What's the best concert you've ever been to?

Q&A With Shay Each Sunday

As you know by now I’m very into music and find it inspiring even if I don’t listen to it as I’m writing. I’ve been to many concerts and love live music. It’s like the experience of music beyond the experience—IDK if that makes sense at all, so let’s get to the Q&A.

Q: What’s the best concert you’ve ever been to?

A: This is a really hard question because I’ve seen so many good bands, and some were at festivals where multiple bands played shorter sets. There’s a festival in North Carolina that we’ve gone to for two years in a row now (and will be again this May). It used to be called Carolina Rebellion, now it’s Epicenter Festival. They always have an amazing line-up of rock bands. Probably one of my favorite performances ever was at that festival last year when I saw Alice in Chains. They are one of my all-time favorite bands (though different now than they were in the early days since Layne Staley passed). Every concert and live music experience, especially when it’s a band I really connect with is so different from one another and there are things I love about each one. Another concert that ranks up at the top was twenty one pilots. I saw them once in NY (a slightly better performance) and in Charleston. They have really high energy, their music is so different from anything else, and they put on a great show. They climb into the rafters, wear masks, run in a hamster ball in the crowd, do flips, etc. They’re GREAT.

I enjoy a lot of older music as you’ve noticed from previous blogs on music, so a lot of the bands I’ve seen I can only assume were SO different back when they were most popular or starting out. I saw Bush in NYC, which I loved because they’re another all-time favorite. Smashing Pumpkins at Jones Beach, along with MARILYN MANSON. He’s obviously super entertaining and weird—I love weird—but I would have loved to have seen him perform in the 90s or early 00s (even though I was like 10, I actually liked him back then too, believe it or not!).

I really can’t list every concert I’ve been to because I’ve been noticing lately I’ve been to a ton! But some more highlights to name a few were: Death Cab for Cutie (really moving), 311, The Offspring, Shinedown, Godsmack, Counting Crows, Linkin Park (really feel lucky about that, it was a couple years before Chester Bennington passed—and an amazing show), Thirty Seconds to Mars, AFI, Disturbed, Breaking Benjamin, Foo Fighters (so good), Toad the Wet Sprocket. Others at festivals were: Muse, Stone Temple Pilots, Incubus, Five Finger Death Punch, Three Days Grace, Avenged Sevenfold.

I saw ACDC a few years ago—Pat loved it, but I kind of went deaf for a few days. We also saw Metallica a few months ago and that was pretty awesome, but again I wonder what they would’ve been like 20 years ago!

A few bands I have yet to see that I’d really like to are Red Hot Chili Peppers, LIVE, Seether, Evanescence, and…a lot more.

I have concerts on the brain today because we’re going to see Weezer and The Pixies tonight in Columbia, SC! First time seeing either band and I’m a big fan of both so I can’t wait. Basically, music is life encapsulated. Let it inspire, and connect with me to tell me about your music experiences!