Top 10 Shows I've Seen So Far...

For lack of anything better to do, and because Carl challenged me to do it, here's a rough list of the Top-10-Shows-I've-Seen-So-Far-In-My-Life. It's not in exact order, just an approximation, and I'm sure I'm forgetting a couple of good ones, but all of these shows were top notch and worth mentioning. Here we go...

1. Broken Social Scene at Middle East Downstairs during the You Forgot It In People Tour. That album is awesome. This show was awesome. I went alone and was in the absolute front row and the crowd wasn't nearly going crazy enough, so I started jumping up and down singing along, and Emily Haines herself hands me the mic for the chorus of "Anthems for a Seventeen Year Old Girl." Amazing. Drop that phone, sleep on the floor, dream about me...

2. Arcade Fire at the sold-out TT The Bears show during the Funeral tour. Their first show in Boston. I scalped my way in. I've never been to a more packed show (TT's has a 120 capacity - tiny!). They opened with "Wake Up" and the whole room erupted. I was 5 feet from the stage. Amazing.

3. Panda Bear at Bowery Ballroom, sold out. Even though I was slightly drunk and scalped my way in, I'll stand by the fact that this show was a revelation. I feel lucky too, because he rarely tours...

4. Pavement at Axis. Alex dragged me to this show. I was in High School and had never heard of them at the time (I was pretty slow on the indie-rock uptake back then). What I remember most was that there were more hot girls at this show than at any other thing I'd been to at that point in my life (and I know that's a shitty reason to like a show). Plus, the music was good in that "we're-the-kings-of-indie-rock" kinda way. And, it's just cool to go to a bar/club when you're 16!

5. Dinosaur Jr in Central Park. Phew! They were loud and amazing. Mascis plays through stereo vintage marshall full stacks. Absolutely sick.

6. The Strokes at Lupos in Providence. This was a roadtrip from New York to see the super-hyped Strokes during the Is This It? tour. We blasted the album in the car twice on the way there and twice on the way back, while seeing the real thing in the middle, with everybody dancing and singing along. Classic. I still have the limited edition silkscreen poster from this show.

7. My Morning Jacket in Scranton, PA. This was another roadtrip/show. We stayed at the same hotel as the band and played billiards with them in the lobby after the show. Then we filled our hotel bathtub with ice and booze and partied like rock stars. Steve-o might remember swimming with our beers during an illegal three-am dip in the hotel pool, and running away giggling when we threw all of the plastic furniture into the deep end... Ha!

8. Incapacitants at the No Fun Fest. This whole festival was great, but they were clearly the kings of the show. Japanese noise at it's best.

9. Wolf Parade at North Six - sold out. During the "Apologies" tour. Spencer had a cold, but they still sounded great. Wooo!

10. The Cribs at Mercury Lounge. I love jumping up and down and screaming along at Cribs shows. It's my one weakness. Well, one of them...

Honorable mentions:

11. Grizzly Bear at Bowery Ballroom. Love the Bear. Everyone needs to see this band at least once. So lush!

12. Sunset Rubdown w/Johnny and the Moon at the Bowery. Probably the best Sunset show. Hard to beat...

13. Apollo Sunshine at TT The Bears, before their gear got stolen, when they were just a buzzy Boston band with Katonah under their belt, wearing strobe lights, and Sam ripping through a Vox AC30. That show was sick. So was the afterparty at 24-7.

14. Enon at Middle East Downstairs during the Hocus Pocus tour. They killed it and I was the only one who bought a t-shirt. It's still one of my favs.

15. Beachwood Sparks at NYU. They became one of my favorite bands, but not till years after this show.