I saw Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds on the Skeleton Tree tour on the first night of tour. This was shortly after Nick’s son had died in a tragic accident where he had fallen off a cliff. It was quite obvious he was deeply grieving but needed to be on stage to begin healing.

It felt like during the first song that the whole audience was keeping him alive and singing with our collective breathing, like the whole room was breathing as one person and holding him aloft with our breath? It’s a bit hard to describe, but like we were holding his hand across a tightrope. Then after a song or two he found a groove and began being the Nick Cave we all know, and began moving like a jaguar across the stage the way he does and doing his Nick Cave things (if you know you know). He didn’t talk much but it was pretty clear it was giving him some of his life back. I’ve seen him three times since, and he’s back to his funny self despite the loss of another son in that time, but I’ve never lost the feeling when I see him that the audience keeps him afloat. It’s pretty special. Also listening to and reading about him talk about grief has helped a lot of people.

Queen, news of the world tour, opening with “we will rock you”. Second is ELO and Kansas with a deadly laser light show. Nothing else has come close. I am old.

I’ve really only been to a bare handfull of live performances, but the one that stands out was Blues Traveller. Their second album had just come out and one of the guitar players turned 21 at the show. Proceeded to play the fastest version of Johnny B. Goode I’ve ever heard in my life.

This was, Jesus, 30 years ago now? 1991… so shit… 33 years ago.

So hard to decide.

Most impactful was probably seeing Above and Beyond at one of the Wonderland festivals. They were the last band to play and did their group therapy stuff. And sure, part of it was probably the drugs, but On a Good Day really connected with me.

Most fun might be Bad Religion. The concert was great and all, but I was in California and my friend in Chicago told me they had an extra ticket so I flew out to go to the concert with him. Probably spent $350 on flights for a $35 concert ticket.

Then there was Panic at the Disco last year. It’s my girlfriend’s favorite band and I very much enjoy them. Now Im living in Chicago, so I flew out to California and drove with her to Las Vegas for the concert. It was one of our earlier dates once we decided to be more serious.

Best performance might have been the Adicts. It was a small venue, but gorram did they have such an incredible time.

Cage the Elephant honestly puts on an incredible show.

Beach House is transportative

But I think Sigur Rós is an altogether different experience. They are so so good live. I’ll be seeing them later this year when they have their full orchestra and I’m so excited.

Finntroll live in a small venue in Belgium called Biebob. The hall is barely bigger than a decent café, so that means everyone is very close to the band. Once they started playing, the ENTIRE hall went absolutely berserk. Including the staff behind the tables and technical materials. Everyone was so completely enthralled that it was an almost religious experience. I’ve never before or after seen anything like it. Must’ve been over 15 years ago though.

I’ve gone to several Gogol Bordello concerts, they’re always amazing. Most memorable one was when Eugene Hütz got their guitar strap stuck in their hair and kept rampaging around the stage with the guitar just hanging there, not holding it in their hands or anything. He kept making the stagehands go away instead of letting them help untangle the guitar. The mosh pits can be wild. Pre-covid he’d take swigs of wine and spit take it all over the pit, post covid they just splash wine everywhere instead which is still fun but not quite the same.

Another one that will stick with me is I got to go to a punk house and listen to local trans artists. I watched from the roof and spray painted a trans flag up there it was great

There have been quite a few good ones since, but the first concert that my parents let me go by myself to was a Primus NYE show in Oakland, some time around '94. I was, maybe 15? It was the coolest thing ever. Why was it so amazing? I mean, it was Primus, there was weed everywhere, and I was 15.

I was at Warped Tour back in 2007, I think. It was in August in Texas, and was held in a parking lot. In other words, it was fucking hot! NOFX was the last band to play and as soon as they start their set clouds rolls in and a huge thunderstorm storm starts. Some guy runs on stage and tells everyone they need to evacuate to a nearby pavilion. Everyone refuses to move.

NOFX finally comes back out and says they were told they can only play 3 songs. So, they bust out their 18 minute long song, which up to that point they refused to ever play live.

As far as best performance, hands down Paul McCartney. He was in his 70s and played an amazing and high energy show for 3 hours straight.

I go to loads of concerts, but my favorite eas Lady Gaga’s Chromatica Ball in Wrigley Field a couple years ago. A friend drove 3 hours to my place Sunday night, then we drove 5 hours to Chicago Monday morning for the show. 45,000 people crammed into that tiny jewl box baseball stadium was incredible. Looking out at the grand stand felt like a wave of people about to crash down on the field. Lady Gaga is an amazing artist and performer and knows how to rally a crowd. She played all her hits as well as most of the songs from Chromatica, which is a great EDM pop album. Lady Gaga always spends about 30 minutes if every concert at a piano and it feels so intimate, like she cares for you specifically.

Wolfmother is a band i really like as well. It’s always a great when you go into a show with no expectations and get blown away.

For me it probably has to be Opeth at the Ancient Roman amphitheatre in Plovdiv, 2015. They were accompanied by a symphonic orchestra and the whole thing sounded unbelievable. Some of the songs were included as bonus tracks on “Sorceress” later on.

I’d also mention any of the TDK shows I’ve been to.

Recency bias: Tool - I hadn’t been to a concert of that caliber in years, it was exactly what I was craving. Setlist was incredible and the band were on top of their game. 9.5/10 wish they’'d played vicarious instead of the pot.

Favorite band: Rush - saw them back in 2012 on the Clockwork Angels tour. There’s no way these guys tour if they can’t play, show was great despite a lackluster setlist. I’m a 70s/early 80s rush fan and that era of their discography was largely unplayed.

Childhood: System of a Down - I was a massive fan of these guys and a young teenager and my old man took my brother and I to see them in '05

Honorable mentions: Black Sabbath, Slayer, Rob Zombie

Delain, Sabaton, and Nightwish. Best concert I think I’ll ever see. I hadn’t even heard of Sabaton at the time and they quickly became one of my favorite bands.

Las Vegas, early June in the early 2000s they used to hold “JuneFest”. $10 to get in for the day, all day outdoor event with everyone from REO Speedwagon, Joan Jett and Jethro Tull to Kansas, Jefferson Starship and Bad Company and more. It was a who’s who and who’s still alive of the classic rock genre in 2003. But it was one hell of an event. I think it got killed due to lax id checks at the vendors and some violence and heat related injuries.

I saw Motion City Soundtrack when they were supporting the release of their first album. Their keyboardist spent more time in the air than on the ground. He was on another level. The show was killer. So much enthusiasm, so much passion, and when it was over they came into the audience and talked with us and hung out while Story of the Year did their set. It was one of the most “real” experiences I’ve had a show. Not some fever dream of energy and strobe lights. Just connecting with the artist afterwards and seeing that they are real people, too. I’ve never forgotten it.

I just looked at when that album released. 20 years ago. Goddamn.