Concerts: My Life So Far
Way back in 2014, I marked the tenth anniversary of my concert year in review posts by choosing my show of the year for 2003-2013. Now that I've got these posts for literally my entire life, I thought it might be fun to pick for every year. It also gives me a post to anchor all my concert lists from, so that's nice. And while I'm pulling this together, I might as well reach peak anal retentiveness and get some counts!
The Early Years - 21 gigs, 28+ bands
I didn't go to more than eight shows in any of these years, and usually far fewer. All summaries were built after the fact, and so were the lists for anything earlier than 1998.
1995 and prior - 5 gigs, 6 bands - Meat Loaf @ Fargodome
1996 - 2 gigs, 2 bands - Too few shows to pick from.
1997 - 2 gigs, 3 bands - Both shows were killer.
1998 - 4 gigs, 6+ bands - Fishbone @ A1A Steakhouse, Lexington
1999 - 8 gigs, 11+ bands - Big Bad Voodoo Daddy @ The Odeon
Figuring Out My Tastes - 66 gigs, 105+ bands
I went to a lot of stuff on free tickets, often just because I knew the name of the band. I had lists for these years, but I didn't create the summary posts until two decades after they happened because I wasn't even on LiveJournal back then.
2000 - 23 gigs, 34 bands - Moxy Früvous @ The Andy Warhol, Pittsburgh
2001 - 20 gigs, 39+ bands - Buddy Guy @ Playhouse Square
2002 - 23 gigs, 32 bands - Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band @ Gund Arena.
The Big List Years - 352 gigs, 667 bands
2003 marked the beginning of my concert year in reviews, but at this time they were usually just a giant list, with a very occasionally show specific summary. All of these shows were great, but I'm less confident they were the best show of the year than I am starting in 2013.
And yes, I did consider cutting one band off this list just to get 666 instead. I blame William Shatner, who I saw in 2012 and counted as a concert even thought it was more of a spoken word thing. I guess Captain Kirk saved me from Satan!
2003 - 34 gigs, 66 bands - Solomon Burke w/ The Black Keys @ Cain Park
2004 - 47 gigs, 103 bands - Laibach @ Beachland Ballroom
2005 - 53 gigs, 98 bands - Steve Earle & the Dukes @ House of Blues Cleveland
2006 - 44 gigs, 79 bands - Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings w/The Budos Band @ Beachland Ballroom.
2007 - 35 gigs, 65 bands - The Mekons @ Pats in the Flats
2008 - 20 gigs, 37 bands - Firewater @ Beachland Tavern
2009 - 10 gigs, 22 bands - Mission of Burma @ Studio-A-Rama
2010 - 27 gigs, 51 bands - We Were Promised Jetpacks @ Grog Shop
2011 - 43 gigs, 77 bands - Medeski, Martin & Wood w/Dr. Lonnie Smith and Will Bernard @ Playhouse Square (Tri-C JazzFest)
2012 - 39 gigs, 69 bands - Josh Ritter & The Royal City Band @ The Kent Stage
The Capsule Years - 224 gigs, 399 bands
Starting in 2013 I started consistently writing up concert summaries reasonably soon after I went to the concerts. This meant that I feel a lot more certain about the Show of the Year picks, because when I chose them I wasn't trying to remember an entire year at once, but instead sifting through a bunch of thoughts taken down while the show was still fresh in my mind.
2013 - 38 gigs, 65 bands - Yo-Yo Ma and Kathryn Stott @ Finney Chapel
2014 - 30 gigs, 53 bands - St. Vincent @ House of Blues Cleveland.
2015 - 32 gigs, 60 bands - The King Khan & BBQ Show @ Beachland Ballroom.
2016 - 39 gigs, 73 bands - Guns N' Roses @ Heinz Field, Pittsburgh.
2017 - 29 gigs, 50 bands - Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds @ Masonic Auditorium, Detroit.
2018 - 31 gigs, 59 bands - The Cleveland Orchestra conducted by John Williams @ Severance Hall.
2019 - 25 gigs, 39 bands - The Spring Quartet: Jack DeJohnette, Joe Lovano, Esperanza Spalding, Leo Genovese @ Finney Chapel.
The Pandemic Years - 9 gigs, 14 bands
In which I go from an incredibly fast 2020 pace to nothing for more than two years.
2020 - 9 gigs, 14 bands - I intentionally didn't choose one.
2021 - 0 gigs, 0 bands - Yay pandemic.
Manual counts are always dangerous, and this list is a manual count of many manual counts so the accuracy is deeply suspect, but if the lists and my math are to be believed, my lifetime show count as of this post is:
672 gigs
1,213+ bands
That's a fine start. More to come, I hope.
The Early Years - 21 gigs, 28+ bands
I didn't go to more than eight shows in any of these years, and usually far fewer. All summaries were built after the fact, and so were the lists for anything earlier than 1998.
1995 and prior - 5 gigs, 6 bands - Meat Loaf @ Fargodome
1996 - 2 gigs, 2 bands - Too few shows to pick from.
1997 - 2 gigs, 3 bands - Both shows were killer.
1998 - 4 gigs, 6+ bands - Fishbone @ A1A Steakhouse, Lexington
1999 - 8 gigs, 11+ bands - Big Bad Voodoo Daddy @ The Odeon
Figuring Out My Tastes - 66 gigs, 105+ bands
I went to a lot of stuff on free tickets, often just because I knew the name of the band. I had lists for these years, but I didn't create the summary posts until two decades after they happened because I wasn't even on LiveJournal back then.
2000 - 23 gigs, 34 bands - Moxy Früvous @ The Andy Warhol, Pittsburgh
2001 - 20 gigs, 39+ bands - Buddy Guy @ Playhouse Square
2002 - 23 gigs, 32 bands - Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band @ Gund Arena.
The Big List Years - 352 gigs, 667 bands
2003 marked the beginning of my concert year in reviews, but at this time they were usually just a giant list, with a very occasionally show specific summary. All of these shows were great, but I'm less confident they were the best show of the year than I am starting in 2013.
And yes, I did consider cutting one band off this list just to get 666 instead. I blame William Shatner, who I saw in 2012 and counted as a concert even thought it was more of a spoken word thing. I guess Captain Kirk saved me from Satan!
2003 - 34 gigs, 66 bands - Solomon Burke w/ The Black Keys @ Cain Park
2004 - 47 gigs, 103 bands - Laibach @ Beachland Ballroom
2005 - 53 gigs, 98 bands - Steve Earle & the Dukes @ House of Blues Cleveland
2006 - 44 gigs, 79 bands - Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings w/The Budos Band @ Beachland Ballroom.
2007 - 35 gigs, 65 bands - The Mekons @ Pats in the Flats
2008 - 20 gigs, 37 bands - Firewater @ Beachland Tavern
2009 - 10 gigs, 22 bands - Mission of Burma @ Studio-A-Rama
2010 - 27 gigs, 51 bands - We Were Promised Jetpacks @ Grog Shop
2011 - 43 gigs, 77 bands - Medeski, Martin & Wood w/Dr. Lonnie Smith and Will Bernard @ Playhouse Square (Tri-C JazzFest)
2012 - 39 gigs, 69 bands - Josh Ritter & The Royal City Band @ The Kent Stage
The Capsule Years - 224 gigs, 399 bands
Starting in 2013 I started consistently writing up concert summaries reasonably soon after I went to the concerts. This meant that I feel a lot more certain about the Show of the Year picks, because when I chose them I wasn't trying to remember an entire year at once, but instead sifting through a bunch of thoughts taken down while the show was still fresh in my mind.
2013 - 38 gigs, 65 bands - Yo-Yo Ma and Kathryn Stott @ Finney Chapel
2014 - 30 gigs, 53 bands - St. Vincent @ House of Blues Cleveland.
2015 - 32 gigs, 60 bands - The King Khan & BBQ Show @ Beachland Ballroom.
2016 - 39 gigs, 73 bands - Guns N' Roses @ Heinz Field, Pittsburgh.
2017 - 29 gigs, 50 bands - Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds @ Masonic Auditorium, Detroit.
2018 - 31 gigs, 59 bands - The Cleveland Orchestra conducted by John Williams @ Severance Hall.
2019 - 25 gigs, 39 bands - The Spring Quartet: Jack DeJohnette, Joe Lovano, Esperanza Spalding, Leo Genovese @ Finney Chapel.
The Pandemic Years - 9 gigs, 14 bands
In which I go from an incredibly fast 2020 pace to nothing for more than two years.
2020 - 9 gigs, 14 bands - I intentionally didn't choose one.
2021 - 0 gigs, 0 bands - Yay pandemic.
Manual counts are always dangerous, and this list is a manual count of many manual counts so the accuracy is deeply suspect, but if the lists and my math are to be believed, my lifetime show count as of this post is:
672 gigs
1,213+ bands
That's a fine start. More to come, I hope.