Ghoulies)

96-99: 

The Cramps (w/ Nashville Pussy and Guitar Wolf) - Lux Interior scaling the walls of the venue, and then trashing the drums with his underwear on his head was a highlight

My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult (w Electric Hellfire Club)

David Bowie (playing 3 hours at an intimate venue. Amazing)

Shonen Knife (got to meet them!)

Fugazi (only $6 for a fantastic concert)

Warped Tour '97 (saw The Bosstones, The Descendents, Social Distortion, Suicide Machines, and a bunch of others):

Bauhaus - first time together since 83

The Creatures (w John Cale!) Siouxsie recently started touring again this year, but she can't quite sing in the way that she used to

Atari Teenage Riot (w Shizuo)

Went to a lot of rave events in the late 90s. The most notable people I saw were probably Delta 9, Nostrum, Darren Emerson, and masturbating creep Paul Oakenfold

00-07:

Modest Mouse (twice)

Red House Painters (the only standing room show I've been to where everyone sat on the floor)

TKK (two more times)

Roni Size & Reprazent

Cradle of Filth

Tool (w Tomahawk. I think I was the only person in the audience who liked them. Mike Patton told the audience: "Don't boo at us. Blame Tool, they invited us")

Patti Smith (twice, the first with her spitting mucus all over the stage because she was sick at the time)

David Byrne (w Juana Molina)

Stereolab

Clinic - one of the weirdest concerts. it felt like it was a recording playing on 3x speed. Over before we knew it.

Zwan

Radiohead (w Stephen Malkmus)

The Flaming Lips (w Sparklehorse)

The Magnetic Fields (w Andrew Bird) - disappointing actually, given my high expectations. Stephin seemed like he didn't want to be there.

Franz Ferdinand

The Shins

The Raveonettes

!!!

Autechre (pitch black show, couldn't even say I "saw" them, save for some dim lights for them to see their gear)

Caribou

Deerhoof

Prefuse 73

Animal Collective (Feels tour: one of the greatest shows I've ever been to)

Mogwai

Sonic Youth (w Be Your Own Pet) - Kim Gordon's ironic observation: "Were half of you even born when we wrote that song?"

Danielson Familie

Battles

Q-Tip (secret Tribe Called Quest reunion) - got to chat with Phife Dawg afterwards, R.I.P.

Antony & the Johnsons (at Carnegie Hall with Little Jimmy Scott and Lou Reed as guests, and David Bowie spotted in the audience)

TV on the Radio

Patrick Wolf (twice, first time with Patrick attacking and firing his drummer for passing out halfway through the set) 

Amy Winehouse (R.I.P.)

And after that...not so much. (2012-2018):

Patrick Wolf once more

M.I.A

The Knife

Yamantaka Sonic Titan (w Solar Year)

Angelique Kidjo (w Femi Kuti)

 

That's all that comes to mind, other than random local shows from the high school days. It's cool to see footage from some of the shows available on YouTube. I can watch the Fugazi, Animal Collective, and Battles shows in full. I complain about technology a lot, but it does have its moments of wonder!

What are some of the best concerts you've seen? What were some that you expected to be awesome, but kind of sucked?

 

[3CityApache]

That is an impressive list and no mistake.

I will try to do the list of the most memorable gigs I saw myself, somewhat chronologically, but mostly without exact dates, I have a terrible memory for it.

Radiohead, Foo Fighters, Beck, Soundgarden, Throwing Muses, Buffalo Tom, Heather Nova, dEUS, Dog Eat Dog, Yo La Tengo - all at Lawlands Festival 1995 (that was one hell of a line-up there).

Pixies

U2

The Cure - saw them three times in late 90-s/early 2000-s, one of these was a brilliant, 3-hours monster show.

Placebo, Manu Chao, Franz Ferdinand, Sigur Ros (this last one was one of the three best shows I ever seen, truly magical experience) - all at Opener Festival 2006.

Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds (another one of my top3 shows)

Smashing Pumpkins (probably around 1997)

Muse, Starsailor, Eels, Ash, System of a Down, Pulp, Manu Chao, Placebo - at Lowlands 2001

Interpol, Editors

Kings of Leon, Faith No More, Moby, Arctic Monkeys - all at Opener 2009

Prince, Coldplay, Pulp, The Strokes, The National, Foals, Primus - all at Opener 2011

Mogwai, Low, Primal Scream, Public Image Limited - all great shows at Off Festival 2011

Queens of the Stone Age

The Walkmen, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, My Bloody Valentine - at Off Festival 2013

Blur

Slowdive at Off Festival 2014 - absolutely the best show I ever saw (tears in my eyes the whole time)

Neutral Milk Hotel, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Belle and Sebastian

Mumford and Sons, Alt-J

The Residents, Ride, Patti Smith - at Off 2015

Red Hot Chili Peppers, LCD Soundsystem, Florence + The Machine

And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Daed, M.I.A., Grizzly Bear - at Off 2018

The Breeders

The Dandy Warhols

I also saw Slowdive one more time so far (two aditional shows scheduled for this summer), and The National and Sigur Ros two more times.

Not counting the shows of my local bands, some of them were exceptionally great as well.

[Phylum of Alexandria]

28 minutes ago, 3CityApache said:

I will try to do the list of the most memorable gigs I saw myself, somewhat chronologically, but mostly without exact dates, I have a terrible memory for it.

That's a fantastic list. Lot of bands I would love/would have loved to see.

It's crazy that I never got to see Nick Cave. Sigur Ros as well. And Slowdive would be really special. Pygmalion is one of my favorites albums ever. Neutral Milk Hotel must have been a very rare opportunity, as Jeff Mangum doesn't play a whole bunch.

 

 

[Phylum of Alexandria]

35 minutes ago, 3CityApache said:

The Walkmen, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, My Bloody Valentine - at Off Festival 2013

 

Godamnnit, that one line alone!

[Ran]

4 hours ago, Phylum of Alexandria said:

The Knife

Good taste. That must have been their last tour, for Shaking the Habitual, right?

[Phylum of Alexandria]

24 minutes ago, Ran said:

Good taste. That must have been their last tour, for Shaking the Habitual, right?

Yup! Unfortunately the last. Nice that Olof was on about half of Karin's last Fever Ray album, of course.

That was a great concert. When they played "Full of Fire" it felt like I was in Hell. In a good way.

[Tywin et al.]

Even before the pandemic concerts felt like they were dying. I'll go see different genres, but rock has always been the best live and it feels kind of dead right now. 

[Phylum of Alexandria]

54 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

Even before the pandemic concerts felt like they were dying. I'll go see different genres, but rock has always been the best live and it feels kind of dead right now. 

Rock is definitely dead in terms of what's most popular, but there are a lot of great acts on the indie/punk side of things. I'd feel weird going to a hardcore show at this point though. I mean, it's an effort to be out past 11 these days, dealing with a mosh pit is a whole other ballpark...

[3CityApache]

Few other shows that slippped my memory before iclude Suede, James (how the hell could I forget about them!? also one of the best ever), Sun Kil Moon, Arab Strap, Stereophonics, Embrace, Bastille, Kula Shaker, White Lies, The Libertines, Metronomy, Turin Brakes. 
 

Probably still missing quite a few. 

[Phylum of Alexandria]

6 minutes ago, 3CityApache said:

Few other shows that slippped my memory before iclude Suede, James (how the hell could I forget about them!? also one of the best ever), Sun Kil Moon, Arab Strap, Stereophonics, Embrace, Bastille, Kula Shaker, White Lies, The Libertines, Metronomy, Turin Brakes. 

You've clearly far surpassed me at this point. All I thought of were Supa DJ Dmitry from Deee-lite, and The Roots. Oh and Afrika Bambaataa, yet another icon with some heinous allegations against him. Music's still great, though...

[3CityApache]

5 minutes ago, Phylum of Alexandria said:

You've clearly far surpassed me at this point. 

Not a competition, but it’s utterly pointless to even try surpassing seeing David Bowie live. 

Edited June 5 by 3CityApache

[Wilbur]

5 hours ago, 3CityApache said:

Not a competition, but it’s utterly pointless to even try surpassing seeing David Bowie live. 

I never saw Bowie live, but I will propose a surprising artist as the best in concert.

Weird Al's shows are truly incredible for how tight, professional, high-quality and entertaining they are.  Constant background AV shows that complement the songs the band is playing, regular costume and scenery changes without missing a beat or breaks between songs, everyone including Al at maximum energy all night long, it is great.

I don't enjoy long breaks between songs or between bands, so that colors my perception, but live shows that are well choreographed always please me more than disorganized performances.  On the spectrum between Iron Maiden precision and Guns N' Roses slop, Weird Al is military-grade diversion.

Given that I have seen some low-energy shows and bands, either from being exhausted from touring or drug use or whatever, or just not up to the task off maintaining all night, the contrast to the 100% of the Weird Al shows are pretty stark.

Another compare and contrast?  Depeche Mode before drug problems vs Depeche Mode when David Gahan was in serious trouble.  Very good to painfully bad.

Sometimes the time in the tour will make a difference to the experience as well.  We saw They Might Be Giants this spring in San Diego on their first week, maybe their second performance, on their new tour, first after Covid.  It was rough going, although the rain pissing down for the last two thirds of the show didn't help.  Lots of talking, not much actual performing.

I agree that the day of the Arena Rock Band Concert may be behind us.  Some of the really outstanding voices (eg. Ozzy, Bruce Dickinson, Charlie Clark, Dio) are victims to age or mortality, as noted above.  However, the grey-haired bearded fat dudes who used to head bang in the 1980s are still attending shows, rolling in early for the best acoustic spots, getting out their iPhones to take group selfies, wearing comfortable shoes and jeans, looking for that high.

Edited June 6 by Wilbur
Observation

[Tongue Stuck to Wall]

I saw Iron Maiden in 1991; Anthrax opened for them and my ears are still ringing from that show. 

[Phylum of Alexandria]

1 hour ago, Wilbur said:

Another compare and contrast?  Depeche Mode before drug problems vs Depeche Mode when David Gahan was in serious trouble.  Very good to painfully bad.

Yeah, drug use is an important factor, particularly heroin. Amy Winehouse sounded good enough, but she was mostly staring at her feet, and whatever it was that she mumbled between songs I could not discern.

Aside from the early years, I would have liked to have caught Depeche for their Playing the Angel or Sounds of the Universe tours. Gahan's singing just got better and better in my opinion.

[Wilbur]

8 hours ago, Phylum of Alexandria said:

Yeah, drug use is an important factor, particularly heroin. Amy Winehouse sounded good enough, but she was mostly staring at her feet, and whatever it was that she mumbled between songs I could not discern.

Aside from the early years, I would have liked to have caught Depeche for their Playing the Angel or Sounds of the Universe tours. Gahan's singing just got better and better in my opinion.

That's a good point.  It wasn't that David Gahan's singing voice was bad, but that his focus was...lacking, and the rest of DM were obviously unhappy.  His voice seems well suited for longevity, too.

But overall, drugs can hurt the voice, perhaps, but aging is probably a greater danger to technical ability. With drugs, it is the secondary effects that really destroy the performers - I should have made that more clear, as you did.

On a totally unrelated note, enjoy the comments section of this Sam Donaldson interview of Jerry Garcia and Sting.

 

Edited June 6 by Wilbur
Holy cow, how high is Sting here?

[Durckad]

I'm not sure exactly the years on some of these, but here goes...

Styx - I know this was the first concert I wanted to go to, must've been the mid-90's? Went with a bunch of friends and, for some reason, we were all super into Styx at the time. I don't exactly remember why, but I still enjoy the shit out of them now and again. Overall, it was a really good show, from what I remember.

Velvet Revolver - This was, I believe, before their second album came out. Pretty good show, but not mind-blowing. The opening act failed to show, for whatever reason, so my friend and I spent about an hour sweating in the pit with no live music playing. Not the greatest way to start a show.

Opeth with Katatonia opening for them - Opeth was great, Katatonia was eh, but I'm not their biggest fan honestly. Opeth was on their "clean singing only tour" which was just after the Heritage album came out so it wasn't... the best set list, IMO, but they still played really well and the songs that I wasn't that big of a fan of were very good live.

Iron Maiden with Dream Theater opening - Great show, Maiden played a set of mostly newer material, which I know isn't super popular but it was great to hear some deep cuts. Dream Theater was also great. Two drunk guys from Germany were in the chairs directly in front of my friend and I and after almost every song, they'd cheer, turn around and high five us.

Between the Buried and Me with Intronaut and Deafheaven opening - Fucking massive lineup here. Intronaut was heavy as fuck, Deafheaven was better than I'd anticipated and BTBAM was very, very good. Not the best show ever, but the lineup made up for it.

Rush - This was on the Clockwork Angels tour and it was absolutely fucking amazing. A good mix of classic material and newer material with an encore of 2112. Fuck yes. 

Steven Wilson - This was on the Hand. Cannot. Erase. tour and it was just a really great show. I was kinda cold on the album at the time but hearing most of it live really helped get me to appreciate it more and now? I absolutely love that album.

The Sword with Bison B.C. opening - Both were actually kinda meh, but that might be due to the sound mixing. I could barely hear a fucking thing during either show.

Nightwish - Nightwish played without an opening band and they fucking killed it. This was right after Floor's first album with the band and she was absolutely amazing live.

Blind Guardian - A band called Gravedigger opened for them and they were alright, but Blind Guardian fucking killed it. It was the 20th anniversary of their Imaginations from the Other Side album so they played that in its entirety and it was fantastic.

Savages - Savages put on a helluva show that was a bit marred by some shitty sound mixing. Lots of needless feedback. Also, the show was in mid-July and was being played in an enclosed basement room with little no ventilation and absolutely no AC. My friend and I were both sweating buckets like 10 minutes in. Honestly a pretty unpleasant show but the band was still great.

Haken - Saw them on their Affinity tour and they played with three other bands that I do not remember the names of in a very small bar. Could take or leave the opening acts but Haken put on a very good show. Unfortunately, either all of their good merch was sold out when I got there or their merch, in general, was just kinda... sucky. Nothing more disappointing than going to a show not being able to get some cool merch out of it.

Devin Townsend - Some local band opened for Devin and they were honestly pretty fucking good. I am absolutely kicking myself because I completely forgot their name, but they did a very good job getting the crowd all riled up. Devin fucking absolutely killed it.

Santana - Not a big Santana fan, but I got free tickets from my work and it was a pretty good show overall. Not amazing but I had a good time.

Primus with Clutch opening - Went to this primarily for Clutch, but honestly? Primus fucking delivered. They did a lot of jamming and even though I wasn't super familiar with all of their songs, it was still a great show. Clutch was great as well, but just could not compare to Les Claypool.

Anthrax and Killswitch Engage with Havok and Sonata Arctica opening - Anthrax was why I was there and they put on a good, but short set, mostly "classic" material, unsurprisingly. Havok was surprisingly good and Sonata Arctica were not bad as well, though I skipped out early on Killswitch as I wasn't that much of a fan.

Steven Wilson - Caught him again on the To The Bone tour and while it wasn't as good as his first show that I saw, it was still very good.

Ghost - This was, I believe, on the Prequelle tour and it was a very, very good show. Unfortunately, Ghost had to cancel their show about halfway through as someone in the crowd had a medical emergency (heart attack, I think) that resulted in their death. The venue and the band did put on another show about 6 months later and everyone got free tickets to the new show to make up for it. Both shows were very, very good despite the unfortunate events surrounding them and I thought it was very cool that the venue and band comped the replacement tickets.

Arcade Fire - Manchester Orchestra opened for them and though I wasn't familiar with them, my friend that I went with was and they seemed good. Arcade Fire, however, put on a great show. I believe this was the tour for Everything Now and though that album is kinda derided by some, the songs slapped live honestly.

Incubus - A couple of friends and I went and saw Incubus live and this was like the week after I saw Arcade Fire and comparatively, while Incubus was quite good, they did not hold up to Arcade Fire unfortunately. Still a good show though.

Dream Theater - Saw them again on the 20th Anniversary of Scenes From a Memory so they played that in its entirety. Honestly, really made me appreciate the album more than I did at the time.

Iron Maiden - It's Maiden and they always put on a good show. This was mostly classics which was fine, it was nice to get a completely different set than when I first saw them.

King Gizzard & the Lizzard Wizard - Fucking massive show honestly. Two bands opened for them, The Orb (?, I think) (who are apparently impossible to search on google) and Stonefield which are another rock band from Australia. Both were honestly really good. King Gizz, on the other hand, were amazing. They played a variety of songs from all across their repertoire: some fuzzy, psychedelic songs, some softer boogie and folk tunes, a couple of heavy thrash metal songs, and closed it out with an almost 30 minute psychedelic jam. Absolutely amazing.

Sleater-Kinney - Sleater-Kinney was the very last band I saw in the before times (before COVID) so it holds a kind of special place in my heart as a bit of an end of an era. Before Covid, I very much would jump at the chance to go and see a band live, even if I had to go alone and most of the above shows, I went to by myself. Now? It's not so much Covid, but just the fact that I'm 3 years older, almost 40, and the thought of going to so many shows now just makes me feel exhausted. The fact that I haven't been to many shows in the past years and have "gotten used to it" has certainly affected that as well and it kinda sucks. Still, Sleater-Kinney was good, not amazing or anything, but they put on a good show. I think this may have been after their original drummer left, but I can't be sure so I don't think I even got to see that lineup. Oh well. Still a good show.

Apocalyptica with Leprous and Wheel - This was the first and only show I've been to since Covid. I went primarily for Leprous, who were fucking great. Wheel was a surprise. I had never heard them before but they played metal in the style of Tool. Pretty damn good honestly. Apocalyptica I had heard of before but had never heard them. They were also good but I skipped out about 3/4 of the way through their set as I was getting tired and sore from headbanging. Old people problems.

Best concerts out of those? Easily Rush, King Gizzard, and maybe... Nightwish?

Worst? Easily The Sword. Not a bad show, but kinda just eh.

Most disappointing? Savages unfortunately. They put on a helluva show but the mixing was painfully bad.

[SpaceChampion]

Saw Garbage and Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds Monday night in Toronto. 

[drawkcabi]

If I hadn't been going to Atlantic City as a kid with my dad every few months or so for a string of years (roughly from 1986 - 1996) I would have never seen as many concerts as I did, including comedians and magicians I saw...

Donna Summer

The Pointer Sisters

George Burns/ Lucy Arnaz

David Copperfield (a few times)

The Temptations and The Four Tops (saw wach group individually once, saw them perform together twice.)

Kenny Rogers

Chicago

Marilyn McCoo and the 5th Dimension

Julio Iglesias (funny thing...his opening act was Jeff Dunham)

Jay Leno (probably the most disappointing)

Jerry Seinfeld 

Buddy Hackett (One of the best!)

Joan Rivers

Bob Newhart

Drew Carey 

George Wallace/Kathy Ladman/ Dennis Woflberg

 

Had tickets to see George Carlin, got there the day before and learned the concert had been cancelled, there was some dispute between Carlin and the hotel he was preforming at... Trump Plaza 

 

I had the opportunity to see but chose not to (and I kick myself for this whenever I think of it) Frank Sinatra as well as Whitney Houston.

My parents went to both of those shows though.

 

Outside of Atlantic City, in 1994 I saw Billy Joel and Elton John together at RFK Stadium in Washington D.C. That was a great show!

 

I lived in Hawaii for a short time in 1996/97 and I made friends with a guy there who was a great fan of Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwoʻole. I hadn't heard of him at that point. My friend took me to one of his concerts and it was one of the best shows I'd ever been too. Sadly, a few months later was when IZ passed away.