Concerts for 2022

[chknptpie]

Added a new show:
2/20/2022 - Coheed and Cambria in Tucson
3/19/2022 - Punk in Drublic (NOFX, Me First & The Gimme Gimmes, The Bouncing Souls, Lagwagon, Authority Zero, The Last Gang, The Venomous Pinks)
4/2/2022 - MxPx, Zebrahead, Bad Cop/Bad Cop
4/24/2022 - Ufest (Rise Against and Coheed and Cambria with Pennywise, Highly Suspect, Atreyu, DED, Plush, and Dropout Kings)
6/21/2022 - A Wilhelm Scream, Brendan Kelly, MakeWar, Skull Drug

I have never seen AWS, so I'm excited for this! Saw MakeWar with BCBC last year and thought they were alright and Skull Drug always jumps in the pit for the other bands. Should be a good time.

[cramx3]

There's a massive $25 livenation ticket sale starting in a few minutes... let's see what I can grab.

https://www.livenation.com/promotion/concertweek

[Anguyen92]

There's a massive $25 livenation ticket sale starting in a few minutes... let's see what I can grab.

https://www.livenation.com/promotion/concertweek

All right, I came out of that one pretty well.  Got a mezzanine ticket for Nightwish and a bleacher seat for Brad Paisley with a center view.  I'm happy.  I saw that Breaking Benjamin/Alice in Chains/Bush is on the list as well, but there were no tickets available that had the center view in the bleachers, which is what I really want.  I'll play the waiting game on that one more.

Nightwish - Wiltern Theater - Los Angeles, CA.  May 20th, 2022
Brad Paisley - FivePoint Amphitheater - Irvine, CA.  August 19th, 2022.

[Stadler]

Kiss, even now, for $25 is a bargain by any standard.

[countoftuscany42]

grabbed a ticket for Symphony X/Haken in LA with the Concert Week deal, glad I held out on that one.  Still might grab a Nightwish ticket, but would much rather be on the floor at the Wiltern than the balcony

[cramx3]

There's a massive $25 livenation ticket sale starting in a few minutes... let's see what I can grab.

https://www.livenation.com/promotion/concertweek

I got tickets for the following using this:

May 10th - Haken & Symphony X @ Irving Plaza, New York City NY
May 21st - Disturbed, The Pretty Reckless, Royal Blood, Living Colour @ Waterfront Pavilion, Camden NJ
July 3rd - Flogging Molly, The Interrupters, Tiger Army & The Skints @ Stone Pony Summer Stage, Asbury Park NJ
July 9th - Dirty Heads & Soja @ Coney Island Amphitheater, Coney Island NY
September 14th - Five Finger Death Punch, Megadeth & The Hu @ PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel NJ

I feel like I made out like a bandit, $125 flat and I can see all these bands.  That Disturbed concert wasn't even on my list to attend but that deal was just too good.  It's a radio festival so it's like 10 hours of live music in one day where the first half of the festival has no assigned seating so I can be right up front in the pit and then chill on the lawn for the rest of the show (which is a decent lawn too with view points so as long as it's not a rainy day, should be perfect).

And a concert review from last weekend....

Went to the Bay Area Strikes Back tour which features 3 of the classic thrash bands from the 80s from the San Fran area.  Concert was sold out and actually a twitter follower who I've never met before gave me a free ticket so I met up with him and it was a lot of fun.  Let me start by saying I wonder if they upped the capacity of the venue.  I've seen a few sold out shows there since they re-opened last summer, NONE were close to as packed as it was on Saturday.  Barely can move type of packed.  Which honestly kind of sucks, it's no fun when you can't get around easily, but the crowd was really wild and added significantly to the atmosphere.

First up was Death Angel.  I was not familiar with them at all other than checking out a couple songs before the show and thinking it was pretty solid thrash.  I thought overall they were really good.  Lots of shredding and head banging music.  As an opener they went on at 6:45pm and ended at 7:40 so almost had a full hour which was kind of surprising.  No complaints though, their set was good.

Second was Exodus.  I thought they sucked when I sampled them, but I think they were actually the best band of the night.  They sounded pretty good and the crowd was really into them.  At one point a fan got on stage and was jumping up and down behind the singer who didn't notice and then a roadie came out and dragged the guy out.  I thought that was awesome and the you could see the band smiling and enjoying that moment.  The singer mentioned that this show was the best of the tour and one they were looking forward to since getting the schedule.  I never know if bands mean it when they say stuff like that, but it seemed legit considering how intense the show was.

Last was Testament.  Alex Skolnick was awesome.  Guy definitely is one of those top notch metal guitarists for a reason that I never knew until seeing them.  I really liked Chuck Billy's on stage presence, jsut constantly into it and getting the crowd pumped.  Dave Lombardo is on drums for them now which is pretty cool, but I think he struggled a bit.  I think the reason why I didn't like them more than Exodus was simply that they weren't as tight in the live performance.  I wouldn't say they were bad at all, just not perfect (which is fine, but Exodus seemed spot on). 

Honestly, I'm not even the biggest thrash fan.  I didn't know like 95% of the music played that night, but I left thinking that was one really good concert and super happy I went.

Testament Exodus Death Angel LIVE @ Sold Out Starland Ballroom 4/30/2022

I took off work on Friday and Monday for the 4 concerts in 5 days that I am so fucking pumped for!

May 6th - Scorpions & Chirkutt @ Madison Square Garden, New York City NY
May 7th - Sum 41, Simple Plan & Set it Off @ Stone Pony Summer Stage, Asbury Park NJ
May 8th - Nightwish & Beast in Black @ Terminal 5, New York City NY
May 10th - Haken & Symphony X @ Irving Plaza, New York City NY

[Anguyen92]

grabbed a ticket for Symphony X/Haken in LA with the Concert Week deal, glad I held out on that one.  Still might grab a Nightwish ticket, but would much rather be on the floor at the Wiltern than the balcony

I agree.  You can't see the GA crowd in the balcony section of the Wiltern, but for the last few chances of getting to see Nightwish around these parts, their GA tickets are way too pricey, and honestly, I might as well take the cheap chance that comes to go see Nightwish.

[ProfessorPeart]

Saw John 5 tonight. The dude is just otherworldly. There's no other word for it. My buddy said it's like the guitar is just part of his body. This was our second time seeing him and we just left stunned both times. The man is just something else. Excellent show. Terribly poorly attended show, but they did not play like it.

I got nothing else on my schedule. There are tons I would love to see but I have to play tight with money for some time and concerts were one thing I slashed for now until I know how things will shake out for the family.

[Ben_Jamin]

Saw John 5 tonight. The dude is just otherworldly. There's no other word for it. My buddy said it's like the guitar is just part of his body. This was our second time seeing him and we just left stunned both times. The man is just something else. Excellent show. Terribly poorly attended show, but they did not play like it.

I got nothing else on my schedule. There are tons I would love to see but I have to play tight with money for some time and concerts were one thing I slashed for now until I know how things will shake out for the family.

I started my 2nd job, and couldn't get off in time to see him. Little did I know that John 5 apparently caught covid before our show and he ended up postponing the show. A bit of unfortunate luck on my end, since I may likely get to catch him on the new date.

[Tomislav95]

Finally bought tickets for DT for May 27th in Zagreb. It will be my first concert since February 2020 (also DT, in Budapest). Can't wait, also taking my 2 brothers. My younger brother is 11 yo, it will be his first ever, just have to pick some earplugs for him (and for myself as well, I'm getting old )

[Spiritus]

Nightwish last night in Toronto.  Seen them once before with Anette. Miss Marco. But man Floor is just incredible. Obviously the voice. But her stage presence and fun she is having. I had a blast. I am the least fan of the group of 4 I went with so they had to be over the moon. So good that I just spent last 45min watching youtube vids already posted of the show last night.

 Great start to 2 year covid concert drought.  Riverside couple weeks ago and Nightwish last night. Pain of Salvation soon. Whats with all these Euro trash bands lol.

[Anguyen92]

Seeing some tickets for Pearl Jam at the Inglewood Forum on Friday and Saturday (which is now the Kia Forum, which is a much better sponsor name than Youtube Theater or Crypto.com Arena) that almost closing in on my affordable range.  Can't make the Friday show as I got to watch Kings/Oilers Game 3 (first Kings playoff home game in four years) so I got to stay home for that.  Saturday, though.  I could end up watching Pearl Jam.

[Lonk]

Saw The Pineapple Thief yesterday. Great show, good setlist. My only complaint would be the new guitarist they have. He clashes with the vibe and stage presence of the band. It feels like he is trying really hard and it's just not working out. He tried improvising here and there on some solos and they felt out of place within the music.

But we got to experience Gavin's magic trick 

[cramx3]

Sadly someone in Sum 41 got covid and they just postponed this weekend's show:

May 7th - Sum 41, Simple Plan & Set it Off @ Stone Pony Summer Stage, Asbury Park NJ

but the cool news... Set It Off announced a replacement show at Asbury Lanes that night doing a headline set (I saw them last month do the headline set which I enjoyed).  My gf was coming to the concert with me because she wanted to see them too so now we are both actually really excited to go to this show instead AND still have our tickets for the rescheduled date in August.  It was also supposed to rain tomorrow so now we got an indoor show instead.  This worked out sooooo much better for us actually.

May 7th - Set it Off, Cherie Amour, and The Talk It Off Podcast (Set it Off will do a live podcast as the opening band slot) @ Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park NJ
August 26th - Sum 41, Simple Plan & Set it Off @ Stone Pony Summer Stage, Asbury Park NJ

And I'll be heading into NYC tonight to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Bangladesh independance with the Golden Jubilee concert with Scorpions!  (this also looks like a sell out now)

[Anguyen92]

Ok, this is how stupid parking is for either SoFi Stadium. Kia Forum, or Youtube Theater in Inglewood.  There are tickets for the Pearl Jam shows that's now going for under $40.00, but buying a parking pass on Ticketmaster is $53.00.  I've been to the lot for Foo Fighters last year and it took over an hour of waiting in line to get out.  I'm not paying that price for the same experience again.  Screw that.  Seeing Pearl Jam on Saturday is TBD.

[Azyiu]

Ok, this is how stupid parking is for either SoFi Stadium. Kia Forum, or Youtube Theater in Inglewood.  There are tickets for the Pearl Jam shows that's now going for under $40.00, but buying a parking pass on Ticketmaster is $53.00.  I've been to the lot for Foo Fighters last year and it took over an hour of waiting in line to get out.  I'm not paying that price for the same experience again.  Screw that.  Seeing Pearl Jam on Saturday is TBD.

Yeah, certain things have changed for the worst it seems... I remember it costed just a few bucks to park back in the 90's and even early 2000's... would it cost less if you park elsewhere and call an Uber or a taxi to and from the show?

[Anguyen92]

I think there are some lots from the nearby Metro train station that people can park in for way cheaper and can feasibly take a bus or Uber/Lyft to the Forum that would cut the price by at least half.  My concern really is that Inglewood is not really a great place to be in at night for a lengthy period of time.  I usually feel a lot better seeing shows in Downtown LA (not just in LA Live, but shows in the Wiltern or Belasco Theater) than I would see a show in Inglewood.  The skyscrapers probably have something to do with that.

[lonestar]

Just noticed the concert week thing...very tempted to buy tix to Steely Dan.

[Stadler]

Watching some tix down low for Kiss this Saturday.  If I can find in the first 20 rows for under a certain amount (probably $75 to $100) I'll be going, perhaps for the last time.  It's always a fun time seeing them.

[Skeever]

I'm hoping to get to 6 shows this year. So far I've got DT and Mogwai. Tickets for Porcupine Tree and Joe Satriani in the fall already acquired. So hoping to catch at least 2 other shows over the summer.

[chknptpie]

2/20/2022 - Coheed and Cambria in Tucson
3/19/2022 - Punk in Drublic (NOFX, Me First & The Gimme Gimmes, The Bouncing Souls, Lagwagon, Authority Zero, The Last Gang, The Venomous Pinks)
4/2/2022 - MxPx, Zebrahead, Bad Cop/Bad Cop
4/24/2022 - Ufest (Rise Against and Coheed and Cambria with Pennywise, Highly Suspect, Atreyu, DED, Plush, and Dropout Kings)
6/21/2022 - A Wilhelm Scream, Brendan Kelly, MakeWar, Skull Drug
8/20/2022 - My Chemical Romance, Coheed and Cambria in Oklahoma City

I may have a problem with the amount of Coheed shows. This new one will make it 4 in a year.

[Lonk]

2/20/2022 - Coheed and Cambria in Tucson
3/19/2022 - Punk in Drublic (NOFX, Me First & The Gimme Gimmes, The Bouncing Souls, Lagwagon, Authority Zero, The Last Gang, The Venomous Pinks)
4/2/2022 - MxPx, Zebrahead, Bad Cop/Bad Cop
4/24/2022 - Ufest (Rise Against and Coheed and Cambria with Pennywise, Highly Suspect, Atreyu, DED, Plush, and Dropout Kings)
6/21/2022 - A Wilhelm Scream, Brendan Kelly, MakeWar, Skull Drug
8/20/2022 - My Chemical Romance, Coheed and Cambria in Oklahoma City

I may have a problem with the amount of Coheed shows. This new one will make it 4 in a year.

At least they are varying the setlist a bit. I did 4 in a year in 2018-2019. The one this July will be my 3rd in 10 months.

[chknptpie]

2/20/2022 - Coheed and Cambria in Tucson
3/19/2022 - Punk in Drublic (NOFX, Me First & The Gimme Gimmes, The Bouncing Souls, Lagwagon, Authority Zero, The Last Gang, The Venomous Pinks)
4/2/2022 - MxPx, Zebrahead, Bad Cop/Bad Cop
4/24/2022 - Ufest (Rise Against and Coheed and Cambria with Pennywise, Highly Suspect, Atreyu, DED, Plush, and Dropout Kings)
6/21/2022 - A Wilhelm Scream, Brendan Kelly, MakeWar, Skull Drug
8/20/2022 - My Chemical Romance, Coheed and Cambria in Oklahoma City

I may have a problem with the amount of Coheed shows. This new one will make it 4 in a year.

At least they are varying the setlist a bit. I did 4 in a year in 2018-2019. The one this July will be my 3rd in 10 months.

Yeah and by August the new album will be out! (currently anyways... pending anymore delays)

[cramx3]

I'll keep my reviews tight this time as I wrote more in the respective band's threads... but last weekend was PACKED with shows...

Friday night was Scorpions at Madison Square Garden.  They were awesome, the event however kind of sucked as it was celebrating Bangladesh 50 years of Independence.  Which I thought would be interesting, but it was just very boring and the band Chirkutt just wouldn't stop talking instead of playing music. 

Scorpions & Chirkutt LIVE @ The Golden Jubilee MSG NYC 5/6/2022

Saturday night my gf and I went down to the Jersey shore to see Set it Off.  We were supposed to see Set It Off open for Sum 41 and Simple plan but someone got covid and they postponed that show.  I guess since the band was in town anyway, they managed to secure the venue to do basically a pop up concert.  This worked well for us, the weather was terrible so an indoor show that was very poorly attended made for a much more fun night.  Felt like a very intimate concert.  Since I had just seen them, I didn't go for the concert footage but for a good time with my gf.  I think my video is really stupid and represents how we were just having fun that night.... and it was A LOT of fun.  At the end of their set I caught a drum stick too!

Set It Off LIVE @ Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park NJ 5/7/2022

And Sunday night was Nightwish and Beast in Black.  My favorite concert of 2022 so far and one of the best I think I've ever seen.  It was just an all around good time.  I held onto these VIP balcony tickets for 2 years and it was worth it.  My college roommate came with me and we just had so much fun together.  Got there early and chilled on line so we could secure a spot on the railing.  Got a great spot and even though the venue was sold out, the VIP balcony area was mostly empty with plenty of space and no lines for drinks or bathrooms.  Beast in Black were good.  I was dissapointed to see they piped in A LOT of the main vocals.  Like I get it for backing vocals and harmonies that can't be done live, but some of his screams were all heard but he didn't even attempt to sing them or the guitarist pretended to do them but it was clearly the main singers voice being heard.  Having said that, their show was energetic and fun.  The guitar playing was top notch and the drummer was very entertaining.  A lot of the songs had like choreographed movements from the guitarists so they were all in sync.  They were entertaining for sure.  Nightwish was absolutely amazing and I wrote more in their thread.  I managed to get a Nightwish set list AND Troy signed it for me outside the venue after the show.  Also the guy selling Beast in Black merch gave me this signed card after I tipped him 5 bucks as the last people in the venue before it closed.



Nightwish & Beast in Black LIVE @ Sold Out Terminal 5 New York City 2022

I'm pretty tired still, but about to head into NYC for Haken and Symphony X tonight!  Also just bought tickets this morning, 2 for $50 deal for Floor tickets for Limp Bizkit at MSG this friday night. 

[senecadawg2]

Saw The Pineapple Thief yesterday. Great show, good setlist. My only complaint would be the new guitarist they have. He clashes with the vibe and stage presence of the band. It feels like he is trying really hard and it's just not working out. He tried improvising here and there on some solos and they felt out of place within the music.

But we got to experience Gavin's magic trick 

I saw them last week too. I'm not the hugest Pineapple Thief fan, but I had a great time.

[cramx3]

Haken and Symphony X were pretty good on Tuesday night to kick off their tour.  People seem pretty upset about Symphony X's set and based on my understanding, I can see why.  I had never seen them before and thought they were actually really good.  I had sampled them years ago and didn't care too much about them.  I even stated Russell Allen was not my cup of tea.  But maybe that has changed.  I thought he was pretty good live.  He was pretty charismatic too.  I think he may have talked too much about covid but he had some other good stage banter moments.  Haken sounded great, too bad they only got an hour though.  If this was a a coheadline tour of both bands getting 90 minutes, this show would have greatly improved.  Instead we got a short opening set from a band called Trope that was horrible IMO. 

Symphony X & Haken LIVE @ Irving Plaza New York City NY 5/10/2022

Some new tours were announced recently to add to my list:

August 7th - A Day to Remember, The Ghost Inside, Beartooth & Bad Omens @ Stone Pony Summer Stage, Asbury Park NJ
October 19th - Smashing Pumpkins, Jane’s Addiction & Poppy @ Madison Square Garden, New York City NY

next up:

May 13th - Limp Bizkit @ Madison Square Garden, New York City NY - not selling too well so I scooped up 2 for $50 floor tickets for this

[Anguyen92]

Still fishing for Paul McCartney tickets at SoFi Stadium for tomorrow.  Every secondary site has it for at least $175.00 for the cheap seats.  Maybe I should set my expectations lower because thinking I could get a ticket for less than $100.00 seems a bit out of reach.  It's a football stadium show and most of the tickets on Ticketmaster are mainly relists at this point.  Surprised that many people have that kind of cash that they are willing to spend on top of food and parking (which is always terrible and expensive in Inglewood).  I get its Macca and that this may be the last time they could see him in SoCal, but still.

[Stadler]

Some of this is tribute/hyperbole, but I was just talking about shows today with the woman who cuts my hair and I named McCartney in... 2010 in Philly as the greatest show I've ever seen.  I stood there crying like a jackass when he did Yesterday (I used to sing it for my daughter) and to my surprise, I looked around to see if anyone had seen me, and the first three people I saw were all wiping tears from their eyes.  38 songs, over three and a half hours... he did "A Day In The Life", "Let It Be" and "Hey Jude" to end the main set... then SEVEN more songs.

[cramx3]

I'm not surprised at all that Paul McCartney is a hot ticket.

[El Barto]

Saw the Who last week for $23/ea, and that's after TT&L. It seems that a whole lot of people are sitting shows out. This one was about half full. For shows that have been postponed, twice in this case, even more-so. Our seats were up in the 300s, and we found an entire row to ourselves in the 100s. The ushers were honestly like "just sit wherever you want."

Roger sounded great. Peat had no voice at all due to allergies. Between their backing band and the orchestra it was mostly a matter of Pete and Roger doing only what's expected. Big WGFA scream. Pete with the windmill thing every once in a while. That's enough to keep most happy.

[Anguyen92]

All right, I actually ended up getting a ticket to see Paul McCartney.  It's pretty steep.  $120.00 at a nosebleed seat in the 500 sections of a football stadium, but here are we are.  My rational is that I paid an average of $135.00 a show to see Metallica twice, so this is basically a slight bargain to knock this one out of my wishlist of bands I want to see.  It's actually the cheapest price I've seen, so I'm taking the plunge.  Now for the worst part, finding parking in f***ing Inglewood.  I should be able to find something and take a Metro bus to the stadium and then take a Uber/Lyft back to the lot.  Should be cheaper than paying $77.00 on Ticketmaster for a spot.

Paul McCartney - SoFi Stadium - Inglewood, CA.  May 13th, 2022.

[cramx3]

Saw the Who last week for $23/ea, and that's after TT&L. It seems that a whole lot of people are sitting shows out.

Pre-pandemic, my friend got floor seats for the Who at MSG for $25 (I was thinking I had a great deal on my $50 seat).  I think in this case, it's more on the band than the pandemic although I'm sure that plays some role as well. 

Limp Bizkit last summer sold out Irving Plaza (1k) and Stone Pony Summer Stage (3k) (these venues are about 70 miles apart) but those shows got cancelled due to covid and now they are playing MSG (20k, maybe less for concert set up) and it'lll be empty.  I don't blame covid for that, I blame the promoters thinking they were going to fill an arena just because they would have filled some smaller local venues.  We got 2 floor tickets for $66 after fees. 

[Anguyen92]

Did the promoters think that now that Limp Bizkit finally got new material out that they can take a shot at MSG?  Man, you weren't kidding about MSG tickets being cheap.  There are nosebleed tickets that's going for $20.00.  They are playing at the Toyota Arena in Ontario, California in a few weeks on a Tuesday.  I thought about getting a ticket for the laughs, but driving to Ontario is pretty far and I may run into two big congestion spots during rush hour traffic on a Tuesday.

[Stadler]

All right, I actually ended up getting a ticket to see Paul McCartney.  It's pretty steep.  $120.00 at a nosebleed seat in the 500 sections of a football stadium, but here are we are.  My rational is that I paid an average of $135.00 a show to see Metallica twice, so this is basically a slight bargain to knock this one out of my wishlist of bands I want to see.  It's actually the cheapest price I've seen, so I'm taking the plunge.  Now for the worst part, finding parking in f***ing Inglewood.  I should be able to find something and take a Metro bus to the stadium and then take a Uber/Lyft back to the lot.  Should be cheaper than paying $77.00 on Ticketmaster for a spot.

Paul McCartney - SoFi Stadium - Inglewood, CA.  May 13th, 2022.

I generally consider McCartney to be the greatest concert I ever saw.  Springsteen on Broadway is second.

[Anguyen92]

^^ Yeah, I'm pretty thrilled about it.  I've check his recent setlists and it's a good mixture of the early Beatles, late Beatles, Wings, and a few solo songs that he released this century.

As for the parking dilemma, I bought a garage pass for $16.00 from a lot that's a little over a mile away, so I will park there, take a bus to the stadium and then take an Uber/Lyft back to the lot and hopefully, everything will go smoothly because around that time when the concert ends, it's going to be really congested.