I saw Judas Priest in concert last November, and it BLEW. ME. AWAY. Rob Halford Still has an AMAZING voice nearly 40 years after Judas Priest released their first album.

The lightshow was spectacular, the sound was incredible, and Rob Halford had great crowd presence.

One of the best parts of the show was when the audience sang the lyrics to Breaking The Law. (Rob Halford just stood and held the mic out, interacting with the crowd as we all yelled the song at the top of our lungs.)

The only problems i had with the show were the opening bands: Thin Lizzy and Black Label Society (Zak Wylde's Band).

Thin Lizzy does NOT belong in a Metal Concert. Seriously, we had gotten seats on the second level, and my friend FELL ASLEEP, they were that boring.  PLUS they didn't play their best song, Cold Sweat, and that alone would have made up for the fact that they were in the wrong line-up.  

Black Label Society was just too f**king loud. All you could make out was the Kick drum when the sound literally hit you in the chest, and the snare. everything else was just one big muddled mess. two songs from the end of their set, Zak Wylde goes into a 6 minute ear rape solo, during which me and my friend both looked at each other twice to figure out if this was REALLY the same song or not.

Overall summary,  Thin Lizzy does not fit with metal. Black Label Society is too loud. Judas Priest... Is just right. Amazing show, Great Sound, and Rob Halford still has one of the BEST Voices in metal.

If you can see Judas Priest. DO IT. You will not be disappointed. it was well worth the $55 dollar Ticket I bought, and I feel that is a bargain for what i got. 

OTHER SEMI relevant info: I will be going to see Iron maiden and Alice Cooper in July. and if their is one thing i know about both of those bands, they are both EXCELLENT performers. And Alice cooper was just on That Metal Show, and talked about his tour with Iron Maiden. He said that despite what people might think, their shows really compliment each other. So i am hoping that Iron Maiden will be as good as Judas Priest. As for Alice Cooper, I can't expect their set to be anywhere NEAR as bad as Thin Lizzy and Black Label Society. So i am eager to see what they have, as i have not heard his new album.

My favorite live concert that I have seen is David Gray at the Hardrock in Orlando, Florida.

Oh man, this is a pretty tough one. I'm gonna list a couple because I've probably hit a little over 100 shows in the past 7 years.

Soundset 2008 (Metrodome Parking Lot, Minneapolis MN) was pretty huge for me. It was my first music festival and was right when I'd really gotten hardcore into hip hop music. It was also my first time getting to see a lot of my favorite music artists live. Atmosphere, P.O.S., Aesop Rock, Eyedea and Abilities, Brother Ali, Mac Lethal, it was just amazing. It was hot as hell outside when the show started, over the first couple hours the weather had turned pretty stormy. The show was coming to a close and Atmosphere was up on stage performing. In the middle of their set they played Sunshine, and as if they had some sort of weather control machine, it just got sunny as hell out again. Anyways, super awesome show.

P.O.S., Dessa, and Astronautalis (Pizza Luce's, Duluth MN) I wanna say this show was back in 2009. I don't really remember but it was right after P.O.S. dropped Never Better and that shit was just fucking crazy. I hadn't really heard of Astronautalis before that show, but god damn, he came right outta left field and just killed the set. I wish I could describe to you how amazing that performance was. Just a fucking phenominal night.

Taste of Minnesota (Harriet Island, St. Paul MN) two years ago was really amazing for me. The concert itself was a solid set up, (Minus The Bear, P.O.S., Atmosphere) but what really made it for me was while P.O.S. was up on stage, I'd run into Eyedea just out in the crowd walking around. I had met him before, very briefly, earlier that summer, but didn't really get to talk to him. So I wandered over to talk to him a bit, he was a little out there, but such a cool, laid back person. I remember being so stoked about it and getting to tell my friends I got to talk to Eyedea. I didn't know it at the time, but that was the last time I'd get to see him. He passed away four months later. I'm really glad I get to have a personal memory of one of my heroes. That's not something a lot of people get to have.

Now, since I hit my top three I'm going to tell you about the worst show I'd been to, which was literally the day after Taste of Minnesota. 

The Hold Steady (First Avenue and 7th Street Entry Main Room, Minneapolis, MN) I've been into The Hold Steady since about 2005, and hadn't realized until about 2008 that they were actually a Minnesota band (which is actually a pretty cool story in itself, but Im gonna skip it) So I'd been wanting to see them for years now and finally this show was coming up. My (former) girlfriend, Becca, wasn't really a big fan, but she knew how much I wanted her to get to experience their music live with me. (I'm a concert junkie). So anyways, the show's coming up, we head to First Ave and get our wristbands. Stop in for a few minutes and we ultimately decide we don't really care about the opening acts. So we wander across the street to O'Donovans, an Irish pub. I'd been here a couple times before and as a raging alcoholic, had become quite fond of it's accessibility during concerts, as beer at music venues tends to be ridiculously overpriced. So we head over there to have a few drinks. So this was shortly after Becca's 21st and she wasn't the seasoned veteran I am when it comes to drinking. But she was determined to keep up with me. I drop something like $60 on beer and shots over the course of an hour and a half. I've got a healthy buzz, she's completely out-of-her-mind-shitfaced. I don't think much of it... yet. So we head back to the venue just in time as the final opener is just getting off stage. She starts pounding waters like the oceans are about to dry up, and just as The Hold Steady takes the stage, she excuses herself to the bathroom. I stay down on the main floor and FINALLY for the first time get to see this glorious band play. After the first song, I think to myself, she's been up there a while. So I head for the stairs. I've got a plastic cup of water in my left hand (hers) and I reach the bottom of the stairs just as this very overweight couple is walking down side by side. I know danger when I see it, so I decide I'll wait for them to clear through before trying to head up. So I'm standing at the bottom of the stairs with my left arm (cup still in hand) resting on the hand rail. Suddenly there's a push on my arm from behind, I turn to see a belligerently drunk girl trying to force her way through. I turn and tell her, "Just a moment, waiting for the stairs to clear) and turn back. Then there's another hard shove on my arm and it's thrown up as she pushes her way through. Simultaneously, this cup of water in my left hand is poured all over the two of us. She then turns around, enraged, and smashes me in the eye with a half-full beer bottle. Two other guys in the crowd see this and apparently think that I'm attacking her, so then I get jumped by these two random drunks and am forced to fight my way out of it. I toss one of these chumps to the ground and grab the other by the shirt and explain the situation to him. I explained it very loudly, I don't think I could retain any sort of calm at this point. He lets off and I just book it up the stairs to check on my girlfriend. I get up there right as the second song is ending, and I wait outside of the women's bathroom for about five minutes and finally ask a random girl to go in and look for her. She comes out and tells me that Becca's throwing up all over the place. So after a few minutes and what i assume was some intense clean up, we leave the venue. I have a cut just below my left eye, some bruises, and a raging headache. My girlfriend is retarded amounts of drunk, barely holding down the vomit, and after only getting to see one of my favorite bands play one and a half songs, I now have to drive her home to her parents so they can deal with her.

Oh yeah, also, it was the Fourth of July. I missed fireworks, too.

all of the concerts i have been to were awesome so here's a list of what I've seen:

Michael Franti and spearhead (twice) the first one opened with Blackalicious and the second with Santigold)

Les Claypool (three times)

Sound Tribe Sector 9 (opener was Beats Antique)

Beats Antique (they were the lead band this time)

I've only been to one show before, it was a band called Mushroomhead (http://youtu.be/U45NfWSX-Vk). Their hometown is Cleveland, Ohio. I live about 4-5 hours away from Cleveland so I went with a few friends. It was definitely an awesome way to start off my first concert experience and I'll never forget it

One of my friends actually passed out during the show LOL I dunno if it was because it was so awesome or what but we had to carry him to the bathroom and snap him out of it.

In all honesty almost all of the live shows i've been to have been beyond great. Ozzfest's 04-08, Cradle of Filth shows, my first Dimmu Borgir show, Behemoth and Justice last month.

Really it's easier to just say that I'll never pay to see Dimmu live again. I saw them 4 times so far altogether, the first time at Ozzfest they were great. The first time they headlined their own small U.S. tour was meh-alright, but the 2 times after that they were complete shit.

I don't think I need to elaborate.

the best iv e been to would probably have to be janes addiction a few years back it was a great show it was also the first time i tried pot good times