Concert Memories

Sonicpharmacist said:
My very first concert was at the OAT, seeing David Gilmour on his About Face tour when I was 14. Since then, I’ve seen Seal, Oingo Boingo (twice), Ozzy, a festival that I can’t recall who played (lol)....but it’s always been my favorite place to see a concert.
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Nice! My wife grew up here, and saw Boingo there too, her first show was Pat Benatar at the OAT. I saw Boingo a few times. Once at the Hollywood Palladium for a New Years eve run, and at Irvine Meadows at Halloween.
 
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First concert: Red Hot Chili Peppers w/ Gnarls Barkley at US Bank Arena in Cincy

Worst concert experience: First time seeing Radiohead at Riverbend Music Center in Cincy. My friend and I were on the lawn for the first time and made the mistake of going too far down towards the front so when people in the pavilion stood up we couldn't see anything on the stage. The TV monitors for the lawn were only showing the backdrop imagery instead of the band so we literally couldn't see anything. After a while of standing there I felt something splash on the back of my leg and figure it was just someone's drink. A few seconds later my leg and shoe gets SOAKED and it's warm so I whip around and see this guy, dick in hand, full streaming right on me. Proceed to chew the guy out until him and his equally fucked up buddy stumble away. Shoes and night ruined. I am honestly shocked that I didn't deck the guy. Thankfully I've seen Radiohead since and it was so much better.

Best: Foo Fighters at The Metro in Chicago for a Lollapalooza aftershow inb 2017. Perry Farrell joined them for a few songs. David Bowie's guitarist was in the audience and got pointed out by Dave. Played for over 3 hours. I caught Dave's guitar pick. Absolutely incredible night.
 
So many to choose from, so I'll probably be posting here quite a bit over time. I think the show I would still consider my favorite would be a Patti Smith performance on St. Patrick's Day 2000 at Waterloo Park. Outdoor show in Austin during SXSW. Patti had not played live in Austin in many, many years.

The weather was really pleasant...pretty breezy if I remember correctly. I think this show was days before her "Gung Ho" album was to be released. Alejandro Escovedo opened for her, and he and his band were on fire. Al is always great live, but he dialed it up a bit that night because he knew Patti playing that show was a special event.

Patti came out and started things off with a grungy, angry 'Dead City' from her "Peace and Noise" album. She was wearing a stocking hat, and looked like she had just arrived from early 90's Seattle to play the gig. She was spitting in between lines, which, although kinda gross, was also very rock 'n roll and fit her performance of that song. Since this was my first time seeing her, that proved something definitively for me, Patti isn't a great female rock 'n roll star...she's just a great rock 'n roll star period. The whole show was amazing. She mixed old classics with newer material seamlessly. When it came time for her and the band to play the epic title track to "Gung Ho", I remember she stopped the band a minute or so into the lengthy intro and had them start back over. They started back up again, and a few minutes into the song, a helicopter from a nearby hospital flew nearby, which added a little drama to that Vietnam themed track.

Everything just fell into place that night at that show. She was right when she declared it "St. Patti's Day". And it was a free show too.
 
I'll never forget in Jan. 2006 going to the Fall of Troy tour at the Door in Dallas and watching Portugal. The Man open for them. I had never heard of PTM before and when they came on stage their energy completely blew me away, it was nothing like the Fall of Troy's sound (which I was in love with at the time) but their lyrics and riffs captivated me and turned me into a huge long time fan.

To this day, this is why I always get to a venue early to see the first performance because you never know what you may miss out on. If I am unfamiliar with an opening band I don't even check spotify before the show, I just go and let them sell themselves by their performance.
 
blissfullychaotic said:
I'll never forget in Jan. 2006 going to the Fall of Troy tour at the Door in Dallas and watching Portugal. The Man open for them. I had never heard of PTM before and when they came on stage their energy completely blew me away, it was nothing like the Fall of Troy's sound (which I was in love with at the time) but their lyrics and riffs captivated me and turned me into a huge long time fan.

To this day, this is why I always get to a venue early to see the first performance because you never know what you may miss out on. If I am unfamiliar with an opening band I don't even check spotify before the show, I just go and let them sell themselves by their performance.
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I started an Opening Acts thread on the old forum because I'm one who actually likes to check out openers. I know some can take or leave seeing them. I figure their performance is part of the cover/ticket price too...might as well see what they have to offer. That thread didn't get a ton of action, so I'm not sure I'll start it again here, but, it's nice to hear that others like checking out the openers as much as I do.
 
I have a couple which I will share later, but I have had a bit of unexpected news which I think fits in here.

I enter a lot on competitions through the 'Vodafone' app, basically, just need to click one button and you get entered into a draw. Just found out I have won 2 tickets to 'All Points East' festival here in London on sunday. The line up is fab, Christine and the Queens, Kamasi Washington, Kurt Vile, Beach House, James Blake, etc!
 
Selaws said:
I have a couple which I will share later, but I have had a bit of unexpected news which I think fits in here.

I enter a lot on competitions through the 'Vodafone' app, basically, just need to click one button and you get entered into a draw. Just found out I have won 2 tickets to 'All Points East' festival here in London on sunday. The line up is fab, Christine and the Queens, Kamasi Washington, Kurt Vile, Beach House, James Blake, etc!
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Nice! That lineup looks great!
 
Selaws said:
I have a couple which I will share later, but I have had a bit of unexpected news which I think fits in here.

I enter a lot on competitions through the 'Vodafone' app, basically, just need to click one button and you get entered into a draw. Just found out I have won 2 tickets to 'All Points East' festival here in London on sunday. The line up is fab, Christine and the Queens, Kamasi Washington, Kurt Vile, Beach House, James Blake, etc!
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Oh, Kamasi is great - don't miss his set. I can tell a story about him too. Right before The Epic came out, he played a small bar in town, capacity around 200 people. Tiny stage, but he still managed to fit the full band including two drummers on it. Every single person in his band is a top notch musician in their own right, and so much fun to watch. I've seen him since, but it was really special seeing them in a small environment.
 
imtheocean said:
Oh, Kamasi is great - don't miss his set. I can tell a story about him too. Right before The Epic came out, he played a small bar in town, capacity around 200 people. Tiny stage, but he still managed to fit the full band including two drummers on it. Every single person in his band is a top notch musician in their own right, and so much fun to watch. I've seen him since, but it was really special seeing them in a small environment.
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He's the one I'm most excited for, been wanting to see him live for a while.
 
You guys can remember shows? ;) Just playing.
My official first show was New Kids on the Block (ducks) in the late 80's maybe early 90's. I was young!!
Then my parents took me to Aerosmith in '94 and Page/Plant '95. Yeah, I never looked back.
 
WOW! A ton of love already for Neil Young!
Saw him in 1996 in Massachusetts with Afghan Whigs and Jewel.

I remember three things very clearly:

1. Jewel played, maybe, three songs off Pieces Of You and the rest was new material... I don't think most of it ever saw the light of day, which is a shame because they were actually the best Jewel songs anyone had ever heard.
2. During Neil, there were security guards giving a bunch of shit to some teenagers about weed... oblivious that the people actually smoking it were the adults in the row behind them.
3. Neil ended the night with "Roll Another Number," yet the audience (even after he left the stage) were shouting for "Rocking In The Free World" (a song I've actually never cared for). When it was clear he wasn't coming back, that's when the booing started. To this day I think that was pretty shitty of the audience.
 
If I am picking a favorite concert memory, the first off the top of my head would be Sigur Rós in Fort Worth, February 2006. Their first encore song was "Viðrar vel til loftárása" from Ágætis Byrjun.

At one point, there was a dramatic pause in the middle of the performance.

For no less than 30 seconds.
Nobody moved, nobody blinked, and I was scared to breathe.
I will never forget that silence.
 
Bumping this up since this poster sits right above my desk and it's the 19th anniversary of the show. Pearl Jam 6/5/2003.

Poster is by far my favorite, totally reminds me of my daughter at that age - she's still the same way now.

The show itself was amazing from beginning to end. A singalong Better Man to start, followed by Do The Evolution, Save You, Animal to really get the crowd going. This tour also had extended versions of Crazy Mary that are worth searching out, with back & forth interplay between Mike McCready on guitar and Boom Gaspar on the Hammond B3.

Emotional point of the show easily though was the debut of ARC - Just Ed's multilayered vocals, it's a tribute to the 9 victims of the Roskilde Festival who died during their performance in 2000. Totally unexpected that they would do this live, you could hear a pin drop and could tell it was very emotional for Eddie. They only played it 9 times at Pearl Jam shows, although Ed has done it at his solo shows too.

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