My Gigs

So in keeping with the themes started by Not PC and Jangles I’ve decided to not just list my top 10 concerts ever, but to list my all time concert list.  I’m sure I’ve probably missed a couple but I think it’s a pretty comprehensive list.  I’ve added some notes as well and tried to be as accurate as I can from memory with dates and opening acts etc but feel free to add any comments with corrections etc.

• Jethro Tull - opening act Bullfrog Rata – TSB Stadium, New Plymouth February 1994 – my first ever concert, I remember being deaf for about three days afterwards, great gig as well.


• Pearl Jam - opening act Dead Flowers – Mt Smart Supertop, Auckland March 1995.  Not long after the release of Vitalogy, I seem to remember them playing almost all three albums; I really got into the Jammers after this gig.  Extra special as PJ were joined onstage by Neil and Tim Finn for two songs.


• The Rolling Stones - opening act The Exponents – Western Springs, Auckland April 1995.  What can I say?  Legends.


• Garbage - opening act Ash – Queens Wharf Events Centre, Wellington – 12 October 1996.  We had to evacuate the venue after someone set off the fire alarm, no one knew what was going on, we had to line up again and it was a mad rush back in to get a good spot.


• Soundgarden – opening act You AM I – Wellington Town Hall, Wellington – January 1997.  This was a rough gig but awesome.  Made even better by the fact that we met bassist Ben Shepherd after the gig and had a drink with him and got his autograph – well spotted Levi.


• Shihad – opening act Soap – The State of It, Napier – May 1997. My first of many subsequent viewings of Shihad/Pacifier.


• Foo Fighters – Queens Wharf Events Centre, Wellington - February 1998.  Remember spying Jon Toogood in the crowd – good gig.  My bro almost killed us on the drive home to Hawke’s Bay after falling asleep at the wheel!


• Ozzy Osbourne – opening act Subtract – Logan Campbell Centre, Auckland - 12 February 1998.  The No More Tears line up! What more can I say? Got to the gig and had missed the support act and the start of Ozzy, got to the second row though and had Zakk shredding right in front of me – this one is definitely in my top 5 gigs.


• Pearl Jam – Mt Smart Stadium (or it may have been Ericson Stadium by this time) Auckland – April 1998. We watched from afar in the stands.


• Van Halen – opening act Gutttermouth – Queens Wharf Events Centre, Wellington - April 1998.  Mk 3 VH – great show, left my ticket in my jeans and it got destroyed in the wash!!! Not happy.


• Neil Finn – opening act Stereobus – Wellington Town Hall, Wellington - c August 1998.  Kiwi legend.


• The Feelers - opening acts Nickel and another band I can’t remember – Municipal Theatre, Hastings - September 1998. They filmed the video for Venus at this gig.


• The Feelers with Shihad, Dead Flowers, Breathe (I think), Dark Tower – somewhere in Palmerston North.  Great line-up of Kiwi bands.


• Live - opening act Sugar Ray – Queens Wharf Events Centre, Wellington - February 1999.  See next Live gig.


• The Offspring – Queens Wharf Events Centre, Wellington – June 1999. I remember them beating up dummies of the Backstreet Boys and spraying the audience with the fire hose.


• Big Day Out 2000 – Jan 2000. Lost my friends and spent most if the day by myself, great gig though – Chili Peppers, Shihad, NIN, Foo Fighters etc


• Fuel – Betchadupa, Slim, Augustino - The Powerstation, Auckland – Aug 2000. Awesome gig! G and I got to meet the band afterwards backstage and got photos with them – nice guys, they really should have got a lot bigger than they have.


• Shihad – opening acts Fur Patrol and Weta – some bar in Taupo that I can’t remember the name of. c November 2000 – I won free tickets off The Rock.  Saw about 2 songs of Fur Patrol, then got to second row for Weta (close enough to get spat on by them numerous times). Then front row pressed up against the barrier for Shihad – if they’ve played better than this then I’d like to see it.


• Shihad - opening acts Fur Patrol and Weta – somewhere in Palmerston North. C November 2000.  


• The Living End – opening act Betchadupa – Massey University, Palmerston North – Feb or March 2001. These guys are a hot band.  I remember Jangles getting his head jammed in a car door afterwards.


• Collective Soul – opening act Augustino - The Powerstation, Auckland 9 September -2001.  Not one of the best gigs I’ve been to for a number of reasons – I was sick and my girlfriend left our tickets in our motel room in Taupo, but we got them faxed up and they let us in.  Hopefully they play a good gig to make up for it in July this year.


• Live – Stabbing Westwood – Queens Wharf Events Centre, Wellington - Dec 2001. It’s ironic but I’ve never seen Live play that well live, they have another chance to impress me in June.


• Summer Jam 2002 – headline act Silverchair, other acts – Che Fu, Tadpole, The Feelers (I think) Queens Wharf Events Centre, Wellington - February 2002.  I was very impressed with Silverchair – Daniel Johns in particular.


• Incubus – Wellington Town Hall, Wellington - March 2002. The sound was poo, didn’t really get into this gig.


• Tool opening act The Melvins – Queens Wharf Events Centre, Wellington - April 2002.  This was a gruelling gig – I spent two and half hours just trying to stay upright.


• Big Day Out 2003 – Jan 2003. The Living End, PJ Harvey, Queens of the Stoneage, Jane’s Addiction, Foo Fighter and the first time I saw The Datsuns and they just blew me away.


• Bob Dylan – opening act Ani de Franco - Queens Wharf Events Centre, Wellington – February or March 2003.  Worth the ticket price alone just to see him perform All Along the Watchtower.


• Audioslave – Queens Wharf Events Centre, Wellington - April 2003.  Cool gig, good memories.


• The Datsuns – opening act The Users and The Casanovas - Wellington Town Hall, Wellington – 8 October 2003. Sound was poo but they are an awesome band.


• The White Stripes – opening act Whirlwind Heat – Wellington Town Hall, Wellington – 23 October 2003. Great gig – “I’m going to Wellington”, before Jack got fat.


• Big Day Out 2004 - January 2004. The Darkness – wasted with an early afternoon slot but they didn’t let that stop them putting on a great performance and they really got the crowd going.  The Datsuns, Muse, The Strokes, Metallica.  Metallica aye?  After all their turmoil documented on Some Kind of Monster they were still together, and they played a great gig.  Fade to Black - awesome


• David Bowie – opening act Brooke Fraser - Westpac Stadium, Wellington - Feb 14 2004. Couldn’t have picked a crappier day for a gig – rain and gales. I discovered a great song in Slip Away while wearing leggings and a rubbish bag to try and keep dry.


• A Perfect Circle – Queens Wharf Events Centre, Wellington – 16 February 2004.  The band only just made this gig because of the a-fore mentioned storms (Bowie), so they didn’t have all the stage set up with them.  Good gig though and hot band - Josh Freese, James Iha, Jordy, and of course Billy and Maynard.


• Deep Purple – Christchurch Town Hall, Christchurch - April 2004.  What a week this was – I collapsed from exhaustion. Flew down after work to Christchurch and was up again at 5am the next morning to fly back for work.  Great gig – this one’s in my top five as well.  They band was having fun and it showed through in their performance. I never really expected to see DP in concert so it was great to do so; they’ve been a huge influence.


• The Datsuns – Victoria University, Wellington – c September 2004.  Cool gig and apparently John Paul Jones was there, if only I’d known at the time.


• Velvet Revolver – opening act The D4 – Westpac, Christchurch – 22 February 2005.  The sound was poo but a good gig none the less.

• UK Hall of Fame Music Awards 2005 – November 2006. What a gig! Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne, the Eurythmics, Slash jamming Hendrix with Billy Cox, and Mitch Mitchell etc etc – a veritable who’s who.  Great sound and another top five gig, I was buzzing for days afterwards.


• Motorhead – opening acts Girlschool and In Flames – Brixton Academy, Brixton - November 2006. Fucken loud is all I can say, the earplugs never came out and it felt like I never had them in.  Lemmy’s a legend; glad I got to see him because surely he can’t be around for too much longer?


• Robert Plant –The Forum, Kentish Town. 6 December 2005.  A living legend – I saw someone out of LED ZEPPELIN!!  It doesn’t get much better than this.


• Deep Purple – opening act The Answer - The Astoria, London – January 2006. I was expecting great things after the last time I saw them and four fifths of the band didn’t let me down, but fucken Ian Gillan!! Honestly who has a lyric sheet on the side of the drum riser?  I was let down by one of my heroes but when he got it together it was awesome.


• The Darkness – opening acts The Ark, Juliette and the Licks – Alexandra Palace, Wood Green – 8 February 2006. The “Boob” chariot, flying above the audience, the pyrotechnics.  Awesome musicians, great live show. I didn’t think Justin would pull off the vocals live but they were even better than on the albums.