Nothing, will ever replace that for me…no matter how many songs I collect in electronic form, the thousands upon thousands, none of it will ever have the sweet smell of hot stuffy teenage miasma…none of it will have the kinetic surge of a crowd pressing closer, closer, harder…until some poor sap raises their hand to get ejected.
We were not meant to listen to music alone.
We were meant to see it, smell it, and feel it.
I have heard many, many bands, and felt many, many crowds.
I am a concert junkie.
And in honor of all those shows…and in honor of my favorite bands…I give you this list.
My top eight musical performances-in no particular order
Who: Real Big Fish
Where: Downtown Nashville Tennessee, 328 Performance Hall
Few can rock harder than a SKA band, and if you ask me, nothing is more puck than a group of guys packing trumpets and trombones into the tattooed dives where music fights for acceptance. But then again, and like I said…not much rocks harder than SKA!
I saw this band and had to duck the swinging trombone…but never forgot how good loud, energetic music felt, that emphatic bounce still drives my heart forward on days when the clouds are all I can see…
Who: NOFX
Where: Again...Downtown Nashville Tennessee, 328 Performance Hall
Alot of people out there claim that they listen to punk, and I've come to realize, that punk, true disorderly conduct, is in the eye of the beholder, it's generational, it relies heavily on what you think is important in the world, what it is you are saying FUK YOU TOO!!!! And on that note, I do believe NOFX puts on a "Punk" show better than any other, and nothing today, that kids buy, and fabricate in HOT TOPIC, even remotely resembles them...when i finally saw Fat Mike and his lovely crew, I couldn't help but smile passed the dirty uneven shoestring that hung in my face, that dangled from the scrawny adolescent leg, that clung to the piping in the ceiling...all the while, the show just went on...like it ought to.
Who: The Offspring
Where: Lots of places...Starwood Amphitheatre, Showbox SODO, and the TACOMA DOME!
For those of you who know me, you know one of my favorite bands of all time is the god damned Offspring...and you may all wonder why I chose them as something to identify with. Well here is the history: It all started in Airborne school. You see, every morning I woke up there, I was nervous about doing well in training, I was nervous about jumping out of perfectly good air planes, and I was nervous about, well everything...so in order to handle this stress, at five in the morning, I would poke my head in to my wall locker, and push play on my CD player and crank this band...it was truly the first time I ever FELT what it meant to be empowered by music...the sounds of Dexter Holland screaming about over coming adversity not only hit a nerve with me, but it drove something home deep to my core, something I would always look to in times of frustration and doubt...and oh by the way, they put on a pretty great GOD DAMNED show too!
Who: Stoned Temple Pilots
Where: Starwood amphitheatre, Tennessee
I saw these guys while I was in the Active Army, and went with my buddy at the time. It was a hot summer day, and there were only two bands on the bill, STP and Cheap Trick…and as it turns out, there were actually people there that came to see Cheap Trick.
I was not one of those people.
Scot Weiland, is one of the best rock front men I’ve ever seen, and controls the crowd, his train wreck persona is perfect when played at a hundred and fifty decibels.
Hands down, one of the best bands I've seen...ever.
The best rock band I've ever known, and they played their last show, in front of just a few fans, an unschedualed event, a return to the bar where they made there names.
The best part about this concert: it was during our honeymoon, and it was my wifes first rock show...nothing better than a live show in Canada...happy people smoking weed, and enjoying eachothers company.
By the way, the lead singer is a dead ringer for Morrison...
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