Roger Waters in Winnipeg: one of the best, but was he better than A Flock of Seagulls?
Dan Vadeboncoeur has thrown down the gauntlet for the rest of us by listing the bands he's seen in concert.
Now I feel compelled to do the same: however, I think it's funny that Dan's favorite concert of all time - Pearl Jam at Sunfest in 1993 - is my least-favorite. Go figure.
And I also love that Dan and I have a lot of overlap in our lists. But...Weird Al Yankovic and the Tea Party? Crazy!
I've omitted forgettable opening acts because I've forgotten them, and I probably have even forgotten some of the headliners along the way - for a while, First Avenue in Minneapolis and Les Rendezvous in Winnipeg were notorious for literally "taking" your tickets, which means no record of the show. Boo.
And local bands? Seen a zillion of 'em, but I've only listed them below if they were ever a major going concern outside of the city. So, yes to the Weakerthans and Crash Test Dummies, no to Liquid Bone Dance and Chocolate Bunnies From Hell.
I'm also resisting the urge to number the times I've seen each band - in fact, one of the surprising things in making this list is how many of the concerts I've seen are "repeats," which is probably because the local concert scene only started heating up around the same time that people stopped buying CDs (and MTS Centre opened).
The list below brings back a lot of memories: like the time in 1982 when my dad said he'd take me to Minneapolis to see one of these bands: Queen, the Clash, or Blondie. I chose Queen - Freddie Mercury was still alive and well - and for years I patted myself on the back for making such a good decision, until Joe Strummer died. Boo.
Probably my favorite big concerts of all time are Paul McCartney and Roger Waters, and my favorite small concerts, the Pixies, Elvis Costello, and - no joke - Bow Wow Wow.
My top "must-see" bands are Jesus and Mary Chain, Peter Wolf, Sparks, Pere Ubu, Eels (though not for the current album, which is one of my least favorite) and XTC, though it's an open question if or when the band will ever reform and, if it does, whether Andy Partridge will ever get over that bout of stage fright that's been haunting him for the last 20 years.
That said, here's the list of a good chunk of the bands I've seen (including some big-name comedians and actors doing one-person shows), in no particular order.
And of the terrible artists listed below: what can I say, I'm a child of the 80s, which also explains why my remaining hair is still making a pathetic attempt to stand up straight.
- The Divine Comedy
- Dead Kennedys
- Doug and the Slugs
- Cliff Richard
- A Flock of Seagulls
- The Fixx
- Harry Hill (comedian)
- Jerry Seinfeld
- Andy Kindler
- Thomas Dolby
- Julian Cope
- Cracker
- Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
- Neil Finn (featuring members of Radiohead, Lisa Germano, and Johnny Marr)
- Rolling Stones
- Pete Best
- Neil Diamond
- Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet
- Throwing Muses
- Holly Cole
- Neil Young and Crazy Horse
- Simple Minds
- The Spoons
- The Box
- Pearl Jam
- Michelle Shocked
- The Call
- Strange Advance
- Johnny Cash
- The Alarm
- Smothers Brothers
- Lemonheads
- Buffalo Tom
- Hole
- Gene Loves Jezebel
- Meat Puppets
- Squeeze
- Aimee Mann
- Peter Gabriel
- Blind Boys of Alabama
- Midnight Oil
- Arrested Development
- Lenny Kravitz
- Debbie Harry (with Jazz Passengers)
- Queen (original line-up)
- Billy Squier
- Smashing Pumpkins
- Robyn Hitchcock
- Buster Poindexter
- Proclaimers
- Gruff Rhys
- David Byrne
- Sloan
- Elvis Costello
- Split Enz
- Hovercraft
- Gowan
- Loreena McKennitt
- Psychedelic Furs
- Kids in the Hall
- Violent Femmes
- Ramones
- Bad Brains
- They Might Be Giants
- Moxy Fruvous
- Bruce Cockburn
- Blue Rodeo
- 54-40
- Deja Voodoo
- The Watchmen
- Junkhouse
- Foo Fighters
- Bif Naked
- Weird Al Yankovic
- Ron Sexsmith
- Richard Thompson
- Platinum Blonde
- Tears For Fears
- Genesis (Phil Collins-led lineup)
- Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band
- General Public
- The English Beat
- Northern Pikes
- Prince
- Elton John
- Rush
- David Bowie
- Hall and Oates
- The Police
- Tina Turner
- Thompson Twins
- Duran Duran
- Georgia Satellites
- Pursuit of Happiness
- Soul Asylum
- Jane Siberry
- ZZ Top
- The Pretenders
- Iggy Pop
- David Lee Roth
- Van Halen
- Journey
- The Beatnigs
- Greg Kihn Band
- INXS (Michael Hutchence-led era)
- Paul McCartney
- Leonard Cohen
- The Tubes
- D.O.A.
- Tragically Hip
- Sting
- Billy Joel
- Waterboys
- Stone Roses
- Payola$
- Men Without Hats
- Paul Simon
- Bob Dylan
- Rod Stewart
- Soul Asylum
- 10,000 Maniacs
- Natalie MacMaster
- Ashley MacIssac
- Billy Idol
- Steve Winwood
- Jesus Jones
- Billy Bragg
- Hoodoo Gurus
- Joe Jackson
- Jay Leno
- The Beautiful South
- The Lightning Seeds
- George Michael
- Crowded House
- U2
- Headstones
- Mighty Mighty Bosstones
- Liz Phair
- The Who
- Lyle Lovett
- Dane Cook
- The Mahones
- Eve 6
- Jesse Cook
- Sarah Brightman
- The The
- Cash Brothers
- Andrew Cash
- Fugazi
- Danko Jones
- Neko Case
- The Guess Who
- Greg Kihn Band
- Moe Berg
- Belly
- George Wallace (comedian)
- KISS
- Shane MacGowan and the Popes
- Weezer
- Michael Moore (filmmaker)
- Peter Ustinov (actor)
- Gregory Peck (actor)
- Steve Earle
- Meat Loaf
- Wilco
- Steven Wright
- Frank Black
- Bob Geldof
- Echo and the Bunnymen
- New Pornographers
- Hot Hot Heat
- Metric
- Bob Dorough
- The Flatlanders
- Tom Jones
- Rufus Wainwright
- Martha Wainwright
- Loudon Wainwright III
- Magnetic Fields
- Andrew Bird
- A.C. Newman
- Sandra Bernhard
- Bette Midler
- Pixies
- Bob Newhart
- Martin Short
- R.E.M.
- New York Dolls
- Iggy and the Stooges
- The Strokes
- Colin Hay
- Tom Cochrane
- The Romantics
- Nancy Sinatra
- Big Star
- The Dictators
- Bo Diddley
- The Pretty Things
- Moby
- Snow Patrol
- Green Day
- Garbage
- Arcade Fire
- Feist
- The Sounds
- Bob Mould
- Belle and Sebastian
- Art Brut
- Jason Collett
- Death Cab For Cutie
- Franz Ferdinand
- Bright Eyes
- Paul Williams
- She Wants Revenge
- The Futureheads
- Cowboy Junkies
- The Rentals
- The Dears
- The Hidden Cameras
- Roger Waters
- The Raveonettes
- Supernova
- The White Stripes
- Modest Mouse
- Kaiser Chiefs
- My Chemical Romance
- Andrew W.K.
- Patrick Watson
- Hot Chip
- John Mellencamp
- David Cassidy
- Holy Fuck
- Black Mountain
- The Hives
- k.d. lang
- Ricky Gervais
- Ray Davies
- Tom Petty
- Bill Cosby
- Morrissey
- Harland Williams
- Buffy Sainte-Marie
- Greg Proops
- Secret Machines
- Lily Allen
- Pat Dinizio
- The Smithereens
- Bloc Party
- TV on the Radio
- Fleetwood Mac
- Eagles of Death Metal
- Coldplay
- Lou Reed
- The Killers
- Bat For Lashes
- Passion Pit
- Love and Rockets
- Marshall Crenshaw
- The Blasters
- Bow Wow Wow
- Icicle Works
- Modern English
- Pete Yorn
- Rough Trade
- Lindsey Buckingham
- Crash Test Dummies
- Joe Cocker
- Ned's Atomic Dustbin
- Hunters and Collectors
- Yo La Tengo
- Superchunk
- Unicorns
- Billy Bob Thornton
- Black Flag
- The Cult
- The Tea Party
- Guns N' Roses
- The Weakerthans
- Andy Taylor
- Juliana Hatfield
- Cub
- 7 Year Bitch
- Nik Kershaw
- Ben Folds (almost - he's playing Fargo in October)
- AC/DC (almost - for those of you about to rock next Saturday, I salute you!)
- The Sounds (almost - Minneapolis in November)
- Gogol Bordello (almost)
This may bring into question my status as a purported music lover, but I've never been a big fan of concerts.
ReplyDeleteSome of my reasons:
1) Large crowds vs. my personal space issues.
2) I'm not a big fan of all the pyro and lights that often eclipse the actual music at many concerts.
3) An utter hatred for 360 degree stage configurations. (I paid to see the artist the whole time, not every four songs or so.)
Having said that, I do have two favourite concerts. My second favourite concert was George Strait at the MTS Centre. Simple stage, epic catalogue of music covered, his one and only tour to come north of the border in almost 30 years of touring... the only downside was the dreaded 360 stage. Boo!
My favourite concert experience was Michael Buble at the Centennial Concert Hall. It was a more intimate show than his later one at MTS. Great music, awesome stage presence and crowd engagement, all around great entertainment and bang for my buck.
True music lovers may proceed with crucifying me now.
I can't believe I've actually seen two great artists that you haven't.....Tom Waits........I saw him at the U of T many years ago......small venue.....seats so close we could almost touch him......and Van Morrison in Winnipeg....front row! one of the biggest deals ever to me........why didn't you see him?
ReplyDeleteGeorge Wallace the comedian? All this time when you told me you were a big fan, I thought you were referring to George Wallace the famed segregationist governor of Alabama.
ReplyDeleteYes, I missed Van Morrison, have never seen Tom Waits, or "the other" George Wallace. Ha, ha!
ReplyDeletelol The Tea Party played here so often during the nineties that I'm sure half the city has seen them at some point. The most memorable time I saw them was when they played at the Red River Ex in 1994. I saw them the day after I graduated high school. Then I saw them again a month later at Sunfest.
ReplyDeleteWeird Al, well all I can say is that I'm a huge fan and I couldn't pass that one up. Totally worth it, and one of the best shows I've seen.
What this whole thing has done for me is to make me promise myself that I'll see more concerts than I have been lately, because I really do enjoy it.
Yep, me too. And I love Weird Al as well. I laughed out loud for the whole show.
ReplyDeleteI met him after the show, and he was a great guy: giving advice to kids, posing for pictures, and signing autographs. Not "weird" at all.