QOTD: Favorite music memories?

Hearing Jason Isbell sing "Cover Me Up" live stands out. More to come.

 

This is up there for me, too.

 

Adam Duritz at Jones Beach, Long Island in 1997, when he announced his intentions of moving to New York and leaving California behind. The crowd went bonkers. Recovering the Satellites summer tour. Wallflowers opened up. Still one of the best nights of music ever. Dog's Eye View also opened the show. That was a band that should have been bigger than they were.

 

I still am unsure how I feel about Adam Duritz following me on Twitter. Like, he's the one person that if I see tweet something I don't tweet until I think he's offline because I'm self-conscious he'll see it. I know, that's weird and I'm weird, but it's Adam fucking Duritz.

 

I totally get that. I've had the chance to talk to him twice at shows and I've just completely avoided the situation, because my mind goes blank and I start freaking out.

 

Seeing Counting Crows and The Wallflowers on the same bill would have blown my mind back in the 90s. Probably still would, to be honest.

 

It was epic.

 

seeing the national and tame impala at an outdoor venue on a cool october night in 2013. perfection.

 

in chronological order

- seeing the menzingers, cheap girls, and the sidekicks at aladdin jr's in 2012. i was fourteen, it was my first real punk show, OTIP had come out two months prior and was blowing my mind. they played casey with the crowd on vocals and it was perf.
- the very first time i heard Home, Like Noplace Is There. a kind stranger sent it to me six weeks before the release date and i think that night was the most excited i've ever been in my life.
- bomb the music industry!'s final show ever on my sixteenth birthday in NYC.
- discovering The Sunset Tree.
- seeing nana grizol at my favorite space the day after finishing college was pretty wild.

 

I need to listen to OTIP again.

Been too long.

 

I think seeing MxPx the first time is one of my all time favorites.

I showed up wearing a polo-shirt and cargo shorts and yet none of the "punk" kids judged me. They befriended this stupid 13 year old dropped off by his parents.

I bought a black shirt with pink MxPx letters and wore it once a week the rest of the year. And put a patch on my backpack and thought I was amazing.

 

my mom still drops me off at shows sometimes and i still get embarrassed about it.

i was a v punk fourteen year old tho. she would be ashamed of me now tbh.

 

One of my parents was very strict. I couldn't be nearly as punk as I wanted to be. My "big rebel" as waiting until I was 18 and piercing my ears. I was scared shitless to come home from that year of college and my parents got me at the airport.

 

I remember seeing City and Colour in Australia for the first time. I'd only really heard him sing in Alexisonfire and I'd gone to a festival called Soundwave to see them, saw that he was doing an acoustic set under the name City and Colour so I went and checked it out. I think Bring Me Your Love had just come out and I just remember hearing Dallas sing in an acoustic setting for the first time and thinking "holy shit...". Bought an album and shirt and become a big fan then and there.

Also seeing Passenger in a really intimate venue with a small crowd and having him unplug his acoustic guitar and play The Sound Of Silence completely unplug. It's also really awesome catching him busking.

Also going to Wacken in 2008 and seeing a festival full of 70,000 metal heads and getting caught at the front of a wall of death, good times...

 

I drove down to Jacksonville to see Brand New play some tiny venue between dates on that Dashboard arena tour they did and had my mind blown by Manchester Orchestra. I had never heard of them at that point, and I will never forget seeing Andy step in front of the microphone to sing the last bit of Where Have You Been to a completely silent crowd. It was incredible.

I *think* that was also the first night Brand New had played Jesus Christ live, which had leaked the day or two before the show. Good times, good memories.

 

Ah, good call on the Neutral Milk Hotel reunion. I probably had the biggest grin when they played Untitled. That song is so damn fun live.

 

Oh and another one. I had just started getting into The Receiving End of Sirens and I managed to catch them at Soundwave and then just after that tour they announced they were breaking up and I was just like "son of a bitch". But I was so stoked to see them live.

 

best live memories are:

- blink's reunion tour and the Honda Civic tour, the former because it was my first time seeing them, and the latter because I was able to get pit tickets, so it was amazing.

- seeing Brand New at the Bell House in Brooklyn, a 350 capacity room. still no idea how I was lucky enough to snag tickets, but my god what a show.

- Andrew W.K.'s "I Get Wet" tour, the first and only time I've crowdsurfed. got on stage along with a ton of other people during the last song. basically an hour and a half of nonstop partying.

- The Early November's first reunion show, drove down to Philly for it because at the time it was unclear whether they were going to play any shows after that. of course, they went on to release a bunch of new music and tour like crazy, so I've seen them another five or so times since then, but that night was magical.

- Underoath's farewell tour. it's tough to put into words, but it was just a really powerful performance, you could honestly feel the emotion in the room. was a privilege to witness the band say goodbye to that legacy (of course, now they're back just three years later, which I'm not complaining about!)

 

- Prince at Madison Square Garden. They set off confetti during the wordless vocal part at the end of "Purple Rain" and I just felt like everything in the world was beautiful.

- Averi's last show at The Avalon. Chad is my favorite artist and they were playing almost everything on my second favorite record of all time and it was just amazing to see a local band selling out a venue so big with passionate fans who weren't buying into image or radio play or anything.

- Tristan Prettyman deciding 3/4 of the way through her set at BU Central to unplug, come sit in the crowd with everyone in a circle and take requests for an extra hour. The smirk on her face when I requested a deep cut like "When It Rains" was pretty special.

- The last 4 times I've seen Jack's Mannequin/Andrew McMahon. As much about the company as about anything else, but some of the few shows where I just let go and howled every lyric and bounced around like a maniac. Having someone to do that with is a whole different experience, and Andrew's songs and demeanor really bring it out.

- The first time I ever saw John Butler play "The Ocean" live at the Somerville Theater. I was just completely transported.

Could probably think of a dozen more if I wanted to.

 

Other live highlights, in addition to Isbell playing "Cover Me Up":

-My first Butch Walker show, when he kicked the band offstage to do "Joan" at the piano, solo. It was probably in excess of 110 degrees in this club at this point, but he brought the place down to chilling, pin-drop intimacy. Seriously, one of the most vivid memories from my entire life.

-I could make a whole post about all of the amazing moments from the three times I've seen Bruce. But the shortlist is probably: "Thunder Road" the first time, as the intro to the Born to Run set; seeing Clarence play the "Jungleland" sax solo; the "are we missing anybody?" section of "My City of Ruins" on the Wrecking Ball tour; "Land of Hope and Dreams" at the end of that same show; shaking hands with the man himself a few weeks ago.

-Hearing the first notes of "Where the Streets Have No Name" echo through the stadium on U2's 360 tour, on a perfect June night. Very little will ever compare to seeing that song live, for me.

-Will Hoge coming out into the audience to do "Washed by the Water" the first time I saw him live.

-Kacey Musgraves doing a mini-acoustic set of "There's a Person There" and "Merry Go Round" when I saw her last week.

 

-Road-tripping with a friend of mine from college to Saratoga Springs to catch blink-182 on the Honda Civic Tour, and only listening to a lousy leak of Neighborhoods on the way there. On the way back, it was an encore of singing along to their greatest hits, scratchy-voiced and tired as we were.

-Stage diving for the first time at the Lost Horizon in Syracuse, and getting a high five from Dave Mackinder before going airborne during "Summer." The bill is still one of my favorites ever: Fireworks/Balance and Composure/Polar Bear Club. I still miss Polar Bear Club being around.

-Bled Fest and Spring Fling in 2013. Not only were they two incredibly fun days of music, but I was lucky to get to meet up with a bunch of friends I made on AP for the first time. Was a really cool and surreal experience.

 

Going out to eat with Acceptance and Emery after their show.

Getting hit on by Tyson Ritter at McDonalds haha

Copeland's music has pulled me back from the edge so many times and I like to think they saved my life as musicians and as human beings. Aaron Marsh is one of the most genuine people I've ever met.

I was selling merch and had never heard of Anberlin. So it was a surprise to me when I had a 20 minute convo with Nate and had no idea.

I know my life would be empty w/o music. It's what I turn to no matter how I'm feeling and in that moment everything is ok. I've been in remission for almost 6 years and here I am kicking ass and taking names!

I'm thankful for AP and this website bc I can get support almost immediately if I need it.

@Jason Tate You once talked me off a ledge and I'm not sure if I ever thanked you. It's rare to have someone who cares about their users as much as you do.

I'm going to stop now bc I'm about to make myself cry and this is becoming a novel lol I just want everyone to know how much I appreciate y'all and even if we've never talked I'm sure you've lifted my spirits whether it be a funny comment or meme or whatever :)

 

Love ya Erin

 

Did you hit the r instead of the t in your username? lmao