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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Oct 17, 2019 23:00:40 GMT
It can be Beach Boys-related, but if it is, do you have one that is non-Beach Boys-related?
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 17, 2019 23:24:07 GMT
I've tried to come up with an answer for this for years. I can't really decide. But a few memorable ones are these:
Brian Wilson and Paul Simon, 2001, The Xcel Energy Center. My first BW show, my only Simon show. I teared up during "Don't Worry, Baby," which I didn't even like up until that night. (Nice work by Mr. Foskett on that one.)
Brian Wilson, 2004, The Clyde Auditorium (Glasgow, Scotland). My first and only overseas trip culminated in this show (the purpose of the trip). I've told the story 10 billion times over the years: the opening set was TERRIBLE. Brian was garbage. During intermission I told my traveling companion that we might be going home early and not get a chance to see Smile at all: that's how bad he was, I thought they may cancel. Instead it was an inspired and very, very good Smile set. It was like watching Saturday morning cartoons and listening to a rock album at the same time, and both very familiar and very surprising all at once. (I avoided listening to the boots for the week or two between the initial shows in London and the one I attended.)
Beulah, 2004(?), The 400 Bar. This San Francisco classic rock-pop band was a peripheral associate of the now long-since passe Elephant 6 Collective of groups that looked to the Kinks, Beatles, Beach Boys, and Os Mutantes as their forebears. They broke up in advance of their breakup, basically, doing a final album (titled Yoko, amusingly enough) and documenting a final tour. It was great. This bar was a longtime destination for indie musicians, underground favorites, and legacy acts who couldn't draw big numbers anymore, meaning you were never more than about 35 feet from the band. There was something glorious about "Gene Autry," three-quarters of the way through of which guitarist and co-writer Bill Swann whipped out his trusty trumpet to demonstrate the glory of rock and roll. The video is queued up: just give it ten or fifteen seconds for the effect.
The Fiery Furnaces, 2004, The 400 Bar. Same venue as above (which sadly is a solid decade dead now, after a brief, sad reanimation in the goddamn Mall of America). This brother-sister based band was a strange combination of the Who and Frank Zappa, with funny, complex, rocking songs. Eleanor Friedberger commanded that (tiny) stage and room. I felt like I was watching a super-intense Patti Smith or something. The next time I saw them, maybe a year later, it was terrible.
Prince, 2004, Xcel Energy Center. Lot of good shows that year... This was the Musicology tour, and the second or third time I'd seen him. But my god, what a performer he was that night. The highlight was either the acoustic set during which he kept meandering into covers (Beatles, Zeppelin, Joni Mitchell) or some tune or other in which he pranced over to a sofa that was part of the set and sat down, grabbing a copy of Rolling Stone off the coffee table ... that happened to have him on the cover. (You could tell on the big screen.) Also Morris Day and the Time opened. Fantastic.
Jeff Mangum, 2012, State Theatre. The primary singer and songwriter from Neutral Milk Hotel had become a recluse after his brilliant In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, circa '98. He began doing some solo shows around this time. It was not quite solo, as he had some Elephant 6 affiliates as the opener, and they came out to assist on occasion. It was terrifying, especially when he told the crowd--in a relatively fancy theater with seats, mind you--they were welcome to come nearer to the stage. You've never seen so many bearded Minneapolitan hipsters amble forward, ready to do their master's bidding. I told my date that night we were lucky he didn't ask us all to riot or kill, because it would have happened.
There are others I could throw in there. Belle and Sebastian, Stevie Wonder, some other BW shows, Of Montreal in either '02 or '10, Van Dyke Parks, U2 on the PopMart tour ... I'm lucky to have seen a lot of great shows. Some big names, some local bands.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Oct 17, 2019 23:38:45 GMT
Great post ^, and I didn't know the part of the story where Brian's opening set was bad and that you wondered if the rest might be cancelled.
And, yes, I always thought that Jeff Foskett nailed "Don't Worry, Baby". It was usually a highlight of the show.
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Post by kds on Oct 18, 2019 12:05:20 GMT
For many years, the Iron Maiden "Somewhere in Time" show I attended in Columbia, MD in 2008 was the show I'd always cite as the best I'd ever attended, but Maiden may have topped that show this past summer when I saw them on their Legacy of the Beast Tour in Philly. The production was incredible, the band was on fire, and I though they did a better job including all eras in the setlist.
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bellbottoms
Pacific Coast Highway
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Post by bellbottoms on Oct 18, 2019 15:38:28 GMT
I usually find it hard to single out the best concerts I’ve ever been to. I can honestly say I’ve never been to a bad show. I’ve enjoyed them all. There are a few standouts, of course. I’ve forgotten dates and venues for a lot of them but the concerts I remember most fondly are:
Nick Lowe - my friend and I were pretty much the youngest people in the standing General Admission crowd, and we were right in front by the stage. Nick played my all time favourite song since I was very small - Cruel to be Kind - and he also very unexpectedly played my namesake song, which was a thrill.
The Avett Brothers - These guys have such great energy live, so many great songs, and the employees of the Horseshoe tavern did not even make me get down from the table I was standing (and dancing) on to see over the crowd. Plus I just love the Horseshoe, literally every show I’ve seen there has been fantastic.
Brian Wilson Pet Sounds 50th in 2016 - this was my first time seeing Brian, Al, Blondie and the rest of the band, and I swear there were moments I just about floated off the ground. I’ll never forget the way the harmonies on You Still Believe In Me moved through my body and made all my hairs stand on end.
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers at the Ottawa Bluesfest in 2017, just a few months before Tom passed. What an outstanding show and I’m grateful for the chance to have seen him.
Paul McCartney - I took my mom to see him as a Mother’s Day gift, just the two of us, and he played for three hours! His voice was a little rough at times, but the experience of seeing and hearing him play those songs and tell those stories… he’s an incredible performer and there were moments when it almost felt like he was speaking directly to us. I think my mom almost floated around the arena for that one, LOL.
Def Leppard & Journey - I think this was last year or the year before… anyway, whatever, it absolutely rocked. Ariel Pineda’s voice is a marvel, and being able to sing along to every single song in Def Leppard’s set list was amazing. Their cover of Rock On by David Essex was also a highlight, because that’s another of my all time favourite songs.
But… the award for the THE BEST concert I’ve ever seen is actually a very recent one: Queen + Adam Lambert, this past July. And not just because you can’t beat the songs. And not just because there were two absolute legends on the stage playing them. And not just because I’m riding a big Queen fandom wave at the moment. All of those things are true. But I just could not believe the combined visual and aural spectacle. The lighting, the special effects, the attention paid to creating a special visual “world” for each and every single song. The sound was phenomenal, and Adam Lambert sang the roof off. And getting to play the singalong “ay-oh” game with a projected Freddie during the encore? Really one of the best live experiences I’ve ever had the joy of participating in. This show was so fantastic that I’m not even sure other shows can approach the level of awesomeness. I saw the Who in the same venue a couple months later, and that was almost “meh” in comparison. It’s not even fair to compare. Queen has set a really high bar for live concerts that I’m not sure can be matched.
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 18, 2019 15:43:54 GMT
I can honestly say I’ve never been to a bad show. I’ve enjoyed them all. My gosh, I envy you that! I've seen more than my share of bad shows. (Hell, I've performed in my fair share of them.)
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bellbottoms
Pacific Coast Highway
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Post by bellbottoms on Oct 18, 2019 15:54:24 GMT
I can honestly say I’ve never been to a bad show. I’ve enjoyed them all. My gosh, I envy you that! I've seen more than my share of bad shows. (Hell, I've performed in my fair share of them.) The closest to a bad show I can think of was a local band who were starting to get some radio play and more big time attention - they were playing a festival with some pretty big name acts, and the lead singer was... shall we say... an hour away from being "partied out". He was hammered, but he still managed to sing alright despite stumbling around, and the rest of the band sounded great, and it was still a very entertaining show. I think the general feeling was that they were just really excited to be there and overdid it before going on stage. The other "close to bad but not actually bad" would probably be the last time I saw Brian, in November of 2018. The band were great, of course, and that is what I take with me. Brian had a bad night but I wasn't necessarily like "this is terrible", I just felt sad for him.
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 18, 2019 15:59:32 GMT
Discounting local shows--of which I've seen a billion bad shows--I guess I would say some of my worst are these:
Brian Wilson Pet Sounds in fall of 2017 (?). He was bad. Mediocre in the hits section, awful in the Pet Sounds section. I'd heard him be bad before, but this was BAD. The band was great. It was depressing.
The Frogs, First Ave 7th Street Entry, early 2000s. This was apparently some underground cult favorite from Milwaukee that a friend convinced a few of us to attend ... only for him to bail to go to Nelly Furtado with his then-girlfriend. We were "treated" to a terrible opener, a synth-band of two or three women called Ear Candy (?). All I remember is their songs were all like terrible nursery rhymes over terrible music. the sole bit that stood out was "Lottie Lottie Lottie, my sister knows karate, she went to the party and kicked everyone's ass." Ummm...ok. Then the Frogs were bizarre and awful. Remind me to punch my guilty friend next time I see him.
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Post by kds on Oct 18, 2019 16:18:57 GMT
Bad shows. Two come to mind.
I saw Faster Pussycat in a club in 2005, and they were all fucked up on something. By the end of the show, the bassist couldn't stand. They messed up Bathroom Wall, and had to restart it at least twice. It was a train wreck.
In 2003, I saw Linkin Park open for Metallica. And I'm not at all a fan of Linkin Park's music, but they were dreadful live.
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bellbottoms
Pacific Coast Highway
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Post by bellbottoms on Oct 18, 2019 16:29:59 GMT
Now I'm all focused on trying to think of bad shows. There was a band that opened for The Darkness a couple of years ago. Terrible name, that is going into the bad band names thread imminently - Diarrhea Planet. I didn't like them, but I had put it down to just not enjoying their music, rather than them putting on a bad performance. But maybe seeing a band you don't like does count as seeing a bad show. But The Darkness was amazing so that kind of flushed Diarrhea Planet down the toilet anyway, LOL.
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Post by kds on Oct 18, 2019 16:31:37 GMT
Now I'm all focused on trying to think of bad shows. There was a band that opened for The Darkness a couple of years ago. Terrible name, that is going into the bad band names thread imminently - Diarrhea Planet. I didn't like them, but I had put it down to just not enjoying their music, rather than them putting on a bad performance. But maybe seeing a band you don't like does count as seeing a bad show. But The Darkness was amazing so that kind of flushed Diarrhea Planet down the toilet anyway, LOL. The Darkness puts on a terrific show. I saw them a couple times in 2003 and 2004, just after the release of their debut Permission to Land.
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bellbottoms
Pacific Coast Highway
Posts: 727
Likes: 201
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Post by bellbottoms on Oct 18, 2019 16:33:44 GMT
Now I'm all focused on trying to think of bad shows. There was a band that opened for The Darkness a couple of years ago. Terrible name, that is going into the bad band names thread imminently - Diarrhea Planet. I didn't like them, but I had put it down to just not enjoying their music, rather than them putting on a bad performance. But maybe seeing a band you don't like does count as seeing a bad show. But The Darkness was amazing so that kind of flushed Diarrhea Planet down the toilet anyway, LOL. The Darkness puts on a terrific show. I saw them a couple times in 2003 and 2004, just after the release of their debut Permission to Land. Yeah, the Darkness were amazing! I should add them to my best shows list. I don't even know very many of their songs but I just remember them playing so well, having a really, really awesome time at that one. You can tell they really enjoy performing. 10/10 would see again.
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Post by kds on Oct 18, 2019 16:36:19 GMT
The Darkness puts on a terrific show. I saw them a couple times in 2003 and 2004, just after the release of their debut Permission to Land. Yeah, the Darkness were amazing! I should add them to my best shows list. I don't even know very many of their songs but I just remember them playing so well, having a really, really awesome time at that one. You can tell they really enjoy performing. 10/10 would see again. I'm not overly familiar with their post reunion albums, but their first two albums are among by favorite albums of the last 25 years.
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 18, 2019 17:40:26 GMT
The bad opener/good headliner reminded me of another one. I know I've told it before, but here goes again briefly.
When I saw U2 on the PopMart tour--among my favorite shows ever despite not being that big a U2 fan--the opener was Smashmouth. I hated them then, and if they were sufficiently relevant for me to bother with them, I'm certain I'd hate them now. Well, I wasn't alone. Nobody cared. The sound was bad. The performance was bad. And best of all, a good ways into their set and obviously frustrated by the indifference-to-disapproval they were facing from the Metrodome crowd, the lead singer took the opportunity to chastise us, "Come on! I thought this was supposed to be the Superdome."
Not a good error to make...
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bellbottoms
Pacific Coast Highway
Posts: 727
Likes: 201
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Post by bellbottoms on Oct 18, 2019 17:53:43 GMT
The bad opener/good headliner reminded me of another one. I know I've told it before, but here goes again briefly.
When I saw U2 on the PopMart tour--among my favorite shows ever despite not being that big a U2 fan--the opener was Smashmouth. I hated them then, and if they were sufficiently relevant for me to bother with them, I'm certain I'd hate them now. Well, I wasn't alone. Nobody cared. The sound was bad. The performance was bad. And best of all, a good ways into their set and obviously frustrated by the indifference-to-disapproval they were facing from the Metrodome crowd, the lead singer took the opportunity to chastise us, "Come on! I thought this was supposed to be the Superdome."
Not a good error to make...
When the band starts getting mad at the audience for lack of interest, ouch, how uncomfortable. Though I've been in some audiences that were so limp for the band they were actually there to see, that the band would have had every right to get on the audience's case about it. One of my concert pet peeves - audiences that don't give back. I saw Smashmouth a few years ago at a free festival. I didn't hate them, but what I did hate was their fans - SHREK fans. Holding SHREK signs. Free festival though, so...
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