Big Bad Concert Rankings: 50-41

Yesterday I got a root canal. It was not fun, and there was some crying involved. As a large individual, nerve blocks don’t always take. Often, I’ll need two shots for every filling. I haven’t had the gas in ages. Decades.

But this tooth pain was immense. It started out as cold sensitivity five weeks out from a filling. Anything remotely cold was dropping me to my knees and giving me a splitting headache. I go to the dentist for an emergency refiling of the bite and, sure enough, the sensitivity goes away by Day 3 of the projected week.

And then the thumping begins. Every. Single. Heartbeat.

Felt right in my tooth. Couldn’t sleep. Ibuprofen and Tylenol couldn’t touch it, and my mom’s CBD tea only helped while I was drinking.

Relentless it was. So, I desperately call back Monday morning, three times. The second emergency appointment was set for 1 p.m. I’m not good to drive as the pain is closing the right side of my face as a coping mechanism.

We go through the procedure and what’s expected. The hygienist places a topical swab on my upper gum and waits for a few minutes. Time for the shot.

Relentless, still.

Time for another shot.

And that’s when the crying begins. Unbeknownst to me, one of the special ingredients in oral nerve blocks is epinephrine. And if you combine a double dose of epinephrine to a sleep-deprived person with little to nothing in their stomach, the result is a really big panic attack.

As the chair comes to an upright position, my heart races faster and faster. The hygienist places the mask over my nose, pure oxygen.It starts to help. My heart rate slows. The oxygen turns to nitrous oxide, and I fall into the slipstream so the professionals can drill into my head with ease. While under the influence of the laughing gas I was given a third nerve block shot. You know, I guess sometimes it’s OK to be average.

In two weeks I get my crown. It’s not one of the more prominent teeth so I think gold or silver is out of the question. The pain is mostly gone. A thousand milligrams of Tylenol here, 600 mg of ibuprofen there. I haven’t even received the stimulus and it’s already gone to my head.

50. Collective Soul

The first time I think I ever ‘swore’ in public (hell) was when my mom let me stand on the bleachers at Collective Soul’s Fourth of July Summerfest show in 1999 and sing the refrain from AC/DC’s Highway to Hell. There’s going to be a few shows on here that stand out because of one singular memory. This was a definitely one of them in a jam-packed 1999, aka, the year of our first Lambeau Field trip.

49. Stone Temple Pilots [Frank Black]

Speaking of the Fourth, STP reunited in 2008 and put on a fantastic show that elevated the entire night when Frank Black looked like he was on a mission to ruin it. Love Pixies, but Black’s solo live work is Yoko Ono-esque. But Weiland, he was magnificent. He draped himself in the American flag for the first few songs, then went into hit after hit before a solo serenade of Creep. After the encore wait, he brought some sailors up to megaphone out the first few chords of Dead & Bloated after a rousing USA chant. before the final song and minutes-long standing ovation.

48. GZA [Bronze Nazareth]

After having such a good time during Ghostface at Pyramid Scheme they could not accept my money faster after announcing GZA a mere two weeks before the show date. I’m now batting .250 the original living Wu-Tang members but GZA gets the edge because Liquid Swords is better than Ironman. That, and GZA only brought, like, three other guys on stage and not the dozen Killah needed.

47. Gary Clarke Jr.

It’s always fun to do these lists and see how well they seem to correlate. For instance, this Clark Jr show was the first time seeing him and the better of the two. The second show (the one with lyrics) is only a couple spots below a repeat Collective Soul show. Two hours, solid guitar work. It was the Buddy Guy show I always wanted but never received.

46. The Flaming Lips

Musically, this show was the carbon copy of my first experience in Milwaukee. Very similar without the edge that made the first show brilliant. I did get to do two things at this show different from the first, however.

• Escort Wayne Coyne through the crowd as he sung on the back of a decorated unicorn

• Hold Wayne Coyne’s giant hamster ball in place so it wouldn’t destroy our wifi router

To date they have the best concert poster I’ve ever seen. And the most expensive. Like, damn. It’s a big, ornate poster, but $250 is steep.

45. The Joy Formidable

I do love a free show, especially for a band as powerful as The Joy Formidable. I saw them at Founders after literally the worst date I have ever had. Even worse than the date that wasn’t a date. It was the last date I ever went on that was app-based and for good measure. Not only was she morally opposed to most of my favorite things, there was a period of what felt like 45 minutes where she went to the bathroom and didn’t come out.

But I was still seeing this concert. Because TJF was happy fo me to be there and probably didn’t care that I was in a hot-dog eating contest, ate at Chick-fil-A, enjoyed watching football, and used to buy cheap picture frames at Hobby Lobby. I started working at the bar a month later and haven’t used an app since. Obviously the results are more of the same so it’s clearly a me issue, but at least the concerts got better.

44. Titus Andronicus [Partner]

Speaking of awkward encounters …

For many of you, this is the first time you’ll hear of the band Titus Andronicus.

They are my third favorite band behind spots No. 1 & $ on this list and I saw two shows of theirs within 60 days and I can guarantee the lead singer would be happy to never see me again. Well he’s out of luck because I’ll always see this band live if they’re within a 200-mile radius.

To know why this one was weird I have to spoil the first time I saw them a month prior.

My friend and I drove to Milwaukee for a weekend of beer, food and football. After of multi-stop tour of Milwaukee’ beer districts on Friday night, and some odd baking choices, we awoke early to head to Madison to see Wisconsin play Central Michigan. So, that’s already a decent drive to the middle of the state, join a tailgate, watch a blowout, eat some stadium food (mac n cheese with sauerkraut for me), and then drive all the way back.

That night we drove down to Cudahy’s new punk/arcade bar, the X-Ray Arcade. My friend mistakenly bought tickets to the show in Madison the following day, but because the show was so inexpensive he wasn’t out too much. Fast forward to the opener, Control Top. During one of their songs, the leader singer jumped down to the stage floor and body checked my friend as hard as she could.

If you think it took me a while to recover my breath from my dental work story above, times that by 10 because that floored me through the whole set change. Imagine seeing a mouse try to body check the elephant instead of crossing its path.

And then, the main attraction. In front of 75 people in a rowdier bar in a community with a 11 p.m. noise ordinance. Because of some miscommunication, this was going to be a rush and they wouldn’t play a whole set. It was a bummer, sure, but the energy did not disappoint. We both had a great time and I got my shirts. Here’s the rub, during a set change I took my shirts to the car and didn’t have them once the show ended. Everyone was getting their albums signed and I was technically empty-handed.

I was also wearing my silver-lettered Lizzo tee to a punk rock show in suburban Milwaukee on a Saturday night. So, I asked lead Patrick Stickles for an unusual request.

And he obliged.

Backstory complete.

Fast forward again nearly two months later. It’s Halloween night in Detroit and I’m staying in an AirBnb near Wayne State University. The host has a few family photos in the main room adjacent to the garage.

And I recognize one of the people in the photos. A person I have never met, no less.

The host is the brother of former Wisconsin Badger wideout Jonathan Orr. Which was cool and led to the only time I ever called my AirBnb host with a question unrelated to locks and wifi passwords.

I end the conversation, shower, change, and head out for some food.

I stop at Royale with Cheese, a burger and shake joint I found while meandering Midtown before the Local Natives show, and pack myself full of food before ordering the Uber downtown.

I thought I was late. Facebook had the door time at 7 and I arrived on the block at 7:35. That’s late for me. I like to roam around places, get a feel, have a drink if i’m not driving, and browse the merch to see if anything is new. Another added bonus of this show was that I didn’t even have to pay!

Shout out to Herm at Vertigo Records for getting me on the guest list. The top of the guest list.

That had three names.

Oh boy. Not again. How many people were going to show up this time?

I assumed I could head down the stairs. Doors opened at 7, after all.

Nope. According to Facebook’s event, the venue changed the door time to 8 with a comment while I was in transit. I was actually first in line, with a list that had my name at the top of it, standing in front of Mr. Stickles, who had been accidentally locked out of the venue by security staff.

Happy Halloween!

This is how the next few minutes went:

“So, uh, I’m not sure if you remember me,” I said.

“No. No. I do.”

30 second pause

“Have you tried the door?”

“Yeah, they uh, they locked me out. Just wanted a smoke break. I think it was a mistake. First ime here though so not sure.”

“You guys are great. I was at the show in Milwaukee.”

“Yeah, yeah. I remember.”

Another 30 second pause.

“Has anyone ever …”

“No. No that’s probably a first and last time thing for me. Are you Jon?”

“Yep. Right there on the top.”

Hears Rush in the background.

“Do you like Rush? The band Rush?”

…

“Because this is the first night with Partner here and … let me tell ya. They like Rush. Probably a Canada thing. I think they’re from up there. Somewhere.”

“Yeah, I don’t mind rush.”

“No, like, they’re totally into Rush. Geddy Lee, great guy … it’s a lot of Rush, though.”

Three solid minutes pass and the security comes through the door, hands me a wristband, and I head down the Deluxx Fluxx stairs for the first time.

Interesting venue. Neon looking room with foosball, two bars, a bench-like area and then merch tucked into the side. I bought a Stroh’s and checked out the place. It’s 7:45 p.m. and the first non-band member to join me would arrive in about 30 minutes.

Well, this is embarrassing. I started falling asleep by the bench area. Why? A full stomach, beer, awkward conversation, and pre-show music that included Neil Young and Steely Dan.

It’s a Thursday in Detroit on Halloween, the city is a ghost town that’s putting me to sleep.

Thank goodness Partner came on to liven things up with, you guessed it, Rush.

In a 30-minute set, at least 20 of them were Rush covers. Patrick Stickles was right, that’s too much Rush.

This Titus Show rocked a little less hard than the first. At one point he had to tell a couple to stop playing foosball during an emotional song. You bought tickets to a show and decide to play foosball during the set. Really? And then it was over by 10:15. I later found out that longer sets were reserved for more sold-out crowds. Detroit’s show was me, the foosball couple, and maybe 40 others?

I checked the tour and literally. Not figuratively. Literally, every show between Milwaukee and Detroit was sold out. And they played my favorite song (unlike my two shows). Sigh.

I avoided the post-show merch table and went to Punch Bowl Social around the corner to play some solo bowling because I made a promise to myself to go there after making sure they had my size from my last Detroit visit. After some frames and a trip to the loo, I was hungry again. Found a place and ate a plate of chili fries, fish tacos and a charcuterie board.

My October stomach did not like me in November.

43. Lydia Loveless

I don’t have enough good things to say about Lydia Loveless. She and her band played for what seemed like two hours, included a mini solo set, and ended with her song Crazy, which I’m embedding below. She was all of 21 or 22, I think and her husband at the time was also the bassist and looked like Kenny G. The guitarist could have passed himself off as a local community college art history professor, and the drummer was hidden in the far corner of the Tip Top Deluxe stage.

42. Sylvan Esso

There’s not much more fund you can have at a show with just two members and two albums. I feel like I’ve been on a huge rants this post so I’m going to leave these next two pretty short and sweet. Much like Amelia Meath’s dog that she brought to pre-show. More concerts can easily be improved with dogs.

41. Grace Potter [Devon Gilfillian]

Devon Gilfillian is Gary Clark Jr if he became a singer first then guitarist second. And Grace Potter put on a baseline Americana rock masterclass. As if I could like her set more, the merch team outdid themselves with some cool designs, including my first green concert tee.