re: Concerts you were surprised were actually good/great?

I went and saw the Wallflowers last night. Happened to be in Chattanooga and they were playing. Was never some big Wallflowers fan and wasn't expecting much, but they put on a great show. I was impressed. Touché Jakob Dylan...

My daughter asked me to take her to see 21 Pilots. It was a fantastic show and made me a fan.

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The head and the heart.

Figured they were just gonna wear old hats and suspenders and say ho/hey but their sound is MASSIVE. Very very big and powerful.

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umm....

Jazzfest the year Fats was supposed to play on the Acura stage and Eric Paulson comes out with fats stating he is having a health issue and was headed to the hospital and apologized. It was drizzling and the stands were packed. What do they do? Right after Lionel Richie comes out when he was supposed to play on the Gentilly stage. He played till they kicked him off the stage. This was right after Katrina. Unbelievable show. He played Commodores stuff as well as his solo stuff.

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Guster

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I’ve seen them 3 or 4 times. Fun live band and talented musicians.

I still remember going to the Howlin Wolf in Nov. '94 to see Grifters with some pals and GBV was opening... GBV had just released Bee Thousand a couple of months before and the buzz was starting...

They came out and it was all these dudes in their mid/late 30s and we were like WTF is this?

The started playing and blew me away.. Uncle Bob was in fine form twirling the mic and the high leg kicks... it was amazing!

Lionel Richie residency in Vegas

A buddy and i randomly select a monthly concert, always for a band we're unfamiliar with, at a 500ish person venue in town. Doing this to keep from being totally disconnected from what's new, and maybe stumble across a new artist to put into the rotation.

We're about a year in, results have been mixed as expected with some good, some bad, and some very forgettable.

The last show we went to, earlier this week, was quite enjoyable. The headliner was late 90s ska/pop-punk also-ran Mad Caddies, with Ballyhoo!, and Hey Smith.

Not sure how I missed knowing about Mad-Caddies, as they're from my era and would have been up my alley, but they put on a fun show. Ballyhoo! were pretty good, but definitely were for the wives and girlfriends, though would fit nicely on most beach playlists. The stand-out was actually Hey-Smith, the opener, a bunch of young Japanese kids playing hard rocking ska/punk. They were hungry, and the best way i can describe their set was simply a triumph of rock.

Show was earlier this week, so if they come thru your town, check them out. I won't say it was the best show we've seen on this endeavor, but it was certainly the most fun. Not bad for a random school night.

Cage the Elephant comes to mind. I was familiar with a few of their songs that played on the radio, but knew next to nothing about the rest of their catalogue or their live shows. I saw them at Sloss Fest, and thought it was really great.


M. Ward is someone I'd listened to fairly regularly, was familiar with a lot of his songs, but I didn't expect him to sound and perform so well considering the type of music he plays. I saw him at Hangout, and came away really impressed.

I saw Charlie Daniels Band a few times, but the first time kind of blew me away with how "proggy" they got. Serious chops.

I like him, but I was blown away how good Vince Gill was.

I went to go see Blink 182 in 2010 and my chemical romance opened. Wasn't a big fan but they were really good.

Saw Zach Bryan last month mainly because my wife wanted to go. He blew the doors off.