Concerts In 2012 (part One)
Yeah so I made my goal of seeing 100 bands this year way early. So that?s
why this list is part 1, part two will come at the end of year year and include
highlights/awards too. |
| 1 | Samiam
Less than Jake headling. Man I barely remember these guys at all |
| 2 | Less than Jake
Headliner. Great show. It was their 20th aniversary tour so they played a lot of older
stuff which was awesome. The pit was a little small for a ska show but still a ton of
fun |
| 3 | Other Lives
Opened for Radiohead. Very folky music, but also pretty plain. They played a lot of
instruments so it was interesting to watch, but after waiting for 4+ hours I honestly
just wanted to see Radiohead. |
| 4 | Radiohead
Headliner. Finally saw Radiohead. My life is that much more complete. I was about 10
rows back (at most) and was on Jonny's side so I got to see all the cool shit he does
during the show. I flew from Boston to Houston for a weekend just to see this show
and it was 100% worth it. |
| 5 | Arctic Monkeys
Opened for The Black Keys. Three days after Radiohead I went to this show- got to
the venue 10 minutes after doors and ended up in about the same spot I was for
Radiohead. Arctic Monkeys were great, they had a great stage presence and a decent
amount of the fans in the venue saw the show as pretty close to a co-headliner. |
| 6 | The Black Keys
Headliner. The Keys live are always a great choice. Despite shitty mixing in a huge
venue and a few rude fans, the show was still lots of fun with everyone rocking out
the whole time. |
| 7 | Grouplove
Opened for Young the Giant. I went for Grouplove and they did not dissappoint. The
venue, however, was shit. I seriously fucking hate how House of Blues Boston
oversells the mezzaine level to shit. I got there maybe 5 or 10 minutes after doors
and could half way see Grouplove over someones shoulder depending on if he was
dry humping his girlfriend or not. |
| 8 | Young the Giant
Headliner. Somehow I completely lost my view. I almost left after a few songs but
someone was nice enough to give me a spot where I could kinda see something.
Glad I stayed, but only because after the show I meet everyone in Grouplove and
talked to the bassist and guitarist a little and got my ticket signed. Young the Giant is
NOT at headlining ability yet. They have maybe 45 minutes of quality material, but
played for closter to 90 mintues. Lots and lots of filler. |
| 9 | Frank Turner
Opened for Dropkick. I'm glad I got to see Frank Turner, he was really good. This was
for the St. Paddys show so everyone was shit faced |
| 10 | Dropkick Murphies
Headliner. St. Pattys show is always great. I went with two of my great friends and
moshed around a little and made my roommate crowd surf when they called all the
females to the stage for Kiss Me Im Shitfaced. She didn't make it but it was a great
show. Sadly, I was getting sick that night so the illness combinded with the alchol,
combinded with the dehydration of running around lead to the worst
hangover/headache of my life. Almost had to go MIA for the real St. Pattys day but
pulled off a miracle recovery somehow. |
| 11 | Purling Hiss
Opened for Dr. Dog. They were alright. A few straight forward rockers, but a couple
really catchy poppy songs in the vein of Cloud Nothings |
| 12 | Dr. Dog
Headliner. Kinda went to this on a whim, but I'm glad I did. I'm really only familiar with
a few of their songs but they really put on a fun show. The Shadow People/Hang On
combo in the middle of the set was killer |
| 13 | Kishi Bashi
Opened for Of Montreal. My introduction to Kishi Bashi. He was fun and talented
enough for me to check out his album. I'm really glad I did cause its one of my
favorites of the year now and I saw him twice on his headliner tour. |
| 14 | Lonely Dear
Opened for Of Montreal. As fun as Kishi Bashi was, Lonely Dear was doubly as boring
and sucked all the energy out of the crowd. I think they are label mates, but still? |
| 15 | Of Montreal
Headliner. I realize at this point I'm just trying to match the insantity of the first time I
saw Of Montreal back at the first FPSF. I guess the high is never as good as that first
time, but this show was still awesome with crazy light shows and crowd surfing
galore. The set list of that first concert was just incredible though. |
| 16 | Bear Hands
Opened for Pains of Being Pure at Heart. Springfest Small Concert. My school put on a
small concert in their 200 capacity venue/ oversized starbucks (there is literally a
starbucks and a stage in this room.) Bear Hands is one of my old favorites, so even
though my good friend couldn't go I deciced to make the trip across the parking lot
anyway. Met up with some friends who were in the club that put on the show and
they didn't know either band playing. Anyway the show was fun, if not a little dull
because of the crowd. I got to meet most of the band afterwards which is always
cool. |
| 17 | The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
Headliner. Springfest Small Concert. I had never heard of them before, but really
loved their live show so I ended up buying both their albums at the merch table. I only
had $20 so the lead singer offered me a 2 for 20 (instead of 15 each) deal on the
vinyl and of course I took the deal. |
| 18 | Jack's Mannequin
Springfest Concert 12. Same week as the last show, my school puts on a yearly
concert in the hockey arena. Its always a pain in the ass to get tickets, but me and
my roommate got tickets and maybe pregammed a little too hard. Jacks Mannequin
isn't my type of music, but I can't deny theyre fun to watch and I see the appeal. |
| 19 | Passion Pit
Springfest Concert 12. One of the first shows they had in 2012. Just before they
started releasing new material online so I think we got first listens to Take a Walk and
maybe Carried Away. I was worried about how good theyd be live, but I guess the
singer practiced a ton cause he was on top of it. side note: the pitchfork piece of the
singer is really good. |
| 20 | Nelly
Springfest Concert 12. This was pretty funny. I really only liked Air Force Ones but it
turns out Nelly has a lot of hits. Had a good time but by the end I was tired and ready
to go home. |
| 21 | Low
Opened for Death Cab. A few of their songs really really great and progressed very
well, but a few of them just went nowhere. |
| 22 | Death Cab for Cutie
Headliner. With Magik Magik Orchestra. The added benefit of the orchestra ensemble
was perfect. The only complaint I have is they didn't have a very good set list. For
example, they didn't play Marching Bands of Manhattan, which could've been really
good with the strings added. the Encore was perfect though. Pretty much all the
classics, including the Tiny Vessels to Transatlanticism transition. |
| 23 | Blouse
Opened for Bear in Heaven. Went to this show completely on a whim. I liked a few
Bear in Heaven songs and it was cheap and I had nothing to do so I went. Blouse was
pretty good, I enjoyed it more than the average opening band- especially at a small
venue. |
| 24 | Bear in Heaven
Headliner. They were great. Much more shoegaze/post-rocky than I thought. The
songs I liked were nothing like most of their material, but they were also the ones I
liked more. They had a really crazy light show complete with color changing strobe
lights and angel wing floruencent light decorations. |
| 25 | Real Estate
Opened for The Shins. I didn't realize they were opening when I bought tickets so was
pretty pumped when I saw they were. The venue was way bigger than they were, but
it was also very fitting to their sound and they put on a really solid show. |
| 26 | The Shins
* Headliner. The Shins have put on a fantastic show everytime I've seen them.
Something about them just makes sense. After the show I met the touring guitarist
(Jessica Dobson) got she signed my ticket. Only compaint was it was such a nice
theater that everyone sat until the encore. |
| 27 | I Break Horses
Opened for M83. I think they had some sound problems but overall were pretty
good. |
| 28 | M83
Headliner. I saw them last year and even though they played longer and I was much
closer to the stage, I still think the first time I saw them was better- even if not by
much. They had almost identical setlists, but the band's attitude had clearly changed
from being amazed they sold out a 2000 capacity venue to such sellouts being the
norm. Gotta say it was still one of the best shows of the year. |
| 29 | Silent Diane
Opened for Neon Indian. Kinda a weird band but a little entertaining |
| 30 | Lemonade
Opened for Neon Indian. Very percussion based live. It got tiresome by the end of the
set but was still fun to watch for most of the show. |
| 31 | Neon Indian
* Headliner. Neon Indian amped it up a lot from the last time I saw them. They band
was way more in control of the performance and chose the setlist much better. The
badass light show was just about the only thing that stayed the same. |
| 32 | Starfucker
Free Press Summerfest Day 1. My fourth year going to the growing Houston festival.
This was the first year it almost felt like a legit big scale fest. Missed Clap Your Hands
Say Yeah because the line was unorganized by luckily I was able to get a good spot
for Starfucker. Honestly a weaker set from them but probably cause it was early. |
| 33 | Best Coast
Free Press Summerfest Day 1. Best Coast was pretty good, but it seemed like they
were affected by the Texas heat which is clearly more brutal than the Cali sun. |
| 34 | Diplo
Free Press Summerfest Day 1. We stopped by Diplo's DJ set for a little before lunch.
He played a lot good EDM tracks and was much better solo than doing his Major
Lazer persona. |
| 35 | Phantogram
Free Press Summerfest Day 1. Man these guys had the bass cranked! Took a lunch
break while watching these guys but they were good |
| 36 | Z-Ro
Free Press Summerfest Day 1. Houston classic. I Hate U Bitch was sick |
| 37 | Two Door Cinema Club
Free Press Summerfest Day 1. Wasn't sure how much I'd like them live, but I was
pleasently surprised as they put on a really fun and energetic show. |
| 38 | Major Lazer
Free Press Summerfest Day 1. Missed the first half of the set, which was apparently a
little more fun, but I was a little unimpressed with the Switch-less Major Lazer. They
had some good moments but overall didn't live up to expectations. Bun B made an
appearance though which was fun. |
| 39 | Snoop Dogg
Free Press Summerfest Day 1. Biggest surpise of the weekend- Snoop started 10
minutes early!! Someone probably told him to go on stage now figuring it would take
him 20 mintues and he went. I wasn't sure how the aging rapper would be, but
Snoop still has it. No surprise guests or gimmicks, just a solid performance. |
| 40 | The Flaming Lips
* Free Press Summerfest Day 1. I was really looking forward to this one. The Lips
headlined this fest in its second year, so it was pretty sick of them to come back so
soon. This time around they played 4 of their own songs before heading into the
entire Dark Side of the Moon. This was really of of those rare concerts thats just as
much as an life experience as a show. I was right in the middle of the floor area and
was a couple feet away from getting to touch Wayne's hamster ball. Near the end of
the set Wayne noticed the full moon up near the Houston skyline and for a few
minutes the universe made sense. |
| 41 | Fitz and the Tantrums
Free Press Summerfest Day 2. I had heard a lot about how good these guys were
live and was not dissappointed. They had the whole crowd dancing and jumping
around even though most of us fairly unfamiliar with their material. |
| 42 | Ponderosa
Free Press Summerfest Day 2. My brother wanted to see these guys. I thought they
were alright but the small stage near a lot of pass through traffic didn't help. |
| 43 | Young the Giant
Free Press Summerfest Day 2. Young the Giant had a 40 minute set time so they
spent almost no time dicking around with their microphones and stuck to the songs
people wanted to hear. They make for a good festival band, but the new material
sounded very weak and I can't see them getting much bigger unless they write a ton
more good songs. |
| 44 | Portugal. The Man
Free Press Summerfest Day 2. My dad highly recommended this band and although
they were very good, I got the feeling that they would be much much better on a
small dark stage with a light show. |
| 45 | Willie Nelson
Free Press Summerfest Day 2. Figured I'd stop by and see the legend himself. Willie's
old but he still likes to have a good time. Not really my type of music but he had a
very large and diverse crowd which was cool to see. |
| 46 | Danny Brown
Free Press Summerfest Day 2. Danny Brown put on a very solid performance on the
small rap/dance tent. A lot of crowd interaction and pretty funny wordplay. |
| 47 | Descendants
Free Press Summerfest Day 2. The only 'punk' band to play on one of the main
stages. I've never really been into these guys, but got the crowd pretty amped. |
| 48 | Shabazz Palaces
Free Press Summerfest Day 2. I was a little disappointed by the live performance of
this rap group. They used pretty incomplete backing tracks and played live hi hats and
toms over it but the studio version of all the songs are much better. |
| 49 | Primus
Free Press Summerfest Day 2. Primus is one of those bands I've never understood.
How does some guy playing jimmy jangly riffs on the guitar and mumbling into a mic
that?s barely audible cause kids to jump around moshing going crazy? Weird stuff |
| 50 | Pretty Lights
Free Press Summerfest Day 2. Probably the highlight off day 2. Pretty Lights lived up
to his name and had a great light show and great stage presence for a dj. Bun B had
a guest appearance and rapped over one of Pretty Lights's tracks. At the end of the
set fireworks went off, which I guess is now a festival tradition. |
| 51 | Starfucker
* Free Press Summerfest Day 2 After Party. Free show at one of the best venues of
Houston with one of my favorite bands on the lineup? Count me in! The show was
twenty times better here than it was two days ago and since I had turned 21 thirty
mintues before the show I was able to have my 'first' ever beer at the venue with
one of my best friends who went to the fest with me. |
| 52 | Stephie Coplan and the Pedestrians
Seaport 6. Pretty much a going away concert for one of the last good radio rock
radio stations in the US. This band was one of the last small acts they were trying to
hype up, they were pretty good. |
| 53 | Reptar
Seaport 6. Really weird group. Kinda like a bad mix of AnCo and Of Montreal, but they
were really energetic on stage. |
| 54 | Delta Spirit
Seaport 6. I really liked these guys and might go see them and Jeff the Brotherhood
in December |
| 55 | Grouplove
Seaport 6. Quickly becoming one of my favorite bands, they really brought it down
for this show |
| 56 | Cake
Seaport 6. Not at all what I was expecting. I was never into this band but they were
definitely good. I couldn't tell if the lead singer was really funny or a dbag |
| 57 | Two Door Cinema Club
Seaport 6. The extra stage lighting helped them a lot more than I thought it would.
They were tons of fun to dance along to. |
| 58 | Zammuto
Opened for Explosions. Really shitty band. By far the worst set of the year. Put more
effort into shocking the audience with dumb gimmicks than the music. |
| 59 | Explosions in the Sky
Headliner. Band put on a fantastic show, but the crowd ruined it. Houston has
notoriously talkative crowds and pretty much everything the band toned it down the
coverstations picked up. "When we gonna leave? I have work tomorrow" Shut the
fuck up its 1030. |
| 60 | Luther
Opened for The Boucing Souls. Went to this show with my dad and brother, Luther
was good opener but a little stale by the end |
| 61 | The Menzingers
Opened for The Bouncing Souls. I really liked their sound, but the mix was off. I
wanted to get their cd but never got around to it for some reason. |
| 62 | The Bouncing Souls
Headliner. Sixth time I saw them and first time I didn't mosh at all. The show was still
fun and the new songs were surprisingly energetic. |
| 63 | Anti-Flag
Warped Tour San Antonio. After partying in Austin the night before, I got a late start
to SA and had a nice breakfast at RoLo's so I didn't get to warped till close to 2.
Worked out cause the only band I wanted to see was Streetlight and this was I
wasn't hung over when they started and didn't have heat stroke either. |
| 64 | Pierce the Veil
Warped Tour. Like a shitty version of Protest the Hero, not very enjoyable. |
| 65 | Streetlight Manifesto
Warped Tour. The 30 mintues they were on stage was totally worth the $40 ticket.
This was a pop punk heavy year, so I guess nobody there knew how to mosh. There
was maybe one other kid who was in the circle pit more than me. Though there was
plenty of room to skank around, so atleast it wasn't a repeat situation of the RBF
coheadline tour last year. Sadly Ill miss the Streetlight tour this fall cause of
Thanksgiving so Im glad I saw them when I could. |
| 66 | The Used
Warped Tour. Biggest surprise of the day. They were actually kinda good and the lead
singer was pretty funny. |
| 67 | I Fight Dragons
Warped Tour. Really fun set. Kinda weezer ish sound and they had a lot of custom
midi instruments |
| 68 | The Chicarones
Warped Tour. Best new discovery of the day, and they weren't even on an official
stage. There were maybe 20 people watching these guys when they started and 50
when they ended. |
| 69 | Yellowcard
Warped Tour. Worst band of the day. Not sure why my friend wanted to see them,
but apparently he heard a remix of their song on FIFA and thought theyd be good.
We left after 3 songs. |
| 70 | Class Actress
Opened for Sleigh Bells. Pretty good group, but not very memorable. |
| 71 | Sleigh Bells
Headliner. Wow they had an insane light show. Pretty overwhelming at times, but
freaking awesome |
| 72 | Chromatics
Opened for Hot Chip. Awesome set from Chromatics. Their material definitely held its
ground live. |
| 73 | Hot Chip
* Headliner. One of the best shows of the year. Hot Chip killed it live. |
| 74 | Those Darlins
Opened for Best Coast. I came straight from the premiere of 'Shut up and play the
hits' so I missed the first band, but this band was pretty entertaining. |
| 75 | Best Coast
Headliner. Way better in a club than the festival. |
| 76 | Ra Ra Riot
Firefly Music Fest Day 2. So the Thursday before this show around midnight I
convinced my roomate to drive me down to Delaware from Boston to see one day
of this festival. He was broke so I had to pay for gas, but it was definitely worth the
13 hours of driving in one day. Coming back I took a nap and woke at 2am to my
friend face down on the steering wheel in one of those Jersey Turnpike gas stations. I
ate a cheeseburger, drank a 5 hour energy and drove straight from Newark to
Boston, getting in at 7 am. Had to take a piss as soon as we got into Connecticutt,
but really didn't want to stop. Anyway, Ra Ra Riot was better than last time, but they
really need to change things up if they want to get any bigger than they are. |
| 77 | Kids These Days
Firefly Music Festival Day 2. Oh yeah, I got 3 hours of sleep the night before the show
and 1.5 hours in car. We woke up at 4 am and left before 5 am to get there around
1130. This band was the best surprise of the day. I ended up buying their
schoolhouse rock style shirt. |
| 78 | Cults
Firefly Music Festival Day 2. Took a quick break from music and had a custom Firefly
Fest Beer by Dogfish Head, which completely revived me. Cults were good, but the
sound was off. Everyone left after Go Outside. |
| 79 | Grouplove
Firefly Music Festival Day 2. The place got packed for Grouplove, and they put on a
great show. |
| 80 | Young the Giant
Firefly Music Festival Day 2. I was far away for this one, eating and trying to recover
from the whole no sleep till delaware thing. Set time was too long and they fucked
around too much. |
| 81 | Chiddy Bang
Firefly Music Festival Day 2. Chiddy Bang always puts on a energetic show, but I left
early to get a good spot for Modest Mouse. |
| 82 | Modest Mouse
* Firefly Music Festival Day 2. Main reason I wanted to go. Got pretty close. Modest
Mouse had a near perfect setlist, only song missing was Cowboy Dan. There was a
weird encore- it almost seemed like they weren't gonna come back, but the Mouse
soundguy kicked the stage crew out and they returned for an encore. |
| 83 | Lupe Fiasco
Firefly Music Festival Day 2. Not a huge fan of Lupe, but he had a really great stage
presence and played with a full band with is always fun for rappers. By this point I was
starting to lose my mind in a good way |
| 84 | The Killers
* Firefly Music Festival Day 2. Ended up being pretty close for the Killers and was able
to sit for like 20 mintues before the show. Wasn't sure what to expect, but was
blown away by a barrage of hits and fireworks. |
| 85 | Frank Ocean
*Headliner. Longest line I've ever seen at Paradise. Started 2 mintues after I got
inside even though I was at the venue 30 mintues before show time and he was late.
Frank Ocean killed it. One of the best performances I've seen. Sold Out the venue
based on the strenght of his mixtape alone, but everyone already knew his album by
the time he came on stage. |
| 86 | The Shills
Opened for Kishi Bashi. Second sold out show of the weekend, but this one was at a
small bar type show. Local band, but nothing special |
| 87 | Tall Tall Trees (Solo)
Opened for Kishi Bashi. Good folk set, but a little long |
| 88 | Kishi Bashi
Headliner. Had the guy from Tall tall Trees help him for a few songs, which lead to a
very good show. |
| 89 | Bruce Springsteen
* Headliner. At Fenway Park- went with my dad and aunt. So the night before I slept
on a plane from SF to Boston (Sadly not from Outside Lands? went to Vegas with
my friend instead, which was fun anyway.) and took a midterm so I couldn't nap
before the show. Was pretty dead, but Bruce was great and being on the outfield of
Fenway was pretty awesome experience. |
| 90 | Bruce Springsteen
Headliner. At Gilette. Went with the full family for this. Pretty fun show. Better set
than at Fenway, but we were way up in upper level with an obstructed view. |
| 91 | The Last Bison
Opened for Kishi Bashi. Really good folk family band, ended up buying their cd after
the show. |
| 92 | Kishi Bashi
* Headliner. Kishi Bashi had the full Last Bison help with some songs. The crowd was
awesome for this too, which is rare for Houston. It was also funny cause he was
playing on one of the stages my shitty HS band played on back in the day. Cool to
see an actually good band play on the same stage I did. |
| 93 | Anais Mitchell
Opened for Bon Iver. Pretty good, but the mix was way to quiet. |
| 94 | Bon Iver
* Headliner. Wow, this was a near mind blowing experience. Much heavier live, only
complaint is he didn't play Flume. Otherwise perfect. |
| 95 | Ceremony
Opened for Bloc Party. Nothing special, just a kinda punkish band. |
| 96 | Bloc Party
Headliner. Very fun. I know they are out of their prime, but you would never know by
their live set. By the end of the show the crowd starting moshing which was
impossible to resist. |
| 97 | Unknown Mortal Orchestra
Opened for Grizzly Bear. Good band, but the mix was way off. High notes on guitar
completely overtook everything. They did a cool cover of a Pink Floyd song though. |
| 98 | Grizzly Bear
Headliner. Would be starred if I wasn't sick. They were amazing. I wasn't a huge fan
going into this, but I am now. |
| 99 | Schoolboy Q
Opened for ASAP Rocky. Wow, this was crazy. The security at HoB was tripled, and
the amount of weed was atleast times 10. I was literally surrounded on 3 sides by
joints. Wasn't planning on it, but ended up getting pretty baked just off contact or
whatever. Schoolboy was sick, very energetic and played very well to the crowd. One
Love type message too. |
| 100 | ASAP Rocky
Headliner. Really good solo, but picked the wrong songs. Missed a lot of his best
songs from his solo mixtape in favor of stuff with ASAP Mob. Brand New Guy and
Hands on the Wheel with Schoolboy Q were highlights. |
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