Fela Kuti. Absolutely transcendent.

Runners up - Henry Rollins, Bad Brains.

Gawd I sound too nostalgic. I have been to some amazing shows more recently too - Janelle Monae in a 2,000 person venue, Cimafunk is great live. Charley Crockett and Leon Bridges, Tyler Childers (I did not love the venue but he is amazing). J Roddy Walston and the Business oh my God what a live act they were, and we got to see them in bars.

But FELA, that really was a special thing to experience.

Mono (Japanese post-rock/shoegaze band) just before COVID. Incredibly intense live - felt like I was being actually picked up and carried by the music. I do regret not taking any ear protection though. I went spontaneously and it’s why I now have some earbuds in a container on my keyring.

Leonard Cohen played for over three hours, introduced everyone in the band multiple times, and was going down on his knees to sing. He still gave it his all, and within a year he was dead.

Also saw The Stooges, who easily stole the whole festival despite playing mid afternoon and most of them being on crutches and colostomy bags. I think only Iggy is left alive from that show now.

Not that you have to die to do a great performance!

Paul McCartney and 21 Pilots, both at Bonnaroo 2013.

21 Pilots were getting popular, but this was still a year before Blurryface came out, so they were on one of the smaller stages during the daytime. Even so, their energy was amazing.

Paul McCartney just had this presence about him. It also helps if you have multiple hours of hit songs that are completely cemented in popular culture. His two hour set lasted four hours, he came back out for four encores, and I don’t think a single person left early.

And since you didn’t say musical performances: comedian Emo Philips! Saw him at a comedy club and it was probably the funniest thing I’ve ever been to.

Mark Knopfler for the music. RAMMSTEIN because fire is cool.

High as a kite at a friends house just hanging out after work. My friend just randomly picks up his acoustic guitar and starts noodling. His roommate comes home, disappears for a bit and comes out with a standup bass. For the next 2 hrs they just smoked and jammed for the love of music.

Me:

I saw Freelance Whales in a basement with like 20 other people in Ames, that shit slapped

• TOOL
• Roger Waters
• Muse

Meshuggah’s live sound is earth shattering. And I don’t mean deafening loud. Most club music is probably louder. But theirlive mix is just absolutely heavy. Then you have the synchronized lights and you only see their silhouettes for most of the show.

A one man play of macbeth done with balloons.

Neutral Milk Hotel

NIN always does a great show, but I think of all of them I liked the Fragility Tour the most (2000). It was so well done.

KMFDM always puts on a hell of a show. I never miss a chance to see them and they always kill it. My favorite show of there’s was the Symbols tour with PIG. They had Ogre from Skinny Puppy touring with them as he was a temporary member for that album. Just so good.

Gwar was always great and fun to see live. They probably still are, but I haven’t been able to see them live in years.

Phish

Lindsey Stirling puts on a pretty great show, lots of acrobatics and fun choreography. Her Christmas show is a TON of fun.

A group of friends in high school had a band and their final show before splitting up and going all to different colleges was the best live concert ever.

First of all, they were extremely good. I think they could have made it big if they ever took it seriously and sent demos to recording companies.

But second was how they set up the venue. They held it at another friend’s skatepark built into a barn on their property, and the band wanted everyone in the audience to crowd around them as close as possible. I was right up in the singer’s face and it was like the concert was just for me. Just so fucking awesome.

The shitty kicker is… I can not remember what they called themselves at the time. I only remember their original name before they changed it: Kill the Messenger.