Almost all of them. Live music is one of the greatest things to experience.
Some people have really dropped the ball in recent years though. I was deeply disappointed by recent Kiss, Marilyn Manson, and ZZTop shows.
Sucks to go see a band you love and be disappointed. Hope your next show is better!
Oh, I’ve had great ones too - these were mostly for my stepson.
You sound like an awesome stepdad!
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard
I already loved their albums when I discovered them in '16, but once I saw them live i was totally hooked. They’ve only been getting better since, especially after they dumped their second drummer (rip Eric I miss you but you totally held the other drummer back). Every single show I’ve seen since was such a blast! More and more jammy too, which I really enjoy.
Also, I saw The Colour Haze last Friday and they were much better love than I expected as well.
Woo!
Tool, always. Propagandhi were also great.
I saw Tool live at a festival in 2019. I had never heard of them before, I’m more of a punk rock guy. Their show absolutely blew me away. Surreal experience. I’ve listened to their albums a lot ever since.
I have seen them 7 times between 2002 and 2024, and they were exceptional each time (even if they only played my favourite song for the first time in the '24 gig). I also love that they don’t allow phones at their gigs. It’s great to not have a sea of screens in front of you. They usually have great warm up acts too.
Perfect Circle is also totally worth it.
I will forever kick myself for not trying to see them in Tacoma in (i think) 2023. One of the greatest bands of all time, and pure fucking magic on psychedelics
I was the DD for my girlfriend’s birthday party and went to a Florence and the Machine show. It was outdoors and as the show got started black storm clouds started rolling in.
When they started “The Dog Days Are Over” all hell broke loose. Sheets of rain, huge lightning bolts and cracking thunder loud enough to drown out the music and the crowd.
But Florence stood there, exposed to it all, diaphanous robes lashed by the wind, not even noticing it as she belted out her anthem. As if she had called down the storm for backup vocals.
I wasn’t a fan before but I am now.
When my eldest daughter was born we were overnight at the hospital and had a huge window in our room. My wife had listened to Florence and the machine a lot while pregnant and we are big music lovers who often have music playing around us. We were up at night feeding our first born worrying about being new parents and fidgeting over what we didn’t understand. In the background Florence and the machine was playing quietly. Suddenly a massive rainstorm started seemingly out of nowhere. Crashing lightning. Smashing down torrential rain. Building shaking thunder. We turned up the music and it was like they were just playing for us. It lasted about an hour and I will never forget it.
It was an amazing welcome to the world for our first baby who is now a preteen and your story reminded me of it.
Florence is a storm demigod, confirmed
I have never seen so many people ugly cry (full tears and snot) then at a Florence show. She puts on a hell of a show.
Barenaked Ladies. Didn’t want to go, went anyway, loved every minute of it
I saw Stephen Page live as part of some group doing a Christmas concert. His vocals absolutely stood out from the others and was just so powerful. I wish he was still with the Barenaked Ladies, but I’ve still enjoyed a lot of their work without him.
His solo albums are fantastic!
When I was 17 I had a highschool girlfriend who drug me to a bare naked ladies show. I was a heavy metal listener at the time but have always had pretty eclectic tastes throughout kife. I loved that show. I was pretty shocked about it at the time.
That worked out!
Absolutely. I saw them live a million times in the 90s. I got pelted with Kraft Dinner more times than I can count.
Slipknot puts on a pretty damn good show.
They’re not a band that’s in my usual listening rotation, I don’t dislike them, they’re just not my usual kind of music. When I saw them it was a situation where someone I knew ended up with extra tickets somehow and I was more interested in the other bands they were touring with
I’d say they stole the show but I think they were actually the headliner, so I don’t know who they would’ve stolen it from.
I’m admittedly a sucker for a spectacle, and let’s be real, that’s kind of slipknot’s whole schtick.
Buddy Guy. the concert was pretty posh (think bankers in suits), with everyone having arranged seating, audience sitting still and quiet like at a classical music concert.
he was like ‘fuck this, this isn’t a proper concert, my guitar is wireless, let’s stand up, go to the entry hall and jam’. so he’s just standing in the middle of the crowd and going nuts, at like 83 years of age. That was amazing.
I saw buddy at a music fest once and he yelled at the crowd for not singing along in time. Dude is a hilarious legend
God Speed You! Black Emperor.
Not a band, but Patti Smith, with Philip Glass.
Iron maiden puts on one hell of a performance. Bruce Dickinson running back-and-forth across the stage climbing shit, singing with an incredible vocal range at the top of his lungs without missing a beat, costume changes every song or two that match the album covers being projected behind their giant zombie that’s shooting fire…
I had the privilege to see them live about 8 years ago and it was an incredible show. Dickinson has incredible stage presence; really puts a lot of energy into the show to keep the crowd engaged.
The giant animatronic zombie freaked me out a bit. It was enormous and moved realistically enough to be unsettling since I wasn’t that far away from it. Most metal shit I’ve ever seen in person.
I saw them two years ago, and I was amazed by how radically the stage shifted between songs. The band members were struggling bouncing around though 😅
Muse. They are almost too perfect live. It feels uncanny.
They are my number #1 live too.
Muse
Mushroomhead at a small venue were amazing, I’ve been to the venue so many times and never seen anyone do anything interesting but they were there were impressive lighting and water on the drums that was flying everywhere catching the light. Was great.
Sub Focus and Chase & Status in a tiny little venue (Chinese Laundry in Sydney) that was like a little grotto. Ceiling so low I couldn’t even stretch my arms up straight with sweet raining on everyone. Amazing.
Die Antwoord with a load of acid in my system was pretty intense.
Finally the entire Shambhala festival in Canada. The DJ playing obviously increases enjoyment but the stages are so fucking mind blowing that it is without a doubt the best live music experience I have had!
I still like Die Antwoord even though they’ve become Wildly Problematic. Those videos are an absolute mind bending experience.
I liked their early stuff and this was probably about 9 or 10 years ago now that I saw them when they were on the dog mask kick. Since then I haven’t followed them or know anything about them so not sure what is problematic. Any more info?
Their adopted son claims they abused him. It honestly sounds a touch suspect, and they claim he’s an addict and trying to extort money, but the South African CPS actually paid them a visit regarding their other kids. And an artist named Danny Brown claims that Ninja sexually pawed him at a night club, and another girlfriend of Ninja claimed he abused her too.
Ninja and Yo-Landi are definitely sketchy, apparently South Africans don’t really like them at all, but I think some of this is untrue.
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. 3+ hours of pure enjoyment
Pantera and White zombie in 1997. Metallica in 1993. Ozzy and Sepultura in 1998. Those bands were unbelievable to see live at the time and blew me away. Still vividly remember those concerts.
A little old school here, but Tom Petty and the HB were always fantastic live, I got to catch them several times.
I also once was socially-dragged to a Sheryl Crow concert at the Ryman, and even though she’s not usually my thing, that show was fantastic. She had a bunch of folks from the Nashville Symphony Orchestra playing with her band that night, and I’ve never seen a group of classical musicians have so much fun. They really made it an unbelievable show. If you’re ever there and can catch ANYTHING at the Ryman, do it… the acoustics are absolutely insane.
My favorite concert story was that we went to a “Best of the 80s” concert in Indiana in the late 90s when I was a teen (bands that performed included Wang Chung, A Flock of Seagulls, and a few one-hit wonders I’m struggling to remember right now). At the end, the promoters took the mic and apologized to everyone that the show was ending a little early, the closing band, Missing Persons, couldn’t make it. My friends and family I was there with laughed our asses off the entire way out of the arena, but it didn’t seem like a single other person there got it.
