Best concerts of 2015

[Steve F.]

I saw 65 concerts or concert events in 2015.

Here were some of my favorites:

1/15/2015 Ed Palermo - World Café Live, Philadelphia

3/28/2015 Anthony Pirog / Joel Harrison /John Previti / Jack O'Dell Telecaster Tribute Band -JV's, Falls Church, VA

3/29/2015 Joel Harrison / Mother Stump - Bohemian Caverns, DC

4/1/2015 Crown Larks - Paperhaus, DC


4/12/2015 Rob Mazurek & Black Cube SP - Bohemian Caverbns

4/19/2015 Tomas Fujiwara and The Hook Up - Union Arts
Tomas Fujiwara - Drums, Brian Settles - Saxophone, Mary Halverson - Guitar, Jonathan Finlayson - Trumpet, Michael Formanek - Bass

4/26/2015 Tim Berne's Snakeoil - Bohemian Caverns, DC

5/10/2015 Bobby Muncy's Big Bastard Big Band - Union Arts, DC

5/212/15 Araya Woldemichael - Fringe Arts Bar, Washington, DC

5/22/2015 The El Reys - MLK Library, Washington, DC

7/2/2015 Anthony Pirog Trio - DC 9, Washington, DC

7/10/2015 Alloy Orchestra (performing to "Lost World") - AFI, Silver Spring

7/31/2015 Chuck Johnson - Sonic Circuits, Pyramid Atlantic, Silver Spring

9/18/2015 RIO - Ukandanz / Present

9/19/2015 RIO - Reve General / Art Zoyd

9/20/2015 RIO - Happy Family

11/21/2015 Adam Rudolph / Go: Organic Guitar Orchestra - The Windup Space, Baltimore, MD Nels Cline, Miles Okazaki, Damon Banks, Marco Cappelli, Liberty Ellman, Joel Harrison, Jerome Harris, Kenny Wessell

12/13/2015 Levon Mikaelian - Capital Bob DC Jazz Loft, Union Arts, DC

12/17/2015 DC/Chicago Collective Ensemble - Kogod Courtyard, DC
Tomeka Reid, Mike Reed, Luke Stewart, Jamal Moore

[LASERCD]

Which were you least favorite?

[Zeuhlmate]

Wow ! Thats a lot of quality events Steve.

Mats/Morgan + Magma Helsinborg Sweden, October.

[Steve F.]

Which were you least favorite?

[life hiaku]

What was my least fave?
Wise Steve knows to keep quiet.
But not Ken Golden.

[Svetonio]

[at least 100 dead]

Oct 10th: Big Business/Melvins (Feierwerk)
Brutal pummeling of the highest order, Melvins were in top form.
Dec 12th: Jazzrausch Bigband (Harry Klein)
An excellent big band of twenty-somethings merging with a DJ to create a new kind of electronica; they also had three female dancers doing avant-garde poses. All of this for only €10.

[battema]

Gosh, good question...

Ben Frost @ Big Ears 2015

Mariinsky Ballet @ Kennedy Center (Rite of Spring)

Jaga Jazzist @ Black Cat

Ensemble Musikfabrik @ Kennedy Center (Delusions of the Fury)

Faith No More @ Merriweather

Godspeed You Black Emperor @ 9:30 Club

Chelsea Wolfe @ U Street Music Hall

Caspian @ DC9

Deafheaven @ Howard Theater

Tesseract @ Baltimore Soundstage

It wasn't quite as busy a year as 2014 was, but still some truly amazing performances (plus a few bucket list items like the Stravinsky and Partch performances).

[LASERCD]

Hands down

Kamasi Washington - World Cafe Live

[zombywoof]

Ut Gret and Jack o the Clock at ProgDay. Why? Bassoons and clarinets, Woodwinds in general.
Magma. Why? 'Cause Magma.

What else?

EDIT: OH! Richard Thompson free show at the Pittsbrgh Arts Fest. Why? 'Cause the guy outplays most musicians half his age. Oh and the price was right.

[Phlakaton]

Only saw a couple good shows... Stop Motion Orchestra was my fav this year. Short and sweet. See ya in January when I vote for Thinking Plague as my fav for 2016. lol

[Kcrimso]

King Crimson in Paris was definitely the high point of 2015 for me. I also liked gigs by Haken and Kamasi Washington quite much. I was little bit disappointed with latest Steven Wilson gig I saw because Theo Travis was missing. Yann Tiersen gig was suprisingly cool. Final tracks were pure krautrock goodness!

[Supersonic Scientist]

Godspeed YBE -- Always very good
RUSH - "Farewell to Rush" tour - GREAT set-list and excellent show (bittersweet too as it is most-likely the true end)
YES/Toto - best part of this show was the Chris Squire tribute
Al DiMeola - Great show

Had tix for Ozric Tentacles but my Tendonitis in my left knee was SO BAD that I could barely walk to the car let alone be forced to stand for 2.5 hours on a concrete floor so I unfortunately passed on going.

[zombywoof]

Saw Steven Wilson this year, too. Good band, I enjoyed the performance a great deal.

[Obscured]

Big 5 of 2015:

PFM - Highline Ballroom
Magma - Le Poisson Rouge
Anderson Ponty Band - Society For Ethical Culture
Steven Wilson - Best Buy Theater
UK - Highline Ballroom

[zeprogmeister]

Didn't make it to any festivals or see any obscure acts really. Steven Wilson band stood out as a great show. Revamped Kansas lineup was pretty good too. Rush put on a great show despite the iffy sound.

[boilk]

Magma - Quebec City
Steven Wilson - Toronto
Moulletes - Toronto
Intronaut - Toronto
Anglagard - Dunellen
Bent Knee - Boston


neil

[Mascodagama]

British Sea Power / Sea of Brass - Barbican
Magma - Cadogan Hall
Loose Tubes - Ronnie Scott's
King Crimson - Hackney Empire
Ibrahim Maalouf - Barbican

A year mainly defined by big hall gigs for me even though I really prefer club gigs. Need to get to the Vortex more in 2016.

[Wah3]

Steven Wilson- 5//21/15 Albany
Steve Hackett - 11/10/15 Albany
Al DiMeola -7/15 Saratoga
And just to thrown in a ringer, Ronnie Earl and The Broadcasters - 8/22/15 Norwich

[walt]

Not a concert,per se,but the playing of all of Conlon Nancarrow's Studies For Player Piano,on the same authentic type of Ampico player piano Nancarrow used in his Mexico City studio,at The Whitney Museum in NYC was far and away the highlight of my live music outings this year.


The audience applauded after every "Study".There was a moderator and musicologist who discussed and analysed every Study before/after placing the roll in the player piano.

[Digital_Man]

Here's how I would rank the concerts I saw this year.

1. Steven Wilson
2. RUSH (just barely below SW although part of this could have to do with my far away seats at the Wells Fargo Center).
3. The Church
4. Ozric Tentacles
5. YES with Toto opening

If I did see any other shows then I don't remember what they were.

Edit: I would list Rosfest but that's a festival not a concert(different vibe and different atmosphere and imo a different animal altogether).

[rickawakeman]

It was a great year for concerts. Some of my favorites:

Three Friends/Moulettes in Montreal
IQ in Montreal despite Peter's having a cold
Neal Morse Band in Montreal despite their getting hung up at the border, resulting in Mystery cancelling their opening slot
Joe Jackson at the Academy of Music here in Northampton
Pugwash at the Iron Horse here in 'Hamp
Steven Wilson at the Egg in Albany
Steve Hackett at the Egg in Albany
Glass Hammer at Bearsville Theatre in Woodstock NY
PFM in Montreal...

and high hopes for tonight's show, last o' the year for me...Security Project at the Academy of Music in Northampton, six minutes from Chez Rick

[Dave (in MA)]

I was only able to see Torn, Wilson, Anderson/Ponty and Hackett, so I can't even manage to come up with a top 5.

[dgtlman]

RUSH! Best shows since Signals, maybe even before that.

[flytomars]

29/5/2015 Gryphon, London

30/5/2015 Fred Frith – with Evan Parker + Tim Hodgkinson + Roger Turner

18/9/2015 RIO - Ukandanz / Present / Aquaserge

19/9/2015 RIO - Reve General / Art Zoyd

20/9/2015 RIO - Toubifri Orchestra

22/9/2015 King Crimson- Paris Olympia

20/11/2015 Arthur Brown @ LeGuessWho

21/11/2015 Magma @ LeGuessWho

(Actually was quite disapointed with Kamasi Washington, love the album but the live show was meh for me)

22/11/2015 The Pop Group @ LeGuessWho

22/11/2015 Annete Peacock (WOW) @ LeGuessWho

Probably forgot some...

[Proghound]

Slow year for concerts- Orion didn't have a lot of shows this year, and I missed a few. 2014 was much busier...sorry this is so mainstream compared to some of these lists...

Steven Wilson Sunoco Theater, The Whitaker Center Harrisburg, PA

Steve Hackett- Scottish Rite Auditorium, Collingswood, NJ

Spock’s Beard, Glass Hammer Rosfest Gettysburg, PA.

Carl Palmer’s ELP Legacy- Rams Head Tavern Annapolis, MD.

Zappa Plays Zappa – Dweezil Zappa One Size Fits All 40th Anniversary Keswick Theatre, Glenside, PA

Glass Hammer w/ Circuline Orion Sound Studios Baltimore MD.