Back in 2014 I got to see Rise Against play at the House of Blues in Boston, which was amazing, and just recently I went to see grandson and K. Flay perform together.
I think these are my two favorite concerts I’ve been to, and the key factor seems to be the energy between the crowd and the band. It’s a thing that’s kinda hard to express in words, but for me that’s definitely what makes a concert go from good to great. It doesn’t need to be a high-energy thing necessarily, either: one of the best moments from grandson’s set was actually a really somber, lower energy song that he came down onto the floor to perform, and you could just tell that everyone was really invested in that moment.
What about you all? What takes a concert to the next level for you?
This all the way.
Saw Oasis many years ago, massive stadium show not too long before they imploded. Hands down the worst gig I’ve been to. The band were fine, but Liam being Liam was goading the crowd. A crowd who, mostly, had been drinking for most of the long day, so were rowdy as shit.
The end result was a gig that felt dangerous and not much fun at all.
Exactly, I’ve been to metal shows like I said and have felt fine. And those generally have a lot of physicality. But not brutality. When it treads into the realm of brutality or abuse it is just hard to justify.