Concert Thread, Summer 2009!

Please, nolan, do tell what went wrong with the Mraz concert.

Originally Posted by Lunchbox*

Please, nolan, do tell what went wrong with the Mraz concert.

Long story, it involves a part of his show that really inconvenienced a lot of the audience and made them less-than-happy with the staff even though we had no control over the situation.

Anyway, last night was Kenny Chesney.

Before the show even start there was a torrential storm. Apparently there were tornadoes and stuff all over the southern province, but we just got lots of rain, wind and lightning. So the show had to be delayed for about 45 minutes, but it cleared up eventually so the show could go on.

First act was a male/female duo fronted band called Lady Antebellum, second act was Miranda or Melinda Somethingorother. Then came Chesney.

Pop-country is one of the only genres where I don't really like anything it has to offer. I just find most of it dull and rather same-y. So, musically, not really my favourite show. Visually, Chesney is only second to Tool in the amount of visual spectacle he used. The lighting was so elaborate and intense that you could feel the heat from all the lights in the audience.

Not much else to say. The sponsorship from Corona was hilariously prevalent, to the point where I would have guessed the band playing was called 'Corona' and not 'Kenny Chesney.' It was cool that he actually brought a lot crew on stage at the end for the audience to applaud their efforts, which few acts ever do. Plus, Canadian TV personality (and son of a former Prime Minister) Ben Mulroney was in my section, and he's actually a really nice guy.

So that's it for Chesney, I guess. Got three more shows this weekend, starting with Pearl Jam tonight.

Quite a bit to talk about.

Last night (the 21st) was Pearl Jam. The opening act was supposed to be Ted Leo and The Pharmacists, but there were some issues at the US/Canadian border and while The Pharmacists made it through, Ted Leo didn't.

So the show started with Eddie Vedder coming on stage, explaining the situation, and then doing two acoustic covers. The second was a cover of "The Needle and the Damage Done," and it was incredible. I was almost moved to tears, it was so powerful. Following that was Mike McCready, who did two songs of his own, and another Jam member who did two more songs.

Then the Pharmacists came on and did a few songs, mostly covers because they lacked a frontman, and then did a song with Eddie.

Basically, anyone who skipped seeing the opening act missed one of the best parts of the whole show.

Pearl Jam themselves were as good as one would expect, for the most part. The vocal mix was a little high, but overall a good show. Crowd was a little rowdy for my liking, but it happens.

Then tonight was Great Big Sea. A show I have been looking forwards to all summer. I adore this band on so many levels, and they also happen to put on the most upbeat show I have ever had the pleasure of seeing (multiple times).

Spirit of the West opened for them (best known for their bar standard "Home for a Rest"), and while I am not too familiar with their material, they were quite good. It was cool that it was two bands, one from the westernmost province and one from the easternmost, and they met in the middle.

Even as biased as I am in favour of GBS, I still have to voice my sadness that for the second year in a row the mix was pretty bad. It was fine when there was just one of the boys singing, or when they were doing a vocal-only/stripped down song, but when they were doing rocking songs that needed harmony, you would never hear the background parts. It was a shame, but the band more than makes up for it with their energy and positive attitudes and such. Plus, they played "Ferryland Sealer" and "John Barbour," two of my favourite songs that I haven't heard them do live before.

Really, I think everyone should see a Great Big Sea show once in their life. It just makes life better.

Okay, so I know I'm really late on this, but I just saw this thread, and I want to say something about my first concert (blink-182 in Cincinnati with Chester French, Panic! At The Disco, and Fall Out Boy), so here goes.

I left school early that day with three of my friends, my little sister, and my mom. We drove for three and a half hours and arrived at the venue just as Chester French was finishing up, which, from what I've heard, isn't too big of a loss. All I saw was that the lead singer was wearing pink pants and saying something about blink. They sounded a bit "meh" when I was walking in, but I give them credit for the effort.

Next was Panic!, who used to be my favorite band of all time before blink, and I was really impressed. Brendon is really talented, and his singing was awesome at this show. I was a bit skeptical as to how they would sound given the recent loss of two members, but it was great. I enjoyed it a lot.

After that, we got up from our seats (which were really great) and bought a ton of merch, then sat back down just as Fall Out Boy finished their opening song, "Sugar, We're Going Down". I was surprised that they sounded pretty good. I expected them to suck, but they did okay. They ended their set with a cover of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" with Brendon lending his vocal talents.

When they went off the stage, we waited for about 45 minutes while the crew got everything set up. It was really boring, but when the curtain finally dropped as the first notes of "Dumpweed" began to play, I almost peed myself with excitement. I honestly cannot describe my excitement at that moment.

The rest of the show went on amazingly well. Tom sounded awesome, and as someone else said, he sounds WAY different (and way better, I might add) live than on a recording. His singing was awesome. It's really bizarre how even his talking voice live contrasts with what you hear on YouTube. It caught me off guard somewhat, but he really does sound at least ten times better in person.

Mark did really well too, of course, and Travis was perfect. His drum solo was incredible; I won't even attempt to explain it. My friends and I got out of our seats during it and we were right in front of it. It was truly incredible.

There wasn't too much banter, but it didn't matter. The show was all-around outstanding, and I had so much fun.

Also, I get to see them again at MSG in NY on October 4th, so, yey.

About time someone else posted. Good timing as well, tonight was my last concert of the season. I may do a post with some sort of ranking of all the shows I've seen this summer or some big summary, but we'll see.

First comes the second blink-182 show of the summer, on August 23rd. I was exciting for it, because I enjoyed the first one so much. Sadly, I wasn't put on the floor for this one, so I was quite a bit busier. As far as I remember the setlists were more or less the same, though maybe one or two songs were different. So pretty much that part of the show was identical. But since the opening bands were somewhat different, I'll go over them, then some other stuff.

Chester French opened for them last time, and I don't remember them sounding as bad before. They sure did this time. They are also pretty uninteresting to me. Not bad, but nothing special.

Taking Back Sunday was next, a band I was pseudo-into way back in the day. They sounded pretty terrible, and their new material is pretty much trash, but I can't lie and say I didn't get into it a bit when they did "Cute Without the 'E.'"

Weezer was quite good, sound-wise. Miles ahead of the first two acts, that is for sure. I'm not a huge Weezer fan at all, but I enjoyed it as much as I possibly could. I was somewhat surprised that Rivers didn't play guitar all that much. I also heard he is really short.

Two other things I think are worth noting. First, Mark Hoppus walked inches away from me twice at the very start of the show, right after doors opened before many people were there. The first time I didn't notice him, I just saw a bunch of tour people as they went past me. Then I heard his voice say "Enjoy the show" or something of that nature to some fans he had passed, and I snapped around and saw him. Not long after he came back, and this time I had to move out of the way to let him pass. He said 'Thanks, man" and I had to restrain myself from babbling on about how his music helped define my teen years and how it helped get me more into music in general. We aren't supposed to talk to the talent.

Then at the end of the night one of my co-workers found a blink-182 guitar pick, and was nice enough to give it to me. So now I have that to add to my collection of picks. Sweeeet.

So then came Blue Rodeo on the 27th. Always a good show. Amazing musicians and mellow crowd. Opening band was a Canadian indie band that has been around forever called The Weakerthans. They were actually very good, I haven't had more people ask about the opening band than I did at this show. I will probably look more into them other than just knowing their name now.

Blue Rodeo was awesome. They played new stuff, which I don't always like from a live show (I prefer when bands play material their fans know), but they also played some tracks that I love. Like I said, always a good show.

Then today was the first day of the two-day Virgin Festival. I'm not working tomorrow or any of the shows in September, so I'm done for the season.

Bands I saw were Mates of State (A duo of a drumming dude and keyboarding wife, of which I know a band that is the exact opposite and much better, Matt and Kim), Lights (cool little electronic pop type lady, must get her EP soon), Grizzly Bear (have heard great things, like what I heard), Sloan (Canadian institution, almost), Paolo Nutini (really different from anything else I heard that day, but actually quite good), Franz Ferdinand (holy crap they were loud), The Pixies and Ben Harper and Relentless7.

It was a long day and I am very tired from it.

So that was my summer.

Well, I suppose I have something to contribute here now...

I went to a few concerts so far, and there's one in my near future.
I saw a Steely Dan tribute band called Aja at a music club on the west side of Cleveland called The Winchester. Frickin' amazing!

I also went to an all-day concert thingy called Bairdstock (the site is on Baird Rd in Wellington, Ohio)
Anyhoo, there were a bunch of mostly cover bands, a few original. There was a Janis Joplin tribute band called Ball & Chain that was good, a Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix tribute called The Jimi Ray Stevens Experience, and a Pink Floyd tribute band called The Dark Side of the Moon, which was also pretty good. and MAN can those folks throw a party! It's private property andit's really nice with a covered stage, pavillion, and sound control tower thingy, plus a pondwith a beach, camp sites, food vendors... Good times, good times!

The next show I'm seeing will be Porcupine Tree and King's X at the House of Blues in Cleveland.

If you've never heard of Porcupine Tree ad you like Pink Floyd or prog at all, LISTEN TO THESE GUYS NAO!

I went to a private album premier concert in Toronto of Three Days Grace. It was a great show. Got to hear lots of new stuff early.

I'll be heading out to my first concert in a little more then a week. I'll be seeing Metallica in Tampa on the 3rd. The opening acts are lamb of God and Gojira. It sounds like a pretty good show actually, I've been reading about some of the other concerts they've had this year and they threw some surprises. One of which was Lemmy showing up to perform. I really hope something like that happens at the show I'm going to.

Originally Posted by olivia-182

Okay, so I know I'm really late on this, but I just saw this thread, and I want to say something about my first concert (blink-182 in Cincinnati with Chester French, Panic! At The Disco, and Fall Out Boy), so here goes.

I left school early that day with three of my friends, my little sister, and my mom. We drove for three and a half hours and arrived at the venue just as Chester French was finishing up, which, from what I've heard, isn't too big of a loss. All I saw was that the lead singer was wearing pink pants and saying something about blink. They sounded a bit "meh" when I was walking in, but I give them credit for the effort.

Next was Panic!, who used to be my favorite band of all time before blink, and I was really impressed. Brendon is really talented, and his singing was awesome at this show. I was a bit skeptical as to how they would sound given the recent loss of two members, but it was great. I enjoyed it a lot.

After that, we got up from our seats (which were really great) and bought a ton of merch, then sat back down just as Fall Out Boy finished their opening song, "Sugar, We're Going Down". I was surprised that they sounded pretty good. I expected them to suck, but they did okay. They ended their set with a cover of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" with Brendon lending his vocal talents.

When they went off the stage, we waited for about 45 minutes while the crew got everything set up. It was really boring, but when the curtain finally dropped as the first notes of "Dumpweed" began to play, I almost peed myself with excitement. I honestly cannot describe my excitement at that moment.

The rest of the show went on amazingly well. Tom sounded awesome, and as someone else said, he sounds WAY different (and way better, I might add) live than on a recording. His singing was awesome. It's really bizarre how even his talking voice live contrasts with what you hear on YouTube. It caught me off guard somewhat, but he really does sound at least ten times better in person.

Mark did really well too, of course, and Travis was perfect. His drum solo was incredible; I won't even attempt to explain it. My friends and I got out of our seats during it and we were right in front of it. It was truly incredible.

There wasn't too much banter, but it didn't matter. The show was all-around outstanding, and I had so much fun.

Also, I get to see them again at MSG in NY on October 4th, so, yey.

This is literaly the exact same thing I thought when I saw them in Toronto, lol. I swear, you must have gone to the same show as me.

Although my seats were 3 feet away from the pit, and I found out that me and my friend missed out in meeting Mark. He was chilling in the pit around 5:30 while me and my friend were lost on the other side of Toronto, lol.

The Borgata in Atlantic City is playing Slightly Stoopid & 311 on November 21. I'm very "down" for this.

I'll be at a Parkway Drive concert at The House of Blues in New Orleans October 16, and the next day I'll be going to Houston to see The Fall of Troy.


I will in all likelihood be at VooDoo Fest '09 in New Orleans this year too. It's gonna be a massive affair.

Saw King's X and Porcupine Tree at the House of Blues in Cleveland. Good stuff, but I had a long day at work, and was SOOOO tired. I would have enjoyed it mre had I been more awake.

Right before King's X came on, the tour manager came out and explained that all of Porcupine Tree's equipment was still en route from the airport, so instead of a short break between bands, it ended up being an hour and a half. I think they cut King's X short, cuz they didn't play very long, like around 40 minutes.
Despite the rushed set-up and lack of soundc heck, it sounded great and I was impressed. Major kudos to their technical team at HOB and on the tour.

Yeah, I'm really looking forward to some qualified tech specialists. Most concerts I've seen were lacking in the tech department. Not to mention a technically disastrous set up I played with at a high school show once.