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2023 – A year of concerts

This past year was concert overload.  I have read articles about how the live music industry was booming this year but I didn’t realize it until I started looking back at all my recordings this year of the concerts I’ve been to and then I saw that I have seen 61 individual bands play this year!  Of course, one night have three bands so it’s not like I was out 61 times to see all these bands.

But it seems like a large number so I decided to take a look at whether or not this was the biggest year for concerts in my life.

According to setlist.fm, here is the breakdown of number of concerts I’ve seen:

Some caveats:

  • I use setlist.fm to track the concerts I’ve seen.  I consider that if I have ‘seen’ a band play a song, I count it.  Example: If I’m walking through Bluesfest and see a band play a song, then I count it.  Because one day I might be in a conversation and someone will say “Have you ever seen <insert any band name> before?” and I can reply “Yes, I saw them at Bluesfest.  I only caught one song but it was great.”
  • During the pandemic I was tracking any livestreams I was watching.  Hey, there was nothing else to do and I *was* setting aside time to watch shows at a given time (at the beginning of the pandemic it wasn’t one of those “Buy a ticket and you get to watch for 24 hours kind of deals.”  So…I’m stretching the definition a bit when it comes to watching livestreams but again…what shows were actually going on at that time?!
  • While I’ve tried to track the majority of the shows I’ve seen, there’s probably a lot missing when you count bands in a pub, weddings, concerts I’ve forgotten about.  I sometimes wonder if I’ve really only captured half of what the reality is?

Observations:

  • I wasn’t wrong in feeling I had gone to a lot of concerts this year…in 2009 I went to 62 concerts and this year I attended 61!
  • It’s hilarious to see the massive drop around 2016 which makes sense since our first child had arrived that year and we were learning the ropes.
  • And yet, when the second child arrives I managed to see 35 shows?  God bless Vero.

At the end of this posting I’ve pasted a listing from Setlist.fm of all the concerts I’ve seen in the past year.

Here are some memories from the past year:

  • If you didn’t know already, I have a new hobby in my life and it’s called ‘recording the audio of concerts’.  Years ago this may have been known as ‘bootlegging’ as it was illegal.  I don’t think there are many cases that it’s illegal nowadays.  So it’s cool to have a recording of all these concerts I’ve gone to.
  • I remember seeing Les Cowboys Fringants and thinking how much Sierra would enjoy the show.  I ended up buying tickets to a show in March 2024 but of course those shows were cancelled due to the death of Karl Tremblay.  I haven’t been affected by the death of a musician this much in my life and I’m still not sure why.  I’m grateful to have seen the band one last time.
  • 2023 was the year I first went to the Neat Cafe in Burnstown, Ontario and it wasn’t my last!  Probably my favourite venue lately?
  • I feel fortunate seeing Kiko play with Megadeth considering as I type this he has left the band (permanently?  Temporarily?  Who knows.)
  • I think Lisa Leblanc is hilarious and I remember really enjoying her show.
  • Robert Plant and Alison Krauss and The Smile were the highlights of Bluesfest for me this year.
  • Still can’t believe Vero and I went to see Guns N’ Roses in Moncton.  Could that have been my first concert in New Brunswick?  Perhaps!
  • Spending time with Mom at a sunrise concert in Gaspe was definitely a highlight.
  • I loved seeing The Smashing Pumpkins.  They are getting better each year.  This might have been the last time I saw Jeff ‘Shredder’ Shroeder in the band as he has left.
  • Gov’t Mule was the highlight of CityFolk this year.
  • Getting to meet The Trews for soundcheck at Neat Cafe with Vero was incredible!
  • Hearing Sierra say that the Damien Robitaille concert was a 100 out of 10 melted my heart.
  • Karkwa gained a mega fan after seeing them in Montreal.

I hope 2024 is equally exciting in terms of concerts but I’m not sure if my body can take it!