How many bands/artists have you seen live in concert? Since I’m “old” now, I’ve seen a few dating back to about 1981, actually the 1970s, but while I’ve seen a decent number, I pale in comparison to many other people I know. That said, not only have I seen obscure, unknown bands, but I’ve seen some legendary ones too, and everything in between. What about you?

Well, I forgot to mention this a couple of months ago, but I created a list on Discogs brilliantly titled Bands I’ve Seen Live In Concert, mostly because I was curious how close to real and accurate I could get. I found some very thorough databases that actually listed every freaking show at most every club in America and every part of the world, from back alley dives to arenas and stadiums. Stunning. While working on this project, I compiled a list that is far from exhaustive and instead included the minimum I could either remember personally or find via research. Thus there are some I simply can’t remember or couldn’t find AND I generally listed just the first time I saw a number of bands I saw more than once, in some cases, double digits. Seeing the same band doesn’t count with multiple concerts. It’s the number of BANDS, and NOT Concerts! Finally, some of the more obscure bands were not listed in the databases, so I had to leave them out, sadly. One more thing. While I’ve been fortunate enough to see some great concerts, I have no doubt I missed more great bands and shows, despite being able to attend, than the number I saw. Luck of the draw.

So Discogs. Everyone know Discogs? You should if you don’t. Find out for yourself, but basically it’s a growing database of over 16 million releases where one can find info, interact with others, create a free profile

and free catalog of your own collection for anyone to see — with estimated value listed —

and both buy and sell music of all types all over the world, allowing most to find nearly anything they want. Sellers set their own prices (like eBay) and it’s usually market value, so you’ll probably find a bunch of cheap Kenny Loggins LPs vs super expensive rare Beatles albums, as an example. Everyone is motivated to keep their 100% feedback rating, so most people are flexible, decent and responsive. Oh yeah, in case it isn’t obvious, it’s for tactile albums only, nothing digital. This means CD, cassettes, and most especially vinyl. Lots of it. Graded on the Goldmine standard. This allows people to know the quality of both the music and media being bought and sold.

I’ve been on Discogs for years, but just learned last year about opportunities to make free lists on any topic, and I think people can add to them, if the originator chooses that option in the settings.

It’s nearly 4 AM and I want to cut to the chase, so I have over 125 bands/artists listed that I’ve seen in concert. I’ve seen more and many more concerts but at the present, haven’t been able to add more, though I intend to. The vast majority of these shows were in cities like Knoxville and Johnson City TN, Atlanta, Phoenix, LA and Hollywood. That said, some other places included Nashville, Baltimore, Tempe and huge roving festivals. While I did not include symphonies, ballets and so on, the list is pretty diverse, ranging from alt rock and hard rock to folk and indie, metal, glam, goth and industrial, funk, soul, pop, punk, jazz and more. In terms of the list, I arranged everything alphabetically, from A to Z, and when possible tried to include genre, location of concert (including venue when possible) and certainly the date. I’d love to get some comments from anyone who may see this, either in terms of my list or sharing your own. Feel free to post your own list or do some bragging on some great shows you’ve seen that’ll knock the rest of us over. Rock on!

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