I had my mind blown just now - Page 4

I felt the same way seeing Godsmack in 2000 with the Ozzfest tour. However, I saw them about a year ago, totally different band. I'm not saying to go and see them again, but if they are in a lineup, give it another shot.

The Gorge is glorious. Everyone should see a show there at least once. Even Goldberg would like like it.

even if someone never went to a concert... I'm sure you'd have to have seen someone perform live.. even if at an art festival or parade or something.

Hell, we got Chairman of the Board to play at our Trade Show last year.

Is Beethoven still playing the ninth?

Yeah, but his earlier stuff was better.

It can be argued that not all rock music has a sell through date. Especially if it's still being performed by the original band.

I would argue that watching an artist and an audience deny their having evolved over the course of twenty to thirty years is probably the most depressing thing ever. The beauty of watching a concert is having that huge group work together to recreate something. Watching musicians (and to a large extent, a crowd) try and do something they did decades previous is kinda like buying a sports car.

Dude, Beethoven sold out years ago. It's about Strauss, either one now.

I'm not proud of this but I wasn't a huge fan of Arcade Fire when I first heard their stuff. I mean I got why people liked them but they did nothing for me. A friend gave me a ticket because he was a huge fan and his wife couldn't go. I'm not one to turn down a free concert so I went. One of the best concerts I've ever seen. In concert their sound really comes alive and vibrant. I'm still not the biggest fan of their studio tracks but damn if they aren't one of my favourite new bands simply due to their live show.

I have no idea if there's a producer alive (and working) who could capture their energy and sound in the studio.

Same here - that's why I make a concerted effort to catch PJ at every venue when they're in town. No set is the same, you often get some great improv stuff, and they've always been great live. I'm torn now, because Vedder's playing the Wiltern next month...on my girlfriend's birthday. And X is playing at the Fonda a couple of days prior to that. Damned birthdays.

I agree with everyone who has so far mentioned the awesomeness of live music - I had one of my best live concert experiences last year when a friend called me up saying that he had comped tickets to see Neil Young at the Nokia Theatre. I went with it, figured we'd be stuck behind some fucking pylon or in the nosebleeds, but thought I was going to pass out when I realized that we had orchestra seats 27 rows away from the stage. Best free concert ever, and Young absolutely killed.

How do you feel about cover bands?

Not particularly great either. The concert/Rock concert analogy is not very fair. The size of an orchestra does something completely different to that music, though again, the recreation of it is not something that is trying to recreate art from our lifetimes. But artists move forward or stop being interesting.

I agree and that was my problem with The Police tour. Sting wanted identical replicas of their songs while Summers and Copeland wanted more chances to improvise with old tunes. As much as I like Sting I think the way the other two wanted to do the concert would have made for a much better live experience.

Sure. And when that happens you usually get reunion concerts. I'm saying it's possible for some artists to play the same songs they did 30 years ago and still remain artistically valid.

That's why I specifically beat up on a reunion tour thing. If Prince wants to slip in Soft and Wet... oh jesus.

I wonder if this is because Sting realizes he's not very good at revising his own material. Every time a Police song has gotten a makeover at his hands ("Don't Stand So Close to Me," "Demolition Man," the slow, grating version of "Roxanne" I heard him play live years ago), it's vastly inferior to the original. He should probably have more faith in Copeland and Summers, but the guy's kind of a control freak.

Like Rock Band. Is there anything else that's both so much fun to try, yet excruciating - EXCRUCIATING - to sit and watch?

Lesson: Be IN the cover band if you want to tolerate it...

I really, really like the Arcade Fire albums, but there's just no comparison. Every song they've released sounds better live. They're basically the ultimate argument for going out to see a band play.

There are people who probably don't get Funeral and Neon Bible at all, but would become die-hard fans upon seeing Arcade Fire live.

So true. Like I mentioned above, Arcade Fire re-awoke the concert lover in me. I find it difficult to believe anyone could go to one of their shows and not have a great time.

Then there are cover bands who take it to a whole new level. Assuming you like Gabriel era Genesis, these guys are legitimately excellent- The Musical Box.

Possible. When I saw he and Annie Lennox a couple years back he did a version of Demolition Man that was actually worse then his previous re-make of that song. His part if the show was technically perfect but horribly uninspired. Annie on the other hand was amazing...

I listen to Funeral and I can enjoy the songs because I know what they sound like live but they just seem so distant on album. Part of it is the production but I suspect a great deal of it is the actual recording process. I suspect they're one of those bands that should record live as a band and do very little overdubs.

Neon Bible sounds a lot more like a band who has figured out what works for them in the studio.

And I definitely agree with your last statement. If you love music you should see them live.

Yeah, that is exactly the way I thought and felt in high school, and I really could have used some therapy. Less disfiguring scars that way.

Also, Chimaira are known to use quite as frequently as LoG.

That's the coolest thing I've read all day. One of the scariest concerts I saw was a Genitorturers show with multiple ritualistic theatrical castrations. I was scared for my balls.

I should mention that until a few years ago, I had a lot of annoying apprehensions about driving. I tried to never drive long distances to places I hadn't been before, for fear of getting lost. I didn't use street signs for navigation, and barely knew my way around my home town except via landmarks (turn left at the McDonald's, straight past the Top Foods to get to the movie theatre, shit like that).

I didn't drive a significant distance on I-5 until my first month of college. The thought of navigating Seattle itself was just... not an option.

This is no longer really the case. I'm still sort of nervous when driving to new places, but not nearly so much, and I never let it actually deter me from doing things. Google Maps has helped a great deal with this.

You mean you've also never eaten at Ivar's Mukilteo Landing on the shores of the Puget Sound?

For shame dude.

I can understand that though, for similar reasons I can never convince my family to travel out to LA even though it's really easy to get there from Vegas.

But I traveled alot when I was younger, several cross country road trips, and besides traveling from LA to Seattle multiple times I also lived in Gresham Oregon for a about 4 years when I was younger and we'd take trips up to the Seattle area all the time.

I've seen Pearl Jam a few times, but nothing tops the shows I caught in Seattle, and the local music scene is spectacular in both Portland and Seattle. Managed to catch the often cancelled and poorly funded Seattle Musicfest once in 2004 and was supposed to go in 2005, which would've had a line up including They Might be Giants, but alas it was not meant to be...

And reiterating some of the earlier discussion about reunions...all I got to say to that is Led Zeppelin. What I've seen of their reunion is pretty fucking spectacular. They need to do a world tour.

I'm in my thirties now and it's been at least 10 years since I've been to a concert. Just sitting back and listening to the band doesn't do it for me. But oh man, when I was younger and with fully operating knees I loved being in the pit. Wasn't going for the music but for the craziness that would ensue. Metallica, Iron Maiden, Manowar, Sepultura, other local metal bands, the louder the better. There's no feeling like being in the middle of it, fighting, with the speakers trying to pop your eyes out.

I remember going to a Sepultura concert for the Chaos A.D. tour. As we're walking out high from the adrenaline, dripping with sweat, barely able to breathe we walked straight into a knife fight. I think half a day went by before my heart rate dropped back to normal.

I cant understand how someone could not go to concerts in their life. Concerts are a required part of life.

DJ Dylan, back from another hiatus with profound statements once again. Watch out.

He's a man with a plan. A man with grilled cheese in his hand.

I call halfsies I'm hungry!

Now I'm definitely going to the They Might Be Giants concert on Saturday! (barring major cataclysm)

So what are some of the better moments we've had at shows? I'd say mine was The Decemberists getting really awkward about the crowd not knowing english, but completely relieved to find out that my friend and I did indeed speak the same language was amazing. We were all a bit more proud to be americans that night

One of my favorite moments was recounted in the missing Jesus Lizard thread...David Yow floored me with a big Doc Martin to the face while he was molesting a poor innocent girl with his microphone. Another good one, having a drink with Mark Sandman before a Morphine show.

I found this thread whilst searching for a Dropkick Murphys thread and I had to bump it because I'm genuinely interested if Patrick had a change of heart in regards to seeing live bands.

Carly's dad took us to see Bruce Springsteen and it was the best possible thing I could imagine, even way up in the nosebleeds (just like Dave B mentioned, actually). Bruce is probably my favorite musical artist of all time, and he's also one of the great live performers of all time, so a lot of things that normally bug me weren't even close to an issue.

I also saw Leonard Cohen, but that was more of a religious experience than anything else. The man's true genius is as a songwriter, not performer, but just seeing the man on stage in a classy theater, singing "Dance Me To The End Of Love" gave me incredible chills.

Also saw The Mountain Goats live. They were alright. Sounded fine, but again, they're a band I appreciate more as songwriters than performers.

I think in general, I'm a lot happier, more well-adjusted, and saner than I was in 2008, and I could probably enjoy concerts a lot more under the right circumstances. I love live music, but I still prefer the much smaller venues. I performed as part of a giant cover set show (as guitar player for a Half-Japanese cover band) at a VERY small venue (bout 30 to 40) and there was a Fleetwood Mac cover set that was so above and beyond any music I had ever heard live (Springsteen aside) that it still gives me chills thinking about it.

The other bands I really want to see live are The National and Okkervil River, and will jump at the chance to see them perform. Apart from that, a vast majority of the music I love isn't very current or would be too expensive to bother seeing live.

I saw the Sex Pistols on their 90's tour and it was pretty fucking good. No PIL stuff but they threaded some covers in amongst their own material. Set was about an hour and a half, I think.

I couldnt imagine going through life having never been to a concert.

Concerts are amazing. Going to the concerts, I'd say I mostly experienced two types of concert visitors. Those who go there to mosh or dance as hard as possible and those who are primarily there to see the band play.

I loved the pits when I was younger but nowadays I gotta admit I actually like to see what I paid for. The last time I saw Metallica I had a seat for the first time. I mean, of course no one actually sat for the 2h setlist but it was such a comfortable thing not getting pushed around, not getting annoying stagedivers onto your back, not getting doused with beer, not swimming in elbows, seeing every awesome guitar solo and still being able to rock out. This reads so lame.