I'll be honest: I'm just here to brag. I got to see Dan Deacon last night and it blew my mind.
I have been to a lot of concerts. One of the benefits of living in CA was that I had SF, Oakland, Berkeley, Davis, Mountain View, and San Jose all within an hour of me, which meant that usually if a tour came through the state, it came into my neck of the woods.
So when I've been to that many shows, it's always a really cool experience to see something new. Deacon is, first of all, an incredibly nice guy and is so bubbly that he's just fun to be aroundy. Then he also had four drums on large poles filled with robotics he was controlling and projecting things onto as well as the best sound system in DC at the 9:30 Club, and a sold out 1200 person crowd makes his otherworldly music magnificent.
He started us off by having everyone face the center of the room, raising our hands and gently resting them on the head of the person in front of us. He told us to close our eyes and think about ourselves, our memories, and our conception of consciousness, before telling us to switch them with everyone around us while cracking jokes before starting in on his first song. So an already unique start to a show.
He engaged the crowd by having us open up the floor for a dance competition, telling one side of the room to "dance like that scene in Jurassic Park where the raptors are getting in and on the computers all like 'aw man no one is reblogging my tumbls'" and the other side to "dance like in Game of Thrones but without the patriarchy".
Later he had us split down the middle again and had everyone take a knee and look to our' team captains', who were then the hive mind leaders, and whatever movement they did, everyone on that side was supposed to do also.
The entire time he was genuinely funny and energetic and creative. Through a mosh pit I somehow ended up at the front railing, and when he saw the cameraman in front of me, he went down on a knee and was making cute poses. The crowd except for us in the front, no one could see that. It was purely him just having fun.
Anyway, both he and I are huge Orioles fans, and I really wanted to meet him, so I sat freezing outside in just my Markakis jersey, freezing, so I can tell him about the absolutely gorgeous and improbable gem that Ubaldo Jimenez threw for us yesterday that he surely missed. If you don't follow baseball, Ubaldo was a huge signing for us and sucked miserably last year, but just dominated in his first game back. One hit one walk. When I finally saw Dan he came over and shook my hand, was just as blown away as I was when I told him about the game, and then signed my record (his only that I didn't have, thank the gods they were selling it at the show)
So now I have this wonderful piece to remember the night with.
I'm done rambling now. What about you guys?
Here's how old I am - but y'all know already. You probably have never even heard of these bands. TeenyBopper Concerts - British Invasion
And just for the record, kleinbl00, I was also with a totally hot girl at every one of these concerts: me.
Later Sixties August 5, 1967
Herman's Hermits
Dave Clark Five Jefferson Airplane
Grateful Dead
September 13, 1969 Toronto Rock and Roll Revival (Jim Morrison and the Doors, John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Eric Clapton,
Little Richard, Bo Didley
Anyway, too many to list here, but I must mention that a couple of weeks ago I saw Gandalf Murphy and the Slambovian Circus of Dreams, aka The Grand Slambovians -- if they happen to come by your neighbourhood, see them. June 3, 1972, Vancouver: The Rolling Stones If I remember correctly, tickets were $15 each.
July 24, 1973 Vancouver: Jethro Tull
You know, I also saw Jefferson Airplane. Except by then they weren't even Jefferson Airplane anymore, they weren't even Jefferson Starship. They were just Starship. And it was perhaps the worst show I've ever been to. I won the tickets - the local rock show had a segment called "the 2am free-for-all" and I successfully answered some obscure Bloom County trivia (the strip was ending). It was the summer I went pretty much nocturnal and made helicopter models. I had to get my grandmother to pick the tickets up at the station, and then I had to get them from my grandmother. I was two years shy of my driver's license (which, in NM, is 15 with a permit) so any involvement with these tickets meant involvement with my father. I asked a girl to go with me. Hardest thing I'd ever done. She said no. So I asked a buddy. I'm positive it's the first and last concert he ever went to. Imagine - it's 1988. "Built This City" is already making "worst of the '80s" lists. And it isn't even a normal concert venue - it's the Santa Fe Ski Area, during the day, during summer. So nobody has any parking. It's also the only concert I'm aware of ever playing there. There was no parking, just buses from the base camp up to the summit that were running an hour or more behind schedule (as my father dropped us off, we did dandy). Nothing but bored Santa Feans that, for some reason or other, decided to come see Starship at 11,000 feet. The opener was some Greatful Dead cover band or other, and they were.... okay. But then an hour passed. Another. Someone started a Wave and it quickly erupted in violence down by the stage. Some poor crew member was sent out to be a warm-up comedian - and he wasn't funny to begin with but the audience was not in a laughing mood. I hope they paid him really well but I'll bet they paid him nothing. Finally, two and a half hours late, Starship slinks on stage, less Grace Slick. I believe she had determined that singing "Built this City" at random ski areas in New Mexico during the day was not what she wanted to do with her life and bailed. Either way, the audience was Not amused. I've never seen anyone else pelted with dirt clods. People were literally tearing chunks of grass out of the ground and hurling them at band members. At one point all 2000 of us were standing and shouting over the PA. I believe they played like 5 songs and then the chaotic mass exodus began. Oddly enough, the show finished exactly on time because my dad picked us up. he didn't even ask how the show was, because that's the kind of relationship I have with my dad. The girl's mom was the librarian. I didn't check out a book for six years.
Not only do I know those bands, but I like almost all of them quite a lot. Also, Rolling Stones tickets at $15 would be nice. I just bought two for July 1 in Raleigh and they were WAY more... and they're not even that great of seats. I've never seen them though and I'm pretty psyched.
By far my most memorable concert experience was when I attended EDC the first year it was in Vegas, 2011 I believe. I had been raving for awhile at this point but had never dabbled in any drugs like my friends had at this point. I decided that I'd make EDC my first LSD experience so, I bought some tabs and headed for the venue. We got inside the speedway when it was still light out and I stuck 3 tabs on my tongue. I wasn't exactly sure how it was all going to go down, I always wanted to do DMT first, but I was in good and experienced company. The afternoon quickly ended and once it became dark out the LSD suddenly hit. The lack of light must have made everything register at that point. My group started walking to the main stage and I quickly turned my head making everything in my field of view twist, and slowly morph back into "normal". I turned to my friend and said quite frankly "I hope everyone on the Ferris wheel is okay." He obviously had no idea what I was talking about but gave me a pat on the back and some reassurance. Now the main stage was slightly out of the way from everything else and the entrance funneled everyone in through the back and when you were through the entrance you were positioned slightly above the crowd. So we get through the entrance and the entire crowd for me was just waves. Waves and waves of people. We start walking more towards the crowd and I first experienced the "breathing" associated with LSD. The crowd was moving in and out, in and out, and I felt like a god finding our path to the front. So that set ended (Knife Party is anyone is curious) and we decided to go elsewhere and I got separated from my group at that point. We had previously setup a meeting point if anyone got lost and I made my way there. Along the way there I walked past a well known DJ, who I can't for the life of me remember right now, but I stood there dumbfounded trying to say something but I couldn't. Anyways I get to our meeting point and took a seat in the grass. There were some Tron like bicyclists doing their routine that I was watching and at one point they started just cycling in a circle faster and faster until, to me, it looked like they were one of those cheap light up handheld fans which I thought was pretty cool. Then just before my friends got to me I heard by far the most memorable dialog I have ever heard at a concert. The set was finishing up at the stage I was nearby and they blew out a bunch of confetti. So a guy standing nearby just got absolutely euphoric, spinning in circles, yelling "It's raining acid! It's raining acid!" Another guy hears this and yells out "You want acid? He's got acid, he's got acid!" pointing to his friend next to him. I was beyond composure at this point just hysterically laughing until my friends found me. Now I'm pretty sure this just ended up being a garbled mess of me trying to explain things but that was really how my night went so it fits well.
Three tabs of LSD for a first time at a place like EDC and a Knife Party set? I would have had serious problems in that situations. One tab of LSD during the burn of the Effigy at MidBurn (israeli Burning Man) made the scenery look like we are close to the apocalypse, but in a good way. Still, very intense.
Yeah definitely threw myself head first into the ring but what I found was that it was super easy to distract myself so I never really got into my head all that much. Once I took LSD outside of an event I got to experience the more soul searching side of things. Honestly though it was a really good first experience, a little dumb, but positive nonetheless.
Oh, man. - That Aerosmith tour in High School where I brought the totally hot girl and we were sitting at Bennigan's for dinner after a two hour drive and she had her period and she was mortified and I provided cover as she got to my van and bought her a new pair of jeans and these marvelous purple panties and then we totally made out while Sweet Emotion was playing and I ended up dating her for like a week and got her back down to those purple panties but I didn't have a condom so I didn't sleep with her and she dumped me the next day. - The Metallica Black Album tour where I drove another hot girl and her three friends the same two hours to the same venue and got to second base while her friends weren't watching. And we didn't end up dating and it totally sucked because she was completely hung up on this other dude but both of her friends tried to date me but they were bandersnatches. Which is too bad because one of them was actually kind of cool. We're facebook friends. - Twelve hours to see Lollapalooza '92 and the first one to buy a ticket was my girlfriend at the time who was only my girlfriend at the time because she played with my hair and it was too bad she was such a psycho 'cuz I gave her her money back. And then we drove clear out to Dallas and people were burning plastic on the lawn and there was this nasty smoke everywhere and they discovered you can use blankets as trampolines but they launched these chicks into the air and didn't catch them and they went to the hospital. And I was watching Tool with this awesome chick and bitching about how much Babes in Toyland sucked and didn't figure out until six months later she was the drummer from Babes in Toyland. And halfway there I wished I'd brought the girlfriend but I didn't and my buddy hooked up with this totally hot chick that we came out to visit two more times but I stopped talking to Amanda and then four years later she overdosed on heroin. - Six hours to see Jesus Jones and Stereo MCs in Denver and then we decided to head back rather than crash at my aunt's so we drove all the way back and my buddy drank a 2l of coke because he thought it would keep him awake but instead he ralphed it all up all over his own passenger seat and in the middle of the night on a straight road the mirages work both ways and I watched the blinking light of a train crossing for 70 miles. - 22 hours to see Ministry in San Diego and I let a dude from Ensanada stay in my room and he turned into Mexico's biggest ska producer a few years later. Some guys with a broadcast camera came by and videoed all of us and interviewed us and somewhere I'm on Hard & Heavy Volume 12 or something if you can find it. Al Jourgensen was so drunk he had to start Scarecrow twice and I got a pick from Sepultura that I still have and I kept in touch with that girl and went out to hang out with her the next day even though she wasn't that cute. We kept calling for like six months after. Then I spent new year's alone in Phoenix and spent the last of my money on a burger at Fuddrucker's and got about two meals' worth of condiments out of it. - Seeing the Sundays in Santa Fe and people are moshing to Wild Horses and the lead singer is horrified because what are we doing? They're not that kind of band! And she didn't understand this is New Mexico, bitch, we're here to break things. - Jane's Addiction Ritual tour and Dave Navarro did a 22 minute guitar solo on Three Days and someone pulled a fire extinguisher off the wall and sprayed the crowd with it and we all thought it was tear gas and panicked for the exits and I got to make out with the girl who brought me even though we'd broken up, I think. That's off the top of my head. That's before I graduated high school. I could go on but it'd be self-indulgent. - Oh shit but the girl with the purple underwear? Yeah after we'd broken up she sold me a ticket to Division Bell 'cuz she knew I had a van and I gouged her friends on gas, got to 2nd base with one of them and then paid her back by doing $70 worth of work on her car which was enough to pull the valve cover off, rotate the engine and check timing and say "yep! Belt is slipped! You need a new engine!" and leave it all there fucked up in her driveway. Pink Floyd was pretty good, too. First time I'd ever been to a show big enough that it fucked up traffic. She ended up dating a buddy of mine for like two years. He's still fucked up about it 20 years later. I guess I got off lucky.
A friend and I stopped at a Waffle House near Atlanta on our way to a show Combichrist was opening for. We were talking about getting there late, because neither of us wanted to see Combichrist, and then just started making fun of them. Then Andy LaPlegua come up and introduced himself. He was very polite, we were very embarrassed. We still skipped his set.And I was watching Tool with this awesome chick and bitching about how much Babes in Toyland sucked and didn't figure out until six months later she was the drummer from Babes in Toyland
I was mixing at some goth club now long gone and doing the sound-check for the opener. It was a Thursday or whatever so nobody big. They played a few songs and I noted they weren't very "gothy" - they sounded a lot more like Love-era Cult with a female singer. "Oh, you want goth?" she said and they launched into a ridiculous version of Lucretia My Reflection. I goaded them on and said "Play This Corrosion!" and that chick channeled Wayne Hussey doing an impression of Peter Murphy doing an impression of Andrew Eldritch. It was amazing. Meanwhile the headliner, whose name I have forgotten, was getting less and less and less into it. We finished up and I relinquished the stage to the headliner and their FOH guy. They proceeded to launch into a version of This Corrosion that the South Park goth kids would have been embarrassed to have played. Nasty habit of mine was to mix the shit out of the opener if I thought the headliner were a bunch of choads. That girl and her Cult-like buddies got a hell of a mix that night. Club was empty three songs into the headliner's set.
Reignwolf came to Osheaga last year, and he put on one hell of a show. Watching him play is seeing someone do what they're meant to do. Jordan Cook was made to make music, and god damn does he make music. He had the crowd in the palm of his hand, it was impossible to look away. At one point, he started drumming with one hand while playing guitar with the other and it sounded amazing. The crowd shouted itself hoarse, and you could tell that there was nothing he'd rather be doing right then than playing right there. Nearing the end of his set, he grabbed a bass drum, brought it over the barrier, stood on it in the middle of the crowd and launched into his best solo yet. The crowd lost it, I was about three feet away from him and couldn't believe what was happening. Everyone was berserk, roaring with approval, beyond amazed. That's the best show I've ever seen.
Listen to him here.
Since last year I've been to some awesome shows here and there, especially when seeing Foals/Cage the Elephant where I moshed and crowd surfed both for the first time. All that won't matter though, because I'm basically gearing up physically and emotionally for the Sunday lineup of Governor's Ball this June. I have a feeling experiencing a Flying Lotus show might make me a religious man again. Seeing a Flying Lotus show the same day as a Tame Impala show might just make me go all Siddhartha/Into the Wild and cash out on society somewhere in Alaska. I'm pumped.
I saw Flying Lotus last year. Great show. He wore a suit and tie and a gas mask. I saw Dan Deacon the year before on his America tour. One of the best shows I've been to. I also have tickets to his show in a few weeks for Gliss Riffer. Looking forward to it. Some other concert highlights for me: Pavement opening up for Sonic Youth. Wu-Tang opening up for Rage Against the Machine. James Brown at the Detroit Fox Theatre. Aphex Twin in Detroit for his Richard D James tour. The Books at the University of Washington for their Lost and Safe tour. Bjork at the Toronto Opera House for the Vespertine tour - her best album. Postal Service back when they were touring clubs - not arenas. Interpol for Turn on the Bright Lights tour. Vampire Weekend - their first time at the Fillmore in SF. Sufjan Stevens at the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor in front of like 20 people. Radiohead in Cleveland for their Amnesiac tour. MF Doom in Seattle. Weezer at a Detroit record store for the Blue Album tour. I also saw David Bowie single-handedly dominate 60,000 people for his Reality tour.
<Pabs OD's on imagination>Radiohead in Cleveland for their Amnesiac tour. MF Doom in Seattle.
The first time I saw Kishi Bashi was a magical experience even though I went by myself (surprise: I don't know many people who love his music). He was playing in the city where he went to college (Boston) and was super excited for that, the opener kind of sucked but at least had great stage banter so people were in a very good mood. He goes on with his band with a stage looking like this and ends up playing the majority of the songs off of both of his albums, 151a and Lighght which are two of my favorite albums anyone has ever made. The crowd was incredibly mild and into the music and having a good time. It was one of his merch people's birthday, so we all sang happy birthday to her and they brought out a cake. At one point K. crowdsurfed while eating a banana in the middle of a song, and they covered Live and Let Die complete with confetti cannons. Tons of amazing concert experiences but that one sticks out for some reason. Oh and I once saw Paul McCartney at Yankee Stadium and Billy Joel came on for one of the two encores. I could type a lot about that but I think that's all that needs to be said about how incredible of a night that was.
That one time I got to see Daft Punk live just fucking kidding I'm going to die before they ever perform again There was this one time I went to a concert by myself which was cool. It's like going to a restaurant by yourself but slightly more acceptable because nobody can tell you're alone. In terms of pure energy, Run the Jewels was the best concert. They were wildin' out like the world was ending. Also the concert I went to with my sister. The crowd was super awkward and my sister shoved some guy into a wall and then we got our t-shirts signed.
sounds_sound cgod -I'd be interested in your responses. S_s, I know you're a Dan Deacon fan. Edit: nevermind s_s, I just now saw your comment.
I love going to see Shellac. Gets me all worked up, fuck or fight mode. I never miss them when they come to town. Saw Rodriguez when he came to town, it was early in his first U.S. tour, before the documentary was out but after he had become "rediscovered" (I had been listening to his album for years, had to order it from South Africa, but I guess we all rediscovered him). He had a young band with him and started out super tentatively, half ass guitar strumming and weak voiced, looked very under confident. He played his first tune and the audience gave it up for him in a big way. He cracked a big smile at the adoration and set into the next number with a little more oomph. He and the audience just gave it back and forth, love and joy for love and joy, building up the intensity every number. By the end of the show he was doing songs without the band, belting it out like a boss. Earlier that week the wife and I went to see David Burn, it was just fucking terrible but everyone there loved it. The songs were faithful note for note copies of all his lite FM hits, there was nothing more original or engaging about show than the album cuts. His band was probably masterful but he dressed them all in white and never let any aspect of the talent or take on the compositions show at any time. So the wife also went to Rodriguez with me. I was giving it up for the guy, totally inspired and appreciative of the opportunity to see a guy who never got his due in his prime rule an audience. As we left the show she said "So you've never like a single show we've seen together have you?" If an artist isn't knocking me down I don't get all mushy over a show and while I have liked some of the shows we have seen together, most haven't made the blood pump like that Rodriguez show. Seeing a Specials reunion tour in the early 90's at St. Andrews Hall was another memorable show. Few hundred people having a party, Blacks and Whites locked arm in arm kicking up dust, was a fabulous time. Leonard Cohen puts on an amazing show. Three hours of an old guy, master of his craft giving everything to the audience. I cried when he played "The Partisan". I'm a fan of the older Cohen my wife of the later material. After the show she said that "The Partisan" was the best song of the night even though she hardly knew it. Antony of Antony and the Johnson's performed with the Portland Symphony a few years back. I'm not a big fan but the fact that his stuff is heavily inspired by Scott Walker is enough for me to keep an eye on him. He covered a Beyonce song that moved me to tears, fuck all if I saw that coming. Something about the symphonic arrangement, a simple but effective lighting scheme and his performance just overwhelmed me.
The wife and I saw Cohen the week before our daughter was born. She was huge and uncomfortable. We had to leave two and a half hours in but still felt overwhelmed with the experience, just a perfect experience. If anyone hasn't heard The Partisan check it out.
We were trying to make the most of our last week of baby freedom so we went to Aloe Blacc a few days later, damned if that guy wasn't putting on a long awesome show as well. The whole show he was tossing out little clues that he was going to end the show with "Love and Happiness." Guy has a monster falsetto which they don't feature much on his albums and I'm sure he would have tore the ass out of "Love and Happiness." After almost an hour of standing and watching the show my wife, days away from childbirth, had to call it quits. Really would have like to see the end of that show but ah well.
And for yourself? Also, a side note, the night before the Deacon show, I got to see one of my absolute favorite musicians with arguewithatree: William Elliott Whitmore. I linked his song Everyday to you a number of months back after a rough day you had, but a good amount of his work is just rocking. Despite being blues and folk and bluegrass, his roots are in LA punk and he puts on killer shows with just his bass drum and banjo/guitar. I kept thinking "man Steve would enjoy this." Unceasingly nice dude too. This is the second time I've seen him and that Iowa charm does not break.
Well, There are two answers to this, one is of the kleinbl00 variety, which has more to do with the girls I experienced the show with and the other is about the sound/show. I went to see the Beastie Boys on their Ill Communication tour. We had seats right next to one of the tunnels that led out on to the main floor and on top of tunnel was a flat space that was sort of hidden and roped off. There was a really cute girl sitting in front of me and we made eyes. I stepped out, under the ropes and motioned for her to join me. The ENTIRE show, we hooked up. It was the best time of my life up to that point. The best! The show that I enjoyed the sound of the most was actually a Phish show at a place called DTE in Michigan. This is not a place that is known for good sound, but Phish sounded great, and I'm not really that keen on their music. Great show, thanks for taking me bgood79. The show where I enjoyed the performance the most was Flaming Lips in Boston. -thanks scrimetime, that was an awesome show. Watching the Lips play live made me want to quit my job, start a band and get buy a confetti cannon.
The company we keep is hugely important because then it's a shared experience. The music and sound and all the bells and whistles that make a great performance is important because that's the reason we're there - to have a live experience beyond the video and audio we can turn on in our living rooms. What I especially enjoy, though, is that thing that happens in the audience when the concert is really amazing. It doesn't matter what the age range, sobriety range, hotness range or whatever: when the music rocks, when it's the real thing and this applies to classical concerts as well -- you know you are really alive and part of a unique transcendent moment, yo.Well, There are two answers to this, one is of the kleinbl00 variety, which has more to do with the girls I experienced the show with and the other is about the sound/show.
and maybe there's a third way to answer this.