Here's the top 10 list of the greatest concerts I've ever been:
10) Linkin Park (opening act: Lost Prophets) - Cardiff, Wales. Great time, great concert, and Lost Prophets were from Wales, so very cool opener.
9) Huey Lewis and the News (opening act: Robert Cray Band) - Daytona Beach, FL. Don't laugh, this was an AWESOME concert.
8) Rob Zombie (Opening act: Lacuna Coil) - 9:30 Club. Great time with my friend Justin (who bought the tickets) and the day I found out I was going to be a father.
7) Blues Traveller, Ziggy Marley, Black Crowes - Nissan Pavilion, VA - My sophomore year at University, and just an amazing time, including my number 2 favorite ever concert experience: The Black Crowes singing "She Talks to Angels" with a single light shining down on the lead singer. Just awesome.
6) Dave Matthews Band (Opening Act: Bella Fleck and the Flecktones) - Nissan Pavillion, VA - Amazing concert with friends, and the number 3 and 5 favorite concert experiences (which I'll get to shortly) with "Two Step" and "Ants Marching".
5) Chris Cornell (Red Rock Festival) - Old Steel Refinery, Luxembourg - Amazing set and he did a LOT of Soundgarden tunes. Plus it was in an ACTUAL old steel refinery. The concert hall used to be where they melted the steel.
4) Placebo (Can't remember opening act) - Carling Live, Hammersmith, London. - Just amazing, with my buddy Charlie.
3) REM (Opening Act: Buffalo Tom) - Nissan Pavilion, VA - Amazing time. My friends and I bought grass seats, but since it had undersold, they gave us actual seats up close. Awesome set, and very cool. (This was the Monster tour, so it was the full band.)
2) The White Stripes (Opening Act: Blanche) - Alexandra Palace, London. - I've written about this before. It was awesome, and I'd give anything to see that show again.
1) Blur (no opener, Reading Festival) - Reading, UK. - The Number 1 best concert experinece I've ever had with "song 2" causing the ground to shake.
Honorable Mention: U2 - RFK Stadium. I bounced for the gig, but got to see the show for free and they paid me as well.
No reason why I wrote that up there. It's my blog and I'll do what I want. But, look at Number 6. Two of my top 5 greatest concert moments happened in number 6. Wild, I know. The "Ants Marching" part was because Dave was joined by Bella Fleck on the Banjo, and they had so much fun with the song that Dave turned his back on the audience and jammed for a good 5 minutes like no one else was there. Great time.
However, "Two Step" is my number 3 greatest experience at a concert. Let me start off by saying I am in no way a huge Dave Matthews Band fan. I do have a few of his albums, and like his music, but I've only seen him once. I think my friend Em might have seen him at least 50 times by now. I've found that Dave Matthews fans are a lot like Dead fans: they'll watch them anywhere. (Phish fans are the most like Dead fans though. To be fair, most of the Dead fans I know are pretty cool people that are intelligent, and the die-hard Phish fans I know can be stumped by asking: "What were we just talking about?" It's a joke people!)
Anyways, "Two Step" is from the album Crash which came after their incredibly successful album Under the Table and Dreaming. It was never a big hit on radio, and to be honest, I probably only heard it a few times before the above mentioned concert. It was a good song, but it never really stuck out, like "So Much to Say" or even "Crash." Moved nicely, with a good bassline, nice violin work, and a good sax part.
Then, I saw it in concert. I went with my friends from University, and if I remember correctly drove down with my friend Sheandra. We were having a great time, and as the sun set and the lights came on, Dave started this song.
It was amazing. I knew most songs are better live than on record (but not all), but I couldn't believe how much better this sounded in person. The full effect was stunning. The band, the lights, the people cheering, everything just clicked at that one point and time. The song moved with a fluidity that should have been there on the album, and is there now when I listen to it. Dave's semi-falsetto was right on, the sax wasn't too loud or too soft, and the violin part melded perfectly. (And before you ask, no I wasn't high.)
It points out that sometimes a single musical experience can forever change the way you listen to a song. The music is the same on my iPod as on the CD, but when I listen to it, I hear the music from that night. It's still as clear to me today as it was 15 years ago. (Man was that a long time ago.)
I'm still not a DMB superfan, but they will always have a warm spot in my heart for "Two Step." Give it a listen. (This one is pretty awesome.) You may not hear what I heard that day, but it's still a very good song.
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