Best concert you've been to?

I'll start this as someone who really does not like listening to live recordings of songs. Most of the time they feel quite annoying especially when the crowd is screaming over half the track(Cheap Trick - I Want You To Want Me, not counting. That is the definitive version).

But for me the best concert I've been to (in my very limited capacity) was Roger Waters - The Wall tour. I went to see it 2013 August in Warsaw and it was amazing. I have to say that I'm very lucky to have step-father who is a very big Pink Floyd fan and got us front row seats(if I remember correctly in like 60K people). Sitting there watching the show was amazing. Seeing everything that went down on the stage, from the little kids singing the "Another Brick In The Wall" while their singing coach was below the stage guiding them to the wall breaking down.

That concert was amazing. Honestly that whole day was amazing from start to finish.

So what was you're best, favorite or most memorable concert?

I'll come back later to add details, but the best show I've ever seen was Anamanaguchi because it was nerdy and also punk rock as fuck.

Every Time I Die.

For one tour they allowed the audience on stage while they played the final song, much to the dismay to security. After a few tries though everyone rushed the stage and I nearly fell into the drum kit.

The best I've seen would be either Dave Matthews or The Joy Formiddible/Everything Everything. Both shows were just a few steps up from everything else I've seen.

American Carnage Tour 2010. Headlining was Slayer/Megadeth with Testament opening the show. It was fucking amazing my first time in a moshpit. I was surprised at how often people would spread out and immediately pick up anyone who hit the floor.

Pretty tough to choose since I've been to at least 50 different shows, including festivals. But if I had to I would definitely pick Opeth w/ Katatonia. North American Heritage Tour 2013. Got to meet and hang out with the band before the show. Was glorious.

For me it would be one of two:

St. Vincent played our jazz festival for her self titled album tour in 2014 or so. She is one of the most talented guitarists alive right now and had a bowie like stage presence that really drew you in

The other choice would be Leonard Cohen in 2010.

The best live performance I have ever seen was a support act. A friend and I went to see Guns n Roses when they visited Aus around 2006/2007. This was Axl Rose only and a bunch of no names.

Sebastian Bach (of Skid Row fame) was the support act. I didn't know any of his solo or even his Skid Row stuff at the time but he really blew me away. I've seen a fair few concerts but none with the energy and crowd engagement that he had. As I mentioned, I knew none of the songs but he got me fully into it during that show - which is no mean feat.

This is of course though, contrasted by the fact that GnR was the worst show I have seen. Axl didn't come on stage until 1:30 am (the show and support acts began at 8pm - I didn't get there until 10pm which is when Sebastian Bach performed). Any part of the show where Axl wasn't directly singing (guitar solo or any music piece really) he just ran off stage. He also could most definitely not hit the notes that he used to anymore. I've actually not been to any other shows where the performer has treated their audience with such contempt.

But man. Sebastian Bach. What a performance.

Sharon Van Etten a few years back. Small venue, sounded great, got to meet afterwards.

The Pixies.

La Dispute, supported by The Hotelier and Title Fight

I saw Die Antwoord a couple weeks ago. The music wasn't the best (they mostly played stuff off the new album which is meh) but the performance was one of the most surreal and unforgettable things I've ever experienced.

Musically the best concert was when I saw Godspeed You! Black Emperor open for Nine Inch Nails back in 2012 and they played Asunder Sweet in its entirety. But that was 45 minutes and then I had to sit through Nine Inch Nails for 3 hours :/

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band. You hear about them being good live, you see them on videos and dvds being good live, but you're never ready to see them live. So good.

March 4, 2008. Logan Square Auditorium, Chicago IL.

Earth Crisis, Terror, Sworn Enemy, Shai Hulud, Down to Nothing, and Recon.

The show was like six hours long and I went home basically deaf.

Manic Street Preachers in Newcastle last month. Good support, mad crowd and, as usual some pisshead got thrown out right next to me. Seeing Mogwai a few years back was good as well. I was miles back but Rano Pano claimed the hearing in one of me ears. Proof that it must've been good.

Weird Al a few years ago in Atlanta. Open stage, not a massive crowd, maybe a few hundred people. He was running late so it started 30 minutes to an hour later then it should have but when he arrived it was a blast. He was so energetic, the crowd was awesome, there were no technical or sound issues, and after it was all done and people thought the show was over he came out, apologized to the crowd for being late and went on to perform several more songs for everyone.

It was a great experience overall.

Biffy Clyro back in 2008 in Manchester. Everybody was very high energy which just made it amazingly fun. They also had a small orchestra with them for some songs which helped accentuate ...Now the Action is on Fire. Amazing.

My other favourite was Arcade Fire in 2010 at Leeds Festival, nobody else wanted to see them. However, being in a field full of others singing at full volume to every word made me lose myself in the moment. Think about that a lot as well.

Idk, I've been to a lot of concerts, it's basically all I spent my money on in high school. Seeing MgMt while on certain substances with the sun setting behind them was amazing. Foo Fighters (whose albums I'm not super into) doing a 3 hour show was incredible. Rancid's bass player doing a 2 minute bass solo in Maxwell Murder was a super memorable part of a killer show.

Most disappointing was Bob Dylan. I went in with low expectations but man his voice was trash. He had a good band though, and I can say I've seen Bob Dylan.

Iron Maiden is without a doubt my favorite concert moment. Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner played at an outdoor venue, fireworks in the background (it was actually not part of the production). It was also hilarious seeing Dethklok open for them, a majority of the crowd had no idea what Dethklok was -- there were a lot of confused faces.

I've also been to one amazing Foo Fighters show. They played until Dave just couldn't sing anymore, the crowd was really into it.

EDIT: Oh damn, almost forgot.... Megadeth's Rust in Peace anniversary tour was just fucking nuts. I don't think the band had ever or will ever sound that good again live.

I think the best concert I've been to was probably Flogging Molly at WSU's Ballroom back in 2008. When it was time for them to start, they just shut off all the lights and started blaring Blitzkrieg Bop, which I thought was a little weird. The song ended, and then Baba O Reilly turned on, which was also a little weird. This whole mess of people in the crowd has just been dancing and singing in the darkness for several minutes, but when the instrumental section near the end of the song started, the lights were turned back on: the band was on stage, the recording was cut, and they played their own version of the ending of Baba O Reilly, which was fucking fantastic. They went on to play a great mix of their old and new, and the crowd was just raucous enough to match the mood of the music, but not so much that it got ugly. That was a real good night.

Swans

Best Non-Festival Concert: Tool - Vancouver 1997, there was no opening band.

• This was at my peak fandom for the band, I was fresh out of high school and had cash to actually make the 12 hour road trip down to the big city. God damn Tool was in good form that night. There was no opening band and it was in a small venue (maybe 100 people) at some dive bar (I want to say it was called The Cobalt, but I could be wrong about that).

Best Festival Concert: Ozzfest 2005 (Lineup was: Iron Maiden playing only songs from their first few albums, Black Sabbath, Mudvayne, Shadows Fall, Black Label Society, In Flames, Velvet Revolver, Rob Zombie, Killswitch Engage, As I Lay Dying, Mastodon, A Dozen Furies, The Haunted, Arch Enemy, The Black Dahlia Murder, Bury Your Dead, It Dies Today, Soilwork, Gizmachi, Wicked Wisdom*, Trivium

I put Wicked Wisdom on there, f you don't know what band that is, Jada-Pinket Smith started a nu-metal band. The band was booed off stage before they were able to finish their first song. I kind of wish I saw them live, but their music was terrible, even for Ozzfest.

I've probably been to like 10-12 concerts in my whole life, counting in some free ones I went to back in school. The last one was a couple of years ago with an orchester playing some video game music. Didn't blow my mind, but it was still a fun experience. Last year I could've tried going to a Carpenter Brut gig, but eh, no can do. Hans Zimmer was also performing over here earlier this year, but those tickets were pretty expensive.

The best/most memorable one was probably Björk playing at a festival five years ago. That was a really great way to end the night with.

My initial instinct is to say Hans Zimmer (2017) and that shit was amazing but I wonder if that's just because it was so recent (two months ago).

Then I think Nine Inch Nails (2015) but that might just be my favourite band, so even though they were great were they really *that* great?

Tenacious D (2007) come to mind because they turned what should have been a concert full of dumb songs into an entire theatre production. I know the Pick of Destiny movie was hot trash but the stage show around that time? The best mash up of amateur drama and stadium-sell out insanity I've ever seen.

But even THEN if we're allowed to consider festivals/town parties I'd have to say Nijmegen in the Netherlands last month. I could not tell you the name of a single band I saw there (there were literally hundreds just all over the streets) but I got so drunk and wandered the streets seeing so many bands. They all played mixes of covers and their own stuff but without fail every single band at some point played the following as if it was a legal obligation:

It was amazing.

At the time I saw him (2008? II think?) I was pretty disappointed too but since then I've kinda gotten to the point where I'm happy to have seen him live as a songwriter rather than a singer. When I actually stop and think about it, Dylan was never a good singer either, it's just he's traded out high-pitched and nasally tone for the voice of a man who has clearly smoked and drank way too much for his entire life.

@trulyalive: That was around the time I saw him too. I generally like his voice although I would hardly call it gorgeous or good, in the classic sense. But man his old man voice was awful and he seemed like he barely cared. But I mean who could blame him? He's been doing it for so long I'm sure it's hard to keep the magic alive. And like I said it was worth it to say I saw him and get a poster.

Although Tom Petty seems to know how to. Saw him a couple years ago and it was a great show full of deep cuts and not just the standard radio fare. His last couple albums have been pretty decent too.

Fatboy slim changed my life.

Dubfire changed it a second time.

1. Rolling Stones "Steel Wheels Tour" with original Guns 'n' Roses (pre "Use Your Illusion") and Living Color ("Cult of Personality" band).
2. Neil Young and Crazy Horse "Mansion on the Hill" tour with Sonic Youth and Social Distortion
3. Lalapalooza 1 with Ice Cube, Ice-T's Bodycount, Nine Inch Nails, Rollins Band, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Janes Addiction, and the Butthole Surfers.

@sloppydetective:

As I was reading your response I looked down and realised that I'm totally wearing the T-Shirt that I bought at that very gig.

Life is weird sometimes.

I've never been massive into Tom Petty but I'd totally see him live. My parents had similar things to say about Leonard Cohen a few years ago (RIP)

As for disappointments, it might be the time I saw Everything Everything. They weren't bad but it's the one gig I forget I've been to.

Best in terms of musical experience and atmosphere? Nils Frahm. I felt like I had melted after that. The venue was also incredible and the sun was setting through these huge stained glass windows.

As for most fun? Either Kero Kero Bonito, or some local mathcore band in the tiny back room of a pub 8 years ago.

I've seen Sara Bareilles in concert 3 times and I'm always impressed with her performances! Great stage presence, really personable, and one of the only performers I've seen in all the shows I've been to, who comds out before the opener even takes stage and just chats with the crowd for a few mintues. Also, man can she sing! :D

Rage Against the Machine in 2008 at Lollapalooza, part of their reunion tour.

Gallows, way back when. They were so fucking good at their peak.

The time when I went to see VNV Nation live for the first time was pretty fucking awesome.

Music starts around the 4 minute mark.

I saw Mastodon play on their Leviathan tour back in 2004 or 2005 at a tiny club down the street. Cult of Luna opened for them. It was definitely the best show I've been to.

Like most other times when asked "what's your favorite _____?" I really can't narrow it down so I'll list a few...
Roger Waters The Wall and Jimmy Paige and The Black Crows were two memorable shows for I what I think should be obvious reasons.
Just about any Tool concert I've been to since I'm a pretty big longtime fan.
Loved the Deftones since way back when as well and at one show I slipped my way through the pit to scream into Chino Moreno's mic with him when he appeared balancing on the hockey boards.
A few others that were very memorable (hazy as they may be) for other reasons that I will not mention here. : )

Probably the last year that Sounds of the Underground happen. GWAR was the headliner along with a bunch of other sick bands I happened to like at the time. Summer Slaughter 2008 is another tour that takes the cake for me. I love me some old school Black Dahlia Murder.

the final Bomb The Music Industry! show in 2014 was the best show I've ever been to. The openers were amazing, they played two full sets for almost 3 hours. Everyone there was so into it and it was extremely emotional

I saw Phantogram in Atlanta in 2014 or 2015. Not much of a live music person but it was very fun!

Rush at The Forum, 8-1-2015. It was the last show of the tour celebrating their 40th anniversary. Their 3 hour set-list went backwards through their 19 studio album catalog, so everyone was pretty hyped on the fact that they'd be playing songs from albums they haven't touched on in decades. It was also pretty awesome of them to pluck deep cuts from albums they regularly go back to. My biggest takeaways from the show was that their old songs are like wine; modern equipment just made those tunes sound heavy as hell. The second being that the drummer (Neil Peart) is a huge introvert and a shut-in. Because of this, the band usually skedaddles after the final note and "good night" to beat traffic (and some deem kind of heartless), but because it was the last show, Neil popped out of his drum set, ran to the front, tapped the other members on the shoulders to their surprise, and they all took the final bow. I paid for nosebleed seats, but I'd pay for it again in a heartbeat.

Saw Gojira in Kansas City a few months ago, CO headline with Opeth. they played my favorite song Flying Whales in its entirety. Also got my favorite album signed by them. It was awesome. Opeth...not so much lol

RHCP at the Reading Festival last year were fucking fantastic. Whole reason I was there, so I'm glad they delivered.

I've only been to two concerts and they were both in 1999 and at Arco Arena. One was Marilyn Manson with Hole and Monster Magnet. The other was Rob Zombie with Korn and Videodrone (AKA Cradle of Thorns).

The Manson and Zombie sets were the highlights. Those are what teenage me was there for, and they were equally extravagant and fun, so I can't really pick between the two.

Parliament Funkadelic in the mid/late 70's. Mothership, baby.

The Black Dahlia Murder and All Shall Perish at Flagstaff, AZ. Took a greyhound from Portland, OR.

I don't think I have an absolute favorite, but here are a few noteworthy concerts:

• Muse and Metric around 2010. Muse was playing a lot of songs from The Resistance and Metric was playing a lot of songs from Fantasies. About a week earlier, I first listening to Metric, so seeing them sold me on them. Now they are one of my favorite bands. Besides that, that was arguably peak Muse for me.
• Within Temptation around 20...14(?). A big part of this was how they barely tour the US, and I had to fly to Colorado to see them. Overall I really loved it.
• Iron Maiden in 2013. This was part of their Maiden England Tour, so they played a lot of songs from Number of the Beast, Seventh Son of the Seventh Son, and Fear of the Dark. It was a great performance, and probably the closest thing to a perfect setlist one could hope for.
• Angelique Kidjo around 2011. In terms of listening to a single singer, this is probably one of the best performances I have attended.
• Hatsune Miku: I still can't believe this actually happened.

I've never been to a concert.

@majorziggy: I've had tickets for both of The Wall tours in the UK, but had to sell my tickets (first time was too close to my wedding, and sense finally set in so had to sell them. Second time my mother in law was losing her cancer battle so couldn't take the chance of being on the other side of the country. I've lost promised myself that next time he plays the UK I'll definitely make it)

Best gig, not sure, but a few of my favs have been:

Dream Theater - Saw them about 8 times now

Transatlantic - Manchester (2010)

Frost* - Edinburgh (2016)

Snuff - Glasgow (2016).

Flogging Molly - Glasgow (2008)

Bad Religion - Glasgow (2011)

System of a Down back in 2004/2005, I don't really listen to that style of music anymore but that concert was really good back in their prime.