A List Of All The Live Concerts I've Been To (That I Remember) Part 2

Wow… I left a whole lot of shows off this list.

“We do it live like Bill O’reilly”

If you're a follower of The Dynamoverse (woo!), then you might have caught that piece from early November when I talked about all the live shows I saw and how I felt about them. Lucky for us, I left a plethora of bands off that list, so I'm bringing it back today.

So grab a snack and your reading glasses and let's do this thing!

Welcome to the List of All The Live Concerts I’ve Been To (That I Can Remember) Part 2:

Busta Rhymes x 1

How Did I Forget The Greatest Rapper In The World?

ALL HAIL THE GREAT RHYME SAYER BUSTA RHYMES!

There's not much to say about this show because Busta Rhymes opened for that first Puff Daddy show I saw in '97. I knew him from the Scenario video where A Tribe Called Quest and Leaders of the New School linked up, but I wasn't queued into his time with his band Leaders.

Still... Busta does what Busta does and while we came in the middle of his set, Busta Rhymes was mind-blowing like always. I used to watch MTV all the time to catch Woo Hah, or the Woo Hah Remix (feat Ol Dirty Bastard) which BOTH got some of the wildest music videos of the era. Top marks to the whole team. I’m glad Busta Rhymes is still making music today. Check out Extinction Level Event Part 2: The Wrath of God from 2020 and Blockbusta from 2023 and see the the God MC is still on his business.

Straight Junior Brown’in

Junior Brown x 1:

The Most Fun I've Had At An Old School Country Show

Junior Brown has been around for a very long time. Many folks don't know who he is or what his songs are like, but when he came out with a two-necked guitar, I knew we were about to see something special.

Junior Brown is a country music star, and many of the songs he's made over the years are funny or interesting. One of Junior's songs that pops in my head from time to time is Venom Wearin Denim about a nightmare woman who can catch a man with tight jeans. I also loved My Wife Thinks Your Dead where Junior runs into an ex-lover who's "wanted by the police” and (Junior Brown's wife) thinks she's dead. Those kinds of ideas tickle me so much. It's almost like a 60's version of Jack Black. I got to see him over an Antones in Austin and he was such an amazing person to watch.

Bush x 1

Gavin Rossdale is a true rockstar and wanted to show it off by running into his screaming fans.

Gavin Rossdale is the lead singer of Bush. He was once married to Gwen Stefani. When they met it felt like two hot kids from from high school married. It was like I was watching a garage band but in a good way.

It was impossible for a kid in the 90s not to know Bush. During the show we saw in 2000, they played all their favorite songs like Glycerine, Everything Zen, and Comedown. They were an alternative band from England that became huge pop stars. To prove this, Gavin Rossdale left the stage and ran out to various parts of the arena. All their fans were very excited and grabbed him while he passed. It was an interesting thing to try, and we were sat way too high to have that kind of fun, but Bush played a pretty fun show.

Moby x 1

Interestingly, Moby opened for Bush in 2000

Moby, I’m a fan. I never wanted you to get stomped by Obi Trice.

Moby might be known as a guy Eminem talked shit about once, but back in 1999, Moby was like Bush. He was a DJ who became a pop star. If you don't know Moby or his music, he liked to take various soul samples and black music from the past and DJ it into something new. Like many 90s DJs, you'd have to work to figure out the name of a song you liked if you wanted to hear it again or wait until it was announced on the radio. Moby had quite an affection for remixing Nina Simone songs. I'd tell you which ones those were, but I don't know the titles of any of them.

Speaking of Gwen Stefani, one of Moby's most popular songs was one they worked on together called South Side. They did a music video and everything. Also, Moby was a vegan back before I knew what that meant.

Jay-Z x 1

The Only Rapper I Thought Was Close To The Level Of The Great Busta Rhymes.

This is the Old Jay-Z.

It all started with Hard Knock Life. Jay-Z used this beat based on the play Annie where the orphans sing about how hard their lives have been. It had an almost playful vibe to it. The hook sounded like a group of children talking about their hard-knock lives. At the same time, Jigga released Can I Get A and did a song with DMX called Money, Cash, Hoes. I had never heard anything like that at the time and remember a story about the beat being to crazy for Busta Rhymes to rap over. How could a young Hip-Hop fan not love a tale like that?

It was the song Big Pimpin that locked me into Jay's fan club. I loved him before, but that song brought him to another level. Big Pimpin’ also introduced me to U.G.K. (Underground Kingz) who are made up of Bun B. and Pimp C out of Houston Texas. This was the song that introduced me to artists from my own city.

Back in the day, the only version of the song I had was a cassette tape with a slowed-down version of the song that a new friend had given me. My last summer in Katy, I met Nathan while working at a mall. He was this big buff beefcake of a man who was so great at football, a variety of colleges were trying to recruit him. In this last summer, I think he was more interested in listening to music, reading comics, and watching anime with my friends and I instead. The summer we became friends was one of the best.

So the first time I saw Jay-Z live was in 2009 at an N.E.R.D. show. This was also the first time I saw J. Cole because Jay-Z decided to bring a new rapper out at the time. That was a good decision for Jay because now everyone knows J. Cole. Finally getting to see Jay-Z live one of the best nights of my life. It's weird that in Part 1 I was so into N.E.R.D. I forgot about the Jay-Z part.

Oops. My bad.

Coldplay x 1

I Didn't Want To Go, But I'm Glad I Did Because I Got Diane A Poster And She Loves Coldplay

I didn't want to go. I wasn't much of a fan at the time and had no choice but to blame my youthful indiscretion. This was when their second record, A Rush Of Blood To The Head came out. Coldplay had the cosign from REM and U2 and this band were a group of boys from England doing their best and making some songs. They'd dropped a ton of hits all over the alternative and pop stations like Yellow, The Scientist, and Clocks. I didn't have much knowledge and knew enough to not like them too much.

When I saw them live, their show was pretty good. I went out for a walk in the middle of their set which is where I found a person who gave me a poster for winning a contest where he gave winners a poster. I somehow managed to win and got a poster which I gave to Diane since she was a much bigger fan than I was.

During this show, Coldplay had 4 huge screens behind them. Every band member got a chance to be on all four screens at once during their solos... every member except the bass player. He might be a great songwriter, but just wasn't doing very much at that show. I'm glad I went to the show and hope Diane never reads this far since she thinks I paid for that poster.

Maroon 5 x 1

Their first record was amazing and I can't believe how much I enjoyed this show.

Adam…You changed, mijito.

The first Maroon 5 album was incredible. They made their careers off Songs About Jane and took that fame to the top. Harder To Breathe, This Love and Sunday Morning are songs even the youngest of us have heard before. My favorite song from that record is Not Coming Home because they captured a Michael Jackson feel with lead singer Adam Levine's voice. It was close, to Michael but not quite the same.

I saw these guys in the wake of Songs About Jane because my friend’s twin sisters were in love with Gavin DeGraw who played an opening show I barely remember, but did do the theme song to One Tree Hill a.k.a. a show I’ve never watched. I’m. not writing about Mr. DeGraw because I don’t remember anything about his show, though I don’t remember the twins being around for Maroon 5. I wonder where they went…

Regardless, Maroon 5 was really good. They did so many cool things on stage. At one point lead singer Adam Levine was wearing sunglasses and a boa. I think that boa was pink. I believed I liked them because they did a show like the ones I was doing in Benny Versus the Beast and Rival City at the time. So Adam can say what he wants, but it was my spirit that infected HIM that night.

Santigold (formerly Santogold)

Someone I liked at SXSW, but Santi opened for Sia, and Sia opened for N.E.R.D. and they are my favorite group of music people.

Back in 2008, Santigold was pumping out these interesting alternative hits. Some you might remember L.E.S Artistes and Creator. Even better than those amazing songs, she also had two other women out during the show looking militant and doing Public Enemy-style dances alongside her. It was very cool.

More than anything Santigold was another black person who was not making soul music or rapping. Similar to N.E.R.D. she was on the freakier side of the music industry. The side I loved. Black people making music people don’t think is black music.

Ludacris x 1

Ludacris Played The Music Industry Like A Champion.

“Afro clips! Afro chicks! I let my soul glo from my afro…(tee hee)”

Ludacris started from the bottom now he's in State Farm Insurance commercials. Luda started as a DJ in Atlanta called “Chris Lova Lova,” who made music so good the whole world wanted to hear it. Songs like What's Your Fantasy, Southern Hospitality (feat. The Neptunes), and Ho, where he slides the word “ho” everywhere. One of the lines from that song was “Ho (Go) tell everybody. Even the mayor. Reach yo hands up to the hozone (ozone) layer!” Ludacris also had the most hilarious skits on his albums. He was like a slightly less filthy 2 Live Crew. This is good because 2 Live was obscenely filthy in the 80s and 90s.

Ludacris had gotten just big enough to play the University of Texas 40-acre Fest. Just like the Jay Z show years later, I went with James who is not the jumping around and go nuts type. We hung out off to the side and got our brains blown a little bit by Ludacris.

There was a story that went along with this show. I'm not sure if it's true, but legend has it that the meeting between Luda and The University of Texas went like this:

UT: Luda! Thank you so much for coming to play 40 Acre Fest. The kids are really looking forward to seeing you

Ludacris: (smokes a blunt) That's good. Looking forward to entertaining them kids.

UT: So we've decided to offer you $20,000 and ask that you refrain from using any foul language while you're up on stage.

Ludacris: How about I charge you $50,000 and say whatever the fu@k I want.

Then Ludacris played the show for $50,000 and said whatever he wanted.

The Roots x 2

It's Always Nice To See The Other Best Band In The World Play Two Times

Oh snap! Is that Tuba Gooding Jr. back there? It is!

The Roots have been around for a very long time. They are a full band of hip-hop-flavored musicians and they are amazing. The drummer ?uestlove leads the group, and they released great music and became a part of the Soulquarians Collective along with Erika Badu, D'Angelo, Jill Scott, and many others. The Roots released songs like You Got Me (feat. Erika Badu & Eve) The Seed (feat. Cody Chestnutt) and BOOM! which I personally love because it had rap legend Big Daddy Kane on it.

I saw the Roots play the 40-acre Fest after Ludacris. It rained and we had to move the whole session into Gregory Gym. They had a bass player as part of their live band at the time and he did his own section of the show making wild noises with his bass. He was the opposite of Coldplay's bassist.

The next time I saw the Roots, they had a tuba player holding down the low end and his name is "Tuba Gooding Jr." due to him being amazing with names. This show was outside, but I am not sure where it was. I feel like we didn’t have to pay to see it, either. The Roots stormed in and broke it down with a lot of jazzy New Orleans styles which they can do because The Roots are greatness personified. That's why they've upgraded even further to become The Tonight Show Band alongside Jimmy Fallon.

Ceelo Green and the Soul Machine x 1

How Many Things Can Ceelo Green Do?

Before there was a Gnarles Barkley. Before there was a massive hit like Forget You, there was the rapper known as Ceelo. He was a member of the Atlanta group, Goodie Mob who had a big hit in the 90s with Soul Food. The only difference between Ceelo and his group mates was that in addition to rapping, Ceelo could also sing. He did this on a variety of Dungeon Family albums including the ones made by Outkast.

At one point, Ceelo Green decided to prove the greatness of his voice by putting together a band called The Soul Machine. The only hit that group put out was Closet Freak which was funky and amazing.

I also saw Ceelo at another 40 Acre Fest. I never wanted to miss those shows. I'm not sure who was in charge, but I saw some expert musicians there. Unfortunately, his show got rained out too! They did their best but despite their efforts, they are not The Roots so the show wasn't particularly good.

Shortly after that show, Gnarles Barkley a.k.a. Ceelo and Danger Mouse, released Crazy which became a worldwide smash. I covered it once with Rival City and we won a music contest by mixing up our songs with Ceelo's. That day we became as amazing as Gnarles Barkley.

Lauryn Hill x 1

The Only Artist Here That Needs No Introduction

The Fugees: Two of them are Haitian. One of this is not. Two were in an ill fated relationship. I’ll let you guess who they are.

I only saw Lauryn Hill live one time. This would be her big hometown show in New Jersey. I was invited to this show by my friend AJ and flew up there to meet him, his new wife, and see Lauryn Hill for the first time.

In the 90s Lauryn was the dopest rapper in The Fugees (who I LOVE). They dropped Blunted on Reality and The Score where they dropped hip hop classics like Ready or Not, Fu Gee La, and the hit she became most well for, a cover of Killing Me Softly With His Song by Roberta Flack.

From there, Ms. Lauryn Hill released her first solo record called The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill and won every Grammy for everything. You know these tracks! Doo Wop (That Thing), Ex Factor, a cover of Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You, Lost Ones, and Nothing Even Matters (feat. D'angelo). She spent 2 years as the creme de la creme of music. Then she did an MTV Unplugged with just her voice, a guitar, and some unfinished yet poignant songs.

Then she disappeared...

I felt fortunate to see Ms. Lauryn Hill, because I thought she felt ready to come back and do the work. It was 2011 and Ms. Lauryn Hill hadn’t released anything since the MTV Unplugged record. So, we put on our finest clothes, drove out the concert around the posted starting time, took in a pre-show DJ and waited for the show to start. I was ready to hear what Ms. Lauryn Hill was to for the last decade. I wanted her to show us some new music while hearing a few of the classics she made. On top of that, this was a hometown, New Jersey show! This was gonna be epic!

But it wasn't.

Ms. Lauryn Hill was late. Like we got there at 8, and she didn't show up until after 11. She hit the stage but started fighting with her band. She hadn’t written anything new to the point where the whole show was nothing but her classics. Then she played a few songs twice. This was not what I wanted, but it was something I had to accept.

AJ recently reminded me of an article I posted about Ms. Lauryn Hill by Talib Kweli where he says "We should stop letting people outside (the Black) community tell us how to feel about her." I don't disagree with him, but I also did not care for her show. Of course, she could have started on time and not left me hungry as hell and maybe I'd have a different attitude.

Woo! We Made It!

“Say make money money make money money money!” That’s a call-and-response invented by the great rhyme sayer Mike Dynamo. Don’t ask anybody about it please.

I know this was long but I hope you enjoyed it. I thought I had seen a lot of shows in part 1, but thanks to my friend Niema for reminding me of the live Bush and Moby show which led me to remember all the other acts I got to see in life. These are great memories to hold onto and I appreciate you coming down this path with me.

There are video versions of my reviews on TikTok now!

Also, check out my musical legacy with Mike Dynamo & Supercrime, and as always:

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