Best and Worst Live Music Experience

[Drew Hodgson]

Let's be honest, as metal lovers we're not a fragile bunch and it takes more then some fat dude dancing on your chest in the mosh pit to ruin your day. But sometimes life conspires to ruin our favourite pastime and we get fucked over by something or another that'll ruin what should be the most holy (Or.. uh.. unholy) of events.

But on the other side, some of the best times of my life have been at live shows with a cheering crowd and a heavy pit full of fellow sweaty bastards and equally sweaty ladies.

Worst: My hand was stood on during a Mastodon pit, broke two of my fingers and my thumb. The adrenaline (and... uh.. booze) numbed the pain for about an hour, but I missed a good 40 minutes of the gig and ended up in the Emergency room of my local hospital for a very long two hours.

Best: After getting a drink before Motorhead played in the Leas Cliff Hall in Dover, I turned to the very ugly man next to me and slowly realised it was Lemmy. I ended up blabbering on for a good 30 minutes about how much his music meant to me while he had to good patience to not tell me to fuck off. To this day I think I'm the only person there who noticed he was just sitting at the bar. I also met my girlfriend at an Anthrax gig, but she'll forgive me for this being more... unique.

So, share yours!

[The Bill Humphrey]

hands down my worst experience was at New England Metalfest (2001 I think)
Friday night during Walls Of Jericho's way overcrowded 2nd stage set, I'm not even in the pit at the time, there're at least 5 people between me and the pit... that huge bald dude from One Nation Under (I think that was his band) wipes out everybody infront of me and I get a broken nose in the process.
Saturday, another overcrowded 2nd stage set for Cannae... I'm hidin' in the corner by the bathroom and figure I'll be alright... wrong, end of the set Adam stagedives and land's right on me, smashes my face into my knee and at this point my nose is completely fucked... and of course I had to sit in the (no pun intended here) nosebleed seats whilst watching Meshuggah play the best set I've ever EVER seen them play...
so yeah, that kinda blew!

I don't know if i can pick a best experience, I mean, I've been goin' to shows for 2/3 of my life... if I hadn't had a billion great times I might have stopped goin' by now... so I guess the best experience has been the overall experience! I owe a handful of those years and experiences to some of the people on this site (who know who they are!) who helped a broke kid puttin' himself through college go to more shows than most people attend ever!

[Mike Stanzione]

Worst - Metallica in 04...some asshole threw up on me on the bathroom line. I honestly didn't even know how to react to that at first. Nearly blowing out my shoulder at a Symphony X show was pretty bad too, but definitely not as bad as the puking. Ugh.

Best - It's hard to narrow it down to just one, but seeing Megadeth at Irving Plaza (seeing them in such a small place was amazing) is up there, as well as the time I was able to meet Halford after a Priest show. We all chased him down like a bunch of schoolgirls. Totally awesome guy though. Seeing Anthrax for the first time on their reunion tour was pretty great (you can see me getting thrown around on the DVD), and of course my first concert ever still ranks up there (Metallica). All the times I've seen Slayer are special to me as well, as was the first time I saw Megadeth because it took me a VERY long time to finally have that chance. I'm such a dork..haha

[Natalie]

best? strapping young lad.
worst? the sword. they were booed for their entire set last year in philly.

[VSMetal]

Worst: Me Without You. Awful band. No one in the crowd even moved, lots of people were heckling them including me. Probably the worst band I've ever heard in my life.

Best: Killswitch Engage. Awesome live band.

[Jackson Hart]

worst- Sliplknot, Lamb Of God, Shadowsfall @ the Excel in 05. First off DEP was supposed to open, lights dim and theres shadows fall with no explanation to why they didnt play so im already super pissed. Then shadows fall play and im sorry but they have to be one of the most boring bands I have seen. Lamb Of God play a sweet set with a giant circle pit and of course I go down hard on my knee about 3 weeks after getting of crutches from blowing it wrestling. Then I booked it cause I cant stand slipknot.

Best- this is tough, first time seeing Slayer, Municipal Waste opening for Gwar, first time I saw Dead To Fall, first headbangers ball tour with KSE, Lamb Of God, and Unearth (I went for pizza during shadows fall so that doesnt really count)... I could probably name a million more.

[Dianekamikaze]

Worst: Getting my nose broken at Voivod/Neurosis CMJ show in NYC in 1999. I'm standing in the back out of harm's way and some kid standing in front of me just windmills me square in the face. At the time I was not above getting him on the ground, pummeling him, bleeding all over him and then getting him thrown out. I mean, really, I was incredibly pissed. If I thought I could have gotten away with killing him I would have.

Best: Going to the WW3 fest in Canada in 1985 (that alone was killer), I got there a day early and went to see DOA at a punk club. Martin Ain & Tom Warrior were both there checking out the show. I felt like a spy, but revealed myself as a fan & chatted with them all evening. We watched a record store burn to the ground afterwards (the vinyl!). Then the next morning I saw Tom Warrior sitting in McDonalds. OK, that's not a gig, but it's all tied into that weekend which was surreal. I actually had hitchhiked into Canada, got stripsearched & delayed like crazy, but it was all worth it. Celtic Frost, Voivod, Destruction, Possessed & Nasty Savage (OK, Nasty Savage not so much, but that was the gig.) I still remember it like it was yesterday!

[Cassie]

I have two worst experiences-
The first when I was 17 I was at a Staind Cold and Adema show (I was 17. Please forgive my bad music choice...although I still like cold) I was up front, hanging on for dear life, I hadn't eaten and I was wicked dehydrated, someone hit me in the back of the head, and then it gets all blurry, I get thrown about 6 rows of people behind me to the middle of the moshpit. I had never been in a moshpit at this point because I was a noob to shows, and I got hit again, and passout like a ton of bricks. I wake up in the arms of some guy being handed over to security. I will never go to a show on an empty stomache again, thats for sure.

The second was 69 eyes at the Palladium when they opened for Cradle of Filth. Their performance was so terrible, my buddy pulled out his ipod and began listening to three inches of blood, while I put in my ear plugs even deeper into my ears, wishing I had an mp3 player as well. Thank god cradle of filth put on a damn good show.

I have been to so many shows it is almost impossible to pick out just one. I always try and have fun no matter where I am. I think that this years Metalfest was definitely in the top ten. I got a black eye from the Kataklysm pit, so that was most definitely worth it. There were a lot of great bands this year and dosi-do-ing in the mosh pit (with the ipod friend-radio partner-and definitely concert buddy number 1) to Eluviete was definitely memorable.

[Ogre]

My worst has nothing to do with injury but rather, of all things, a camera and a dumbass. The first time I saw Slayer was on the Haunting North America Tour, January '85, in a ratty little club called Dirty Mama's in Vegas. They let people bring in cameras and such, I had a full roll of film from about three feet away of Araya, Hanneman, King, you name it. These guys were kids then. I was right in front of the riser (it wasn't even a stage, just an 18" riser), headbanging, snapping pics and screaming along with Araya, who seemed really amused that I knew all the words. The pit starts to get nasty so I hand the camera to a buddy who'd come to the show with me. The dumbass opens the camera and exposes my film. It would be cool to have those shots of Slayer from back in the day. Alas, it wasn't meant to be.

Best moment, probably the same show. Since Slayer weren't a big band, yet, they just hung around after the show and talked to fans like it was no big deal. Would've been cool to have some fucking pics of that, too, damnit!! Yeah, yeah, one of these days I'll get over it, shut up....