I went to 39 concerts in 2025 alone. I doubt anyone would be interested in the list.
How about three you really enjoyed…
Ok, I’ll try:
Marina at the Fox Theater, Oakland
ABC and Howard Jones (double bill) at the Masonic, SF
STAYC at San Jose Civic Auditorium
It’s county fair season and two nights ago I was roped into seeing (British New Wave) Eighties Night at the Mid-State Fair.
Modern English kicked it off, and despite being a loyal KROQ listener for most of that decade, the only song I recognized was “Melt with You”.
Next was The English Beat and I recognized all of the songs. The Jamaican emcee was kind of obnoxious but the current sax player kicks ass. The only original member is Dave Wakeling.
Then Wang Chung just put on a barn burner of a performance. I didn’t even think I liked Wang Chung. They got everybody out of their seats and dancing.
The headliner was Howard Jones, a name my (English) wife was astounded to learn I had never heard of. I’ll grant he has an impressive voice and knows his way around a synth, but, boy, did the energy drop after just seeing Wang Chung. I did recognize the last song and the encore, but never knew who the artist was. He’s just not my cup of tea and his set just seemed out of sync with the rest of the acts.
I rank the night from best to worst thusly: Wang Chung, fried cheese curds, The English Beat, Modern English, stupid big corn dog, and Howard Jones.
I saw her years ago and after the show she was at the Merch table signing stuff. I bought her album and she was flirting with me hard!
I was married back then…
Last night I got to see Cybertronic Spree and I had a blast.
The opener was Spaceman Bob and he was funny and got the crowd pumped up. Here’s his song about Costco hotdogs (not my video)
Cybertronic Spree played some of their original songs but they also covered a bunch as well including You’ve Got the Touch (from the 86 movie), Dare to be Stupid, The Immigrant Song, and their encore was Like a Prayer.
At one point, Soundwave threw two shirts out into the audience and I got one. Later, Soundwave and Hot Rod had a whole choreographed lightsaber duel, and Soundwave threw some spin kicks! In that outfit! The crowd wasn’t huge but there was a lot of energy from them. Polyphonic Spree is a rocking band with a funny, nostalgic gimmick, so it works on those two levels.
I got to Fist-Bump Mother-Fuckin’ Buck Dharma tonight! I was the only one…
Security was lax.
Very cool. Buck is one of the greats, good to hear he’s still out there rocking.
More Billy Strings shows than I can count…and 87 Grateful Dead shows w/ Jerry.
My friend and I drove from Chicago to Milwaukee to see the Circle Jerks x Repo Man show last night and it was a blast.
The show started with the band coming out on stage, Zander Schloss was singing the “Feeling ZUp” jingle and (Repo Man director) Alex Cox telling him to shut up, doing the bit from the movie. Then the band started playing the Repo Man theme with Cox singing it. After that, singer Keith Morris came onstage and the band continued with their set. They sounded really good, they played hard, and the audience was there for it.
Alex Cox singing Repo Man with the Circle Jerks
After the set Schloss, Morris, and Cox had a quick Q and A with the audience and there was some fun interaction. They ended that with a kid asking them where the Circle Jerks got their name. Everybody in the theater laughed at that and Morris explained that he got the name from a slang dictionary and the kid is too young to understand it but he and his friends might appreciate it when they’re older.
One of the best shows I’ve seen was Reckless Kelly. Reckless Kelly has been named “Entertainers of the Year” at the inaugural 2025 Texas Music Chart Awards.
I went to a show of theirs and it was announced that the opening band’s van had broken down and wouldn’t be able to make it. So RK came out early and played for 4 hours straight. Amazing. Highly recommend catching them if they are near you.
I saw George Jones in a small venue. He was late so the announcer came out to relay the news. Some asshole threw a beer bottle and hit him in the head. George did show up later and gave the most amazing performance.
I went to a concert that was great and featured music never recorded by a band that didn’t exist.
Michael Kamen was a student at Julliard when he helped form the New York Roll & Rock Ensemble, one the many groups of the time mixing classical and rock. After that broke up he became an arranger to every famous name in rock as well a noted movie soundtrack writer.
But in between he did a single performance of a “rock ballet” with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. Easily the best melding of rock and classical I ever heard.
I don’t know if he ever repeated this elsewhere or it was just a chance event. For years I hoped it would come out on record but it never did. Something good got lost.
Saw My Chemical Romance and Franz Ferdinand last night. Had tix to see Tom Keifer 2 weeks ago, but it was cancelled due to an issue with his vocal chords. (I did see him back in March, though his wife missed that show for I think he said leg surgery)
Seeing Guns n’ Roses this week, first time since 1992.
Cheap Trick in I think October (saw them in March too)
Of Monsters and Men in October (In Iceland)
Wasp with KKs Priest in November
Samantha Fish in November–just saw her in December
Last Saturday saw James McMurtry opening for the Jayhawks. They’re not touring together, so it was just this one show team up.
It was good, and I’m glad I went, but it was odd. Based on audience enthusiasm most people were there to see McMurtry, and he only got a 45 minute set. He was great, but he left us wanting lots more, and invited us to join him in Wichita on Sunday. A few people on our row even left after his set was done.
The Jayhawks were great, and I have to give them credit, they know exactly which ones of their songs are the best. For any given album, pick your 1-3 favorite songs, and those are the ones they played.They got a 1.5 hour set, with lots of polite applause. Really the kind of thing you expect for an opening act the audience isn’t familiar with.
I’ve now seen 3 shows at the Chautauqua barn space in Boulder this summer, and they’ve all been the exact same 7:30 start, 45 minute opener, 15 minute intermission, and 1.5 hour show, with lights on at 10pm. Shows at most other venues around here seem to be similar length.
Am I just spoiled by Austin live music in the 80s/90s, where the headliner might do a 5 hour set running until after 2am, and they end the show by saying they’ve played all of the songs they know?
A week or so ago I saw Blues Traveler with Spin Doctors and Gin Blossoms. Good show from all. Members of each group sat in with the other groups. The night ended with Robin Wilson of Gin Blossoms singing Tom Petty’s Breakdown with Blues Traveler.
There’s a show tonight that I won’t be attending but I would really like to be there. Deep Purple is playing at Jones Beach Theater in New York…and Ritchie Blackmore has said he will be joining them for the encore.
The weekend before last I attended a surf music festival headlined by Los Straitjackets. Somehow I missed the announcement that Danny (Daddy-O Grande) Amis would be filling in on second guitar. Danny (who co-founded the band with Eddie Angel) had to retire due to health reasons about 12 years ago which is the last time I saw him on stage. What a thrill!
I was waiting until someone uploaded a video to YouTube to mention another highlight of that festival. The band is called Death Valley and in 1994 they recorded the seminal album in the sub-sub genre of Spaghetti Surf; ¡Que Pasta! I’m pretty sure the band broke up shortly after that, but they reunited earlier this month for the Surf Guitar 101 festival. At 33:00 check out some Morricone -class whistling by the lead guitarist.
I saw Deep Purple only once during the Perfect Strangers tour. Glad I got to see them with the classic (but not original) lineup. I would have loved to see them with Steve Morse on guitar but it never worked out. I have see Steve Morse live with The Steve Morse Band, The Dixie Dregs and Flying Colors.
Morse was in Deep Purple longer than Blackmore. He left when his wife was dying from cancer and he couldn’t go on long tours anymore.