Best/Wost Concert Experiences?

[chevelle]

MGMT was my best and worse experience all at once. they sound amazing live, but they were playing at a tiny venue and the pit was horrible that night. I got punched in the face by another chick who was trying to shove past me. I also lost both my shoes

Wait, there was a pit at a MGMT show? Why?

why not?

They just don't seem like the kind of band that you could get a pit going to. I like MGMT, but I can't picture getting people slamming each other to their music.

Anyway,

My best concert would have to have been when I saw Between the Buried and Me in January, when Scale the Summit, Devin Townsend, and Cynic opened for them. It was my first time crowd surfing, first time being in General Admission, first club show, etc. It was a pretty amazing night.

The worst would have to be either time I saw Papa Roach. I first saw them open for GN'R in '06, then for Avenged Sevenfold in '09, and I wasn't impressed by them either time. (Though in '09, the singer came into the crowd, walked all the way around the stadium, so it was pretty cool to have the band's singer 10 feet from you at an arena show.)

The biggest surprise for me was when I saw Pearl Jam at the Spectrum last October. They played with a string section for a few songs, and they also played Hold On, which was a first for them. I'd say this show was my favorite concert, but I can't really compare a small metal show in a club to a huge PJ show in an arena. PJ really fucking impressed me live though, Eddie sounded better on stage than in the studio, and they had an amazing set that night.

[Gunner55]

Surprise: Either Airbourne (opening for Motley Crue this past January) ..... Walked into that Airbourne show not knowing much of their material, but they were AMAZING live.

Really? I saw them open for Motley on the opening night of that tour and was pretty bored by them... Joe Perry Project were pretty bad, too.... Maybe it was just because it was opening night but I definately would not see them again....

PS: Cool to read some of these stories

I quite liked them. High energy performance, which I liked. Saw them again at Rock On The Range last month though and they were shit. The band themselves were good as they could be, but whoever was working the soundboards for their set needs to be fired, because the quality was absolutely horrible.

[Gordon Comstock]

Surprise: Either Airbourne (opening for Motley Crue this past January) ..... Walked into that Airbourne show not knowing much of their material, but they were AMAZING live.

Really? I saw them open for Motley on the opening night of that tour and was pretty bored by them... Joe Perry Project were pretty bad, too.... Maybe it was just because it was opening night but I definately would not see them again....

PS: Cool to read some of these stories

I quite liked them. High energy performance, which I liked. Saw them again at Rock On The Range last month though and they were shit. The band themselves were good as they could be, but whoever was working the soundboards for their set needs to be fired, because the quality was absolutely horrible.

I know everyone says this, but they're very AC/DC-ish, and that's just not my thing. I'll admit they had the energy, and despite a few technical problems they weren't bad musicians, I just didn't care for their material

[coolio GNR]

Great concerts: The Rolling Stones, Coldplay, The Eagles

Nothing bad about these concerts, everything was great about them.

Bad concert: Eric Clapton/Steve Winwood

This concert was filled with dissapointments. The seats were not as good as I thought they were going to be. The acoustics were terrible (sounded like a bunch of noise). Drunk idiots would not shut up around me. I actually know for a fact that it really was a great concert because I was watched the DVD before it. If I had the same conditions as on the DVD, it would have been great.

[RocketQueen1985]

Best: GUNS N ROSES in Ålborg, Denmark 2010. The best night of my life

Worst: Hammerfall at Sonisphere, fuck that sucked!

Biggest Surprise: Hmmm, can't really think of anything!

Coolest thing I've seen: Was probably when DJ saw I was wearing a shirt with him at the GNR concert and blew me kisses and later came down and stopped right in front of me while he played the Nightrain solo and came up to me so I could hug him.

And when Nikki Sixx pointed at me and smiled at me at Sonisphere.

[Street_Of_Dreams]

Hmm this is going to be tough....

Best overall concert experience hands down was Virgin Mobile Festival 2008, lots of great bands and non stop music and drinking. Breaking it down to best tho:

Best: 1st Buckcherry show. It was my first general admission show and the place was JUMPING. The band played an awesome set and I was exhausted. Also good was The Offspring (Same Venue), Kanye West, and GNR.

Worst: Toss up between U2 last year and STP last week. Both were just so boring, they really didn't seem to care about playing. No passion or anything. Lil Wayne sucked too, came on an hour late and was totally going through the motions.

Biggest Surprise: Can't think of anything at the moment, will edit this later.

Coolest: Yelling out "PLAY GRAVE DANCER!" during Velvet Revolver and they did, seeing Wolfgang Van Halen on the very top of the stage strumming the bass line to "Running With The Devil." Even if he was just a kid, he was cool as can be B)

[Gunner55]

Best: 1st Buckcherry show. It was my first general admission show and the place was JUMPING. The band played an awesome set and I was exhausted. Also good was The Offspring (Same Venue), Kanye West, and GNR.

This. I've seen Buckcherry live 3 times now....great show every time.

[Powerage5]

Best: GUNS N ROSES in Ålborg, Denmark 2010. The best night of my life

Worst: Hammerfall at Sonisphere, fuck that sucked!

Biggest Surprise: Hmmm, can't really think of anything!

Coolest thing I've seen: Was probably when DJ saw I was wearing a shirt with him at the GNR concert and blew me kisses and later came down and stopped right in front of me while he played the Nightrain solo and came up to me so I could hug him.

And when Nikki Sixx pointed at me and smiled at me at Sonisphere.

What was wrong with Hammerfall? I mean, they weren't amazing, but they were plenty enjoyable. Granted, I don't see why they were billed above Anthrax...

Best: Iron Maiden - Cleveland 7/15/10. Dave, Adrian, and Steve recognized us from our previous shows this tour (Toronto, Ottawa, Holmdel, MSG, Pittsburgh), and we were personally handed a pick from Dave, and a wristband from Steve. We also caught a Dave Murray wristband. Best I've ever seen the band play, and it was our 5th show on the barrier this tour. Doesn't get much better!

Worst: Herbie Hancock - Rochester 6/15/10. 4 hours, and no Herbie Hancock songs. All he did was covers of like The Beatles, Bob Marley, Peter Frampton. And they all sucked. It's the only show I left in the middle of. And I wasn't the only one; the sold-out theater was only about a third full when I eventually left 2 and a half hours in.

Biggest surprise: SMV (Stanley Clarke, Marcus Miller, Victor Wooten) - Rochester 6/13/09. Sure, it's the 3 best bassists in jazz, and possibly the 3 best bassists of all time, but I expected this show to be more a novelty than anything. This was anything but a novelty act! 3 hours of some of the tightest, funkiest, and diverse playing I've ever heard. Each of them got a half hour solo slot at some point during the show, and none of them disappointed!

Coolest: Joey Belladonna - Rochester 9/10/10. Joey loves playing this club in Rochester that only holds about 200 people to begin with, and usually far less than that show up. Last night it was around 30 people. Got to the show at 8, Joey remembered me from the last time he played Rochester. We spent the better part of the next 3 hours just hanging out with him, talking about life and music and everything. We had our shirts on from Sonisphere Sweden, and Joey was really stoked that we got to see him in Europe (And we had some fun talking about the mud!). He gave us some insight into the future of Anthrax as well: The band is going to take a short break after the American Carnage Tour. They'll start work on the new album in the Spring and in Joey's exact words "A Big Four US Tour is happening in the Summer, we're in the process of planning out dates". As for the show? Amazing! Almost 2 and a half hours of whatever Anthrax song someone in the crowd shouted out next. He also played Heaven And Hell and Foxey Lady. But the real highlight of the show came last; Joey and his guitarist, Dave King, got some barstools and an acoustic, and did Man On The Silver Mountain. Then we got to chat with Joey for another hour or so after the show.

[WhazUp]

Best: The Dead Weather. They have such a great chemistry as a band, and Alison Mosshart is one of the sexiest singers around

Worst: Velvet Revolver. Not that they were bad, but they just were not as great as the other bands I have seen

Biggest surprise: STP at the Hollywood Bowl in 2008. Scott looked healthy and happy and the band sounded great

Coolest: Again I would have to say the Dead Weather. I was surprised by how good the show was. I thought it was gonna rock, but it completely blew all of my expectations away

[Coffy69]

Only bad one was that I got jumped after Aerosmith.

Show was fucking great!

[Marky]

Best - Kasabian at V 2010. An electric atmosphere, not hampered by the rain, and they just played hit after hit.

Worst - There's loads: Biffy Clyro, seen them twice, and they were shit, twice.

Suprise - Florence & The Machine. Amazing at V, considering they're always shit on TV.

Coolest - Kasabian again. Probably the first time I saw them.

[Binge_And_Slash]

Best: Guns N Roses, probably either Download 2006, London Arena 2002 or Hammersmith 2006. or Hot Leg August 2009.

Worst: Aerosmith. 2007. £50 and they only played for 1 Hour. And the set was very poor..

Biggest Surprise: Bowling for Soup at Download 2005. Suprisingly better than nearly everyone else on the bill (other than Anthrax)

Coolest thing I've seen: Justin Hawkins seeing me in the crowd and addressing me by name 'cos I spoke to him on FaceBook. Sebastian Bach holding up my sign!

[Mastodonny]

The Best: Guns in 88 and 01 at HOB, NIN at Woodstock 94, The White Stripes, Radiohead at Coachella, and AIC in 93. pearl jam has been great everytime I have seen them. Willie Nelson is great too.

The Worst: Phish, thought I would go see what all the hype was about and we lived 20 minutes from Deercreek near Indianapolis. I think my wife and I were the only ones that had showered and had jobs. Run DMC, the whole show was "What's my name?" call back shit. Metallica/Danzig it rained and we were on the hill at Deercreek. Wilco, great tunes but zero stage presence.

Biggest Surprise: John Mellancamp at Farm Aid. Not a fan but he put on a great show. Grateful Dead, again not a fan but the vibe of the whole show and the venue (Soilder Field, Chicago) was very cool.

Coolest: Meeting Hank III and Jack Johnson after shows at the Vogue in Indy. Tripping at an STP show. Watching the Chili Peppers cover Fire as fires raged at Woodstock 99.

Funniest: At a Crue show for the Dr. Feelgood tour, a big haired chick got her hair caught on fire, with all that AquaNet it didn't stand a chance. Fiona Apple, a midget got on stage and started dancing, it freaked Apple out. The irony of having a fight break out during a free Lenny kravitz show while he sang Let Love Rule.

[Zint]

Biggest Surprise: John Mellancamp at Farm Aid. Not a fan but he put on a great show.

I almost listed him.

I saw him around '87 and it was a surprisingly good show...band was top quality...really good!

[GN'R Forever]

Best: Avenged Sevenfold and Pearl Jam. A7X were so amazing. Energy was there and Synyster Gates is a great guitarist.

Worst: Disturbed. They weren't bad at all, just not as good as the others.

I'm really crossing my fingers for Guns to come to US.

[Mastodonny]

Biggest Surprise: John Mellancamp at Farm Aid. Not a fan but he put on a great show.

I almost listed him.

I saw him around '87 and it was a surprisingly good show...band was top quality...really good!

Definitely a top shelf act. I am still not a fan but I have a new found appreciation for his music.

[J Dog]

Coolest: Meeting Hank III and Jack Johnson after shows at the Vogue in Indy.

Met Hank III a few weeks ago. He played for three hours. It was hot as 40 hells that night. After he finished he went straight to the fans. Cool cat.