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

It's amazing that for how much I like the Counting Crows, I've heard nothing about awful things about their shows. Adam going off script on songs, low energy vibes, etc.

 

1. First concert: Rod Stewart, Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, May 1978
2. Most recent concert: Tedeschi Trucks Band, Molson Amphitheatre, Toronto , July 13
3. Worst concert: A disastrous oldies thing Chuck Berry headlined not long after the SkyDome opened in 1989. Jerry Lee and Fats Domino were supposed to be on the bill but both mysteriously came down with some illness the day of the show (I doubt they were ever confirmed in the first place). Anyway, Little Richard killed and Frankie Valli wasn't bad. A message is posted on the jumbotron that Chuck will not go on stage if the video screens were on. This doesn't go over well with people in that cavernous place and after a while (and another pile of cash, no doubt) Chuck decides to come out with video. He's hostile from the start, bitching at the band and after after playing "Sweet Little Sixteen" twice within the first four songs, me and many others said fuck it and headed out.
4. Loudest concert: Indoors: AC/DC, Copps Coliseum, Hamilton, Ont.; Outdoors: Judas Priest, CNE Grandstand
5. Best concert: Hmmmm, probably Springsteen, Wrecking Ball Tour, Rogers Centre; best club show Georgia Satellites
6. Seen the most: Springsteen, 8
7. Most surprising: Alabama. Wasn't a fan but went with a friend who had an extra ticket to a show they were headlining with Roy Orbison. I went to see Roy but I was really impressed with how good Alabama was
8. Next concert: The Trews, a popular Canuckistani band, at a theatre in my part of the Toronto 'burbs in February
9. Wish I could have seen: Hendrix, Buddy Rich

 

Imagine if you pulled some random dude off the street who had never heard a Counting Crows song, handed him a lyric sheet and threw him onstage to front the band. Adam genuinely sounded like he had never heard the songs and didn't know why he was there.

 

First concert: That I can remember, Johnny and the Hurricanes, Cab Calloway. Dad worked for the Post Office in Chicago, and the union staged Christmas shows at the Chicago Stadium to make up for the fact that it couldn't improve the crap wages. The Stadium neighborhood was in a rough part of town back then, but Mom loved the performing arts, and she was fearless. Dad wasn't interested, so Mom took me down to the Stadium with her via city bus as her escort. I was probably 10 or 11 years old, which would have been '64, '65. The shows were revues with probably 30-minute sets and were geared toward union membership, which had a big African-American share. I remember Nipsy Russell doing a stand-up among the other acts.
Most recent concert: Wu Fei and Abigail Washburn, a mountain/world music fusion tour. Wu Fei played the guzheng, a Chinese harp-like instrument, while Washburn played the banjo and did some step dancing. Interesting but not compelling show.
Worst concert: Probably Todd Rundgren in the mid-'70s. Todd had developed a reputation as a studio wiz, and his show included a segment where he came out on the stage, popped a tape cartridge into a device and sang along with the recorded music produced who-knows-where and -when. Not to my taste.
Best Concert: Pink Floyd in March 1973. Probably the band's last tour before it graduated to outdoor venues, which couldn't duplicate the elaborate light shows it featured indoors. The US tour began in Madison the week "Dark Side of the Moon" was released. Runner-up: Louis Armstrong, 1968.
Loudest concert: Maybe King Crimson in the dilapidated old Mojeska Theater in Milwaukee, which was a very small venue for the band. Although Foghat in 1975 was pretty damn loud.
Seen the most: The Mekons and/or band members, along with spinoff act The Waco Brothers. A dozen times, at least. See Jon Langford and Sally Timms if you ever have a chance.
Most surprising: My paper's music critic did an advance writeup on an Indian music concert sponsored by a cultural group at a small college auditorium. I remember he hooked his article on the name of an instrument one of the musicians played, the sarod jugalbandi. I dragged my wife to the show, which was in what looked like a 1940s junior high auditorium. The brilliance I saw and heard that night was stunning. I learned that Indian classical music could be improvisational, and the musicians could jam like jazz artists. My dear spouse still says that is one of the greatest concerts she has ever experienced. I agree.
Next concert: At this time, the Cajun band Beausoliel. We've seen them before, they're great.
Wish I could have seen: Jimi Hendrix.

 

I saw Little Richard once, and he absolutely stole the show from the main act.

 

I have really enjoyed the Counting Crows the times I have seen them live, three times and most recently four or so years ago. I also really like their music.

That said, if you go expecting a singalong you are going to be disappointed. It is one of those unique things about live music and they sometimes take it to the extreme.

If you go to enough shows in general, you probably aren't going to mind that and actually like the difference and even creativity. If you just like hearing the hits how they were recorded, well.

They clearly don't care since they have been performing like that for a while, and also still draw really pretty well.

It's interesting, especially for a band that has been around for decades. Tons of people go because of the nostalgia, but there are a lot of diehards who have been there forever too.

Pearl Jam is my favorite band and their live shows are great. They change sets every night and the only songs you are pretty much guaranteed to hear any given night are Even Flow and Alive. I saw them four times this past fall and in back-to-backs in Fort Worth those were the only repeats. I find that amazing and very entertaining. But after every show on the socials there are tons of people who complain about the lack of hits.

I guess after a band has been around that long and keeps being successful, they are more at liberty to do what they want at their shows.

 

My list:

1. First concert: Rush, 1986 at Kemper Arena in Kansas City. I took our Italian foreign exchange student buddy.
2. Most recent concert: Brandi Carlile and later Sheryl Crow at the Roots 'n' Blues fest in 2021. EDIT: I saw Lyle Lovett and Chris Isaak in 2022 at Stifel Theater in St. Louis. I'm a Lovett fan, but Isask owned in that concert.
3. Worst concert: Not for the zydeco band, but for the chick who ghosted me after buying me a beer, drawing a heart in lipstick on my arm and showing me the condom in her pocket.
4. Loudest concert: Rush, and later The Firm, both at Kemper.
5. Best concert: Morphine at The Blue Note sometime in the late 1990s. I drove about six hours to see that show with a high school buddy.
6. Seen the most: Wilco, 8 or 9 shows from New Orleans to Champaign to Quad Cities to Little Rock to Columbia and K.C. Missouri.
7. Most surprising: Cracker, in 1994. I didn't really know what to expect, but they rocked and blew opener Counting Crows out of the water.
8. Next concert: Probably nothing unless a friend can get me into a Son Volt house concert, which he regularly goes to.
9. Wish I could have seen, long list: Chuck Berry, Merle Haggard, Waylon, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains
10. One I'm glad I saw: Johnny Cash

 

Re: Counting Crows

I saw them on their tour after August and Everything After came out. They were fine. Adam changed his line to "I wanna be David Lowery" instead of Bob Dylan.

 

I think at some point Sturgill records and tours again. I think he’ll get restless, and the money will be waiting for him. I hope he does, that voice alone is something special.

 

Glad I saw: Stevie Ray Vaughan, Allman Brothers at the Beacon, BB King, Pete Townshend solo, Toronto stop on the Tragically Hip's last tour

 

I need to see Foo Fighters again.

Their legend precedes them when it comes to live shows, and I enjoyed them, but it didn't hit me like it hits so many others. And they didn't play Everlong, which remains a sore point for me.

 

I really hope so. Would absolutely travel to see him if I could.