Seeing ok go with my future wife is one of my all time favourite memories.
ASP
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, every single time. He has walked across the audience and the seats to hold hands with me and sing together, he has chased me through the audience onto the stage, and every time he comes on the stage it’s like someone has released an exotic panther from a crate or something. It’s like going to church with the devil himself preaching.
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=
Almost all of them. Live music is one of the greatest things to experience.
Some people have really dropped the ball in recent years though. I was deeply disappointed by recent Kiss, Marilyn Manson, and ZZTop shows.
Sucks to go see a band you love and be disappointed. Hope your next show is better!
Oh, I’ve had great ones too - these were mostly for my stepson.
You sound like an awesome stepdad!
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard
I already loved their albums when I discovered them in '16, but once I saw them live i was totally hooked. They’ve only been getting better since, especially after they dumped their second drummer (rip Eric I miss you but you totally held the other drummer back). Every single show I’ve seen since was such a blast! More and more jammy too, which I really enjoy.
Also, I saw The Colour Haze last Friday and they were much better love than I expected as well.
Woo!
I was the DD for my girlfriend’s birthday party and went to a Florence and the Machine show. It was outdoors and as the show got started black storm clouds started rolling in.
When they started “The Dog Days Are Over” all hell broke loose. Sheets of rain, huge lightning bolts and cracking thunder loud enough to drown out the music and the crowd.
But Florence stood there, exposed to it all, diaphanous robes lashed by the wind, not even noticing it as she belted out her anthem. As if she had called down the storm for backup vocals.
I wasn’t a fan before but I am now.
I have never seen so many people ugly cry (full tears and snot) then at a Florence show. She puts on a hell of a show.
When my eldest daughter was born we were overnight at the hospital and had a huge window in our room. My wife had listened to Florence and the machine a lot while pregnant and we are big music lovers who often have music playing around us. We were up at night feeding our first born worrying about being new parents and fidgeting over what we didn’t understand. In the background Florence and the machine was playing quietly. Suddenly a massive rainstorm started seemingly out of nowhere. Crashing lightning. Smashing down torrential rain. Building shaking thunder. We turned up the music and it was like they were just playing for us. It lasted about an hour and I will never forget it.
It was an amazing welcome to the world for our first baby who is now a preteen and your story reminded me of it.
Florence is a storm demigod, confirmed
Barenaked Ladies. Didn’t want to go, went anyway, loved every minute of it
Absolutely. I saw them live a million times in the 90s. I got pelted with Kraft Dinner more times than I can count.
I saw Stephen Page live as part of some group doing a Christmas concert. His vocals absolutely stood out from the others and was just so powerful. I wish he was still with the Barenaked Ladies, but I’ve still enjoyed a lot of their work without him.
His solo albums are fantastic!
When I was 17 I had a highschool girlfriend who drug me to a bare naked ladies show. I was a heavy metal listener at the time but have always had pretty eclectic tastes throughout kife. I loved that show. I was pretty shocked about it at the time.
That worked out!
Tool, always. Propagandhi were also great.
I saw Tool live at a festival in 2019. I had never heard of them before, I’m more of a punk rock guy. Their show absolutely blew me away. Surreal experience. I’ve listened to their albums a lot ever since.
I have seen them 7 times between 2002 and 2024, and they were exceptional each time (even if they only played my favourite song for the first time in the '24 gig). I also love that they don’t allow phones at their gigs. It’s great to not have a sea of screens in front of you. They usually have great warm up acts too.
Perfect Circle is also totally worth it.
I will forever kick myself for not trying to see them in Tacoma in (i think) 2023. One of the greatest bands of all time, and pure fucking magic on psychedelics
Slipknot puts on a pretty damn good show.
They’re not a band that’s in my usual listening rotation, I don’t dislike them, they’re just not my usual kind of music. When I saw them it was a situation where someone I knew ended up with extra tickets somehow and I was more interested in the other bands they were touring with
I’d say they stole the show but I think they were actually the headliner, so I don’t know who they would’ve stolen it from.
I’m admittedly a sucker for a spectacle, and let’s be real, that’s kind of slipknot’s whole schtick.
Roger Waters: The Wall. Kinda redefined what i would expect from a concert/musical performance
Giant inflatable puppets, building a giant wall out of blocks on stage throughout the concert and projecting imagery onto the new sections as its built, then knocking it down. Fireworks. I think they crashed a prop plane into it to knock it down at the start of the show?
Also kind of a weird show for my dad to have brought 14 year old me to see xD
Buddy Guy. the concert was pretty posh (think bankers in suits), with everyone having arranged seating, audience sitting still and quiet like at a classical music concert.
he was like ‘fuck this, this isn’t a proper concert, my guitar is wireless, let’s stand up, go to the entry hall and jam’. so he’s just standing in the middle of the crowd and going nuts, at like 83 years of age. That was amazing.
I saw buddy at a music fest once and he yelled at the crowd for not singing along in time. Dude is a hilarious legend
God Speed You! Black Emperor.
Not a band, but Patti Smith, with Philip Glass.
Muse. They are almost too perfect live. It feels uncanny.
They are my number #1 live too.
Muse
