People here often discuss music and bands in terms of the way it's recorded on vinyl, CD or tape etc., but easily one of the best, and truly unique, aspects of music is seeing a band perform live. So I thought it would be a good idea to dedicate a thread to this. (Of course, I may be being overly presumptuous, and if such a thread already exists/ed before I lurked/started posting here, then feel free to send this thread down to the deepest pits of cyberspace hell.

Anyways, what bands/artists have you all seen live? What was the best/worst act you've seen? Who would you really recommend to someone? Who was the most surprising or disappointing act you've seen? Did you see the band in a stadium, or a grotty club?

I also think it would to see how much people spend for concerts - per month? most expensive act? I always feel the concerts I go to are FAR too expensive...

I,m gonna start with probably the most frustrating gig I,ve ever been to. Last November I saw Okkervil River at a small venue in Dublin called the Academy. I new something was a little bit wrong when someone at work mentioned that they were going to see the stereophonics on the same night. When I got to the venue it turned out that the Stereophonics were indeed playing in the venue with Okkervil river consigned to play in the downstairs bar. The stage itself was stuck in the corner of the room which severly ristricted most peoples view, the sound was pritty crap and at any quieter point in any of their songs or between songs you were treated to the muffled din of a bunch of Welsh muppets coming from upstairs. The band themselves gave it their all and despite everything were very very good. I think if anything, this little story is a testiment to the money making greed which now has my little country up sheet creek without a paddle

i saw my first band in a club last night!

sunset rubdown (last night)
michael franti & spearhead (hollywood bowl)
kanye west (special LA concert for Nike's Human Race participants, the biggest race ever in the world)
styx (not that i like them, but they were at a county fair i was at, lol)
some Fm radio concert, Lollapalooza maybe? (name sounds familiar) (when i was 10 or something)
weird al (when i was like, 8 or something)

i haven't been to that many but i'm working on changing that!

Most recently I saw TV On The Radio. Surprising to me was that Dirty Projectors opened for them. They were spectacular.

Since I got back from college in 2005 I've been seeing an average of one live act every month or two. This includes:

The National x 3 (Once opening for REM)
TV On The Radio x 2
Wilco x 2
My Morning Jacket x 2 (Once opening for Wilco once at Bonnaroo)
Pixies x 2 (Including their acoustic set at Newport Folk Festival)
Sleater-Kinney
Fiona Apple
Nickel Creek x 2 (Once at Bonnaroo, once with Fiona Apple)
Bob Dylan x 2
Rolling Stones
Radiohead (At Bonnaroo)
The Who
Eric Clapton
Super Furry Animals
Caribou
The White Stripes
M Ward x 2 (With Bright Eyes at Newport Folk Festival, and opening for White Stripes)
Bright Eyes (At Newport Folk Festival)
Modest Mouse (Opening for REM)
REM
Sufjan Stevens
Drive By Truckers x 2
The Hold Steady
!!!
Elvis Costello x 2 (At Newport Folk Festival and at Bonnaroo)
The Decemberists x 2
The New Pornographers
Spoon
Andrew Bird (Bonnaroo)
Feist
Brain Wilson
Beck
X x 2
Spiritualized
MIA
LCD Soundsystem
Neil Young
Eels
The Thermals
A Place To Bury Strangers
Architecture in Helsinki
Lucinda Williams
Erykah Badu
The Roots (Opening for Erykah Badu)
A few others at Bonnaroo
Probably forgetting some

Plus, going farther back in time I went to the Summer of Fire at Woodstock 99. I saw Radiohead right after OK Computer, Beck right after Sea Change, Green Day way earlier, Sheryl Crow after her self titled, Metallica in the late 90s, Stone Temple Pilots in 2000, Bob Dylan right after Love and Theft. (And I saw a few big bands in the late 90s I will not admit to).

The best time I've ever had at a small venue is probably Sleater-Kinney's. They were so amazing live. Bob Dylan was incredible when I saw him in 2001. The Drive By Truckers are also great live because they're such amazing guitar players. And the Red Hot Chili Peppers show was the most memorable because of the BONFIRES.

And of course Radiohead was great, only the second time my back was killing me and the crowd up near the stage was about 3x as dense as small clubs, to the point where I couldn't move and couldn't even hear the music clearly, which tarnished the experience.

The Thermals were also memorable because the crowd was moving around so much it felt like being thrown around by tidal waves. That part was awesome but the music was so loud I had to leave after like half an hour.

Wilco is also an amazing live band. I would snatch up tickets immediately whenever I saw them touring.

A little bit in the spirit of Beans' story: I went to see Chris Cacavas at a place in Copenhagen that has a small and a medium-sized hall. Cacavas was playing the smaller venue (this was in 2002, and I hadn't seen a record of his for sale locally since 1989's "Junk Yard Love"), whilst a local Tina Turner copycat act was playing the larger one. Fair enough. But apparently very few people had gotten tickets for Cacavas, while some of the Tina fans had trouble finding their way, so at the door, clutching my Cacavas ticket, I was approached by an apologetic guard completely automatically rattling off instructions that, "No, the Tina Turner show is the other side of the building".

The show was fine, though, and the band took the limited showing in style. They actually started sharing the crate of beer they had on stage with the audience - without even getting through it ... !

In a few weeks I'm seeing Paul McCartney. That's pretty cool, right? Also I just got my tickets to APW music festival.

These are only the concerts I've seen this year, in order of best to worst.

1)Grizzly Bear
2)My Bloody Valentine
3)TV on the radio
4)Sonic Youth
5)Animal Collective
6)Bob Dylan
7)Yeah Yeah Yeahs


Too see

Bill Callahan
Fleet Foxes
Sarah Harmer

I,m going to a festival in a couple of weeks where TV on the Radio are playing. Looking forward to seeing them very much. They have my vote for album of the year for both 2006 and 2008, and their debut aint half bad either

Best concerts I've been to are:

1. Flaming Lips
2. Pink Grease
3. Peaches
4. Teitur
5. The Who

Flaming Lips are probably #1 on my "I must see this band" list. Maybe #2 behind Tom Waits.

Both bands that inexplicably seem to skip New England when they tour.

Other bands that skipped over New England in their last tour were My Bloody Valentine and Okkervil River.

(One more band I forgot in my big list: The Cure!)