I haven't been to any shows recently but I'm going to see Paul McCartney in Minneapolis in August and to Pearl Jam in St. Paul in October. Pretty excited about both shows.

Paul Rodgers last night in Kettering, OH. Decent but short show. He's still in pretty good shape and sounds good.

Billy Joel, MGM Grand Vegas. The old man still got it.

Me too! And yes, he does. Here's a picture I took from my pretty awesome seats during the Encore with Gavin DeGraw singing "You May Be Right".

John Williams conducting Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Quite awesome---he conducted his themes from Memoirs of a Geisha, Jurassic Park, Saving Private Ryan (with film clips), Close Encounters, Harry Potter, E. T., Indiana Jones, and both the main theme and the Imperial March from Star Wars. Was hoping for Superman as well, but that was not played.

We went and saw Nice Peter of Epic Rap Battles of History tonight. It was a great show.

OneRepublic on Sunday. Great concert.

Jack White at Fox Theater in Pomona, CA. The man was possessed! The guitar is one of his body parts, and he was on fire.

Great show. Couldn't bring my camera in, so no video. But I did record

Vampire Weekend in Buffalo on Monday - it was a great outdoor concert.

The Monkees, St. Louis - June 5. Awesome concert. My third time seeing them. Once in 1986, once in 1997, and now in 2014. It was my first time seeing Mike Nesmith.

Just got home from Bonnaroo where I saw the following (in order):

-DJ Quickie Mart
-ZZ Ward
-Arc Iris
-BANKS
-Pusha T
-Ty Segall
-Sam Smith
-Umphrey's McGee
-Janelle Monáe
-The Head And The Heart
-Vampire Weekend
-Neutral Milk Hotel
-Phoenix
-Kanye West
-Ice Cube & WC
-Superjam with Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi, Ben Folds, Karl Denson, Taj Mahal, and Chaka Khan (among others)
-Die Antwoord
-Jamestown Revival
-Grouplove
-Cage The Elephant
-Lionel Richie
-Lauryn Hill
-Jack White
-The Flaming Lips
-Those Darlins
-Capital Cities
-Carolina Chocolate Drops
-Fitz And The Tantrums
-Arctic Monkeys
-The Avett Brothers
-Elton John

Kaiser Chiefs (finally!) at the 9:30 Club!

Bruno Mars last night as a b-day gift for the wife... it's not my favorite music, but he sure puts on an entertaining show.

I'll be at the Guided By Voices show tomorrow night in Madison, WI. It'll be my second time seeing them live.

Peter Murphy at the El Rey last Saturday. Took my daughter to introduce her to some more alternative music. She actually had a good time. I think it helped that we were right in front so she always had something to look at.

I went to Taste of Chicago and saw AWOLNATION and the opening band Saints of Valory. I managed to find myself two rows behind the only two girls in the whole pavilion that wanted to stand on their seats during the show. Thankfully security cracked down on them just before the last song.

Here's a couple of the videos that I recorded. I recently picked up a new Sony HX50 camera which has a hot dock for an external microphone. Sound quality is much better with the microphone, but I have to try not to use too much of the 30x zoom available since it's hard to keep steady at these concerts.

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/oitIQZ67aFA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Eg407Ya1r5A" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I saw Saints of Valory this past February, opening up for Wild Feathers. I thought they were surprisingly good; I had never heard of them, but almost liked them more than the headliners.

The Offspring with The Adolescents last night at the OC Fairgrounds. Great show and that amphitheater is awesome but I had forgotten that the fair has a curfew where the show has to end at 10pm. Offspring played for only 75 minutes - granted, they're on their "Smash" 20th anniversary tour and played the Smash album in its entirety but it was a bit of a buzz kill that they didn't play more catalog songs. Good thing we had tons of food, beer, and cognac cigars to fall back on. We partied until midnight and then stumbled to a cab and crashed at the motel. Good times.

I went to the 'Monumentour' last night featuring New Politics, Paramore and Fall Out Boy. I was checking Stubhub a couple days ago, and a $35 ticket popped up in center lower section, so I jumped on it. Face value was $85. I was disappointed that Crushcrushcrush wasn't on the Paramore setlist on this tour, one of my Rock Band video game favorites.

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/7uWNt_1QEM8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/ffFIdzL42bs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/XXWuFus_zGk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds at the Shrine on Friday. I think this is my sixth Bad Seeds show since the mid-90's. I don't know how he does it, but the performances manage to get more intense and intimate every time I see him. "Jubilee Street" live was something to behold. I spotted David J (former Bauhaus bassist) in the lobby after the show. Very pleasant and down-to-earth guy and he took the time to chat with fans who happened to recognize him.

I wanted to see New Politics live but missed out when they played at The Troubadour here in Hollywood. i could have seen them at The Observatory but I'm not a big fan of that venue or the drive down there.

This is a month late, but...you poor bastard.