Concerts And You - Page 3

About three years ago I attended a Music Festival at Blossom and I was in the pit for Sonic Youth, Death Cab, and finally The Flaming Lips. That whole day was pretty remarkable, but nothing could beat the Lips at the end of the day.

I spent last night with the wife at the Green Day show here in Atlanta. All I have to say is they put on a pretty great live show. Their music just works in that kind of atmosphere. They also do a great job of engaging the audience. Just read some of the reviews of the tour and you get the picture. They bring kids on stage, let folks sing and play guitar on stage. I realize that only a handful of people got to go up, but everyone was right there with them cheering and laughing. The band’s stated purpose was to ensure everyone was having fun and they did everything they could to make it happen.

Other great shows I’ve seen:

Pink Floyd Pulse Tour – Glad I got to see them at all
Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band – They are just the gold standard of live shows. Go see them.
AC/DC – Just a massively fun show with songs that everyone knew.
Arcade Fire – Great, great live band.


Worst show:
I was a big fan of Huey Lewis and the News when I was a kid (got a problem with that?) and I got tickets to his Minneapolis show. I was stoked. We went and saw them and Huey was stiff, his voice was off and it basically sucked all around. Found out later that one of his friends had passed away earlier in the day. I have sympathy, but the show was a bummer.

NIN at Terminal 5 last night in NYC.

Epic show, and quite a note to go out on (for the east coast, at least). I was sorta hoping the special musical guest would be Manson for a song or two but instead it was the lead singer of Bauhaus. They sounded much better here then when I saw them in 2000 with A Perfect Circle - probably because the venue was much smaller and intimate. And absurdly hot. The ceiling was dripping by the time the 2.5 hour set was over.

My first big concert was the Jackson 5 in '84. Leonard Cohen in April put on a glorious show. My all time favourite concert was probably the Pogues with Joe Strummer.

I went to see Ben Folds solo last night, pretty amazing. He played a pretty good set, told us he was working on a new album with Nick Hornby and played a song from it, brought out Aimee Mann to play hi-hat, sing duet on 'You don't know me' and then 'Wise Up'

Highlight of the show: Effington.

Best individual gig I've been to was Mogwai at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh, April 2006. It was a late upgrade in venue and proved to be the perfect setting for the band.We've got a reputation for being a relatively reserved and lifeless gig going audience in Edinburgh (which, compared to the mental Glasgow crowd, is a fair call. Those guys are crazy.) but it was a stunned awe that washed over the crowd that night. The sound was absolutely crushing and it took days before my hearing was back to normal.

Next best was Radiohead at the Aberdeen Exhibition Centre 1997. OK Computer had just been released.The band were not yet bored of playing tracks from The Bends.DJ Shadow and Teenage Fanclub were the support.Awesome.

Worst? Don't know but most disappointing was Queens of the Stoneage in Sydney 2003 or 04. I think it was just before the band's relationship went into terminal tailspin and the whole set was just...meh.

Best concerts I've ever been to would definitely The Dead back in April in Greensboro, NC and then the two Phish concerts my girlfriend and I went to on June 20th and 21st at Alpine Valley Music Theatre in Wisconsin. The Phish shows were a mind opening experience that went way beyond just the amazing music. I'd never been to a concert where all of the crowd just melted into one single community like Phish does. I dont know if any concert could come close to that feeling. In October we're also going to go see Andrew Bird here in Asheville, should be a lot of fun.

Not really in to music or concerts here. However, once I went to tanglewood (a local music-y concert-y place) and saw John Williams and the boston pops. It was great , execpt it was all music from "AI" and junk like that..... then at the end, out of no where, right when it should be over.....right as I am getting up to leave.... he starts the Raiders March. I was grinning ear to ear instantly, and I got to go to the concert with my Dad who helped expose me to IJ in the first place. A truely magic moment

Any time you can see a great band in a small venue tends to make the show all the better.

Wilco at 4th & B in San Diego was a great show around YHF, I saw QotSA at the Glass House in Pomona right when Songs for the Deaf came out. Was truly great, I hate the place because the acoustics suck, but they still destroyed it, and I saw Hum at a fucking coffee shop in Santa Ana years back. I know they were never insanely popular, but such a great band to see live.

On the opposite side of that, The Pixies at Coachella in 2004 were amazing. Right before they came on they played "Yellow Submarine" over the loudspeakers and for some reason it became a fucking sing-a-long with 50,000 people. Beautiful.

Best concert: Bjork at The Fox Theatre in Atlanta in 2007. Her voice was just amazing that night, and it was the only time I've gotten to attend a show at the Fox, which was such a great venue.

Ben Folds at the Tabernacle in Atlanta in 2005 is a close second. It was just him and the piano and it rocked harder than a lot of the metal shows I used to go to.

Worst: My Chemical Romance in Pensacola in early 2007. I only went because Muse was opening, and they put on an amazing set (far too brief). I would have been happy to leave, but my friends wanted to stay for MCR. The crowd seemed to love them, so I guess it really wasn't bad, per se, but I just can stand them.

Also, The Ramones at Lollapalooza 1996 in New Orleans. I love The Ramones, but either the sound was just shitty or they weren't suited to an outdoor festival. It was so disappointing because that's the only chance I'll ever have to see them.

Honorable mention: Metallica's St. Anger tour in Pensacola, 2004. This was the second time I saw them (the aforementioned Lollapalooza the first) and the first proper Metallica show - 2 1/2 hours in the round, kicking ass all night. They must have already come to terms with the fact that St. Anger sucked because they only played one song off it and stuck to the classics - including the full "Call of Ktulu." The show was pretty much the end of a chapter of my life as I had been moving away from metal for a while, and since then I've barely listened to Metallica except for a couple of spins of Death Magnetic out of curiosity and occasional nostalgia trips.

I really don't think I've ever experienced a bad concert. I've only been to 5 or 6 concerts but I do have a few memories.

My first concert was The Back To School Tour at Tower Theater. Had Incubus and Taproot opening with Deftones headlining. During the Taproot show the lead singer came onto the balcony and stopped to sing and walk through the row that I was in.

Saw Yes..cant remember where..somewhere out doorish in Philadelphia. There was some guy wearing a towel like a cape and the keyboardist was a young kid that had insane levels of enthusiasm to be playing.

I really wish i could go to concerts again. I just cant seem to understand the reason behind standing around packed into a sweaty club to hear songs that don't sound nearly as good as the CD. Perhaps now that I'm older and can hang out on at the over 21 areas it would be a different story.

I was at the Palladium show in Los Angeles and thought it was very disappointing. Trents voice sounded pretty good, but it was clear he was ill early on as the band was singing A LOT. They played the Downward Spiral in order, had Gary Numan come out and then played three more songs. It was about an hour and 45 minutes. I had a much better time when I saw them on The With Teeth tour, but I find playing an album front to back in a live setting to be pretty boring. What was your setlist like?

Most memorable show I've ever seen was Slobberbone in Madison, Wisconsin six years or so ago. The show wasn't announced until a day or two beforehand. I think it was something wedged in on a free night while traveling from Chicago to Minneapolis. There were maybe ten people there in the bar (Luther's Blues I think, but I'm not positive), and they played two and a half hours like they were playing to 10k people. It was one of the most energetic, enthusiastic shows I've ever seen, despite being played before an empty room.

Went to two fairly big ones (for me) this past summer.

July 8th: Cheap Trick/Poison/Def Leppard at Jones Beach in NY. Outdoor theater, perfect weather, and although I'm a big fan of all three bands, Def Leppard was the big one for me. I've never been one to actively seek out concerts, so even though I've been a huge DL fan since 1983, I just never got around to seeing them - my bad entirely, I know. All I can say is, I've deprived myself of some great shows over the years, because Def Leppard can still put asses in the seats - it was packed, and based on the tee-shirts everyone had on, I'd say pretty much 95% of the audience was there to see them. For a bunch of guys either pushing 50 or already there, as in Joe Elliott's case, they had more energy than bands half their age, they sounded spectacular, and quite simply put on a hell of a show.

DL was the main draw, and Poison was the second band up. Again, great sound, tons of energy for a bunch of middle-aged guys, CC DeVille was sober, which was so great to see - he completely tore it up on a couple of guitar solos. That was one of my things I would have been really disappointed about - I just kept saying, "Oh, man, I love these guys - please don't let CC be pissing himself up on stage." He was sober as a judge, and there's no way he could have done so much intricate guitar work, while running all over the stage, if he wasn't.

Cheap Trick opened for all three, and since this thread originated as "Best Concerts/Worst Concerts", I hate to say, but Cheap Trick was the worst. Just all flabby and out of shape, both with respect to their music and their energy level. They just phoned it in, and I've been a fan of theirs since 1979, so it was disappointing. Rick Neilsen was the only one who even tried to get the crowd going. Robin Zander, Bun E. Carlos and Tom Peterson didn't even make the effort. The one song that I do have to give a ton of props for was their cover of "A Day In the Life". Normally, I'd love to Stooge-slap anyone who covers the Beatles, because I'm just never satisfied with the result, but they really did a good job with it. But that was it.

Next big one: July 17th - Paul McCartney at Citifield, Flushing, NY. A-MA-ZING! I finally, FINALLY, got to see an honest-to-god Beatle! 67 years old, and the guy was running all over the stage like he was 30. He hit the stage around 9 PM, and played till past midnight - we were exhausted, but I think he could have kept on going.

Highlights for me: He sang "Something" as a tribute to George Harrison, which since that's George's signature song, was really something. On the screen behind him, clips of he and George through the years flashed by. One of the last ones, as he was winding it up, was this shot of the two of them from around 1965, George staring straight ahead into the camera, while Paul rested his head on George's shoulder - at that point, I admit, I burst into tears, it was just so cool.

Other highlight: The only drawback was that it rained, but Paul and his band stayed put. Everyone was singing along throughout the show. But it was during "Let It Be" when it occurred to me: I'm standing here in the rain, in the dark, with thousands of other people and Paul McCartney, singing along to "Let It Be". Quite frankly, if I live to be 100, I'll never ever forget that moment.

Springsteen in four days. I'm so psyched.

Went to my first concert in about 10 years last weekend. Saw the Cobra Skulls. Even though I only payed £3.00 to see them I felt cheated.

Jesus! Do me a favor, just genuflect to him from me, okay?

That won't be a problem. I hope he pulls me out of the crowd and makes me his Courtney Cox.

Most awesome statement ever? I think so.

I know - it's just the visual alone that makes it great.

Am I the only one saddened and more than a little outraged that Cheap Trick is opening for Poison?!!! Even for Def Lep is bullshit. (Surrender > Photograph)

I suppose, goes without saying the band's career is Up the Creek.

My favorite concert was 92 Lollapalooza. Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Ice Cube, and red Hot Chili Peppers!

Runner up: ZZ Top's Afterburner tour age twelve. Hot older chick passed me my first joint in return for using my binoculars. Rock n' Roll, hoochie coo!

Worst concert: Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet Tour with Cinderella. Social status took a hit wearing "Bon Jovi Rocks Your Ass Off" shirt the next day. I wish I could blame it on a girl...

Well, I'm a bigger fan of Def Lep than I am of the other two, but I do see your point. In fact, we got the tickets in March, and spent the rest of March through July debating who would be opening, and who would be the big draw closing the show. There was a time there when my argument was, "Nope, Cheap Trick are the elder statesmen of this bunch - I'll bet that Poison opens, then at the very least Cheap Trick is in the middle. No way will Cheap Trick open first like some hobo band." But I was wrong - my boyfriend even predicted it - "Watch. Cheap Trick is gonna open."

But really, the thing that's the real shame is that they played like an opening act. They truly didn't give a crap. The people having tailgate parties out in the parking lot didn't budge till Poison hit the stage, and every seat was filled once Def Lep showed up. It sucked for Cheap Trick, but they didn't even try to bring in the crowd from the parking lot, either. You could tell it was just a paycheck for them, so when that becomes the case, it doesn't matter how great "Surrender" is (and it is. It wasn't that night, but "Live at Budokan" shows what they used to be like in concert). It's really a shame, I agree with you - Cheap Trick should be no band's opening act, but that's what they've turned into.

(Oh, and Def Lep was awesome during "Photograph"! )

My Def Leppard story:

When I worked for their record company, I had to fly to Fresno to get some contest winners a meet-and-greet with the band.

When renting my car, I opted (for the first time in my life) for all the insurance coverage, since it was on the company's dime.

Turning the corner to the arena, my car is blindsided by a carload of DL fans. Completely trashed.

I'm OK, trembling all over, but I'm fucked: how am I going to deal with this and still do the meet-and-greet?

Guy jumps out of the car behind me: he's a cop, saw everything. Told the officer that arrived that the kids were completely at fault. I walk away.

Still the car to worry about. I call the rental company. Because I've bought the complete package, they drive out with a replacement, and have the car towed back. I sign one piece of paper and it's done.

Ten minutes later I'm backstage introducing some snotty nosed little punks to the boys. And still shaking like a leaf.

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Van Halen made an extra one million dollars in the fall of 2007 when as many as 500 of the best seats at around 20 concerts on the band's reunion tour were pulled from Ticketmaster and sold through scalpers. The scalpers reportedly kept about 30 percent of the jacked-up ticket prices for themselves, while the remaining 70 percent was divided between the band, their representatives and Ticketmaster itself.

The scam was part of a Ticketmaster initiative, codenamed "Project Showtime," which was designed to get a piece of the action from the scalpers, who often re-sell tickets for hundreds or thousands of dollars more than their face value. The move was part of plan to compete with a new ticketing business started by Live Nation, by offering to share profits from the scalpers with the artists and promoters.

That's fucking low.

"C'mon Dave, Give me a break..."

"One break....coming up!"

Amanda Palmer. November 14th. Music Hall of Williamsburg.

So. Excited. This almost makes up for the Kanye/Gaga Fame Kills tour being canceled. That would have been a disaster of epic egomaniacal proportions.

(I was going to see Ben Folds on Friday, but decided to pass. That would have been three years in a row I would have seen him.)

Saw Bat for Lashes at the Cambridge Corn Exchange on sunday night. Amazing voice, Natasha Khan seemed to be really enjoying herself on the stage (great little mover too), the atmospheric visuals that accompanied her music benefitted the whole performance, giving it this mystical vibe. Worth seeing if you get the chance.

Yeasayer from New York were the supporting group. Hard to describe their music, definite 80's influence in there, ranging from an Echo and the Bunnymen sound to the dance tunes of the time. Some songs were great, others too experimental and fell short. Definite potential there.

Another good one that just came to me:

Face to Face, sometime in '96 or '97? at the House of Blues in New Orleans.

Me and my buddies were only 15, and I "made" us some really shitty fake IDs (hey, they worked though), and we got in and drank beer at a "proper" venue while watching one of the best performances of one of the best punk bands I've ever seen.

It's rare that I can say a punk type show was "magical" (more of a prog guy now, myself), but that one surely was.

Best concert I ever saw was in college, and that was a Gwar show. I don't particularly like Gwar, but if they're performing near you, I really recommend going to see them. It's a blast.

Just the other week I saw the Decemberists play, and that was a really great show. I normally don't like auditorium shows, but when the audience is into it and actually gets out of their seats, it can be pretty fun.

I saw Vampire Weekend yesterday, as my wife is a huge fan of them. Pretty solid live, and it's tough not to be infected by the sheer fun their music contain. Like that they replaced the cello on M79 with the keyboard, and made it work really well.

They performed their new album as well. I look forward to it. Slightly more guitar driven, but still is entirely recognizable as Vampire Weekend goes, so it won't convert new fans that hate them, but if you like them, it's looking good for the future.

Ditto on GWAR. Nothing like riding a packed Metro train home after a Friday night show while covered head to toe in fake blood.

Getting to see The Misfits, The Refused, & Integrity at the Vanerrocken Fest in Vanersborg, Sweden, '97. Since my band played on the bill, I got to meet Jerry Only, who was standing backstage in full stage gear eating a PB&J. Awesome.

Fugazi at the (old) 9:30 club. The stench of that joint had a tendency to linger in your clothes for weeks, seemingly impervious to detergent, but man, it was always worth it.

And finally, Iron Maiden, Dio, & Motorhead, 2003, Merriweather Post Pavilion. A lot of fuckin' metal packed into one afternoon. Watching Maiden - a few of the guys right around my dad's age - run around the stage like fucking maniacs for two hours while rarely missing a beat was just amazing. And Motorhead always deliver.

Anybody seen Gogol Bordello live? Worth $30?

I apologize, I really should have written GWAR in all caps. I've embarrassed myself and brought down the tone of the thread. I only hope that, in time, I can find forgiveness.

Best: Hmm...this is hard. I haven't seen many concerts lately, but of who I've seen--The Donnas at the Tabernacle in Atlanta a couple of Halloweens ago (just good stripped down rock n' roll), Metallica "...And Justice For All" concert in Biloxi, Garbage (two times) at the Tabernacle in Atlanta, Queensryche in Penscola, FL (after the Empire album, but performed the entire Operation: Mindcrime set), Motley Crue in Mobile, AL (Girls, Girls, Girls tour with a then unknown opening band...Guns N Roses, who did an amazing set)

Worst: The Cult in Biloxi, MS (opened for Metallica--Ian Astbury(sp?) sounded like shit, and didn't even seem to be singing half the songs), Bad English in Pensacola, FL (opened for Whitesnake, and like The Cult, sounded like shit. John Waite, long hair does not make you a heavy metal rocker), and The Thrill Kill Kult in Pensacola, FL (they sounded like a bunch of people that just started banging on instruments to make noise. Terribly mixed by the sound guy, and probably not the best location for a concert--a bar called Seville)

Honorable Mentions: Madonna at the Georgia Dome (yea, I said it. Wife really wanted to go, and hell, who isn't familiar with almost all of her songs?), Joe Satriani in the Pensacola Civic Center parking lot (paid $5 to see him at a fair. Best fucking $5 I ever spent), Ben Folds Five at Music Midtown in Atlanta (never heard of them before, and my wife's roommate convinced us to go, and they were fantastic live).

Where are you from, Martianman? (That question sounds so unintentionally stupid)

I'm from/live in Pensacola.

I'm originally from south Georgia, but I went to college at West Florida from '86 to '92, then worked at Cox Cable for about a year or so, then moved to Atlanta in '94. Loved living in Pensacola, but couldn't make a living there. I figured you either had to own a business or run a business in order to make a decent living. I've heard it got a bit run down after Katrina, but I haven't been there in probably a decade. I've vacationed around it, like Navarre, Destin, and Seaside, but never was able to make it to P'cola. I lived mostly near UWF, then moved over in the neighborhoods not too far from Cox Cable.

Oh, and speaking of UWF, did you see that report of the alleged murderer that was hiding out on campus at one point? They shut down classes yesterday because of it.

Yes, my girlfriend works there, so I was a wee bit concerned.


It's a beautiful town (parts, anyway), but my god is it fucking boring.

We used to have a really great music scene, too. Had more small venues and an actual midsize venue. When they tore down the Bayfront Auditorium (shitty as the acoustics may have been), we really started to get less shows.

One of my favorite shows (and my first "concert") was seeing 311 there. No Doubt opened for them, and that was right before they blew up. Awesome show, back when both of those bands were the tits.


There. Derail averted.

Yeah, when I lived there, it was pretty much, "Are you going to Seville or Trader Jon's tonight?" I opted for Seville 99.9% of the time. And when Seville was boring, we'd either opt for Sammy's or find a party somewhere. And sometimes we'd head to the beach and the boardwalk.

I actually miss Seville. The good thing about it was, pretty much everyone went there. The bad thing was, that's because it was pretty much the only place to go. I met women there, got dumped by women there, and proposed to my wife there. So it's still a bit sentimental to me.

As you said, thus endeth the thread derail.

Headed to another Wilco show tonight. This will be my first time seeing them in an indoor/arena setting - I've only seen them at Stubb's before. I don't think the venue will swallow them up, but I've never been to this place (it's new), so we'll see.

Years and years ago, my friends and I went to a local fair here in northern California. And it was a shittyfair. Anyway, we get handed a flyer and were told to go the the "performance" area for the "concert" later on int he evening. The flyer said Kriss Kross . . . Of course we had to watch the show. And yes, it was as sad as you imagine.

Other than that, the last concerts I've been to were 3 Tool shows and 4 RHCP shows a couple years ago.

I'm seeing Stone Temple Pilots tomorrow, and might see GWAR(speak of the devil!) on the 20th.

Last show I went to was the Mayhem Fest with Manson and Slayer headlining. It kind of made me feel old as fuck when after 2 Cannibal Corpse songs I was like "Damn, my ears hurt. Well, I've seen 'em.", and walked off.

Been to a TONNE of gigs over the years, and to be honest I had never had a single concert-going experience, EVER. Sure, some bands weren't as good as others, but they all put on a great value-for-money show. I have never been disappointed in a concert in my life, I'm lucky to say.

Until last night. Slayer completely and utterly went through the motions of their show with absolutely no spark, no energy, no one at the mixing desk, it seems (all I heard was double-bass and Tom's vocals - sometimes) . . . and absolutely no desire to be on that stage whatsover.
Thankfully, Megadeth opened for them and, quite frankly, rained fire from the sky and sank entire continents. Jesus Christ, they were tight, focused and energetic as hell! Wish they'd done a full set and fucked Slayer right off.

Weird thing was, that co-gig was the third time I'd seen each of the bands. Boy, they have both gone down very different paths.

Since some folks are getting into the “way back” machine, I saw Cheap Trick open for STP at Elliot Hall of Music at Purdue somewhere between 94 and 97. Cheap Trick was pretty awesome at that show. They had the whole place up on its feet. Sad to hear they’ve gone down hill.

I saw Them about three years ago and they were energetic and fun as all hell for about half an hour, but they seemed to lose it completely for the last forty minutes. It’s worth going for the sheer adrenaline of their more uptempo songs, but they’re not good at sustaining energy.

The most surprising band I’ve seen live recently were School of Seven Bells and Airborne Toxic Event who were both incredibly proficient. Airborne in particular brought so much energy and had such great band chemistry that they were able to gloss over the fact that as songwriters they’re still kind of uneven. I also saw Sunset Rubdown recently but I think it was a bad night for them because they just didn’t seem like they gave a shit.

Over the summers of '78 and '79 I went to an assortment of outdoor shows/festivals and Cheap Trick seemed to be on every damn bill. Must have seen them five times in the space of about a year, and they were a lot of fun back then.

I've always thought their problem over the years has been that Nielsen's just not that inventive a songwriter, and he burned through his set of hooks by about the fourth album. That's why we start getting stuff like "The Flame" and "Tonight It's You" instead of "He's A Whore" and "Surrender." And three decades of slogging through that takes its toll.

Anyone seen their "Sgt Pepper Live" DVD? Not only is it pretty weird to see Robin Zander poncing around in that silly cap, but they don't even actually play the whole album themselves: they import an Indian combo for "Within You Without You." Cheaters!

And the interview segments... man, Rick is even more your crazy old uncle than he ever was, and Robin grins like a bad used-car salesman. Bun E. looks good, though-- wonder if Tinted Windows will ever tour?

Quite!

just got back from ACL fest which was awesome. Raphael Saadiq(?) brought some great old school soul, mos def put it down(with a crew of b-boys in tow,) Them crooked vultures acoustics were off but still rocked my goddamn socks, and of course dave mathews band were amazing. pearl jam had a lot to live up to but their energy was outrageous, they also did themselves a favor by bringing up ben harper and perry farrell. also they closed with keep on rockin in the free world.