Pajiba

Cowboy Mouth is still one of my favorite bands to see live.

Along with Rebirth Brass Band. They will make you see God.

I don't think a song changed my life, it was more like an album. It was my 12th birthday. At my party, my friend brought me two tapes and said I got to choose which one I wanted. Criss Cross (yes the ones who did "Jump") or Red Hot Chili Peppers Bloodsugarsexmagik. I went with the latter.

Not that I was necessarily listening to Criss Cross before then, but at that point I was listening to 1) The 80s and 90s pop on the radio and 2) The classical and jazz that my father played.

Blew my world apart, thank God. Besides, a gaggle of 12-year-olds whispering and giggling in hysterics at "Sir Psycho Sexy"? Awesome.

For my birthday this past year my sister bought me and her tickets to the last day of ACL. While we were there for Pearl Jam, we walked in as the B-52's were just coming on stage. I had forgotten how many of their songs I knew. And they put on a really good show, better than I expected. The Arctic Monkeys didn't blow me away, but it was entertaining and I wish I had made it to the Toadies but they were on the complete opposite side of where we were and where we were trying to get to. We hung out in front of the Heartless Bastards and they were really great. Then we made our way to where Pearl Jam would be playing in 2 hours and used that time to get as close as we could. During this time a band I wasn't familiar with yet came on stage and completely blew me away. My sister had mentioned that she wanted to check out this Jack White band that wasn't the White Stripes (one of my favorites) or The Raconteurs. And I was like well they should be pretty good with what his other groups are. The Dead Weather came out and for an hour completely took over any memory of the previous parts of the day. I was dumbstruck by how incredible they were. And I have told loads of people about them since. But then Pearl Jam comes out and it was even more incredible. Their latest album had only been out for maybe three weeks and hearing the thousands of people around us singing along to those new songs as well as the unforgettable list of songs from their humongous library... it was like a chorus of angels... that I was a part of, and lets face it how many chances will I have to be in a chorus of angels? They brought out Ben Harper, who played the day before which we didn't see, and then brought out Perry Farrell. The best part is that because of who they are and how they do things I can always keep that memory fresh in my mind, because every Pearl Jam concert since like 2001 is available to purchase from their website. I've bought several concert cds before and thought man this is captured that moment wonderfully... but to have one where I was actually there? Two cds worth? $10 is well worth the price of something like that. It could have been $50 and I still would have bought it.

Bloodsugarsexmagik was the first CD I ever purchased and I agree, blown away from the first track to the end.

EDDIIEEEE!!

Pick one of the 17 Pearl Jam shows I've been to. That's the one. (except maybe Vote for Change in Reading, PA; that was only okay).

I will drop everything, including my dogs, to go see The Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Even if they aren't playing their best, I can be amused by Karen O's screaming and crazy costume changes.

Song that changed my life? This is where the crazy kicks in. I have to argue for two that explain a whole lot about me.

1) "Kiss of the Spiderwoman" from the musical Kiss of the Spiderwoman. Chita Rivera's live vocal, canned track performance of this during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is the reason why I am obsessed with theater. I already liked horror, had finished performing in my second stage show, and discovered that the two could be combined as one.

2) "Smoke" by Natalie Imbruglia. Until I heard this song on January 1, 1998, I did not listen to popular music. I refused. The voices drove me nuts because I was weaned on 1950s pop and rock and lived on the powerful vocals of classic and contemporary Broadway. Then I caught this video by chance and it ruined everything. Sure, now the late 90s production values are almost embarrassing, but back then, this was perfection for me. It all came down to the vocal--pure, theatrical, with perfectly placed vibrato and compelling phrasing. That, and on a subconscious level, I know now that body and face was driving my 12 year old self wild. It's all been downhill from here. I've thousands of CDs and tubs and tubs of contemporary hit radio sheet music books.

Anyone remember The Hooters? I saw them at Tipitina's in the early 90s, and they were great. They each played quite a few instruments, which was pretty cool.

I know U2 is considered outre in these parts, but nonetheless, when I saw them in 1992 on their Achtung Baby tour, they were freaking awesome.

Slayer put on a rocking-ass show when I saw them in '88 or '89 (can' quite remember the year) on their South Of Heaven tour. Motorhead was an opening band for them, and they kicked ass too.

I saw Yes on their Big Generator tour in '87, and they were awesome.

And even Metallica was good at one time, if you can believe that, boys and girls. Saw them in '92. They knew how to make your ears bleed. In a good way.

For "back in the day concerts:"

I saw Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins and RHCP play the BU hockey stadium back in 1991 or 92.

Public Enemy, Anthrax and Primus, around that same time.

Any of the Fishbone shows I saw.

More recently? The Gaslight Anthem with Murder By Death was pretty rocking. P.O.S. and Dessa.

Don't know if anything will beat The Reverend Horton Heat with Nashville Pussy, though.

I don't think any song or whatever changed my life. You would think that I would be able to remember if one did. So. But the first concert I ever saw was Stone Temple Pilots in 1997. Weiland was like sex incarnate. It was a glorious thing.

I've also seen Juliana Hatfield. She is so tiny and beautiful and put on a great show. I saw Blink-182 with Bad Religion opening for them. I saw The Toasters and The Mighty, Mighty Bosstones while on my ska kick in high school.

I saw Bush live and grabbed Gavin Rossdale's ass because I had the chance and had promised that I would do it.

I've also seen N*Sync. So.

I'd like to get to more shows, but The Husband generally doesn't like the stuff that I do and I have a difficult time finding someone to go with.

The best concert I ever went to was the ZephyrFest in New Orleans, it must have been 1994. I won tickets off the radio along with a CD by every band. The lineup that year included Offspring (before they sucked), Violent Femmes, Letters to Cleo, Milla Jovavich (she was a spoiled brat and people taunted her), Deadeye Dick, Smithereens, Dig, Eve's Plumb, Lemonheads, and a few others I can't remember.

It was quite possibly the most awesome day ever. Especially since I got in a conversation with the singer from Letters to Cleo and once she was on stage she thanked me for giving her a light.

I second the U2 vote - I saw them twice in the '90s and they put on a great show each time, very theatrical.

The Tragically Hip in the '90s were also amazing to see - the crowds were crazy.

I got to see both Radiohead and U2 live in simultaneous summers a few years back, and they were both absolutely amazing performances. There's nothing like sitting outside under the stars and singing "No Surprises" with Thom Yorke and 10,000 other people. As for U2, it was a tour in support of their "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb," and from the moment they opened with "City of Blinding Lights," I was up and lost in the music.

As for songs that have changed my life, I remember the first time I heard "Undone (the Sweater Song)" by Weezer and realized there was a whole new world of alternative rock out there for me to discover.

Wow, I was going to post that the best band I've ever seen most of you probably haven't heard of (they're a New Orleans thing), and then the first flippin' comment is about them.

MyySharona's right about Cowboy Mouth- they'll blow your mind and kick your ass all at the same time.

"Dookie" by Greenday was the first album I ever bought and my introduction to popular music, so it sits in a special place in my heart. Up until that point, I had no idea what people my age were listening to - when asked what type of music I liked, I mumbled "Soft Rock?", because that's what the station my parents listened to always said in their promos. Laughter ensued.

Anyways, anytime I hear a track from Dookie, I flash right back to being 14 and super dorky. It's got to be one of my favorrite albums of all time.

ps if anybody doesn't have it, Amazon has the Firefly box set on sale today for $20.
Deal-licious!

Ha! My husband despises U2 and yet always resented that I got to go to their show in '92 (again, the Achtung tour and my first concert ever) because their opening act was the motherfuckin Pixies. Ohhhhh...he later saw Frank Black and the Breeders a few times, but it wasn't the same...
Two months ago (seventeen years later!) we got to see the Pixies in Seattle. Aside from the younger hipster doofuses (we were never like that :)! next to us DANCING AND SINGING WITH ARMS FLAILING, it was beyond words...

Going to see The Decemberists later this month at a small venue which will probably be more of our speed...although I expect the Broken Bells show in May might be the death of us.

Eraserheads reunion tour, August 2008. Still by far one of the most influential Philippine rock bands ever, if not the most. Still can't believe I was able to get tickets.

As for a song, Carry on Wayward Son always makes my chest tighten.

Well, when I was a little high school girl, I was into Christian Rock (try not to laugh) as well as secular stuff to some extent. I scorned the more easy listening Christian stuff and dug the headbanging kind instead. Then my senior year I rediscovered a band my brother had put on mixtapes for me back when I was 12--the 77's. It may be that the only other person around here who has heard of them is gp. So I started collecting their stuff and other alternative Christian and eventually secular alternative stuff as well (do the kids these days still call it alternative?). It was also the year grunge took off so I got into that as well (now I'm revealing my age). Anyway, I eventually got to see the 77's in concert several times (3 times in 3 cities in 2 weeks in one fun month). Singer and front man Mike Roe has a great stage persona, the shows were all pretty small and intimate, and they would take requests. I also had a cute boyfriend with me who would protect me from people moshing around us. Good times.

I don't really listen to Christian stuff anymore except for the 77's (and to a lesser extent the Choir and Adam Again). They have aged really well and don't annoy me or irritate my more liberal beliefs.

Oh, the latest song to blow my mind? "Mr. Hurricane" by Beast. The chorus knocked me out the first time I heard it.
Totally worth a listen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nol7e9HJXg

Oooh, tough one.

In early high school I saw Sleater-Kinney, Wilco, and the Flaming Lips in Madison Square Garden on New Year's Eve. My mom took me. Sleater-Kinney was my then favorite band, playing songs from The Woods before it was released. Wilco played in their pajamas, and The Flaming Lips brought the party spirit with thirty dancing people in animal costumes on stage and giant balloons spinning into the audience.

On the other hand, my love of lo-fi punk makes me want to say the closing of my hometown music venue was in fact the best. The Tinderbox was Brattleboro, Vermont tradition, and a place that I was part of for most of middle and high school. My sophomore year in college the building got bought and the artists, musicians, and crust punks that lived there got kicked out. Their last night they hosted a show with twenty live bands from all over the NE (including Wingnut Dishwasher's Union, Brooke Pridemore, Ghost Mice, and Heathers, who are all among my favorite bands). By the end of a show a riot had broken out. We broke through half the walls in the building and paraded down Main Street with burning bookshelves singing and laughing. It was fantastic.

I have been music deprived of late.

Hey! Something in my wheelhouse!

Best band I've ever seen live: The Arcade Fire. Incredible, evocative, powerful. I was close to tears when they closed with "Wake Up" (a song which, in response to your query, changed my life). The entire audience sang along. This was a packed auditorium; the walls shook. Win Butler waded into the crowd to sing, and the band played like there was no tomorrow and they'd never play again. It was unbelievable.

But that wasn't the best concert I've ever been to. Close, but the opening act (LCD Soundsystem) gave an underwhelming, overlong performance, and the venue (Roy Wilkins Auditorium) is kind of a crap room.

The best concert I've ever been to was Gnarls Barkley at the Minnesota State Fair Grandstand with special guests Cloud Cult. I know what you're thinking: "State Fair? Gnarls Barkley?" But seriously, both bands brought it and played some of the best live music I've ever heard. The weather was perfect for an outdoor concert. It wasn't too hot, nor too cold, and in the middle of Gnarls Barkley's set it started to rain. This should have deterred the crowd, but in fact the opposite happened; the water just cooled us off, and everyone, literally EVERYONE in the crowd, started dancing. It blew my mind. This is a Minnesota crowd. Minnesota crowds DON'T DANCE! It was incredible. Nothing has ever topped it.

Optimus, the Shins definitely changed my life. They opened the door to music that is musically complex but still singable. They're one of two bands (Red Hot Chili Peppers being the other) that I can listen to and love, no matter what mood I'm in or what else I'm doing (reading, driving, writing a paper, ...other stuff). I'll limit my expounding, but it could go on for several...whatever the unit in a post is. Pages? Hours? Feet?

concerts that kicked my ass include NIN and Marilyn Manson. I felt transported, out of my own miserable life and felt like I was in equal company.
albums that I played on repeat until I needed to replace them include:
James: Laid, specifically One of the Three
Barenaked Ladies: Gordon: What a Good Boy, Brian Wilson, Blame it on Me
NIN: Pretty Hate Machine: Something I can Never Have (though really, the whole album)
The Cure: Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me

I spent 2 years of high school homeless and would wander the streets at night singing these songs to myself. They comforted me, made me cry, made me long for so much more

I'm late to this, but when I was 16 I asked for a CD for Christmas based on one single I saw from a band that aired on Much Music back when it was still called Much Music in the states. One song, and I asked for the album. I listened to that album constantly for like a month. There was one song in particular that made my heart skip every time I heard it and made something deep inside me ache. Later, I found out that band was coming to D.C, which was about 90 minutes away, that spring. I convinced my mom to let me go.

They took the stage and opened with that song. My world stopped and I fell in love.

The song was "Return", the band was OK Go. Seven years later and I'll still catch my breath when I hear that opening, and I've bought both the albums they've released since then and each album has one song that speaks to me in a way nothing else does. Like the lyrics are coming from the part of me that knows these things but can't really say them. And seven years later, I'm still in love.

Not even close (I'll be dating myself here...) Pink Floyd (the original lineup, yeah!) did Dark Side of the Moon, the entire oeuvre, at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens way back in 1973 or '74 and I saw that show with a friend. Actually, I experienced the show, because it was so much more than "just" the music (and not to mention that a guy with a huge bag of weed sitting a few seats over kept rolling joints and passing them along). They were the first band to make that old barn sound good (nay, what am I saying, awesome) by putting speaker banks on each wall to eliminate the crap acoustics and then the sound effects and some instruments changed channels like on the quadraphonic record (remember those?) It was simply miles ahead of anything else I saw before or since, even in better American venues.

If you're still out there, Viney, wasn't that a fucking great night??

You know, I never really think of music as having "changed my life," but I guess it kind of did, in a way.

My musically formative years were the 80s. The pop of the time is well-doumented as crap; likewise, so is my taste in music. Probably having parents who loved folk "rock" was not helpful in that regard either. But in the early 90s, I worked at a Sam Goody at the local strip mall. I was digging through the EP bin one day, this little basket on the wall that was underneath a bunch of other baskets almost on the floor. Pretty much nobody ever went in there. Anyway, I found something by a band called Primus, whom I'd never heard of; the disc was called Miscellaneous Debris. There's nothing particularly exciting about the cover, nothing about the song titles that led me to think it was anything special; I didn't know until quite some time later that it was all cover tunes, either. Anyway, it was $6, and something about it just made me buy it.

From that moment on, I COULD NOT get enough Primus. I picked up every single album that came out, I had started getting into metal a few years before that (remember when Metallica was still good? I do), but in general, I was fairly closed-minded about my listening choices. Primus and Miscellaneous Debris learned me to open my ears and listen to music, and to seek out new stuff (and old stuff; True Story, Primus is how I discovered Pink Floyd), rather than just accept what was being thrown at me on the radio. Plus, Les Claypool is just extraordinary.

The album that changed my life is easy: "Appetite for Destruction". Before that I was listening to Genesis and other soft rock. If you were in high school when Guns 'n Roses hit it was like a tsunami. One reason I am ridiculously psyched for Rock on the Range this year with Slash headlining. Never got a chance to see Guns so this is as close as I'm gonna get. His new solo album is great, btw.

Best concerts:
NIN on the Downward Spiral tour

Tori Amos at the taping for her Soundstage appearance. I've seen her 6 times, that was the best. On the Scarlet's Walk tour.

Flogging Molly and The Bouncing Souls. I had just broken up with my girlfriend and one of my friends made me go to this show despite my protests. Within 30 secs of Molly's set I was jumping around like a madman. Became a lifelong fan that night.

Metallica on the Load tour. Outstanding show and awesome stage antics. During the show little things kept going wrong culminating in "stage hands" falling from the scaffolding and eventually one dude on fire. Resulting in the concert being "shut down" and Metallica played a 5 song acoustic set with only emergency lights on stage. It was fantastic. And yes, all the misfortune was staged.

Tool on the second stage at Lollapalooza in 1995. Front row, no one had heard of them. Their opening act was a dude juggling chainsaws. Rage Against the Machine destroyed the mainstage right before that.

Other notables; New Found Glory, Our Lady Peace, Weezer, Cowboy Mouth, BNL, Matchbox 20 (Mad Season is a fucking FANTASTIC album, haters), Alice in Chains, Marvelous 3, O.A.R., Cinderella (I was shocked, too), SR-71 and Stroke 9. Worst part of my (temporary) Indiana exile is lack of good shows to go to. It's very difficult to go to shows with my work schedule even if someone good does come to town.

1) Gang of Four at the 40 Watt Club in Athens GA, 2005
2) The Fall, same venue, 2004
3) Bruce Springsteen, Omni, Atlanta, 1984 (not a big Bruce fan, but I couldn't deny the energy and enthusiasm of his live performance)

Lords of the New Church, the 21st of December 1982 just off Tottenham Court Road.

I have never enjoyed a show so much before or since, Stiv was truly fired up that night and blew the roof off the club.

"Who Made Who" wasn't in Pet Sematary...

t'was in Maximum Overdrive

Best band I've seen live...Probably the Meat Puppets last year. I saw them at a hole in the wall bar years after they had any sort of realy acclaim. They were old beat down and jaded. But when they plugged in...Heaven came out of those half stacks. I've never seen a shopw with more heart in my life. Those guys love what they do.

Nickel Creek. I saw them at the New Daisy Theater in 2003, my sophomore year of college. It was the third time I got to see them that year, after being introduced to them at Memphis in May.

Just...amazing. Their albums are some of the brightest, most melodic, casually technically proficient newgrass music I've ever heard, and they exceed themselves live while maintaining that level of quality. Some bands wow you with their showmanship; Nickel Creek pulls you into their show as well, and if you listen for 2 seconds you realize that they were holding back on the album. They played through both albums they had out at the time, and for the encore came and sat on the edge of the stage and played some worship/hymns entirely acoustically. You could hear a pin drop.

I get goosebumps just remembering.

Ah, you evil, evil comment diversion spawning Tater you. (And why do I picture you as some sort of demented Mr. Potato Head?) Many trips down the memory unfinished off ramp from this diversion. Bands and tunes and concerts and adventures.

For good or ill I wouldn't have survived The Hellmouth without the occasional hours of music therapy alone in the band room, lights out, Kenton blaring from the speakers. Later came following local bands & name-brand bands on the "b" tour.

Yet, the "music" that most impacted my life, I think, was three shows I didn't see. In the winter of 2000/2001, Aimee Mann, Barenaked Ladies and Penn & Teller (Work with me here, OK? Ima tellin a story.) came to Seattle and I didn't see any of them.

Yep. Too much spasmodic emergency du jour in the dot-bomb that had recruited me & relocated me to the Emerald city. Too much "Oh, my god!" and emergency homework as they slapped together something to "deal with" the toe-stubbing of the moment. 10, 12, 14 hour days of mostly frantic Red Queen's racing, unneeded and to no good end. When the nonsense derailed my plans to worship the Yeti & Homonculous, throw Kraft Dinner at some beloved Canucks & ogle Amiee Mann in person (Love her music, too.), I had enough

So, I started calling "bullshit" from time to time. And stopped cutting the strategic-nimrods slack for "problems" avoidable and deliberately ignored. (I was in a "make this work better, because flailing is too hard" group which, well, never got past the addiction to adrenaline and heroics. My drive to more throughput & less noise was on-mission, which mattered not at all.) And I carved out a Thursday night mental health break I wouldn't let anyone hint or imply me out of. I gotta be in the office and miss this? Says who, and for what?

And I got thrown out - the front door, meaning a "layoff", some money and non-disparagement clause in the severance agreement.

Imagine my surprise to learn that once my basic needs are met, there are actually some things I won't do, or miss, simply for money.

baltar,

At this point we're not sure who's driving or which vehicle we'll be taking. I'll likely be wearing a bright yellow WVU hoodie and a Pirates cap tho, so should stand out.

Oh, and I'll be standing as close to the front, stage right, as I can get.

See you there, homeboy.

We saw the DBTs/Hold Steady joint tour a year ago. I'm unfamiliar with the Hold Steady catalog and have to work that night besides, so will be skipping the appearance here.

What we tried to make happen, in our usual ineffectual way, was a Hood solo appearance here, since the DBTs had a day off between the Cleveland stop Sunday and the Pittsburgh stop Tuesday. That obviously didn't work out.