I thought it would be cool to make note of every show that I have been to, as there are a ton, and I'd hate to forget about any of these great experiences I have been so lucky to have. My very first show was the 2014 induction ceremony for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Green Day and Joan Jett, and my most recent concert was Hardy with Lainey Wilson at the Covelli Center in Youngstown. The next show I would really love to see is the Violent Femmes, coming to Cleveland October 9th. The best show I have been to was Superorganism at Skully's in Columbus. They are my all-time favorite band, and I was so stoked to be front row (close enough to untie the guitarists shoes) and to have the opportunity to meet them and get a concert tee signed.
As you can tell from this list, I like a broad range of music and enjoy just about anything played live. From Bob Marley to Taylor Swift, I don't put my nose up to anything that sounds good. Basically, if there are musicians actually playing instruments, I'm into it. I describe my musical taste as riding a skateboard in cowboy boots because I love alternative music and country alike! When it comes to live performances, I don't like shows without a band onstage, and everybody hates lip syncing. I'll venture to say Country music artists are generally the most authentic and caring for their fans, and I think that's super cool of them being down to earth and humble.
Here is the list of performances I've seen thus far, and I am hopeful there are many more to come. It's pretty crazy to actually see it all on paper, and I think future Joe will thank me for doing this to look back upon.
- Green Day
- Joan Jett
- Weezer (x2)
- Pixies
- Modest Mouse
- Nas
- The Strokes
- Red Hot Chili Peppers
- Thundercat
- Superorganism
- Weird Al Yankovic
- Sam Hunt
- Zac Brown Band
- Jon Pardi
- Chase Rice
- Riley Green
- Jake Owen
- Tim McGraw
- Travis Tritt
- Rodney Adkins
- Wynonna Judd
- Tracy Byrd
- John Michael Montgomery
- Mark Wills
- Frank Foster
- Tyler Booth
- Lainey Wilson (x3)
- Megan Moroney
- Joe Nichols
- Ashley Cooke
- Hardy
- Lauren Alaina
- Dustin Lynch
- Tyler Hubbard
- Warren Zeiders
- Cooper Alan
- Randy Houser
My bucket list includes Blink-182, Toby Keith (I pray he beats his cancer), Eric Church, Ween, Tenacious D, Olivia Rodrigo, The Bloodhound Gang, Miranda Lambert, The Black Keys, Darius Rucker, Chris Stapleton, Maren Morris, Blake Shelton, Kesha, Zach Bryan, T-Pain, Thomas Rhett, Luke Combs, and especially Morgan Wallen. I'd also really love to see an NPR Tiny Desk Concert at some point in my life. There's definitely more I'm forgetting right now, and I likely excluded an artist or two on the list of shows I have seen. All in all, it's a good summary.
How about you, though? What shows have you seen, what's up next, and what's the dream concert?
If you're looking for some great shows to attend, there's a ton lined up at the Dusty Armadillo in Rootstown as part of their concert series. You can check those out here: http://www.dustya.com/concerts.asp We're also gearing up to have a heck-of-a night with Chase Rice and Pricilla Block acoustic at the Akron Civic Theatre on October 18th for our 24th annual WQMX Bosom Buddies Benefit Concert. Info for that is here: https://bosombuddies.wqmx.com/
Thanks for reading!