Best live show you ever saw

[moonshake]

I saw The Dirtbombs earlier this year. They played a hour-long set without ever pausing between songs. Everything was so well executed. Mindblowing.

Also saw Ted Leo + Rx not too long ago. Not everyone in the crowd was familiar with their music but by the end of the show TL had everyone charmed.

[Andy]

worst concert ever?  Crosby Stills and Nash about 5 years ago at the zoo.  I took my dad for father's day and we left at intermission.  Nothing like hearing 3 old dudes try to yell their harmony louder than the others to the tune of Helplessly Hoping.

[Pat K]

I saw The Dirtbombs earlier this year. They played a hour-long set without ever pausing between songs. Everything was so well executed. Mindblowing.

They're swinging through town next month and I'm REALLY looking forward to seeing them.

I remember seeing TL maybe 4 or 5 years ago at this indoor skate park in town, which was a pretty rocking show. I wasn't too familiar with him at the time, but by the end of the show he'd made a new fan - although the skateboarders and bmx bikers pulling crazy tricks all around the stage throughout the show didn't hurt either. Stuff like that really keeps the energy up.

[jamesp]

And then, the most disappointing shows: hands down, the worst was Porno for Pyros at Roseland in '93 or '94.  O that I had been listening live to the Fab 5 show!!  Modest Mouse at Nokia Theater in Times Square was also pretty lousy, even with Johnny Marr.

I haven't seen Modest Mouse live but I've seen them perform on late-night shows or like Festival appearances on TV and Issac Brock just sounds so horrible.

I've been keeping track for a long time of all the shows and I see (and sometimes the setlists) for nostalgia purposes, but I still couldn't say the best show I've seen. Here are the bands I'd say really impressed me live: Beastie Boys, Buddy Guy, The Hives, Pearl Jam, My Morning Jacket, Seu Jorge, Radiohead, Jonathan Richman, and a lot of jam-bands that sounded really good (The Black Crowes, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, The Allman Brothers Band, The Derek Trucks Band)

[pinky]

Has anyone seen a Reigning Sound gig?  Looks so good on Youtube.

[Susannah]

I saw Ratatat last night at the Henry Fonda in LA...a  pretty good show, but I felt really old there.  I ran into a bunch of my 12th-grade students ("See you first period tomorrow, Ms. Grossman!") and was grumpy about getting home past midnight on a weekday.

The band is good, but it's sort of as if the members of Tortoise were all replaced with Andrew WK clones...in theory, it's great, but somehow...it doesn't quite work...

Maybe this is a question for another thread: when are you too old to keep going to shows?

[iAmBaronVonTito]

NEVER

[yesno]

Maybe this is a question for another thread: when are you too old to keep going to shows?

A while back I went to two shows in a week and was startled by the age differences.  At Yo La Tengo, I felt like I was at a convention of public radio commentators or something.  It was all earth tones and people who were older than young, a bunch of "cool dads."  At Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (who suuuuuuuuuuuucked) I felt like an old pervert.  I have also been to several operas, which have roughly the same demographic as The Queen.

[Jennifer]

"It was all earth tones" is the perfect description.

I have to attend (literally, for work) a B-52s concert in two weeks. Metric and Ben Lee are opening. I am kind of dreading it.

[Wes]

I hit the same point of feeling too old to be at shows anymore. The "on a weekday?"/"I kinda have to to get up for work tomorrow..."/"how old are these people?" thought process trifecta is the sign.

Thinking about the first two doesn't help when you have a job^* that involves wearing a tie^**, which makes you want to go home to get changed, so that when you get home you sometimes end up just staying there.


* Yeah, I'm braggin'.
** Professional tier of ties.

[Susannah]

Maybe this is a question for another thread: when are you too old to keep going to shows?

A while back I went to two shows in a week and was startled by the age differences.  At Yo La Tengo, I felt like I was at a convention of public radio commentators or something.  It was all earth tones and people who were older than young, a bunch of "cool dads."  At Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (who suuuuuuuuuuuucked) I felt like an old pervert.  I have also been to several operas, which have roughly the same demographic as The Queen.

I went to my first YLT show at age 15 and have seen them at least 30 times over the last nine years (what can I say, I really really REALLY REALLY love Yo La Tengo--it averages out to roughly three times per year), and I always felt like the object of  unwanted prevert-cool dad attention.  I don't know if I prefer that to feeling like an old lady, though.  I guess the crowd at the Wedding Present show next week will be on the older side of things.

Hey, does anyone want to come see the Wedding Present with me? 

[iAmBaronVonTito]

I hit the same point of feeling too old to be at shows anymore. The "on a weekday?"/"I kinda have to to get up for work tomorrow..."/"how old are these people?" thought process trifecta is the sign.

Thinking about the first two doesn't help when you have a job^* that involves wearing a tie^**, which makes you want to go home to get changed, so that when you get home you sometimes end up just staying there.


* Yeah, I'm braggin'.
** Professional tier of ties.

i admit, those questions get a sweep on a work nite.  it doesnt make me feel old, but mostly, it makes me evaluate what my life has turned into* and i go anyway.  it helps fight off the ruts that come once a month.  





*(the opposite of everything i imagined)

[JonFromMaplewood]

Maybe this is a question for another thread: when are you too old to keep going to shows?

I have been struggling to find a babysitter to watch my kids so I can see Built To Spill on the 25th.

[Pat K]

I saw Ratatat last night at the Henry Fonda in LA...a  pretty good show, but I felt really old there.  I ran into a bunch of my 12th-grade students ("See you first period tomorrow, Ms. Grossman!") and was grumpy about getting home past midnight on a weekday.

Back when I used to work in a high school, I would see students at shows all the time, and it was weeeeeiiirrrrd.

A while back I went to two shows in a week and was startled by the age differences.  At Yo La Tengo, I felt like I was at a convention of public radio commentators or something.  It was all earth tones and people who were older than young, a bunch of "cool dads." 

I had the misfortune of seeing Wilco on the Ghost Is Born tour, and it was definitely a case of that. Me and my early-20s date honestly seemed like we were in the youngest 1% of attendees. Combine that with the fact that it was a seated show, and that Jeff Tweedy actually stopped the show to yell at some people who had decided to stand up and dance/move around a bit, and it was not the recipe for a fun night of live music.

[<<<<<]

Flaming Lips Boombox Experiments in a 2000 person room

I saw one of these as well.  It was cool.

I didn't man a boombox myself, because I was working, but I talked a couple friends (who themselves are/were experimental musicians) into doing so.