I haven’t seen him in almost 15 years, but Weird Al Yankovic puts on a hell of a good show. Always has the best backup musicians with him.

I was at the Foo Fighters gig where Dave Grohl fell off the stage and broke his leg, after which the rest of the band spent an hour playing various covers until Dave came back on stage high on pain meds mixed with alcohol and resumed the show. A doctor had to sit on stage and keep his leg fixed for the rest of the show until they could take him to the hospital to give him a cast, and the entire crowd dedicated “My hero” to the doctor. That show was fucking awesome.

tull played in grant park. The flutist society had something to do about it and it felt like they played their most flute heavy songs from the group. Its funny because it was free but the one other time I saw them in concert I payed for but it was catfish rising and I think anderson got sick as it was a big disapointment.

I was in the record business for a long time, including management for a major distributor, so I’ve seen hundreds of concerts, of all types. The most memorable have been:

• Prince TWICE, once for a private audience of 1200. No words.

• Debbie Harry with Tom Tom Club (Talking Heads without David Byrne) opening and backing. They were great, she was great, peak new wave.

• Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, at Carnegie Hall with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt, featuring singers Dawn Upshaw and Thomas Hampson. Harnoncourt had been a personal inspiration for decades, and I met him and the singers after.

• kd lang, at an astonishing private performance for about 900. A couple of weeks later, she did an interview on 60 Minutes, and said that now and then she does a perfect performance, and I knew she was talking about that show I saw. I was sure of it when I saw her on that tour a while later, and it was great, but nothing like what I saw.

• Yes, the classic late 70s line-up, 3 times. Always great, but the best show was the one where they showed two classic Bugs Bunny cartoons as the opening act, and there is nothing like laughing with 25,000 happy stoners.

• Messiaen: Turangalila Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Pierre Boulez conducting. It’s not the sort of classical music I gravitate to, but I’ve seen the Cleveland Orchestra dozens of times, and that performance was easily the best performance I ever saw from them. It was just really, really great.

• Joshua Redman Quartet, some tiny little jazz club in Cleveland, with a crowd of about 120. It was their first concert, on the first tour, of his first album. Very few people had heard of him yet, but he went to win multiple Grammys, including for that album. Not only that, but the other three guys in his band, pianist Brad Mehldau, drummer Brian Blades, and bassist Christian McBride, all went on to do solo albums that won Grammys. That night I watched four excited young future jazz stars open their first tour, and BURN DOWN THE HOUSE. All night long, I just marvelled at what incredible musicians each one was. With every solo, I’d decide he was the best on the stage, and then the next guy would take a solo, and change my mind. A truly special performance.

• Lindsey Buckingham, in a solo performance in a conference room with about 25 people. He sang 3 songs, with an acoustic guitar, with that trademark intensity, red face, tendons in his neck, truly incredible performance.

• Lyle Lovett, in a hotel hallway at a music retail trade show. His first album was coming out in a couple of weeks, and his manager interrupted a really fun party (that had spilled into the hallway because it was so hot in hotel suite), and introduced Lyle, who went on to sing three incredible songs, including She’s No Lady and If I Had A Boat. I was irritated that the party had been interrupted, but I became an instant lifelong fan.

• Dear Evan Hansen, on Broadway, in the earliest weeks of the run before it had become a big thing. Ben Platt was absolutely incredible. This show has become a bit of a lighting rod, but there was no doubt of why it was such a big hit.

• The Great Comet, on Broadway, with Josh Groban, the same week. I’ve never seen another Broadway show like it, it was totally immersive, with audience and the stage all intertwined. There was a runway in the row in front of us, and we often had dancer musicians playing and strutting around in front of us. The show ended in ignominious and unfair fashion that has become Broadway legend, but it was the most innovative show I’ve ever seen, and had incredible music.

• David Byrne, American Utopia, on Broadway. It was probably just a normal performance for them, but it was really great. Spike Lee’s film of it won Emmys.

• Little Shop of Horrors, a high school performance with my son as Seymour. He killed it, honestly. He has a great voice, and was perfect in the role.

Stone Temple Pilots - (MTV Unplugged) - Sony Studios, NYC, ’93

Massive Attack - Roseland NYC, ‘96

Green Day - Barbarella, Orlando, ‘95

Modest Mouse - (Baron von Bullshit Rides Again) - Sapphire Supper Club, Orlando, ‘04

Paul Oakenfold - (Global Underground 006), The Tunnel, NYC, ‘94

These are just a few. I’m sure there’s a bunch I’m forgetting. I doubt that I could single any one of them out.

Maybe STP or Massive Attack

Edit: updated to include live album titles, and cities

High as a kite at a friends house just hanging out after work. My friend just randomly picks up his acoustic guitar and starts noodling. His roommate comes home, disappears for a bit and comes out with a standup bass. For the next 2 hrs they just smoked and jammed for the love of music.

Me:

Billy Talent, Sydney 2007

I don’t know man, was my first time going to an actual concert of a band I liked, and it was just something special

Top two concerts of all time:

Daft Punk at Lollapalooza 2007

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard at Northerly Island, Chicago, 9/1/24

Rammstein

Theatrics, setlist, audio quality, crowd… Just wow. Hope to see them one more time.

Daft punk

Gogol Bordello

Absolute manic fun.

NIN always does a great show, but I think of all of them I liked the Fragility Tour the most (2000). It was so well done.

KMFDM always puts on a hell of a show. I never miss a chance to see them and they always kill it. My favorite show of there’s was the Symbols tour with PIG. They had Ogre from Skinny Puppy touring with them as he was a temporary member for that album. Just so good.

Gwar was always great and fun to see live. They probably still are, but I haven’t been able to see them live in years.

Two way tie: First is Dethklok on their first tour at the Worcester Palladium. To this day it was the best produced live performance I have ever experienced. Everything sounded immaculate, Brendon arguing with and having whole conversations with himself in charecter was great. Just absolutely phenomenal. Saw them on their latest tour and it was like 90%, so still amazing.

Second was Castle Rat at Sonia in Boston (iirc 2024?)when they opened for Green Lung. Sonia is small af, and they had the PA cranked. It was the only time I have ever regretted not having ear plugs, and actually bought some specifically because of this show. I can’t even describe what the show was like, it was as close to a religious experience as I have ever had (definitely aided by the heat). Green Lung live is a whole other experience (in a good way), but I walked out of that show saying next time I saw Castle Rat they were going to be in a MUCH larger venue. I was wrong, it took two more shows. I saw them at Sonia again almost exactly one year later but they were headlining. The year after they were opening for Amon Amarth and Dethklok.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor at Paradiso, NL on 2023-04-09

Hands down best sounding live performance I’ve been to.

It’s a bit sad because I know what the venue acoustics are capable of, and I’ve been to a ton of concerts there, but nothing ever came close.

Les Miserables. (Sydney, Australia in 2015.)

I found myself in Sydney for work and looking for some way to spend the evening.

I had only ever seen live theater once before in my life (an opera in Vienna), and I enjoyed it well enough so I figured the world famous Sydney Opera House, but it was sold out.

Then I saw Comedian Dylan Moran was in town, but again sold out.

Then I had a choice to make, both Matilda the Musical and Les Miserables were in town. I was familiar with the story of Matilda, but had no idea what Les Miserables was.

I decided on Les Miserables, since it would be new to me, and was completely amazed. It kicked off what is now a lifelong love of theater and I’ve seen dozens of shows (including Matilda many years later in London’s West End).