What I Learned Going to 100s of Concerts - Part III

Recalling my trips to see Foo Fighters, Kanye West, Harry Styles, and Lil Wayne.

From time-to-time, I write about issues surrounding gender representation in the music industry. Because of that, I was curious what the gender breakdown of the artists I have seen is. Though I’ve seen more woman-fronted groups in recent years, it’s still not great.

75% of groups that I’ve seen have been fronted by men. 19% have been fronted by women. 5% have been fronted by some combination of men and women. 1% have been fronted by non-binary persons. In the same way, that I’m trying to strive for more diversity in the artists I recommend and people that I interview, I’m hoping to see more woman-fronted acts in the coming year. In case you missed it, check out parts one and two of this series.

Every Concert I’ve Ever Seen: Florence + the Machine - Lil Wayne

Florence + the Machine
6/14/2015 (Bonnaroo)

Florence Welch is arguably the greatest vocalist of my generation. And her voice does not disappoint on stage. My only issue with this set is that it was too short. I know there are time constraints when you play a festival, but I think she could have snuck in more than ten songs, especially given how strong her discography is.

Foo Fighters
5/19/2012 (Bamboozle)

Even if you’re not a big fan of the Foo Fighters, they will fight to their dying breath to entertain you. They will have my eternal respect for that. In doing research about this set, the craziest thing I learned was that after they played they took a helicopter to New York City to play the SNL finale with Mick Jagger, among others.

Frank Turner
6/29/2018 (Royale)

If you were to ask me who the most energetic performer I’ve ever seen live was, the aforementioned Foo Fighters would come to my mind. But so would Frank Turner. The punk-folk stalwart behind Tape Deck Heart, one of my all-time favorite albums, is a madman on stage. My friend Dan and I regretted watching his set from the balcony rather than the pit.

The Gaslight Anthem
11/29/2012 (Terminal 5), 5/26/2013 (The Stone Pony), 7/28/2013 (Pier 26 at Hudson River Park), 9/16/2014 (House of Blues - Boston), 5/27/2018 (9:30 Club), 8/18/2018 (The Stone Pony), 10/8/2022 (PNC Bank Arts Center), 10/30/2023 (White Eagle Hall)

I’ve seen The Gaslight Anthem more than any other band, so I could talk about these shows for days. I could talk about how the 11/29/2012 show was the first time my friends and I went to a show in New York City without adult supervision and for some reason chose to eat dinner at the Times Square Applebees. I could talk about how security wouldn’t let my friend Dan into the 9/16/2014 show because they claimed he was drunk, despite being stone cold sober. I could talk about transcendent musical experiences or the band clearly becoming disillusioned and then going on an indefinite hiatus before returning with some of their most joyful performances to date.

Instead, I’ll just focus on the 5/26/2013 show, a concert I consider one of the greatest of my life. Of course, part of this greatness was driven by an unreal setlist and the band being on absolute fire. But I often find that shows we consider to be great are also great for non-musical circumstances. In this case, I think the following contributed to the show’s greatness in my mind.

• History: The show took place at The Stone Pony, a hallowed New Jersey venue where Bruce Springsteen, among many others, have cut their teeth.

• Location: The Stone Pony is right near Cookman Avenue, a street the band sings about in “Blue Jeans & White T-Shirts,” one of their masterpieces (i.e., “Someday I’ll buy you that house on Cookman”). I actually found a crappy video of people going nuts for this line that night.

• Circumstance: This show occurred while I was already at the Jersey Shore for Memorial Day weekend my senior year of high school, a week of joyful debauchery and when I felt like I was falling in love for the first time.

• Humor: My friend Tom and I got separated during the show. When I found him afterwards, he was soaking wet. “What happened?” I asked. Apparently, bass player Alex Levine threw a water bottle in the air at the end of the show. It hit a light fixture and came crashing down on Tom.

Harry Styles
10/2021 (Madison Square Garden), 8/2022 (Madison Square Garden)

If it were not for my friend Caileigh’s unnatural obsession with Harry Styles, there is no way I would have seen the former teen heartthrob in concert once, let alone twice. Though his setlist is very static, he does put on a fun show and his band rips.

Houndmouth
6/11/2015 (Bonnaroo), 10/14/2018 (Austin City Limits)

There are good bands and there are good festival bands. You can be one without being the other. Good festival bands are bands that are easy to enjoy without needing to know their music well. They are generally energetic but have some slower songs. They also can usually jam a bit.

Houndmouth is a good band. In fact, their song “Sedona” sends me into the throes of nostalgia maybe more than any other song. But they are an even better festival band. If you ever lose me at a music festival and know that Houndmouth is playing, just assume that I am at their performance.

Hozier
6/13/2015 (Bonnaroo), 10/12/2018 (Austin City Limits)

Musically, Hozier is the full package. Inventive songwriter. Rich vocalist. Emotional guitarist. I remember thinking his live performance was a bit dull. But I’ve been watching some live clips online while working on this project, and his show looks pretty exciting. Maybe I caught the tall Irishman on a bad day.

Insignificant Other
5/27/2022 (Music Hall of Williamsburg)

I have little recollection of this set beyond thinking that ‘Insignificant Other’ was a great band name. They were the first of three punky acts in a night that included both Macseal and Prince Daddy & the Hyena. More on them later.

J. Roddy Walston & the Business
6/12/2014 (Bonnaroo), 6/13/2014 (Bonnaroo)

On the first night of Bonnaroo 2014, I heard some raucous piano-rock music in the distance. My friends were all drinking, but I had to find the music. I went on a walk to discover a long-haired raconteur named J. Roddy Walston commanding a small crowd. I only caught the end of the set, but luckily him and his band were playing the next day too.

That show the next day was rapturous. Despite the smaller crowds, the band really knew how to perform. I walked away knowing I needed to listen to some of their music. Sadly, their albums never captured me the way their live show did. It looks like in the years since, they’ve broken up. Here’s what I found on their Facebook page from 2019:

This show … will be our last together until ... who knows? There are no plans to make another album or tour at any point in 2020 or the foreseeable future. After 14 years, four albums and 889 shows of being creatively betrothed solely to each other, now feels like the time to explore other possibilities — so we’re stepping away. There will be plenty of time to talk about the last decade and a half and what comes next — and rest assured that we’ll all still be out there, and maybe even together at times.

Maybe it’s the romantic in me, but something about the end of a band always leaves me vaguely sad, even if I haven’t been following them closely.

Jack White
6/14/2014 (Bonnaroo), 9/17/2014 (Fenway Park), 4/21/2022 (Barclays Center)

In 2006, Jack White addressed the fact that “Seven Nation Army” had been adopted as a chant by Italian soccer fans:

I am honored that the Italians have adopted this song as their own. Nothing is more beautiful in music than when people embrace a melody and allow it to enter the pantheon of folk music. As a songwriter it is something impossible to plan. Especially in modern times. I love that most people who are chanting it have no idea where it came from. That’s folk music.

Since then, “Seven Nation Army” has been adopted as an anthem at seemingly every sporting event. Because it has entered into the pantheon of folk music, it’s easy to forget that White wrote it. But when he plays it — almost always as the last song in his set — he reminds you that it is his song. Though I wish I could have seen him with The White Stripes, his solo shows are very powerful.

Jake Bugg
6/13/2014 (Bonnaroo)

My mother claims the most boring concert she has ever seen was The Cars. For me, that honor goes to Jake Bugg, a British rocker that one of my high school teachers introduced me to. To be clear, Jake Bugg does not sound bad in concert. He sounds exactly like the record. But there is almost no enthusiasm. That’s the top reason I’ve never sought to see him again. Maybe he’s changed in the intervening decade.

Jamestown Revival
6/24/2014 (Highline Ballroom)

I believe I bought my ex-girlfriend tickets to this show for her birthday. Looking back, it was an odd gift. We both liked their soulful number “California (Cast Iron Soul)”, but I wouldn’t go so far as to call either of us a genuine fan of the group. Maybe I was out of ideas. We did enjoy the show, though.

Jeff Rosenstock
10/8/2022 (PNC Bank Arts Center)

I’ve never seen a crowd more confused by an opener than when Jeff Rosenstock opened for The Gaslight Anthem in October 2022. Rosenstock and Gaslight seem like a natural musical pairing. But the Gaslight audience didn’t understand Rosenstock’s zany antics, especially when he ran through the crowd playing an unmic’d saxophone. That’s a shame. Jeff Rosenstock rocks.

John Cozz
8/14/2021 (727 Joralemen)

Given that I play in John Cozz’s band, I didn’t think I’d ever seen him play without being involved in the show. But I did see him once when he played a folk set backed by His Stinky Feet. The set made me question if I prefer folk John Cozz to punk John Cozz, the latter John Cozz being the one that I’m most familiar with.

Jonas Brothers
12/6/2023 (Prudential Center)

In 2023, Taylor Swift embarked on her Eras Tour, a three-hour live music extravaganza where she highlighted work from nearly all of her albums. Forgetting the fact that artists have been doing this for years — albeit not billed as explicitly — it set off a trend of artists playing multi-hour career retrospectives on stage. One of those artists was the Jonas Brothers.

I’d probably only count myself as a fan of two or three Jonas Brothers’ tunes, but my sister was kind enough to invite me, so of course I went. They did play those two or three songs that I like. Those sounded good. But the concert was a good reminder that not everybody needs an ‘Eras Tour’. It’s better to leave the people wanting more than dragging on a show for 40 songs. There are maybe 10 living artists that have enough good material to play for that long. The Jonas Brothers are not one of those artists.

Juice
12/1/2016 (Brighton Music Hall), 1/19/2024 (Irving Plaza)

Of the handful of bands to come out of my time at Boston College, Juice is by far the biggest. The genre-bending group has tens of millions of streams on Spotify and sells out clubs across America constantly. When I saw them play at Irving Plaza just a few months ago, it was a good reminder that despite the difficulties, you can actually make a career in music. Sometimes that career starts in a dorm room jam with just a few songs to your name.

Kanye West
6/13/2014 (Bonnaroo)