8/24/2006

Best Live Shows Ever...

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:
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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:

Cup said...

Hmmmm ... I should start a list of my favorite shows ever. Wonder if I could narrow it down to five?

Some Guy said...

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.