In order, what concerts have you been to and how was your experience?

My first ever concert was at some Irish pub for an Australian white dude named Joel Turner lol he was pretty big here back in the day and was a really good beat boxer, my friend and I chatted with him and as a non smoker I someone shared his cigarette.

My second concert will forever be etched in my memory - DMX Year of the Dog Again Tour, man that dude was something else his energy was insane!!! I remember just being on a natural high the whole night, couldn’t move because we were jammed in that joint like sardines, I’m sure I got some footage on my 4cm wide 5cm long Nokia. After the show I really needed to use the rest room but my bf at the time just wanted to go home (asshole) anyway he had a yellow Nissan 300zx t-top with Ruff Ryder symbols on the sides of the car, we pulled up at the lights and continued to keep the buzz alive by playing DMX videos through his pop up screen, next minute this white van pulls up at the lights and this African American woman is staring me and the car down, I started to get irritated but wasn’t about to get my white ass beat down, by this time who I knew afterwards to be DMX’s wife was also staring me down, next minute DMX pops his head up winds down the window and the first thing I think to say is I loved your show in that rugged voice he answers back yeah yeah yeah that’s what up and then the high went through the roof I didn’t sleep that night nor for half the next day lol (lame).

Third ‘concert I went to was Bone Thugs, they were out here in Cleveland on a talent quest to sign Australian artists, don’t think that was too successful, and unfortunately not all of Bone Thugs were there so it just wasn’t the same.

Fourth concert was when Eminem came out here on tour with the hilltop hoods, lil Wayne (skated on stage), Birdman and a bunch of other people had to fly to Sydney to go because tickets sold out instantly in Brisbane it took hours to get home because the stadium was jam packed.

Fifth concert was Miguel and Bruno Mars, pretty cool experience.

Sixth concert was Wu Tang Clan, of course Meth and Redman didn’t attend so it wasn’t as good as it should have been but damn was it still good, crazy energy, got completely blazed without one puff, went to the after party at some dead club in Brisbane, harassed Raekwon who eventually got mad at me for asking for re takes of the photo. Got asked by some chick if O.D.B attended the concert. LOL.

Seventh concert was Kendrick Lamar in Melbourne and holy shit was the theatrics and energy insane, one of the best experiences I’ve had mainly because my son got to experience it too. The opening act SiR was amazing. Will probably go to another of his concerts in Dec this year.

Eighth concert was DVSN, cool experience he sounds just as good live, pretty cool energy as well.

Ninth and sadly the last concert I’ve been to was Florence and The Machine, my cousin dragged me along and the music isn’t really my scene, but on stage she was so angelic and had a beautiful aura about her.

I miss going to concerts, I miss the energy and the bass in the voice of American artists lol

Would love to hear everyone else’s experiences!

 

Only concert worth remembering was my first ever back in the 80's. I think it was the second New York Fresh Fest Tour with Run DMC, The Fat Boys, Whodini, Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five. It was a big deal at the time because red neck Louisiana wasn't big on promoting or presenting what they considered "ghetto nigger music".

 

Red neck Louisiana hahaha!! Oh man that would have been unreal!! Nice!! I swear the 80’s/90’s were the best in all regards.

 

I've been to too many to remember them all, but here are a few standouts:

1) Fishbone, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Thelonius Monster (1988, I think): It was titled "The Best of the West Tour" with all three bands being ska/funk/punk/rock acts and it was in a small venue with under 1,000 people. Angelo from Fishbone (one of my style icons of Afropunk) was in rare form and Flea from the Chili Peppers was literally hanging from the overhead railing over the pit. It was intense.

2) Stereolab (twice): an awesome British-French Marxist art school band that I love that has these really heavy lyrics that are worth reading on their own merit even disconnected from the accompanying music as prose/poetry.

3) Burning Spear (1994): One of the greatest reggae acts on earth and Winston Rodney is a living legend.

4) Los Amigos Invisibles (several times): an awesome Venezuelan funk band that is one of the funkiest experiences ever.

5) Beastie Boys (Hello Nasty Tour): the last tour I think of MCA (Adam Yauch) with Mix Master Mike and Keyboard Money Mark

6) Chucho Valdes: one of the greatest living pianists. I subsequently ran into him years later in the security line at MIA, which was hilarious. He was just standing there with his girlfriend waiting to clear TSA.

There have been a bunch of other ones, but these are standouts.

 

Nice!!! You’re a well seasoned concert goer haha with some great experiences!! I will have to check out these bands particularly Stereolab, love some good lyricism for sure, out of your list, I’m only familiar with the Chilli Peppers (they’re coming out here next year ) and the Beastie Boys. That’s pretty dope to say you got to see the Beastie Boys!!! Any more concerts on the horizon for you? There’s finally some decent artists coming out here in the next two years. Something to look forward to I guess. Ohh does Burning Spear outdo UB40 though that is thy question lol I’ve been stuck listening to UB40 for half of yesterday lol.

 

Burning spear is the real deal! They’re probably the most devoutly Rastafarian reggae musicians I’ve ever seen.

I've seen a few other great ones as well, that didn't make the first list but were still phenomenal.

1) John Lee Hooker
2) McCoy Tyner
3) La Sonora Ponceña
4) Buena Vista Social Club All-Stars
5) Celia Cruz
6) Toots & the Maytals
7) Lee "Scratch" Perry
8) KRS-ONE
9) Sade w/ Digable Planets
10) De La Soul w/ Common & Fishbone (I've seen Fishbone probably 25 times, both solo and with a variety of other bands)

 

oh man, nice! I love it! Not going to lie I’m a little on the jealous side that you saw KRS-ONE and De La Soul w/Common!!!! I don’t think they ever ventured out this way lol. I’m such a visual person every time I read ‘Fishbone’ I actually see a fishbone haha! My lovely inconsiderate neighbours have decided it’s the right idea to have a party at 3am so now that I’m wide awake I may as well check out this Fishbone you speak of..

 

Here you go: http://fishbone.net

 

Oh thanks :-D

 

Happy to be of service!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fishbone

 

I can certainly say one of the best concerts I've ever been to was the one I attended just last night--Courtney Barnett at Radio City Music Hall in NYC (the first Aussie artist I've ever seen live lol). Missed out on a chance to see her in 2017, and planned to take a trip to NYC to see her in February before the concert was cancelled due to a COVID outbreak in her band--this was the rescheduled concert. It was well worth the wait, and I got more than my money's worth. Courtney was AWESOME--the woman is a guitar goddess, and rocked the entire theatre. I can't wait to see her again. The audience was packed, but it was a bit older than I had expected--probably because of Courtney's appearances on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon here in the States. (Yes, I did hear a couple of cute Aussie accents, but the crowd was mostly Americans of course lol).

There are so many great Aussie artists I'd love to see live (G Flip and Vera Blue are right at the top of the list), but as was the case in 2017, sometimes I can't make the closest tour dates (this literally just happened again earlier today, when I checked out the dates for Stella Donnelly's US tour...I also wanted to see Julia Jacklin, who was originally going to open for Courtney back in February, but her US tour dates don't line up either lol).

I also want to give a shout-out to Shamir, Courtney's opening act last night--Shamir is a great guitarist and singer with one of the most unique voices I've ever heard--it literally sounds neither male nor female (I believe Shamir actually identifies as non-binary). Shamir's drummer, whose name I believe is Rhea, is fierce--and fiercely sexy too lol.

 

I haven't heard of most of the people you all have seen in concert. LOL.

I definitely have a very different taste in music.

I'm old, and I've been to way too many concerts to list them all. Though, there was like a 10-15 year gap I didn't see any. Movies are more my thing, and I got tired of spending a ton of money on concert tickets for them to suck live.

I'm not a huge fan of live music - mainly because most of the time the singers don't sound as good as they do after they've been ridiculously produced in the studio (Adam Levine, I'm looking at you!).

Some notable concerts I've been to: Bon Jovi (saw them multiple times), Def Leppard (Hysteria tour - amazing), Green Day (saw them multiple times), Megadeth (saw them multiple times), Roger Waters (he played the entire Dark Side of the Moon album and it was amazing), Maroon 5, Madonna. The most recent concerts were both Kpop: Stray Kids (amazing) & Tomorrow x Together (amazing).

I'm looking to see a few more Kpop concerts this year. LOL.

I'd love to see J-Hope (BTS member) play at Lollapalooza, but that is unfortunately not going to happen. :-(

 

Great list--always wanted to see Madonna live (almost had a chance to in 2019, but she had to cancel the concert due to a knee injury)

 

She was awesome. I had to look up her tours, because I saw her a long, long time ago. I believe I saw the Blonde Ambition tour.

 

Three upcoming gigs I’m going to check out are: Grupo Niche; Steel Pulse w/ KRS-ONE; and Stereolab. All in the next 4-6 weeks.

 

Nice!!!! Seeing KRS-ONE spit his lyricism live would be one hell of an experience, he’s one of the best by far.

 

I agree. I saw him once before back in 1993 and will never forget it. Amazing!