Concerts

[Scotty_ffgamer]

What was the best concert you have ever been to?

Have you ever been to a concert of a band you kind of idolize, and did they live up to your expectations?

I just went to a concert last night that was probably the best concert experiences I've ever had. Now, Now is one of my favorite bands, and it was such an interesting experience seeing a band I've idolized live. Their performance was awesome, and the two bands that came before them (Anakin, and The Lonely Forest) were also very enjoyable.

I've also been to a Norma Jean show where one of my good friends' bands played in the concert with them which was a lot of fun despite not really enjoying most Hardcore/Metal music.

[Night Fury]

I've only been to two concerts. Robyn and Noah and the Whale, I enjoyed both quite a bit! Robyn was better though, partly because there were no smurfing idiots trying to start a mosh pit there. (Yes, some 15 year olds tried to start a mosh pit at a NatW gig.)

[Sephex]

The best? Geez, I can't choose one, but I can list memoriable ones.

Pink Floyd-- Saw them as a real little kid and it was the first concert I went to. Pink Floyd has always been real awesome with visuals and this concert was no exception.

Nine Inch Nails-- Saw them in May of 2009. Trent ended up playing a lot of stuff from "The Downward Spiral," which is my favorite album. I also got to hear other songs I always wanted to hear live. Although I like all of NINs discography, they decided to stay away from newer stuff for the most part. I just like the unlike most bands, Trent just plays whatever he feels like for each show on tours, so he doesn't do the whole "I must play lots of newer stuff because it is new" deal.

Marilyn Manson-- The first show I saw was simply astounding. This was for the tour supporting "Mechanical Animals." The set list was perfect and this is back before Manson really burnt himself out, so he was able to maintain very consistent energy. The set pieces and visuals were also real cool. That, and I was close to the front on the floor, but I was pefectly positioned not to get bumped around too much by the crowd.

Dear Friends: Music from Final Fantasy-- Back in February of 2005. This was basically a dream come true. Nobuo Uematsu himself was there. Also, this happened to be the second EVER video game concert show in the US, or at least for Final Fantasy if I am wrong about that. When "One Winged Angel" started to play, the crowd was so loud that no one could hear the music for the first 3 or 4 seconds. Plus, near the end Uematsu came on stage with a translator and interacted with the crowd for a bit! Final Fantasy music means a lot to me, and being in the same room (the venue, while big, wasn't some giant arena place) and seeing the man partial responsible for childhood memories was straight up magical.

Between The Buried And Me-- This was back in January of 2010. This was for their tour supporting "The Great Misdirect." While it wasn't the first time I saw BTBAM, the band's energy was at maximum level. I mean, they closed off the show with "Swim to the Moon" and followed up with "White Walls." HOLY. ****ING. ****.

[Burtsplurt]

It's probably between:

Devendra Banhart - I don't follow his music, but he was good right up until the point where the venue had to close. The crowd weren't very happy so he went outside and gave an acoustic performance on the street!

Joanna Newsom - I was just totally transfixed. She was charming, elegant and the music was beautiful. I think I was pretty much in love with her by the end of the concert.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Brooding and ominous. And the crescendos! I'd never expected to see them live, as they went on an indefinite hiatus while I was in Bangor (a town not frequented by Canadian bands... or British bands... or buskers). Waiting that long and then finally getting to see them just blew me away.

[Scotty_ffgamer]

I do think BTBAM would be fun to see. I've started getting into them lately.


An FF music concert with Nobou has been on my bucket list ever since middle school. I probably won't ever get to experience it but I always get excited when concerts like that pop up.

Also, I don't know what you are talking about, Locky. Noah and the Whale is the perfect band to mosh to (I would never even think it would cross someone's mind to start a mosh pit at a Noah and the Whale concert...)

[Shorty]

I saw the Chili Peppers in 2005 and it was both the best concert and the best night of my life and it definitely lived up to my expectations.

I've been to so many shows that went above my expectations.

- the Yeah Yeah Yeahs blew me away because Karen O smurfing knows how to work a crowd
- fun. was so enjoyable because Nate Ruess gives off so much unbelievable energy
- Panic! at the Disco because again, Brendon Urie knows how to work the crowd. I went in not expecting much but I had such a great time.
- I don't think I've ever had a much fun as I did watching Gogol Bordello live. They had a plethora of dancing girls on the stage and everyone was crazy-dancing to insane gypsy music and everyone was in love and it was just all-around awesome.
- Death Cab for Cutie melted my heart the first time I saw them. The second time they were with that Magick Magick Orchestra and it was a nice addition, but smurfing Ben Gibbard threw a fit during my favorite song because the sound messed up and that kindof ruined it for me.
- Alkaline Trio has never failed to put on an amazing show. I always have so much fun moshing and somehow miraculously find good people to stand next to, they play all the songs I hope for and I just know I will have a good time.

I'm finally getting to see The Postal Service this weekend and I get to see Alkaline Trio tickets for the fourth time in June!

[Formalhaut]

I've never seen a concert

[Scotty_ffgamer]

Death Cab is another concert I've been to, but it was before I really knew them. I knew the song The Sound of Settling before the concert, but that is it. They did amazing, but the night itself was kind of miserable for me. There was so much pot being smoked around me (and I just don't do well around smoke in general), and the group I was with snuck to the front where there wasn't room for me. So I was by myself. Death Cab did awesome and became one of my favorite bands, but the experience of the concert was miserable.

So many good concerts I've wanted to see this year. Postal Service was one that I wanted to go to, but I didn't have the money for a ticket before it sold out. Sigur Ros was another this year that I missed out on due to a lack of finances.

[Shorty]

I honed in on the website the second the tickets went on sale. I heard it was pretty difficult to score tickets and that in some places they sold out in like twelve minutes.

[McLovin']

First one ever was Coachella 2010.

Second one was Coachella 2012.


Both were 2 of the best weekends of my life. And the best part wasn't the music; it was the gourmet food. They had everything from Waffle ice cream to crab & garlic fries to other amazing stuff. Hot Chip in 2010 was amazing. They started playing as the sun went down and they slowly raised the beat and trout and it was just epic. My brain was all fuzzy.

[Jinx]

I saw the Chili Peppers in 2005 and it was both the best concert and the best night of my life and it definitely lived up to my expectations.

I've been to so many shows that went above my expectations.

- the Yeah Yeah Yeahs blew me away because Karen O smurfing knows how to work a crowd
- fun. was so enjoyable because Nate Ruess gives off so much unbelievable energy
- Panic! at the Disco because again, Brendon Urie knows how to work the crowd. I went in not expecting much but I had such a great time.
- I don't think I've ever had a much fun as I did watching Gogol Bordello live. They had a plethora of dancing girls on the stage and everyone was crazy-dancing to insane gypsy music and everyone was in love and it was just all-around awesome.
- Death Cab for Cutie melted my heart the first time I saw them. The second time they were with that Magick Magick Orchestra and it was a nice addition, but smurfing Ben Gibbard threw a fit during my favorite song because the sound messed up and that kindof ruined it for me.
- Alkaline Trio has never failed to put on an amazing show. I always have so much fun moshing and somehow miraculously find good people to stand next to, they play all the songs I hope for and I just know I will have a good time.

I'm finally getting to see The Postal Service this weekend and I get to see Alkaline Trio tickets for the fourth time in June!

I smurfing love Gorgol Bordello, and they came here a few years ago, but I didn't get to go. If I had, I would've worn all purple. :3

[kotora]

Only went to one, when the Swedish House Mafia performed in Lisbon. It was pretty awesome, we had places on the balcony so we could see below us thousands of people just fistpumping away. Here's a vid I made. Swedish House Mafia 18-12-2012 Lisboa - YouTube

[krissy]

saw rjd2 and japandroids in champaign
that was cool
futureheads were good
hmmmmm
the books were amazing

i've seen austra twice

but what really takes the cake


is amon tobin's ISAM

[XxSephirothxX]

I've been to plenty and enjoyed them all, but the best so far was The Decemberists on their Hazards of Love tour. The Hazards of Love is a really great concept album/rock opera with a story. Musical themes that weave throughout the album and each character is represented by a different vocalists. Colin Meloy was joined by two female guest vocalists for the album and the tour, and they both had amazing voices. Shara Worden, especially, hit some insane notes.

Hazards of Love is a solid hour long, and they played it without pausing for a second or saying a smurfing thing to the audience. It ended with such a mind-boggling crescendo that every voice and instrument blurred into a single, cohesive, overwhelming sound. I haven't experienced anything like that in another concert since.

Then, they did an intermission, and we came back, and they played older Decemberists stuff for another hour. And that was great, but man, it's hard to beat a rock opera done right.

Runner-up probably goes to The Protomen in San Francisco last year. I'm not a big dancer/mosher at concerts, but by the end of their set there wasn't a mosh pit anymore. There was a mosh room.

[Pheesh]

I have every ticket or stub from every concert I've ever been to that I keep in a little box, every so often I'll just take them out and reminisce.

Best concert was probably A Perfect Circle in 2004 when they were touring on 'Thirteenth Step'. Two of my favourite albums of all time and they played basically every memorable song from both of them. The music was obviously still really fresh amongst the band and they really seemed to be enjoying being up there. Maynards voice was amazing, much better than the times I've seen him with Tool, and they were really funny as well.

Honourable mentions go to Rage Against the Machine in '07 when they reunited, Karnivool in 2011 (they've been amazing every time I've seen them but this was the best venue and set list), The Butterfly Effect in '05 and Periphery earlier this year. But I have great memories from basically every concert I've been to.