Concerts thread: Best/Worst/Next/Last one you attended?

Quarter-full arena shows are so awkward for both the bands and the crowd.

I remember going to an Arcade Fire show at The Q in Cleveland and seeing GroupOns day of the show for about $10, just trying to fill the place a little bit.

The look on Win Butler's face when he got out there in a white rhinestone coat with a bunch of mirrors and lasers buzzing around and he saw the arena was 65 percent empty was kinda priceless. I won't lie. I like the guy's music and all but it was funny to see the realization that Cleveland was not a market that required a 18,000 seat arena wash over him.

 

Seeing Flaming Lips a week from Saturday ... last time I saw them, they were the opener for Butthole Surfers and Stone Temple Pilots at PG County horsetrack in 1993.

 

I saw them a couple of times in their heyday, and they're one of those bands that I feel vaguely embarrassed for having liked. Billy Corgan's voice is pretty objectively terrible. I'm also getting old.

 

I went 10 shades of gaga over "Siamese Dream." Part of the reason was because they are from Chicago, I'm sure. Part of it was the album's production - layers and layers and layers and layers of guitar, plus the drums snap like no other album I'd ever heard. Some of the songs are stronger than we may remember - "Rocket," "Cherub Rock," "Mayonnaise," and "Soma," in particular.

For whatever reason, it's not beloved. Maybe because no one from the band that we cared about bit it in the meantime.

 

Jimmy Chamberlain was arguably the best drummer in rock until Travis Barker came along, but other than him and Corgan, the rest of the band was pretty weak. I think you need a more complete collection of talent to be revered after your time.

 

Siamese Dream was and still is fantastic. But nothing they did afterward kept my interest. Still love to go back and listen to that record though...

 

Thousands share that sentiment:

https://www.avclub.com/despite-all-their-rage-smashing-pumpkins-tour-isnt-sel-1823324738

 

I don't know how big a factor they are in this, but Corgan's text exchanges with D'arcy right before the tickets went on sale made him look like a giant douche. It also made it clear that this is barely a Smashing Pumpkins reunion. Iha is touring but he really doesn't seem to have anything to do with the new album.

 

Saw them play a club last year. Not even a huge fan of band, but it was a fun show. Wayne Coyne seems to really appreciate his fans and at least acts like he’s thrilled to be there.

 

I didn't need a text exchange to know that. He's been leaving a breadcrumb trail — but with entire loaves — to that conclusion for a good 25 years now.

 

Late to this, but we bought Elton John tickets almost a year to the day before the Jan 23, 2019 show.

 

Our town just opened a new 8,000-seat outdoor venue and the first wave of concerts includes some A-List acts. Dave Matthews Band is one of them. Not a huge fan, but they're good enough and it'd be fun to go and see the new place if the price was right. Since we're not traveling anywhere, seeing them for less than $75 a ticket wouldn't be much worse than a good dinner.
Then I looked at tickets. Holy mother of shit.
They start at $85 apiece. General admission standing room only in front of the stage is $95. The first couple of rows of seats are $500. Each.
For that price, Dave better invite me to a groupie orgy backstage after the show.