Intellectual House o' Pancakes Comments Page and Grill

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MacGregor - 2008-04-08 11:16:33
Wow, I'll have to think about this. I've seen Johnny Winter about 2 dozen times, and various incarnations of Jorma/Hot Tuna about as many. Same for different Mick Collins bands... Gories, Blacktop, Dirtbombs, etc. I used to go see Sea Monster a lot. The Band and various solo members combined about 2 dozen times. Between the mid-70s and late 80s I saw Frank Zappa roughly 50 times.
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Bina - 2008-04-08 11:28:18
Because I lived in the US for only some years and was quite busy studying for most of that time, I didn't get to see as many concerts as I'd have liked to. One of the most memorable ones was a Crowded House concert for their Private Universe tour - absolutely amazing experience. Unfortunately I can't say I've seen any band more than once, though. My most hipster experience had to have been a Sonic Youth concert back in 1993, but I had the same reaction as Juno ("they're just noise")!
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amatt - 2008-04-08 12:14:00
I refuse to answer that question.
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Philip - 2008-04-08 13:14:30
The Pretenders are my most seen band, by far. The Kinks/Solo Ray (and Dave) definitely second. After that comes the CBs bands: Patti Smith, Television, Ramones, Talking Heads.
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Paula - 2008-04-08 13:20:19
The Pretenders are my most seen band, by far.

Wow--I knew you were a fan, but I didn't realize to what extent. I only saw them once, back in the day, and it was weirdly unsettling, b/c suddenly they weren't "mine" anymore. As a 16-year-old, that really hurt.
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Philip - 2008-04-08 13:36:21
Wow. It literally hurt? Did that put you off seeing them later? And did that happen with other bands too?Where singers that had previously spoken only to you in the privacy of your bedroom were now onstage, public property, as it were? And then there's the other, totally opposite feeling, right? Where you feel a communal energy, where being part of the crowd for a certain performer adds to the high you get from seeing them.
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Paula - 2008-04-08 14:07:13
I guess "hurt" isn't accurate b/c it was more of a numb, dissociative non-feeling.

And yes, it did prevent me from seeing them again, and then the band got mediocre, and that was that.

However, the communal feeling thing is definitely present with RH (b/c after 20+ years, he really does still belong to "us") and bands like the Loud Family, where I know 25% of the audience personally.

And that communal thing is there anytime I see my friends play.
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Steve - 2008-04-08 14:08:03
My top four most seen lives are The Loud Family, R.E.M., Robyn Hitchcock, and Anton Barbeau. I've seen RH at least 20 times in twenty years, and am seeing the Robyn/Nick bill a couple nights after you are.
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grigorss - 2008-04-08 14:08:20
Hmm... haven't seen that many live shows myself, either, but two acts that I've seen at least three times (maybe more) are Jonathan Richman and Ween -- a third that I'd like to add to that list is Tom Waits -- who I've only seen once; unfortunately he tours very irregularly, at this point in his career.
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RT - 2008-04-08 14:51:59
In chron. order, Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, Tom Petty, Plimsouls, Marshall Crenshaw, R.E.M., the aforementioned Freedy, Emmylou Harris, Ryan Adams. I'm forgetting a few big ones, I know it.
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EG - 2008-04-08 16:49:29
Before you start buying Cokie Roberts items - http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/04/07/roberts/index.html http://thinkprogress.org/2008/04/07/uninformed-cokie-roberts-leaps-to-cheney%e2%80%99s-defense/
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Paula - 2008-04-08 17:06:05
Aaggh. That is really disappointing.
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Sharps - 2008-04-09 14:34:31
Oh, that's easy: Cheap Trick by a long shot. I saw them first in '77 (opening for Rush at the Palladium), and I've seen them just about every year since then, often numerous times a year. It must be over 50 by now. And like you and RH, I've seen them in almost every conceivable setting: small bars, arenas, sheds, mid-level concert halls, college gyms, county fairs.
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Paula - 2008-04-09 15:31:08
I would love to see RH--or anyone!--at a county fair. And maybe a shed, depending on what kind of concession stand it had.
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MacGregor - 2008-04-09 20:24:20
I saw Cheap Trick in about 1977 or so, at the Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie. They rocked! Can't remember the bill but I keep thinking UFO and ACDC.
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MacGregor - 2008-04-09 20:34:36
There have definitely been bands over the years that I've felt were "mine," because they meant something to me personally and then seeing them live disconnected me from that... perhaps because it was a different experience. And despite that I really love experiencing live music I do suffer a bit from agoraphobia so it distances me from a communal feeling sometimes. But there are bands I definitely prefer live, and then others when I'm home alone.
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misterM - 2008-04-10 08:42:22
Another dedicated Cheap Trick watcher here. My first show was at the Capital Centre outside DC in the summer of '78, as the "Heaven Tonight" album was breaking and "Surrender" was piercing the public consciousness. My last was, I think, in a casino in Atlantic City. In between, I've seen them 8.4 gazillion times, about ten of them standing in front of Rick Nielsen at a metal club in Springfield VA. I think for every attendee, 7 T-shirts were sold. . .
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Sharps - 2008-04-10 10:44:25
MacGregor- UFO was on the bill with them the first time I saw them, in '77 with Rush, so that's probably right. I think they played with AC/DC a lot, too, for the obvious reasons.
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MacGregor - 2008-04-10 12:36:01
Sharps--incredible show. And re UFO--solid arena rock and Phil Moog had an astounding voice. I've still got the double live album (everybody had a double live album didn't they?).
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Bob - 2008-04-10 14:09:57
Bad Brains 4 times, Pagan Faith 3 times, (including once at New College and once on the causeway between Jensen and Jensen Beach, after they got shut down after a few songs at a VFW hall here, and I suggested there might be a live outlet on the causeway), and Vision/Decay twice (including once at New College and once at Ms. Lucky's, which is where Hilary's Irish classmate Chris later wound up killing someone with a knife, but got off on self-defense, only to later be "Charlie Browned" by a truck while strolling the side of I-75 [though he survived, sans shoes]).
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