Best Concerts of 2004

[Soozy]

We have threads for albums and songs so here's one for concerts. Which were the best concerts you went to last year. (or worst). And what are you looking forward to this year?

My favourites from 2004:
1) Matt Good - 27/6 and 28/6 at Cowboys in Calgary.
The first night I was so happy to be there I almost cried and enjoyed myself immensely getting squashed down the front even though I'd been up for over 24 hours by the time Matt came on stage. Then Jason and I got to hang out on Matt's bus with him and his wife and his dog for a few hours after the show. Then the second night i got to watch from the side of the stage with Jason and Jen and got to go up on stage with Matt too And they played all the songs that they were playing that tour that I wanted to hear and Wil (support guy) was great too.

2) Pixies - 2/6 at Brixton Academy and 20/8 at the Kentish Town Forum. The first show was their first in the UK for something like 13 years. I was squashed down the front and the crowd were the loudest I have *ever* heard. The band were kind of uptight though and didn't particularly look to be enjoying themselves even though the playing was excellent. And they didn't play Where Is My Mind? The second show was amazing. I got to stnad comfortably and dance around and the whole band seemed to be enjoying themselves much more and were very chatty and Kim looked gorgeous (she was kind of frumpy a few months before).

3) Jason Mraz - 16/2 Shepherd's Bush Empire.
The wonderful Livi got me a front row spot cos she's lovely like that. Jason was amazing. I barely knew any of the songs but it didn't matter. Jason is so funny and talented. The show was joint headlining with Gary Jules (Mad World guy) but it was obvious that everyone was there for Jason and he really did steal the show. The 2 of them duetted on Rocket Man (I think) and America which is one of my favourite songs ever so that was amazing to hear.

4) Belle & Sebastian - 15/6 - Islington Academy.
I won tickets from a radio station so that was a good start. They were funny and chatty as always but went even further and started taking requests from the audience and would even play songs they hadn't actually played for years and somehow muddled through them after long amusing discussions about exactly how it went. And they got some guy from the audience up to sing with them and he forgot the words.

5) Sam Roberts - 16/3 - Barfly.
I'd had some bad news the night before, had barely slept and spent the two support acts sitting on the floor having people walk on me! But when Sam came on things really changed. It was a very small venue (200 people) but the crowd were really into it and Sam was really energetic and a lot of fun was had by everyone.

Honourable mentions:
Make Trade Fair show at the Hammersmith Apollo - REM/The Thrills/Minnie Driver/Razorlight/Jamelia/Chris Martin. Lots of fun
Franz Ferdinand at the Astoria
Modest Mouse at the Islington Academy
The Libertines at Brixton Academy
Simon & Garfunkel at Hyde Park - they may be old but they can still sing like they used to

Disappointing:
The White Stripes at Alexandra Palace
Dogs Die In Hot Cars at the Barfly
Kings of Leon at Brixton

Looking forward to this year:
OLP of course
Finally getting to see The Dears
Seeing REM again (twice)
Seeing The Killers again with Bloc Party and the Futureheads.

[xjsb125]

I only got to see one concert this year.

2004-10-02: Murder by Death with Sleep Station, The Snake The Cross The Crown, and some other band that reaaaaaaally sucked. (Can't remember the venue name) Ann Arbor, MI.

First time I had ever been to and independant concert, but it was a really great show. The club was really small and there may have been 80-100 people there (I didn't pay attention to the crowd size.) TSTCTC was my favorite set. Their final song "On the Threshold of Eternity" was just awesome. Murder by Death were really great too, despite some technical difficulties. Plus I got to see it with Bethany.

[Tattooed Angels]

Nice one Soozy..

Without a doubt the best show for me this year was Prince...
he put on a great show and is definitely one of the best lives acts I have ever seen and I have seen way too many to mention(over 2000)

other shows I loved this year..( not in order)

Matthew Good-June 14th/June15th- Ottawa, Capital ..
I was so happy to finally see Matt again.. I missed him 3 times in 02.. by one day..Plus by seeing him both nights I got to see all of the new cd live..

The Tea Party- Sept 28th, Ottawa-Captial, and Nov 5th-Metropolis-MOntreal
I am a huge Tea Party fan and to finally see them live was amazing. I only wish I caught some interzone mantra shows.. Not only to see the tea party but with friends.

Sam Roberts- June 27th Central Park-NYC-Canada Day SHow..
the park, the sun and Sam.. Doesn't get much better then that...

Interpol-July 30th-Randals Island( the Cure tour) MY first time seeing them live after missing them so many times before.
Interpol- Oct10th- Bowery Ballroom. NYC.. This is one of my favorite venues in NYC. It is small(about 800) and the sound is great. When Interpol played there is was a secret gig for family and friends before they kicked off there USA tour last fall. Only a about 100 tickets went out to fans..

Butch Walker/AMerican Hi Fi- Bowery Ballroom- Dec 6, NYC..
Butch Walker(who is probably better known now for writing Avril's My Happy Ending) Put on an amazing show. AMerican Hi Fi(who have anew Cd coming out In MArch) Played solo and as back up for Butch. Butch is one of the very few rock artist to see out there who is amazing..

3 Days Grace/Thornley-Starland Ballroom-
I have become a huge 3DG fan over the years and seeing them live makes me love them more.. I look forward to seeing them again in the future

Velvet Revolver-May- Roseland Ballroom NYC
this was their first *offical * show when they started to tour..

Shows I am looking forward to this year..

U2, Interpol and hopefully OLP will go out and do something..

[megxyz128]

My top 5:

1. Morrissey 10/17
2. The Faint (w/ TV On The Radio and Beep Beep) 10/09
3. Electric Six (w/ Peelander Z and Los Fancy Free) 11/24
4. Interpol (w/ The Secret Machines and Hail Social) 10/15
5. The Cure (Curiosa Festival) 8/11

There were definitely a lot of good ones this year, a runner up would have to be Thursday w/ Head Automatica because it was my first time seeing HA and that got me absolutely hooked. Ben Folds in Ann Arbor would have been up there had we not had such bad seats.

Morrissey was just a lifelong dream that finally came true, so of course that is my number one.

The Faint was just a really fun time, can't go wrong with a Faint show, Electric Six also, I went to that one with people I normally don't go to concerts with and it was just the most fun i've ever had at a show. Interpol is always good live and the Curiosa Festival was just amazing, seeing a lot of my favorite bands in one day (and introducing me to Auf Der Maur whom I love now.) 2004 was definitely a great concert year.

Hopefully I can put an OLP show at the top of the list next year.

[tasha]

i think i only saw 2 shows this year.
john mayer with marron 5 on august 7th
avril lavigne with not by choice on november 4th

they both were incredible. but i had already seen them both, and KNEW it would be, which is why i went again. hah. lol

[Tattooed Angels]

My top 5:

4. Interpol (w/ The Secret Machines and Hail Social).

YOu got secret machines and hail social..

we got secret machines with on air library, then hail social and coma

I am looking into going to Pol's San Fran shows in Feb with a few people

[megxyz128]

yeah, i'm obsessed with the secret machines now, they came back with muse but they were sold out. anyway, that's awesome that you're going to cali. to see them, do you know who's opening now?

[Tattooed Angels]

yeah, i'm obsessed with the secret machines now, they came back with muse but they were sold out. anyway, that's awesome that you're going to cali. to see them, do you know who's opening now?

Don't know who is opeing for POL yet. They are playing Cinci on Feb 7th. I know this girl from Michigan that is going. Bogarts..nothing else really put on line except the Califonia dates. i want to do San Fran cause I love that city and I am off that week.. Anywhere but NYC in Feb is ok with me..

Secret Machines are great. They are from NYC now.. We got to hang out with them after the shows. They are so nice.. Esp Josh(drummer) and Ben is the cutest thing.. I will have to scan in my photos and send them to you..

ALso I have to say there wasn't really any show I saw thi syear that was horrible. Thank God...There were a few bands I saw that didn't do anything fo rme, but overall I got to see some great rock and roll in 04"

[megxyz128]

lol i'm mad because they are playing in Madrid only a couple of days before i arrive there in May, that would be so cool to see any band in another country.

[Tattooed Angels]

lol i'm mad because they are playing in Madrid only a couple of days before i arrive there in May, that would be so cool to see any band in another country.

por thing. I kidded with a friend about going over to see them in Barcelona.. LOL.. I know this English guy who is going over to Japan to see them.

YOu will love Madrid.. It is beautiful that time of year. I was there in 2000. If you get a chance go to the zoo and Prado Musuem..

[Joanne]

van halen with sammy hagar

i havent had that much fun in a super long time

[tasha]

OH!!! i lied. i forgot about the canadian idol concert i went to at the ex. does that count? i liked it a lot. i didn't think i would, but it's the day i fell in love with jacob. lol

[Clumsythief]

Muse in Montreal. That was awesome
Three Days Grace with Thornley last week in Montreal was good too.

[Tattooed Angels]

Muse in Montreal. That was awesome
Three Days Grace with Thornley last week in Montreal was good too.

was teh muse show at metroplois. If so I came up the next night for Tea Party and Matt Good. I couldn;'t get up a day early for them.

[AnnieDreams]

I saw quite a few concerts this year, though all but two were part of the annual Ottawa Blues Festival.

My Favorites from the festival were:
Weakerthans (July 16th)
Bryan Adams
(the remaining members of) The Funk Brothers
Chris Isaak
I saw part of The Tragically Hip's concert, but left because I didn't enjoy the crowd. The lead singer also has the strangest on-stage actions I've ever seen (such as what appeared to be picking gum off his shoe, and riding the microphone as if it were a horse)

Non Blues Festival Concerts were (though they were also in ottawa)
Evanescence (July 19th)
Rod Stewart

If I had to rate them one to five it would be:
1Evanescence
2Weakerthans (possibly due to me not knowing their music at the time)
3&4Bryan Adams tied with Rod Stewart
5Funk Brothers

[deniedjunkie]

1) Matt Good - 27/6 and 28/6 at Cowboys in Calgary.
The first night I was so happy to be there I almost cried and enjoyed myself immensely getting squashed down the front even though I'd been up for over 24 hours by the time Matt came on stage. Then Jason and I got to hang out on Matt's bus with him and his wife and his dog for a few hours after the show. Then the second night i got to watch from the side of the stage with Jason and Jen and got to go up on stage with Matt too And they played all the songs that they were playing that tour that I wanted to hear and Wil (support guy) was great too.

this was also my favorite for most of those reasons. it was for sure a different concert experience then any other, especially the 2nd night.everyone was so awesome.i finally got to meet sooz , i was supposed to a few months earlier for the pixies but things didnt work out. Sooz, Matt, Jen are the nicest people you will ever meet and that made the already amazing shows that much better.

2)the pixies@ the commodore

i Sooz to thank for this one as well.Tickets sold out in minutes for this show but luckly soozy was able to snag some. Unfortunately she ended up not being able to come and was nice enough to send me the tickets, and what was originally disapointment turned out to be one of the best shows of the year. I wasnt able to see them when they last played 10 years ago and ever since then iv heard people rave about their live shows past. They did not disapoint they played almost everything i wanted to hear and its even more special that i got a cd to remember it by.

3) wilco@ the orpheum

before last year, i havn't even heard a wilco song. in 6 short months going into this show i owned most of their catalogue and now one of my favorite bands ever. What made this show so great is how the band has changed so much in musical style over the years and they still went back and played some of alt countriesh songs of the past.

4)tegan and sara @mesa luna

This was my 2nd time seeing tegan and sara and even if your just a casual fan of their music this is a show one should go see. It's more of just a band playing through the songs. They make the audience seem more like their friends then a bunch of paying customers. They spend almost as much time talking to the audience and telling entertaining stories and getting the audience participation then they do playing music and i think just adds to the show. Also it was their birthdays this particular night so it was birthday cake for everyone in the audience and when you havnt ate anything most of the day anything tastes good.

5)limblifter@some super small club

this was a really anticipated show for me cause this is a band that i love but at this time hadnt played alot of shows , i probably seen them 2 times in 2 times in the last years. It was really strange seeing a band that once was playing festival shows in canada playing to a hundred people.It kind of had a warm feeling to it . There i was sitting on a couch with my feet up on the table , drink in hand watching one of my favorite band play.

honerable mentions:

matt good@ the vogue-he played "the rat who would be king", and "carmelina" which i never thought would ever be played.

matt good@the commodore- it was just funny seeing my friend's reaction to being at his first real concert and the enjoyment on his face.

tea party@plaza of nations-jeff brought up todd kerns to do "welcome to the jungle" with him.

wil solo- i saw this guy 4 times open for matt good this year and i just had to see him solo. this guy is insane with the guitar. i've never seen anyone sweat so much on stage. I skipped most of sum41s show which i was at @wakefest to go to this one.

what im looking forward to:

more matt good. 5 times last year wasnt enough
U2
the dears(i havnt seen them since they opened for matt)

for sure:

tegan and sara in feb as well as limblifter in feb

[half jill]

do local shows count..?

[dream in japanese]

top eight concerts i saw this year (without dates cause i can't remember the actual dates for the life of me):

thursday @ the kool haus (minus the opening act poision the well )

dashboard confessionals with say anything and the get up kids @ arrow hall (minus thrice who again...make me cry )

matt good @ the mod club (on my birthday)

andrew w.k @ the opera house

brand new @ the kool haus

saves the day @ the kool haus (minus taking back sunday )

the get up kids @ the kool haus

and the absolute best concert i've seen all year:

green day @ the acc
absolutely amazing.


upcoming concerts i'm excited about:

bright eyes, jan. 21

[reza]

honestly,
the show at the mod club may not have been the best concert that i have ever been to, or the best one i went to this year but it meant a lot to me.
seeing raine sing angelene was emotionally stirring and if i had a choice between going to the mod club where it was at a little more than half capacity or seeing u2 at the ACC, i would pick the NWL show hands down.

[megxyz128]

andrew w.k @ the opera house

lucky