- Jimmy Eat World
- Clutch
- Rise Against
- Flogging Molly
- The Used
- The Offspring
- Bad Religion
- Tool
- Fall Out Boy
- Nine Inch Nails
Why? They are good bands who play well live and I like their music.
Clutch 100%. I’d see them every time. Flogging Molly were fantastic but the venue had awful acoustics which was kind of a drag, so I owe it to myself to see them again.
I’ve been lucky to see Bad Religion over a dozen times in the last 25yrs and they never let me down. They’ve been dropping hints on their socials that their touring years might be coming to a close though. But they’ve earned their retirement. Everything must cease.
I’ve only seen Flogging Molly once, but that might have been the most fun I’ve ever had at a show. Good people and good vibes all around.
Rammstein, their shows have always been bigger and bigger each time. And their ticksets are only ~100€, well worth it if you ask me.
Tool, I have seen them three times in concert. They put on a fantastic show.
Enter Shikari, incredible shows every single time. I’ve never seen a band generate so much hype and a positive vibe like Enter Shikari does at their shows.
My favourite show was close to Christmas and they had a snowman up on stage while they covered Merry Christmas Everyone.
Green Day. I have seen them twice almost 20 years apart and both shows were fantastic. If you like their music, I would highly recommend seeing them live.
Green Day has been my favorite band for about 30 years and I saw them live for the first time in 2024. That show was so amazing and I was a dumbass for not going sooner. I’ll definitely go to another one.
I missed that tour, and I’m not missing another one. I was reminded last year how much I love Green Day. They sounded just as good as ever at the Super Bowl!
Umphrey’s Mcgee, more times than I can count. They’re a jam band that does a lot of improv, excellent jams, they get really prog-y, and they do amazing covers.
Spafford. Also a jam band. Some of the best jams and guitar playing I’ve seen.
All Them Witches. Heavy blues/psychedelic rock. I just love their sound so much.
I always forget to listen to Spafford. Seems like everytime I do (with each time a more recent show) I like them even more. As someone who doesn’t follow them closely, do their fans feel like they just keep getting better or is it just me getting to like them more?
They’ve gone through phases over the last couple years but they do keep getting better. I feel like I constantly find myself saying “spafford is crushing it right now.”
- Starset
- Yellow card
- BMTH
- BVB
- LOTL
- Bloodywood
- Icon for Hire
- Grandson
I like their music, and so far their ticket prices haven’t become outrageous.
NOFX I see them if they come within an hour drive from where I am.
I would love to see NOFX sometime
I’m sure they’ll come out of retirement and tour again in a couple years, most of the band doesn’t have Fat Mike money.
I heard that Erik Melvin is suing Fat Mike and the band over money. Mike even wrote a song about it a few months back.
The Decemberists - multiple times, always a good show
The Long Winters - multiple times, always a good show
Electric Six - multiple times, absolutely amazing live, highly recommended
Weezer - past their prime, you’re better off listening to the albums at home
The Hold Steady - multiple times, not that good live
The Pipettes - amazing performance, very fun
Aleks & the Drummer - multiple times, sadly now defunct but so much better live than their already great studio work
Side Walk Slam - multiple times, mostly at music festivals; really fun guys and generous to fans
Zapruder Point - once live, fun but not a big experience change from their studio recordings
The Mountain Goats - once live, venue was terrible, makes it hard to evaluate the performance
Amy Ray - electric performer, worth seeing, I’d love to see her live again
Franz Ferdinand - too commercial, very rehearsed live, no real improvement in experience over studio recordings
Torres - good energy, nice show, would see again live but not as a priority
The Pipettes?
Holy crap where did you hear about them? I thought I was the only one.
They headlined a show my wife’s favorite local band was opening. I’d definitely see them again if they did another stateside tour.
That’s awesome!
Which era of singers did you see?
Can’t believe I forgot to mention the time I played hackeysack with Dashboard Confessional
The Hu.
Converge. I don’t know how but the keep getting better. They have so much groove life, its hard to resist the pit.
Dream Theater. Simply because I’m a big fan, and their live shows always has something their studio recordings don’t have, such as a song suddenly containing an improv section.
Been a fan since Images and Words, finally saw them last year. Can confirm the live show is incredible.
Can’t wait to catch another one.
I’ve seen them thrice, and Friday Pilots Club always puts on a good show!
I have a few on my list I would see again.
- Sum41: saw them a bunch of times when they first started getting popular. They put on a really entertaining show, but the band retired recently
- Rancid: Lars sometimes does a standup routine between sets and he is hilarious
- MxPx: I’ve seen them a dozen times in half a dozen cities in various sized venues. Kick ass show every single time
If you haven’t already, look up Mikey and his Uke 👍
Mikey is a guitarist in a band, and during Covid he started doing solo shows on YouTube, covering rock songs on the ukulele. He started getting other punk band members joining in, and they did full covers of songs, sometimes getting members of the original band to play too.
Their cover of Jaded / The Crowd by Operation Ivy is one of my favourite songs, and introduced me to Bad Cop / Bad Cop 🤘😁
Thanks for the rec! I looked them up a bit and it looks right up my alley. The cover of Dookie songs on the front page is perfect :)
No worries, hope you enjoy them 🙂
None unless it was free. I don’t understand the appeal of live as the studio work is going to be much cleaner. honestly when it comes to most anything. sports, music, theater. I would rather go to at most college level. College, high school, and even grade school can be good and is real cheap and any money they make goes to the school. The cutoff for me is college things that are to professional like big 10 or whatnot. Give me a nice triple A.
Live music is performance art. I will take the experience over just listening to a recording anytime I can, and that is where my music budget has always gone.
I don’t like big arena shows at all though. With you on that. Bars and small venues, and once a year a festival but not a big one. I want to see the performance not a jumbotron.
It doesn’t sound like you’ll ever enjoy live music but let me help you understand the many appealing things to me as someone who does: Drugs. Just kidding, you can do those at home, too.
Anyway, first off “cleaner” doesn’t necessarily mean better because music is very subjective. There are songs I’ve thought I didn’t like until I saw them live…turns out I just didn’t like the album version. Live audio also depends heavily on who is running the board. I’ve been to shows that sounded so good I focused on the instruments to confirm they werent just playing an mp3.
It’s a rendition but there’s a million ways to play a song. And sometimes the enjoyment is just hearing an artist play the song differently.
Then there’s the energy. I don’t really dance and generally avoid crowds but there’s something about everyone being all hyped for the same thing that’s just…energetic. Then add to that the music physically synchronizing everyone, it’s great. It’s a real feeling of “oneness”, like the crowd is one big animal. And that energy feeds the artists making for an even better performance
And the “live” aspect can’t be discounted. You might hear a new song, you might hear a cover, you might hear a deep cut from their first EP! They might play a bizarre interlude that confuses you until it all comes together into a song you know! A lot of artists interact with the crowd in fun ways, too.
Damn now I want to go to a show but I don’t have tickets until May
I’ve always enjoyed live albums more than studio work. Personal preference I guess.
