Below are my 10 favorite live performances I saw in 2023. (Read my Top 20 songs of 2023 here.)
10. 11/11 - Lucero @ Grog Shop, Cleveland Heights, OH
I’ve seen Lucero countless times (that’s a lie; I’ve seen them 14 times), but none were more special than this one, as it’s the first time my son got to see them — well, hear them, at least, as he wasn’t born until the following Saturday. But it was something truly special to watch one of my wife’s all-time favorite bands with her as she was nine months pregnant and could have potentially gone into labor any minute. (Thankfully, she didn’t, and we got to stick around for the encore!)
9. 11/24 - Baroness @ The Agora, Cleveland, OH
This was my first time seeing Baroness in a decade, and to be honest, I wasn’t even expecting to go the show — I had already given away my WCSB comp tickets for the gig to a friend and had prepared myself to stay home with our six-day-old newborn, as that’s what responsible fathers do, right? But then a second pair of free tickets fell into my lap the afternoon of the gig, and my mother-in-law was visiting, so Aubrey graciously let me attend. And maybe it was the recently legal weed I consumed a very small amount of (what are you, a cop? you have to tell me if you’re a cop) or the high levels of serotonin still coursing through my veins thanks to being front row center for the birth of my son six days prior, but Baroness were fucking majestic. I was brought to tears more than once during their set, both in awe of their chops and also seeing the face of my child every time I blinked. I haven’t been to a show since, and I expect the stars will only align occasionally moving forward, but man oh man, live music is powerful stuff.
8. 6/25 - Descendents @ Legend Valley, Thornville, OH
This was the second half of a whirlwind weekend to Columbus, where we saw LCD Soundsystem and Idles as part of Re:SET on Saturday and caught the top-level bands at Punk In Drublic on Sunday while sandwiching in baby-registry shopping in between festivals. I felt obligated to see NOFX one more time, even though I haven’t really enjoyed an album of theirs since Coaster (which came out in 2009?!? holy fuck time flies), but the big selling point for both of us was Descendents, as legends only come around so often. Case in point: Milo had a heart attack a month later. Thankfully he recovered, but it’s just a reminder to always go to the show, because you never know when it may be your — or their — last.
7. 6/11 - The Cure @ Blossom, Cuyahoga Falls, OH
The last time I saw the Cure was at the same venue 19 years ago, only a few weeks after I had started working at Alternative Press. I tell a lot of stories about that night involving a limousine, seeing Muse in a parking lot, watching many of my co-workers get absolutely obliterated on an open bar and one of them later accosting Robert Smith at the afterparty (before puking his guts out a little bit later)… But my main takeaway from that show was, “Man, the Cure kind of suck live.” At the time, I was an entry-level fan and hadn’t spent any time with the band’s rich back catalog. I expected to see them play the hits; I was sorely, sorely, sorely mistaken. Fast-forward nearly two decades, and I’m a much bigger Cure fan now (having even done an entire show at School Of Rock dedicated to the band), so I snapped up lawn tickets to their Cleveland show, fully expecting the unexpected — and what I got was a set heavy on my three favorite Cure records (Disintegration, The Head On The Door and Seventeen Seconds) plus a gigantic second encore of nothing but hits. Even more special: It was raining all day in northeast Ohio, soaking everything and everyone for hours, with thunder and lightning even causing a 30-minute delay before the Cure went on. Yet somehow, the second the lights dimmed and Robert Smith & Co. came onstage, the rain ceased — only to pick up within literal minutes of the final notes of “Boys Don’t Cry” ringing out across the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. This night was special – and now I can definitively say the Cure do not suck live.
6. 9/16 - Fake Names @ Grog Shop, Cleveland Heights, OH
It seems absolutely insane to me that a band featuring the singer of Refused (and the (International) Noise Conspiracy, and INVSN, and…), the guitarist of Bad Religion (and Minor Threat, and Dag Nasty, and…), the guitarist of S.O.A. (and Embrace, and Faith, and…), the bassist of Girls Against Boys (and Soulside, and New Wet Kojak, and…) and the drummer of Fugazi (and Rites Of Spring, and the Messthetics, and…) can only draw a few dozen people on a Saturday night, but that was the case with Fake Names this past September. Those of us who were there, however, witnessed a masterclass in how to play punk rock from five people who combined had probably 5,000 gigs between them.
5. 10/28 - Rozwell Kid @ Beachland Ballroom, Cleveland, OH
This was the first show I have fully booked in probably two decades, and it was a fuckin’ nightmare to put together for a variety of rather uninteresting reasons — but it was all worth it to hear Rozwell Kid play “Wish Man” not one, not two, but three times. Where my #wishmaniacs at?!?!?
4. 5/21 - Erik Walters @ Grog Shop, Cleveland Heights, OH
It’s not often anymore that a support act stops me dead in my tracks, but that was the case when I saw Erik Walters open for Pedro The Lion in May. Formerly of Barsuk Records band the Globes, Walters played the entirety of his 2022 solo debut (which I immediately purchased at the merch table after he got offstage), and left me stunned — the only way I can describe him is, “Imagine if Lindsey Buckingham started an emo band.” Maybe that makes sense to you? Either way, there’s no video online from this specific set, but this clip (of my favorite song) is taken from the same tour, so you can hear the band (featuring David Bazan on drums) fully dialed in. Highly recommended.
3. 8/16 - Maxwell Stern @ Nature Center at Shaker Lakes, Shaker Heights, OH
Every single show should be free, outdoors, subsidized by taxpayer dollars, take place during the summertime, under gigantic trees, and with birds chirping. Tell me I’m wrong.
2. 6/15 - Bryan Adams @ Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, Cleveland, OH
When I think about music I liked before I knew I liked music, Bryan Adams’ “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You” is right near the top of that list. I have a vivid memory of being in my friend Jonathan Whitmore’s basement as a nine-year-old on New Year’s Eve 1991, listening to some best-of-the-year countdown (probably Rick Dees) and being super-invested in where the song from Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves landed. I probably haven’t willingly listened to Bryan Adams in the 30-plus years since then, but seeing him live took me right back to my single-digit years, which was a real trip. I wanted to make fun of him, but man, the dude was so earnest and he’s got so many bangers and also soooooo many power ballads that I somehow still knew every word to that I unironically had a goddamn blast at this show. Sometimes you just wanna listen to a guy who sings songs about kickin’ ass and makin’ love, y’know? (It didn’t hurt that we got really good floor seats for $20 and Joan Jett opened.)
1. 6/16 - Weezer @ Blossom, Cuyahoga Falls, OH
Sober me stands by drunk me’s texts. Weezer forever.
Honorable mentions go out to Into It. Over It, American Football, Braid, Cheap Trick, Thrice, Paramore, Foo Fighters, Jeff Rosenstock & Laura Stevenson, and countless other musicians who gave me a reason to get off the couch this year.
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