Favorite Shows Of 2015

What are some of your favorite shows you attended in 2015?

For me:
1. Saxon, Armored Saint, Dragonland and Almah. The Progpower kick off show in Atlanta, Ga.
2. Night Demon at The Odditorium in Asheville, NC.
3. Yob, Black Cobra and US Christmas at The Mothlight in Asheville, NC.
4. Doro and Archer at The Masquerade in Atlanta.
5. High On Fire with Pallbearer, Lucifer and Venomous Maximus at Ziggy's in Winston-Salem, NC.

Opeth - 25th anniversary show @ The Paramount Theatre, Los Angeles

Steven Wilson @ The Wiltern Theatre, Los Angeles

OHM @ The Baked Potato, Studio City

1. Crobot/Saxon/Motörhead in Riverside, CA where I got to meet Saxon!
2. Mersa/Storm of Perception/Altered Silence/Saxon in Mesa, AZ

The only other concerts I went to this year were to see Swervedriver in Los Angles at the Roxy and in Phoenix.

This was a much slower year for concerts for me, primarily due to starting a new job. I plan to rectify that next year, already planning to see Maiden X4, Megadeth, Queenesryche, The Cure and who know what else. I did take my kids to see to Van Halen this past summer - I had a great time and so did my kids.

But my top show of 2015 by far was Nightwish. Delain opened up with a fun set. Sabaton played next and put on a great set. I will be seeing them again! But Nightwish really blew me away - fantastic show! The band was tight and listening to and watching Floor sing for two hours was an almost orgasmic experience. Nightwish is a one of those bands that is much better live than on record. I will be seeing them every chance I get. I do hope to get to see them with their full production one of these days!

Nightwish were phenomenal when I saw them! I hope to see them again as well!

Due to lack of both funds and time, I only went to 2 shows this year: 

Van Halen with Kenny Wayne Shepherd. Shepherd was excellent and the music to VH was great but DLR just sounded so horrible it kinda hindered my enjoyment.

The other show I went to was not remotely metal: Train with The Fray and Matt Nathanson. Nathanson was excellent but The Fray did nothing for me. However, I was there to see Train and they killed it. One of the best shows I've ever seen.

So of the limited pool to choose from, my favorite concert this year was Train.

thejokeriv wrote:

This was a much slower year for concerts for me, primarily due to starting a new job. I plan to rectify that next year, already planning to see Maiden X4, Megadeth, Queenesryche, The Cure and who know what else. I did take my kids to see to Van Halen this past summer - I had a great time and so did my kids.

But my top show of 2015 by far was Nightwish. Delain opened up with a fun set. Sabaton played next and put on a great set. I will be seeing them again! But Nightwish really blew me away - fantastic show! The band was tight and listening to and watching Floor sing for two hours was an almost orgasmic experience. Nightwish is a one of those bands that is much better live than on record. I will be seeing them every chance I get. I do hope to get to see them with their full production one of these days!

I'm curious, did Nightwish seem to be playing with a soundtrack?  I have a couple of their live DVDs and it seems pretty apparent that some of the background orchestrations are on tape.

tohostudios wrote:

thejokeriv wrote:

This was a much slower year for concerts for me, primarily due to starting a new job. I plan to rectify that next year, already planning to see Maiden X4, Megadeth, Queenesryche, The Cure and who know what else. I did take my kids to see to Van Halen this past summer - I had a great time and so did my kids.

But my top show of 2015 by far was Nightwish. Delain opened up with a fun set. Sabaton played next and put on a great set. I will be seeing them again! But Nightwish really blew me away - fantastic show! The band was tight and listening to and watching Floor sing for two hours was an almost orgasmic experience. Nightwish is a one of those bands that is much better live than on record. I will be seeing them every chance I get. I do hope to get to see them with their full production one of these days!

I'm curious, did Nightwish seem to be playing with a soundtrack?  I have a couple of their live DVDs and it seems pretty apparent that some of the background orchestrations are on tape.

They do pump in the orchestration from backing track. Normally I don't like that, but they can't really tour with a full orchestra so I get it

thejokeriv wrote:

tohostudios wrote:

thejokeriv wrote:

This was a much slower year for concerts for me, primarily due to starting a new job. I plan to rectify that next year, already planning to see Maiden X4, Megadeth, Queenesryche, The Cure and who know what else. I did take my kids to see to Van Halen this past summer - I had a great time and so did my kids.

But my top show of 2015 by far was Nightwish. Delain opened up with a fun set. Sabaton played next and put on a great set. I will be seeing them again! But Nightwish really blew me away - fantastic show! The band was tight and listening to and watching Floor sing for two hours was an almost orgasmic experience. Nightwish is a one of those bands that is much better live than on record. I will be seeing them every chance I get. I do hope to get to see them with their full production one of these days!

I'm curious, did Nightwish seem to be playing with a soundtrack?  I have a couple of their live DVDs and it seems pretty apparent that some of the background orchestrations are on tape.

They do pump in the orchestration from backing track. Normally I don't like that, but they can't really tour with a full orchestra so I get it

Yeah, it'd be next to impossible to pull off some of those songs live without backing tracks.

#1 - a band you have never heard of, so don't worry about it.
#2 - see #1
#3 - Saxon and Armored Saint in Chi-town
#4 - Believe it or not - Hinder/Puddle of Mud. Those guys really rocked. Too bad PoM dude got 2 DWI's when leaving that show.
#5 - Dangerous Toys/Pretty Boy Floyd/Every Mothers Nightmare. These legends SLAYED!

#6 - Loudness [hate to put one of my fav bands in this position, but I am just being honest. The crowd sucked and the band was not up to par].

I haven't been to a show in ages. As I get older, I have less and less of a desire to be around large groups of people. Haha.

1- Stryper They were just great and Michael sounded amazing.
2- Whitesnake DC's voice is certainly not what it was 20 years ago, but it was so much damn fun.
3- Queensryche It was great to see them again, this time with LaTorre, and hear all the classics.

Eyesore wrote:

thejokeriv wrote:

tohostudios wrote:

thejokeriv wrote:

This was a much slower year for concerts for me, primarily due to starting a new job. I plan to rectify that next year, already planning to see Maiden X4, Megadeth, Queenesryche, The Cure and who know what else. I did take my kids to see to Van Halen this past summer - I had a great time and so did my kids.

But my top show of 2015 by far was Nightwish. Delain opened up with a fun set. Sabaton played next and put on a great set. I will be seeing them again! But Nightwish really blew me away - fantastic show! The band was tight and listening to and watching Floor sing for two hours was an almost orgasmic experience. Nightwish is a one of those bands that is much better live than on record. I will be seeing them every chance I get. I do hope to get to see them with their full production one of these days!

I'm curious, did Nightwish seem to be playing with a soundtrack?  I have a couple of their live DVDs and it seems pretty apparent that some of the background orchestrations are on tape.

They do pump in the orchestration from backing track. Normally I don't like that, but they can't really tour with a full orchestra so I get it

Yeah, it'd be next to impossible to pull off some of those songs live without backing tracks.

Ever since Century Child, I was hoping they'd re-arrange their songs for a live set and do a "metal band" show. Only guitars, drums and Tuomas playing the keys.

It'd be interesting, for sure. And worth seeing and hearing. There are plenty of Nightwish cover bands that do it. They could do it better themselves.

The best show of 2015 was easily Judas Priest in November.

Blind Guardian w/ Grave Digger (the only show I saw).

Nuclear Assault @ Dynamo festival
Omen in Slovenia
Exciter with original line up @ Keep it True
Venom Inc. in Croatia (very surprisingly as they sucked @ Keep it True)

Judas Priest and Saxon
Saxon and Armored Saint
Fates Warning (absolutely incredible)
Havok
Exodus
Your chance to die (a smaller band that I really dig seeing)
Hate Eternal/Misery Index/Beyond Creation/Rivers of Nihil