It's been tough since COVID. Used to go to several shows a year, would pony up the money to see bigger bands. Once did a VIP thing to U2, 2 tickets were almost $1k. Also had side stage GA to The Rolling Stones. Think that was a $250 ticket back around 2017.
When COVID hit, so many shows were canceled, it just keeps going. Had 3rd row center for Rage Against the Machine, canceled, Foo Fighters, canceled, Black Keys, canceled, along with a few others.
Now almost any show is $250+ that doesn't include fees. Learned that you pay for 3 tickets but only get 2. It's 1 ticket worth in fees.
My kid has discovered K-Pop, been going to all the shows. Some are cheap, some are not. My kid has started to go solo to a few, it's hard to spend $800 on 2 tickets to see a K-Pop band.
Going to see Nathaniel Rateliff and Joe Bonamosa in February, back to back shows. Tickets for them were reasonable.
I still go to live shows, but I’m far more picky about who I go see than I used to be. I have to really want to see them. And I try to make an event out of it. If the show is in a new city, I’ll make a weekend of it and check out the area. As a result, it can get pricey so I want to make sure it’s an artist I want to see.
I’m trying to get to those great artists who may be “in the twilight of their careers”.
I hate that feeling of regret when I learn that an artist is no longer touring (for whatever reason), and I missed them live.
I got spoiled by the $3 tickets to get in the Fillmore (San Francisco) in the 60’s and early-70’s. For $3 I got to see Cream, Hendrix, The Who, Jeff Beck, The Kinks, Procol Harum, Elton John (with just a drummer and bassist, his original live line-up), many others.
The last big show I attended was The Stones at The Staples Center in L.A. I got a pair of comp tickets, so didn’t feel bad when my gal and I left after three songs. Not only was it like watching TV, but they also stunk.
The last Rock ’n’ Roll band I saw live were NRBQ, at a small club in Portland. They were as great as ever (I’d previously seen them three times in the 80’s and 90’s, at The Roxy Theater in L.A.), and it cost me only $30 I believe it was. It’s the cost of drinks that hurts!
Due to the ridiculous cost of tickets, I have only attended two concerts in the last two years. They were Sarah McLachlan and Robert Plant / Allison Krauss and both shows were at outdoor venues here in the Seattle area. It’s quite enjoyable drinking wine while listening to live music outdoors on a Summer evening. Growing up in LA, I had the opportunity to see a lot of the greats in concert back in the day when tickets were affordable (The Rolling Stones, The Who, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Simon and Garfunkel, Van Morrison, U2, R.E.M, The Clash, The Pretenders, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Lou Reed, Steve Winwood, John Fogerty, Tom Petty, Jefferson Airplane, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck). I’m thankful for those memories.
I am not at all into anything that would qualify as mainstream music, that would be at large venues, and cost a lot of money.
My tastes run to the progressive, avant-garde, underground, musicianship oriented, type of music, that tends to have a limited following. So, by default, I am only going to small venues for live music, and relatively low ticket prices.
With those caveats, I go to quite a few live concerts.
Here in Cloverdale CA Friday Nights, a series of summer concerts starting in May and ending in September, waah. The downtown is closed off, local vendors beer and wine. Free as it is sponsored by local business. Excellent SF Bay Area bands you dance 5 feet from. Bring a cooler and chair, just be aware some people sit in the same place for years ;) Nothing beats live music!
I live west of Boston and I attend shows at Bull Run in Shirley fairly regularly. Fantastic acts, no seat is bad, good food and drink and wonderful, friendly, musically knowledgeable clientele. I don't do large venues but will hit.some mid-size ones occasionally for a good act. I find the cost/crowds/ hassle of large venues just suck any fun out of it for me. I've seen Richard Thompson, Iris Dement, Albert Lee, Bill Kirchen, Savoy Brown, Aaron Neville, Johnny Winter, Slambovian Circus of Dreams and other greats in this small venue. Others can fill up stadiums to see Fleetwood Mac, Stones Billy Joel, etc.
I still love live music but who I go the see and hear and where has changed over the years. Going to stadiums to hear multiple acts is still fun with a group of people. Tailgating before and after and the shared experience is fun as long as I’m willing to pay the ridiculously high prices. I’m glad I saw so many acts over the years that I don’t have to overpay to see legacy acts that are over the hill just to see them once before they go to rock and roll heaven. Hearing local acts or up and coming acts at smaller local venues is great for just me and my wife. For legacy acts we have enjoyed cover bands in small theaters as a reasonable price.
In the 80’s it was about five nights a week, the 90’s down to three (both while living in L.A.). In the 2000’s once or twice a week, these days once or twice a month. But I wouldn't call them concerts, all being in small clubs, which I much prefer. And besides, that's where the artists I want to see perform. That, and small theaters (Iris DeMent appears at The Aladdin Theater when in Portland, about as big a venue as I care for).
@slaw-- I've seen Trower several times, but I have to say the first was the best. He was touring "Bridge of Sighs" with several tracks that would be on "For Earth Below". James Dewar's voice and bass playing meshed perfectly with Bill Lordan's drumming, and allowed Trower to go in and out of leads seamlessly. He set up his Marshall stack in a unique way that just put out an amazing tone.
I was supposed to see Godspeed You! Black Emperor at Haw River a month ago, but several dates were postponed due to Efrim's illness. I'm waiting for rescheduled dates. Haw River Ballroom is beautiful, along with Visulite.
@thecarpathian -- When Zevon played "Roland..." live that night, he used an old pump organ. Absolutely mind blowing spin on that song. Just Zevon and the pump organ. He utilized the creaks, groans, and "whooshing" noises the organ made to add emphasis on parts of the song. I can still hear it almost 30 years later.
Several years ago while our son was getting his Masters degree in percussion at the University of North Texas, they had a summer jazz festival that we went to. All entertainment was free. Saw Tower of Power, band and sound was fantastic.
Just before the Pandemic went to see REO, Don Felder and Styx. All used the same system, but had their own sound engineers. REO's sound was horrible. A total disappointment. Felder and Styx were great.
One of THE FEW good shows left is the TSO CHRISTMAS SHOW!! You know it will sound great, have a really good light show, and use 2,000 gallons of PROPANE for the shooting fire guns! LOL! The tickets will still be a reasonable cost, and $1.00 of each ticket will be donated to a local charity. The band always seems to be up for the show, not ever doing a walk thru show the times I have seen them. I live near Detroit, so we get to see the East Touring Group, with Chris Cafferty as lead guitar. Always a great show!
I attended a Gypsy Kings outdoor concert in Napa, it was cold, crowded and super loud. I much prefer classical music indoors in a good venue or a small club for Latin or Jazz music.
I still go but only to smaller venues. Prices at large venues like MSG in NYC are crazy and the sound sucks. Richard Thompson was great in 2024 and BEAT doing crimson at the Beacon was one of the best shows in Years. I pray they put out a live album from that tour.
@goodlistening64nope. I’m not talking about background vocals but rather the main vocals supposedly being sung by Taylor Swift during her shows.
Look, I don’t have a dog in this hunt. She is not my cup of tea and I haven’t bought any of her albums but one since she went "pop" and became more of a cult figure than a singer.
But Youtubers like this guy, Wings of Pegasus, have analyzed several of her songs and shows and found that yes, the vocals were canned.
Now, her fans don’t really seem to care, and if they are willing to pay $500 or more to see her, whatever. At least she is generating economic activity and helping support the other singers and performers, the road crew, local hotels and restaurants, etc., so good for her.
This guy’s video channel isn’t devoted to trashing Taylor, but rather for trying to scream to the industry that it is time to stop it with all the perfect pitch mods they do in the studio and live, and let the music breathe with reality.
Artificial perfection is boring. Might as well be listening to an A.I. generated song, and apparently soon we will be. Ugh.
We are members of a small theater in central Ohio. Midland Theater. In the last year we have seen 38 Special, Toto, Kansas, Kenny G, Mike Cambell and the Dirty Knobs (Tom Pettys lead guitar along with Toms hall of fame drummers band) and a KILLER Led Zepplin Tribue band GTLO (Get the Led Out). Since we are members, we get tickets before they go on sale to the public and I usually choose about 4 or 5 rows back. It’s a perfect spot for Sue and me. We take another couple with us. I’m 68 and my wife is 71.
But to respond to OP’s original post, yes I still love to go to concerts and go whenever I can. In the past year I’ve seen Matthew Sweet, Robert Plant/Alison Krauss, the Psychedelic Furs, the Jesus and Mary Chain, and Superchunk.
I can sympathize with a lot of posters though. I have two bad knees so standing for the entire show is a non-starter. My wife and I got COVID (again) at the Superchunk show in October, so that’s given us some pause too. I too am not willing to pay a huge ticket price for an act that’s in many cases long past its sell-by date, so I choose carefully.
These days, I’m an avid concert video collector. I have two rigs: a 2 channel one upstairs and a 7.2.4 Atmos setup that is all Focal and Anthem in the basement. So I do a lot of my concert watching reclined with a glass of wine and a cool buzz. It’s not quite the same, but waaay easier.
@2psyop- there's going to be a deluxe anniversary edition of 'For Earth Below' coming out later this year. One of my photos I took in Oakland in 1975 will be in the included booklet....
2024: at small venue = few hundred people at the Majestic Theater San Antonio; caught Joe Bonamassa and few months later Kenny Wayne Shepherd; both great shows. In Austin, Moody Theater caught Bonnie Raitt...73 yrs olde and rocked 3+ hrs non-stop...really great show. At the indoor baseball stadium in Dallas caught Chris Stapleton with 90,000 other people; great show but just too many people in one place...getting in & out & parking was a nightmare. In Nov went to the Sphere in Vegas for the Eagles & Vince Gill...the Sphere was an event in itself...everyone must see a concert there once in their life. Santana is coming to Aztec Theater this year - would like to that show. Also, usually catch Tommy Emmanuel when he is in town but for 2025 he is doing an all overseas world tour. Would really like to do one of the "The Blues Alive at Sea" tours...one week cruise hosted by Joe Bonamassa...he does 1-3 of these per year at different locations/ports; usually great line up of musician's/shows.https://cruises.soulatsea.com/keeping-the-blues-alive-at-sea-ix/
@moonwatcher"To show the disconnect at large shows, some YouTubers recorded some of the songs as presented in commercials or videos from Taylor Swift’s recent live tour. They found that on most of the songs, she wasn’t even singing live. They were canned "prerecorded" vocals.To show the disconnect at large shows, some YouTubers recorded some of the songs as presented in commercials or videos from Taylor Swift’s recent live tour. They found that on most of the songs, she wasn’t even singing live. They were canned "prerecorded" vocals".
That is not accurate. David Grohl joked that she doesn't perform live (probably because he does not) and, yes, background vocals are pre-recorded when they all must move in unison on stage for prolonged periods, but Taylor is not mailing it in. Choreography requiring high intensity dancing is just what it always has been. Her concerts last 3 and a half hours and she is not lip-synching.
And just for the sake of fair play, the Rolling Stones and Bruce Springsteen also use some pre-recorded music in some of their performances, so let's just say that to put on a show for 3 hours plus it's gonna take a village.
Saw Styx foreigner great concert still have great voices and sound had 7 crown i tec 12000 amps sounded great.reo and zz top all in the past year.now because I have more time and finances than when I was 20 years old.i guess it is a quality of life issue now.i use the I tec 12000 on my woofer towers with 6 12 inch woofers and they sound great.on another 6x12 inch woofers I have a bunch of high watt ice amps.enjoy the music weither it's live or in your home.
In 2024 I witnessed 14 shows from Al DiMeola at a 235 seat theater in Hudson Falls NY to Springsteen at the JMA Wireless Dome in Syracuse. I loved every show just like I did all those many years before following the Grateful Dead around the country. Now that I am 64, post 2 major back surgeries and arthritis in my knees, hips, and shoulders I find I can no longer sit or stand long enough to enjoy the shows to their fullest. 2025 will be a decidedly down year for the number of shows I see. I see Dream theater in March, that might be my only show of 2025.
@pvnasby-- That’s cool. I wasn’t aware filming for that movie was in Winston-Salem. The city had quite a few movies, television episodes, and commercial work done here from 1988 to the mid-2000’s, then it sadly dropped off. A lot of filming has to do with the NC School of the Arts being here. I wish the city would leverage it more to get work. The State cut funding, and there was an exodus to the State of Georgia for film projects.
Had the pleasure of many a show in and outdoors flower power, hippie wannabe, sex, drugs and Rock ‘n’ roll. I’d feel silly doing that 💩 now. Still love hot rodding, big sound, fine wine etc, but on my schedule in my cave and with my preferred company. Not to mention the coin people want to listen to S… sound, ridiculous.
@allenf1963, I was filming a TNT movie called “Tecumseh, The Last Warrior”. It was part of a series of Turner movies about the Native American experience in early America. I was out of work, the money was good, and I had a blast. Ziggy’s was part of it. The horse wranglers I was hanging out with liked to party.
I’ve gone to a few. I’m finding that even smaller bands are cranking their volume up to painful degrees. I saw Spoon and Alvvays and Spoon was almost unlistenable live whereas Alvvays was just on the edge of being so loud that you really couldn’t hear the songs. Actually, the best concert I’ve seen in a while was the Dandy Warhols in a relatively small space. The Dandys weren’t even headlining but played a very nice set that was tolerable loudness-wise.
So while I would like to go to more, it hasn’t really been a pleasant experience, even with bands that I really want to see. BTW, these are smaller venues. My city doesn't have or get much in the way of bigger concerts other than casinos or classical music venues. The Casino venues don't really get artists I am interested in.
In the Seattle area we have an awesome venue at Chateau Ste. Michelle. They have a great sound system, and on a warm summer afternoon, with a picnic an a bottle of CSM wine, we've seen some great shows. Diana Krall, Jackson Browne, Paul Simon (last tour- his encore of The Boxer brought people to tears), Lyle Lovett puts on an awesome show. Gary Clark Jr. Was beyond words for both sound and lights, and his impromptu meet and greet afterwards (no charge, no handlers), spoke volumes. Farther north, we've recently seen a killer show with The Mavericks, and downtown Seattle has Jazz Alley and we've seen more great shows there than I can count. There's also the Triple Door where we've seen David Lindley (RIP) Sonny Landreth, and more. The Big Venues, we've been once in the last 10 years - to see the Rolling Stones. Stupid expensive, but I gotta say, they did not disappoint.
When I grew up, the word “concert” was strictly for classical music. A Kiss “concert” was rather a headbanging party.
I saw Bb king, Cher, Sting and other big names live. But yeah, still going regularly to the Dallas Symphony. Pinchas Zukerman gave me goose pumps in his 70s 😜😜
@pvnasby-- That's awesome! I was at that Ozric Tentacles show. They were touring their "Arboresence" album at that show. I've listened to them for years, a fantastic Prog/Psychedelic/Space Rock band. That show was October 19th, 1994. Leftover Salmon was October 20th.
Were you in town filming "Marriage, Pride & Madness" by chance? I know that movie was in town at that time. My good buddy was an employee of the NC School of the Arts in their Film School Department at that time. He was in charge of purchasing all the equipment for the studios and screening rooms they were building as they expanded. Had some GOOD times going in with him when the school was closed and playing around with the audio gear in the movie theaters! There may or may not have been some "Alice In Wonderland" activities while Led Zep's "Song Remains The Same" blared on the big screen!
I still attend live shows, though the acts that interest me are few and far between. And, I often end up ill after attending a well-attended event. I get funny looks when I show up wearing a mask.
@allenf1963, I had the pleasure of discovering Ziggy’s in 1994. I was working as a movie extra and housed in the vacant Hane’s pantyhose plant next to WFU. We got bored one night and went on campus to find something to do. Stumbled onto Ziggys and decided to check it out. Saw Ozric Tentacles one night and Leftover Salmon the next. Truly epic venue. Looked like a little honkytonk bar, but go down some stairs and bam, a huge concert hall. One of my favorite bits of serendipity.
In exceptional rare cases I can go to live concerts. if not completely acoustic the sound quality on such concerts is considerably worse than with my audio system. So it becomes like a waste of time and money.
@moonwatcher-- I was devastated when Jay had to shut down the old Ziggy's. Wake Forest University used their clout with the city and screwed him over big time. All those business properties on Baity Street and Deacon Boulevard were bought up or run out of business by a WFU front (me included) so Wake could develop it and add off-campus offices and parking. After years, they just announced that whole stretch of Deacon Boulevard from University Parkway to the football stadium is being turned into an entertainment district. I knew that was the plan when properties were being bought and flipped, but it's taken around 15 years.
Ziggy's was amazing while it lasted. I first went to a show when it was the little white house where the Joel Coliseum parking lot is now located. Saw Los Lobos in 1986. It's mind blowing to see the list of the bands that played at Ziggy's from 1986 to 2006. It was THE PLACE bands wanted to play on their way from D.C. to Atlanta. Now, bands go to Cat's Cradle in Carrboro, Orange Peel in Asheville, or one of the Charlotte venues. I mean, the huge Prog/Death Metal band Opeth played Ziggy's three times. They still play smaller venues in the U.S. (I saw them 2 nights in a row in 2020 at The Apollo Theater in Harlem), but the also sellout 100,000 attendance festivals numerous times a year.
I keep wishing The RamKat will start booking bands like Ziggy's did...but it hasn't happened yet.
@thecarpathian-- I saw Warren Zevon twice (1983 and 1996), and those shows rank up there in my Top 20% of live concerts. The 1996 show was my favorite. In a small club in Winston-Salem, NC, called Ziggy's with a capacity of around 500 for that show. It was a solo, acoustic show by Zevon, so he reworked his songs to fit just one person playing them -- some were acoustic guitar, some electric guitar, some a Hammond Organ and Synths. Unique and killer.
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