Frank inspired me to chronicle my favorite live music shows. Since I moved away from Chicago I've really missed having access to great concerts pretty much any week of the year. I definitely preferred the more intimate venues than the stadium shows. A few favorites include:
- Ween, White Pepper tour, at The Vic in Chicago. Ween does their shows right. No opener and no nonsense. Plus, they play forever and do a good job of mixing up their playlist with older stuff and newer stuff. I think they were on for 3-1/2 hours.
- Dick Dale - King of surf guitar, at The Cubby Bear in Chicago. You probably know Dick from his famous tune "Miserlou" from "Pulp Fiction". He's another no-nonsense guy. He just walked on stage and went to town. He also stayed after the show and bullshitted with people.
- Reverend Horton Heat at The Double Door in Chicago. The Double Door is a great mid-sized place to see a show. This was the first time I even listened to the Reverend and they didn't disappoint. After seeing the show I went and bought all their albums.
- Dirty Dozen Brass Band at Martyr's in Chicago. This place is smaller than the Double Door, so a large New Orleans brass band had no trouble being heard. I actually went to see Squirrel Nut Zippers open, but the Dirty Dozen's performance stole the show.
- Medeski, Martin, & Wood at The Riviera in Chicago. This one was fun because thanks to a connection, I had VIP seating. It was very different from the other shows I described - more cerebral. Again, a long set without a lame opener.
2 comments:
Hmmmm ... I should start a list of my favorite shows ever. Wonder if I could narrow it down to five?
I don't know why I stopped at five. Since I wrote this I've thought of other good shows, like seeing jazz legend Lionel Hampton at age 92 for only $10. Granted, he wasn't what he once was, but just to see him play was amazing.
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