Asklemmy

Swans in the To Be Kind era.

In some sense, Powerwolf. The only concert I ever went to, I was really surprised to learn that apparently I hate concerts and will never go to one again.

Garth Brookes. Saw him at the Tacoma dome like 10 years ago. We were on the floor towards the back and some lady with a headset came up and told us to come up front. At the time I was pretty stoked. Show was awesome. Garth and trisha yearwood were amazing. The stage had some cool mwchanics and the drummer was in a 3d rotating circle thing going upside down and around. Blew my mind. Pretty funny realization afterwards though. The reason we got moved to the front was because we were mexican. We were in a section with nothing but people of color. Pretty funny. Amazing show.

Neil Young + Crazy Horse Bob Dylan + Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers

There are lots of great live bands but maybe these were most memorable for various reasons: Magma (just hypnotic), Lazuli (very entertaining live band every single time), The Pineapple Thief (great prog rock with incredible drummer), The Musical Box (playing and re-acting old Genesis. Too young to see the originals but just in time to see the remakes), Le Silo (super high energy duo or trio, don't even remember, but man that was wild), Aranis (they don't exist anymore unfortunately)

I've seen a lot of great shows, but:

• The Octopus Project: I've seen them live at least four times and they never disappoint. just great fun, really talented folks. watching them trade instruments mid-song is always a delight.
• Battles, during the Gloss Drop tour: wow, the ability of those musicians. never seen anything like it.
• Open Mike Eagle: I don't know if it was his most "on" day ever or if he's always like that, but I was absolutely transfixed. captivating performance.

• REM
• Radiohead
• Flaming Lips
• Marilyn Manson
• Pixies
• RJD2
• Janelle Monae

Mando diao

Dj shadow vs cut chemist at the Hollywood bowl. It was experimental but quite the experience

In This Moment

Austin Lucas

Power Trip, with Riley on vocals when they played Bloodstock early Sunday morning, way before lunch. Was a fan of their Nightmare Logic album so I was going whatever was happening, but as they played their set the crowd just kept growing, and would rival a lot of early evening bands. For the last day of the festival, in the morning.

They gave everything for the performance and when I met them afterwards they were just completely wasted having flown over and more or less gone straight on stage.

You can watch the show here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPRBpKybx_U&pp

Seeing ok go with my future wife is one of my all time favourite memories.

Massilia Sound System. Crowd is basically in a state of plasma from beginning to loooooong after the show ends. When it's set on the port, you can be sure some of us will launch ourselves in the oily water for the hell of it, come back and slippery dance some more. At the start of every show they distribute a platter of pastis shots in the pit. It's not a band, it's a culture. A generation

None. It's like they've never really lived up to the hype and attending live music events has somehow always made me uncomfortable. Same with movie theatres.

The most immersive and impactful musical experiences I've had have been me sitting alone listening.

Dada Life. Wouldn’t call them a band just a DJ pair. Only one of them played, but the show he put on was incredible. He had all of the things to keep your hands on the air. He was throwing out beach balls, big blowup bananas (which I managed to keep one and he signed it after the show), big balloons and had a big flag that he had the crowd hold up over their heads, he also handed out pillows for a pillow fight we did.

Not a band, but a DJ, Jake Beautyman, April 2024 in São Paulo. He started his set with the Severance OST and was a banger song after song. Still think about that party today

True Body. Went to a show to see Pharmakon and True Body opened for them. The stage presence was intense and I can't wait to see them again if the opportunity arises

Avatar

Pop Will Eat Itself in the early 90's.

Amazing fun shows with tons of energy from the band and the audience.

Got to see Chicago/ Beach Boys double headline back in 1989 (I think). Both bands were great. Saw the Beach Boys at the old Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati, OH about 5 years later and it was a great show.

Bad Company Holy Water tour. Brian Howe was front lining the band and he was great, but really would have preferred to have seen Paul Rodgers.

Black Crowes opening for ZZ Top on the Recycler tour. ZZ Top had a great show, but musically, Black Crowes was much better.

Duran Duran ... I was a closet fan of theirs back in my teens. I'm not in the closet any longer. Soup Dragons opened for them and they suuuucked.

Linkin Park opening for Metallica at the Atlanta Braves stadium in 2003. They were great, Metallica was meh, but I've never been a huge fan of theirs.

Live... Not a big fan of theirs, but they did have a good live show. (see what I did there! Yes, I'm a Dad.) They opened for the Counting Crows who were great too.

Santana is a lot better live than anywhere else. I saw him on the Supernatural tour, or at least that was the album he had just released. Funny side story about this concert. This was in 1999 and was there with a friend. 25 years later, my wife and I were talking about concerts we have attended over the years. She mentioned she went to see Santana when she first moved to Cincinnati, which is where I lived at the time... Turns out we were at the same concert 5 years before we met and didn't realize it until last year.

Yes, I'm old.

ADRV

Cajun and Creole art nerds throw the best parties.

Everclear in the late 90’s was pretty good.

KC Roberts and the Live Revolution tend to release highly produced tracks, but awesome live too.

Quite a few:

• Underworld
• Chemical Brothers
• Beastie Boys
• Black Grape
• Puressence
• Songhoy Blues
• Pulp
• Alabama 3
• Jim White
• Portishead
• Beth Gibbons (of Portishead, but solo)
• Kog and the Zongo Brigade

Probably a few others :-)