Live Music: What Are Your 5 Most Unforgettable Concerts?

[Mannahnin]

Dude! You were there too?

That was definitely in my "Top 20 Riots I have been in and/or instigated."

Yar. Though my GF and I left once it started to get crazy.

Dropkick Murphys/Mighty Mighty Bosstones. I have a vague recollection of a late 90s St. Paddy's day show that had both the Bosstones and the Dropkick Murphys at one of the Lansdowne Street venues. Good shows.

Sounds amazing. The Bosstones were one of several shows I won tickets to on the air on WFNX, but sadly one I skipped. I did go see Godsmack on Lansdowne (blech), and Duran Duran at the Wang, though.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Yar. Though my GF and I left once it started to get crazy.

I couldn't. I was right up there at the front. So I had the twin fun of nearly getting crushed to death by the crowd, and then navigating the riot after the Boston Police shut it down. Protip- don't mess with the staties.

It's like everything else- if you live, it becomes a fun story!

Sounds amazing. The Bosstones were one of several shows I won tickets to on the air on WFNX, but sadly one I skipped. I did go see Godsmack on Lansdowne (blech), and Duran Duran at the Wang, though.

It was! That said, I am envious of you for seeing Duran Duran; that was a band that I wanted to see that I never got to.

Saddest experience for me was that I had the chance to see Springsteen in concert, and I couldn't get any of my friends at that time to go with me because he wasn't "cool enough." So I didn't go. If I had to do it over again, I would have just gone by myself. I still haven't seen him.

 

[payn]

Dropkick Murphys/Mighty Mighty Bosstones. I have a vague recollection of a late 90s St. Paddy's day show that had both the Bosstones and the Dropkick Murphys at one of the Lansdowne Street venues. Good shows.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I think I saw them around the same time and yeah, getting to see them after years of being a fan was a miraculous experience. They came out and that first growl of Double Dare's guitars filled the arena.

Bauhaus in 2005, Near the Atmosphere Tour, Orpheum, Boston. Amazing to finally get to see them. Got introduced to the band by my first girlfriend, when I was a teenage wannabe-goth. Seeing them 12 or 13 years later was everything I hoped. I got to see Peter Murphy in a smaller venue, at the Middle East downstairs, I think four years ago, and he was great then too.

They're supposed to come through here later this year and I so hope it actually happens.

Heilung, January 2020, L'Olympia Montreal. A gorgeous, moving ritual of a performance.

 

[Bedrockgames]

I don't really like concerts even though I love music. So I have only been to a handful. But these are ones I remember liking: Metallica on the black album tour, Tori Amos (back around 2002 I want to say), Emmylou Harris at the Delmar Fair in the 80s, and Lollapalooza (If I remember it was the one with Snoop Dogg and Tool)

Missed Solitude Aeturnus and King Diamond when they came by here, and have long wanted to catch an Iron Maiden concert.

 

[RobJN]

Stabbing Westward, at the White Rabbit. Hole-in-the-wall club, and they sounded better than on the album

 

[Mannahnin]

, and have long wanted to catch an Iron Maiden concert.

You should try to get to the next Maiden tour. I've never been a big fan, but I have several friends who are, and have heard rave reviews of their recent tours.

Stabbing Westward, at the White Rabbit. Hole-in-the-wall club, and they sounded better than on the album

Seems to be the way pretty regularly. When I was first going down to Boston when I was 18 or so, I randomly went to a great show at TT the Bear's, not knowing any of the bands. When the headliner started playing Time Baby, I recognized it almost immediately from the (then-new) soundtrack album for The Crow, and it took me a minute to realize it was the same band (Medicine). The version they played live was much more raucous and guitar-heavy, though. A really excellent performance.

Oh! Or Turbonegro! My ex wife brought me to see them at The Paradise in Boston, probably 2007, and I wasn't familiar with them at all. OUTSTANDING club show. Unbelievable energy. Crowdsurfing and chanting and happy metalheads singing the refrain to "I Got Erection" loudly down the street as they drifted into the night after the show. But I've never found any of their studio recordings to capture that magic.

 

[ART!]

I kid you not: the only live, large-scale music concert I've ever attended was on August 25th, 1990 at the Alpine Valley Music Theater outside Chicago. The line-up:

Eric Clapton and his band
The Robert Cray Band featuring The Memphis Horns
Buddy Guy
Jeff Healey
Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble.*

The concert was capped off by a ~20 minute encore jam of "Sweet Home Chicago" by Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimmie Vaughan, Buddy Guy & Robert Cray.

* SRV died the next night.

 

[Mannahnin]

Well, I suppose if you were only to attend one concert in your entire life, that would be a hard choice to top.

 

[ART!]

Well, I suppose if you were only to attend one concert in your entire life, that would be a hard choice to top.

IKR? The ticket just kind of fell in my lap, too - a friend had bought 3 tickets and one person bailed on him.

A lot of live music is over-amplified to the point of being uncomfortable to me. The local university has a big music program, so I attend a lot fo recitals and concerts there and they mic and amp things very sensibly.

This makes me sound like a very old man.

(Alpine Valley is an outdoor venue, so although crazy loud the decibels didn't bother me.)