GWAR in the 00s! I randomly was invited by a customer during my shift at retail. I went in my work uniform. I never washed that uniform.

TJ Richter (Mind Plasma) was in incredible performer, too. I would be shocked if anyone on Lemmy was able to see him; he mainly did performances at warehouse raves and techno festivals, but for the set and setting, his performances were INCREDIBLE to stumble upon and lose yourself in. Rest in Plasma.

IDK how to pick but my late ‘90s to early ‘00s viewings of AFI, HIMSA, Motörhead, Dio, Bad Religion, and Priest are probably contenders for the best.

The floutist society in my city had tull in for a concert in the park. I think they made a point of playing the most flute intensive songs from the catalogue or maybe were asked to. Anyway best concert of my life and it was free. Great weather, in the park, near the lakefront.

David Gilmour’s comfortably numb solo in Pompeii, starts around 4:30 here

A young PJ Harvey, solo on Jay Leno: https://youtu.be/KBZoL8wpZzU

Seeing the Justice Hyperdrama tour live was incredibly transcendental, and an experience I wish I could experience live again. The lights were so damn cool. https://archive.org/details/justice-live-accor-arena-18122025/Justice+(Coachella+2024+-+Week+One).mkv

I used to work for the largest record company in America at the time, and saw a LOT of concerts of all kinds. My favorites:

• Ella Fitzgerald with the Count Basie Orchestra: Two genuine legends, at the top of their game.

• kd lang: A private performance at a convention, and it was a PERFECT performance. It’s hard to describe what I mean, but I’ve never seen an audience react like that. A few weeks later, I saw her interviewed on 60 Minutes, and she mentioned that every now and then she does a perfect performance, and I knew she was thinking about that night.

• Debbie Harry/ Tom Tom Club: Tom Tom Club (Talking Heads without David Byrne) opened with a blistering set, and then backed up Debbie Harry, who also had her guitarist Chris Stein with her. Just an incredible show.

• Beethoven: Symphony #9: the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt, with Thomas Hampson and Dawn Upshaw, at Carnegie Hall. Harnoncourt was one of my favorite conductors, very influential on my musical education, and seeing him conduct the greatest music ever composed was one of the most memorable musical moments of my life.

• Prince - Saw him twice, and he was unbelievable both times. Frankly, I don’t think those performances were anything special for him, I think he was just that good, all the time.

• Lindsey Buckingham - Private performance in a conference room with about 20 people. He played acoustic guitar, and sang three Fleetwood Mac songs. He sings so intensely, he turns bright red, and he looks like his head will explode. I met him after, and got a photo with him that I still have.

Weird Al. No joke. Different outfits and sets for every song. Wildly talented and wholesome man.

Just cool: Angine de Poitrine, you’ve probably seen it by now.

In person, probably Black Sabbath on their 13 tour. I cheered so hard that I had to take a knee at one point. First sign of getting old, I guess lol

Not music but my city has a surprising handful of puppetry troops that put on absolutely phenomenal performances.

They use really elaborate hand built stages, puppets, and other contraption. projectors and paper cut outs for wild visual overlays, compelling emotionally engaging scenes and It’s always for crowds of ~30 or fewer people sitting on a floor. It really feels like the textbook definition of childlike wonder. They are by far the events I get most hype about when I see a flyer / post.

Fela Kuti, by far. That show, absolutely nothing else existed, probably best performance in the world.

Second place Henry Rollins, I almost sat out his set because he was so snooty to everyone in the club but holy crap.

And Marcus King has such charisma - he is a pudgy not particularly handsome dude and was wearing an unflattering outfit but I swear he transformed, not physically exactly but is so compelling on stage - he picks up the guitar you forget about his looks. I find that almost the definition of cool, in a way. Transcendent.

Kinga Głyk right next to the Porta Nigra.

Jeff Rosenstock and PUP playing the salt shed in Chicago last year. What a show.

In person? Streetlight Manifesto at a shithole venue during the dog days of summer on the Somewhere in the Between tour. It was so goddamn hot that the security guys were paying more attention to spraying the crowd with cold water than making sure people were safe. Stage diving, crowd surfing, insane energy the entire time.

On tv? Hard not to say Gojira at the Paris Olympics.

Cirque du Soliel Crystal: A lot of amazing choreography and skating.

Cats: We took our then 4 year old son and had seats in the first row. One of the cats came up to my son, who was standing in front of me. She scared him and he jumped up into my arms. She looked horrified and actually told me “SORRY!” I told her it was OK as my son actually started giggling after his initial fright. He turned in my arms and gave her one of his patented smiles. Later in the show the entire cast came out into the audience singing. They were so close that we could hear them singing directly without the PA. That was 15 years ago and our son still talks about it.

Concerts:

Chicago/ Beach Boys co headlining. By far the best rock concert I’ve attended.

Black Crows opening for ZZ Top (Recycler Tour): ZZ Top was always known for spectacular shows. On this one though, the Black Crows performance was light years ahead of the headliner. They were a really good live band.

Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops at the Riverbend Music Center: 1812 Overture. The Cincinnati Pops used actual cannons for the performance. Yeah, real cannons.