Five Best Concert Experiences

I’ve gone to several concerts in my life. Ones that ranged from vast arenas to small intimate clubs to biker bars to country fairs. You get the idea. I racked my brain to come up with my list of “best” concert experiences. I even chatted about it with my BFF because she’s the one who’s been to nearly all the concerts with me.

The problem is that each concert has been an experience. Some were uproariously funny experiences revolving around a show that really probably wouldn’t be funny to anyone but my best friend and I because you had to live them. And then there is a couple that stick out for not-so-great reasons.

1. There was the time we saw Robert Plant at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, California. I went to this concert not expecting to be that into it. At the time I didn’t have a vast knowledge of Plant or Zepplin because I was young and I just went because my other two friends were going. Only one of us had a car at the time and we would drag each other to shows we wanted to see. Anyway, I left the concert impressed as hell by the show and it spurred my interest in LZ as I went out and bought a cassette (don’t judge me- I am old) of Houses of the Holy shortly after this show.

2. There was the time we saw Ugly Kid Joe, Slaughter, and Ozzy. It was right after I graduated high school. Most of our classmates had gone on a senior trip to the Bahamas. We stayed behind and went to the concert. My Bff’s parents drove us up to San Francisco because neither of us had a car, they dropped us off at The Cow Palace (before cell phones) and we sat in line for the general admission show. We got there early enough that we ended up with wristbands for the pit. We missed most of UKJ because we had pre-show meet and greet passes to see Slaughter. I think this was the first time we met them if I’m remembering correctly. It was fun show where we made friends with some fellow fans backstage. We then worked our way back to pit in front of the stage and worked our way up close to the stage and enjoyed the rest of UKJ and all of Slaughter from the pit at the front of the stage. By the end of Slaughter though, the pit had pushed forward and was starting to get a little too pushy pushy for us so we worked our way up to higher ground because we were surrounded by lots of taller, stronger people. As much as we hated giving up our purchase close to the stage, we were starting to get shoved around a little too much for comfort. So we wisely decided to move out of the pit and up to the side bleachers. Thank goodness to because not 30 minutes later someone had broken their leg in the pit and had to be carried out on a stretcher.

3. Seeing Slaughter, Cinderella, and Poison on the Rock Never Stops tour at the show also in Mountain View at Shoreline. This show we had finagled ourselves pre-show meet & greet passes for Slaughter and post-show meeting & greet passes with Bret Michaels. The guys in Slaughter were all great and nice and chatted with the three of us and signed our things. I’m sure pictures were taken if we were allowed a camera. At some point after the Slaughter part of the M&G but before the Bret Michaels one I had acquired (at a merchandise booth) an autographed Slaughter drumhead that was signed by all the members. I clutched that thing the rest of the show like my life depended on it. Anyway fast forward to after the show and we are with a group of fans milling around waiting for the Bret Michaels MnG and I have this drum head with me we finally get let in to meet Bret and he is SUPER SUPER NICE. I mean he’s probably one of the nicest of the rockers I have ever met. He offered to do pictures and it was me on one side of him and my BFF on the other. I didn’t want the drumhead in the picture but instead of doing the sane thing and putting it down on the table, I shoved under my denim jacket. So here we are taking pictures with Bret and that damn thing no doubt poked him in the side during the picture. He never said anything but it had to be digging into his side the whole time.

4. Technically this one wasn’t a concert- it was a video shoot. But the video was the band in question (Slaughter again) at a club. Basically we got to listen to them play the same song over and over and over again and got to be in the audience. It was in the middle of the day on like a random Tuesday. The club was called The Dragonfly and apparently is now a fancy hip-hop club and not the rock club they were back in the mid-1990s. It was kind of neat to watch the process of the filming of a video. Fun fact – this trip was the first time I flew in a plane. I rode down to Southern California with BFF and her roommate (both were from the same town and high school I am). They were going back down to UC Irvine the weekend before so I rode down with them and slept on their dorm room floor and I had to fly home. Sadly, my luggage got lost. They eventually found it (it went to Oregon) and got it back to me.

5. Seeing NKOTB in Mountain View at Shoreline (this place comes up a lot) in July (2024) the reason is two fold. BFF Misty has always wanted to see them live. So much so that she promised to go see Metallica with me the next time they were somewhere convenient (this is big because this band while on my bucket list has always been on her hard limit not gonna go see them list). While I didn’t know all the music- she absolutely did and had a blast doing there. It wasn’t terrible. And I could only think of the time we went to see a Kix and Slaughter and she didn’t know Kix and I was singing along to every song. We’ll be seeing them again in June (2025) because they are doing a residency in Las Vegas which is basically in her backyard. And I still have a “Go to Metallica” card in my back pocket.

Honorable Mention: Rock Vault in Las Vegas- Currently at the Hard Rock Café- We went to this for BFF Misty’s birthday a few years ago and it was so amazing. We upgraded to their VIP experience (I did it because it was her birthday)! We had so much fun with that but also the show itself was awesome and we had pretty close seats and everything. I would totally go again!