Best concert you've been to?

Definitely Prince at the Fox Theater a few years ago. Goddamn that was amazing.

Best is tough, but most memorable for me is definitely the Sony E3 party in '98. I was too young to be there really, but I got to see the legendary drunk Kaz Hirai introduce the Foo Fighters.

Ha, I went to Ozzfest that year too. Kind of had a miserable time. It wasn't because of anything the bands did, though. That was when I realized I didn't like going to big festivals. My friends and I left after Type O Negative because we were just exhausted from standing out in the Florida sun.

I prefer to go to smaller shows these days, but it looks like I'm going to Ozzfest here in a few months anyway.

Santana, Doobie Brothers, or maybe Brad Paisley.

In that order.

While other bands have been my best overall concert experience (I'm looking at you, Amon Amarth and Rob Zombie). Coming to specific moments, nothing has so far beaten the overwhelming goosebumps of hearing the entire Ullevi stadium in Gothenburg for The Memory Remains by Metallica in 2015. This video doesn't even do it justice.

David Bowie - A Reality Tour

I'm a huge Bowie fan, so that was in a completely different category than anything else.

I'd say Muse this year (not a good show by 30 Seconds to Mars as opener), Beck 2014 (with Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger opening), Mighty Mighty Bosstones (2002) in a small local club that was packed, and CAKE in Nashville (2005) would be in contention for best besides Bowie.

Saw Eluveitie a couple years back. I think they were touring with Arkona but they dropped out, so they did a 2 hour set. I drove all the way from St. Louis and stayed overnight since they weren't coming anywhere near. Also not too long before Anna Murphy and some others left the bend, so I'm really glad I got to see them when I did.

Babylon Circus at the Couleur Cafe festival in Brussels. It's a french ska band that really knows how to get a crowd going and that venue was just perfect. I went in mildly interested and came out drenged in sweat and beer with the biggest smile on my face.

hmm, very tough call.

but daft punk on the alive 2007 tour was pretty god damned amazing.

also radiohead on their 2006 theatre tour.

and come to think of it, the most life-altering show might have been when i saw mogwai at the phoenix in toronto while on shrooms in 2009. i've subsequently caught them whenever they're in town- they are unbelievably good live, stone-cold sober or otherwise.

I have been to a lot of concerts and easily the best one was the AC/DC Black Ice tour in 2008.

Honorable mention goes to Paul McCartney (multiple times).

Other ones near the top of my list were the Velvet Revolver Contraband tour, and the first Guns N Roses reunion show in Las Vegas. I went into the Guns N Roses show somewhat expecting to be disappointed, but I was pleasantly surprised by how good they actually sounded. I still think the fact that Axl was restricted to his throne chair for that show really helped with his vocals.

For pure power, a Van Halen/Black Sabbath concert back in the day . I was, as usual, seeing colors, and in pure theater it was great, especially since I wasn't really a 'fan' of either band.

For truly being stunned by serious and, I'd have to say sophisticated/mindfuck music, it was a semi prominent jazz/rock musician of the day, at some large club up in the mountains. He played flute/sax/horn. His two black bandmates played guitar and drums. The guitarist was incredible, and must have been tuned in to some place in outer space.. Lighting was very simple, just stage illumination, and Christmas lights wrapped around the drum set.

It left a very deep impression....

I find it strange how much these people are forced to tour when they have such massive crowds.

I saw The Roots 5 or 6 years ago. They were incredible live. Might be the best show I've been too.

I saw Billy Joel live at Fenway Park a few weeks ago and it was pretty great show too.

Most disappointing was when I saw The GZA from Wu Tang a couple of months ago. Liquid Swords is one of my favorite albums, but the venue was terrible and he didn't do a soundcheck and his mic sounded horrible most of the time, so that sucked.

David Gilmour at the intimate Massey Hall in Toronto in 06. Pink Floyd is my favourite band and Gilmour my favourite musician. Seeing and hearing Echoes performed live will never be topped. Here's Comfortably Numb from that show recorded by someone else. https://youtu.be/E3q517maf1k

Man, I saw them a few times in 2007/2008. Absolutely insane energy and the crowd was feeeeling it. Amazing shows

Can't say I've been to many, but probably Babymetal (Wembley, 2016). Really well put together show, they are a fun band to see live, and the crowd was electric (there's something about a small Japanese girl signalling a crowd of British metal fans to start a giant circle pit that will never not be entertaining).

X Japan (also Wembley, 2017) was also incredible. Seeing Yoshiki literally collapse from going nuts on the drums, then later busting out an unplanned acoustic version of Space Oddity on piano (for instance) was truly something to behold. It's also probably the longest concert I've been to - they screened the documentary prior to it (90 mins), then the actual concert was three and a half hours (about 30-40 mins of that was downtime before the final encore). Very different feel to the Babymetal show - obviously it's an arena venue, but their crowd interaction (very humble/crowd quietly singing Bohemian Rhapsody/starting Bowie on piano due to the crowd reaction to an off-hand comment) made it feel like a much smaller/intimate venue.

Special mention also goes to U2 (Don Valley Arena, 2007(?)). The stage was set up so that there was a central section, then about 15ft of standing space, then an outer walkway. I had general standing tickets, so got there a few hours early hoping for a decent but not necessarily brilliant spot. Once I got in, I asked the security guy whether I was allowed in the inner section or not (it had a separate entrance/turnstile to the edge of the main standing area, but I didn't know if it was just for capacity reasons), he just stamped my hand and waved me in. I had one of the best views in the house - few feet from the stage on all sides, and loads of space (the 10ft to my right was just empty) - and because it had the separate way in I could leave to get drinks and come back to the same spot easily. I later found out that that area was supposed to be for some sort of VIP tickets.... oh well :p

Not really a concert, but I should also mention the Pendulum DJ set I saw at Downing May Ball for just how weird an experience it was. I spent the entire thing leaning against one of the main stage speakers (the tent it was in was probably way over capacity, so there was nowhere to move), in full Black Tie, drinking a wine glass full of decent whisky (Caol Ila 18 IIRC). It was a very strange mix of things.

Never had a problem with hearing (long-term damage aside), but the last concert I went to reminded me to always bring a set. The acoustics of the venue were absolutely shocking, and because I had a seat perpendicular to the stage I could hear _everything_ being echoed back at me off the back wall on about half a second delay (to the point where I couldn't make out the vocals and it was giving me a headache because it just sounded like noise - I notice stuff like drums being echoy at most venues and that's fine, but hearing even the vocals on a delay was nightmareish). I ending up leaving to track some down, and once I blocked out one ear I enjoyed the remainder of the show far more.

Foo Fighters live at the Singapore national stadium. Or Major Lazer at Brixton Academy in London.

FF are at their best when performing in front of a huge crowd, Dave Grohl is super relaxed and you get a real sense of what a great musician he is.

Major Lazer live is just insane. It's like being at a circus. It's nuts.

Honourable mentions go to Foals in Sydney and Chromeo in London. The Flaming Lips in Sydney were pretty great as well, though I'm not the biggest fan of their music so I was just there for the spectacle.

I don't like most of his catalogue, but Rob Zombie puts on one hell of a live show.

Mine was last year in Paris. The second day there was wonderful and it ends with Bring me the horizon's first show in Paris. I'm amazed by the crowd comes from different places, I still make contact with some of new friends from the concert.

They opened with Doom and ended with Drown, their most significant release back then. Man it was out of this world as it's the first time I enjoy live music of world class band with the right people.

Its even better now. I go see them at least one, sometimes more per album cycle and they are just so damn good.

In terms of the crowd going nuts and the band's musicianship being top notch, probably Coheed and Cambria.

In terms of the most fun I've ever had at a concert it goes to Gwar, no question.

Best? KMFDM on the ATTAK tour. I had been listening to them for about a decade but never saw them live. They opened with DIY and proceeded to play a lot of my favorite songs with real showmanship and tenacity.

Most memorable? Ted Nugent sometime in the mid 2000's. A friend invited me, and I like some classic Nuge. I had no idea what entity he had transformed into by that point. My first indication was the sea of flannel and Carhartt. The show started with some shit talking about the W. Bush protest going on outside (Portland, OR so big surprise there). Luckily from there they put on a solid rock show. However, the highlight was when they brought out the American flag and started playing the national anthem. They then brought out cardboard cutouts of Saddam Hussein and Bin Laden. The Nuge then busted out a bow and flaming arrows and shot them both while shouting "FUCK YOU, YOU PIECE OF SHIT!", or something close to that. It was fuckin incredible. I felt completely out of place, but also like I had been invited to some secret ritual of a society that I was never meant to see. Luckily we got out of there without anyone messing with us, because we stuck out like sore thumbs.

Dungen and Allah-Las at Mississippi in PDX.

Garth Brooks in 1992. Rarely go to concerts very if any.

1964 A Beatles Spin Of ban in 193.

I used to go to a lot of shows I only really stopped in the last two or so years due to work being such a drain and I would usually try anything so long as I could afford it. My preference ends up being mid size shows, or really packed small venues. I don't go to stadiums or festivals anymore.

Best metal/mosh energy Slayer and Mastodon in 07. the whole room was just a swaying angry mess. Mastodon was also very good.

Best "chills show" Einstürzende Neubauten in 2013. I've wanted to see them forever but this was my first chance.

Most memorable for the wrong reasons: Dream Theater, must have been 08 or so. about 30 minutes into the set the equipment just blew up and that was that.

Seeing The Fall of Troy last year was incredible. They broke up in 2010 and were my favorite band by far around that time. I didn't get to see them, and I thought I never would. They reformed and absolutely kicked my ass in Cleveland.

Neurosis & Amenra, who I just saw this past August. Absolutely life changing.

Really tough. I saw Prince on the Rainbow Children tour (2001-ish?) with Maceo Parker on sax. I saw Bowie in 2004, and it was great, but we were way in the nosebleeds and some idiots behind us talked the entire time, kind of tainting the experience. I was at the Grateful Dead Fare Thee Well shows in Chicago 2015.

At the end of the day it's probably gotta be Phish @ MGM Grand Arena Halloween 2014. They debuted an entire set of brand new instrumental compositions with a Halloween theme based around the 50's Disney record "The Chilling Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House". I was right up front, by the narrator who keeps emerging from her tomb to do the little interludes. It's probably the most creative thing I've ever seen any band do in my life. I can't imagine any concert ever topping the sense of wonder in the crowd that night. Here is a pro-shot version of the set in it's entirety.

This century, hands down was King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard at Trees with 200 other people last week.

Pantera, Tool, Rage Against the Machine, Metallica, Pearl Jam, Primus, Phish, Steely Dan, Grooverider, Andy C were all highlights last century

Got tickets for Roger Waters in Glasgow next year, so got some high hopes for that! (Also, it’ll be 3rd time lucky trying to see him live)

I recently being to a Hans Zimmer concert that was surprisingly good ! was not sure what i was gonna get but it was super well produced.

Pun firmly intended, right?

@shindig: wish that it was! Entirely accidental. (Don’t smoke myself, but light em if you got em!)

Weirdly considering how into music I am I've gone to basically no large scale concerts, only seeing local friend bands at smaller venues. I did see PVRIS last week though and that was an incredible show so I guess by default that one's the best?

Rage Against the Machine at the 2008 Big Day Out.

But then I've only been to 4 concerts in total. The others were 2 Metallica concerts and the most recent was Gossling. I think I'd rank Gossling as second best out of the lot. She's delightful.

Tribulation and In Solitude opening for Watain a couple years ago in Philly. It was right when Tribulation was 'hitting big' in the underground and In Solitude's supporting tour for their last album before breaking up. Each band was firing on all cylinders and the lineup of all 3 was just really special. RIP In Solitude.

I saw Duke Spirit at the Camden Barfly back in 2005 for the Cuts Across The Land tour. Best gig I've ever been to. Band were phenomenal and I'd had the perfect amount of alcohol, not too drunk but drunk enough.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs were another great live act and if you're talking about bigger acts it's hard to top Paul McCartney or The Who, both of which were brilliant when I saw them.

Honestly I think my favourite concert was Crowded House's reunion concert at the Sydney Opera House late last year, it was just a beautiful night with amazing weather and a really chill crowd mixed with a lot of different ages groups.

You can watch the whole thing on youtube as well which is always a plus. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4MkX3_IToA

Got to see Leatherface in Boston back in 2010. Probably one of my favorite bands. Glad I got to see them, considering it was probably their last tour. Went the The Fest in Gainesville FL three years in a row. Good times.

Dir En Grey

The Eagles during their Long Road Out of Eden Tour back in 2008. The concert was around three hours long, and was just phenomenal. Not a note out of place, and the mood was set perfectly for each song.

Strapping Young Lad before The New Black came out. They played 3 songs from it before they ended the show. Was amazing.

@meierthered: really hoping to see Devin Townsend at some point, I always seem to have something else planned whenever he’s been playing.

Foreigner a couple times now. Yes, it’s not the original group but man, the new singer destroys it every time. We saw them open for Journey once and Styx the second time. Both Journey and Styx were awful compared to Foreigner.

During the summer between 10th and 11th grade, my favorite band went on their first national tour, and played a small club in Detroit. The band had a couple of songs featured in Guitar Hero, and I knew that they were a small-time group, but I didn't realize how small they were. They manned their own march table.

At the time they were far-and-away my favorite band, so being able to talk to all of these people was incredible. On top of that, they knew my name because I was so active on their Facebook page. I'm not interested in their music anymore, but it was a huge deal for me at the time.

Primus up at Red Rocks a couple of years ago was life changing man, they jammed the fuck out and you could tell they were having a good time plus that venue is the absolute best I've ever been to and should be on everyone's bucket list, it elevates concerts to, at the risk of sounding cheesy, a really surreal spiritual experience.

@ecosse: Ohhhhh just saw Flogging Molly in a small venue the other day. What a great show they put on.

Pearl Jam at Wrigley Field night 1 in 2016. There was worry that it would rain during the day and make the show a repeat of the 2013 show when it stormed bad enough that they had to evacuate Wrigley and eventually finish the show after 2AM. However the weather cooperated just in time for the band to take the stage and put on an amazing 3 hour show.

The band is about to release a documentary called Let's Play Two about Eddie's connection with the cubs and the band playing 2 nights at the park the same year the Cubs finally won the series. It aired once on FS1 and captures the nights perfectly.