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

We saw Lukas Nelson on Friday and Dwight Yoakam on Sunday. Both were great shows, but there wasn’t much of a crowd for Nelson. He played a couple of his daddy’s song during his show.

Much larger crowd for Yoakam, and it was a solid show as well. I knew more of his songs than Nelson’s so that might have added to my enjoyment.

 

I saw Roger McGuinn last night at the new performing arts center at OSU. Amazing show, amazing venue. He opened with "My Back Pages," closed with "Chimes of Freedom," and played almost every great Byrds' song in between, augmented by stories of his career and material from his early days as a folk artist.

Oddly enough, he didn't do anything from "Sweetheart of the Rodeo," one of the most influential albums of American rock music. Nor, among all the very famous people he has worked with, did he even mention Gram Parsons.

Much thanks to my older brother for exposing me to the Byrds way back in 1966. They have always been one of my favorite - and somewhat underappreciated - American bands.

 

Going to see The Struts on Saturday night. I've heard they're great live, even if some of their studio material is a little pedestrian.

 

Was really hoping to see Turnpike Troubadours this weekend. Instead I spent the equivalent of a Taylor Swift floor seat on car repairs. Wheee!

 

Saw them open for the Foo Fighters at Rogers Centre several years ago. Terrible venue for them but they were great live, real throwbacks to the days of 70s glam rock.

 

I took my wife and daughter to see Ladysmith Black Mambazo a couple weekends ago. It was the third or fourth LBM concert for my wife and me, first for my daughter. They sang only a couple songs from the Paul Simon era, which was great. Only one of the singers from the '80s are left, but four sons of choir leader Joseph Shabalala perform, trading off the lead role. It was a really fine show.

Tomorrow it's Sierra Ferrell, looks like a sold-out show after the concert was moved to a bigger venue. I recently noticed there's an opening performer, Cat Clyde. I'm listening to her on YouTube.

 

I saw Cat Clyde a few weeks ago at a little club in Sydney. She will pair very well with Sierra Ferrell. Great songwriter and really good guitar player.

 

I've seen The Struts twice, both in small clubs (Cat's Cradle near Chapel Hill). Luke is an impossibly fun frontman and they are as full of energy as their music (he did costume changes at one of those shows). "Kiss This" is a pure gem live. Last time I saw them, they did a "Dancing in the Dark" cover. We had a really good crowd both times, too.

Now I want to go listen to The Struts. I think they're just a fun, don't-think-about-it-too-much band. Simple guilty pleasure for me.

 

Seeing them in a similar venue, The National in Richmond. Getting hyped now.

 

How was the show, @Cosmo?

 

Really good, high energy, fun night!

 

Sierra Ferrell's sold-out show last night was the first I've been to in quite a while where gray heads in the crowd did not predominate. The age range of the audience impressed me -- I saw people in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 60s and even a few 70s. The crowd came to its feet the moment Sierra walked out on stage and stayed there all night.

She has one hot band behind her with Oliver Craven on fiddle/guitar, Josh Rilko on mandolin/banjo, Geoff Saunders on bass and (I believe) Matt Meyer on drums.