Concerts You've Attended.

This post is about all of the concerts i've attended in the last few years and the ones i'm hoping to see later this year. My first three concerts were tribute groups. The Pink Floyd Experience on The Dark Side of the Moon tour (who I saw a second time for their Wish You Were Here Tour a year or two ago), Help! (a Beatles tribute group), and The Queen Extravaganza (featuring a complete orchestra accompanying the band with string arrangements). These were all good shows, The Experience being what got my dad into Floyd and with the nature of Floyd's music in a live setting for someone who'd never attended a concert before was simply breathtaking. The second time seeing them was enjoyable but not quite the same, though by no fault of the band themselves (I had seen a lot more concerts by then and had a lesser interest in tribute band). They are very good performers though who capture Floyd's sound and light show very accurately though the singing isn't quite the same. Help! had great charisma and a sense of humour. They talked about women throwing their underwear on stage at one point for some weird reason and my mum (who invited me and my dad to the show as it was a charity gig a lot of people she knew were attending) yelled out "Like tom jones?". They ended up having an entire conversation about Tom Jones prior to the next song in the Liverpool accents. It was quite amusing though i'd much rather see Rain, which is a musical tribute to The Beatles that's very well received. The Queen Extravaganza didn't use the full extent of the orchestra unfortunately but despite being a fun night there really wasn't much to it. It was the weakest and least memorable of the three. I doubt i'll see very many tributes band again if any, because while they can be entertaining it's never as exciting as seeing a real band you love a few feet or so in front of you. The whole point of gigs is the excitement of it. If I was to see a tribute band, I might as well just watch a concert DVD home. But if it's a band you know you're never gonna see whatever.

The first actual band I saw was Queen + Adam Lambert. Most people I don't talk to really don't understand why I attended this show given that Lambert not only sounds disingenuous with his attempt at vibrato but also has a very unoriginal style of performance which owes itself almost entirely to Freddie. Paul Rodgers who Adam replace in Queen's reincarnation as Queen + 'Insert Artist for Hire" is one of the most unique rock singers and performers Queen could have asked for and was greatly admired Freddie himself. Paul's inclusion in the show helped seperate the group from what people remembered about Queen as nobody in the band was claiming it to be the real thing. Even then however most people couldn't accept Rodgers because they just can't imagine Queen without Freddie Mercury. That's ultimately what it comes down to. Freddie is irreplaceable in the same way that Bon Scott or Ian Curtis were, and the way those bands were reshaped after the deaths of their singers was with surprising results. Queen never succeeded in later reincarnations the same way AC/DC and Joy Division/New Order did. And when Lambert is even less of a fit than Rodgers who really did everything right, just was a victim of his circumstances. Yet with all this said, I enjoyed this show very much. For all of Lambert's faults, he can sing competently in a pretty great range of different registers. He's not a perfect singer, there's that vibrato issue again but he's mostly fine. He also put on a good attempt at showmanship even if he was falling in Freddie's shadow by attempting to be Freddie and that was irritating at times but overall worked. And then there's two of my formative musical heroes on stage, Brian May and Roger Taylor. I was very happy to see these guys on stage. This was followed by a free to attend gig by Eskimo Joe who I know next to nothing about, even to this day. I had a good time that day though. The next year I finally saw the Broadway musical Les Miserables which i'd been a fan of for years and two months after that the Scottish stand up comedian Billy Connolly who after all these years still has it. Back to music gigs though. 

The first show I went to without a family member present was Motley Crue. I'm not a die hard fan of Motley Crue and think they are very cheesy and watered down but for some reason those major flaws don't distract from some of the elements I do appreciate which are far more minor. I can't help have a soft spot for Motley Crue at their strongest moments. I wouldn't say I enjoy them ironically or anything but they're fun party music for all their flaws and they helped bring a bit of bombast to the forefront. They put on a good show when I saw them, however they were blown of stage by easily the most mindblowingly impressive performance by any artist i've ever seen live. Their opening special guest Alice Cooper. I love Alice's music and am hoping to see him as a headliner later this year. His opening set however which was lengthy enough for me to enjoy my dose of Alice was so impressive and theatrical and fun. Brilliant stuff. 

Last year I went to see Brian Wilson which was a flawed gig but one filled with so many high emotions I can easily forgive those flaws, and with a couple of members of this forum attended Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden shows, which were both incredible too. This year i've been to The Damned (fantastic gig in a small venue where I moshed for the firs time) and Kevin 'Bloody' Wilson which I wrote a seperate thread about on the forum. I'm hoping to see Kreator some time this year as well as the aforementioned Alice, though unfortunately i'll have to miss Billy Bragg though I can live with that. 

What shows have you to throughout your life or if there's too many, what have you been too recently. I'm curious.