The Fourth Encore Was The Best!

Okay, I've been inspired by Sprout's gurnal entry. What was the best concert or show you've attended? Maybe it was Iggy & The Stooges post-reunion, maybe it was Usher touring some album 4 years ago, maybe it was seeing your cousin Frank play his first show at the pub around the corner? Who knows? I just wanna hear the details!

For me it was earlier this year, Sonic Youth were touring Daydream Nation as a part of Don't Look Back series of concerts. Now, not only are Sonic Youth one of my favourite band, but Daydream Nation is one of the best albums of all-time. Words could not adequately explain how amped I was for this concert. I went in expecting the world, I came out absoluetly blown away. It far exceeded my greatest expectations. First up the supporting act, The Scientists, an 80's Australian band that rock pretty hard. The played "Blood Red River" for about an hour and got the crowd riled up for what they showed up for.

Sonic Youth came out basically said hello and got down to business. What followed was a mind-blowing two-hour long rendition of Daydream Nation, it was inspiring. It started to piss down (rain) pretty hard about halfway through, but all that did was spur everyone on. The crowd was really something else. Now after the set, I was expecting one encore, maybe two if we were lucky, but no FOUR ENCORES. The encores basically went longer than the main set. It was a fairly eclectic choice of songs too, I must add. While there was a substantial amount of new material (Incinerate, Jams Run Free, Karen Revisited), they hadn't neglected any of the old stuff either (Star Power, Kool Thing, Kill Yr Idols).

This was nowhere near my first concert, not even my first Sonic Youth concert, but this blew anything else I have seen so far out of the water it's absurd. A truly unforgettable experience.

P.S. Despite being 49, Thurston Moore still looks like he's in his 20's. Crazy.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Two gigs stand out:

Mercenary / Death Angel was absolutely fantastic. Front row for Mercenary's set, the band got really involved in the festivities. Lots of high-fives from Rene and Mikkel throughout. Death Angel rocked afterwards, sharing alcohol with the audience and encouraging stagediving.

Wolves In The Throne Room were intense live too. Their set was more like a ritual than a concert; the stage was in total darkness aside from some ornately laid-out candles in front of the drums. Drumming made me feel as if my chest was damn near bursting.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Back in 2000 {I think}, I went to Voodoo Fest in New Orleans. It was basically a full day of various acts of varying quality. Pretty much right when we got there, we watched Blues Traveler. It was ok I guess, but not really my thing. After that, on one stage Eminem was performing, and on another stage, Ben Harper was playing. At the time, I was a huge Ben Harper fan, but my friend had never heard of him. He wanted to go watch Eminem, just to say that he had seen him. We compromised and he agreed to start at the Ben Harper stage {we stood roughly 30 feet from the stage}. Of course Ben and his band were amazing and my friend had totally forgotten about that dumbass cracker playing on the other stage. Next was Live. They were fairly decent. Towards the end of their set, we trekked across the way to the other stage in order to get in decent position to watch the headlining act, Stone Temple Pilots. We got over there in time to catch maybe the last third of 311's performance. STP was scheduled to go on an hour and a half or so after 311 finished, so we basically stood around while jockeying for position. We ended up roughly 20 feet from the stage, dead center, for STP. In a sea of people numbering over 30,000. Back then, STP could put on a serious rock show {this was my second STP show in a week's time}, and this night was definitely no different. When they came on stage, the crowd surged, and we were all packed in there so tightly that at one point, I was leaning forward with one foot on the ground, doing everything I could to hold some chick up to keep her from hitting the ground. Fun times. Of course STP rocks the place for two hours and the show ends with Scott Weiland wearing nothing but an American flag around his waist. When you see Scott Weiland wearing nothing but a flag, you know that it's time to get the hell out of there. And we did.

It was basically a long day where we got to see several medium to big name acts {at the time} and as an added bonus, we could say that we had the choice of seeing Eminem but said fuck that and experienced a real artist {Ben Harper} put on an amazing show. I've been to a fair amount of shows and seen a lot of different acts, but I would say that this particular day tops them all.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Roger Waters, hands down. My best friend and I dropped insane cash on getting 7th row seats at the Boston show. So close, we could SPIT on him if we wanted. And the performance was prime.

Apart from that, maybe the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young concert my sister and I went to a couple of years ago. CSN&Y aren't exactly exciting as far as shows are concerned (lol folk), but the atmosphere was well worth it.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Favorite concert? Wow that is a tough one. Would it be Tool with Meshuggah? One of the many times seeing the Minibosses? Opeth with Dark Tranquillity? Or seeing Iced Earth with Children of Bodom? Fuck I don't know. Too many damn shows.

One that stands out in my mind was seeing Pantera with Slayer, Static-X, Skrape and Morbid Angel. I was in high school, a junior I believe and I went with a chick from there who had the same taste in music as me. I was just getting into metal so I wasn't too familiar with Morbid Angel or even Slayer for that matter. Regardless they put on a fantastic show and Pantera just destroyed. I even got into the pits for Becoming and Cowboys from Hell. I'm damn proud to say that I've seen them before they broke up. Fantastic show.

I was speaking idiomatically.