This was a lot more work than I thought it would be when I started this exercise. For some reason it was easier to recount concerts from 1992 than it was to remember what shows I saw in 2019. Here’s hoping that it will soon be safe to add more attended concerts to this list.
In case you’re as compulsive as me click here for a link to part 1 and click here for a link to part 2, click here for part 3, click here for part 4, click here for part 5, click here for part 6, click here for part 7, and finally click here for part 8. Without further ado here are more concerts I went to starting with shows I forgot …
213. Rock the Bells – August 9, 2008 – San Bernadino – Got to see all my hip-hop faves from A Tribe Called Quest to The Pharcyde and De La Soul.
214. Post Malone – January 27, 2018 – Gulfstream Park, Hallandale.
215. Erasure – July 16, 2018 – The Fillmore Miami Beach.
216. Bomba Estereo -August 11, 2018 – Fillmore Miami Beach
217. The Breeders – October 19, 2018 – Fillmore Miami Beach – Whoever said never meet your heroes, never got to meet Kim Deal. She and the rest of the Breeders were the sweetest people in the world. I remember being amazed that at an older age her voice still sounded angelic, but after the show she could barely speak and had to ice both her guitar playing hands.
218. Death Cab for Cutie – October 22, 2018 – Fillmore Miami Beach.
219. House of Creatives Fest – November 10-11 – Virginia Key Beach – Great fest with Little Dragon, M.I.A, and The Allah-Las. My thoughts, “Accompanied by a hypewoman D.J. and two background dancers M.I.A. mixed hip-hop beats with Madonna-esque energy, and Bollywood samples to great applause. The set was heavy with songs from her classic 2007 album Kala that demanded audience participation. On “Boyz” she invited a bunch of random dudes on stage and for “Galang” brought up a ton of chicks from the crowd to dance. The only weak moment of the set was pretending to leave without playing her biggest hit “Paper Planes”. That stunt fooled no one and a moment after retreating M.I.A. came back for the encore and all was forgiven. You heard that hook taken from The Clash and began to sing along.”
220. Brian Wilson – December 12, 2018 – Hard Rock Live Hollywood – This was a sad concert, not just because Brian focused on playing the Beach Boys Christmas album. More because he aged quite a bit from how great he sounded when I saw him just a couple years earlier.
221. The Roots – December 30, 2018 – Fillmore Miami Beach.
222. GroundUp Music Festival – February 6-8, 2019 – North Beach Bandshell.
223. iii Points Festival – February 15-17, 2019 – Wynwood – Khrunagbin, Erykah Badu, Beach House, Pussy Riot, Godspeed You Black Emperor, Tyler the Creator et al. My thoughts, “But it was the sounds above all else that made this year’s III Points Festival special and worth attending even if it was held in a state with over one thousand miles of open borders. There was something for everyone who enjoys modern music. The neo-soul of The Internet, the dream pop of Beach House, the old school hip-hop of Raekwon & Ghostface Killah, the garage rock of Ty Segall & White Fence, the jazz of Herbie Hancock, the super strong showcase of Miami talent.”
224. Nine Mile Music Festival – March 9, 2019 – Virginia Key Beach – Nas, sizzla, Shabba Ranks et al. My thoughts, “Shabba Ranks, the veteran singer best known for screaming “Shabba!” whenever the moment calls for it, was dressed in a dapper pink and white suit. “My attire is for breast cancer,” he told the crowd. Then he crumpled up the notion he might be politically correct by adding, “I’m not into the #MeToo movement; I’m into the boom-boom movement.”
225. Greta Van Fleet – May 7, 2019 – Bayfront Park, Miami.
226. David Crosby – May 21, 2019 – Parker Playhouse, Fort Lauderdale.
227. Vampire Weekend – August 24, 2019 – James L. Knight Center – My thoughts, “Ezra Koenig all dressed in white like a Santeria priest washing away the hoodoo of no decent national acts making their way to our corner of the peninsula for the last couple months, led his seven piece band into two plus hours of their unique brand of world music. Under the shadow of a rotating globe Koenig was flanked by a guitarist, bassist, two drummers, a keyboardist and multi-instrumentalist as they noodled through 28 songs, only stopping to flatter the crowd on how wonderful Miami always treated them.”
228. Modest Mouse, Black Keys – November 5, 2019 – BB&T Center, Sunrise.
229. Lizzo – January 30, 2020 – Fillmore Miami Beach – My thoughts, ” Beyond her voice, she boasts a charismatic stage presence that all but precludes the possibility of boredom in her audience. Last night, whether she was belting out a faithful rendition of one of her songs, dishing out advice on self-love, or cracking a joke, all eyes were on her, and they rarely looked away.”
230. Billie Eilish – March 9, 2020 – American Airlines Arena, Miami – The last concert I went to in over a year right before everything shut down with the pandemic. cool thing was a Japanese magazine Rockin On paid me a $100 to run a Japanese translation of my review between vintage interviews with George Harrison and David Bowie. My thoughts, “Everyone ought to love something as fiercely as the 20,000 screaming fans at the American Airlines Arena last night adore Billie Eilish. The 18-year-old pop superstar kicked off her Where Do We Go? World Tour with her first-ever show in Miami. Current events and COVID-19 fears being what they are, it’s entirely possible she won’t hit all of her planned tour dates. Perhaps with that in mind, the musical phenom held nothing back during her 90-plus minutes onstage. And neither did her audience.”
231. Bayfront Jazz Festival – April 30, 2021 – Bayfront Park – My first concert in over a year. Was a strange experience in this sparsely crowded concert. Went to hear the vibraphone of Roy Ayers, but was blown away by Chucho Valdés.
Starring Pablo Chiste 
