Too tough for me to decide on a "best" but I've been to a few noteworthy doozies. First concert I evar attended was with Korn, Limp Bizkit and Helmet, March 21, 1997. Few people in attendance, if any at all, really, had heard of Limp Bizkit prior to seeing them in Minneapolis that night. I'd only heard of them via Internet sites so I didn't know what to expect. They opened and did so with a bang. Funny, now, to look back at their de-evolution and chuckle. They were *much* heavier that night and put forth a level of effort they most likely never again matched after "getting signed." Fred dressed in an ol' skool, L.L. Cool J.-styled, maroon pimp outfit that conveniently hid his face. Energetic bunch, really, especially the drummer. Couldn't make similar comments about Helmet, though. Many people fell asleep while they played. Korn opened with "Twist" and followed with "Blind." This, when they were young and still able to properly rock to songs that themselves rock. A good introduction to rock concerts, though it would be surpassed a couple times. The next concert I attended was with Coal Chamber, Machinehead and Pantera, sometime in late 1997 or early 1998. We arrived late and missed Coal Chamber.
Unfortunately, we saw Machinehead, but not after we jumped from the balcony of Roy Wilkins Auditorium, which is about a fifteen foot jump, depending on how you jump. I jumped and made a mad dash into the pit closest to the stage and ducked down so as to elude the eyes of muscleheaded ASIA security arsewipes. My nephew wasn't so lucky. He jumped and landed on his ass and wrists, breaking one wrist in the process while simultaneously eliciting an auditorium-wide, "OHHHHHHHHHHHH!" from everyone who saw his leap. As the average height of the concert goer seemed to be 7'4", I couldn't see what happened, but I later found out he was refused medical treatment and had to go to a hospital and get a cast. Pantera was good, but I didn't enjoy it like I should have as I was being crushed in the pit and fat fukcos kept crowd-surfing and landing on me. <Rant> Do not crowd-surf if you weigh more than 200 pounds. A55holes. </Rant> A nice touch, however, was the number of chicks who responded to the age-old, "SHOW YOUR TITS!" chant. Nice. Very nice. Fast forward to late 1998. Deftones toured with Limp Bizkit, who I was sick of by the time, although they were only starting to make a mainstream impact. LB played only five or six songs before Deftones, who played for over an hour-and-a-half. "Deftones rule!" as they used to say. Seems Chino is now a lethargic mass of chewy nougat so I doubt he can rock like he used to, as evidenced by the abundance of live footage that can be found with Morpheus (Jon Davis is quite the tub now, too ... let's not mention Vince Neil ... or we could and have a hearty, drawn-out belly laugh). I quit going to concerts for a few years, only to come back to see the 2001 Extreme Steel tour with Pantera, Slayer, Static X, the Mighty Fukcin' Morbid Angel and Skraped. I'm not much into "death metal" (except for the side-projects Phil Anselmo takes part in) so I didn't care for Morbid Angel, and Skraped sucked hard enough where fans booed and flicked them off throughout their set. Static X, however, rux0red my c0x0r. I wish I'd boned up on (spare your homosexual innuendos for another time) them a bit before seeing them so I could've grooved to their songs as I had heard only snippets of their music. I'm not a fan of Slayer although they did put on a good show. The headliner, The Fuckin' Kings of Metal, Pantera, opened with "Hellbound." Never had I seen a sight as physically and aurally enthralling. A large steel PANTERA sign floated above the stage, and with the chorus, a line of seemingly-mile-high flames exploded with the chorus and, yes, I banged my head like it was fukcin' 1985. I grooved to their whole show, perhaps harder than any fan in attendance. It was not uncommon to hear shouts of, "YOU FUKCIN' RULE!" coming from my section. I don't have time to relay minutiae (seriously!) like the song list or the many comical comments made throughout the night by Phil (he did offer some choice advice, however ... "Eat pu55y 'til your fukcin' jaw breaks.") but I will advise all y'all to see Pantera if you are even remotely interested in live rock n' roll music. Finally, September 6, 2001, brought Tool to Minneapolis, MN, and the Excel Energy Center. Meshuggah opened. I thought, "Meshoulddahskippedtheseguys." After a sensible amount of anticipation, Tool opened with "The Grudge" and the arena erupted. A few songs featured the totally made-up ("made-up" as in wearing makeup) actors from the "Schism" video hanging upside down from cords twenty feet above the stage, all the while spasming to the beat. A cool touch, indeed. Funny note: I smoked pot with my friend three feet away from a skinny puke security guard, only to hear, "Sit down when you do that!" Heh heh, I thought. Unfortunately, they played neither "Third Eye" or "Eulogy," so I went home disappointed, but their live rendition of "Aenema" was suprisingly focking good! Tool played for a good two-and-a-half hours. They played too many songs from the new album, in my opinion, but that's expected. The real festivities, however, didn't begin until after the concert. The parking ramp was packed like a jar of jam. We sat, gridlocked, for over an hour before getting out. After ten or so minutes of gridlock, people started honking their horns. Fast-forward a minute or two and *everyone* is honking their horn! I urged my friend (and the driver of the car in which we rode) to "play" the beat of the first half of "Shave And A Haircut" and someone finished it. We LMAO'd for a good three minutes ... ecstatically happy while in gridlock; go figure. What better place than a fourth floor parking ramp to toke up some schwaggy commersch dank. A car full of unhip, older folks watched as we puffed and gave. Accordingly, we pointed at them and laughed our arses off. After getting out of the garage, we went to the miserable suburb Eagan to meet Erik's cousin. We proceeded to drive around smoking and Erik stole a crystal ball from someone's yard. Stoned, we drove back at 2 a.m. and got home by 4 a.m. All in all, fukcing memorable night. Anyone care to share any of their concert experiences?