Concerts you've been to

[Ben_j]

Tonight I went to the Fnac Live festival in Paris, which is a free festival in front of the Paris city hall, (and a few hundred meters from Notre Dame)

I saw The Shoes, who really blew my mind. I was not expecting much and they delivered a really punchy live show, with awesome visuals made mostly from internet memes and gifs (as you can see in the video below). Truly a great live show, which is not often the case with this kind of bands.

There was also Etienne De Crecy, playing the Super Discount live show with Julien Delfaud and Alex Gopher, and Baxter Dury as a special guest, performing the track he was featured on with them. It was a great show, but I was not blown away. I already knew what to expect I guess (since I saw them 1 year ago)

[MadPooter]

Concerts I've been to this year so far:

Eric Prydz - San Francisco @ Mezzanine (3/14/15)

I've seen Eric Prydz a couple of times before and he never disappoints. It's not quite as "live" in the electronic music or performance style that one would hope for, but he's an amazing producer and knows how to put together an awesome show.

Florence & the Machine - San Francisco @ The Masonic Theater (4/8/15)

I was very surprised how much I enjoyed this show. I went with my girlfriend because she didn't want to go alone, and I was rather glad I went. The energy among the audience was fantastic, and I really, really enjoyed myself.

The Acid - Los Angeles @ the El Rey (5/8/15)

I've given Liminal a tremendous number of listens since the album came out, and I have really enjoyed the unique sounds they have going on. They did not disappoint me in their live set--they had a good mix of emotion and a dance-ish vibe going throughout the whole set, and it was nice to hear the things they chose to improvise on.

[Wolkenkrabber]

Feb: FKA Twigs at London Roundhouse
March: Caribou at Brixton Academy (loud!)
March: Fat White Family (plus Palma Violets & Slaves) at London Forum
March: Underworld at Hammersmith Apollo
April: Rone live laptop gig at Rough Trade East records, was only meant to play 30/40 mins. Did an hour.
April: Gang of Four (as part of Record Store Day, in a street)
May: Prodigy at Alexandra Palace (last minute cheap ticket after the gig had started)
June: Field Day Festival. Saturday: Caribou (again!),  Ghost Culture live, Daniel Avery B2b Andrew Weatherall DJ set, Django Django, Ten Walls live (the day before the homophobic thing blew up), Phillip Selway (radiohead), Tuneyards, and more.
June: Field Day, Sunday: Allah Las, Patti Smith playing Horses in full, Justin Robertson DJ set, and the mighty RIDE.
June: Leftfield at London Forum
Gone a bit quiet now. Probably New Order in November.  And maybe...Chems if they play a London gig by Christmas?

[whirlygirl]

I'm old. I need to get out more. But in April, at last minute I saw an interestingly eclectic and diversely talented Ukrainian band called DakhaBrakha.

[Nekcore]

There's a serious lack of very good concerts around here, but the ones I did get to see long time ago was:

2005 - Moby
2006 - Fatboy Slim, Jamiroquai
2008 - Nine Inch Nails
2009 - Oasis

aaaandd... that's it.

[Born In Planet Dust]

This year has been kind of slow (although there have actually been some good shows in Cincinnati I had to miss)

Umphrey's McGhee (sp?) - saw them for free.   not really into alot of jam band type stuff, but I enjoyed them (encore was covers of "Hey Nineteen" and "Sledgehammer).

Bunburry, day 1 - Tame Impala was amazing, but a crazy storm cut the set down to only 30 mins.  Temples were awesome, Royal Blood kicked ass, Black Keys phoned it in because that is what they do these days.

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - the most rock n roll show I will see all year.  Seriously.

[Born In Planet Dust]

This year has been kind of slow (although there have actually been some good shows in Cincinnati I had to miss)

Umphrey's McGhee (sp?) - saw them for free.   not really into alot of jam band type stuff, but I enjoyed them (encore was covers of "Hey Nineteen" and "Sledgehammer).

Bunburry, day 1 - Tame Impala was amazing, but a crazy storm cut the set down to only 30 mins.  Temples were awesome, Royal Blood kicked ass, Black Keys phoned it in because that is what they do these days.

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - the most rock n roll show I will see all year.  Seriously.

But none of this matters because in Chicago this Sept. I will be seeing The Chems for the fourth time and The Orb for the first!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

[WhiteNoise]

The Orb

1. Oh cool.
2. Wait, they have a new album out.
3. Wait, it's some of the best stuff they've done since Ultraworld.
4. Wait, they're playing near me!
5. I think my wallet's going to start hating me too.

[Born In Planet Dust]

1. Oh cool.
2. Wait, they have a new album out.
3. Wait, it's some of the best stuff they've done since Ultraworld.
4. Wait, they're playing near me!
5. I think my wallet's going to start hating me too.

$20 for Dr. Lx LIVE is a steal.  Been to Metro 3x (Love & Rockets with Dandy Warhols in 96, Kid Koala with Dj Food in 2001, and Amon Tobin, Prefuse 73, and Bonobo with Mr. Scruff downstairs in Smart Bar in 2003), not my fave Chicago venue (reminds me of Cincinnati's Bogarts with way better sound). 

After Sept., I will have seen The Chems (All State Arena 2001, Rivera 2007, North Coast 2010), The Orb, Meat Beat Manifesto (House Of Blues, Halloween @ Midnight 97), and Coldcut (Abbey Pub, 2005)/Dj Food (I'm cheating and counting them as one).  That would be four of my all time top five electronic acts.  The elusive Orbital is mocking me...sigh.

[Mob1]

This one is worth sharing, the most insane concert I've ever been. Just look at the crowd at 1:45.

Bloody nose, bruises, BIGGEST mosh pit ever. Best concert I've been too.

Even Morello agrees.

[Ben_j]

Ah, more The Shoes  ! A much longer video than the one I did. Really worth the watch, especially the exulting version of Time To Dance (starting at 12:00)

[rynostar]

Tonight I went to the Fnac Live festival in Paris, which is a free festival in front of the Paris city hall, (and a few hundred meters from Notre Dame)

Ah Hôtel de Ville. I rode around that square on a bike like a madman while scaring my students a few years ago as I perfected my one handed take photo with phone and steer with the other hand. Must say, kinda jealous that you saw a show there.

Ah, more The Shoes  ! A much longer video than the one I did. Really worth the watch, especially the exulting version of Time To Dance (starting at 12:00)

My metal coworker introduced me to 'Time To Dance' a few weeks ago and I'm still kicking myself for not discovering it earlier.

As for me this year...

Caribou back in April

BadPlus & Joshua Redman in June
GoGo Penguin in June
Presidents of the United States next week
hopefully Chems at Electric Zoo

[Ben_j]

Ah Hôtel de Ville. I rode around that square on a bike like a madman while scaring my students a few years ago as I perfected my one handed take photo with phone and steer with the other hand. Must say, kinda jealous that you saw a show there.

Haha, yes it's a beautiful site to see a show. They've been doing this free festival for 6 years now, there are always good acts. It's really cool to have that, right in the heart of Paris, for free !

[chemdup]

Tuneyards, and more.
June: Field Day, Sunday: Allah Las, Patti Smith playing Horses in full, Justin Robertson DJ set, and the mighty RIDE.

Nice! Would loved to have gone to field day. I went to see RIDE in May in the barrows in Glasgow, blown away! Going to see them again in Newcastle and Edinburgh in October. Was at Mogwai for their 20th anniversary show, amazing as always. Can't really remember if I've been to any shows earlier in the year...I'm getting old!

[Born In Planet Dust]

sort of on topic:  What is the best opening act you have ever seen?

My response is easily the opener for Juliana Hatfield in 1995, who was Jeff Buckley.  I'm embarrassed to admit I had no idea who he was until he played "Last Goodbye."  He did "Hallelujah" immediately followed by "Kick Out The Jams." 

[Wolkenkrabber]

sort of on topic:  What is the best opening act you have ever seen?

My response is easily the opener for Juliana Hatfield in 1995, who was Jeff Buckley.  I'm embarrassed to admit I had no idea who he was until he played "Last Goodbye."  He did "Hallelujah" immediately followed by "Kick Out The Jams." 

Julianna Hatfield? Haven't heard that name in a long time. She probably wishes she was revered as much as James Buckley is now.
It's a challenging question because it means trying to remember every gig you've been  to, and who the support was. It's difficult to narrow it down to one. But off the top of my head...
Dandy Warhols supporting David Bowie in '03 (though I believe the Polyphonic Spree supported him for part of that tour; I still haven't seen them!)
Maximo Park supporting New Order in '06
The XX supporting The Big Pink in '09 at the ICA (there were four members back then). I spoke to Romy afterwards to tell her I enjoyed it as she mingled with a glass of wine in her hand.
Hot Chip supporting LCD Soundsystem at LCD's last ever London gig. They were sort of billed equally although LCD were clearly the headliners on the night.

[Enjoyed]

What is the best opening act you have ever seen?

Battles supporting Animal Collective. Back in the EP C/B EP era. I was talking about that for ages afterwards. Trying to teach my friends what math rock was.

[whirlygirl]

Best opening act for me was Public Enemy (opened for U2) back in the Stone Age. I mean, 1992.

[Mob1]

Best opening act for me was Public Enemy (opened for U2) back in the Stone Age. I mean, 1992.

Wow PE in the stone age that must have been amazing. BTW, what where you like 12?

[Born In Planet Dust]

I think what is missing in this discussion is my extreme jealousy of your seeing the Zoo TV tour.