Best Concerts of 2009
Monday, December 28, 2009 at 12:01AM Is it me, or has 2009 been a *very* long year? Heck, I think this month is dragging on forever...but that's another topic for another day. I saw a lot of awesome shows during 2009. Some were in tiny clubs, some at sheds or arenas, some at sweat-soaked festivals and even a few on a cruise ship! With that, my list of the concerts I enjoyed the most during 2009.
10. John Corabi @ McGuffys House of Rock in Dayton, Ohio - December
I finally heard "Hooligan's Holiday" Live!
09. Kix @ Rams Head Live in Baltimore, Maryland - September
The band played "Tear Down the Walls" and I jumped for joy!
08. Whitesnake @ Riverbend Music Center in Cincinnati, Ohio - July
Finally - "Still of the Night" and David Coverdale, live!
07. Steel Panther @ M3 Rock Festival, Baltimore, Maryland - May
The band I wanted to see live most this year rocked my socks off and made me laugh until I cried!
06. Slipknot @ Rock on the Range in Columbus, Ohio - May
A great way to kick off festival season - a crazy pit, some great friends and "Psychosocial."
05. Motley Crue @ Metro Center in Rockford, Illinois - February
A special trip to visit Heather and a night with the Crue. I've never seen Motley more tight than at this show - and a member of Cheap Trick came out to jam with the band! That's Glam.
04. Adam Lambert [American Idols Live] @ Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana - September
Heather and I live about a million miles apart now, so we met halfway in Indianapolis just to see Adam Lambert shake his money-maker live. It was worth sitting through the rest of the Idols to watch Mr. Lambert sing "Whole Lotta Love" live.
03. Drowning Pool @ Crue Fest II, Las Vegas, Nevada - August
I interviewed the band on their bus before the show and they were a jolly crew. They also single-handedly blew the other bands away with their heavy set, causing me to walk away a major fan.
02. Lynam @ Shiprocked, The Caribbean - November
I love this band, so I'm biased. Whatever. Lynam rocks my world and seeing them play an open air stage on the deck of a luxury liner at 2 a.m. the last night of Shiprocked made my cruise.
01. Britney Spears @ The Jerome Schottenstein Center, Columbus, Ohio - April
This is the single most over-the-top concert I've ever seen. Circus performers, flying dancers, Britney half-naked. There's a reason the Circus tour cost millions a week to produce. Worth every penny for those expensive tickets. Even my husband had a good time.
So, what were your favorite tours/live shows of 2009? I'm already looking ahead to 2010 and getting itchy for the festival announcements.
Reader Comments (22)
Britney's circus is one hell of a show
and Scot Coogan is a FANTASTIC drummer.
4. Fleetwood Mac - Buckingham was on fire.
3. Brutal Knights - a Canadian punkrock slap in the face.
2. Electric Boys - they're back, better than ever.
1. Drones (saw them twice) - best kept secret from Australia, killer band.
9. Papa Roach - Mansfield, MA
8. Hinder - Mansfield, MA
7. The Last Vegas - Portland, ME
6. Tesla - Shiprocked
5. Theory of a Deadman - Portland, ME
4. Nickelback - Worcester, MA
3. Ratt - Hampton Beach, NH
2. Hinder - Portland, ME
1. Kix - Allentown, PA
Bang Tango back in Jan supporting Faster Pussycat was pretty good too.
Caught Pearl Jam and Thievery Corp. at the Austin City Limits Festival in October as well. Also incredible.
i lost my job because i went to that show and it was worth it!
Here's my best shot!
10. Poison/Def Lep/Cheap Trick - NOLA (finally I didn't have to travel to another city to see a package tour).
9. AC/DC - NOLA (8 of us at this show together, GOOD TIMES)
8. BLS/SEVENDUST - Dallas (Blew me AWAY!)
7. LADY GAGA - NOLA (I don't attend many pop shows but this chick HAS IT!). I love her songs.
6. KISS - NOLA - VOODOO FEST on HALLOWEEN NIGHT. (Free Pit Tickets. Can't beat KISS under the stars!)
5. CHICKENFOOT - ATL (I'm among the people of the foot! Great venue, great show, Chad Smith handed me his tambourine after Bitten By the Wolf-JUST AWESOME)
4. LYNAM - SHIPROCKED (I waited a few years to see this band play live and let's just say I'm beyond Hooked. This band HAS WHAT IT TAKES and then some!)
3. WHITESNAKE - San Antonio (I waited 20 years to see this band live and it was a night I'll always remember! I thought the band was tight, I thought Coverdale sounded great. Coverdale called me and my friend out "there are some Texas rockers"-it was a Priest Crowd overall but I was there for WHITESNAKE). I'd travel to see em over and over and over...
2. STEEL PANTHER - M3 Fest, Maryland (You have to see em live to fully understand what they're about. This fest had a KILLER line up, however, as soon as SP was announced, I booked my flight! I've read about this band from their days as Metal Shop and NO WAY was I missing them play at M3).
1. BON JOVI - NOLA JAZZFEST! FINALLY after 20 years, Jovi returns to the BIG EASY TO PLAY! I've never seen crowds like that before at Jazzfest and Jovi just NAILED IT! I'll always remember the expression on Jon's face of just complete aweness b/c you could tell he had no idea Jazzfest would be so overwhelmingly responsive. And here they just thought it was going to be just like another festival gig! NO WAY! After traveling all over on the Have A Nice Day Tour, I said I was officially boycotting the band until they returned to NOLA. Guess the boycott is offically over!
Ready to start 2010 off right....JANUAY 1st - LYNAM & SEVENDUST! YEAH YOU RIGHT!
Bruce Springsteen in Cleveland in November...the best live artist, possibly ever, put on a 3 hour show, played hits and requests from the audience at the drop of a hat. Unbelievable. Like him or hate him, he's The Boss.
AC/DC in Cleveland...sometime this year. More or less the same set list as years past, but a great show none the less and Brian Johnson sounded terrific. Better than I could have imagined.
When I hear these guys at thier ages, Vince Neil should be absolutely ashamed every time he steps on stage and sings 60% of the Motley lyrics.
But Alice Cooper's Theatre Of Death was so goddamned amazing!
1. Metallica
2. Green Day
3. Def Leppard/Poison
No wait, I did see one killer show totally at random at Art Basel in South Beach a couple of weeks ago...
Glen Matlock, the original bass player (before Syd) of the Sex Pistols, played "unplugged" at the W Hotel out by the pool for a big party there. Interesting trivia about him few people realize is that he was a key songwriter of much of the Sex Pistols "Never Mind The Bullocks" first album. He also had a killer band called The Rich Kids after he left The Pistols.
Anyway, he put on a killer show at the W on December 4th and only like a dozen of us noticed as clueless poseur after poseur walked right past oblivious to the lyrics all about them, hahaha!!!, especially a great cover of The Monkees "Stepping Stone" which the Pistols also covered. He wanted me up on stage to sing back ups but I was having too much fun singing in the faces of the Dolce & Gabbana set as they robotically rolled past, "Your trying to make your mark on society, Your using all the tricks that you used on me, You're reading all them high fashion magazines, The clothes you're wearin' girl are causing public scenes."
I even pogoed with that toothless dude from the Pogues who was also there, hahaha!!! He even tried to pogo/bump me off into the pool! Matlock also did a killer version of "God Save The Queen" (which he wrote, btw) with kids from The University of Miami Orchestra or sumethin' backing him as an encore! Awesome!
No excuse, but I did see a fair amount of shows in '08 (Motley, New York Dolls, Cheap Trick, Patti Smith, Aerosmith)
It still may not be too late to catch a biggie (at least in my book), Chuck Berry at B.B. King's in NYC, New Year's Eve. I saw him in '88 at the Roxy in NYC and that was one of the greatest shows I've ever seen.
I may have described it here before but here it is...
The place was packed... I'm thinkin' it was capacity at around 6,250 people. The band already started playing before Chuck could even be seen and everyone came to their feet. Berry could be seen in silouette in the wings presumably collecting his fee, which was probably around $20,000 for this gig which isn't bad considering he typically pays a pick up band who he usually has never met $500.
Plus he has virtually no tour overhead because of the fact that he more than likely drove there in his Cadillac with nothing more than his guitar in his case with a cord, as is his custom.
The reason he is always delayed getting onstage is because he usually negotiates at the last minute to up his take and requests it in cash, up front, before he even goes on, kind of holding the audience hostage until he gets what he thinks is fair.
Hey, when you invented Rock and Roll, I guess that's the way you can play it.
The band was crankin' the opening riff of "Maybelline" in an endless loop while Chuck almost lackadaisically strolled onstage guitar case in hand, sizing up the band and the crowd.
He walked across the stage continuing to look out at the audience and look over the band. He then placed his guitar case on the drum riser, opened it, pulled out his '81 Gibson ES 335, placed it on a guitar stand and then pulled out a very long and very tangled cord.
He then began to pace the width and breadth of the stage, gazing at the audience, all the while untangling and unraveling his guitar cord. He then strapped his guitar on, plugged the cord into his already provided stack of Marshalls and then plugged into his guitar.
Chuck then proceeded to crank out hit after hit for two hours, duckwalking, spinning and jigging through 20 songs and three encores, never taking his peripheral vision off his guitar case where he stashed the 20 large, thank you very much and good night, quickly bunched up his guitar cord and stuffed it and the guitar in the guitar case, hundred dollar bills caught in the lid after he shut it, leaving them flapping in the breeze as he raced out the backstage door.
You can just imagine old Chuck smiling ear to ear as he popped his guitar case in the trunk of his Cadillac, and then careening down West 49th Street, never slowing down until he hit the highway and his next gig.
Now that's Rock and Roll!
And there's a chance to witness it all over again, December 31st, 2009 at B.B. King's in NYC.
2009-01-12 Edguy/Andre Matos/H.E.A.T. in Paris
The perfect lineup in a beautiful venue with great sound and a great light-show. Also my first time in Paris as a bonus. :)
2009-01-31 Tyketto in Pratteln
I had seen Tyketto plenty in the old days, but not in the last 15 years. Big venue and only 300 people but it was AWESOME! Totally worth the trip to Switzerland.
2009-02-10 Brother Firetribe in Stuttgart
Support for Pain (ugh), but it was worth it. One of the best new melodic metal/hard rock bands around there. And incredibly nice people.
2009-03-29 Kamelot in London
Have seen them a couple of times now, but this was close to perfection. Will never forget this one.
2009-04-22 Delain in Ludwigsburg
I'm quite newly into them and this was the first time Charlotte blew me away as front woman. Also the club was so small, it was one of the most intense shows for me ever.
2009-05-25 The Quireboys in Stuttgart
OMG! FINALLY! One of the bands I had never seen and wanted to see so badly. Finally they found their way from England to Germany. And it was so good. :D
2009-06-16 Queensryche in Stuttgart
Maybe one of THE best shows of the year. The setlist made me speechless. And that combined with perfect sound, great lightning. This is how gigs have to be. Also the guys were really great and gave signatures before and afterward. And photos. :)
2009-09-20 D-A-D in Ludwigsburg
D-A-D are not capable of doing a bad concert, so this speaks for itself.
2009-10-15 Sons of Seasons in Karlsruhe
Just support, but the show was incredible. Seen them as headliner before this year, but this was even better. I'm sure they have a very bright future ahead of them.
2009-10-17 Stream of Passion in Maastricht
They are my favorite female fronted metal band and it was well worth the trip to Holland.
2009-11-13 Riverside in Aschaffenburg
One of the bands I just discovered this year. Those guys are amazing. You have to see it to truly appreciate it.
2009-12-11 Winger in Worblaufen
Seen them last in 1991 and now they played in a small village in Switzerland in front of 160 people. Such a special night.
2. Stryper 25th anniversary tour.
nothing else really stands out.