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

Where do comedy concerts/shows fit in here? Or shall I start a separate thread?

 

Best: Bruce Springsteen in Atlanta, April 2008, he asked for my sign requesting Jungleland, told a cool story about it and then played it. There are a few others that stick out as close second all involving different combinations of Hot Water Music, Small Brown Bike, Leatherface, Bad Religion, Less Than Jake and River City High.

Worst: CKY in a bar attached to Jannus Landing in St. Pete, Fla., circa 2002. The band was great live, but it was a small room packed with idiots who acted like they had never been to a concert before. I have been to hundreds of shows and have never before or since seen a group of people act like such idiots. I used to play in bands that played a lot of shows and did some small tours, so I've had to sit through some painful, painful bands, but nothing compares to that experience.

Next: I dunno. It probably depends on which of my friends bands comes through my area on tour next or which one I see the next time I head through their neck of the woods.

Last: The last time I went out of my way to see a band and didn't just happen to see one while meeting some people at a bar or something was probably a year ago. It was Senders followed by Make Do and Mend at a community bicycle shop in Gainesville, Fla. At least that's the last one I remember.

 

Next: Kings of Leon, July 20th in Denver.

 

Last: Saw Sound Tribe Sector 9 at Milwaukee's Summerfest on Tuesday. Dug it.

Best: I can't really say I've been to a "great" concert. My first concert, Hall & Oates, also at Summerfest in '83, might very well have been the best. Beck, whom I saw on the Odelay tour in Indianapolis was also very good, but it wasn't a life-changing experience or anything.

If Prince's Super Bowl show counts, THAT might be the best. He was great.

Worst: Too many to count. My dad dragged me to see ... wait for it (someone wake BYH) ... Starship and the Beach Boys at the Indianapolis Tennis Center 'round about '87 or so. It was awful as it sounds. I saw B.B. King at Blossom in Cleveland and it was boring as fuck. Atari Teenage Riot was one of the opening acts for the Beck show and it was unlistenable industrial dreck.

Next: Who knows?

 

Last: Public Image Limited. Didn't go in with any expectations, but it was among the best (if not the best) I've ever seen. John Lydon deserves a lot more credit for his creative work with this band, especially in this current form. Apart from being the loudest I've heard, it was also a remarkable display of vocal pyrotechnics. The man, at 55 nonetheless, got stronger as the concert went on before ending with a fury I will never forget. Kudos to him for not resting on his Sex Pistols' laurels.

 

Maybe it's just that I'm older, but the concert experience when I was in high school was better. The outdoor venues were more intimate, you could see the band with a general admission seat without a huge TV screen. You could see a good show for less than $25 and didn't need an AMEX Gold Card to get a decent seat, you could sneek in beer or bring a thermos full of Kool Aid mixed with rum, bring in your own food. There weren't wristbands and even if you couldn't sneak in booze, you could drink your ass off in the parking lot.

 

Not just you, I feel the same way. I went to dozens and dozens of shows from 1983-1990 or so. My buddies and I planned our summers around which shows would be coming through town. We didn't have larcenous prices to worry about, you could afford to tag along to a show featuring an act you might not be all that familiar with.

The tickets didn't disappear online in seconds to scalpers and resellers around the world, if you wanted them you lined up for them or mashed away at the phone the minute they went on sale. We didn't miss out too much on shows we wanted to see.

Bands paid their dues in those days. They didn't get contracts after posting a song on YouTube or MySpace and never having played live.

And get off my lawn!

 

First: Air Supply. Yeah, I liked them as a teen, and still do.

Best (tie): Billy Joel at Yankee Stadium. You couldn't see him too well from where I was sitting (behind the third base dugout. But you could hear him just fine, and the atmosphere was awesome.

Woodstock '94: Plenty of mud, and plenty of fun. The music was good, too.

Worst: Chicago. They did mostly '70s songs, which was fine, but I like their '80s stuff better, and they barely did any of them.

Last attended: Meat Loaf. Very fun show

Next: ?

 

PS: Elton John at the Richmond Coliseum in 1973 was also beyond belief. It might have been a "smaller" venue and maybe some superstars wouldn't consider Richmond a "big-time" town, but he put on a truly fantastic show.

 

One thing I've noticed is how much worse security has gotten. You used to have generally cool people working these shows who could pick out trouble and take care of it before it became an issue. Now they're more worried contraband or if you have the right ticket to stand in a certain section. At a recent show I saw a guy throw his boot at the lead singer. The security guard saw this and gave the boot back to him. The guy continued to be an ass the rest of the show and eventually started a fight in front of the stage. Which was broken up and policed by patrons.

 

Since I don't remember if I responded earlier in this thread or not....


Last: Josh Ritter at the TLA in Philly
Best: Springsteen (if I had to pick one, it's either May 8, 2000 (Hartford,CT), Sept. 24, 1999 (Philly), one of the Holiday Shows in Asbury Park, Nov. 8, 2009 (MSG) or (too many others to list)).
Worst: Air Supply (1983 Radio City Music Hall) - only concert I don't have a memory of, so it gets relegated to worst. I liked them a lot in my BDS (Before Discovering Springsteen) period.
Next: Who knows. Depends on which of the acts I'd go see in concert is playing near me on a night that I can get out to see the show.

 

Most recent: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in Omaha last week. Still putting on a great show, although I'm spoiled by having seen them play in Florida where they really dig into the catalog as opposed to greatest hits and a few new tracks.

Best: for me, impossible to choose between these four:

Neil Young at the Omni in Atlanta with Social Distortion and Sonic Youth as opening acts back in 91
R.E.M., Bruce Springsteen in Orlando as part of Vote for Change events in 2004 - Tracy Chapman opened and John Fogerty did three songs as well
Tom Waits in Atlanta two years ago on the Glitter and Doom tour
Edie Brickell & New Bohemians in Atlanta in 91 with a terrific opening act I was unfamiliar with in Blue Rodeo (totally serious - they put on a great show, and I was five feet from the stage)