Concerts & Live Music

I recently added a concerts page to my site. I've been keeping track of the number of times I've seen bands and decided it might be a neat thing to visualize as a page on my site. The list of concerts isn't complete, nor is the list of bands I've seen, but I can't remember everything.

Every time I go to a show now I keep track of who I'm seeing as well as the opening acts. I often remember the headliners, but don't always remember the opening acts. I make a note to see about checking them out after the show. I've sometimes found it can be hard to judge a band if the first time you've heard them was live. Sometimes they jump out as amazing, other times not as much.

An example is the first time I saw The Arkells live was when they were opening for Frank Turner. The audio mixing was off for their set and I want to say one of the guitars was drowning out the rest. I sadly couldn't really get into their set, but could sort of tell they had some catchy songs. I brought them up on Spotify (or whatever streaming service I was using at the time) and found that I did like their music. Luckily for me I went to see Frank Turner again a couple months later and The Arkells were opening for them again, and this time, the volume levels were much better and they put on a great set. I even got to meet and chat with Max, their lead singer and rhythm guitarist after their set. I have a picture with him somewhere, though the dark venue makes the photo kind of lousy.

I want to make sure I'm not writing off any band too early. Some bands put on great sets and I'm immediately drawn to them. Others put on good sets, but their vibe doesn't quite resonate with me. Sometimes, their music is better than their sets. It's a whole spectrum.

I've been to a bunch of shows this fall. I saw Dave Hause twice Labor Day weekend, Lucero & The Menzingers in September. I was supposed to see Dave Hause again last weekend but got sick and had to miss the show. All of these had headliners I went for, but each had opening acts that put on good shows that didn't have the same name recognition (at least for me). I've found a few new bands I've liked and many cases, took advantage of a few Bandcamp Fridays for.

I mention this, because I want to go to more shows in 2026. There are some local venues that are active in the music scene. I think it'd be fun to check out and support some smaller acts. It's also nice that the venues are close by and don't require us to go into Philly (don't get me wrong, I love Philadelphia, but with where we live, it can be a pain to get in and out of the city).

I'm hoping to add to the list of shows and bands I've seen next year. I already have tickets to a Menzingers show at the end of January and a 3 day music festival in Philly in May, so I'm off to a good start!