Live Music

Last thursday I went to my first "official" concert: Aerosmith with opening act Cheap Trick. It was an amazing experience. They definitely still got it. They put on a great show. Steven Tyler still has a lot of energy and still has basically the same vocal range he's always had. Joey Kramer did a really cool drum solo at one point that was full of energy - at one point he dropped the sticks and used his hands, elbows, and head! Cheap Trick was also really good. This was a great first rock concert experience for me.

edited 30th Jul '12 10:14:03 AM by djbj

My first "official" concert was actually Aerosmith too - New Year's Eve back in 1997, I think (Nine Lives was still their newest album, and I feel like this had to be at least a little before "I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing" came out). I am old. The openers were acoustic post-grunge group Days Of The New and The Upper Crust, this band who have a silly "18th century British lords playing AC/DC-esque 70's hard rock" gimmick but actually have pretty good tunes. The latter are still around and doing one-off shows once in a while, I guess - I saw them one New Years in a small club once and found it weird that a couple of decades or so earlier I was watching them at Boston Garden.

edited 30th Jul '12 1:06:33 PM by MikeK

This post should be here.

Short version: GO OUT AND SEE SWANS.

Also, I forgot to mention: A Hawk and a Hacksaw are also very much worth seeing, and make a nice package deal.

Ooh, a live music thread! There have been many times which I wish I could have been affluent enough to go to concerts I've heard about, but I've managed to make it to a few.

• Iron Maiden (Brave New World tour), with Rob Halford and Queensryche opening. GREAT show, Maiden in particular did not disappoint.
• Sarah Brightman. Not the best. Her voice did not age well from her "Phantom" years, but she put on a good show.
• Deathline International. Good rivethead band, saw them at a club in Seattle back when I was living in those parts.
• Thomas Dolby, with Basic Pleasure Model opening. I'll admit I was mostly there to see the opening act (the lead singer was in a band I'd followed since high school) but Dolby's live techno sequencing was a treat. He was also one funny guy.
• Loreena Mc Kennitt, Ancient Muse tour. I always get two chances to see her every time she tours, because she loves performing at the theater in my hometown (and she hits Seattle because of the fanbase). Her live show has to be seen to be believed; it's totally worth the price of admission if you are even a casual fan of her music. Also, she is wonderful to her fans. I got to talk (and flirt with) her outside the concert, she is a charming lady.
• Mayhem Fest 2008, many bands on the bill. I liked the festival atmosphere; plenty of rock to watch, and some of the second-tier acts would just wander around and bullshit with people when they weren't playing. I got to chill with Black Tide for a bit because of this...Also gave them pointers on how to drink Southern Comfort (apparently their favorite alcohol). If there had been a liquor store within walking distance of the venue, I totally would have hooked them up. *
  at the time none of the band was of age, so they were barred from drinking on tour
  I wonder...what's the charge for contributing to the delinquency of a rockstar?

Anyhow, that's all folks.

edited 18th Oct '12 10:45:52 PM by drunkscriblerian

I went to see Black Moth Super Rainbow tonight. It was a fairly short set (or maybe it just felt that way because they got on stage earlier than I thought they would), and one that was mostly songs from their last couple of albums. But nonetheless, it was enjoyable - considering that lo-fi production is generally a big part of their sound, they're good at putting forth much of the same warped psychedelic vibe in their live sets. Also, I never really thought of them as much of a "dance" band until I saw them live - people weren't just dancing while watching the show, I saw some dancing their way to the bar or over to where their friends were. The opening act were Casket Girls, a pretty good Dream Pop-ish band featuring BMSR's Ryan Graveface.

And now I've started what I think may become a tradition of discreetly throwing demo CD's on stage when seeing a band I consider influential to me in some way. I swear I saw my disc ultimately end up in the hand of another random audience member, but if someone's actually taking it and listening to it, I'm happy.

edited 3rd Dec '12 11:51:47 PM by MikeK

Just got back from the Metal Alliance show. According to Scott Ian, ours was the first date on the tour to sell out^note the tour is still young, but it's still pretty cool to know that.

The show started with a band not even mentioned anywhere named Holy Grail. They were pretty cool, honestly; they sounded kind of classic-metal, were high-energy, had a great attitude and the singer was easily the loudest clean vocalist at the show (not saying much, but still). The guitarist was nice enough to play one of his solos in front of a bunch of fans with cameras.

I got bashed in the nose during that set trying to help a guy up, so I took a break during Municipal Waste ^note the venue with basically a ballroom/bar with dinner tables and such surrounding the dance floor. Wasn't too interested in them to begin with; I found out they talked crap about Disturbed at a Lamb of God opening gig. The lead singer literally sounded like a screaming retard and their lyrics were just plain dumb. Did not walk away a fan.

Funny thing happened when going back to the pit; I looked into High On Fire's music a bit but never bothered with finding out what they actually look like. I noticed the roadie on bass seemed strangely good for a guy that was just supposed to be testing while the roadie on guitar wasn't wearing a shirt. I only figured out once the lights dimmed that the roadies preparing the instruments were actually the band (guess that's just how they roll). They surprised me with how good they were: groovy, crushingly low-tuned and easy to mellow out to yet definitely the heaviest (in terms of the sheer weight packed into their riffs) sounding band to take the stage so far. I'll probably go check out more of their stuff later.

Exodus were just as insane as the time I saw them open for Slayer and Rob Zombie. They once again encouraged violent circle-moshing and got a wall of death started half-way through ^note I was smart enough not to take part this time with my nose being what it was. I think the security must have pulled 20-30 crowd-surfing people during that set alone. Maybe it was the acoustics, but I think their singer shrieked more.

Anthrax were easily the best, and got the best reaction by far (I was especially excited since I missed the chance to see them last time they were here). Since they decided to play Among the Living in its entirety, cutting out Be All, End All, Got the Time, Metal Thrashing Mad, Madhouse and especially Fight 'Em 'Til You Can't hurt the set a bit, but the older songs were "heavied up" and actually sounded much better than their album versions. I would've gotten more into the set if it weren't for this one asshole who muscled his way up to guard rail, whose height-difference nearly hit me in the face too many times to count ^note you're not going to lose your place, buddy,so you can stop shoving me. I don't mind getting pushed, but there was this girl beside me who was getting pushed around by proxy (how are women supposed to feel welcome in this sort of environment when guys don't bother to notice them while they act like gorillas?). My shoulder hurts just from trying to hold my place next to this prick and I have a headache from my hair getting pulled routinely just from the pressure/friction of the crowd behind me (suffice it to say that Anthrax were the most popular).

Rob Caggiano recently left, so we got the Shadows Fall guy as I call him. Meanwhile Charlie Benante I heard bowed out of the Australian tour for "personal reasons," and presumably those reasons extended to this tour as well. But seeing Frank, Scott and Joey at work was good enough for me (shouting alongside them and their famous gang-vocals felt good). I'm The Man went over surprisingly well and Antisocial turned out to not be such a bad closer. The highlights were easily Caught in a Mosh, Efilnikufesin, Imitation of Life, TNT and Indians. My ears are still ringing hours later, the adrenaline has since worn off and I hurt all over at this point, but I wouldn't miss seeing them again for the world.

edited 18th Mar '14 9:43:08 AM by Alucard

The last couple live shows I went to:

• Eldridge Rodriguez, Scott Lucas & The Married Men, EmptyMansions. Eldridge Rodriquez are a local band I've seen open other shows before - they're a pretty good band in the earnest indie-folk vein, and I enjoy their song "Giving Myself Over To Boston". Scott Lucas & The Married Men were mainly who I was actually there to see: The friend I came to see them with is more of a fan of the vocalist's more well-known band, Local H, than I am *
  Though I have a lot of nostalgia for their album As Good As Dead from my angsty teen years, and actually just re-bought that album for cheap
  , but I ended up liking his more recent project better - they have more blues and folk influences, but taken to an equal level of loudness as the more Post-Grunge-y Local H. Apparently they normally have a larger lineup with a keyboardist and strings - for this performance they were more of a more typical 4 piece rock band (with two guitars, bass, and their normal keyboardist subbing in for an absent drummer). EmptyMansions were okay, but I felt like they combined elements that didn't quite work with each other - among their members are Duane Denison from The Jesus Lizard, Sam Fogarino from Interpol and Sam Curtis from Secret Machines, so it makes sense that their style is an interesting, but somewhat awkward marriage of Noise Rock, Post-Punk and neo-psychedelia.

• Titus Andronicus, So So Glos, and Hands And Knees. I pretty much went to this show because I was in the area, had heard of the headliners, and wanted to do something tonight because I didn't have work the next day. All three bands were quite good, and I'll be giving Titus Andronicus more of a listen later.

edited 30th Apr '13 12:27:40 AM by MikeK

Who I have seen live:

• Karnivool
• Metallica
• Mountain Mocha Kilimanjaro
• Saoirse
• Jon Gomm
• Andy Sorenson
• Yes
• The Tea Party
• Prince
• Simple Minds
• Jon Anderson
• Roger Waters
• DEVO
• Baronness
• U2
• Lamb Of God
• Countless local acts

Of all those, I can say that the only show that was terrible was Lamb Of God. I had to sit through them to see Metallica. It was worth it in the end.

On the cards is Fleetwood Mac and a few local Trad and Celtic acts.

Okay, so, the 12th of July...*deep breath*...I'M GONNA BE SEEING PAUL FREAKING MCCARTNEY IN CONCERT!!!!

Sounds like it's going to be a wonderful experience for someone like you. Hope you have fun.

Me, I'm seeing Black Sabbath in August. They're pretty much my Beatles, so you can imagine...

Thank you very much, I'm really looking forward to it

I heard about that tour! I actually considered getting tickets myself, but I don't quite know nearly enough Black Sabbath (only having listened to a Greatest Hits compilation that mostly consists of songs from the Ozzy years) for it to probably have the full effect for me.

Have fun! Stay out of the bat blood splash zone if you're close to the stage

Earlier today I came home from a nice little three day festival. Saw several great (and a few less-than-great) artist perform live: included but not limited to Green Day, Thirty Seconds To Mars, Rammstein, Paramore, Queens Of The Stone Age, Enter Shikari, Rival Sons, Stone Sour, Billy Talent, The Gaslight Anthem, A Day To Remember and Airbourne.

edited 30th Jun '13 6:21:47 PM by Xeroop

You don't know how much I'm seething with jealousy right now. My best friend and I would've killed to see a lineup like that. what festival was it?

Rock The Beach in Helsinki, Finland. Line up like that is pretty much historical in the scale of Finnish rock festivals. A lot more foreign big names, and bigger names than what you'd usually get there.

That is a pretty decent lineup. I'd be tempted by Rammstein alone.

In personal news, I am going to see Fleetwood Mac in November. As quickly as they were added to my 'Bands to See Before My Death' list, it seems they were scratched just as quickly!

Now all that's left is Marillion and Rush.

I went to see Melvins last night: The openers were Honky, a band fronted by Butthole Surfers bassist Jeff Pinkus: I wasn't compelled to rush over to the merch table and buy a CD, but Honky put on a pretty fun show - They're kind of equal parts Noise Rock and Southern Rock. Pinkus also joined Melvins on stage, since current bassist Jared Warren is taking a break for the tour due to being a new father. This lead to a fairly mind-melting cover version of Butthole Surfers' "Graveyard". Otherwise, the headlining set was well-played, energetic, and very loud, but I guess I was slightly spoiled by the last time I went out to see a Melvins show, where they essentially played three mini-sets with no opener and we got around three hours worth of show instead of 90 minutes with no encore.

edited 30th Jul '13 2:35:59 PM by MikeK

I was at Gigantour last night.

Wow. I mean holy hell.

I saw Death Division first, and they weren't bad, as an opener or in general. I managed to snatch up a pick that the lead singer/rhythm guitarist threw.

Newsted didn't show up because Jason came down with pneumonia. I didn't know any of their music anyway.

Hellyeah brought as much energy as when I saw them play on Uproar 2010. Thankfully this time I knew the lyrics to Hellyeah from the Hellyeah album. They got a small singalong going to You Wouldn't Know.

Device were possibly the greatest highlight of the evening. I've heard Vilify about 50+ times, but that just doesn't compare to the live version. They don't have a bass-player normally, but John DeServio from BLS got up and played with them during a song.

BLS were the other reason I wanted to go. I couldn't appreciate them as much when I saw them open for Judas Priest on their Epitaph Tour, but after buying more of their albums, they're one of my favorite bands now.

I've been getting more into Megadeth leading up to this show, and they were amazing. Peace Sells, Hanger 18, À Tout le Monde and Holy Wars were some of the biggest highlights. Their set-up looked great too, with the giant screens showing scenes from the lyrics and imagery pertaining to the meanings behind the songs. David Draiman got up and sang with them during Dance in the Rain as well (he co-wrote that one after all).

One of the biggest thrills for me was getting to meet David Draiman face to face during the meet-n-greet. I got a picture with him and Device, got a signed autograph and basically I was smiling like an idiot. I got to tell him he's my vocal idol. I'm probably going to get the autograph laminated (then it's going straight up on my wall).

On the downside, I got beer spilled on my leg at one point and I'm pretty beat up with a sore throat right now. It's the price you pay for floor tickets. I managed to avoid the circle pit a bit better then in other stadium-sized shows I've been to in the past. Those people were willing to mosh to slower songs for some reason.

Anyway, this show was 10/10. One of the best I've ever been to.

edited 31st Jul '13 9:27:49 AM by Alucard

I really need to get to a metal show one day. They always seem like such a different beast from any other concert.

Anyway, in about 8 days I'm finally going to see They Might Be Giants in concert! I've wanted to see them live for years (especially due to all the clips I've seen from their live shows and the stuff I've heard about them) but always either missed my chance or had no way/money to go. Now they're coming to an actual local venue for me (the Stone Pony, natch) and I managed to get my friend (who knows very little about them aside from the "Fingertips" fragment "I'm Having a Heart Attack" ) to come with me. So this should be awesome.

I guess the one issue is that I still haven't listened to their newest album yet, but I've got over a week to do so, and I just bought it about a half hour ago anyway

Going to a Karnivool gig on Friday. Touring their new album.

Comp'd tickets for the win~

Saw Steely Dan live recently in Detroit. It was pretty great. They got all of the hits in, as well as almost all of Countdown to Ecstasy (missing "The Boston Rag," "King of the World" and "Pearl of the Quarter.") My only complaint is that they use the horn section too much, and also that they failed to play the aforementioned Boston Rag, my favorite song on that album.

edited 14th Aug '13 9:43:20 PM by megaBLOB

It's two weeks ago now, but Wacken was amazing this year! Mostly because HOLY SHIT DEEP PURPLE and HOLY SHIT ALICE COOPER. I also had a lot of fun with Black Messiah (in a tent, in the afternoon, on one of the hottest days of the year... I've never been so sweaty in my life) Anthrax and Alestorm.

Deep Purple's show in particular was one of the best concerts I've ever seen, perhaps even the best. Of course the set was great - from über-hits like "Smoke On The Water", "Highway Star" and "Hush" to lesser-known gems like "Into The Fire" and "No One Came" - but then again you'd be hard pressed to select a bad setlist out of their catalog.

What struck me most was the complete lack of pretentiousness. Here was one of the six or seven greatest rock bands in history, and they weren't giving off any "look at us, we're legends" vibes at all. They dressed and acted very casually, reminding me more of a bunch of friendly old men playing blues at the local pub than of the A-tier rock gods they were. There were no cheesy costumes or flashy fireworks, a refreshing change of pace at a metal festival.

Equally refreshing was the surprisingly low amount of filler. No endless blathering between songs, no clichéd call-and-response sequences with the crowd - less talky, more musicky. Deep Purple's music speaks for itself, and they know that all too well.

And damn, did they sound good. The mixing was great, letting you hear organ, guitar, bass, drums and vocals crystal clear (rather than just vocals and the bass drum, as is all too often the case at even the most professionally mixed gigs). All of these really packed the kind of punch you want from a live show, while also maintaining the precision and refinement that Deep Purple's quasi-progressive oeuvre requires. Gillan knew the limits of his ageing voice and generally stayed within them, but occasionally launched into a high falsetto - you could read on his face that he didn't see this as anything more or less than a good joke, which it was. 'Why so serious?'

There were moving tributes to Jon Lord, the keyboard god who died last year, from band and crowd alike. Great pictures of the man were displayed on the screens; fans brought a banner hailing him as 'a rock legend not forgotten'. If there is a heaven, Lord must have been looking down proudly that night.

In the meanwhile, I looked up in awe. The word 'rock legend' perfectly captured how I felt about the show, and Deep Purple in general, afterwards: 'I have seen the stuff of legends, myths and extravagant praise, and it was everything I'd expected and more.'

Later that night, the festival's main headliner, Rammstein, rocked the True Metal Stage - but Rammstein could kiss my arse. I'd seen Deep fucking Purple.

Well, I'm going to see Clannad! I didn't even know they were touring, but I have myself a ticket thanks to my Dad.

So I just got back from Black Sabbath. They felt exactly as God-like as I hold them up to.

I'll start by saying that Andrew W.K. was perhaps the strangest opening act I've ever seen. I went in expecting half a dozen songs about partying, but found out later that he wasn't with his band and was instead invited to perform as a "metal DJ". ^note he played Electric Eye, A New Level, Straight Through the Heart, Dragula, Highway Star, Since You've Been Gone, For Whom The Bell Tolls, Cum On Feel the Noize, and two songs I couldn't identify (I think they might have been more Priest and Accept) I don't think many people were expecting or wanted something like that. Me, I found it sensible in its own way: what band could possibly open for a group of people this legendary? They're basically the metal Beatles: most younger bands are so far from worthy to open for them that even trying would be an injustice at best. The way I see it, nothing could warm up a crowd quite so well as a play-by-play of all the sounds in the genre that wouldn't exist without them. Sadly, Andrew got the warmest reception when he fired his Tee-shirt gun. He did his best to remind everyone how lucky they are to see this band.

Sabbath started with War Pigs. It's not often crowds know the lyrics to a song quite as perfectly as this. Ozzy opened the show before the curtain fell with a mad cackle, and injected it a few times during certain parts of the show.

It was fun watching people get moving to their title song (from their first album). It's still rare to me I hear music that evil sounding (so in other words, it was great). Overall this crowd had the most old dudes of any concert I can remember. It was the people my age that did most of the moving (during the high-energy portions of the set).

Surprisingly, of all the shows I've been to, this one I could smell the fewest illicit substances wafting through the air (except during Fairies Wear Boots). You'd think this band, of all bands, would invite something like that the most (being Straight Edge, I just can't see the appeal).

I was impressed with how good their new material sounded. God Is Dead was easily one of the great highlights. These guys clearly have still got it. Geezer's bass-solo before N.I.B was one of the most exciting moments of the show, and Iommi's multiple solos sounded perfect every time.

I think the drummer tonight was Tommy Clufetos, one of their fill-in drummers. His drum solo probably the heaviest part of the night, but that isn't necessarily a good thing. Ultimately here is where it becomes obvious that he really is just a hired gun, trying to mimic a style not his own. He just plainly lacked the groove and a tone that Bill Ward would've had, and it came off as forced (I thought he sometimes hit the drums too hard to make up for it). Still, he did his job in the end: that's all I can really ask.

Overall, headbanging and moving to this band just isn't the same as with other metal bands. It takes a hold of something almost primordial in you, inviting a sense of heaviness that resonates harder than if they'd been playing faster or more aggressively. To know the stature of these riffs and the fact that these sounds are why headbanging exists. It's frankly magical. If there was one downside, it would be that they didn't play Children of the Grave or Symptom of the Universe, but I'm still satisfied with what I got (I'd say the crowd was too; haven't seen a reaction like that since Iron Maiden).

I'm glad I got to see these guys who started my favorite genre. I'll probably never see a show quite like that again.

edited 31st Aug '13 12:03:53 AM by Alucard

I saw Muse twice, the first time was at the Ziggo Dome and the second time at the Amsterdam Aren A. The first time was fantastic, the second time was okay, because the sound in the Aren A was pretty horrible and they overdid it a bit with all the asides and effects. I also went to Best Kept Secret festival in June and saw The Maccabees, Swim Deep, Surfer Blood, Bloc Party and Arctic Monkeys there. Wasn't a huge fan of Surfer Blood but the rest was awesome. Foals and Queens Of The Stone Age are next. Can't wait for both.

Going to see the Purple Dentists on Thursday. It'll be awesome, since it's four of the best trad musos in Australia, but it'll also be sad without Louie Mc Manus with them.

Dude was like an uncle to me when I was a kid.