Concert experiences

Worldly and otherworldly topics
User avatar
Madrigal
Posts: 619
Joined: Fri Nov 22, 2019 8:59 am

Re: Concert experiences

Post by Madrigal » Mon Nov 29, 2021 1:18 am

I never really went to any concerts on purpose, usually they were a part of a political event. Ah, I guess I saw Manu Chao on purpose because I went with some friends from work. I'm not sure I really needed to.

User avatar
starjots
Posts: 238
Joined: Fri Feb 26, 2021 5:18 am
Location: New Mexico, USA

Re: Concert experiences

Post by starjots » Mon Nov 29, 2021 9:33 am

We've seen Dead and Company seven times between 2015 and 2019. Usually a good time if you stay out of the sun. The drummers are in their late 70s, so that might be winding down.

Best concert of late was Huun Huur Tu in Portland in 2018. Tuvan throat singing is even better in person.

Weirdest concert was Ted Nugent (Cat Scratch Fever) back in college. I'd missed two nights of sleep because I thought that's the only way I'd get all my homework done. Went to the show and slept through the entire thing.

User avatar
Spartan26
Posts: 148
Joined: Sun Feb 21, 2021 9:13 pm

Re: Concert experiences

Post by Spartan26 » Sun Dec 05, 2021 4:06 am

elfsprin wrote:
Fri Nov 26, 2021 6:38 pm
The most I ever paid to see a concert was 80/ticket, to take my dad to see Fleetwood Mac. Going to the orchestra is around $40. Most other concerts I’ve been to are $20-50.
Hmm, not sure what the most I paid for a concert was. There have been some recitals, like Renee Flemming, Hilary Hahn, Kathleen Battle, and Martha Argerich come to mind that I think were in the $65 - $80 dollar range. I think I saw Denyce Graves in Samson y Delilah for about $80. Renee might have been more like $130 cuz I gambled that I would find a date but did not. I went with an old friend who I can't remember if she reimbursed me or not. Those classical events have tier pricing. I'd usually cap out around $70-$80 cuz that was about my max for what I'd pay to see a regular season basketball or hockey game. That price has since increased dramatically. I think I may have paid $160 for a Lakers ticket. Of which I got two, one for a very good friend as a bday gift. She bought me a ticket to see Shakira so I'm sure she was out the same.

Concerts are so expensive anymore. I remember about 15 years ago Shakira coming to town and tix were $140 but I just thought that was too much for seats on the side, half way back. If I was much closer, I may've considered it but not for average seats. I really screwed up a few weeks ago. I was just randomly driving and saw Julien Baker was playing. I like a couple of her songs. I had downloaded her latest album, liked it but didn't listen to it a whole lot. Not that I didn't care for it but I would mostly listen to the library on shuffle. Anyway, I saw some tix online for like $35 and I should have jumped at it. I thought I might be able to do better at the venue and not pay any service charge but they were sold out. When I went to grab the ticket online, I kept getting error messages until it too was gone. It may've been gone before I started to hem & haw over the smallest of margins but I hate I just didn't pull the trigger.

I can't remember what the last show I saw was...? I saw Dead Sara in 2018, which was really cool cuz I love them and it was on my bday. I have some friends who play in bands that I've seen since, even post pandemic, but these were bars. One, a decent sized venue, but no ticket required, so does that really count?

I can't remember when I saw Charlie Wilson, formerly of The Gap Band. There were some other old skool acts like Keith Sweat(?) and Johnny Gill on the bill. It was sometime in the last 3-4 years, I think. En Vogue and Tony! Toni! Tone! were playing together about a month ago. I had a some varied family commitments that I was going to have to work around but really I could have gone. It was another matter of basically me being cheap. There were some other acts on the bill but it was still, do I want to pay $80 for meh seats? I had never seen 3T so it was really tempting. I wasn't sure if En Vogue was going to be 3 members or 4. Not sure if that mattered. I was like, it's not 1993, do I really want to see them that bad??
HighlyIrregular wrote:
Fri Nov 26, 2021 6:52 pm
I hate loud music.
I remember going to see concerts in middle school and high school and sorta the blessing/bane of the show would be later at night trying to go to sleep. My ears would just be riiiiinnggiiinggg! Wow! That would not go away. I'd also have that pot/cigarette smell stuck in my nostrils. In a way it prolonged the experience. I could relive opening chords and sights and key moments but it would not let me sleep and so loud in my ear. Later, in college, I started working for a company that did event services for a buncha stadiums and venues, so I'd go ushering a ticket taking at a lot of concerts and sporting events. Way cool! They always gave us foam ear plugs. They work so well. Not that it muffles the sound to where you can't hear as well but it cuts it down from dangerous levels. I always try to take some to shows. Many venues I go to sell them for like a buck. I will take them out when a group is playing one of my favorite songs but no more post-show buzzing is a godsend.
Madrigal wrote:
Mon Nov 29, 2021 1:18 am
I never really went to any concerts on purpose, usually they were a part of a political event.
Back in 2000, holy crap, has it really been that long?? Rage Against the Machine was going to do a free outdoor show around the Democratic National Convention. I was really considering going but Idk what happened but I wound up not going. It was no big deal until like 2003-2004 when they hadn't played live since and the talk was they weren't EVER going to play together again. :shock: About 3-4 years after that, they did play another live show in LA. I can't remember what music festival it was a part of. I found out they were playing and wanted to go but then found out it was at the LA Coliseum, I was like nope! Not that that place is so bad in and of itself. I'd go to USC football games all the time. I think I saw the Rams play there too. Saw the raiders way back when they were playing there and that was like the yard at a maximum security prison. But I just didn't want to deal with an all day music festival when it could be 100 degrees out and packed with stoned and drunk mofos. All the time I bemoaned missing their last performance, then they were coming back and I was like, 'naw, I'm good, thanks.'

Rage wasn't one of my favorite bands either. What I did like was the thought of being able to say I saw their first performance, (I'm pretty sure it was first public performance, without too many caveats), and then saw their last. Which would be cool if they just broke up and not had some Lynard Skynard moment.

User avatar
puerile_polyp
Posts: 173
Joined: Fri Nov 22, 2019 3:01 pm

Re: Concert experiences

Post by puerile_polyp » Mon Dec 06, 2021 6:01 am

Best show I ever attended:

Cannibal Corpse. I was like 16. There was a local spot where all ages shows, local kids punk stuff mostly. Lots of fun stupid times there. Cannibal Corpse was by far the biggest act to play in that venue. Pretty small place, room for maybe a couple hundred? No seats. That mosh pit was awesome. It wasn't vicious like they sometimes are, it was just full of metal energy, thrashing and enthusiasm. I saw at least one person leave in an ambulance though, and I got my nose smashed and bled all over a bunch of people. And those guys put on an amazing show and I have a lot of respect for bringing their A game to a little place in a little town like that. Most fun I've ever had at a show by far.

Yesterday
Posts: 332
Joined: Fri Dec 24, 2021 3:09 am

Re: Concert experiences

Post by Yesterday » Tue Jan 04, 2022 11:09 am

I sleep with a hundred deranged souls and it's a symphony of miserable snoring every night. David Goggins who? Please! :jerk:

All those body building navy seal elites are pussies. Try this act for a couple months. :lol:
Last edited by Yesterday on Tue Jan 04, 2022 11:40 am, edited 1 time in total.
ENTP

"Our truest selves exist within the observational incongruencies among general first impressions and further analyses of the finer details."
- from my Ph.D. thesis in psychobabble

User avatar
last_caress
Posts: 60
Joined: Sat Feb 27, 2021 8:45 pm

Re: Concert experiences

Post by last_caress » Sat Jan 08, 2022 4:15 am

We packed 11? people in a Chevette to go see Fugazi when I was in high school. It may have been the show where the power went out and they kept playing until it came back on. Saw that one too.

Saw My Bloody Valentine a long time ago and they played one single chord super loud for at least 30 minutes.

On the way to see Rage Against the Machine/Wu Tang my friend realized he forgot his ticket and drove his pickup truck right over a big grassy median to get on to the road going the other direction. Super illegal and hilarious.

Got into a ~15,000 person food fight at a Lollapalooza. It was truly epic to see hot dogs, soft drinks, beer and clods of sod sailing overhead from every direction. It has to at least be close to some world record.

User avatar
Spartan26
Posts: 148
Joined: Sun Feb 21, 2021 9:13 pm

Re: Concert experiences

Post by Spartan26 » Fri Jan 14, 2022 7:16 am

Does the dynamic frontman still exist? I went to the basketball game I had been bitchin' about the fees in the other thread and while walking around the concourse outside the suites we saw some framed photos of some of the acts and events that had taken place there over the past 20 years. Madonna, The Boss, Janet Jackson, Taylor Swift, Kanye (not together), Miley Cyrus?? Ellie Goulding??? Like, I guess she has 3 billion youtube hits but I see her name and picture without the mic stand and I'm assuming she's in the cast of Game of Thrones. I've seen pop stars like Madonna and George Michael live and no shame in their game but they have choreographers and backup dancers and 3-6 wks of routine rehearsals. I've also seen groups with larger-than-life lead singers like Van Halen with David Lee Roth, Ozzy, and Iron Maiden before they started doing stadiums. Honestly, I had no idea how masterful a showman Freddy Mercury would be when I saw Queen. It's not just hard rock but Lionel Ritchie when he was with the Commodores had everyone in the palm of his hand or no way anyone going to see Parliament Funkadelic would be able to sit once George Clinton hit the stage. I was not old enough or fortunate enough to see Prince when he came to town and played a sub 2,000 seat hall when his first album came out but uniform consensus of those who did go said he was electric. "Like, I was looking for the extension cord to see where he was plugged in all show." Is there a band today who's been built up based on what they did live and not necessarily a video or videos that's gone viral?

I am a somewhat recent convert to Lord Huron. Not just a tongue in cheek pun there, I was driving, flipping through radio stations, and came across Mine Forever. The way it displayed on the radio was Mine Forever, Lord and then those would go away and Huron/ would appear. I actually thought I had stopped on a Christian radio station and I was like, "This is pretty good! They should play more like this, it's totally original sounding! Not just the same cookie cutter, midtempo tunes for 30 yr old, stay at home moms. These narrow focused stations wouldn't play U2 or Silversun Pickups but it looks like now they're trying." I'm all listening to the chorus, "In my mind, you're mine forever. In my mind, you're mine forever." I thought they were talking about the Lord! I was listening some more, trying to focus in on the lyrics

If you're ever gonna leave this place
Don't wait, it's time to go
If you really wanna stay, I'll go alone
If you tell me where to meet
Then I'll wait 'til I turn to bones
Oh, we really should've left here long ago


I'm thinking, "That's kind of a different theological perspective. But hey, I'm down with the song!"

Of course when I got home and googled them I saw the song was Mine Forever by Lord Huron and there was no mention of them being a faith-based act. :lol: Anyway, earlier this week, I saw an announcement that they were playing at some music festival in the spring. I want to see them but the words 3-day festival immediately made me grimace over the potential cost. More material for my ongoing, live events gripe...

How about these for fees:
3-day base
Gen Adm + - which is prolly what I'd do
And for kicks & giggles, what would 3 day top shelf VIP pay in fees?
Percentage wise, you're getting less screwed the more you spend on the ticket. Regardless, I'm not spending $220 for a ticket to a show where I only want to see one band on the bill.

I think Cochella's lineup was just announced. Covid in the Desert as it's already being called. I didn't even bother looking. Which had nothing to do with ever-present pandemic.

User avatar
Spartan26
Posts: 148
Joined: Sun Feb 21, 2021 9:13 pm

Re: Concert experiences

Post by Spartan26 » Fri May 27, 2022 4:54 am

So, Lord Huron came and played a show outside of the music fest and I was able to go. It wasn't exactly close to where I live and I couldn't head out until I finished work, which was kinda fine as it allowed me to wait out traffic but it prevented me from getting close to the stage. I was still fine with my view. Paid $14 for my 23 oz beer + $2.80 tip that I got before the warmup came on. Kind of a mistake cuz I wasn't anywhere near a bathroom and the place was huge and packed and I didn't want to leave the spot I found to stand, so the last part of the show stretched out to stairmaster time before I could go. Considering Disney owns the whole area, I expected parking to make me wince but was a very acceptable $3. Ticket & fees that I was able to purchase in presale was like $50-$55. I knew I wasn't drinking enough water during the day and I think it had something to do with my feet cramping up a bit at one point. That, and trying to hold it, and getting old. :(

They played for like 1:45. I only owned one album of theirs but had been streaming their earlier albums while working. Heard a lotta songs I liked but didn't always click over to see the titles. Some of my favs they didn't play, but played others I didn't care for as much they did. Often seems to be the case when I go to shows. Seems like 80% of the time I go to shows the artist doesn't play one of my favorite songs by them. I'd like to see them again, I believe they're a group that shuffles their lineup about every night so chances are I'd hear more of my favorite tunes. First Aid Kit warms up for them in some cities, I'm kinda tempted to go see them in Chicago. Gotta see if there's some other sporting event(s) I could build into the itinerary to make it worth my while.
Attachments
Lord Huron_HoB.jpg
Lord Huron_HoB.jpg (620.72 KiB) Viewed 2587 times

Julius_Van_Der_Beak

Re: Concert experiences

Post by Julius_Van_Der_Beak » Sun May 29, 2022 3:40 pm

I went to a concert in April or March. The concert was good except for an annoying guy who sat next to me.

Ptah
Posts: 11
Joined: Wed Mar 24, 2021 3:31 pm

Re: Concert experiences

Post by Ptah » Sun May 29, 2022 7:48 pm

I'm at concerts fairly routinely these days. I gave up doing big-venue, large-crowd shows -- just not my style. I prefer the mid-to-small venue scene. (I particularly come alive in the teeny basement-bar stage-type places). Easier to meet folks, hang with the band members, less of a PITA to get in and out, park, etc. The rock, punk and metal scene, as such, is active in Chicagoland, and I dig it.

Post Reply