REM with Grant Lee Buffalo, Riverfront Coliseum 1995
-Andrew Bird with Grizzly Bear, MusicNOW fest 2008
-The Walkmen with Cass McCombs & Pomegranates, The Mad Hatter 2009
-SO MANY shows at the old Southgate House: Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks with John Vanderslice, Quasi, Animal Collective, Stereolab, the Shivers, Wye Oak...
Plus very fond memories of opening for Antlers just before Hospice came out, also opened for Jeffrey Lewis & the Junkyard which ruled.
The Black Dahlia Murder: saw them headline at a small local music festival. The venue was a roller rink. The crowd revolted during the first song of TBDM, and pinned the security guards against the front of the stage. All security left the venue. Everyone in the crowd stage dived.
@jacob Local band The Hardaways, performing the entire Abbey Road album at the Replay Lounge in Lawrence, KS, circa 2003. Tiny venue, maybe 100 people packed in like sardines, all singing every word together. Cops came to break it up just as they finished “Her Majesty”
@jacob I would also tell you that if you ever get the chance to see Weird Al, do it. His shows are brilliantly fun, and he’s got one of the most versatile bands on the planet.
@mpirnat I saw the SF Symphony doing a similar Looney Tunes thing and yeah, so much fun. Highlight was "What's Opera Doc?" with singers from the SF Opera.
@jacob Willie Nelson at the 9:30 Club in DC, has got to be my top. This was a couple years ago, so he’s old, and his son Lucas is jumping in and out as he needs to take a break, and that just somehow made his talent even more impressive.
Number two is probably Tom Petty at the Boston Gardens. It was one of his last shows (though we obviously didn’t know that at the time), and it was really the epitome of a modernized stadium rock show.
@jacob Paradiso in Amsterdam has been host of so many good ones! George Clinton and P-Funk (multiple times), Madness, Maceo Parker with Candy Dulfer as (not-very) surprise guest.
Hans Dulfer playing at a public event in Amstelveen with his extremely funk band, with his daughter Candy showing up at random because she'd been out grocery shopping, and taking her dad's sax and just improvising a smashing performance.
@jacob Suzanne Vega in Paradiso several times with just a bassist, where one time she took requests, someone shouted "Left of Center" (which is originally a very orchestral song) and she told the story of how the first time she played it as a duo was because of a request in Paradiso, they weren't sure if it was going to work and now they play it all over the world that way, and the guy who shouted the request shouts "yeah, that was me!" 😂
@jacob Sting in Berlln with the Royal Philharmonic and Branford Marsalis (also a recorded DVD and CD) where we (a few fan club members) got to see rehearsals. They practiced the bit where Branford comes on while playing the long opening note of Englishman in New York a few times, just to get timing right. The orchestra played exactly the same each time, the rest of the band was similar but more loose, and Branford's sax was completely different but just so fantastic each time.
@jacob friends all have Ozomatli playing in the lobby after a show then in the street then the cops showed up stories, I’m so bummed I’ve never gotten to see them play live
@jacob The Presidents of the United States of America, a few years ago… they played all their newer stuff and many classics, for what was by all means a full concert performance, with amazing energy.
Felt like there might be an encore or two, but then they came back out and straight-up played through the the entire original self-titled album with passion, not skipping a beat.
… and this is like in the shittiest, most isolated capital city on the planet.
@jacob but also a shout-out to Ghostface Killah, who upon coming to Perth and discovering a local back-alley toasted sandwich shop had named themselves Toastface Grillah proceeded to do a free impromptu performance in said back alley.
Decemberists at the Bottleneck, maximum hipster, yes, but great show
Bela Fleck and Edgar Mayer at Zellerbach - I’ve seen Bela tons of times with all sorts of bands, this duo might be my favorite. The gag with the cellphone ringing still makes me laugh
Counting Crows and Live at the Greek - look it was a thing
@jacob it wasn’t one of the best concerts I’ve been to, but your Herbie Hancock experience reminds me of the time I saw Wesley Willis at the Porter dining hall at ucsc. Must’ve been ‘01
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