The Song Fight Bulletin Board

Happy Save the Rhino day

QotD: Since the other day I asked about your worst concert experiences, let's see the flipside. What was your best concert experience?

For me, the best concert I ever went to was Rasputina's cover recital. Rasputina is a trio of cellists who play alternative rock songs. Back when NYC's Knitting Factory was in Tribeca instead of Williamsburg, Rasputina threw a special "covers recital". This was the band with it's best lineup (Melora Creager, Zoe Keating and Jonathan Tebeest). The show started with an hour or so of great cover songs such as Led Zep's "Rock & Roll", Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" and a cover of Heart's "Barracuda" that tore the house down. Then they did another hour or so of originals. The crowd ate up everything. Encore. Second encore. Crowded emphatitcally called for a third encore. The band came out again and Melora asked "Can we just play Barracuda again? It's the most fun we have all tour." Such a great show.

As for being the one performing, I'll have to think about that a bit.

In my mind the 70s had the concerts, partly because it was my impressionable teenage years, and partly because I went to tons of concerts. My favorite was the Yes Relayer tour, outside in Hartford, CT. Perhaps because it was my first big rock concert, but also because they were so on top of their game.

Best one I played in...musically it was a gig in NJ with my band Solefish, after I had met a girl (later to be my first wife). We felt pretty good with our original material, and it was great to play for her.

One that comes to mind was the show I saw in Norfolk VA, I think, and the bands were Siddal (from Richmond) and Rosewater Elizabeth (from Atlanta). Sadly I think both of these bands are no more, but they both had great female vocals and good sounds.
King Crimson in Buffalo ... maybe 1995, also comes to mind. Adrian Belew was singing. And the California Guitar Trio opened.
-bill

Sonic Youth, The Zoo Brisbane June 2004,

or

Livid Festival 1997 Brisbane RNA Showground:
Devo, Spiderbait, Ween, Ed Keupper, Dinosaur Jr, Ben Folds 5, Dave Graney and the Coral Snakes, etc etc etc.

My best concert experience as a performer was probably back when I was with The Cover Band in college. Yes, that was our actual name. We mostly did covers of songs by The Band. Our version of "Chest Fever" was a real crowd-pleaser, and on at least one occasion I got the crowd chanting my name during an organ solo.

My best concert experience as an audience member is kind of a toss-up between the last two Mountain Goats shows I saw. The energy at Mountain Goats shows is different from just about any other concert I've ever been to; the audience is absolutely rapt, all the focus on John Darnielle.

Back in February 2012, they played a show here and tested out a lot of material that he'd never played anywhere before, some of which wound up on his latest album Transcendental Youth. At one point, he forgot his own lyrics and made the band start over. At another point, he stopped mid-song because he was distracted at someone holding up their mobile phone, and he wouldn't continue until that person put it away. And he also took an audience request for a really obscure song that I didn't think I would ever get to hear live.

Later, in November 2012, he came back to promote that same album after its actual release. He had a small brass section for the songs that called for it. He also played a large portion of the show on solo acoustic guitar. Before playing yet another obscure b-side, he told a lengthy anecdote about Lon Cheney Jr., a figure he finds fascinating. He then launched into the song, which was a very quiet brooding acoustic number, and the whole audience was silent, practically holding their breath, as Darnielle practically whispered the song to us.