Concerts And You

One of the concerts I had the most fun at was a Guerilla-type System of a Down show here at First ave a few years ago. Tickets were announced like a day before hand, friend waited over night and got 2 of them. In such a smallish club (as opposed to the Metrodome or the Xcell Center) it was awesome to just rock the fuck out. Also, Lords of Acid, back when Voodoo-U came out, at First Ave was fucking amazing and one of the loudest shows I've ever been to.

One of my worst concerts was The Chemical Brothers at, yep First Ave again, when I was in my techno phase. The opening act was BT who fucking smoked them with his overthetop energy and preformance. The Chemical Brothers just sat there pushing buttons. It was boring as hell. About as bad as watching a Dj mix records. BT on the other hand was rocking like 4 keyboards along with some drum machines and going apeshit on them. By the end, 3 of the 4 keyboards were destroyed in pieces.


Also, I saw Atari Teenage Riot back in 96-97 I believe at the same club and it was fucking madness. I believe they were shooting footage for a doc or a video or something so the crowd was insane. I was up front shouting/singing along when out of nowhere Alec Empire punched me in the face. I thought he broke my nose, but instead just gave me a busted lip and a blackeye. I didn't even leave the pit. It was too much fun.

I just had 3 shows in 3 months, a prospect that seems light until I had my son. Sigur Ros, Wolf Parade and Nick Cave. That last one is one of the best I've seen.

Sigur Ros confirmed my hatred for outdoor venues with no seatings, despite a solid performance.

Best show? The Tea Party, a great Canadian band, one months before their breakup, in a small theater with around 1000 people. Amazing.

Apocalyptica is a close second, a pure awesome of metal and cellos.

Best: Pink Floyd for 'the Division Bell'. We had awesome seats, straight back from the stage. This was back when I still (occasionally) smoked pot, and my brother had some really good stuff. High as a kite with an incredible laser and light show, we enjoyed some incredible acoustics in the normally shitty Metrodome (here in MN).

Also: Dream Theater, Metallica, Rush, Yes, Eric Clapton, Damn Yankees, Prince.

Worst: Guns 'n Roses for 'Use Your Illusion I and II'. This is when they toured with Metallica. Faith No More came out and was good (but uneven), and then Metallica came out (for their Black album) and tore the place up. Very tight, very professional, with high energy and enthusiasm. GnR came out about a half hour LATE (this is back when Axl was in full-on prima donna mode) and flat out SUCKED. Boring, uninspired, and strictly there for the paycheck, Axl missed pretty much every note that he tried to reach. Slash was on, but the rest of the band let him down. After the crushing performance of Metallica, I wasn't surprised to see all of the walkouts during GnR's set.

Also: Queensryche

There's nothing firmed up in my future, as far as concerts go.

I haven't been to many. When I was a kid I saw 3 Doors Down and Smash Mouth at the State Fair here but I've come to kind of regret those choices.

The only one really worth anything was Heaven and Hell/Megadeth. Down was supposed to play but that was one of the concerts where Phil had the flu so they cancelled.

If Metallica comes around on the Death Magnetic tour I'll hit that up but otherwise I don't see many in my future. North Dakota's a bit off most the map in terms of getting major tours.

Ha, i swear to god i was going to make the same thread.

These past 3 years i've been to U2 (twice, once in the golden circle), Pearl Jam (twice), Rolling Stones, Roger Waters, Robbie Williams (shut up), Stone Temple Pilots, Dave Matthews Band, Oasis, Jamiroquai, REM, Mars Volta, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Kaiser Chiefs, and a bunch of local bands.

The best one without a doubt was Pearl Jam. I can honestly say that night changed me. It was the closing of a hard but amazing chapter in my life and that night was the perfect bookend. Plus, it was the first of all the list i just mentioned. It kicked off my grown up concert going experience.

The worst had to be the RHCP. It was just a very short concert, with not a great attitude. And i was really away from the band. The rest of them i tend to be really close in the middle of the pit fighting for my life!

Coming up i've got Radiohead in march. Paul McCartney in april (i think) and Foo Fighters & Rage Against the Machine are rumored to come down.

Christ, everyone heard of the Montreal riots after the superb GnR performance.... But I missed the Metallica show when they came back after the incident. Everyone who was there tells me it's the best show they ever seen. 3 hours of Metallica. Non-Stop. I hate myself for that.


I can also add Radiohead to my favorites. A smaller venue, playing a preview of their new album. Amazing.

I also have to see Pearl Jam.

Our show in Minneapolis was a couple of weeks after your incident. James was still recovering from his burns, so someone else played his guitar parts throughout the entire evening (except for 'Enter Sandman'). I've seen Metallica 3 times, and this was my best experience with them. GnR had a truly hard act to follow and didn't even try.

Nothing plan for concerts but I get so worn by down them. I haven't even really seen much. But I'd have to say one of the best shows I ever went to was Depeche Mode at the Staples Center in '05. First time I ever went to show that ran on time. It was great.

Nick Cave had to have been freaking awesome. Would love to see him live.

How did Sigur Ros come across live? I have all of their CD's but seeing them live has to be completely different. I mostly use their music for background.

My wife and I saw Modest Mouse at the house of blues in Myrtle Beach, great show but given their style of music you need to be pretty close to get the full effect.

I saw the same tour. Pretty great, and they're a solid act. Got tickets in a suite from the wife's work, so I guess gratuitous amount of booze contributed to enhance the experience.

Cave tours every few years, but he's a must see. Sigur Ros is nothing short of awesome, really. My only 2 disappointment were the no-seating option venue, and the fact that for that tour they decided to perform alone, without Amiina playing the brass and cellos, it felt like some of the songs were really lacking something, so most songs off Takk and the new record felt naked, while the others were fine.

I recently got to see the Beastie Boys for the first time ever, and that was pretty sweet. It was a Get Out the Vote show, and they had Tenacious D, Ben Harper, and Graham Nash & David Crosby with them. Great show, good crowd, fun time.

One of the best was last year, when I get to see Tori Amos, and was randomly upgraded to a front row center ticket.

Another good one was seeing Fugazi in 1992 or so, and getting pretty much destroyed in the insane mosh pit.

Also, the Decemberists show I got to see on my birthday a couple years back was incredible, despite the drunken douchebag fratboy who decided to sit right in front of me.

Along those lines, the worst show was probably the Okkervil River/New Pornographers show last year in Madison. The bands were great, but the crowd was a buncha dicks. Totally ruined the show for me.

I forgot about Jimmy Buffet. I'm not a big fan, but in the right atmosphere (on a boat, on a beach) his music is appropriate. We saw him at the Target Center here in Minneapolis in the mid 90s. The friend who got the tickets got us really, really, shitty seats. Another friend bullshitted his way into one of the party suites (long story) for a major bank (I won't say which) and got us all in there. We pretended to work for the bank, so the executives that were in neighboring suites bought us cases of beer. Pounding free beer, we all got hammered and listened to Jimmy Buffet (shitty sound, though).

True story.

Metallica was opening for Ozzy in Austin somewhere around 1986 or '87 and so many people bussed over from San Antonio just to see Metallica that they arranged a special show a day or two later at a theater in San Antonio. This was when Cliff Burton was still topside, they were pumped, the crowd was apeshit, it is still one of my best childhood memories.

James Brown in Greensboro, NC in the early '90s. I expected to get not much more than the chance to say I'd seen him live, but he blew the roof off. So much energy and showmanship even that late in the game.

Also Buddy Guy at the Cat's Cradle in Chapel Hill, NC, and Joan Osborne at Jazzfest in New Orleans one year was pretty amazing.

I saw The Arcade Fire the night before Thanksgiving at a club in Milwaukee that holds about 400 people. It was right after Funeral broke, but before they were booking venues accordingly. This picture (that I found on a stranger's blog) nicely illustrates about where Dave and I were standing -



It was sweaty and loud and crowded and even the hippest hipster was dancing. I'm pretty sure I got Winn Butler sweat on me. I have no aspirations to top this experience. Ever.

I saw The Spin Doctors when they were touring for Cleopatra's Cat. It was my friend's fault, not mine.

Weirdly, not right now. We just had a nice run of shows in Milwaukee (Of Montreal), Chicago (Nick Cave), and Madison (Okkervil River), but there's nothing on the horizon.

edit - Chris, Dave and I were at that OR/NP show in Madison, sitting up in the balcony (behold! The tragically short!!). The crowd around us was good and Okkervil River were so awesome that it almost killed me. Sorry to hear it wasn't as positive for you.

I can't forget Stevie Ray Vaughan at Riverfest, here in MN. That was about 3 weeks before he was killed. Our view sucked, but the sound was great and he was in great form.

Best: Rolling Stones on the Bridges to Babylon tour in the Orange Bowl. Went down to Miami for my 30th birthday and my friend had gotten me tickets as a gift. Got there right as Third Eye Blind was finishing their set, then saw the Dave Matthews Band, followed by Smashing Pumpkins, who were joined by Marilyn Manson for "Bullet with Butterfly Wings". Our seats were on the field, about twenty rows back from the stage. Right in front of us was a group of 4 sixteen year old girls, who I figured would be just about done after the Pumpkins set. And damn if they didn't know damn near every single song the Stones played.

As for the Stones, the show started with a dark stage, then suddenly there's Keith Fucking Richards in a spotlight, launching into the opening riff of "Satisfaction" with a look on his face that says, "Yeah, I fucking wrote this, and I'm the baddest mother fucker in this joint." There followed about two and a half hours of one hell of a rock concert. Just awesome.

The Green Day show I saw for their American Idiot tour would be a close second. I'd only heard the single up to that point, and hearing them tear into "Jesus of Suburbia" was a sight to behold, especially being the first time I'd ever heard the song. They ended with a sprawling cover of "We Are the Champions" that had everyone singing along.

My worst concert also involved Green Day, but it wasn't their fault. I went and saw them on some MTV combo tour they did with Blink-182, and someone had the bright idea of having Green Day play first. Well, after that, Blink had absolutely no business going on stage. They looked like a bunch of posers, doing all the stupid, cliched in-between song banter that Green Day had avoided. And they sounded like shit, even on the songs of theirs that I somewhat liked. If I hadn't been the ride home for the friends I went with, I'd have bailed.

SHIT, I forgot about it! well THAT would be my #2. They came back to town after that, booked Le Corona, as stylish theater that holds like a 1000 people, and opening up for them were the newly created-for-that-show Wolf Parade.

Best concert that I've attended? Hmm probably Elton Joel/Billy Joel at Rice Stadium in Houston (94).

Worst I've ever attended? Kinda hard to answer, but I'll go with Erasure (89-90) in support of Wild! Mainly due to the crowd.

Nothing planned in the near future.

Best: Stevie Ray Vaughn and Jeff Beck toured together back in the eighties, and I got to catch them at the Fox Theatre in St Louis. They alternated as to who would be the headliner on that tour, so the time I caught them SRV was the opener. Encore was the two of them jamming their guts out.

Afterwards I did the usual guitar player thing and came out of it vowing to never touch my guitar again.

Worst: Extreme played at a large club with some buddies of mine opening. The writing was on the wall and they just sort of...were there.

No concerts planned in the near future. I have kids. Although if I get a chance to snag some tix I will be. Lucked into going to see Tom Petty last August when I went to visit my sister.

Best: Nirvana, Montreal, November 2nd 1993 at the Verdun Auditorium. The drone of feedback started the show, Dave Grohl got up and started double-timing on the drums, Krist Novoselic then came in and stated with the opening baseline to Radio Friendly Unit Shift, and then after Pat came out, Kurt descended from a rope ladder from the scaffolding and they kicked in with shifter.

Worst Show: Seeing Live get booed off the stage, opening for the Ramones (they were both on Radioactive Records at the time.) This was in 94, I believe.

Honorable Mention: Breeders at Lollapalooza (MTL), Mudhoney at the Cabaret in 98 (MTL) and surprisingly Fountains of Wayne touring for Utopia Parkway.

Jesus Lizard at Cabaret and then the next year performing at the BELL CENTER (!) has to be the strangest concert experience. JL opened for Bush, so the crowd was packed with little girls pining for Gavin Rossdale. Then David Yow comes out, pull's his dick thru his zipper hole, and lunges into the crowd of kiddies.

Whomever booked those guys to play in that venue are something special.

The aforementioned Arcade Fire show is way up there for me, but the one to beat for me is still Jeff Buckley in Madison in 95 (a night before the performance on the Live in Chicago DVD).

Some other top contenders:
Dismemberment Plan, Springsteen (probably the only time I've had a great time despite barely being able to see the stage), Richard Thompson, The Replacements (twice on their last tour), Pearl Jam (at the coldest show they'd ever played to that point - if you watch "Dissident" on the Touring Band 2000 DVD, you can see their breath)... I could go on for a while, actually. There was one

The Okkervil River segment of the OR/New Pornographers show that Chris mentioned might be way up there for me, actually. I've seen them three times, but there was something so energetic about that show - they shamed the New Pornographers that night, and I usually love watching them.

Worst?: I've seen so many awful local bands that the truly terrible touring acts I've seen are so much less terrible by comparison. I've seen some pretty awful bands in festival settings - the Go! Team, Devendra Banhart, and Deerhoof were all pretty annoying.

I've seen at least one terrible, boring show by Wilco (although I've seen at least two that were flat-out amazing, and a few others that were well above-average).

Smashing Pumpkins and Zwan were both thoroughly disappointing.

I once saw Blink-182 since Bad Religion was opening, and they might have been halfway decent, if not for the dick and fart jokes that seemed to take up more time than the music.

The biggest, worst high-profile band I ever saw? Probably Limp Bizkit, opening for Faith No More. This is before anyone had really heard of them, and the prospect of a metal band with a DJ sounded halfway compelling. It only took me 30 seconds to figure out that the set wasn't going to get any better, and I left my seat to get a beer.

Thom Yorke & Co. March 27 Sudamérica. I have never been in such a great event.

I loved the Lou Reed's one, as part of the Ecstasy tour.

ETA: re Tati: any tickets for Radiohead yet?

Best: Beck around 1999, the Midnight Vultures tour. He played an old town square here (in Belgium), so the location was remarkable enough, and the band was on fire. Shit goddamn that was a great band. Tight as a duck's ass, they turned every single song into a killer groovefest, and the musical reference bits they dropped were too many to count. I've seen him a couple of times before & since (not with the Flaming Lips though, unfortunately) and everytime it was underwhelming at the least (and usually disappointing). But that one show, man...
Runner-up: First Steely Dan reunion tour. I'm a big Dan fan, and those guys really make sure the perfectionism on record goes into the stage show as well. Great band, and if you love the tunes: great music.

Most memorable show: RHCP at a local festival, also 1999, just when John had re-joined the band & Californication was out. They really had found their second breath just then. Thing is: I worked as a journalist then, and had a backstage pass for the festival, but not a stage pass. However, a couple of friends had forged my pass, so during the concert we went backstage, and worked the guy who guarded the stage access, until he caved in and let us get onstage for a couple of songs. When we lined up besides Flea's bass rack, the band plunged into 'Me And My Friends'. We simply went through the roof. Flea came to switch instruments mid-song & flung some sweat on me. I tasted it. Still have regrets at not running onstage and doing a massive dive into the crowd. But after three songs, we thankfully got off & enjoyed the rest of the show from the frontstage. I hope y'all have enough obnoxious teen in you to appreciate an anecdote like this.
After that, unfortunately, RHCP proceeded to suck up until the point where I officially stopped caring. But once that was a red hot band.

I actually bought tickets (cheap ones mind you) to see The Go Team! on Halloween a few years back. I kinda liked their 1st album, and I was curious. Since it was on a weeknight, I was tired as hell. To make it worse, they had 2 shitty opening acts, an to top this off, they came on stage near midnight, dressed like sperms. And the music was pretty bad. We left 2 songs in.

Anyone asks me what the best concert I've been to was, I answer Basement Jaxx. Until then, it was Massive Attack from 2003, but Basement Jaxx last year was a fucking disco-circus. They had about 10 musicians up on the stage, not counting the guys themselves and the singers (about 4 or 5), and they just let loose for about an hour and a half (festival), playing a sort of greatest hits of their songs. At least 15.000 people were there and everyone was dancing. It was a fucking sight to behold and you could actually see them having fun, which was great. Oh yeah, and I'm a metalhead.

For rock, I'd have to say Stone Sour was awesome, everything was played perfectly down to every last note, Corey even came out to do 'Sweet Home Alabama' in between songs. Probably the best frontman working in hard rock today.

The Hives has the most consistantly awesome stage show I've ever witnessed (I've seen them 3 or 4 times now).

Skindred, Rise Against, Mad Caddies, Linkin Park (!!) all deserve honorable mentions.

Muse was great, but the audience sucked balls, someone actually asked me to stop jumping up and down, and I think this was during New Born. I told him that he could stand in the back if that's all he wanted to do, the front is for fans. And it's a rock concert for chrissakes.

Rage Against the Machine was sort of a letdown, it's one thing that there were about a million people, but the whole thing smelled of "we need the money, so we got back together". Not an honest face in the band, that was sad to see. The songs were there, but the delivery was way off.

ETA: I almost forgot Nick Cave back in 2003, one of my earliest concert experiences. I only knew them from Red Right Hand, but I remember being totally blown away. It was a small, intimate gig, and Nick was in his element. That was definitely responsible for kicking off my rock-concert-going phase (that still lasts btw).

Best Concert: An Evening With Mr. bungle @ the GA Theater in Athens. 2 hours of Bungle greatness. Patton and Co. were on fire the entire set. They played songs from all of the albums and some killer covers. Billy Squire's "The Stroke" will never sound the same again.

Worst Concert: Pink Floyd, Division Bell Tour. Fucking awful.

Favorite Concert Moment: 1996 The Somber Reptile, Atlanta, GA. Antiseen. The band showed up late. There were probably only 30 people there, and they were getting rowdy. The band finally comes on "stage" and singer Jeff Clayton proceeds to tell a story of being late because they stopped to pick up a souvenir. He then pulls a cooler onto the stage and as the band kicks in he removes a dead possum and begins to wrestle with it. By far the most fucked up thing I've ever seen, but it was funny as hell seeing the crowd's reactions.

What happened for your show? Mine was awesome in pretty much every way.

If this is boring, then the DJ isn't doing it right. And I've seen plenty of DJs not doing it right over the years - there's few things less interesting than a crappy DJ. But when you see a DJ doing it right, pulling off brilliant juxtapositions in real time without skipping the records and occasionally with one hand literally behind his back - it's anything but boring.

Concerts and Me.

What is the age where you must give up seeing rock bands in close bar settings? I'm 34 years old. I cant justify seeing bands in small concert venues when I know some 18 year old punks will be staring me and the mrs. down. Its just damn creepy unless you are at a coffee shop. Maybe I'm wrong..
I just know that when I was 18-24 I couldn't figure out why these old fucks were seeing these bands.

anyway, I've fully digressed.

As I stated in a thread lost in the archives, the loudest concert I've been too was Atari Teenage Riot.

Best concert: Foo Fighters at the Ritz 1996?
Concert I barely remember: Archers of Loaf- 1995-Cat's Cradle-completely hammered.
Shortest Concert-Rocket From the Crypt- played 2 songs and quit after the kids started moshing-Cat's Cradle 1999 or 2000
Worst Concert experience- Cornershop opening for Matthew Sweet. The lead singer sang over a tape recorder he had sitting in a chair.

I'd take a live PA over a DJ anyday, and this is coming from someone who used to mix. Unless we're talking about like the Q-berts/Mix Master/etc.

Best: Either last year's Avail show in Boston, or Rocket From the Crypt in March of 2001. Both of those shows rocked me more than I deserve.

Worst: Seeing NIN in a club back in 1994. It was their first show in AZ after the Lollapalooza debacle. The show started out cool -- then it started to suck when I got my front tooth broken in the Mosh pit. That, my friends, is a lot worse than some singer not hitting his notes properly. I got the tooth capped and it finally died in 2007, a week or so after I took the bar. Between the bar exam and a root canal, I'll take the root canal.

Honorable Mentions:

Pigface, circa 1992. People were hanging from the goddamn ceiling.
Tori Amos, circa 1992. Small theater in support of the Little Earthquakes record. It was very impressive.
Jane's Addiction, January 1991.

Future shows:
Here's the problem: most of the bands I dig are too old to tour or they've broken up. So there's nothing really on the horizon except for a Constantines show in December.

We had good seats, about 5th row, but the sound was horrible. The drums were muted, the vocals were way too low, and everything sounded like it was muffled. The songs were there, but they sounded like shit. Just couldn't enjoy it.

Man, that sucks. I've been in similar situations where concerts were diminished by sub-par sound (Van Halen comes to mind). For some reason, our acoustics were perfect. We were in the HHH Metrodome (which is known for having really shitty sound in general) but we must have been in a sweet spot. Dave Gilmour was really on his game that night, and his guitar just cried with perfect tone throughout his solos.

Okkervil River was INCREDIBLE that night. Just amazing, and the fact that they played for over an hour was icing on the cake.

The problem was we were down on the floor, surrounded by drunken idiots who were crowding us something fierce, and once we finally fought our way out of the crowd, we were just to annoyed to enjoy the New Pornographers. Okkervil River made the whole night worth it, though.

That was the last arena show I attended. That experience soured me on anything but smaller venues.

I'm a pretty self-conscious guy, but I'll have to become a lot more self-conscious before I give a shit about that stuff. Then again, it seems like I still see a lot of people around my age (34, also) at most shows. Of the last batch of shows I've seen (Okkervil River/Walkmen, Of Montreal, Nick Cave), I think it was only at the Of Montreal show where the young folks outnumbered the late-20-somethings and older by a significant margin. This might vary by genre, I suppose, but I figure I'm about the same age or even a bit younger than most of the people I'm going to see, so it's hard to feel too old.

I've been to only a handful of concerts, most of which I am thoroughly embarrassed by and will not talk about, even anonymously on the internet.

The closest I came to seeing a real concert was about two years back, when I snagged halfway decent tickets to The Who. Everything was set (I don't think I had ever been more excited for anything), but Roger Daltrey came down with the flu that weekend. That's how I didn't see The Who. I still pray they come back around before they die (same with the Rolling Stones, except that I need to see them before I die seeing that they're immortal).

Due to living in Georgia half the year and Texas the other half, I tend to miss concerts taking place in the state that I don't occupy. I've missed Bob Dylan, Elton John and Eric Clapton due to my moving around. Damn.

Still hoping to catch The New Pornographers some day, even though I don't think they travel south of, well, the north.

EDIT: I actually looked it up...turned out I missed the New Pornographers when they were only four hours away from me. Shit.

Best (in no order):

Lollapalooza 1991

Iggy Pop from 1991-2008

Bowie's 50th birthday concert in 1997 with Frank Black, The Foo Fighters, Billy Corgan, Sonic Youth, Robert Smith and Lou Reed

Lou Reed 1989 - he performed his album New York from front to back, then did some hits for the encore.

Morphine with Soul Coughing opening for them in 1995 or so at the Stone Pony.

Worst: Neil Young and the Bluenotes, 1987.

I saw Paul McCartney in '93, and that was a good/bad experience. Good because it was as close as I'd ever get to seeing the Beatles -- he did a ton of Beatles songs towards the end of the show, plus a good amount of Wings material. Bad because I brought the girl I was dating at the time and she couldn't have possibly cared less about any of it.

As a final thought on my Metallica/GnR concert: I guess that it the GnR concert wasn't too bad; The show itself was free, and I brought my girlfriend and one of her friends to the show, resulting in my first (and only) threesome in gratitude.

I'd probably go with last year's Crossroads Festival in Chicago as my favorite. My friends and I were really close to the stage with a sound system that couldn't have been better (except when the sound completey went away during the first few minutes of Vince Gill's set). In one day, I got to see Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton (who had Steve Winwood and Robbie Robertson come out and perform with him), Jeff Beck, B.B. King, Willie Nelson, Johnny Winter, Alison Krauss & Union Station, Sonny Landreth, John McLaughlin, Robert Cray, Hubert Sumlin, Los Lobos, etc. It was a hell of a show, to say the very least. Oh, and Bill Murray emceed the whole thing and it was recorded for TV, the Internet and DVD.

Second place would go to this year's Iron Maiden show. Great setlist, cool theatricals and an awesome performace from one of my all-time favorite bands; can't ask for much more. Third place might be the Bob Dylan show I saw in 2005 or the Rolling Stones show I saw in 2006.

The worst show I've ever seen was Motley Crue in 2005 on the band's reunion tour. They were so off, it wasn't even funny. At least, Mick Mars played well, and he's the guy with the crippling disease! What's the excuses of the other guys? Granted, I'm not really a Crue fan anyway, but I think the booing during Tommy Lee's drum solo pretty much said it all.

The last show I attended was AC/DC; loved it. Neil Young might be next if I can muster up the cash.

Warning: EPIC POST

Concerts I can remember I've attended, by decade:

1980s (all shows in the 1980s were attended with my parents):
Supertramp
Genesis
The Cars w/ Replacements
The Cars w/ Wang Chung
Bruce Springsteen - Tunnel of Love tour
Tom Petty - Full Moon Fever tour
David Byrne - Rei Momo Tour (Second best concert I've ever seen)
Stephen Wright
Pink Floyd - Momentary Lapse of Reason tour

1990s
Faith No More X2
David Byrne
Nirvana w/ Breeders

Lollapalooza 1993 (asterisks indicate the acts I saw at least partially for all of these Lollapaloozas) (Main Stage: Primus*, Alice in Chains*, Dinosaur Jr.*, Fishbone*, Arrested Development, Front 242*, Babes in Toyland, Tool*, Rage Against the Machine*
Side Stage: Tool, Sebadoh*, Cell, Unrest, Mercury Rev*, Mosquito, Free Kitten, Royal Trux, Tsunami, Mutabaruka, The Coctails, Scrawl, Luscious Jackson*, Genitorturers, Truly, Eggs, Girls Against Boys*, Thurston Moore, A Lighter Shade of Brown, Glue, The Karl Hendricks Trio, Hurl, The Goats)

Lollapalooza 1994 (Main Stage: The Smashing Pumpkins*, Beastie Boys*, George Clinton & the P-Funk All Stars, The Breeders*, A Tribe Called Quest, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds*, L7*, Boredoms (first half of tour), Green Day* (second half)
Side Stage: The Flaming Lips*, The Verve, The Boo Radleys, The Frogs (first six dates only), Guided by Voices, Lambchop, Girls Against Boys, Rollerskate Skinny, Palace Songs, Stereolab, Fu-Schnickens, The Pharcyde, Shudder to Think*, Luscious Jackson, God Lives Underwater, King Kong,Charlie Hunter Trio, Shonen Knife*, Blast Off Country Style, Souls of Mischief, Cypress Hill*, The Black Crowes)

Lollapalooza 1995 (Main Stage: Sonic Youth*, Hole*, Cypress Hill*, Pavement*, Sinéad O'Connor (first few shows; bowed out due to pregnancy), Elastica* (replaced O'Connor, as did Moby* for a few shows), Beck*, The Jesus Lizard*, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
Side Stage: Coolio, Doo Rag, Possum Dixon, Poster Children, Yo La Tengo*, Brainiac, The Coctails, Geraldine Fibbers*, Dambuilders, Laika, The Pharcyde, Tuscadero, Built to Spill, Helium, Redman, St. Johnny, Dirty Three*, Mike Watt*, Versus, Hum, Blonde Redhead*, The Roots*, Blowhole, The Zeros, Pork Queen, Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments, Sabalon Glitz, Psychotica, Patti Smith, Overpass, Moby, Superchunk, Beck (acoustic, generally), Spring Heeled Jack U.S.A., Ariel, Incredibly Strange Wrestling

Sting
Soul Coughing w/ Geggy Tah
Fishbone
Hole
Sebadoh (multiple times)
Bedhead (multiple times)
Spoon (multiple, MULTIPLE times)
Six Finger Satellite
NoMeansNo
Teen Titans (local band)
Afghan Whigs (twice)
Living Colour w/ Bad Brains
Tool w/ Flaming Lips
R.E.M. w/ Radiohead (I think...we missed the opening act on this one)
Built To Spill
Lo-Fidelity All-Stars
The Muffs (one of the worst. These fuckers were pissed at the club owners at the Electric Lounge for some reason, and after maybe 3 songs the asshole guitarist threw his guitar up into the trademarked "Electric" neon sign and broke it.)
Steel Pole Bathtub
Flaming Lips Parking Lot Experiment (held inside a parking garage...my car got to play one of the tapes!)
Cibo Matto
Medicine
Pulsars
16 Deluxe
Stereolab
John Spencer Blues Explosion
Elvis Costello
Lyle Lovett
Tom fucking Waits
American Analog Set
Beck (three times)
Bill fucking Hicks
Bis
Bjork
Brainiac
Chemical Brothers
Cornershop
David Bowie w/ NIN
Nine Inch Nails X2
Dinosaur Jr.
Helium
Gal's Panic
Geraldine Fibbers
Guided By Voices
Imperial Teen
Liz Phair
Cat Power
Low
Man Or Astro Man
Tricky
Portishead
Primus w/ The Melvin's
The Orb
Orbital
Pizzicato 5
Quasi
Rage Against The Machine
Yo La Tengo a few times, once w/Daniel Johnston
Stars of the Lid
Sugar
They Might Be Giants
Railroad Jerk

2000s
Wilco X2 (w/ Calexico, can't remember other opener)
Spoon w/The Clientele
Flaming Lips
Built To Spill w/ Explosions in the Sky
Sigur Ros (@ Bass Concert Hall in Austin, a gorgeous place with brilliant acoustics. The best concert I've ever seen. "Untitled 8" from () was astounding, breathtaking, etc.)
The New Year
TV on the Radio
Silkworm
Willie Nelson
Mike Doughty
Jim White
Autechre

Many a night during the 1990s was spent at the gone but not forgotten Liberty Lunch and Electric Lounge, so I know I'm forgetting many, many more.
I also attended SXSW in Austin many times in the 1990s and there's no way I can remember all of the acts I've seen.

Wow, look at that 1990s list and compare it to the 2000s. This is what happens when you get married and have kids, and life gets super busy.

Also, I know it's cheating to put the stand-up comedians in there, but fuck it.

Shit, were we supposed to include comedy? If so, George Carlin at Club Bene in 1988.

Don't let your hopes get too high. On album, they're one of my favorite bands, but live, they're incredibly hit-or-miss. It's not even the Neko Case-factor; it's just that when they're not feeling it, you can really tell. The tempos are all over the place, the harmonies are all messed up, and the band doesn't seem to be on the same wavelength.

Of the four times I've seen them, I've seen one excellent show (Electric Version tour with Neko on board), one pretty good one (headlining with both Bejar and Neko on board), and two pretty disappointing ones (opening for Belle and Sebastian, then co-headlining with Okkervil River - no Neko or Bejar at either).

Still worth seeing for the chance of seeing greatness, but don't let your expectations get the best of you.

Best: Pink Floyd, A Momentary Lapse Of Reason tour. No opening act, just PF for 3+ hours with an intermission. They opened with Shine On You Crazy Diamond, and pretty much did pre-AMLOR songs for the first half, including Welcome To The Machine with the animation by Gerald Scarfe that was made for their 1977 In The Flesh tour (Scarfe also did the animation in the film of The Wall). Post-intermission opened with One Of These Days, complete with the giant inflatable pig with laser eyes swooping overhead, then mostly songs from the latest album. Floyd was flawless, and the audience energy was amazing, very strong yet mellow at the same time.

Most Fun: They Might Be Giants, Flood tour. A very happy experience.

I haven't been to a concert in 15 years, I loathe crowds these days.

Edit: Added link to the Scarfe animation.

If we're including comedians, yeah, Carlin at NJPAC, a couple months before Life Is Worth Losing. Better than that special even turned out to be. I've seen Bill Cosby live twice, and he was awesome both times. I've never seen a comedian get such raucous laughs with such a laid back style.

Calling him a comedian's a disservice, but I saw Henry Rollins speak live for about 3 1/2 hours, and I honestly could've sat and listened to him for another 6. That experience was just fucking humbling.

As for music, though, I've seen my share of good bands, but mostly, the usual suspects already mentioned. That said, I'll go on record that both Linkin Park and Godsmack absolutely stunned me with how good they were live.

Worst? Puddle of Mudd. Opened for the Deftones one tour, and it crossed the borders from suck to sad to amusingly pathetic at breakneck speed. Any time you have to tell your audience "Where I'm from, you cheer for musicians", you have officially failed at life, the universe, and everything.

Awww. Did the big bad teenagers scare you?

Man I'm two months shy of 37 and I only go to shows in small venues. Best show recently was Green River and The Fluid's secret bar show at Seattle's Sunset Tavern July 11th the Friday before the "official" reunion at the Sub Pop 20th Anniversary concert.

Among the best: Nirvana and Blood Circus opening for The Butthole Surfers Halloween 1989. Nevermind free record release party Sept. 1991 at Beehive Records in Seattle. Circle Jerks at Gorilla Gardens in Seattle January 1986 (best noted for the fire marshall shutting the show down and punks going apeshit in response lighting dumpsters on fire and throwing bottles and snowballs at cops). International Pop Underground Convention, Yo-Yo-A-Go-Go (spent a week in Olympia drinking and sleeping in a car). Two nights of Husker Du at Gorilla Gardens, 02/23/85- Hüsker Dü, Rancid Vat, Limp Richards, Thrown-Ups. 02/24/85- Hüsker Dü, Melvins, Soundgarden. Steve Earle, Springsteen (multiple times each) Emmylou Harris, Fugazi, Guns N' Roses opening for The Cult. GBH, DRI, The Accused at Natasha's in Bremerton, WA. I've been to many concerts. I should take a look at my tickets stubs. Oh Buck Owens, Isaac Hayes, Santana, Bob Dylan, The Replacements Pleased To Meet Me tour, The Replacements Dont Tell A Soul tour. John Spencer Blues Explosion, Tom Waits 2 nights in a row on the Mule Variations tour, Boss Hogg, Alice Dount, The Jeasus Lizard.

Oh I just scammed my way in to see Dungen a few weeks ago. Not among the best but kinda cool. Glad I didn't pay though.

I have seen many shit shows. Some involve bands that my friends play in. But any bigger band I see that makes me feel like I just should have stayed home is in the running for worst. Slipknot, I hated that and I got in for free.

I recently saw o'death, they put on a great show, lots of energy. Though the one draw back were the hipsters.

The best: Yeah Yeah Yeahs at The Tabernacle in Atlanta in support of Show Your Bones. I was about 5 feet from the stage, the band was ON, and the crowd was energetic as hell. Very fun.

The worst: Probably Fiona Apple at the Ryman in Nashville. She sang every song off key and would just randomly scream out between verses, being on the verge of tears.

Honorable mention: I just saw Joan Jett last year and she was still great. Rockin' and sexy as hell.