Q Magazines: 50 Bands You Must See Before You Die

1. AC/DC
2. Ash
3. The Beta Band
4. Tony Bennett
5. Pink Floyd
6. Kraftwerk
7. The Who
8. The Pogues
9. The Fall
10. Oasis
11. Hundred Reasons
12. The White Stripes
13. D’angelo
14. The Flaming Lips
15. Femi Anikulapo-Kuti & The Positive Force
16. Badly Drawn Boy
17. Ian Brown
18. Guns’n’roses
19. Bob Dylan
20. New Order
21. The Rolling Stones
22. Neil Young
23. Prodigy
24. Kilie
25. Paul Oakenfold
26. Fatboy Slim
27. Mr Scruff
28. Osymyso
29. Eddie Halliwell
30. Dj Hell
31. Erick Morillo
32. Tom Stephan
33. High Contrast
34. DJ Yoda
35. Primal Scream
36. RL Burnside
37. PJ Harvey
38. Slipknot
39. Radiohead
40. Red Hot Chilli Peppers
41. Fairport Convention
42. U2
43. The Vines
44. Madonna
45. The Soundtrack Of Ourlives
46. Ryan Adams
47. The Strokes
48. Outkast
49. Orbital
50. The Hives


To continue with the concert theme for this week, I figured what would be better than showing Q Magazine's list of 50 Bands You Must See Before you Die? As you may have seen, Q Magazine has quite a bias towards British bands, but rightfully so considering they are an English music magazine. For this post I would like to ask you a few questions.

1. What bands have you seen on this list?

2. What three bands that you have seen do you believe should be added?

3. What bands on this list have you never seen but would most love to see?


Here are my answers to those questions.

1. I have seen 7 of those bands, sort of... The one that is a bit on the edge is whether I can say that I have seen Pink Floyd, because techinically I never have, but on the same note I have seen David Gilmour with Rick Wright and I have also seen Roger Waters. The other bands that I have seen on this list are The Who, The White Stripes, The Flaming Lips, Bob Dylan, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and U2.

Now I will expand on this a bit, because in my opinion based on the bands that I have seen I think this list needs some re-tooling. For instance, U2 put on a far superior show when compared to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and also put on a better show than The White Stripes although I believe The Stripes put on a phenomenal show. Maybe the English still have some gripes with their Irish lads but I think U2 deserves a little more credit than forty-second place.

The other issue I have with this list is The Flaming Lips, why are they at the fourteenth spot? They should be amongst the top five! Yes that's right, The Flaming Lips should be amongst the top five. Their live performance is so extremely phenomenal that I'm not even sure if it could be categorized as a concert. Instead it is a visual, audio, and interactive orgy unlike anything else with superheros, Santas, aliens, and monsters dancing on stage to the psychedelic sounds of the Lips. Tons and tons of confetti are shot into the crowd, along with giant balloons which often, are filled with confetti, and singer Wayne Coyne even walks on top of the crowd in his giant inflatable hamster ball. While I should probably stop all the details there, I have to end it by saying their fans are unbelievable singing every line to every song at the tops of their lungs with Wayne urging them to sing louder and louder. If you EVER have the oppurtunity of seeing The Flaming Lips you shouldn't pass it up, even if you hate their music you will leave with a smile on your face.

2. One band that should most definitely be on this list is Rage Against the Machine, their performance is packed with energy. Zack De La Rocha runs and jumps around stage screaming his lyrics with passion while Tom Morello plays his guitar like a DJ with sheer ferocity.

The second band that I believe should be added is The Mars Volta, another show that is extremely unique. They are a band with a ton of energy and give new life to their music in their live performances. They extend songs to the thirty minute mark and make it sound amazing. Singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala is great for doing tricks with his mic stand like flipping it around in the air while Omar Rodrigues-Lopez always finds time to dance to their Latin influenced tunes.

The final band that I would like to add to the list is Tool. Their show is built around the fans, the atmosphere is wonderful because of the mystique of the band. Singer Maynard James Keenan plants himself in the back of the stage with no lighting around him for the entire show but when the fans see him dancing around they scream with delight. Their sound is always tight and they normally deliver the songs the fans want to hear.

3. Finally, the three bands I would love to see from this list are Radiohead, Neil Young, and AC/DC. I was so close to getting the chance to see Radiohead last year but tickets sold out in a matter of seconds and of course my Ticketmaster site froze up when trying to purchase them. From DVD's I've seen, their show is unbelievable, singer Thom Yorke looks like an absolute freak on stage. Neil Young is another choice because I've always been a big fan, I wouldn't expect the excitement that many other bands deliver from him but if I could hear "Cortez the Killer" or "My My Hey Hey" live I would be thrilled. Finally I have to list the number one band, AC/DC. Their music to me has become a bit old and repetitive but they are number one for a reason, I'm sure hearing them live would put my thoughts of their music behind me for a few hours.

Summer Concert Series Coming to a Close

One of the great things about the summer is the abundance of concerts, especially for those who love their outdoor venues. Unfortunately the summer is rapidly approaching its end and as the beautiful weather is dissipating so are the concerts. Personally my summer had some pretty great concerts, I didn't attend as many as I was hoping for a variety of reasons, but in the end I saw some of the best shows of my life. Here is a list of the concerts I saw this summer:

Tool: 6/9/07 at Boardwalk Hall, NJ

Rush: 7/8/07 at PNC Bank Arts Center, NJ

The White Stripes: 7/24/07 at Madison Square Garden, NY

Rock the Bells Festival featuring Rage Against the Machine: 7/28/07 at Randall's Island, NY

In early September I plan on seeing Lynyrd Skynyrd with the Blue Oyser Cult to close the season, hopefully I actually go. For the rest of this week I will dedicate my posts to concerts, and everyones cooperation for a number of the posts would really make it more enjoyable. If everybody else could list their concerts this summer, that would be great.

Rage Against the Machine Speech at Rock The Bells

I figured since someone stumbled upon my blog yesterday looking for the speech that Zack de la Rocha gave at Saturday's show, I would post a video of it from YouTube.