I'm a big fan of concerts, I personally see it as the best way of supporting an artist because the artist is more likely to see profit from a tour with thing such as merchandise and meet & greets rather than their album sales where the record company is likely to swallow a large chunk of that profit. However, I've compiled a list of my top 7 concerts that I've ever been to from the 20 something concerts I have been to, I chose 7 because 5 didn't seem enough but 8 seemed too much. Nonetheless, I think what this list shows aswell is the variety of music I listen to aswell as the sheer amount of money I've pumped into these experience since my first ever show in 2012.
People I'd like to see live
Run The Jewels - I'm still annoyed that they skipped Birmingham on their last tour, their thundering beats and quickfire flows intertwine so perfectly together. I'd love to see them.
Arctic Monkeys - The boys from Sheffield have a phenomenal back catalogue to work through ojn stage so it'd be a pleasure to see them work through it live. Fun fact - I want to see them so badly that I've seen Antarctic Monkeys live... TWICE!
A$AP Rocky - One of my favourite rappers out there, I'm not a fan of any of the other ASAP crew but Rocky takes cloud rap and commercialises in a way that is so satisfying. I imagine his live shows would be crazy.
The XX - It would be very chilled but to hear Jamie XX's beats produced live with Oliver and ROmy singing over it, it would be incredibly good to watch.
Tame Impala - I've watched numerous videos of Kevin Parker live on Youtube and I'm absolutely smitten, Currents is one of my favourite albums of all time and I'd love to just hear that in its entirety.
Watch The Throne - Genting Arena, Birmingham (22/06/2012)
My first ever show. Jay Z and Kanye West performing their hits for 3 hours straight, I was in my absolute element. These are two of my favourite and to see most of my favourite songs by these two and see them on the same stage just spitting bars. Their chemistry together was absolutely electric and there really was the sense of maybe even paying too little.This list isn't in any particular order, but if it were this would be number one.
Coldplay - Wembley Stadium, London (18/06/2016)
The day I saw Coldplay was a great day for me, I'd never been to London before so to experience the tube and a buzz of thousands of fans walking up Wembley way it really was an experience. We had great seats in Wembley with a clear view of Chris Martin and the band and then Coldplay proceeded to play hit after hit after hit, Chris Martin also never stopped running around, at his age it's a wonder he was as mobile as he was. Phenomenal show as well with tributes to Bowie and Prince thrown in there,
Plan B - Genting Arena, Birmingham (08/02/2013)
I was right at the front for this show, the support acts were Rudimental and Labrinth, back when they were both relevant. Rudimental were absolutely incredible and this was just as they were getting famous so they only had one or two charted songs, they also brought Ella Eyre on and she was fantastic live aswell. Labrinth was absolutely full of energy running about and only ever stopping to perform Beneath Your Beautiful, he's taken more of a backseat role in music now writing songs for the Weeknd frequently. The main act, however, blew these both out the water, performing hits from his albums iLL Manors and The Defamation of Strickland Banks, he sung absolutely perfectly and he matched his rapping on the album bar for bar. This was a great show and being at the front for it made it all that more surreal.
Catfish & The Bottlemen - Bristol Harbourside, Bristol Summer Series (25/06/2016)
If you regularly read my blog then you'll know that Catfish are one of my favourite bands. Their first album, The Balcony, was absolute indie perfection in my eyes and The Ride isn't far behind it in terms of quality. With two phenomenal albums under their belt it was an absolute pleasure to see them live. In the middle of Bristol, by the harbour with the sun beaming down. It was an amazing experience adn their performance and crowd interaction was second to none, with Van regularly interacting with the crowd and getting them to finish verses. If you get chance to go see Catfish don't even think about it, just go.
Kendrick Lamar - O2 Academy, Birmingham (08/07/2013)
I wasn't expecting this to be as lively as it was but there was regularly mosh pits opening up, and being the middle of summer it was incredibly sweaty. I think it was even the hottest day of the year. It was so intense that before the end my friends and I had to depart to the sidelines to get drinks and just watch from afar. It was pretty gross but Kendrick is one of my favourite artists of all time and to be in a room full of people singing his songs back to him as he ran about on stage and performed most of the excellent Good Kid, M.a.a.D city for which he was touring. Kendrick hasn't done anything other than festivals or the odd London show since this tour but if he tours again, I'll be there, and you should too.
Blossoms - O2 Academy, Birmingham (29/03/2017)
WOW! Tom Ogden is absolutely phenomenal live! Due to the occasional reaches into a high falsetto through Blossoms' songs I was expecting the odd note to be missed but there was rarely a note missed at all throughout. There was also a cover of Oasis' Half the World Way which they did justice, thankfully because that's an exceptionally powerful song, they also did a cover of Last Christmas... in March but they changed Christmas to Winter so I'll let them off. They played all of their debut album, which is a must-listen album. It was great, a little too much moshing for the songs being performed but I'm not complaining.
Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - Genting Arena, Birmingham (29/04/2016)
Oasis are my favourite band, that's a fact. I will probably never get to see them but I can see them seperately. I saw Beady Eye in 2014 and they were great, not good enough to make this list but good nonetheless and I was sad to see them break up. However, the driving force behind Oasis was Noel Gallagher. Noel is a great singer live and he has two exceptional albums to work off plus he threw in some Oasis hits to top off a phenomenal setlist. The cover of Wonderwall was awful but the rest was pitch perfect.People I'd like to see live
Run The Jewels - I'm still annoyed that they skipped Birmingham on their last tour, their thundering beats and quickfire flows intertwine so perfectly together. I'd love to see them.
Arctic Monkeys - The boys from Sheffield have a phenomenal back catalogue to work through ojn stage so it'd be a pleasure to see them work through it live. Fun fact - I want to see them so badly that I've seen Antarctic Monkeys live... TWICE!
A$AP Rocky - One of my favourite rappers out there, I'm not a fan of any of the other ASAP crew but Rocky takes cloud rap and commercialises in a way that is so satisfying. I imagine his live shows would be crazy.
The XX - It would be very chilled but to hear Jamie XX's beats produced live with Oliver and ROmy singing over it, it would be incredibly good to watch.
Tame Impala - I've watched numerous videos of Kevin Parker live on Youtube and I'm absolutely smitten, Currents is one of my favourite albums of all time and I'd love to just hear that in its entirety.