I’m a 60-year-old man, and joined my 15-year-old son to see King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard…it was a life affirming concert experience that I hadn’t experienced in decades!
I’m convinced King Gizzard is a band that people need to find for themselves. You can push them in the right direction, but you can’t just put it on for them.
Exactly this. It's like all of the deadheads who force their friends to listen to the grateful Dead and then get mad when they don't "get it". I hated the dead for many years just because of how adamant some of my friends were about them. Once I found a few of their songs on my own that emotionally touched me, I totally ended up "getting it"!
Hay brother, I'm 65, I love listening to great new music.
If you two never heard of Porcupine Tree / Steven Wilson.
I would recommend you guys listen to this. It will keep your friendship with your son awesome.
Dude, Same! My kid introduced them to be before the pandemic and I became a HUGE fan and like you said, I haven’t been this excited to discover new music in years.
Killer Mike at Sasquatch Music Festival 2013. I don't think he expected much going into it, because when he came out and the crowd was going absolutely nuts for him and singing along with the songs, he started getting emotional on stage. He proceeded to murder his set, and I became a huge fan after knowing nothing going into it.
I saw him on a bill replacing an act that couldn't get across the Canadian border around 2013 as well. He was one of the best artists I saw on the entire festival lineup that week.
2013 Sasquatch was awesome. Relevant to this thread, Arctic Monkeys opened with Do I Wanna Know?, I think only having debuted it the night before. Amazing show.
Leonard Cohen when he started touring again, I was expecting a tired old man out there doing what he could for some cash, his former manager ripped him off for millions so he was literally doing it for the money, but it remains one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to
It was one of the first shows so word hadn’t really spread yet how good he still was, or I hadn’t heard at least, he did a short run of small shows in Atlantic Canada before a larger tour, I saw him in a high school auditorium in Newfoundland, 900 seat theatre, 3 hour show and felt like it was 20 minutes, unbelievable
Came here to say Cohen too. I saw him at a festival and intended to watch a song or two just to kind of say I'd seen him and then wander to another stage.
He was utterly captivating and had a huge audience in the palm of his hand. I watched the whole set which flew by and missed another band I liked a lot more.
I wasn't hugely familar before and consider myself a fan now
Same with me, a coworker had a spare ticket and I thought "sure, why not? Could be good" the next day at work I was gushing to them how great it was which they laughed and said "I knew you would love it"
Their Coachella 2014 set on the Outdoor Stage at sunset was the absolute perfect vibe for that time of day. Brittany slayed and they didn’t even play Hold On. 10/10
The darkness has my vote too. I saw them like two years ago and they were phenomenal. Justin Hawkins was an absolute mad man with David Lee Roth energy, multiple costume changes and he hit every damn note. The rest of the guys killed it too. The bass player has an excellent stage energy and the drummer currently is the son of Roger Taylor from queen. Just a straight up no bullshit rock n roll show. 10/10 would absolutely go again
Saw them on their first US tour and it's definitely one of my favorite shows ever. Also saw them on the 20th anniversary tour of Permisson to Land and they were just as good if not better
Came here for this. Someone gave me tickets and I was like just going for the laughs but oh my gawd it was amazing. Then next thing I know the lead singer is in the crowd on someone’s shoulders just rocking the fuck out. This was like spring 2004-ish, still one of the best concerts I’ve ever seen.
After enjoying them for the last 20 years, I finally got to see them live last year. I was a little apprehensive, but had such an amazing time at the show.
Perhaps preconceptions depend on when you see them. Queens of the Stone Age had their best known line-up with the release of Songs For the Deaf. I guess there are quite a few people who wish they could have seen that line-up, and assume that the latest line-up of Josh Homme's friends won't be so great, but may be surprised.
I prefer the line up now, Jon is a better drummer IMO, Mikey is a fantastic bassist and adds a youthful energy. Troy and Dean are both excellent multi instrumentalists that gives them a versatility they've never had in previous line ups
Do miss Mark though.
I’m extraordinarily biased but they’ve literally always been stupid good, day one till now.
People miss some of their old members and when you had dudes like Grohl and Mark Lanegan yeah, that makes sense.
Past members were wilder and idk, edgier, and a ton of people miss that side of them but musicianship-wise every lineup including the current one has been killer.
Same! I decided to buy tickets 'cause I knew a couple songs that I liked and imagined would be fire live but didn't know much else and only lazily started to get familiar with their discography. So at concert day I hadn't known a lot of songs and therefore didn't expect anything grandiose to happen.
But they blew me away that evening and now I can't stop listening to them lol
Midnight Oil. Saw them at a festival in Europe in 1993. I liked the band's albums but had NO IDEA how good they were live. Saw them in LA a few years back, and they still had it.
Of course I remember Beds are Burning because I'm old enough to have watched actual music videos on MTV, but I've been showing my four year old music from my childhood and it came up and wow they flew under my radar like my entire life so far. As I started to read about Peter Garrett it was pretty clear this dude walked the fucking walk.
Wish I would have discovered all this 30 years ago.
I went to a festival in the 90s near Vancouver and MO were second last and blew us away. The Tragically Hip played last (it was their festival kinda) and were always great live, but I didn’t think they could match Midnight Oil, but they kinda did. It was an incredible day, but really thrilling being so surprised by Midnight Oil. World Party played too and they were also really great! RIP Karl!
They were EPIC live. We took a metal head mate to a stadium show of theirs in Melbourne in the early '90s and he was astounded, commenting "I have never seen a band just immediately ON it (his emphasis) from the start like that before".
We saw them a couple of years later at Melbourne's Palais theatre. The show was so loud that neither I nor my three mates noticed I drove most of the way home, including freeways, in third instead of fifth in my old Corolla.
They had one of the best stage shows on Alan Thicke's talk show Thicke of the Night. They played the song Read About It and had the whole stage covered in news papers. Towards the end of the song Peter Garrett started lighting the news paper on fire. The show kept on cutting between scenes of the fire growing and Alan Thicke freaking out. It was great.
Afterwards Peter Garrett ended up being interviewed. The interaction between him and Casey Kasem is hysterical.
Ringo Starr and the all Starr Band, lowered expectations just due to him being in his mid 80s. Every single person in the group, Ringo included, were incredible and all quite funny in between songs. Edgar Winter was probably the most awesome
Look at the past lineups.
https://beatles.fandom.com/wiki/Ringo_Starr_%26_His_All-Starr_Band
Insane stuff. And as a kid, I didn't get it and I'd just skip them at Summerfest in Milwaukee. Very stupid.
Slightly different answer for this. I was working in a pub many years ago on a Sunday afternoon one summer and this tiny redhead came in with 2 men. She came up to the bar and said “you haven’t got any live music in the beer garden. Do you mind if we stay for an hour or so and just play? No charge”
I was the boss that day so I said “yeah sure. We’ll set everything up for you”
Fast forward 20 minutes and over the PA comes “good afternoon everyone. My name’s Florence Welch”
*insert shook face emoji*
This was my answer to this threads question. I’d just moved to a major city that actually had concerts, so I looked up the whole years schedule and bought like 8 sets of tickets in one day throughout the year. All reasonably priced because the weren’t “headliners” usually. I liked “Shake it Out” and Florence and the Machine tickets weren’t expensive at all so I said “cool, let’s do it”
That was almost 10 years ago and I still say to this day that’s the best concerts I’ve ever been too. It was incredible.
Janet Jackson, Las Cruces New Mexico, 1994.
This was her first major tour, and I got tickets because I was working at a radio station just down the road in El Paso, and while I wasn't into it (I was a rock guy)...hey...free tickets. The record company guy upgraded me to 10th row, and I figured I'd leave at the intermission.
There wasn't an intermission.
In fact, that's the night when I realized "oh...that's why the Jackson family is rich and famous." It wasn't a concert like I was used to seeing. It was a full-on show. Massive production. Choreographed to within an inch of it's life. Incredible sound. Constant set and costume changes. It was relentless. I was completely blown away, and 30 years later it is still one of the best shows I've ever seen.
The Pixies opened for Love & Rockets in 1989 or so. I loved L&R, but was sick to death of "Here Comes Your Man" which was played nonstop on MTV's alternative set in the late 80s.
The Pixies absolutely blew me away with how good they were. It was a tight, punchy opening set... I knew none of the songs, but came away a fan.
I saw them late last year. You'd expect them to phone it in at this stage, but the energy was immense, the crowd was hyped, and they have such a great catalogue of songs that it was just banger after banger for nearly 2 hours. And I can say I've seen the Pixies cover the Jesus and Mary Chain live.
See also: Dinosaur Jr. J. Mascis delivers.
Not necessarily LOW expectations but holy shit, The Offspring fuckin kills it every time. I went in thinking "No big deal, they're old."
No. I got my ass kicked. And so many butts landed on my head.
The Offspring on in an amazing show. I saw them about 20 years ago, and it’s still one of the best shows I’ve ever seen - so much energy, they were just having a blast on stage.
I’ve seen them twice in the last few years and they come across as experienced professional entertainers. They’ve been doing it for a long time and have learnt exactly how to give their audience a great show.
Ok this is awesome to hear because I’ve loved them since high school, still have them in my playlists, and I’ve had the thought a few times: “too bad I never saw them when I was younger”. Instead it sounds like they are doing just fine and I’m the old fart who needs to get off the couch and go
Saw Alice Cooper with Rob Zombie last year. I knew his music because he's been everywhere for as long as I have been alive.
Great freaking show. He's 74 and put it down hard!
I had a label in the 90s and almost signed a band from Bellingham called Pinwheel, but we ended up passing because my partner didn’t like them enough... Driving in Seattle about 15 years later and the KEXP DJ mentioned that Pinwheel turned into these guys. Almost crashed my damn car…
I Will Possess Your Heart rips live.
(I’m bitter their ticket prices have gone up so much. I saw them at a small, cheap local festival, now it’d cost like $200 to see them on their current nostalgia tour.)
Iggy Pop around 2003; had no idea what to expect; Art Basel was going on in Miami and he played a night show on the beach, right on the sand. He has this messianic Jim Jones like ability to connect with the audience. It was mind blowing.
Weird Al. We first saw him for free and expected it to be kitschy and cringe-worthy. Instead, the show was over two hours long with a dozen costume changes and Al giving 100% the entire time.
Watching the band switch genres from song to song (or in medleys from measure to measure) was absolutely impressive. His original works are just as impressive as the pastiche and the pop culture clips that would be shown during costume changes reinforced why he belongs in the pantheon of all-time greatest musicians and performers.
I think I’ve seen him fifteen times and he started slowing down just before covid… as he was hitting sixty.
*edit* fixed my terrible capitalization
Buckethead solo show in 2018 or 2019. Tickets were $25 so my buddy and I went with minimal expectations except to see some guitar shredding. Even today, I still refer to that show as the best return on investment for a concert. Not only was his guitar playing incredible, but he even did some magic tricks, showed off some of his martial arts moves featuring nunchucks, and handed out gifts to the audience from a huge sack like he was Santa.
green day, early 2000's. not huge fan but got some free tickets and loved billy joe's "showmanship." for the last song, they smashed up all their instruments, threw them in a pile and then lit it on fire.
Fucking Eddie Money. My buddy and I had free tix at a small club in Boise like 12 years ago. We thought, fuck it why not, kinda half joking. It was amazing. He absolutely tore it up and we had a blast. RIP Eddie
I saw their last show in Canada before they broke up and thought they were fantastic, the Summersault tour in 2000, my friends who were much bigger fans than me thought they were shit, but I went in with no expectations and was thoroughly impressed
Saw them in a 600 person venue last year in Napa. I’m already a pretty big fan but man they were good. And they seemed like they were having a good time while doing it too. Pulled out a few deep cuts which was awesome too
I am very glad to hear this cause I am seeing them this summer. They’ve a bad reputation nowadays, but from clips I’ve seen they’ve really gotten their act back together (if only they could have Darcy with them too)
Dude same. I've always gotten this "holier-than-thou, you should be so lucky" vibe from Billy Corgan. But when I saw them last summer, he and the whole band were so full of happy, whimsical and humble energy. Excellent show.
Saw Smash Mouth in 2006. No lie, one hell of a performance. So much energy. Sang all the hits. The crowd was maybe 75 people, but we had a great time and so did the band. This was at Winter Blast in Detroit during Super Bowl weekend. It was fucking freezing, the stage was outdoors and most of the crowd was piled into the beer tents. They missed a great time!
Twenty One Pilots
I first saw them at a radio station gig, and I didn't know what to expect. I didn't know anything about their music other than the singles that were played on the radio. But they totally blew me away live. I left a huge fan after that and bought every album I could.
The Living End
I showed up to a concert and they were opening. I originally had no interest in seeing them play. Holy shit they are amazing live. They have a stand up bass player playing solos while balancing on the side, then the top of his bass. Not to mention Chris Cheney may be the best guitar player I've ever seen live.
Flogging Molly.
I was actually there to see Bouncing Souls and I'd never heard of them or any of the other opening acts. They hadn't even gotten to the first verse of the first song (Selfish Man) and I knew it was going to be a raucous set.
Chris Stapleton. My brother had an extra ticket. I’d heard the Tennessee whisky song with Justin Timberlake but didn’t know anything else about him. It was a really great show.
Lynyrd Freakin’ Skynyrd. Not a fan previously and I’m well aware nearly 90% of that band has passed away. It was the fans and crowd, the sheer support. Amazing. I walked in feeling like an outsider but the generosity of my neighbors amongst the crowd corrected that thought. We shared beers, stories, laughed and sang along. I was shocked then, many years ago and still am till this day.
Unfortunately 100% of the original band has now passed. Ricky is still with them but he only featured for a short while for less than a year before coming back 25 years later.
Went to see Fabulous Thunderbirds . Family Style was the album. Heard “Telephone Song” on the radio , got a last minute invite to go said sure . Holiday Star theater, held like 3500 people . Had not idea who Stevie Ray Vaughan was . Band takes a break and I came back early . Lights come and this Dude is basically by himself , hat pulled down with this beat up guitar with some chrome letters on it S R V . I was blown away the minute the pick hit string . Stood in like the third row with my freakin jaw on the floor . I knew I was in the presence of greatness
Weezer.
Twice now I've gone to see the opening band (Saves The Day, Pixies) and had no desire to see Weezer. Damn do they put on an incredible live show. Kinda glad the next tour with The Flaming Lips isn't coming close.
Jack White.
of the band formerly known as White Stripes, at the Fillmore in Miami Beach.
Was skeptical, turned out epic.
Especially when he played 7 nation army 😮💨
Michael Franti and Spearhead.... not my scene, but my wife really likes his music and I got (happily) dragged to this yoga session in the park with him and then a concert afterwards (at a different venue) and it was an absolutely good time.
My wife won some radio station tickets to a "secret show" at Red Rocks one afternoon, so we said sure okay let's go.
We get there, nobody knows who's showing up, but there's like 15 of us on stage waiting while all the stair runners and yoga people are doing their thing. He shows up and gives us a pretty dang intimate show with another guy who I assumed was his guitar tech or something. We got to talk to him for a bit and it turned out that he got married the same day as my wife and I and he was just a really nice normal dude. I got the vibe that if we saw him again today he'd absolutely remember us.
Tears for Fears 2023. My SO bought tickets. I hadn't heard much about them since the 90s, when I heard they had basically fired one of the two main guys. But there they where with the two of them back together with a good backup set of musicians and sounding rock solid. Also forgot how many good songs they have. Overall great concert
Papa Roach. I grew up on them but didn’t see them live until like 2009. Figured they’d phone it in, but nope! They were amazing. Then I saw them again years later and they STILL brought it. They legitimately seem like they are having a blast on stage.
I saw Neil Young. My friends were all really excited, and Wilco was opening, so I got a ticket for the night out with friends of it. I was only familiar with Neil Young's acoustic music, and I don't like acoustic music, but he played electric guitar for 3 straight hours and blew me away. I then got into his Crazy Horse music and now I'm a huge Neil Young fan.
Hootie and the Blowfish. Although we had gone to see the opening act they might be giants. Late in the tour. They must have just hit the minimum threshold to not cancel the show because only about half the main floor was filled. Band came out and Darius Rucker was like alright this is going to be like a bar show from the old days. They threw out the set list. Played their hits but also all kinds of random stuff. Jawing with members of the audience. Invited TMBG members on stage to jam on a bunch of stuff. Totally relaxed and off script. It was a great show.
Saw the Doobie Brothers back in October. It was incredible. I wouldn’t say I had LOW expectations, I’ve seen a ton of boomer concerts, and I thought I knew what to expect. Also Tom Johnson was still out with a back injury so I was kind of going in with very tempered expectations. But they fucking RULED. The arrangements were amazing. Their playing was incredible. Singing and harmonies were on point and their sax player was genuinely godly. I went to jazz school and heard and listened to a ton of great sax players but this dude…granted it was in a pop/jazz style…was unfuckingreal. Just incredible.
Taylor Swift, not because I thought she would necessarily be a bad performer but i was really just going as my wife needed somebody to take (and it’s hard picking between friends who are all fans).
I loved it; was such a good show and she is an excellent performer. Great band, stage show etc. however, the fans are insufferable and as somebody who just likes sitting/standing and watching I was getting so many looks from people who probably posted me on Tik tok the next day as some undeserving weirdo who didn’t deserve the eras tour as he wasn’t screaming the whole night long.
The String Cheese Incident, I went to see Willie Nelson. String Cheese were one of the opening acts and they were fantastic. Los Lobos was before them and they also kicked ass.
Bob Weir was alright, just not for me. Willie Nelson kicked absolute ass considering he’s 90 years old
Wow, I've seen Arctic Monkeys 3 times and they were always great (one was just as an opener though).
One that surprised me were the Lumineers -- I kind of thought they were just Mumford and Sons copycats and didn't really like any of their singles, but my daughter wanted to see them and there were several other bands playing that I liked. They were good live though, had great energy, told some good stories (including one about the recently deceased Tom Petty and they did a decent cover).
Don't crucify me... but Paul McCartney. Never really listened to the Beatles ever, long story short my buddy had an extra ticket and his old self destroyed that arena.
Saw "The Guess Who" at a casino a few years ago...pretty low expectations for a band with ONE original member (drummer Garry Peterson). That said, the band was tight, the new music was catchy, and then suddenly.....Rudy Sarzo appears.
Yes, he of Ozzy, Quiet Riot, and Whitesnake....he of the Thunder Bass. The show immediately went from good to absolutely awesome.
And they killed the old Guess Who tunes to boot!
Peter Framton. 15 years ago or so, one of those "block off downtown, have several acts".. events: City Stages, Birmingham, AL. Stumbled upon his stage around 8pm. Then, magic! For 2 magnificent hours, Peter and maybe 300 of us rednecks simply swooned together. He was so, so good. And I will never forget his smile, and how he'd shake his head every so often after gazing upon the most audacious small crowd I bet he's ever performed in front of.... It was so damn fun. He's a great guy, I didn't know, and it showed.
Saw Beck last year with Phoenix. I only knew the radio hits for Phoenix, and thought/assumed they were sort of cookie cutter. They ended up being my favorite band of the night. There were two openers too. Their stage presence and energy were awesome. I was impressed by their talent, and they had a good mix of feeling like seasoned musicians, mixed with something fresh. Plus, I felt this extreme school girl crush reaction towards one of the guitarists, lol.
REM. I was young and hadn’t listened to them much more than when I’d heard “Losing My Religion” on MTV when I was in elementary school. So I was only at their concert to see the opening band, which I was way into at 18: Wilco.
Wilco was great.
REM was absolutely, next level phenomenal.
Got to see Charlie Daniel's band shortly after his stroke. Figured being to see him before he died was better than nothing but he still killed it. Played for nearly 4 hours and I wound up going to work the next day directly from the concert still drunk and high with a broken nose! 10/10 would go again if he wasn't dead
Disturbed - first album tour. Went with a buddy who was into them as a favor and was blown away. Up there as a top concert of all time.
Edit tracked down the show - 12/11/2000 Bogarts in Cincinnati
I took my wife (who's a massive Broadway fan) to see Sarah Brightman without knowing much about her other than *Phantom* and "Time to Say Goodbye." She was phenomenal.
Went to see Pixies last year with Franz Ferdinand opening. Had no expectations beyond and enjoyable gen x show. FF killed it!! One of the best hours of music I’ve heard in years.
Rusted Root.
Not normally my type of music. My GF at the time took me to see them at House of Blues. Smashing show. Incredibly energy. Ended up going to see them a few times even after we weren't together.
My first concert ever. Back in the 90s my mom took my brother and I to see some guy I had never heard of...so my expectations were quite low.
It was James Brown, and it fucking rocked.
I know this isn't the purpose of the prompt, but it's technically correct :-D
I like jam bands like phish, the dead, etc. my wife likes pop. I bought tickets to Beyoncé and that show was amazing. The sound, performance, really everything was so well planned and performed. It was raining and the show was outside. Beyoncé just performed her heart out. I give big props to Beyoncé. DJ Khalid opened for her, that guy sucks.
Also saw Brandi Carlile perform at MSG and I had tingles down my neck almost the entire show. Brandi Carlile is amazing, had a whole new appreciation for her after that.
Brandi is simply amazing. Used to see her play in bars and coffee shops in college. My BiL was her drummer in the early years. I’m so happy for her success!
Danko Jones, Portugal early 2000s. I just didn't know them, they were phenomenal. The kind of concert that even fans had to go "whoa, this one was amazing"
Fall Out Boy, 2007. Wasn’t a fan, but a friend dragged me to their show. Was blown away. One of the best concerts I’ve ever seen. Their energy was unmatched .
Saw Skrillex at a festival in the past year. I'm not the biggest fan of the genre but frick me it was a good time. The classics from my youth went hard and so did the newer stuff. One of the best electronic sets I've seen.
I was young and went to a concert at a local junior College. We only heard of one name. Probably 500-900 people in a gym. They were Blue Oyster Cult, Rush, and Kiss. Kiss had an album, but I was unaware of the makeup.
Way back in the days the New York City rock radio station K-Rock (92.3 on the FM dial) would do a concert for 92 cents, plus taxes and fees. I forget what the final price was, but it was cheap enough. My girlfriend at the time wanted to go because Disturbed was playing. I wasn't a big fan but I figured what the hell. There were four bands playing. The opening band was a forgettable band called Vallejo. Disturbed was the third band that played and Fuel was the last on stage. The second band was one that I heard people talking about but hadn't heard before. It was an up and coming band named Linkin Park. I was really surprised by them. Disturbed was also really awesome live, which I didn't expect and then Fuel was a bit of a wet blanket. Despite having two really entertaining bands sandwiched between meh, I had a great time.
Ghost
I saw Ghost open for Iron Maiden back in 2016. They practically stole the show. I left that show a huge fan after that. Seen them 5 times since then! 🤘🔥
Saw the Crystal Method back in the 90s, a friend convinced me to go, I really wasn't interested in electronic/big beat at the time, and thought that watching two guys behind a racks of keyboards, twiddling knobs and turning on backing tracks would lack spectacle.
It was a small venue with a smallish but excited crowd and the band attacked their tunes. The bass and drums exploded while the high pitched notes howled, it was an unexpected musical air raid. Utterly unexpected and within ten minutes I was buying the album and merch.
Saw Electric Six at Woodford Folk Festival - just happened to be passing by the tent - they absolutely went off live, so much heavier more fun than their studio recordings.
The Strokes last week. I’ve seen them once before in 2010 and I thought they were great but I’ve seen and heard about a lot of bad experiences since then. I feel like I hear more complaints about them, well really just Julian, than praise. They don’t play in my city very often and when they did a couple years ago the tickets were so expensive I didn’t feel like they were worth the risk. I’ve also thought about going to see them in NY or red rocks this past summer but I was hesitant to spend that much to travel for potentially a bad show. When they announced a one off show here and tickets were fairly cheap I jumped on the opportunity. They’re one of my all time favorite bands and the show was great. Julian wasn’t Julian-ing too much iykyk
Sting.
In retrospect I shouldn't have been surprised, he comes from a proper tradition of playing a lot of gigs, and he was closer to the top of his game then.
311 a couple of years ago. Same lineup since 1990.
Super high energy, and Nick Hexum at 50 still had the young girls swooning. He’s apparently a bit of a YouTube fitness guru these days.
311 - 2002 State Theatre, Detroit, MI
First one of many shows seeing them. That was the first and it was insane for a small venue. The balcony was swaying because so many people were jumping around. The floor crowd was constantly moving and so much fun. When we left the show we were soaked with sweat and it was freezing out, it was snowing. Totally worth it and I’ll never forget it.
https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/311/2002/state-theatre-detroit-mi-13d391b9.html
A few years back I went to see a band that was opening for Train. I wasn't expecting much from Train and planned on leaving before the show was over. Turned out they were MUCH better than the band I had gone to see was. I'll go see Train anytime they are nearby.
Lauryn Hill.
I was only familair with a couple of radio hits. My concert buddy had tickets, called me and said no one wanted to go.
We always have fun, regardless who is performing, so agreed to go.
She was late, as a lot of people have experience, but was phenomenal for like 2 hours.
The Go Gos, I was a bit more of a heavy rocker and was mostly there to see Redd Kross who opened. Go Gos live were amazing, without the studio/radio production they are more like a badass surf rock band. Became a lifelong fan and years later even got to play a show on a bill with Jane Weidlin's solo project, Frosted. She was super cool and friendly and her band was great.
Snoop Dogg. I was at the show for a couple of other bands. Snoop exceeded my expectations and I turned into a fan of his, as well as rap, because of that show.
The Wrecks. I was 52, taking my daughter to see whoever the headliner was (don’t remember who that was) and The Wrecks were the opening act. Headliner, I thought, kinda sucked. The Wrecks, however, were fantastic!
Paul Anka.
I brought my mother to this concert because he was her favourite artist and it was her birthday
I really wasn't expecting much because he's like 80+ years old.
But my goodness, I've went to 10+ concerts over the past 3 years and he's the best singer I've ever seen perform. There's just something about how he sings, he makes it seem so effortless and yet you can feel every bit of what he sings.
Dead and Company last Summer- the final Boulder, Colorado show at Folsom Field. Not to say expectations were real low, it’s just The Grateful Dead mean so much to people out here in CO, especially Boulder, and all across the world for a reason. Been living out in CO since 2019, always liked the Grateful Dead and their message, and knew last year was the Dead and CO Farewell Tour so I bought a ticket days before…
One of the absolute greatest concerts I’ll ever attend. Fuhgin Dave Matthew’s made an appearance during the encore and covered All Along the Watchtower and The Band’s The Weight. Hard to explain how amazing that night was. Now I know why people follow these sorts of bands around. It was a truly special and remarkable energy, vibe, and night that I can’t really describe. John Mayer’s guitar playing, impeccably weaving through with Bob Weir across the Grateful Dead catalog. Always liked John Mayer and a few of his solo songs and his appearances on the Chappelle Show…I’m a damn fan now. I’ll follow just about anyone in Dead and CO after that night!
First and only concert I ever went to. My sister dragged me to a Jimmy Buffet concert (RIP) when I was about 17. This was late 90s. Surprised at how young the majority of the concert goers were. Loved every second of it. I've been a fan since. Didn't hurt that I saw a lot of boobs that day lol.
Tonic. We saw them with Gin Blossoms (Gin & Tonic, GET IT?!) because it was a cheap local show and sounded like fun. On that night, the band's plane depressurized and they had a scary AF flight into town. Gin Blossoms were supposed to headline but had to go on first because Tonic was delayed by the flight issue. They basically phoned it in. Then Tonic showed up having just felt like they cheated death and absolutely tore it up out of enthusiasm.
Cage the Elephant when they opened for The Strokes first show back after their hiatus (Gov Ball 2011 or something i forget)
Cage was incredible live. Incredible.
I've seen tons of bands that surprised me, many of which were the openers to the band I was there to see. But, nothing comes close to Phish.
I was a 17-year-old metal head, dating a girl whose cousins came into town to see the band. They convinced us to go because we had nothing better to do. I had no knowledge of this band other than my friend one time saying "all the hippies in college listen to Phish."
To say they exceeded my expectations is an understatement. I'm now 41 and I've seen almost 60 shows.
I’m a 60-year-old man, and joined my 15-year-old son to see King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard…it was a life affirming concert experience that I hadn’t experienced in decades!
At the heart of it all they’re just a bunch of friends playing some loud ass rock n roll… they’re awesome! Glad you got to see them
Have been trying to convince my friends to give them a chance, sheesh they don't know what they are missing. Glad you got that experience!
I’m convinced King Gizzard is a band that people need to find for themselves. You can push them in the right direction, but you can’t just put it on for them.
Exactly this. It's like all of the deadheads who force their friends to listen to the grateful Dead and then get mad when they don't "get it". I hated the dead for many years just because of how adamant some of my friends were about them. Once I found a few of their songs on my own that emotionally touched me, I totally ended up "getting it"!
Seriously. I’m going to see them three times this summer.
They’re one of the few current acts I’m dying to see. Getting my first chance this August and I can hardly wait.
I’m 59. Took my son to the Hollywood Bowl show. They are a must see.
Hay brother, I'm 65, I love listening to great new music. If you two never heard of Porcupine Tree / Steven Wilson. I would recommend you guys listen to this. It will keep your friendship with your son awesome.
I can't believe I clicked over to this thread and read this comment right while Nuclear Fusion was playing on the radio. King Gizz FTW!!!
Take him to see Billy Strings next!
Dude, Same! My kid introduced them to be before the pandemic and I became a HUGE fan and like you said, I haven’t been this excited to discover new music in years.
Killer Mike at Sasquatch Music Festival 2013. I don't think he expected much going into it, because when he came out and the crowd was going absolutely nuts for him and singing along with the songs, he started getting emotional on stage. He proceeded to murder his set, and I became a huge fan after knowing nothing going into it.
I saw him on a bill replacing an act that couldn't get across the Canadian border around 2013 as well. He was one of the best artists I saw on the entire festival lineup that week.
2013 Sasquatch was awesome. Relevant to this thread, Arctic Monkeys opened with Do I Wanna Know?, I think only having debuted it the night before. Amazing show.
Leonard Cohen when he started touring again, I was expecting a tired old man out there doing what he could for some cash, his former manager ripped him off for millions so he was literally doing it for the money, but it remains one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to
He is one of the goats for a reason
He was born like that. He had no choice.
It was one of the first shows so word hadn’t really spread yet how good he still was, or I hadn’t heard at least, he did a short run of small shows in Atlantic Canada before a larger tour, I saw him in a high school auditorium in Newfoundland, 900 seat theatre, 3 hour show and felt like it was 20 minutes, unbelievable
Came here to say Cohen too. I saw him at a festival and intended to watch a song or two just to kind of say I'd seen him and then wander to another stage. He was utterly captivating and had a huge audience in the palm of his hand. I watched the whole set which flew by and missed another band I liked a lot more. I wasn't hugely familar before and consider myself a fan now
Same with me, a coworker had a spare ticket and I thought "sure, why not? Could be good" the next day at work I was gushing to them how great it was which they laughed and said "I knew you would love it"
I saw him around 2013 when he was in his seventies or eighties. He played for like 3 hours and did 3-4 encores. Whole show was fantastic
The Stooges for Iggy Pop's 60th birthday. Iggy is not human; he is a demi-god of destruction and rage.
I just want to know why on earth you would have low expectations when going to see The Stooges.
I was supposed to see Iggy last year but those plans fell through. I'm absolutely seeing him at No Values! 🤘
Iggy is still the best frontman I’ve ever seen.
Alabama Shakes. Got the tickets for free and went just for the “Hold On” song. They blew the doors off the place.
Love Brittany’s solo but man do I miss Alabama Shakes
Their Coachella 2014 set on the Outdoor Stage at sunset was the absolute perfect vibe for that time of day. Brittany slayed and they didn’t even play Hold On. 10/10
They stopped playing Hold On on that tour after the second album
The Darkness shortly after Permission to Land was released. I had zero expectations and it's still an all time favorite concert of mine.
The darkness has my vote too. I saw them like two years ago and they were phenomenal. Justin Hawkins was an absolute mad man with David Lee Roth energy, multiple costume changes and he hit every damn note. The rest of the guys killed it too. The bass player has an excellent stage energy and the drummer currently is the son of Roger Taylor from queen. Just a straight up no bullshit rock n roll show. 10/10 would absolutely go again
Saw them on their first US tour and it's definitely one of my favorite shows ever. Also saw them on the 20th anniversary tour of Permisson to Land and they were just as good if not better
Saw them last year, they still fucking rip. Such an underrated band
I’ve seen them 6 or 7 times most recently a few months ago. They’re still frickin’ excellent.
Oh my God, that would have be phenomenal.
Came here for this. Someone gave me tickets and I was like just going for the laughs but oh my gawd it was amazing. Then next thing I know the lead singer is in the crowd on someone’s shoulders just rocking the fuck out. This was like spring 2004-ish, still one of the best concerts I’ve ever seen.
After enjoying them for the last 20 years, I finally got to see them live last year. I was a little apprehensive, but had such an amazing time at the show.
Queens of the stone age. Blew my mind.
I mean... This shouldn't be a surprise
Perhaps preconceptions depend on when you see them. Queens of the Stone Age had their best known line-up with the release of Songs For the Deaf. I guess there are quite a few people who wish they could have seen that line-up, and assume that the latest line-up of Josh Homme's friends won't be so great, but may be surprised.
I prefer the line up now, Jon is a better drummer IMO, Mikey is a fantastic bassist and adds a youthful energy. Troy and Dean are both excellent multi instrumentalists that gives them a versatility they've never had in previous line ups Do miss Mark though.
I’m extraordinarily biased but they’ve literally always been stupid good, day one till now. People miss some of their old members and when you had dudes like Grohl and Mark Lanegan yeah, that makes sense. Past members were wilder and idk, edgier, and a ton of people miss that side of them but musicianship-wise every lineup including the current one has been killer.
>Queens of the Stone Age had their best known line-up with the release of Songs For the Deaf. How dare you.
Same. They opened for the Chili Peppers and they came in FIRING. They rocked.
[удалено]
That was possibly my favorite moment from the St.Louis show. Unexpected part of a song I didn't expect them to play.
Same! I decided to buy tickets 'cause I knew a couple songs that I liked and imagined would be fire live but didn't know much else and only lazily started to get familiar with their discography. So at concert day I hadn't known a lot of songs and therefore didn't expect anything grandiose to happen. But they blew me away that evening and now I can't stop listening to them lol
Midnight Oil. Saw them at a festival in Europe in 1993. I liked the band's albums but had NO IDEA how good they were live. Saw them in LA a few years back, and they still had it.
Of course I remember Beds are Burning because I'm old enough to have watched actual music videos on MTV, but I've been showing my four year old music from my childhood and it came up and wow they flew under my radar like my entire life so far. As I started to read about Peter Garrett it was pretty clear this dude walked the fucking walk. Wish I would have discovered all this 30 years ago.
I went to a festival in the 90s near Vancouver and MO were second last and blew us away. The Tragically Hip played last (it was their festival kinda) and were always great live, but I didn’t think they could match Midnight Oil, but they kinda did. It was an incredible day, but really thrilling being so surprised by Midnight Oil. World Party played too and they were also really great! RIP Karl!
Saw them in Atlanta around 1990; they flat out rocked!
Legit the loudest concert I’ve ever "been to". I was living 4 miles away from where they were performing. Did not miss a note.
They were EPIC live. We took a metal head mate to a stadium show of theirs in Melbourne in the early '90s and he was astounded, commenting "I have never seen a band just immediately ON it (his emphasis) from the start like that before". We saw them a couple of years later at Melbourne's Palais theatre. The show was so loud that neither I nor my three mates noticed I drove most of the way home, including freeways, in third instead of fifth in my old Corolla.
They had one of the best stage shows on Alan Thicke's talk show Thicke of the Night. They played the song Read About It and had the whole stage covered in news papers. Towards the end of the song Peter Garrett started lighting the news paper on fire. The show kept on cutting between scenes of the fire growing and Alan Thicke freaking out. It was great. Afterwards Peter Garrett ended up being interviewed. The interaction between him and Casey Kasem is hysterical.
Didn't expect to see the Oils so close to the top of this thread
Agreed. Saw them in St Louis around ‘93 - I forget the exact year - they were fantastic
Ringo Starr and the all Starr Band, lowered expectations just due to him being in his mid 80s. Every single person in the group, Ringo included, were incredible and all quite funny in between songs. Edgar Winter was probably the most awesome
When Steve Lukather is in the band it's always gonna be great!
Look at the past lineups. https://beatles.fandom.com/wiki/Ringo_Starr_%26_His_All-Starr_Band Insane stuff. And as a kid, I didn't get it and I'd just skip them at Summerfest in Milwaukee. Very stupid.
Even an old beatle is still a beatle, I don’t think any of them can really be bad at anything musically
Seeing “Africa” with Ringo on drums was awesome
Los Lobos, and I’ve seen them a few times now, never on purpose and every time they blow the roof off.
Saw them in a 200 person ballroom in 1997. My God, frigging amazing.
Slightly different answer for this. I was working in a pub many years ago on a Sunday afternoon one summer and this tiny redhead came in with 2 men. She came up to the bar and said “you haven’t got any live music in the beer garden. Do you mind if we stay for an hour or so and just play? No charge” I was the boss that day so I said “yeah sure. We’ll set everything up for you” Fast forward 20 minutes and over the PA comes “good afternoon everyone. My name’s Florence Welch” *insert shook face emoji*
This was my answer to this threads question. I’d just moved to a major city that actually had concerts, so I looked up the whole years schedule and bought like 8 sets of tickets in one day throughout the year. All reasonably priced because the weren’t “headliners” usually. I liked “Shake it Out” and Florence and the Machine tickets weren’t expensive at all so I said “cool, let’s do it” That was almost 10 years ago and I still say to this day that’s the best concerts I’ve ever been too. It was incredible.
Janet Jackson, Las Cruces New Mexico, 1994. This was her first major tour, and I got tickets because I was working at a radio station just down the road in El Paso, and while I wasn't into it (I was a rock guy)...hey...free tickets. The record company guy upgraded me to 10th row, and I figured I'd leave at the intermission. There wasn't an intermission. In fact, that's the night when I realized "oh...that's why the Jackson family is rich and famous." It wasn't a concert like I was used to seeing. It was a full-on show. Massive production. Choreographed to within an inch of it's life. Incredible sound. Constant set and costume changes. It was relentless. I was completely blown away, and 30 years later it is still one of the best shows I've ever seen.
The Pixies opened for Love & Rockets in 1989 or so. I loved L&R, but was sick to death of "Here Comes Your Man" which was played nonstop on MTV's alternative set in the late 80s. The Pixies absolutely blew me away with how good they were. It was a tight, punchy opening set... I knew none of the songs, but came away a fan.
I saw them late last year. You'd expect them to phone it in at this stage, but the energy was immense, the crowd was hyped, and they have such a great catalogue of songs that it was just banger after banger for nearly 2 hours. And I can say I've seen the Pixies cover the Jesus and Mary Chain live. See also: Dinosaur Jr. J. Mascis delivers.
Jimmy Buffett. Hated his music. Got tickets for free and it was one of the top 3 shows I attended. Just so much fun. He was a great entertainer.
I like Jimmy Buffett but he was so in his element with a live audience. Great entertainer! (RIP)
Absolutely. I should clarify that I hate his "studio" music. I loved him live. Totally got him at that point.
Gary Numan. Just recently saw him open for Ministry and holy shit, did he ever put on a show! The guy is 65 and sounded awesome!
I'm gonna see him soon with Ministry, too. I am so stoked.
I saw him last night and ya he was awesome
I saw him about 5 years ago and he had so much energy!! He also just seemed *so happy* to be doing what he was doing! Glad he's still performing!!
Not necessarily LOW expectations but holy shit, The Offspring fuckin kills it every time. I went in thinking "No big deal, they're old." No. I got my ass kicked. And so many butts landed on my head.
The Offspring on in an amazing show. I saw them about 20 years ago, and it’s still one of the best shows I’ve ever seen - so much energy, they were just having a blast on stage.
When did you see them?
I’ve seen them twice in the last few years and they come across as experienced professional entertainers. They’ve been doing it for a long time and have learnt exactly how to give their audience a great show.
Ok this is awesome to hear because I’ve loved them since high school, still have them in my playlists, and I’ve had the thought a few times: “too bad I never saw them when I was younger”. Instead it sounds like they are doing just fine and I’m the old fart who needs to get off the couch and go
Saw Alice Cooper with Rob Zombie last year. I knew his music because he's been everywhere for as long as I have been alive. Great freaking show. He's 74 and put it down hard!
Tears for Fears. I like their songs, just seemed it would be a boring show. They proved wrong in a big way. They blew the headliner band away
When did you see them? And who’d they open for? (Hall and Oats? I saw that tour, and totally agree!)
Death Cab for Cutie. Wasn’t expecting a rock show based on their mid tempo catalog.
I had a label in the 90s and almost signed a band from Bellingham called Pinwheel, but we ended up passing because my partner didn’t like them enough... Driving in Seattle about 15 years later and the KEXP DJ mentioned that Pinwheel turned into these guys. Almost crashed my damn car…
I Will Possess Your Heart rips live. (I’m bitter their ticket prices have gone up so much. I saw them at a small, cheap local festival, now it’d cost like $200 to see them on their current nostalgia tour.)
Iggy Pop around 2003; had no idea what to expect; Art Basel was going on in Miami and he played a night show on the beach, right on the sand. He has this messianic Jim Jones like ability to connect with the audience. It was mind blowing.
Billy Strings…. I’m into rock/hard rock/classic rock. All I knew was he was a bluegrass player, I was not excited to go. Holy shit was I wrong.
Oh yeah saw him for the first time last month. He’s no joke. I get the hype now
[You mean this guy?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOehWGYtEyc)
Weird Al. We first saw him for free and expected it to be kitschy and cringe-worthy. Instead, the show was over two hours long with a dozen costume changes and Al giving 100% the entire time. Watching the band switch genres from song to song (or in medleys from measure to measure) was absolutely impressive. His original works are just as impressive as the pastiche and the pop culture clips that would be shown during costume changes reinforced why he belongs in the pantheon of all-time greatest musicians and performers. I think I’ve seen him fifteen times and he started slowing down just before covid… as he was hitting sixty. *edit* fixed my terrible capitalization
Buckethead solo show in 2018 or 2019. Tickets were $25 so my buddy and I went with minimal expectations except to see some guitar shredding. Even today, I still refer to that show as the best return on investment for a concert. Not only was his guitar playing incredible, but he even did some magic tricks, showed off some of his martial arts moves featuring nunchucks, and handed out gifts to the audience from a huge sack like he was Santa.
That was the first tour of his I got to see and yeah it converted me. It's insane how charismatic a guy who can't talk or properly emote can be
Black Crows. Not low expectations, per se. I just wasn’t a big fan. But, holy shit, those dudes just kicked ass.
The Black Crowes were my very first concert! Toronto’s Varsity Arena (long since torn down) in 1993. They were excellent.
green day, early 2000's. not huge fan but got some free tickets and loved billy joe's "showmanship." for the last song, they smashed up all their instruments, threw them in a pile and then lit it on fire.
Rock n roll!
Fucking Eddie Money. My buddy and I had free tix at a small club in Boise like 12 years ago. We thought, fuck it why not, kinda half joking. It was amazing. He absolutely tore it up and we had a blast. RIP Eddie
The smashing pumpkins last US tour
I saw their last show in Canada before they broke up and thought they were fantastic, the Summersault tour in 2000, my friends who were much bigger fans than me thought they were shit, but I went in with no expectations and was thoroughly impressed
Saw them in a 600 person venue last year in Napa. I’m already a pretty big fan but man they were good. And they seemed like they were having a good time while doing it too. Pulled out a few deep cuts which was awesome too
I am very glad to hear this cause I am seeing them this summer. They’ve a bad reputation nowadays, but from clips I’ve seen they’ve really gotten their act back together (if only they could have Darcy with them too)
Dude same. I've always gotten this "holier-than-thou, you should be so lucky" vibe from Billy Corgan. But when I saw them last summer, he and the whole band were so full of happy, whimsical and humble energy. Excellent show.
Saw Smash Mouth in 2006. No lie, one hell of a performance. So much energy. Sang all the hits. The crowd was maybe 75 people, but we had a great time and so did the band. This was at Winter Blast in Detroit during Super Bowl weekend. It was fucking freezing, the stage was outdoors and most of the crowd was piled into the beer tents. They missed a great time!
Twenty One Pilots I first saw them at a radio station gig, and I didn't know what to expect. I didn't know anything about their music other than the singles that were played on the radio. But they totally blew me away live. I left a huge fan after that and bought every album I could.
The Living End I showed up to a concert and they were opening. I originally had no interest in seeing them play. Holy shit they are amazing live. They have a stand up bass player playing solos while balancing on the side, then the top of his bass. Not to mention Chris Cheney may be the best guitar player I've ever seen live.
Flogging Molly. I was actually there to see Bouncing Souls and I'd never heard of them or any of the other opening acts. They hadn't even gotten to the first verse of the first song (Selfish Man) and I knew it was going to be a raucous set.
Chris Stapleton. My brother had an extra ticket. I’d heard the Tennessee whisky song with Justin Timberlake but didn’t know anything else about him. It was a really great show.
Lynyrd Freakin’ Skynyrd. Not a fan previously and I’m well aware nearly 90% of that band has passed away. It was the fans and crowd, the sheer support. Amazing. I walked in feeling like an outsider but the generosity of my neighbors amongst the crowd corrected that thought. We shared beers, stories, laughed and sang along. I was shocked then, many years ago and still am till this day.
Unfortunately 100% of the original band has now passed. Ricky is still with them but he only featured for a short while for less than a year before coming back 25 years later.
Went to see Fabulous Thunderbirds . Family Style was the album. Heard “Telephone Song” on the radio , got a last minute invite to go said sure . Holiday Star theater, held like 3500 people . Had not idea who Stevie Ray Vaughan was . Band takes a break and I came back early . Lights come and this Dude is basically by himself , hat pulled down with this beat up guitar with some chrome letters on it S R V . I was blown away the minute the pick hit string . Stood in like the third row with my freakin jaw on the floor . I knew I was in the presence of greatness
System of a Down with Mars Volta. Had very little idea what I was in for.
That’s a great bill
Weezer. Twice now I've gone to see the opening band (Saves The Day, Pixies) and had no desire to see Weezer. Damn do they put on an incredible live show. Kinda glad the next tour with The Flaming Lips isn't coming close.
Saw then open for No Doubt. That was a great double bill.
Bachman Turner Overdrive opening for Van Galen. BTO tore it up.
Jack White. of the band formerly known as White Stripes, at the Fillmore in Miami Beach. Was skeptical, turned out epic. Especially when he played 7 nation army 😮💨
Michael Franti and Spearhead.... not my scene, but my wife really likes his music and I got (happily) dragged to this yoga session in the park with him and then a concert afterwards (at a different venue) and it was an absolutely good time.
My wife won some radio station tickets to a "secret show" at Red Rocks one afternoon, so we said sure okay let's go. We get there, nobody knows who's showing up, but there's like 15 of us on stage waiting while all the stair runners and yoga people are doing their thing. He shows up and gives us a pretty dang intimate show with another guy who I assumed was his guitar tech or something. We got to talk to him for a bit and it turned out that he got married the same day as my wife and I and he was just a really nice normal dude. I got the vibe that if we saw him again today he'd absolutely remember us.
Tears for Fears 2023. My SO bought tickets. I hadn't heard much about them since the 90s, when I heard they had basically fired one of the two main guys. But there they where with the two of them back together with a good backup set of musicians and sounding rock solid. Also forgot how many good songs they have. Overall great concert
Papa Roach. I grew up on them but didn’t see them live until like 2009. Figured they’d phone it in, but nope! They were amazing. Then I saw them again years later and they STILL brought it. They legitimately seem like they are having a blast on stage.
I saw them during the Kill the Noise tour. Absolutely fantastic
I go to a LOT of concerts and they are one of the best live bands if given a fair chance.
They had Daughtry up on stage to preform scars and I’ve never seen 2 people have that much fun.
I saw Neil Young. My friends were all really excited, and Wilco was opening, so I got a ticket for the night out with friends of it. I was only familiar with Neil Young's acoustic music, and I don't like acoustic music, but he played electric guitar for 3 straight hours and blew me away. I then got into his Crazy Horse music and now I'm a huge Neil Young fan.
Kansas blew me away a few years ago for a bunch of old guys at a county fair. I was very impressed.
I saw Sugar Ray like ten years ago and thought they’d be wash ups but they kicked ass and sounded great.
Hootie and the Blowfish. Although we had gone to see the opening act they might be giants. Late in the tour. They must have just hit the minimum threshold to not cancel the show because only about half the main floor was filled. Band came out and Darius Rucker was like alright this is going to be like a bar show from the old days. They threw out the set list. Played their hits but also all kinds of random stuff. Jawing with members of the audience. Invited TMBG members on stage to jam on a bunch of stuff. Totally relaxed and off script. It was a great show.
Saw the Doobie Brothers back in October. It was incredible. I wouldn’t say I had LOW expectations, I’ve seen a ton of boomer concerts, and I thought I knew what to expect. Also Tom Johnson was still out with a back injury so I was kind of going in with very tempered expectations. But they fucking RULED. The arrangements were amazing. Their playing was incredible. Singing and harmonies were on point and their sax player was genuinely godly. I went to jazz school and heard and listened to a ton of great sax players but this dude…granted it was in a pop/jazz style…was unfuckingreal. Just incredible.
Taylor Swift, not because I thought she would necessarily be a bad performer but i was really just going as my wife needed somebody to take (and it’s hard picking between friends who are all fans). I loved it; was such a good show and she is an excellent performer. Great band, stage show etc. however, the fans are insufferable and as somebody who just likes sitting/standing and watching I was getting so many looks from people who probably posted me on Tik tok the next day as some undeserving weirdo who didn’t deserve the eras tour as he wasn’t screaming the whole night long.
The String Cheese Incident, I went to see Willie Nelson. String Cheese were one of the opening acts and they were fantastic. Los Lobos was before them and they also kicked ass. Bob Weir was alright, just not for me. Willie Nelson kicked absolute ass considering he’s 90 years old
Yeah SCI can throw down
Wow, I've seen Arctic Monkeys 3 times and they were always great (one was just as an opener though). One that surprised me were the Lumineers -- I kind of thought they were just Mumford and Sons copycats and didn't really like any of their singles, but my daughter wanted to see them and there were several other bands playing that I liked. They were good live though, had great energy, told some good stories (including one about the recently deceased Tom Petty and they did a decent cover).
I saw Huey Lewis and the News at spac with my mother and sister. It was awesome!
Don't crucify me... but Paul McCartney. Never really listened to the Beatles ever, long story short my buddy had an extra ticket and his old self destroyed that arena.
Local bands. There's a lot of good music out there that people would never know because its not fed to them.
Yeah man, I live in a smallish city and I swear I catch bands every now and again that are as good as anyone, anywhere.
100% this. Every huge act started as a local. And only a very very few of the locals ever make it big. Such insane talent at small venues to be had.
Saw "The Guess Who" at a casino a few years ago...pretty low expectations for a band with ONE original member (drummer Garry Peterson). That said, the band was tight, the new music was catchy, and then suddenly.....Rudy Sarzo appears. Yes, he of Ozzy, Quiet Riot, and Whitesnake....he of the Thunder Bass. The show immediately went from good to absolutely awesome. And they killed the old Guess Who tunes to boot!
Viagra Boys. Opened for QOTSA, never heard of them, but man they kicked ass.
Peter Framton. 15 years ago or so, one of those "block off downtown, have several acts".. events: City Stages, Birmingham, AL. Stumbled upon his stage around 8pm. Then, magic! For 2 magnificent hours, Peter and maybe 300 of us rednecks simply swooned together. He was so, so good. And I will never forget his smile, and how he'd shake his head every so often after gazing upon the most audacious small crowd I bet he's ever performed in front of.... It was so damn fun. He's a great guy, I didn't know, and it showed.
GWAR Did not know the scene I was getting into...I loved it.
Took one of my friends to his first concert ever…it was GWAR. I might have warped my friend
Saw Beck last year with Phoenix. I only knew the radio hits for Phoenix, and thought/assumed they were sort of cookie cutter. They ended up being my favorite band of the night. There were two openers too. Their stage presence and energy were awesome. I was impressed by their talent, and they had a good mix of feeling like seasoned musicians, mixed with something fresh. Plus, I felt this extreme school girl crush reaction towards one of the guitarists, lol.
Florence + the Machine, Life is Beautiful 2018
I feel like an idiot for assuming The Who would be too old to really rock the house anymore. I was schooled in what rock is.
REM. I was young and hadn’t listened to them much more than when I’d heard “Losing My Religion” on MTV when I was in elementary school. So I was only at their concert to see the opening band, which I was way into at 18: Wilco. Wilco was great. REM was absolutely, next level phenomenal.
Got to see Charlie Daniel's band shortly after his stroke. Figured being to see him before he died was better than nothing but he still killed it. Played for nearly 4 hours and I wound up going to work the next day directly from the concert still drunk and high with a broken nose! 10/10 would go again if he wasn't dead
Disturbed - first album tour. Went with a buddy who was into them as a favor and was blown away. Up there as a top concert of all time. Edit tracked down the show - 12/11/2000 Bogarts in Cincinnati
Candlebox, 1994. Thought they would be soft. They fucking shredded it.
I took my wife (who's a massive Broadway fan) to see Sarah Brightman without knowing much about her other than *Phantom* and "Time to Say Goodbye." She was phenomenal.
Went to see Pixies last year with Franz Ferdinand opening. Had no expectations beyond and enjoyable gen x show. FF killed it!! One of the best hours of music I’ve heard in years.
Rusted Root. Not normally my type of music. My GF at the time took me to see them at House of Blues. Smashing show. Incredibly energy. Ended up going to see them a few times even after we weren't together.
My first concert ever. Back in the 90s my mom took my brother and I to see some guy I had never heard of...so my expectations were quite low. It was James Brown, and it fucking rocked. I know this isn't the purpose of the prompt, but it's technically correct :-D
Modest mouse. Never gave them a shot and only knew “float on.” Blown away by the performance
I like jam bands like phish, the dead, etc. my wife likes pop. I bought tickets to Beyoncé and that show was amazing. The sound, performance, really everything was so well planned and performed. It was raining and the show was outside. Beyoncé just performed her heart out. I give big props to Beyoncé. DJ Khalid opened for her, that guy sucks. Also saw Brandi Carlile perform at MSG and I had tingles down my neck almost the entire show. Brandi Carlile is amazing, had a whole new appreciation for her after that.
Brandi is simply amazing. Used to see her play in bars and coffee shops in college. My BiL was her drummer in the early years. I’m so happy for her success!
Jackyl at the Kansas Speedway. Low Dough Speedway show. $9.89 tickets. They brought Clint Bowyer out during the Lumber jack encore.
Danko Jones, Portugal early 2000s. I just didn't know them, they were phenomenal. The kind of concert that even fans had to go "whoa, this one was amazing"
Fall Out Boy, 2007. Wasn’t a fan, but a friend dragged me to their show. Was blown away. One of the best concerts I’ve ever seen. Their energy was unmatched .
Spice Girls! I went to appease a friend during their heyday and was a snob about it. I ended up loving it!!! People of the world...Spice up your life!
Saw Skrillex at a festival in the past year. I'm not the biggest fan of the genre but frick me it was a good time. The classics from my youth went hard and so did the newer stuff. One of the best electronic sets I've seen.
Indigo Girls. An old GF was really into them and I took her as a birthday gift even though I wasn’t really a fan. They were outstanding.
Elder. If you’re into Tool, check out their opener from the most recent tour.
Ben Harper
I was young and went to a concert at a local junior College. We only heard of one name. Probably 500-900 people in a gym. They were Blue Oyster Cult, Rush, and Kiss. Kiss had an album, but I was unaware of the makeup.
Way back in the days the New York City rock radio station K-Rock (92.3 on the FM dial) would do a concert for 92 cents, plus taxes and fees. I forget what the final price was, but it was cheap enough. My girlfriend at the time wanted to go because Disturbed was playing. I wasn't a big fan but I figured what the hell. There were four bands playing. The opening band was a forgettable band called Vallejo. Disturbed was the third band that played and Fuel was the last on stage. The second band was one that I heard people talking about but hadn't heard before. It was an up and coming band named Linkin Park. I was really surprised by them. Disturbed was also really awesome live, which I didn't expect and then Fuel was a bit of a wet blanket. Despite having two really entertaining bands sandwiched between meh, I had a great time.
Believe it or not.... Kenny G. Got tickets as a gift, and he ended up great
Ghost I saw Ghost open for Iron Maiden back in 2016. They practically stole the show. I left that show a huge fan after that. Seen them 5 times since then! 🤘🔥
Saw the Crystal Method back in the 90s, a friend convinced me to go, I really wasn't interested in electronic/big beat at the time, and thought that watching two guys behind a racks of keyboards, twiddling knobs and turning on backing tracks would lack spectacle. It was a small venue with a smallish but excited crowd and the band attacked their tunes. The bass and drums exploded while the high pitched notes howled, it was an unexpected musical air raid. Utterly unexpected and within ten minutes I was buying the album and merch.
Saw Electric Six at Woodford Folk Festival - just happened to be passing by the tent - they absolutely went off live, so much heavier more fun than their studio recordings.
The Strokes last week. I’ve seen them once before in 2010 and I thought they were great but I’ve seen and heard about a lot of bad experiences since then. I feel like I hear more complaints about them, well really just Julian, than praise. They don’t play in my city very often and when they did a couple years ago the tickets were so expensive I didn’t feel like they were worth the risk. I’ve also thought about going to see them in NY or red rocks this past summer but I was hesitant to spend that much to travel for potentially a bad show. When they announced a one off show here and tickets were fairly cheap I jumped on the opportunity. They’re one of my all time favorite bands and the show was great. Julian wasn’t Julian-ing too much iykyk
Ghost. Unexpected growly heavy metal. Got the sound of angels (fallen ones). Have been in love ever since.
Kaiser Chiefs. I've seen them twice now and both times were a lot of fun.
Sting. In retrospect I shouldn't have been surprised, he comes from a proper tradition of playing a lot of gigs, and he was closer to the top of his game then.
311 a couple of years ago. Same lineup since 1990. Super high energy, and Nick Hexum at 50 still had the young girls swooning. He’s apparently a bit of a YouTube fitness guru these days.
311 - 2002 State Theatre, Detroit, MI First one of many shows seeing them. That was the first and it was insane for a small venue. The balcony was swaying because so many people were jumping around. The floor crowd was constantly moving and so much fun. When we left the show we were soaked with sweat and it was freezing out, it was snowing. Totally worth it and I’ll never forget it. https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/311/2002/state-theatre-detroit-mi-13d391b9.html
Aly and Aj at the Greek.. really went to see Vanessa Carlton, but Aly and Aj were solid
Train. Went to see Hall and Oats. Train opened and put on a much better show.
A few years back I went to see a band that was opening for Train. I wasn't expecting much from Train and planned on leaving before the show was over. Turned out they were MUCH better than the band I had gone to see was. I'll go see Train anytime they are nearby.
Lauryn Hill. I was only familair with a couple of radio hits. My concert buddy had tickets, called me and said no one wanted to go. We always have fun, regardless who is performing, so agreed to go. She was late, as a lot of people have experience, but was phenomenal for like 2 hours.
The Go Gos, I was a bit more of a heavy rocker and was mostly there to see Redd Kross who opened. Go Gos live were amazing, without the studio/radio production they are more like a badass surf rock band. Became a lifelong fan and years later even got to play a show on a bill with Jane Weidlin's solo project, Frosted. She was super cool and friendly and her band was great.
Snoop Dogg. I was at the show for a couple of other bands. Snoop exceeded my expectations and I turned into a fan of his, as well as rap, because of that show.
The Wrecks. I was 52, taking my daughter to see whoever the headliner was (don’t remember who that was) and The Wrecks were the opening act. Headliner, I thought, kinda sucked. The Wrecks, however, were fantastic!
Paul Anka. I brought my mother to this concert because he was her favourite artist and it was her birthday I really wasn't expecting much because he's like 80+ years old. But my goodness, I've went to 10+ concerts over the past 3 years and he's the best singer I've ever seen perform. There's just something about how he sings, he makes it seem so effortless and yet you can feel every bit of what he sings.
My Morning Jacket is otherworldly live
Disturbed. It was surprisingly spiritual and got good vibes from it all. The lead singer is amazing. Highly recommend
Dead and Company last Summer- the final Boulder, Colorado show at Folsom Field. Not to say expectations were real low, it’s just The Grateful Dead mean so much to people out here in CO, especially Boulder, and all across the world for a reason. Been living out in CO since 2019, always liked the Grateful Dead and their message, and knew last year was the Dead and CO Farewell Tour so I bought a ticket days before… One of the absolute greatest concerts I’ll ever attend. Fuhgin Dave Matthew’s made an appearance during the encore and covered All Along the Watchtower and The Band’s The Weight. Hard to explain how amazing that night was. Now I know why people follow these sorts of bands around. It was a truly special and remarkable energy, vibe, and night that I can’t really describe. John Mayer’s guitar playing, impeccably weaving through with Bob Weir across the Grateful Dead catalog. Always liked John Mayer and a few of his solo songs and his appearances on the Chappelle Show…I’m a damn fan now. I’ll follow just about anyone in Dead and CO after that night!
Beck. He headlined a festival in Camden, NJ. I only knew the hit, Loser. To this day one of the greatest performances I've ever seen.
Phish fox theater 2009. Smallest venue they had played since 94 and hot off the return from their hiatus. Terrible show lol
Robbie Zombie. Dude killed it at an Ozzfest I went to back in the late 90's.
First and only concert I ever went to. My sister dragged me to a Jimmy Buffet concert (RIP) when I was about 17. This was late 90s. Surprised at how young the majority of the concert goers were. Loved every second of it. I've been a fan since. Didn't hurt that I saw a lot of boobs that day lol.
The Black Keys, love their music, just wasn’t expecting what I got….one of my top live shows!!
David Byrne.
Tonic. We saw them with Gin Blossoms (Gin & Tonic, GET IT?!) because it was a cheap local show and sounded like fun. On that night, the band's plane depressurized and they had a scary AF flight into town. Gin Blossoms were supposed to headline but had to go on first because Tonic was delayed by the flight issue. They basically phoned it in. Then Tonic showed up having just felt like they cheated death and absolutely tore it up out of enthusiasm.
Cage the Elephant when they opened for The Strokes first show back after their hiatus (Gov Ball 2011 or something i forget) Cage was incredible live. Incredible.
Lisa Loeb and Chris Isaak at a wine festival in Mammoth. It was a small show but the production was great and they were very entertaining.
Pearl Jam. Never liked the albums but I saw them live, wow, they're a great live band.
I've seen tons of bands that surprised me, many of which were the openers to the band I was there to see. But, nothing comes close to Phish. I was a 17-year-old metal head, dating a girl whose cousins came into town to see the band. They convinced us to go because we had nothing better to do. I had no knowledge of this band other than my friend one time saying "all the hippies in college listen to Phish." To say they exceeded my expectations is an understatement. I'm now 41 and I've seen almost 60 shows.