Best show you've ever been to

[ozfacter]

tho tomorrow i might have a different list, these are some that were great...

 

november '95 - Green Day w/Riverdales/Pansy Division - philly - this
was the show i realized that my friends at the time sucked and wouldnt
go to a show of bands they didnt like. being 14, i had to have my dad
take me but he decided to stay the whole show. ended up having a great time with
him.

 

december '98 - Unwritten Law - philly  - one of the first shows i went to with friends with similar likes.

 

july '99 - Face to Face w/Alkaline Trio/Kid Dynamite - philly - yea, this was awesome

 

february '08 - Loved Ones w/Gaslight Anthem - philly - first time i saw gaslight

 

may '08 - Bouncing Souls w/Tim Barry/Gaslight Anthem - pittsburgh - road trip with 8 others + booze + show + hotel = great night

 

may '10 - Loved Ones- in a small bar i sometimes go to that my friend runs karaoke at. we convinced the owner to let us do shows. i never   spent as much on a bar tab as i did that night. and spider played with them which was just awesome.

 

recently, the brendan kelly/dave hause/jenny owen youngs show in ny was amazing. fallon played a short set and it was just an all around drunken shit-show.

[nivek87]

bruuuuuuuuce

[jerseydave77]

1998: Hot Water Music's Last Show - Gainesville - Hardback

Any show that ends with you naked and wheeling out a jukebox as the ceiling of the club is on fire and riot cops line the street has to be your #1 show of all time. 

 

1994: Green Day / Tilt - City Gardens - Trenton, NJ

This was before Longview hit MTV - it was packed but with all the right energy as the ground outside had 18 inches of snow on it. Billy Joe even jumped off stage to help break up one of the most vicious fights I've ever seen at a show. He became such a wuss. 

 

year(2006)?: The Draft / Dead To Me / Gaslight Anthem - NYC - Knitting Factory

Great energy with a few bands that were doing awesome things all on the same stage. 

 

1992/93: Sublime - Stone Pony Sunday Matinee

100 people there to see this band that would be blowing up in 2 years time. They were cool dudes. I got to hang with Bradley a couple times and it still bums me out that he wasted his talent though it wasn't surprising as the three times I spent time with them he was doing bad stuff. Saw them at the Wetlands in 1995 as they were starting to get radio play and I'll never forget the stench of patchuli coming off the damn crowd. Once they started attracting the hippie jam element it was all over for me. 

 

2004: Arcade Fire - Mercury Lounge

Oddly, I've never liked the Arcade Fire's records. This show however was incredible. Sticks out in my mind. Probably the only live show I can think of where I don't care for the recordings but treasure the live experience. 

 

2002: The Kills - Mercury Lounge NYC - Seriously, it was awesome to see someone I first saw perform while she was still in High School come full circle. This show ripped and it was just fun to see people you liked back in the day spreading their wings. 

 

1993 - Mighty Mighty Bosstones / Black Train Jack - Fastlanes in Asbury

Had a fake idea that almost got me tossed - it only said I was 18 and the club owner scolded the bouncer. This tour defined much of the next 5 years of my musical existence. Positive energy and great music. 

[TriCHERatops]

It's tough.

Rx bandits back in 2002 was awesome

Seeing emery on a small stage is always a great time.

Death cab for cutie in Louisville at the palace with ra ra riot and Cold War kids and muse with middle class rut and cage the elephant would be my tie for best at the moment....until I go see explosions in the sky

[kilahda]

I love to talk about shows and hear other people's experiences even if they saw a band I've not even heard of. I could post shittons to this topic but I'm gonna go with the most recent and epic one.

 

Best decision I've made when it comes to gigs was to attend most of the shows on Converge's (+ Touché Amoré) All We Love We Leave Behind Euro tour. Especially the last part of  the tour: 12 shows in 12 days = incredible. Funnily enough, the first of the shows that took place in Copenhagen, Denmark stood out as the memorable. It was the smallest, most uniqie venue on the tour with a just 30cm high stage. Crowd was super fun and active, just what you wanted from a show like this. What made the night even more amazing were the out of the blue song dedications  (glacial pace & suckerfish) for me and my friend from both of the bands we were there to see. Even on top of that, Jeremy chose the song he does in the middle of Adieux based on the matching band tees me and my friend had! Night to remember for sure.

 

I loved how Derek said about "riding on concert's high" cos I got myself a permanent high from that tour for sure.

[wexzer]

Well I've been to so many great gigs over the last few years and there has happen so many awesome things it's a bit hard to pinpoint the best show I've been at. The one that is most present in my mind is the Converge show in Copenhagen that Kilahda talked about. Thinking about that gig can still make me smile like such an idiot

But also a gig that was so magical to me was when Rise Against played in Helsinki. Besides the fact that I really adore Finland and had the radest company for the show, well, me and my friend had actually put some songs request out to Rise Against. We talked a bit with them at an earlier point on the tour and we mentioned they were going to play two gigs in Finland where the last one was a +18 show and there was bound to be more "old material"-fan. Suprisingly they weren't aware of that themselves and they said they might wanna change the setlist around and actually asked us (it was their bassist who asked) what song we wanted to hear. I just said "Torches" without thinking further about it. Then at a later point, at their first show in Helsinki, we talked shortly with them again asking if they were going through with a setlist change, this time talking with their vocalist. He didn't really give us a clear answer on that but instead asked what we wanted to hear, and this time me and my friend look and each other and we both said "Everchanging".

The most magical was the last night in Helsinki. I've been dying to hear those two songs live for so damn long, they are some of my absolute favorite Rise Against songs. A long while into the setlist they actually started playing Everchanging. I was a bit frozen in the moment like "Is this really happening!?" and I can just imagine it must have been the same for my friend. A bit before that I had given up on the idea that they might play the songs we mentioned. And at the end of the show, I think it was the second last song, they freaking played Torches where I absolutely went mental and were releasing all the energy I had left. Yup, such a magic show for someone who has been a Rise Against fan for quite long. (Just for the record, the show happening in march 2012)

I think it's hard for this reason to say what the most awesome gig is. Because holy shit the Converge show in Copenhagen was frakkin' awesome as well. But it was in another way because Converge is quite a unique live band Haha sorry, I tend to write a lot when talking about gigs!

 

[michaelmanfredi]

Best show was probably Built to Spill in Jacksonville, FL this past September. Small venue and the crowd was the loudest I've ever heard a crowd which made BtS loosen up a bit. Goin' Against Your Mind was last and it was great

[thebiglebowski]

Solid shows, ozfactor.

[Guest]

Best show was probably Built to Spill in Jacksonville, FL this past September. Small venue and the crowd was the loudest I've ever heard a crowd which made BtS loosen up a bit. Goin' Against Your Mind was last and it was great

I love seeing that song live. I just saw them like a week and a half ago again and it was great. Got to see them play some stuff from the first record. I also got to see them play with The Halo Benders/Doug acoustic a couple years ago which blew my mind.