I have never been a concert.

Used to be in the metallica club and went to one of their small shows when st anger was released and except for one or two st anger songs, they played all old stuff.

I’m into all the classic swedish melodeth bands and there were a ton of really good shows in the 2000s. Perhaps one of ny favorites of those was when Dark tranquillity, Insomnium, and swallow the sun toured together. I think There was a 4th swedish band on that tour but cant remember who. Maybe soilwork? Or maybe it was soilwork and not DT.

I saw DT and soilwork a zillion times but only saw insomnium and swallow the sun that once.

First time i saw Devin Townsend was pretty special too.

Thanks for asking, I have a few that were all the best concert I have ever attended.

It all started in '91 when Slayer, Megadeth, Suicidal Tendencies and Testament were doing Clash of the Titans (I assume it was an attempt to rival Monsters of Rock) in KB Hallen in Copenhagen. My first concert. I was way to drunk and high and most of it is a blank. As far as I know, Testament didn’t play. I got lost from my friends and recognized a girl I knew on the way out and she helped me board the right train home. It was a great show or so I’ve been lead to believe.

The greatest was Pearl Jam in '92 at the Roskilde Festival. Grunge was still a new thing. As far as I remember I had bought Nirvana’s Nevermind but not yet Ten, so I only knew a couple of songs from MTV. It was a sunny day and the vibe in the audience was possibly the best and most loving I have ever experienced. People spontaneously held hands and hugged and I felt like I sort of understood that this whole grunge thing wasn’t just about being sulky. It was also my first festival of many.

Without comparison though, the greatest concent was Portishead back in 1998, also on Roskilde Festival. It was a very hot summer and I was probably a little sunburned, but the concert took place on a stage under a tent and inside the air was cool and a little humid and it was not very crowded. For anyone interested, the playlist was quite close to what was released on their PNYC album/concert movie. As far as I remember they had still only released the first album. On stage Beth Gibbons does not move much and I think she actually tries to make herself invisible, but that only made the experience more intense. The few times she did raise her head, she stared right into my soul and sang into it too.

Shortly after, the dark times started. Wife and kids. Youth over. End of disposable income, concerts and fun in general.

For a while.

I took my wife to see Skunk Anansie in 2022 and Skin is still one of the most intense frontpersons of a band. The venue (DR Koncerthuset) is seated, it is designed for classical concerts and we sat on first row. There was so much eye contact and I can only repeat that she is very intense. At one point (during the song Everyday Hurts) they invited to a stage invasion and we jumped up. That was a wonderful experience to share with my wife and she saw that not all the concerts I go to are long-haired, white, angry dudes. Some of them are bald, angry, black women. Also, the guitar player gave me a pick. He didn’t flick it, he handed it to me. Because game recognize game. That makes it the greatest concert I’ve ever been to.

The last concert I was at is always the greatest. Two days ago I saw Baest play a small Danish festival and they kicked ass like they always do, bringing an unmatched energy to the stage where they can look evil, pose and growl about meathook massacres and the next moment smile and joke around.

There are so many more concerts that blew my mind. Neil Young literally unlocked memories from my childhood by playing stuff my dad listened to when I was a child. PJ Harvery showing up unannounced at a Nick Cave concert. D-A-D closing down Roskilde Festival after the 2000 tragedy. Ennio Morricone performing Ecstasy of Gold and then again during the encore. Roger Waters doing The Great Gig in the Sky made me shed a tear. Going to festivals with my kids. Recently Beth Gibbons doing solo stuff was moving and beautiful, but when they started playing a Portishead song (Roads) I cried.

I probably forgot some.

Thanks for reading. Now go see a concert, especially when you’re young because those memories tend to stick better.

Saw Devin Townsend, Opeth, Gojira, and Mastodon in Philly. That was a good show. I think Mastodon was having sound trouble at one point because a could see Brent getting increasingly mad at his crew over the course of a few songs. He ended up smashing a monitor between songs halfway through the set. That was pretty metal

The Cure Wish tour in 1992 (I think). Fantastic show, so many encores.

I’m old.

Gwar, Kansas City 91ish? Memories are a little fuzzy but the show was amazeballs, before the show we were hanging out with Slymenstra Hymen and she gave us the rundown of the history of the band and the guys and how it all came together…it was surreal.

Hands down, best metal show.

Carcass at Rose Club, Cologne, Aug 24 1991

It was so intensive and hot, Sweat dropped from the ceiling, People ordered water to dump it over their head

Gojira by a French country mile

Best metal concert, Metallica 92, which was also my first. I’ve seen them other times, but they were at that perfect balance of energy, skill, and creativity in that era.

Overall? Elton John. Dude is just non stop entertainment from the second he walks on stage, until he’s done. Just a phenomenal performer. Enough so that I wasn’t a fan before the show, and only went because my patient was going and needed assistance. Left the show a fan, and was bloody well impressed with how he handled the small back stage meeting with my patient as well. Took time to really talk to the kid, and not just in the “get better champ” kind of way. Then took a moment on his way out to pat me on the shoulder and say thank you.

Just a genuinely great dude imo.

Smaller shows, I went with my cousin to see a local band ages ago, when I was visiting him. A band called October. Maybe thirty people in a shitty little building, but they killed it. Afaik, the band ceased to exist not long after, though I have one of their cassettes still. I think, anyway, it’s been so long since I pulled them out of storage, those tapes might be to old to work now.

311 in St Louis about one month after 9-11. That crowd was so loud I couldn’t hear the band for like the first thirty to sixty seconds. Everyone needed a good time, like just needed it. A friend had also just recently committed suicide (I was there when we found him). Life was dark.

During the encore they played 1, 2, 3 which has a line It’s all right to feel good, it’s all right for nothing to be wrong. Tears streaming down my face with the joy and release of the show. It was close to what one might call a religious experience.