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Best/Worst Show(s) You've Been To


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In terms of line-up, performance, etc., what were some really great shows you guys have attended?

In the same note, what were some performances that you really thought were going to be great, but didn't live up to your expectations?

Some really great shows for me would include:

Alkaline Trio w/ Gaslight Anthem & Thrice

Beastie Boys

Fall Out Boy w/ NFG & The Early November

Copeland's farewell tour

Bright Eyes w/ Mountain Goats

Blink-182

The National, Spoon, Black Keys (separate shows, but all in Columbus)

Foo Fighters

Being from Akron (and some will agree), it's becoming more difficult to see some really great shows that I know some of you have had the privilege of attending. I'm curious as to see what they were

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Best show I have ever seen would have to be The Wonder Years/We Are The Union and Such Gold at the shot shot in Zanesville OH. It was such a small show, and it was right before TWY took off and started playing larger venues...I have honestly never seen anything like it at a local show...I got to talk to soupy before the show behind the stage (you had to cross the stage to go to the bathroom and soupy was chilling behind an amp) and I got to hold his leg during his crowd surf during all my friends are in bar bands...

In a side note I also got kicked in the face and broke my glasses...

Tied for second would have to be Circa Survive/Good Old War/The Christmas Lights @ The Grog Shop and The Ataris/Gasoline Heart at Annabells In Akron

I never really experienced a bad show, but I felt that the FYS/The Wonder Years/Comeback Kid/American Fang show was weird because FYS and TWY were great but the other two bands were really boring and tedious

Felt the same way about the New Found Glory/The Early November/CArtel/Limbeck show i saw...Limbeck and Cartel were really boring, but TEN and NFG were great...

I have also seen a lot of shitty local shows....ughh....too many goddamn metal bands around here

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Best:

- Coheed & Cambria SSTB - incredible performance.

For their anniversary tour or when it actually came out? I remember when Thursday, Thrice and Coheed went on tour at the same time. I was in high school and wanted to go so badly, but I couldn't.

I've had fortune of actually seeing them when In Keeping Secrets 3 came out. It was unreal

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Best:

- Coheed & Cambria SSTB - incredible performance.

For their anniversary tour or when it actually came out? I remember when Thursday, Thrice and Coheed went on tour at the same time. I was in high school and wanted to go so badly, but I couldn't.

I've had fortune of actually seeing them when In Keeping Secrets 3 came out. It was unreal

Ah, I meant last year's anniversary tour. It was my first time catching them live, and it was ridiculous. I've been listening to them since IKSSE3, but because I was in elementary school at the time, I wasn't able to see them or even knew that they were on tour. sucks, I bet their set must have been amazing.

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A few years back I went to Dillinger Four's D4th of July show at The Triple Rock and they quit after a handful of songs because they couldn't remember how to play anything. It was funny and disappointing at the same time. Every other time I've seen them has been awesome though. Real deauchery on display at some of those shows.

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For their anniversary tour or when it actually came out? I remember when Thursday, Thrice and Coheed went on tour at the same time. I was in high school and wanted to go so badly, but I couldn't.

I've had fortune of actually seeing them when In Keeping Secrets 3 came out. It was unreal

Ah, I meant last year's anniversary tour. It was my first time catching them live, and it was ridiculous. I've been listening to them since IKSSE3, but because I was in elementary school at the time, I wasn't able to see them or even knew that they were on tour. sucks, I bet their set must have been amazing.

Yeah it was crazy. They played in a pretty small venue and their set was great. I really wanted to see them on their anniversary tour, but the closest they were playing to Ohio was Detroit.

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In 2003 I went to the 103.3 the Edge Christmas Concert here in Buffalo. It was Punchline as the opener, who I couldn't care less about, but then Motion City Soundtrack after I Am The Movie, followed by Coheed & Cambria right after In Keeping Secrets..., then headlined by Brand New just after Deja Entendu. It was pretty damn good, especially for a high school senior.

I think now, though, my favorite show would be one of Every Time I Die's Christmas concerts. The ... second? maybe 3rd one was at a bowling alley in North Tonawanda and was just out of control, so much fun. They had 2 years at a place called Mohawk Place that is very small. That was mayhem too.

Most disappointing, I think, was when I saw Against Me! in 2006 or 2007 on campus at Syracuse University. It was a great scene in a basement venue, but Tom was suuuuper sick and the setlist was so short. I was super bummed. They cut the show because he had to run off the stage and throw up somewhere.

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Best:

Jesse Lacey/Kevin Devine/Brian Bonz solo tour in 2007

Jesse covered Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself and Degausser was so unreal. He also momentarily forgot the lyrics to The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot and I yelled "go Jesse!" and he looked at me and said "thanks man".

Manchester Orchestra/The Features/Biffy Clyro/O'Brother

Whole concert was great, but during the final outro jam to I Can Barely Breathe (my favorite song by them at the time) the drummer's stick broke and hit me in the face. I got to keep the drum stick and got a set list.

mewithoutYou/Rocky Votolato/Rubik

Just great in general, and Rubik was crazy. Finnish people are nuts. Wasn't too into Rocky though. Wish I would've been into vinyl then though because mwY had all 4 albums for sale at the show.

Worst:

Buckcherry/Sevendust/Papa Roach/Sevendust/Janus/Chevelle

Not much to explain just shitty bands. Papa Roach wasn't bad, and Chevelle was actually really good. But it was free so I don't really regret it.

Various Local Shows

Way too many local bands suck.

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Guest errolwest

best show ive ever been too was These Arms Are Snakes. followed closely by Cap'n jazz, and then Dangers.

i have no diea what the worst was. probably just shitty local musicians. actually yeah, there was a really shitty grind band who played improvised sets only. it was the goddamn worst

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Bestesssess:

Thursday/mewithoutYou/Murder By Death/Fear Before the March of Flames

mewithoutYou/Murder By Death

ALL MURDER BY DEATH. I LOVE SARAH BALLIET.

Brand New/K Dev/Manchester

Minus the Bear/Russian Circles/P.O.S....goddamnit such a great show

Anatomy of a Ghost/Gatsbys I think

Portugal the Man/Gatsby's American Dream

all PTMs

The Honorary Title and PTM was fucking sweet.

PTM/Circa/TREOS -- that was a FUCKING BLAST

Glassjaw reunion

Caspian/Native

and of course of course of course Explosions in the Sky...absolutely beautiful.

Worst:

Minus the Bear/subtle/something else...fucking terrible. dude from subtle threw plastic spoons at the crowd. MTB's sound was absolutely terrible.

I'll remember more after I get some sleep.

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jebus. i've seen so many shows/bands i don't even know if i could think of them all anymore. i'm olddddd.

top of the list:

The Get Up Kids/At The Drive-In/Broadcaster? @ Foxfire Lounge on Halloween 99. epic.

Deftones/Will Haven @ the Phoenix in Petaluma CA right around the time White Pony came out.

Glassjaw, Poison The Well, Recover @ The Living Room in Goleta CA. i had to "watch" Recover from outside but they sounded great. Glassjaw in that small ass room was awesome, even though the girlfriend and myself were having some issue for whatever stupid reason.

Glassjaw, American Nightmare, The Blood Brothers @ The Ascot Room Minneapolis MN. enough said.

Sleepytime Gorilla Museum every single time i've seen them at the Triple Rock in Minneapolis MN. RIP SGM.

Horde Fest 97 in Somerset WI. Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Morphine, Beck, Primus, etc. all kinds of awesome.

Mono/Bellini @ Triple Rock. i believe this was the first time i saw Mono and it was the only show i've ever worn earplugs at to this day. Bellini were also excellent.

Anthony Green solo show was pretty goddamn good @ Triple Rock.

Circa Survive/dredg/Codeseven/Animals As Leaders @ The Cabooze. so fricken great, despite dredg's shitty attitude.

dredg/The Blood Brothers/mewithoutYou @ The Quest Minneapolis MN opening for Coheed. the only bad part is i left my gramps in the hospital to drive back for the show....and he died the next day. felt like the biggest selfish prick in the world.

worst:

mostly every band my friend's band Alation plays with. local metal bands are some of the worst around here.

better yet, worst bands i've seen because they're usually openers and the whole show doesn't suck.

Phatter Than Albert (played with Finch, Earshot, Glassjaw, Alien Ant Farm in Vegas at a skate park)

Big Stick (opened for i believe My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult/Eve's Plum at First Avenue MN. almost entertaining live show but the worst music)

so many more i can't even think because it's 3am.

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Best in terms of lineup: (in chronological order)

Green Day/The Get Up Kids

Blink-182/New Found Glory/Alkaline Trio

Blink-182/Green Day/Saves The Day

Reel Big Fish/The Starting Line/The Kicks

The Cure/Thursday/Interpol/Muse/Mogwai/Auf Der Maur/The Rapture/Cooper Temple Clause

Bruce Springsteen/REM/Bright Eyes (Fuck your politics, if you missed this show, you were a goddamned fool)

Say Anything/mewithoutyou/Piebald/Forgive Durden

They Might Be Giants/Corn Mo (in Cleveland)

The Gaslight Anthem/The Menzingers/Fake Problems

Best Shows overall:

Kiss/Nixons - 1996 Reunion Tour (first show)

Green Day/The Get Up Kids

Blink-182/New Found Glory/Alkaline Trio

They Might Be Giants/Corn Mo (in Cleveland)

Fall Out Boy/New Found Glory/The Early November/PErmanent Me

The Music Tapes/Nana Grisol/Brian DeWitt

The Gaslight Anthem/Heartless Bastards/Good Old War

Alkaline Trio/Saves The Day/Death In The Park (second night)

The Gaslight Anthem/The Constantines Lolla aftershow

Manic Street Preachers/Bear Hands twice in '09 (even though Bear Hands ranks as one of the worst acts I've ever seen.)

New Found Glory (we got there late and didn't see any openers) at the Emerson Theater in Indianapolis. I got kicked in the face, and still went right back up front.

The Gaslight Anthem/The Menzingers/Fake Problems

Any Hold Steady show.

Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School Of Medicine (missed Articles of Faith)

NoMeansNo

Dave Hause/Mikey Erg/Ian Graham (@ Asbury Lanes)

I'm done looking.

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Best in terms of lineup: (in chronological order)

Green Day/The Get Up Kids

Blink-182/New Found Glory/Alkaline Trio

Blink-182/Green Day/Saves The Day

Reel Big Fish/The Starting Line/The Kicks

The Cure/Thursday/Interpol/Muse/Mogwai/Auf Der Maur/The Rapture/Cooper Temple Clause

Bruce Springsteen/REM/Bright Eyes (Fuck your politics, if you missed this show, you were a goddamned fool)

Say Anything/mewithoutyou/Piebald/Forgive Durden

They Might Be Giants/Corn Mo (in Cleveland)

The Gaslight Anthem/The Menzingers/Fake Problems

Best Shows overall:

Kiss/Nixons - 1996 Reunion Tour (first show)

Green Day/The Get Up Kids

Blink-182/New Found Glory/Alkaline Trio

They Might Be Giants/Corn Mo (in Cleveland)

Fall Out Boy/New Found Glory/The Early November/PErmanent Me

The Music Tapes/Nana Grisol/Brian DeWitt

The Gaslight Anthem/Heartless Bastards/Good Old War

Alkaline Trio/Saves The Day/Death In The Park (second night)

The Gaslight Anthem/The Constantines Lolla aftershow

Manic Street Preachers/Bear Hands twice in '09 (even though Bear Hands ranks as one of the worst acts I've ever seen.)

New Found Glory (we got there late and didn't see any openers) at the Emerson Theater in Indianapolis. I got kicked in the face, and still went right back up front.

The Gaslight Anthem/The Menzingers/Fake Problems

Any Hold Steady show.

Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School Of Medicine (missed Articles of Faith)

NoMeansNo

Dave Hause/Mikey Erg/Ian Graham (@ Asbury Lanes)

I'm done looking.

Damn. Good call with TMBG. I finally saw them for the first time a few months back at the Vic. They put on a fucking awesome show. Got a signed copy of Join Us from it, too!

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Best shows:

The Movielife, Thursday, Grade and Scuttle (before this show I had only ever been to large venues, this one was at a local college)

Guttermouth (unsure of support by they were really energetic))

Adequate 7 (again unsure of support)

Midtown & local bands (scored myself a copy of the Donots split and got gabe to sign it [couldnt find the others] then 2 months later i saw....)

[spunge], Donots (another great show and I was on the spunge street team so got backstage and the donots signed the split for me aswell, and spunge signed some 7" and a drum skin)

Worst:

The Juliana Theory, Funeral For A Friend (I only went because I didnt have anything to do and it was before FFAF hit the big time, must have only been about 15 people and unfortunatly no atmosphere)

Eminem (This was at reading festival and had really high expectations but ended up getting covered in water because of the security being over cautious and not really enjoying myself, in fact Run DMC earlier in the day were much much better)

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so many that go in my all-time best shows category...

The Murder City Devils at the Capital Hill Block Party 2006 in Seattle...their first Reunion Show...for me this show was like 6 years in the making, I never got to see them when they were still officially a band

The Murder City Devils at The Mohawk in Austin Texas '07 as a secret show during Fun Fun Fun Fest

Fucked Up during SXSW '10 at Emo's....WuTang was supposed to play, they couldn't make it...part way through FUs set 2 members of Wu show up, FU plays simple backing tracks as they rap hooks to WuTang songs over it.....incredible

Weezer/Saves The Day/Ozma in Nashville in like '01 or '02

Frank Turner/Jonah Matranga/Touche Amore/La Dispute/ect. ect. at Plush in Austin TX for the FUSXSW showcase in '09

Reggie and the Full Effect/Midtown/My Chemical Blowass in Atlanta at The Masquerade in '03 (MCR were terrible, I hated them, but the rest of the show was insane, Gabe from Midtown dedicated a song to me b/c i had a killer mullet at the time...and Reggie, when the first chorus to "Thanx For Staying" hit, he leaned and just handed me the Mic...so I just kept the Mic throughout the entire Chorus singing my ass off...he never asked for it back, so part-way into the next verse I noticed he was just standing up there screaming it at the crowd so I grabbed his hand and put the mic back in it, he never looked down or anything, just brought it up to his mouth...like he honestly didn't care whether or not he had the mic...it was radical)

The Dexateens "final two shows" at The Nick in Birmingham late July 2010 (they were filmed to make a DVD that might not ever come out?)

The Dexateens "Last Stand" at Egan's Bar in Tuscaloosa June 2011...another "last show ever" (i literally couldn't talk for a day and a half after this show b/c of all of the hollerin' I'd done)

Explosions In The Sky (don't remember the opener) at Workplay theater in Birmingham, AL '08 or '09ish?? I was blown away, they didn't do any encores, played forever, guitarist came up to the mic alone after they left the stage and everybody was chanting and screaming for an encore and he was literally out of breath and said "I'm really grateful for this crowd, but we put it all out there just then, we don't have anything left. Thank You" I talked to a few buddies after the show that had seen them 6 times previously and said that night was hands down the best they had ever seen them play...so I was stoked my first and thusfar only time I've seen them was apparently quite a memorable one

Grade/Catch-22/Reach The Sky/Student Rick (acoustic set...as they had already broken up I think?)/Taking Back Sunday in Atlanta at The Masquerade in '01 I think? for the Victory Records tour

From Autumn To Ashes (w/ Kenny Vasoli) at Warped Tour Atlanta in '02 or '03....FATA only had out TBYB so they were playing one of the tiny side-stages, so there weren't that many people there, I guess the band still gave a shit, b/c they actually sounded great, played a really tight set, then for the girl vocal parts Kenny came out sang that part, then did a front flip out into the crowd and whenever he got his feat set, he just stayed in the crowd singing along right up front, then the lead screamer guy jumped out into the crowd as well...i had a blast

The Black Keys/The Legendary Shack Shakers/Henchmen Atlanta Georgia at Variety Playhouse Thursday May 12th, 2005. first time every experienced a Shack Shakers show...insane, dude ripped his pubes out and threw 'em all over the crowd, brought a giant cold-cut meat tray out and threw meat all over the crowd, slapped a big ole slab of ham on this bald guy's head up front, drop-kicked the tray, shot snot-rockets all over the stage and crowd (thankfully and miraculously nothing ever hit me though i was right up front). The black keys at their finest, just killing it. Dan and pat were actually hanging out up front during both of the opening acts, just singing along and dancing...it was a blast and all three bands sounded great and performed amazingly

Metric/The Most Serene Republic at Zydeco in Birmingham, AL '07 on tour for Let It Out, Emily jumped out into the crowd for their closer "Dead Disco" and invited about 15 of us up on stage to dance our asses off....TMSR were probably one of very few bands I've seen live before I've ever even heard of them, that completely blew me away

Dr. Dog/Fleet Foxes/Cave Singers at Bottletree in Birmingham, AL '09ish?? insanely great performances by each band and a relatively small crowd....Fleet Foxes only had out The Sun Giant EP so they were virtually unknown (to me) and completely hands down the best unknown-to-me band I've seen perform live to date for me

Boris/Strings and Brass at Bottletree in Birmingham, AL spring '06....just, amazing night

The Mars Volta (no opener) at The Tabernacle in Atlanta in '05....right after Frances was released, the only time I've ever passed out at a show ever....wasn't drinking at the time either, just so dehydrated I passed out, woke up still standing b/c the crowd was so packed in...they played for well over 2 hours non-stop, no breaks, no openers, no encores

Against Me!/The Natches Shakers in Madison, AL at Bandito Burrito '02....right after Reinventing came out...actually right after Andrew joined the band Tom still playing an acoustic guitar only (through an amp)....shows I hope i never forget

Taking Back Sunday/Brand New/Rufio/(insert local christian band here) in Atlanta at whatever venue Tammy Faye Baker's son owned around '02 or '03.....brand new played moshi moshi.....taking back sunday played ballad of sal vilnueva (sp?)....the stage was literally like 2" off of the ground, so the set ended with No I In Team with me on Adam's back screaming the lyrics into the mic with like 10 more people on top of me....Brand New still used the bull horn and accidentally punched through the florescent lights in the ceiling...the dudes from Northstar were there, we chanted for a N* cover when TBS was setting up, John obliged and we all sang along

Northstar in the living room at the Panic Button's house in Huntsville '01..to literally 10 people....still played tight as hell, Tyler screaming his ass off b/c they only had 1 mic for Nick

Curbside Service (Later known at The Snake The Cross The Crown)/Northstar/Lucky 13/(insert other local bands here) at a Chinese Restaurant across the street from my house on my 17th birthday (June 8, 2000)....my first time ever seeing Northstar (still a hardcore band at this point), one of the best sets I ever saw Curbside play (they were still a ska band at this point), I used the last $5 i had leftover from my birthday to buy the Northstar "hardcore demo" which I still have

Lucero/Those Darlins at Zydeco in Birmingham for Zydeco's 25th or 30th b-day celebration....played for well over 2 hours, i literally don't remember much towards the end except having stupid conversations with Todd about Alabama football and memphis BBQ with Ben....

Converge/Some Girls/Kylesa Cave9 in Birmingham, AL '06/'07? after No Heroes was released...awesome lineup, and every band delivered

I'm sure there are more if I sat and thought that blew my mind...but on to the worst category

Worst

Against Me!/Ted Leo and the Pharmacists/The Future of the Left at Workplay Theater in Birmingham, '09 or '10.....worst crowd I've ever seen/been a part of for an AM! show ever....none of the bands had any energy including Ted, worst performance I've seen Ted's band play ever as well, Future of the left want to be fugazi so badly they can't stand it

Chuck Ragan at The Nick in Birmingham, AL '11 ....never seen this guy fall apart like this, broke 4 strings on 3 guitars over the course of 8 partial songs, Jon broke a fiddle string, 2 of chucks guitars quit working, like the electronics in 'em crapped out....he only finished Bloody Shells...and just quit, sat down on the end of the stage and literally hung his head, grabbed a microphone, apologized and said "That's It"...

endless local shows that just sucked on donkey dong

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Alexisonfire 2004/5 (can't remember!) @ The Spoke. Never seen so much energy in a crowd, and we all moved in sync.

From Autumn to Ashes 2005 @ The Drink. They destroyed and I got to do the most epic dive off of the top of a booth, right at the start of The After Dinner Payback. Unforgettable.

Oh college years, how I miss you.

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I actually have my fav and worst:

Green Day 1993 City Gardens Trenton NJ. Blew me away and I still think about BJ jumping of the stage to help break up a 20 person brawl. There was 6inches of ice on the ground so I had to sneak out of my house as my folks forbid me to go out in such conditions. Amazing night.

Destroyer (2004?) I can't remember a show I looked forward to more that was such total shit. Dude haalf assed the whole set drunkenly while tossing insults to his audience. So pathetic was it that I haven't bought another album of his.

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The best show I've been to lately was Chixdiggit and Kepi Ghoulie.

For Chixdiggit's set they played almost 2 hours, took requests the whole time and would even try playing songs they weren't quite sure they remembered. They also have just as much energy now as the they did the first time I saw them way back in 1999!

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