What's the Greatest Live Music Event You Ever Saw?
Today is open mic day at The Honest Broker
Against all odds, live music is coming back.
Not long ago, COVID put a stop to all of it. Live music disappeared overnight, even down to the lowliest karaoke bar.
But back in my very first article at The Honest Broker, I claimed that pandemics are always followed by periods of festivities. This made me hopeful—but could the same thing actually happen in an age of isolation and digital distraction?
The unprecedented success of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour seemed to validate this forecast—a live concert was the biggest cultural event of the year, more influential than anything happening online.
In fact, Swift’s concert tour was big enough to impact the global economy.
And now the trend is spreading beyond Swifties, even reaching the Slow-ies.
Two days ago, a concert at Texas A&M set the all-time US record for most paid attendees—a record 110,905 people filled the football stadium to the rafters.
Can you guess the name of the artist?
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Country singer George Strait was the draw. Yes, he’s 72 years old and can do this (via Dallas Texas TV):
I didn’t have that on my bingo card.
Something must be changing in the culture. Are we witnessing a backlash to the dehumanization of music? Are people rediscovering transcendence and ecstasy in communal rituals?
Or is it just that folks want to have some fun on Saturday night?
All this is preamble to today’s open mic thread: What’s the best live music event (or other live performance) you ever saw?
Maybe it was Woodstock. Or maybe just your kid’s piano recital. It doesn’t matter if it was big or small, hot or cool, hip or nerdy—you’re the judge here.
Please share your responses in the comments.
Mine is completely sentimental. My grandmother’s final violin performance. She was in her early 80s and had the beginning of Alzheimer’s. She played “Ave Maria” at our long time church. In her younger days, she was one of the first musicians to play on the radio in the early 1920s.
Janis Joplin singing “Summertime” at a friend’s wedding.