Even though I generally hammer out the concerts I liked the most in my year end overview, I figured that it was high time to start using the blog to feature this kind of angle. So what I did was start with the view of sharing my top 10 concerts that I attended in 2011. Then I wrote down fifteen, then twenty and then begged my brain to stop letting the coffee push me towards thirty concerts and end with twenty three. Of course since I saw about “80” shows this past year there were a lot more that I liked but these were probably my very favorite.
1. Kamelot @ Gramercy Theatre: The band returned to the headline stage with Fabio of Rhapsody Of Fire, would he be the new voice of the band? I hope so since he ruled.
2. Trans-Siberian Orchestra @ Prudential Center: This year’s tour was apparently to be the last of the presentations of “Christmas Eve and Other Stories” for awhile and wow how could that not be a thing to see. As always this group pulls out the stops and leaves me impressed and exhausted.
3. Volbeat @ Irving Plaza: These guys are just climbing the ladder of success.
4. Stryper @ B.B. King Blues Club: There is nothing like a little bit of a yellow and black attack in this Times Square venue.
5. Thin Lizzy @ Best Buy Theater: Phil Lynott might be gone but his influence and melody remains.
6. Amon Amarth @ Best Buy Theater: A crushing two set domination by these Death Metal Vikings.
7. Alter Bridge @ Best Buy Theater: Really love what this band does live.
8. Otep @ The Studio at Webster Hall: I’m merely a casual fan of Otep but I really was psyched about the openers of Blackguard, Sister Sin, One-Eyed Doll and Destrophy.
9. Black Veil Brides @ Gramercy Theatre: Entertaining band onstage and watching them grow is pretty cool.
10. Cinderella @ Irving Plaza: Shake Me NYC.
11. Renaissance @ The NY Society for Ethical Culture: Tonight the band performed two legendary works in their entirety. I was not missing this one.
12. Satan’s Lounge Band (Anthrax) @ Best Buy Theater: A special album release show. Cannot go wrong with that.
13. Slash @ Best Buy Theater: This was a Road Recovery event but had lots of worthwhile jamming going on.
14. Diamondhead @ B.B. King Blues Club: Educating myself with some classic NWOBH
15. Blaze Bayley @ B.B. King Blues Club: Bruce’s replacement in Maiden didn’t disappoint those fans who came out. He even stayed until the last fan got to shake his hand.
16. Immolation @ Gramercy Theatre: This band doesn’t headline enough around these parts.
17.The Misfits @ B.B. King Blues Club: It was Halloween Night, I saw no other way to celebrate it.
18. Shonen Knife @ The Bell House: Time for something different, I had never seen them before so gladly did so tonight.
19. Five Finger Death Punch @ Best Buy Theater: This was a wallop.
20. A Pale Horse Named Death @ The Studio at Webster Hall: Former members of Type O Negative deliver
their own doom Metal and it’s solid stuff.
21. Armored Saint @ The Studio at Webster Hall: I was never a big fan but wanted to see their gig in NYC and it rocked.
22. Corey Taylor @ Highline Ballroom: An acoustic show featuring the Slipknot/Stone Sour singer, that sure was interesting.
23. Twisted Sister @ Best Buy Theater: It’s a Twisted Christmas Charlie Brown. Santa Dee is coming to town.
24. The Big Four: Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax @ Yankee Stadium: Need I say more? I didn’t think so.
What shows mattered most to you readers? Were you in agreement with me about some of the things I listed here after seeing them yourself? I would love to hear from you on this so please do comment in. I left them open for you so feel free to indulge me. Don’t forget to follow PiercingMetal.com on the popular Social Networks of Facebook and Twitter which are linked below.
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