I just saw my favorite band for the 50th time. They're called The Slackers. I first saw them when I was 12 in 1998. I keep coming back to see them because they have a massive catalog of hundreds of songs, and they always switch up their rotation. They have a cool hybrid of ska and soul music combined that I love. They get pretty political too which I appreciate. The biggest thing I like about them is how hard they work. They do well over 100 shows a year, and have been at it for over 30 years. I've seen them on big stages and small clubs, and they always entertain. And their ticket prices are always reasonable too. Highly recommend, and give their new ep a spin too, it's fantastic!

• Jimmy Eat World
• Clutch
• Rise Against
• Flogging Molly
• The Used
• The Offspring
• Bad Religion
• Tool
• Fall Out Boy
• Nine Inch Nails

Why? They are good bands who play well live and I like their music.

Coheed and Cambria

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard are absolutely incredible live. They're a genre-agnostic psychedelic band from Australia that play an ever-evolving span of of styles. You might see them play one of their metal songs at a show, and the next time you see them they'll re-work it as an electronic microtonal funk jam. They're indescribably creative.

Local H. Amazing show for only two guys. You can tell they really enjoy what they do.

They don't do that BS pricing tier where you can't say hi or meet them after the show unless you bought VIP+++.

Very cool, down to earth performers.

Pearl Jam every chance I get

The way you play your music makes me feel good inside!

Before Dave Brockie died, I'd go see GWAR anytime we were both in the same state. Always good. Always worth it.

RX Bandits are easily worth seeing again and again. Just a powerhouse live energy and some of the most underrated song writing/composition. They are one of those bands I don't tell people about until I'm sure they have decent taste in non-mainstream music. They are touring right now, just got tickets.

Less Than Jake used to be one of those "assemble all our musician friends, LTJ is back on tour" bands.

I've seen Hieroglyphics a good number of times. Always worth it.

The Smoking Popes were an amazing show every time I've seen them as well.

I’ve seen GWAR 18 times, going on 19 this April. There’s nothing like it. It’s so absurd and fun and over the top. It’s true “art” in the sense that it’s all their creation and all an expression of how they feel about things, but covered in space jizz.

My wife & I have seen Weird Al 4 times now and will be seeing him again this summer. While he mostly does a big show of his parodies with costumes & props we’ve also see him do a low-key acoustical tour where he only played his original music and none of the parodies. We also saw him tour with a full 30-piece orchestra, which was really fun as well.

Com Truise, DMB, Prof

All 3 put on pretty great shows for different reasons. Com Truise for that nostalgia vibe in a basement venue feeling, DMB sitting outside on the grass old jam style, Prof big energy rap show always a blast.

Mastodon, Lamb of God, and Tool - bonus points for getting a few of them together on tour. Awesome live shows, great lights/pryo/etc and 100% crowd participation.

I was going to say none but then I remember I've been to multiple electronic festivals and shows. I think in my old age I prefer venue/characteristics to individual performers. The idea of huge concerts is not appealing to me these days.

Tool, I have seen them three times in concert. They put on a fantastic show.

King Crimson. These guys will die on stage playing like gods. GY!BE. They come and go on stage like powerful winds leaving a mess behind. Travis. Yeah, you read well. These guys have a tremendous chemistry with their audience, they sound so damn good in live shows that I l9k forward to see en playing again.

Rammstein, their shows have always been bigger and bigger each time. And their ticksets are only ~100€, well worth it if you ask me.

Ghost. They're the only band I've seen more than once. I've seen them 3 times so far, and I will definitely go again next time they're in my area. The main thing that makes it worth it is their stage presence. They go all out on the costumes, choreography, and set design. Even the fans will get all dressed up. And their music is also super solid. Imo almost every song is a banger.

Genuine answer: Weird Al

He puts on an incredible show every time. The costume changes alone put most artists to shame. He's just as enthusiastic and active as he was over 40 years ago (Seriously, the man is 66)

And of course the songs and skits are hilarious.

We have tickets to see him this year for the second time on his current tour.

Primus. I was fortunate enough to see them a couple times before Herb left the band again, and a couple times after.

This last show I saw, they had a moment where they walked offstage, projected a TikTok of a podcast clip of a woman talking about how Primus was the worst band she had ever seen, and then Les just started fucking murdering those bass strings as they walked out again.

I'm never missing a Primus show near me.

Primus fucking sucks! 🤘

Iron Maiden. They just keep on rocking. Their shows are great and they're not mired in controversy (afaik). I think it's great they are repeating all the old tours.

Kaki King. Been seeing her for years every time she comes to my area. Safe signed my guitar after a show many many years ago and I cherish it dearly. She's super sweet and super cool.

Green Day. I have seen them twice almost 20 years apart and both shows were fantastic. If you like their music, I would highly recommend seeing them live.

Dream Theater. Simply because I'm a big fan, and their live shows always has something their studio recordings don't have, such as a song suddenly containing an improv section.

Been to four of their shows so far.

EDIT: Oh, and Devin Townsend. He was the warmup act of the previous DT concert, and I didn't know such a high entertainment/mass ratio was possible in a single person.

Weird Al Yankovic! He's cool! Love him!

Grateful Dead (not to be confused with Dead and Co)

Would do anything to take that ride again.

Nothing even comes close to what that was like.

No two shows the same. Not even the songs played exactly the same with a different setlist everytime.

Not a whole lot of bands come along that you are willing to travel and see every show of the tour. It used to be really fun to travel the country without maps and cell phones.

NOFX I see them if they come within an hour drive from where I am.

Yellowcard. For several reasons.

I started college when Ocean Avenue was their newest. He up super religious, even after beginning to socialize after coming out of a homeschool hostage kinda situation, kept most of the thinking and such through high school.

The only "secular" music I listened to was country.

So that summer I built my first PC at my friend's house while learning how it all worked, and then like the next week attended my first LAN party at the same place.

Someone brought a drive with a bunch of ripped music and the it on the network, and I copied a bunch of it.

Later when back at home I started browsing just to see what was there. Chose yellowcard first because yellow is my favorite color. Album shoved decent so it got picked more often.

That was my first non-country (read: actual music), non Christian music I ever really listened to (other than clips of pop stuff in the background of commercials). I was still far from losing belief at the time, but it really struck me how good it was for being "satanic rock music".

Haven't really dug into their personal lives or anything, but I don't get bad vibes at all, and still enjoy their stuff.

It was a big touchstone moment for me in several ways. That memory has so much nostalgia attached to it because of how it kinda kicked off me becoming who I am, even if I didn't finish cooking until probably less than 5 years ago. I had a really slow start though.

Husband and I have seen The Decemberists something like 6-8 times. I love this band, I love its unique style, and they put on a show that just lifts my spirits every time. Even the time the whole venue was signing Everything is Awful in unison. I’ve seen them in KC, Omaha, Oakland, and London. When I see they’re touring, I buy tickets. Simple as.

Primus! We try to hit at least 4-5 shows a tour. All the Claypool projects really. It's a whooole nother vibe getting your face melted on the rail.

Primus. Fricken kill it every time.

Crown lands. I wanna see em again so bad but they are just not popular and they're too broke to tour.

Shinedown. While many say its divorced welder dad rock (and it is) those guys put on a great show and genuinely care about the music.

Native howl. Damn good thrash grass.

Blacktop mojo. Another hardworking band that should be world famous.

I’ve seen Fox Stevenson and Yue twice. Yue was the opener for Fox at both shows that were a year apart. Both times were a ton of fun with good crowds and well priced drinks.

I’ve also seen Three Days Grace twice. Once as part of a festival and another time as the headline act.

I’d generally see any band or artist more than once as long as the first time was fun and the price is agreeable.

I have seen Tori Amos several times. Her shows are always unique, and even the "hits" get reworked and are not performed the same way every time. She's definitely my favorite artist to see live.

Coheed and Cambria is my current obsession. I can't even tell you how many times I've seen them. Their sets are basically the same for a whole tour, but they put their hearts and souls into every performance and their fanbase is an amazing group of people.

Saosin, Circa Survive, LS Dunes ... I would listen to Anthony Green sing directly out of the phone book no matter who's backing him.

Alkaline Trio was my favorite band in the early 2000s. I lost count of their shows, too. They have less energy these days, and Matt Skiba's voice isn't what it used to be. But we had a helluva lot of fun at their gigs back in the day.

Others I've seen multiple times include Nine Inch Nails, Tool, Thursday, Chris Cornell, Taking Back Sunday, The Decemberists, Toadies, Reggie and the Full Effect, My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult, and I'm sure I'm missing at least a couple of others.

Missing out on live music is my only regret about leaving the US to live abroad.