I’d almost say I’ve been to too many since I was in the womb. But here’s the top 10:
Aerosmith- Get A Grip tour 1993 or '94 at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, CA
Probably the first great concert I’ve ever been to.
Mayhem- Black Friday 2011 at the Regency Ballroom in SF, CA
It literally was on black friday. First time I saw them was on their 25 Anniversary tour in '09. While that had a better setlist, I liked this show better. For one, I caught the whole thing. I also like this better cuz of the second band of the night; a Polish band called Hate. Those guys were fucking awesome. You don’t see too many bands with a guy in corpsepaint wearing suspenders with no shirt on underneath. But of course it was all about Mayhem at the end of the night. Attila looked like he was in some kind of trance the whole time.
Korn- See You On The Other Side tour 2008 at the Arco Arena in Sacramento, CA
Say what you want about Korn, but they’ve never disappointed me live. I was surprised to see that barely anyone was at this show. See You On The Other Side is probably their most underrated album and this show was amazing. I was also very fucked up on ecstasy, which made it all the more fun. Also, Mudvayne was a hell of a co-headliner. Big step up from their Ozzfest 2005 performance.
Possessed- 6/??/2011 at the Key Club in Hollywood, CA
First show with the current lineup, including ex-Static-X bassist Tony Campos. New guitarists sound better than the originals.
Judas Priest- Epitaph tour 10/26/2011 at the Sleep Train Pavilion in Concord, CA
In other words, the farewell tour. Saw them in '08 on the Metal Masters tour, and while that had better openers (Testament, Motorhead, Heaven & Hell) than Thin Lizzy and Black Label Society, I put this show in here cuz of the setlist:
“Battle Hymn”
“Rapid Fire”
“Metal Gods”
“Heading Out to the Highway”
“Judas Rising”
“Starbreaker”
“Victim of Changes”
“Never Satisfied”
“Diamonds and Rust” (acoustic to heavy version)
“Prophecy”
“Night Crawler”
“Turbo Lover”
“Beyond the Realms of Death”
“The Sentinel”
“Blood Red Skies”
“The Green Manalishi (With the Two-Pronged Crown)”
“Breaking the Law”
“Painkiller”
Encore 1:
“The Hellion”/“Electric Eye”
“Hell Bent for Leather”
“You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’”
Encore 2:
“Living After Midnight”
Note: Industrial rules my top 5.
Skinny Puppy- Myth-R-Us tour Summer Solstice 2007 at the Fillmore in SF, CA
I’m a little surprised I rank this higher than Priest, but this had more of an art quality to it. Sure it wasn’t as big of a site as an older SP show, but it was still great. Only thing I didn’t like was that SP is charging mainstream prices for shirts. That didn’t take away from an awesome show. They had an entertaining opener called White Mice. As for Skinny Puppy, the setlist speaks for itself:
Anger
Ugli
Dogshit
Tormentor
Politikil
Rodent
Pedafly
Worlock
I’mmortal
Dig It
Amnesia
Hardset Head
Fascist Jock Itch
Haze
Encore:
Social Deception
Testure
Encore 2:
Far Too Frail
Blue Serge
Say what you will about Mythmaker, but those songs were meant to be heard live.
NIN- Lights In The Sky tour 9/5/08 at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, CA and 12/12/08 at the Arco Arena in Sacramento, CA
I know I’m cheating by tying the two, but they were both equally as good performance wise. Although, Trent was a little under the weather at the Oakland show. But if I had to single one out, I’d say Arco was better. Before he announced the '09 tour, everybody thought that this show was gonna be the last time any of us saw NIN. So it was very special. The only difference in the setlist was the selection of Ghosts songs and “The Wretched” got played at Arco and not at Oracle. Another reason Sac gets one up over Oakland; “The Frail” into “Closer” is fucking awkward. Here’s a link for the setlists: http://www.ninwiki.com/Lights_In_The_Sky_Tour
KMFDM WWIII tour 11/22/03 at Slim’s in SF, CA
You would think after reading my TKK story that that would occupy the number 2, or even number 1 spot. Well this originally set the standard for what a good show should be for me (only to be topped by number 1). The show didn’t truly get going til Raymond Watts came out. He truly had the crowd in the palm of his hand. This was the show that began my slow turn from Black Metal to Industrial and I’m all the more better for it. Setlist was basically WWIII with a handful of classics, but this was my intro to KMFDM so I don’t really give a fuck about what they played. My only complaint is that they didn’t play any PIG as it was advertised KMFDM featuring PIG.
Marilyn Manson- Against All Gods tour 12/20/04
I await the day for a show to top this. This was the experience. This was the second time doing ecstasy and by far the best. I even had the treat of fucking with Christian protesters before the show! It was my first time moshing. Got plenty of female attention. Yeah, chicks dig the corpsepaint. I can’t find an accurate setlist, otherwise I’d share it. I don’t really know what I can say about it. The car ride back was the car ride from hell, but that’s another story.
I’m way jealous about the Judas Priest show, Dude.
That’s probably my #1 band that I’ve yet to see but need to.
I even had tickets one time but couldn’t get out of the Middle East in time to make it to the show.
Both times seeing Priest were fucking amazing. Hell, I was in the womb at the Turbo Lover show in Oakland!
EDIT: You would’ve had more fun at Metal Masters in '08 with the previously mentioned openers. It was the last show of the tour. I missed Testament, but Priest and Motorhead fucking owned. I personally found Dio to be quite boring with his long song introductions, but I’m happy to say I saw him on his last tour before the cancer got bad and it was better than seeing Sabbath with Ozzy. I would much rather sit thru Dio’s long boring song introductions than Black Label Society’s set. Zakk did a near 10 minute guitar solo that just stunk up the place. BLS fans kinda annoy me too. They get the blue denim vest with the patches just to look like Zakk. He took a Metal/Punk custom and damn near ruined it for everyone.
Butthole Surfers @ The Echoplex / 2011
Los Angeles
Faith No More @ The Palladium / 2011
Los Angeles
*The first night. Second night was good, not great.
Tool - Lateralus Tour / 2002?
Boston and Washington DC
Ministry - 1993 (Fitchburg, MA)
1999 (Boston, MA)
2003 (Washington DC)
I saw the Filthpig, Mole, Rio & Sucker tour.
For me it ranged from good to depressing.
OK - Technically not 10 shows, but these are the
one that stand out far above the others.
hmmm… tough for some of these, but the top one was easy. I’d say a lot of my top shows were from the same (or related groups). I’ve seen a lot of good shows, but if I think of the ones I really liked the best they were mostly from my favourite bands (I guess that’s not surprising).
Neubauten (Perpetuum Mobile tour) …needs no explanation.
Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds (Dig Lazarus Dig tour) …seen them other times and they were great, but this tour they were just so heavy… maybe the heaviest show I’ve seen
Ministry (Filth Pig tour) …favourite Ministry album, great show… got a black eye …and The Jesus Lizard were just great.
Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds (No More Shall We Part tour) …last time with Blixa …VERY different show than the Lazarus tour, but also great
Scratch Acid (reunion tour) …fantastic show, Yow was less physical, but still crazy and compelling …they were opening for Dinosaur Jr., who are boring as hell. …my wife and I stayed for Scratch Acid then went home and drank cheap champagne… super fun
Blixa Bargeld Solo (Rede) …funny, which I wasn’t really expecting
Atari Teenage Riot (reunion tour) …full blown
Grinderman (most recent tour) …swagger!
I kind of fizzle out after that… it’s hard to come up with 10 that I would say are the best.
Concert tragedy: I missed seeing Bowie on the Earthling tour because I couldn’t afford the ticket. My favourite musician since I was a kid… touring with a GREAT band at the time, on a great album… and I had no cash. Easily my biggest concert regret. I’m pretty sure that would have been #1 had I had the cash.
I’ve seen Slayer a couple of times back in the 90s, Primus were pretty fun back then too, L7, stuff like that… good shows, but top 10?
I’ve seen Marilyn Manson a few times, the Holy Wood tour and the Antichrist Superstar tours were the best for me.
I’ve seen Nine Inch Nails a couple of times, and they were good, but I don’t know if I’d rate them in the top 10
I’ve seen KMFDM a lot, and they always put on a good show, but again, not really top 10 material
And the most recent Ohgr tour was pretty great. A pretty stripped down show, in a way that worked really well. Maybe I’d put that up there.
Depending on how we define “gigs”, Strauss’ Elektra was pretty amazing, and I saw selections from Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring arranged for 4 grand pianos, which was mind-blowing.
I’m way jealous about the Judas Priest show, Dude.
That’s probably my #1 band that I’ve yet to see but need to.
I even had tickets one time but couldn’t get out of the Middle East in time to make it to the show.
Next time there’s no way I’ll miss 'em.
I first saw Judas Priest on the 82/83 Screaming for Vengance tour…I had just turned 12 and it changed my life…Uriah Heep opened up haha…my mom’s hot friend took me…quite a satisfyting night…I can still see some of the show clearly in my head…
I saw them on this “final” tour also…needless to say a very different experience…but still fun…me and a bunch of other old farts went and got shitty drunk and spilled drinks on each other and headbanged and shit…30 years later and still a Priest fan…