Bands I Have Really Enjoyed Seeing Live 

The best concert I ever saw was Prince in 2004. Bass solos, guitar solos, dance movies. Almost 3 hours with no opening act. Prince's band was amazing. The bandleader was Maceo Parker. He was in James Brown's band when James went full funk. I usually love English Indie, alternative, old school metal. The Cure was great. I saw them last year. Robert Smith is a dryly funny guy. Saw U2 in 1992 when they toured "Achtung Baby." First time I saw floor to ceiling HUGE video boards. The avid behind the musicians was a mind fuck. Loudest concert ever I saw was Motorhead, Dio, and Iron Maiden. Maiden on its first tour with Bruce Dickinson back in the band. There tour near me in October. Johnny Marr and James. I grew up on The Smiths, so I LOVE Marr! About 10 years ago, I wanted to get tickets to see Marr at The 9:30 Club in DC. BUT I then learned that Stevie Wonder was going to be The Caps home arena on the same night! So I had to see Stevie! Stevie Wonder did "Songs in The Key of Life" front to back. The female lead singer was India Arie! Just fantastic.

The best concerts I have ever seen was Alter Bridge. I have seen them 12 times. All were great, but the best I have ever seen out of them was when I traveled to Toronto or to Grand Rapids last year to see them. The best 3 band line-up I have ever saw for a show was last year when I saw Disturbed, Breaking Benjamin, and Jinjer. All three had different stage productions. Jinjer had a simple backdrop with their logo in Ukraine colors. Breaking Benjamin went with having footage of their music videos in their background and Disturbed had this contraption where they had stage ceiling lights, but instead of lights, they had pyro and utilized a lot of pyro in the set. Even during the song they used a piano, the piano was on fire as well. All 3 bands were great. I saw Starset a few weeks ago and they were pretty good too and their visual production values was very futuristic for a lack of a better word.

One of the best gigs I have been to was my first time seeing Queens of the Stone Age in Manchester in 2011. They had jusr re-released their first album. So it was sort of like seeing them at the start of their career. Plus it was my friends first gig. Also KT Tunstall is phenomenal live, musically great and very entertaining inbetween songs. Night Verses who are a favourite of mine (they supported Tool on their European tour this year) live in Glasgow was also incredible arguably the best musicians I have seen live. Going to Canada to see Streetlight Manifesto in Toronto was special and I would like to go to other countries to see more bands.

I'll keep it as brief as can as I've been to 100+ concerts. Eyes Set to Kill is the one I am currently most looking forward to. My best discovered band is Midnight, try the song Szex Witchery for easy search result example of super catchy riffs. People who did not see GWAR before Oderus left us really missed out but the band continues and is still a show worth experiencing. Ministry at Lollapalooza was amazing and for a long time after my fav show but then awful when I saw them again a few years ago. Rage Against the Machine still haven't figured out capitalism made everything they did possible but they were undeniable on stage on their original run. No idea how their recent tour went. Behemoth playing all of The Satanist is my fav 2000s show. King Diamond, Halloween, and Suicidal Tendencies are my other highlights. Big names such as Anthrax, Black Sabbath, Dio, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Metallica, Motorhead, Ozzy, etc have the problem where they can't play the deep cuts and will have a few popular-but-not-liked-or-tired-of-personally choices on the setlist. Biggest regrets: Not seeing Death before Chuck Schuldiner died and I saw Type O Negative twice but wish I could have seen Peter Steele fronting Carnivore. (I've seen shows from band members of each with guest singers.)

I saw Tool twice, once in 2007 and once in 2013. Blown away both times. Living in Phoenix for 2 years, I saw a BUNCH of heavy metal bands coming through, due to my involvement with the local scene. I miss that.

Just looked up your Pack A.D. video at the Shakedown!!! Awesome venue here in Bellingham. Lots of great artists come through here all the time

I follow the Warning drummer,she’s freaking amazing!

The best band I ever saw live was Cannibal Corpse. I absolutely recommend seeing them live. Even if you can't stand death metal and it's just noise to you, I still recommend seeing them. The energy is absolutely insane.

Awesome to see the love for The Dead Deads. Saw them open for Stone Sour and Halestorm with zero knowledge and walked away a life long fan. Such a fun band. Got all the CDs and the XX glasses.

Weird Al is one under rated live performance. I went to his concert when he was at Calgary Expo in 2013 (I think it was) and got to meet the man as a guest at the Expo. Amazing experience

Favorite artists I’ve seen live: - Nightwish - Skillet (twice) - Disturbed - Def Leppard (twice) - Alice Cooper (twice)

We saw Weird Al years ago. That was such a fun show! I can't remember which song he was singing at the time, but the segment that sticks out the most is when he was hip thrusting on ladies in the audience!

I’ve Seen Billy Joel Twice in 2009 With Elton John And 2014 by Himself Both Shows Were Fantastic Also I Saw Bret Michaels After 2 Opening Acts Last Year!

Did you ever see The Hip or Rush? Those two bands are among the best I’ve ever seen live, along with Heart.

Weird Al was so great. He had a local comedian do the MC bit and a set before he took the stage. AND HE WAS BLUE. So when Weird Al came out he said wow that was a lot of bad words. Woo! And then he killed it. Just a great fun set. People with their kids, people much older than me. I've seen Rush 8x, Iron Maiden 6x, Misfits/Danzig+Doyle/Michale Graves x5 Megadeth, Judas Priest, Scorpions, Weird Al 2x, Stray Cats, Suicidal Tendencies. Best show? Because it was as close to my holy grail as possible, I saw Queen with Paul Rodgers in 2006. I'd wanted to see them, and lived in places Queen never toured growing up. So when they went back out, it was nearly a religious experience and worth the expense of the ticket, the flight, hotel, meals, etc. Wonderful. Paul did as well as he could, but he wasn't Freddie. But it was still excellent. And man that's awful to hear the Cult screwed up so badly. That would crush me. I've been lucky, never seen a band have a bad night. I did see Jerry Only of the Misfits come out early. Crowd cheers, he waves it off. "I have your money. So if anybody throws shit at us, we're leaving. Cool? Ok, see you in 10 minutes." I think that's when they had Marky Ramone on drums for some songs, so we got some Ramones songs too. Awesome show. We joked that it was 90 songs in 60 minutes because it was just so fast and such short songs.

I saw tool at lollapalooza 93 for the first time. Blew me away. Saw them 12 times since and just gets better. Their live show will change your life.

I worked at the old Winnipeg Arena for 5 years. Wasn't an A-list 5:02 i did get to see lots of great concerts. ACDC, VanHalen, Journey, BoniJovi, Billy Idol, Eric Clapton, Rod Stewart, Bryan Adams, Tina Turner, Golden Earring, David Bowie to name a few. Traveled to Minneapolis to see Duran Duran + U2. Saw U2 in TO. I miss concerts when tickets were affordable - David Bowie at the Wpg Stadium was $35, and that was so expensive way back when.

Rammstein Chicago 2012 was my first concert, Richard side. I was in 7th grade, and my Dad and I’s ears are still ringing! Saw them in Minneapolis two years ago, and they were unbelievable as always. I’ve also seen Metallica twice (two more this summer), Slipknot 5x (again this fall), Primus 5x (again in July), Pearl Jam 2x, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest (front and center, wooow), Tool 2x, Ghost 3x, HIM/VV 3x, and KISS 4x (including the final KISS Kruise where my aunt and I got to hang with Gene and Paul for the whole week!). Really wish I could’ve seen Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, and Rush. I’m seeing The Rolling Stones this summer which should be kick ass! Many many other shows I’ve been to, but those stand out as the best.

Ghost is putting out a movie in theaters June 20th & 22nd. Recording from their shows in LA last year

Not much for concerts but I saw Weird Al right before 2020. Also Nickelback. My mom was lucky. She got to see Queen back in the 80's and loved them! She also saw Gordon Lightfoot, Leonard Cohen and the Greatful Dead w/Jerry Garcia. But she said Freddie was the best ever! I do envy her that. She doesn't go to concerts now. She says she already saw the best and prefers to remember.

First concert was in ‘88 I was 13 it was Slayer at The Ritz in NYC,I was so excited, then Tom came out and said WAR ENSEMBLE!!!!! I got a little scared!

thats a big list i saw the police in 1983 saw u2 for that amnesty international thing at the gardens . my highlights would include seeing rush and the hip since i saw them more than once . this year im hopeful to see the eagles . most i dont recall due to being young and alcohol being involved . do more lists !

I saw Windrose recently not 100% sure if Dwarf is your thing but honestly greatest concert ive seen. Also extremely excited for Halestorm already got tickets

Best concert I ever saw was Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band at CBP in Philly in 2016. At 67 he rocked the stage for 4 hours and 5 minutes. And the crowd was red hot all night!

One of my favourite memories is going to see Metallica at Soundwave in Sydney in 2013. Because it was a festival I saw a bunch of other bands, like DragonForce, Anthrax, The Sword, Cypress Hill and Linkin Park (oh man what a performance too). Metallica played "Orion" in full, it moved me to tears, and the person I was with who has cerebral palsy had the time of his life. It's one of my favourite memories. Same with seeing Lamb of God, and having my best mate sit me on his shoulder, and we had a little kid who was with his dad who wanted to go up, and without hesitation, I jumped down, and my mate had this kid on his shoulders, and me and the dad were proud as punch.

Garth Brooks in his prime, wild energy .

Didn’t know you were a halestorm fan that’s awesome! I rarely meet any other halestorm fans haha

Meatloaf … great voice, He was very personal and thankful . I was surprised how entertaining it was, outdoor Amphitheater.

Best show I've been to was Sabaton in Portland 2022. I saw Alestorm (Pirate Metal) last month and it was very fun. Both were in smaller venues and that makes the shows more fun. I've seen plenty of shows since '81 and though stadium shows are great, smaller venues are just better. I forgot Lacuna Coil are great live

I'm starting to go to concerts a little more, whether by myself or with family/friends. I just got to see Avenged Sevenfold on the 3rd leg for LIBAD, and man it was everything I'd hoped it would be! Waited 9 years to see them since they're rarely ever around Pittsburgh. People saying that Shadows is done, but I think this is the best he's sounded since Nightmare. I saw Ice Nine Kills at the end of last year, and ended up becoming an Avatar fan during that show. Didn't really like In this Moment though tbh. Also went to the Def Leppard/Motley Crue stadium tour that got postponed due to covid. Crue was as bad as advertised and I try to forget their part of the show every day. But Def Leppard's still got it in their 60's! Those guys took care of themselves over the years.

Best show I ever went to was Alice Cooper, everyone should see him at least once in their lifetime 🤘🤘🤘

Most fun was Jimmy Eat World, most personally defining was the Ramones in a Buffalo NY in 1985. 38 minutes with 14 songs on the set list. Fantastic. But the best was probably Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers headlining, with the Del lords and the Georgia Satellites as the openers. Top notch for 3plus hours

Rammstein is a definite number one. Sabaton, Zombie, Mudvayne, and Gojira are also amazing. Allegaeon is amazing too.

Volbeat is a great band to see live!,

Best for me by far was Rob Zombie. As far as a top 10 goes... 1) Rob Zombie 2) Megadeth (oddly the same day as Rob Zombie) 3) Lacuna Coil 4) Killswitch Engage 5) Sevendust 6) 10 Years 7) The Offspring 8) Papa Roach 9) Lights (not rock but I absolutely love her) 10) Seether

I saw amon amarth and cannibal corpse in Vancouver it was a good show

Just saw Donny Benet. So not metal but absolutely one of the best I've ever seen.

Shannon, as a BC resident, I'm surprised you would rate Lizzy higher than Brittany from Unleash The Archers. Not taking anything away from Lizzy as I think she has an amazing voice, but Brittany's voice is on the next level to my ears!

The main band I go to concerts for is They Might Be Giants - I’ve seen them over 40 times. They usually play the smaller venues, 1-2k, and the last several years, they’ve been doing shows without openers. Always a good time, and there’s generally a decent amount of stage banter. For shows that were disappointing, I can’t think of a single specific band, but I rarely go to the big stadium shows because 1) I can’t see the band 2) tix are $$$ and 3) so many acts seem to just sing the songs and add nothing to the experience. Basically, small venue shows have ruined the experience for me.

Tool is really good live but my favorite concert I have ever been to was pearl jam in 06

RATM were great live, i got to see Johnny Cash and June Carter sing Jackson on the last tour he really did, Prof puts on an amazing live show, and if you get a chance to see a punk band from russia called the Svetlanas, do it, Olga Svetlana is a maniac.

halestorm is amazing live

I remember enjoying Breaking Benjamin when I saw them. Hopefully the sound is better if you see them again

Halestorm is actually the only band (of those on the board) that I've seen. Three times as a headliner, and I agree, Lzzy is great! If I had to pick only one favorite band, that would be Bon Jovi. That was also my first ever concert, but my top 3 concerts of all times are: Within Temptation (with support of Delain), Nightwish and Taylor Swift (yes, actually). Biggest disappointment was Status Quo.

It's a shame that Freddie Mercury passed away before my 11th birthday because I really would have liked to have experienced a Queen concert with the original lineup, especially at a big venue like the old Wembley. While I like bands like Rammstein and White Zombie, I don't know that I'd want to see them live, mainly because that type of audience would make me want to scrap the bulletproof vest in favour of a force field. It's not the bands, it's the audience. Woodstock of all things, an event that was supposed to be about peace and love, ended in violence. Then again, these days, you risk violence at a comedy event because someone said something that someone either misinterpreted or just got offended by. I have spina bifida and loud noises tend to reverberate in my ears, so concerts have never really been my thing anyway. I'd much rather watch them on a big screen TV. Live Aid and and Queen in Montreal are the ones I typically go back to.

My favorite of all time Metallica 2011 big 4 festival

no metallica? ps. i see rammstein in athens in few weeks - i'll give Till your best, Shannon

Rammstein hasn't been cancelled yet?

My favorite band to see live is Green Day. I've seen them 6 times so far, and the best one was in fall of 2016 when they did a tour of smaller venues. You essentially had to be in the fan club to even have a chance at tickets, so the crowd was so the most dedicated I've ever seen for any show. At points you could barely hear the band because the audience was singing so loud. Slipknot, Avenged Sevenfold, Godsmack, A Day to Remember, and Rise Against have all put on some amazing shows. And even if you're not the biggest fan of the music, ska bands like Less Than Jake and Reel Big Fish are a lot of fun live. Seeing In This Moment back when Beautiful Tragedy was their only big song (summer 2011) was also great, especially considering they were playing on a side stage at 3 in the afternoon. I also saw Halestorm that same year, opening for Avenged Sevenfold. They only had one album at the time but still sounded fantastic. And I've gone back to see both of them more recently. I've seen Tool twice. The first time, they were headliners and the show was amazing. The second time was at a festival, and it was just OK. They didn't have their full setup of special effects and lights, so it wasn't the full experience. There were only two shows I would consider bad. The first one was a Disturbed show where the audio was broken all night. I've seen them other times before and after and they were good, so it's not a talent or poor showmanship issue, but on this one night the guitar just didn't sound right. The other was Theory of a Deadman. Singer was so drunk that any random guy in the crowd would've sounded better. I hear they've cleaned up at this point, but I haven't seen them since.

Saw Three Days Grace in the daylight at a festival. They were better than the headliner. In This Moment was at the same show and she is an experience. Breaking Benjamin was meh. Hnr. Mention for Fozzy. Big marked out heat for Chris Jericho (can't stand the guy, can't tell you why), but I really liked the music and performance. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers was tremendous.

Saw Seether 3 times. First 2 times were awesome but the last was not.