A List Of All The Live Concerts I've Been To (That I Remember) Part 1
Do yourself a favor! Go out and see all the live music you can! And buy earplugs!
Hi, I’m Mike and this is my All-Time Best Live Shows (that I can remember) list.
Looking back on my life, I realize that I've played many shows in a variety of different bands. I also realized I've seen lots of other people play shows as I watched as a lowly fan. Let's talk about all of the fan shows!
Let's break it down like this: I’ll post all of the shows I remember going to in no particular order. I shall also use a number for each time I remember seeing each band. I must also malign Donald Trump with every breath, so if you want just skip down and watch that Fishbone video about him.
Does that sound good? Ok! Let’s get in there!
Kool and The Gang
x 1
This was the first concert I've ever been to. I was 4 years old and my parents took me to the Houston Rodeo where Kool and the Gang were playing. I don't remember much about this show other than they had a moving stage that turned toward the audience as they started bringing the noise and bringing the funk.
I see The Gang, but which one of these brothas is Kool?
N.E.R.D.
x 3
N.E.R.D is my favorite band in history! I loved them from the moment I heard of them. I was already a fan of the Neptunes, so when I heard about a rock record Pharrell and Chad were going to put out, loving N.E.R.D. was a no-brainer for me.
Save me from the boredom of terrible and generic music, gang!
Moreover, I appreciate the serendipity of receiving an edited version of their first album, In Search Of... back in 1999. Fortunately for me, in 2008 I saw them 3 different times. Once at SXSW, another time opening for (old) Kanye West, and once more at ACL Fest. Pharrell, Chad, and Shay were incredible every time. Plus N.E.R.D. was the first band I had ever seen with two guys on different drum sets. I think that was what made their third record, Seeing Sounds so fun. I am a nerd who peers through windows on occasion and wants to spaz out on people. I’m just like all the kids they talk about in every record N.E.R.D. has ever done, save Bobby James. I hope people have avoided becoming that guy.
Below is a song I used to “spaz” out too from Seeing Sounds.
Kanye West
x 1 (Thank God)
In 2008 I also got to see (the old) Kanye in Austin as well. NERD and Rihanna opened for him. His show at the time was incredible. Watching someone play eight years of incredible hits was fantastic, plus I got to see my favorite band in the world.
This was before My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy came out, so Kanye relied on his backpacker boom-bap raps from his early days which is great because I was there for all that. I had to give Kanye up after Life of Pablo because I truly missed the old Kanye.
Rihanna
x 1
I saw her with NERD and Kanye West. She wasn't a particularly good performer in 2008. She wasn't a particularly good performer while pregnant at the Super Bowl. I remain pretty "meh" about Rihanna. It’s funny because her being a billionaire makes me feel even worse about her.
Toro y Moi
x 1
While making it to Atlanta to hang out with DJ Trey West, we ended up going to a fairly crowded show that Toro y Moi was playing. I didn't know his music, but I liked that Black Nerd vibe.
Janelle Monae
x 2
Back in 2008, I was fortunate to get hooked up with a South by Southwest (SXSW) pass to see all of the live shows I could make it to. Knowing it would be hard to make any of them, I picked the one that Big Boi from Outkast was putting on. It wasn't a show he was going to play so much as a show to introduce artists on his new label, Purple Ribbon All-Stars. The artist that dazzled me the most was Janelle Monae.
What Janelle used to look like while keeping so much inside.
This was when she was first coming out. An incredibly talented person who was finally releasing her first big solo records and pushing the Android theme from Metropolis: Suite I. I had never had my mind blown in the way she blew it that night. Watching Janelle in the early days was so special. I had never followed an artist I’d seen live first, but after that show and those songs, I was hooked for life.
I also had the chance to see Janelle Monae live again in late 2023. Janelle Monae had changed. I saw her 15 years ago and Janelle had not put out ArchAndroid, Electric Lady, Dirty Computer, or The Age of Pleasure. In 2023, The black and white outfits were gone. Janelle Monae has been in movies and won several awards. Janelle Monae was hot as hell and showing it all off. That show was so fantastic I came home and wrote about it. My favorite all-time artists are NERD then Janelle Monae and I don't even care who is after that.
Now, you’ve seen what she was like before, in this video you can see what Janelle is like these days.
Sia
x 1
Back in 2008 I also got a chance to see Sia. I was first introduced to her while listening to Destiny by Zero 7 in 1999. I liked the song so much I used to fall asleep to it. Sia was the vocalist on that track and worked with that UK group for a few years before dropping her own stuff.
A girlfriend of mine bought me a copy of one of Sia's records from a Starbucks. It was called Some People Have Real Problems and it was beautiful. I'm seldom a person who thinks things are beautiful, but I loved this record so much when I heard it. One of my favorite songs from that album was Little Black Sandals.
The night I saw Sia, she made me cry. She sang the song she wrote called Breathe Me and the emotions welled up inside and I had to let them out. Luckily I brought some amazing goggles with me so I covered my eyes with those, but everyone knew what I was doing… provided they weren’t also crying.
Fun fact: Breathe Me was also the song HBO used to promote the final season of Six Feet Under. I never watched that show, but I felt that song's punch. Check that ad out below. Try not to cry.
Imogen Heap
x 1
I once went to Stubbs BBQ in Austin with my friend Soojinn and we saw Imogen Heap. She was amazing, and part of the fun with an artist like Imogen is the fact that she didn't need a band to perform her songs as they were on her album. She did it all herself with incredible technology. She would make breathtaking songs, go out into the world with loopers, a mic, and her body, and remake them on the spot. Imogen Heap is incredible. One of her most well-known songs is Hide and Seek, not just because it was on The O.C., but because it was sampled for a much more well-known song you’ve probably heard before.
Later on, I saw she had upgraded her art by working with technicians to create a pair of gloves to control music. Now she could use those gloves like she used her setup at the time. I'd love to see what her shows are like now.
Reel Big Fish
x 1
My friend Rob loves ska. Rob has always loved ska. Thanks to Rob, I also love ska. Rob got me to join a ska band I was in for 8 years. Once, Rob and I went out to see Reel Big Fish play in downtown Austin. Those guys are hilarious and I hope they never lose that Ska vibe. They've created such a great string of classic songs and have been together for a very long time. Go see these guys whenever you can.
Peelander Z
x 3:
Being one of the luckiest people in the world means that I have seen The Japanese Action Comic Punk Band on three separate occasions. I was originally introduced to them via a music video on Austin Music Network. The video we saw was called S.T.E.A.K.
After that, Rob and I were hooked. Y'see, Peelander Z isn't a three-piece punk band. They are a group of aliens from area Z of the planet Peelander. They don't wear Power Ranger-looking suits, because those suits are their actual skin.
Peelander Z put the insane in insanity. I once saw their bass player climb to the top of a venue called Mohawk. I once threw out my voice singing along with S.T.E.A.K. I once got to close the mosh pit and had a "bottom heavy" girl take to the air and smash me in the chest. This knocked me off my feet and into happy fans who grabbed me and tossed me fully into the mosh pit. While Peelander Z is made up of three players, Peelander Pink is also there to hand out signs and help with human bowling. I honestly don't think I've been to a show that was more fun than the Peelander shows are.
They had a show while I was wasting my time at ACL Fest 2024 and Rob got to get on stage and play bass. Peelander Z even brought all the Mike's in the crowd on stage to sing along to their song So Many Mike. What a great night for Rob and a terrible night for Mike. So… if you care about your own feelings, you should watch the video below and then go see the band live.
MGMT
x 1
I got to see MGMT before they were popular. They were interesting and cool. They were another band that played alongside Sia, Santigold, and N.E.R.D. in 2008. While I never saw them again my favorite song is when MGMT, Kid Cudi, and Ratatat teamed up to remix Pursuit of Happiness.
Fishbone
x 1
Sometimes I'd feel like a weirdo for spending 8 years in my own ska band, Benny Versus the Beast. I mean the 6 to 8 of us were always epic and our shows were always fun, but sometimes it felt like I might be wasting my time playing ska. I felt like the music I was creating just wasn't Black enough. This all changed after finally getting to see the band that started it all, Fishbone.
Fishbone is a ska pioneer and a band that has been around since 1979. They got big off their cover of Freddy's Dead and inspired every band from So-Cal that you've ever heard of. I mean all of them. No Doubt, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and everyone else who was in the Fishbone documentary. They even toured with the Beastie Boys. While I had forgotten this, Fishbone was a band I'd seen before in the film Back To The Beach (1986), the Annette Funicello Frankie Avalon reunion movie. I must have watched this movie 50 times with no idea who Frankie and Annette were.
So seeing Fishbone live was a treat. It made me feel so much better about the career I built and the ska music I made. I'm pretty sure Fishbone is still touring. If they are, do yourself a favor and check them out. Also, go look up Benny Versus The Beast on Soundcloud. It’s all sitting there waiting for you!
Gogol Bordello
x 2
“This is my life and freedom is my profession.”
Speaking of wacky bands, I have seen Gogol Bordello twice in my life. The first time, I got to go with my friend Edward and his girlfriend, Jaycee. I didn't know anything about this band beyond my close friend wanting to see them. He kept talking about the singer, Eugene Hutz going off on things and getting words wrong. This didn't sound like it was going to be fun.
I was so happy I was wrong.
Gogol Bordello is fantastic. They are a committed group of out-there musicians. Eugene speaks in a variety of languages and might be making a few of them up. They even have an old man in the band that plays the accordion. How can you not love this? I think they got their original hype with a song called Start Wearing Purple, but my favorite song is Undestructable. This is for three reasons.
It's a fantastic song about the struggle of being a lifelong musician.
I once saw a line from the song written on a door at Showbox in Cambodia. This is the bar where we started putting my band Hypnotic Fist Technique together.
Edward died in 2016 and the second time I got to see this band was in Estonia in 2023. Being able to do that meant a lot to me due to his passing and my own struggles with brain cancer.
Also. their songs are really fun to sing along to because they make it easy and you don't need to know the words.
Tenacious D
x 1
Once in 2017, I got to see "The Greatest Band In The World," Tenacious D. Jack Black and Kyle Gass have been a team since the early ‘90s. Before they were anywhere close to well known, these guys showed up in Biodome with Pauly Shore. By now it seems like they've been around forever.
I only got to know them from seeing them take the stage at the MTV Music Awards which is probably where I learned how to stop songs if I felt the crowd wasn't into it. Jack Black rushes out and says Tenacious D is the greatest band in the world. They start a song, stop, then tell everyone they're not ready for such a great band and leave. At least that's how I think it went down.
I think the first song I heard was a song called Fu🔥k Her Gently at a karaoke night. Obviously, they never played this hilarious song on the radio. From there it was Wonderboy then their biggest song, Tribute, a song I used to cover with my band Rival City back in the day.
From there I started checking all of their albums and HBO Shows. I watched most of the Jack Black movies and eventually saw them live along with my friend Rob. We had our minds blown like Tenacious D always says will happen. According to Rob, Kyle Gass also mooned us, but I must have missed that part.
If you want to talk about a band that’s great for karaoke, that band is Tenacious D.
I've seen a lot of bands and they’ve all been incredible (save for Rihanna in 2008)
I am a musician. A lyricist by trade, a singer by luck, and a rapper by fun. Since I don't have any money, that makes me a musician's musician. I'm a guy that is always trying to make it. During this beautiful life of mine, I've seen a lot of other amazing musicians. I left off a lot of bands, but I love this music stuff.
My hope is that by writing down some of these bands, I can always go back and see what music was like when I was growing up in Texas. Austin always had some great bands show up. I can already think of a few that didn’t make this list, but I’ll write about that another time. There’s at least one I know you won’t assume I went to see, but you will be mistaken and I will feel amazing.
