Top 10 Shows of '05

[snuffbox 0]

This is my list of the ten best bands/artists that I had the privilege of seeing this year...

 

1.Saul Williams - Bonnaroo05 - This was incredible on a rare level…a moment where I felt like I was inside all the power and glory of a strange religious fervor. Only two previous shows I had been to can be compared to this…seeing the great Neil Young on his Greendale tour and bouncing to Relative Ash’s raw emotion as a teenager. Saul Williams opened his set at around 12:45 am by mentioning how great it was to be in ‘Tennessee…a great state and birthplace of the KKK’ then continuing for an hour of nonstop poetry on the state of our culture. It was like watching the ghosts of Allen Ginsberg and Tupac Shakur descend for just one night.

 

2.Modest Mouse - Madison WI, June - Since November 2004 I have seen Mouse 5 times and this was the best show of this year, matching that first time at Radio City Music Hall. This show took place in between festivals in Washington and Tennessee (both for myself and this band) so my mind was in a perfect crazed place. The venue (Orpheum Theatre) is a nice setting for any band so that helped as well.

 

3. Slipknot - Madison WI, April - Third time seeing this band was my favorite for one big reason…I waited several hours so I could stand against the front railing and actually see everything on stage for the entire set. Slipknot still brings amazing energy levels to their shows and the kids that follow the elitist sheep herd are only depriving themselves of a very fun live act. On the downside the deep bruising to ribs/chest didn’t go away for along time.

 

4. Bright Eyes - Milwaukee, January - Conor Oberst, for all his indie pretentiousness, puts on a damn good show. The set clocked in at around 2 hours and saw Oberst enjoy several Pabst Blue Ribbons (Guinness for myself), play his awesome anti-Bush song for one of the first times, and smash his guitar. Really fun stuff that included a lot of older songs and an emphasis on his newest acoustic disc.

 

5. The Pixies - Sasquatch Fest, Gorge, May- Finally…I got to see one of the bands Ive wanted to for many years. A moment of good luck allowed me to get as close as second row for the headlining set at Sasquatch fest. Great musicians and a perfect headlining set to close a day of music that included Bloc Party, Arcade Fire, Be Good Tanyas, Modest Mouse, Dears, and…

 

6. Kanye West -Sasquatch - Before this I was just a mild fan of Kanye and was just interested in seeing if he could pull off live rapping in front of a distinctly foreign audience. He did so in extravagant fashion with every god track from College Dropout and previews of Late Registration sounding absolutely perfect and often better than recorded versions. The man has earned his arrogance.

 

7. Blackalicious - Madison November - Another example of why hiphop can be the best live music. Gift of Gab brings a serious Biggie Smalls vibe to his craft and it only adds to the show. I was hypnotized as he counted syllables on his fingers and rapped fast as Carl Lewis ever moved his legs.

 

8.Travelin’ Revue (Glen Phillips, Dan Wilson, Garrison Starr) - Madison WI October - Phillips (Toad the Wet Sprocket) represented a band that Ive wanted to see since I was an 8 year old listening to pop radio, Dan Wilson seemed like a good match, and I had know idea who Starr was. The lineup, with all onstage at once, trading songs and banter worked perfectly. Really fun show.

 

9. Iron & Wine - Bonnaroo05 - Sam Beam’s musical outfit is some of the most passionate, romantic music I have ever heard. Elegant originals like ‘Jezebel’ and a burning cover of Neil Young’s classic ‘Mr Soul’ made this set simply awesome.

 

10. Motion City Soundtrack - La Crosse WI March- This was just fun pop punk stuff that left me sweaty happy. This band will probably follow FallOut Boy to mainstream success and feel the scorn of elitism but to me theyre just a good time band.

 

Honorable Mentions - Cocorosie, Tsunami Bomb, Shadows Fall, De La Soul, Arcade Fire, Dears, ZionI, Ratdog, Allman Bros, Josh Ritter, Lamb of God, Jurassic5, Matisyahu, Be Good Tanyas, Melee, Clumsy Lovers, and DJ Krush.

Edited December 24, 2005 by snuffbox

[Guest 5.0Fanatic]

I might as well join in, but I'll only go my top five since I havn't been to to many concerts this year

 

5. RA- PLayed in a small bar but just tore down the house in the middle of a huge thunderstorm.

4. Trapt - Was actually dragged along to this concert by a freind, and ended up loving the hell out of it.

3. Fall of Troy- Great show, this band is amazing, especially when you realize its only 3 people playing

2. Vaux- Again never heard of them, but they were opening up for Trapt, and were awesome. Their drummer was all kinds of awesomness, plus one of their guitarist ran their lights and stage setup at the same time, along with playing keyboard occasionally.

1. John Butler Trio- Enuff said. Playing in a small bar with only like 100 people in the crowd, but every single person in the crowd was singing along to every song.

 

Honorable mentions go to Led Zepplica, Audioslave, and Since by Man

[Masked Man of Mystery 0]

I've only gone to one real concert that wasn't connected to a religous event(those two were Jars of Clay and Sixpence None the Richer, if you care) but this year I got to see Puffy AmiYumi in the Somerville Theater, really a movie theater, but they were plain out awesome, even if they did chat too much in Japanese(they're a Japanese pop duo and there seemed to be a large Japanese contingent in the audience), and despite my fears of bad mixing due to the drums drowning out the opening act, Puffy was mixed perfectly and they sound even better live, I hope they put out a live album sometime because there's just so much energy when they're more guitar reliant on stage than they are in the studio. Nice mix of Japanese and English songs too.

[cbacon 0]

1. Bloc Party - The Docks, Toronto

2. Modest Mouse, Broken Social Scene, Metric - Olympic Island, Toronto

3. Matthew Good - The Phoenix, Toronto

4. k-os - The Molson Ampitheatre, Toronto

5. Jimmy Eat World, Taking Back Sunday - Arrow Hall, Mississauga

6. Interpol, Q And Not U - The Dome Theatre, Niagara

7. Matthew Good - Arizona's , St. Catharines

8. k-os - Sheridan College, Oakville

9. Pixies, Weezer - The Molson Ampitheatre, Toronto

10. Oasis - The Molson Ampitheatre, Toronto

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

I saw the Wrens in a ballroom at my school, and they blew away anything else I saw this year. Go see them if you ever have the opportunity. Arcade Fire were second.

[Youth N Asia 0]

Only shows I went to this year were the Warped Tour and Senses Fail w/Saves the Day...good times were had at both

[Murmuring Beast 0]

1. Rilo Kiley at King Tuts, Glasgow

2. Franz Ferdinand at Princes Square Gardens, Edinburgh

3. Ray Davies at Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow

4. Brian Wilson at Clyde Auditorium, Glasgow

5. Ambulance Ltd at King Tuts, Glasgow

6. REM at Glasgow Green, Glasgow

7. British Sea Power at Queen Margaret Union, Glasgow

8. Supergrass at ABC Theatre, Glasgow

9. Teenage Fanclub at Carling Academy, Glasgow

10. Stars at King Tuts, Glasgow

[Jorge Gorgeous 0]

I only saw one concert this year somehow... but its in the top 3 of concerts I've ever seen. Matisyahu.

[haVoc 0]

Honorable mentions go to Led Zepplica

 

Who the Hell is this?

[King Kamala 0]

I only went to five concerts this year but they were all at least decent. So here's the ranking of them;

 

 

5. Better Than Ezra, opening act;Asyln. Monument Square, Portland, Maine. July 28th, 2005.It was a free concert so I got what I paid for. Everyone on the bill was decent but forgettable. The place was jam packed with people, none of them moving or showing any form of excitement. I know this is a free concert, but jeez I've been to free concerts before and the crowd hasn't been as dead as the one I saw at this one.

 

4. Ben Folds, opening act;Corn Mo. UNH Fieldhouse, Durham, New Hampshire. May 9th, 2005. Ben Folds is a great live performer, the only thing is he played a bit too much from the new album (Easy to understand since it came out like a week before the concert), the new songs weren't bad songs, just not very good live songs. Still he played everything I wanted him to play and the opening act, Corn Mo was wildly entertaining.

 

3. G.Love and Special Sauce/Blackalicious. The Orpheum Theater, Boston, Massachusetts. November 26th, 2005. Both bands put on great sets that had the crowd on their feets. The crowd was a little confused during the beginning of Blackalicious' set but by the end, everyone was cheering wildly when they did "Alphabet Aerobics". G. Love put on a great, ecclectic set and even did a snippet of "Gold Digger". The encore was awesome,first G.Love did acoustic covers of "Blackbird" and "The Times They Are A Changin" by himself and then Special Sauce and Blackalicious came out and they did a collaboration together that was awesome.

 

2. Weezer, opening act;The Fray. The Colisee, Lewiston, Maine. July 12th, 2005. A quintessential summer concert, I was in the second row of people and it was so god damn hot. I had heard mixed reviews of Weezer as a live act, so I came in with relatively low expectations and they blew me away. Maine is so starved for entertainment, everyone went crazy throughout Weezer's set, even for the songs off the new album. It was so weird seeing everybody sweating their ass off in the crowd and seeing Rivers Cuomo on stage wearing a vest with a striped shirt underneath and jeans. Rivers even seemed to enjoy himself during this show, taking time to look out at the audience after the show. This show is also notable because former bassist of Weezer, Matt Sharp was in attendance for some reason.

 

1. U2, opening act;Keane. TD BankNorth Garden, Boston, Massachusetts. October 3rd, 2005. A perfect Indian Summer day, hanging out in Boston. Ended perfectly by being right outside of the Elipse for U2. I was so close to Bono and Larry Mullen Jr. during "Love and Peace or Else". Everything people say about U2 being one of the best live bands is true. Cool notable; John Kerry and Tom Brady were both in attendance during this concert. Just a flat out awesome concert, it's tied with the Prince concert I saw last year for Best Concert I've ever seen.

[Guest 5.0Fanatic]

Honorable mentions go to Led Zepplica

 

Who the Hell is this?

 

It's a Zepplin tribute band. They dress, look, act, and play just like Zepplin. A really fun experience especially considering that the average age of the people at the concert was most likely somewhere in the 40's.

[Guest BrokenWings]

Pearl Jam was great the three times I caught them on their Canadian tour.

 

Thrice / Circa Survive was also very memorable.

[Copper Feel 0]

Honorable mentions go to Led Zepplica, Audioslave, and Since by Man

 

Do you mean Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, or have they been tourin with John Paul Jones and somone standing in for John Bonham?

 

If so who?

[k thx 0]

Best acts I saw this year were Saul Williams, Artic Monkeys, Arcade Fire and The Go! Team. Nothing else really stands out as being amazing.

[Alro 0]

Ryan Adams, Louisville, April 11 - Second time seeing him and he played a great set and despite problems with equipment, he put on a great show.

 

Tantric, Louisville, Jan. 29 - This was a tsunami benefit at a local bar and it was just Hugo and the guitar player doing an unplugged set. I love acoustic versions of songs and this was a fun, but short set.

 

The Loft, Louisville, March 11 & Aug. 5 - There is no such thing as a bad The Loft show and these were no different.

[TheOriginalOrangeGoblin 0]

Top 5

1. Bon Jovi, Bell Centre - Easily the best live show I've ever seen.

2. Lenny Kravitz, Corel Centre

3. Green Day, Corel Centre

4. Aerosmith, Corel Centre

5. Velvet Revolver, Corel Centre

 

HM: The Trews at Oliver's in Carleton U, 3 Days Grace at the Corel Centre

[BigPoppaKev 0]

in no particular order since I loved all these shows

 

-311- both in august and november of this year

-sounds of the underground tour- featured lamb of god, chimaira, gwar,the red chord, clutch and many other acts. just an awesome day of metal and hardcore.

-chimaira/all that remains- saw them at the living room in providence, ri. small club which was an awesome atmosphere.

-the dillinger escape plan/unearth- saw them at toads place in new haven, ct and it was such an unbelievable show.

-vital remains- best death metal band alive. they put on one of the best shows i have ever seen and was completely blown away.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

I don't even think I went to 10 shows...so I'll do it by bands.

 

10. Contagion - Ashland Fish & Game - November '05

They opened up for my band's first show, and got the place riled up something good. Nice, nice death metal.

 

09. Opeth - Worcester Palladium - November '05

I'm not a big Opeth fan, honestly, but they put on a good show. Mikael Akerfeldt is hilarious, too.

 

08. Nevermore - Worcester Palladium - November '05

Openers for Opeth. Second time I've seen them live (and also the second time I've seen them opening for Opeth), and the show would have been much better if Warrell's voice hadn't gone out halfway through the set, and if they played more than one song that was released before Enemies of Reality and This Godless Endeavour ("The River Dragon Has Come" is the only song from Dead Heart and earlier that they played, and Dead Heart is their best album, with "River Dragon..." being one of the worse songs of the album).

 

07. Incendium - Ashland Fish & Game - November '05

Another opener for TDR. Perhaps our best friends, as it comes to other bands. An entire set of cover songs, since most of their originals are just riffs ripped off of Contagion tunes, but they did good. Got a Wall of Death going, which I was extremely impressed by.

 

06. Amon Amarth - Worcester Palladium - December '05

MURDEROUS. That's all I can really say.

 

05. The Deepest Remorse - Ashland Fish & Game - November '05

Our first show, and we headlined it since we put it together. I had nerves so I stood in place for most of the set, and the sound quality was shit because the kid working the sound board didn't know what the fuck he was doing, so it was a kinda boring show. Still a memorable experience, though.

 

04. Children of Bodom - Worcester Palladium - December '05

Not a fan of Bodom, really. I can listen to them, and I think they all have a lot of talent, and "Bodom After Midnight" is a great tune, but something about them just doesn't impress me too much. Great show, though.

 

03. Icaria - Ludlow Rampage - December '05 (last night, actually)

Good friends of ours (as in TDR's). Met us at the Palladium earlier this month, loved us, and invited us up to their show last night to play. They fucking tore shit up, and I moshed with one of the vocalist's (yes, dual vocalists in a melodic death metal/hardcore band) dad.

 

02. Trivium - Worcester Palladium - December '05

Openers for Bodom, much like Amon Amarth. If you haven't Trivium live, and you enjoy their music in the least bit, go see them live ASAP. Both guitarists were wailing away on Dimebag Specials, and they covered "Walk" in memory of Dime. Closed with "A Gunshot To The Head Of Trepidation" and then "Pull Harder On The Strings Of Your Martyr," and I moshed my fucking ass off. Awesome live, even if the singer/guitarist looks like he belongs in an emo band and not a good metal band.

 

01. The Deepest Remorse - Ludlow Rampage - December '05 (last night)

Most fun I've had at any concert this year (though I didn't go to many concerts this year, truthfully). We opened the whole show, and we were also the only band to have a moshpit for each of our songs (which was incredibly surprising to us, since the guys in Icaria told us that the Ludlow crowds were shitty and just stood around). Afterwards, we went to this kid Sheldon's house (a friend of Icaria's), pounded quite a few Steel Reserves, smoked butts, and then passed out. Great fucking experience.

[BigPoppaKev 0]

Reading Corey's reply made me realize a huge blunder I had. I was at the same opeth show that he was at, at the worcester palladium and it was great. i am a big opeth fan and love them.

 

corey you going to any other shows in the near future at the palladium or any other local venues? i saw vital remains at the palladium just last week and it was incredible.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

Well, my band's playing Club Raw (right next to the Palladium) on January 21st for PhilanthropyFest (I think that's the name), but as far as big shows...I dunno. I was going to go to Rock and Shock this past October, the second night of it with GWAR and Zombie Apocalypse and God Forbid, but my buddy Crawford's band Inheritance was set to play their final gig in Bellingham so I promised him I'd be there. Right after tickets were sold out, I get the word that his band cancelled and they just split without a farewell show. It was fucking lame seeing as how I worship ZA.

 

I might go to Nile/Hypocrisy/Soilent Green on Feb. 4, but the last Nile album I wasn't that fond of (I can't even remember the name of it), and outside of a handful of songs I don't care for Hypocrisy or Soilent Green too much. In Flames/Trivium (AMAZING LIVE, like I said)/Devil Driver (teh suxorz) on Feb. 18th is probably the best bet I've got. My local crew loves In Flames, my bandmates love Trivium, and we all hate Devil Driver so we'll be there to bring the fingers and drunken tomfoolery.

 

Oh shit...Friday, March 10th of 2006...

Bleeding Through

Every Time I Die

Between The Buried And Me

Haste The Day

 

...fuck BTBAM and HTD...BLEEDING FUCKIN' THROUGH...I'm there.

 

And oh, deliciousness abounds on April 8 as Morbid Angel/Behemoth/Krisiun (heehee, stoner death) is downstairs.

[BigPoppaKev 0]

I have already seen Between the Buried and me and everytime I die and loved both of them so I'll probably check that out. And whats with the hate for Devil Driver? I love those guys. I think I am going to go see the show with them/in flames/trivium because of all the good things i hear about trivium even though in flames is eh in my book.

 

Also do you know the band Sacreligion they are a local death metal/hardcore band? I know a few of the guys in that band and they are starting to get some pretty decent shows. They are playing the lucky dog on new years eve and a couple of other local places coming up.

Edited December 26, 2005 by BigPoppaKev

[Anorak 0]

South San Gabriel - Leicester Charlotte

 

Couldn't have been more than 30 people there but it didn't matter.

 

I went to see my mate's band a few times but I've forgot their name. I'll tell you about it when they get famous.

Edited December 26, 2005 by Anorak

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

I have already seen Between the Buried and me and everytime I die and loved both of them so I'll probably check that out. And whats with the hate for Devil Driver? I love those guys. I think I am going to go see the show with them/in flames/trivium because of all the good things i hear about trivium even though in flames is eh in my book.

Because Devil Driver sounds like what they are: a bunch of nu-metal fans trying to be brutal by playing generic, watered-down death metal. I actually preferred Coal Chamber over that shit, and I hated Coal Chamber. In Flames is very "meh" from Cloud Connected and on, but there's no denying the awesomeness of the first few albums. And Trivium is amazing live.

Also do you know the band Sacreligion they are a local death metal/hardcore band? I know a few of the guys in that band and they are starting to get some pretty decent shows. They are playing the lucky dog on new years eve and a couple of other local places coming up.

I've definitely heard of them. I'll search around on MySpace to see if they sound familiar (though I know I haven't seen 'em). Whereabouts in MA/RI are you?

[Placebo Effect 0]

I saw a shitload of concerts in 2004, but 2005 was nothing but Dope, Kasabian, Shinedown, and Seether/Crossfade/Dark New Day.

 

All were decent, but unspectacular.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

Shinedown...is a weird case. Singer's really good, but that's it. The music is lame, the lyrics are fucking awful (the line "someone save me if you will / and take away all these pills" would be good if it weren't in complete contrast to the rest of the song, since no other part of the song mentions drug use), and they're just popular because they did an acoustic in-studio cover of Skynyrd's "Simple Man," recorded it acoustically in their studio, and then released it as a single.

[snuffbox 0]

I thought Dope was a pretty fun band when I saw 'em in late '04....can't say I ever listen to their cds though.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

Outside of the first album, they're not worth even downloading. Well, the new one released earlier this year isn't TOO bad, but it doesn't have the anger the first one did. "Now Or Never" fucked them over bad. A bunch of inked-up, dreadlocked-mohawk sporting, skinny white guys - two of which are former drug dealers from NY - crooning about loving some girl and not knowing where to go from there? Ruined it for me. That would be like Metallica recording a country song.

 

...oh...

[BigPoppaKev 0]

I am from worcester I live about 10 minutes from the palladium. Maybe I can catch your band live one of these times if I can.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

Go on January 21st. We're playing Club Raw.

[Garth 0]

My favorite show of the year was The Arcade Fire at Reading Festival. They had so much energy and played amazingly. What I really liked was that even the members that might not have been involved in playing on a song could be twenty feet away from a mic, they would stillb e singing at the top of their lungs just because they love what they are doing and playing together.

 

A close second would be Electric Six, they played my hometown, no bands I like ever play my home town. It was the first time I'd seen them since they'd released their second album which I adore and it was great to hear them play it live. They had a perfect mix of their old and new songs and just generally put on a hell of a show. I met the singer Dick Valentine, earlier in the day wondering around outside the venue, he was a great guy and made the experience all the more enjoyable knowing how cool he was.