Wednesday, June 30, 2010

RECIDIVISM

Cosmo Lee at Invisible Oranges is asking his readers which band or bands they've seen the most often. For me, the leaders are Iron Maiden, Einstürzende Neubauten and Cecil Taylor in a three-way tie. I've seen each four times, with my fifth Maiden concert coming up on 7/12.

Right behind them are the groups or artists I've seen three times each: Amon Amarth, Arch Enemy, Borbetomagus, Clutch, Fishbone, the Flying Luttenbachers, High On Fire, Isis, Machine Head, Motörhead, the Rollins Band, Slayer, Slipknot and Social Distortion.

Then there are those I've (only) seen twice: AC/DC, Black Sabbath (once with Ozzy, once with Dio), Butthole Surfers, Ornette Coleman, Dio (as a solo act), Exodus, Ice-T, Jane's Addiction, Judas Priest, Megadeth, Metallica, Nine Inch Nails, Orthrelm, Pantera, Iggy Pop (once solo, once with the Stooges), Radiohead, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Sword, and Rob Zombie.

I'm probably forgetting some, too—bands I saw open for several different headliners, or other unmemorable circumstances. If you're reading this, are you a recidivist? Do you see the same bands over and over? Are you always happy you went?

2 comments:

luKe said...

i try to see live bands that i really like each time they do a european tour - must've seen the oblivians, the new bomb turks & jay reatard over 5 times each - some bands that do not often tour i also try to see each time they come to europe: mahmoud ahmed, orchestra baobab, brötzmann/parker/drake etc - most of the time though, i like to discover new bands

Phil Freeman said...

I don't go out of my way to see bands more than once or twice, but Maiden have done radically different sets each time I've seen them, so it's been worth it. Same with Cecil Taylor - I saw him play with two different trios, a big band, and a set that was 1/2 solo, 1/2 trio. I forgot to put the David S. Ware quartet on my three-timers list, too.