Power Rankings: Still More Geography, This Time Through the Lens of Music [sic]

Posted on July 31, 2007 by David

This list started as my best live music shows ever list, which got too long too fast. So I decided to limit it to one show per venue, but even that was hard to manage. Throwing my hands in the air, I limited the criteria to one per State. Highlighted are the ones that definitely would’ve made the Top Ten, irrespective of locale.

Santana & Luther Allison, Grandview Park, Sioux City, IA, July 2, 1994. Beautiful weather, tons of people of all creeds and sizes gathered for a free show. Luther played with his tongue, and Carlos spoke of love and Jesus. I was sad when I saw him five years later and he spoke of the evils of Christianity–what a time the late 90s must’ve been for him.

Horde Fest: Neil Young, Beck, Morphine, Primus, Medeski, Martin & Wood, Meadows Music Theatre, Hartford CT, August 6, 1997. What a bizarre line-up. Beck did Odelay (and Loser of course), Neil performed with Crazy Horse, and the hippies hated Claypool who hated them right back. Sadly I didn’t appreciate Morphine then as I do now.

G Love & Special Sauce, 328 Performance Hall, Nashville, TN, October 31, 1997. We dressed up in costumes that night, and This Ain’t Livin’ will be forever etched in my brain.

Willie Nelson, David Allan Coe, Dwight Yoakam, Leon Russell, Jerry Jeff Walker, Deanna Carter, Woodlands Pavilion, Houston, TX, August 1, 1999. Willie is the greatest showman on Earth–he’d've played to five people that day, he was just having som much fun.

Charlie Hunter, Five Points Music Hall, Birmingham AL, Feb. 20, 2002. I chose this over Wynton Marsalis for my Alabama choice, only because this venue served better booze.

Beta Band, Variety Playhouse, Atlanta, GA, April 5, 2002. Possibly my favorite live show ever.

Rebirth Brass Band, Tipitina’s, New Orleans, LA, July-ish 2002. My college buddies had just gotten back from Afghanistan (the war) and Niger (Peace Corps), so we chose this neutral nostalgia meeting ground, and got the funk on with some hippie chicks from the India House.

Stereolab, Irving Plaza, New York, NY, April 15, 2004. In support of Margarine Eclipse. I was skeptical of their live potential, but they really blew the roof off that night, unbelievable.

Yo La Tengo, Maxwells, Hoboken, NJ, December 30, 2005. Best place I’ve seen these guys, so intimate. They took requests and didn’t once hesitate to appease the frat boys’ pleas for Sugarcube.

Man Man, Spaceland, Los Angeles, CA, October 5, 2006. By chance I was in town along with a friend from Texas, so we met up with a friend from LA and my Dad of all people, drank a bunch of whiskey and shared a new favorite band.

Two lessons learned in this process. 1) I was sad to realize that nothing from Nebraska could make the list. 2) Sorted by date, I get quite the chronology of my life, especially as it concerns evolving music tastes–I can almost piece together forgotten wardrobes.

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Comments

One Response to “Power Rankings: Still More Geography, This Time Through the Lens of Music [sic]”

  1. Tito on August 1st, 2007 9:14 am

    I’m trying to think of the best show I’ve seen in Nebraska. Not many to pick from — didn’t go to many in high school. Two early contenders are:

    1) Simon Joyner & Alex McManus in the gallery of the antiquarium. That was around new years ~ 2.5 years ago, and i more or less stumble my way upon the show. Bonus pts since the antiquarium is dust in the wind as they say. more bonus points for the serendipitous attendance.

    2) Okkervil River at Sokol underground, also a couple years ago. bonus points for cheap drinks. minus points for: drummer had a broken hand (also bonus points for drummer had a broken hand)