What band have you seen the most?

If so then it's my friends Tom and Lucas' band. They're called The Randoms and whilst I really like their music (because otherwise 10 or so gigs is really testing the limits of any friendship) I have been subjected to a lot of bad garage rock in the process of watching the support/ headliners. I can't really comment on them though, they're my friends, so it's just 'oh look at Tom singing' rather than anything more involved.

Real answer I think may be Orbital, or Kenickie (ulp). I need to think about this.

Lake Trout is for me always interesting, not so much because of the jam/improv element (which is less and less with them these days anyway) than because I've seen them in so many settings; I've seen them win over all kinds of people at street festivals, and I've seen them totally bomb in a small room full of fans and friends.

and in the 90's

H2O (hahahaha)

If that doesn't count, then it's very easily The Cure, whom I've seen something like seven times.

(have i set off anyone's twee detectors yet?)

andy

Live: De La, Blak Twang, mostly because of irritating ubiquity at London music festivals and club nights.

also spiritualized 18, merucry rev 13 (i dont know how ive racked up so many! i saw seefeel 8 times in one year and i dont even like them, they were just supporting other bands and playing festivals and shit)

The Roots six times.
Medeski Martin and Wood seven or eight times, if you count HORDE Fest.
Ween five times.
Phish five times (though once it was a 2-day stint, so actually six).
Les Claypool related stuff (Primus, Frog Brigade, etc) five times.
Kool Keith six times.
Cincy band Iswhat!? five times.
Bernie Worrell and the Wu Warriors five times.
Local bands for whom I've lost count: Club Dub, Catawampus Universe, 10-Ft. Pole, Nine Pound Hammer, Lucid Grey, and my boyz Astrolyte

djs yeah, ive seen jeff mills quite a lot, and dave angel

inbetween local and non-local: Pere Ubu

Non-locals - Mike Watt, Yo La Tengo - about 10 each I think.

Others, X-Press 2 4 times in the last while. Darren Emerson 4 or 5 times aswell. Dave Clarke the same.

And my friend Phil about 60 times maybe.

Sadly, I've only seen Killing Joke three times.

(of course live gigs are shit but it's the implications that sadden me)

Beyond that, Fly Ashtray, VPN & Uncle Wiggly maybe 20-25 times apiece.

Unrest, Melt-Banana, the Mountain Goats, Lois, Sebadoh, Eggs, Spaceheads are all in the 10-15 range, I think.

20-25 times and more are either very impressive totals or very silly. You decide.

I regret only seeing the Ramones a couple of times. What was wrong with me?

When I started seeing them in the 80's, they featured more musicians, and their shows were a little more impressive as sheer spectacle than they are now (though the size of the band varies, and when they tour they often add musicians). I saw them once a month, at the same venue, from autumn of last year until some time this summer, and while I have to admit I was getting somewhat tired of some of the material, I was also impressed by the variety of moods at the shows I went to.

Second place might be Psychic TV who I saw eight times.

There may be some other local salsa bands that I have seen as many times as well, but I don't pay that much attention, since they tend to be good enough, but somewhat limited.

I specifically left off Dave Matthews Band and Leftover Salmon, whom I've seen thrice each, but never ever enjoyed. Sometimes people buy me concert tickets.

After that, the Dismemberment Plan (4 times, I think - 1st time, pre-Emergency, Travis smacking the keyboard w/ his head in front of about 30 people, woo!), and then a smorgasborg of 3-timers, including Franklin Bruno, Low, Superchunk, Ted Leo, Lotion, the Ex, Sonic Youth, and other indie.rock luminaries. Favorite 2-timers = Lightning Bolt, Mission of Burma. Favorite one night stands = Bride of No-No, Shellac, Fuck, Archers of Loaf. Oddest concert moment = Don Caballero's drummer doing some sort of drumstick hand-jive @ the Knitting Factory opening for the Ex. (Bland, I know.) Last time I attended a concert in a club-type setting = 10 months ago. (Help!)

moonraker
palatka
end of the century party
asshole parade
don martin 3

then not due to locale...

deerhoof
polvo
tful282
les savvy fav
harry pussy
the make up

brain malfunction.
m.

pavement 26 times between 1992 and 1997.

3 times in one day in 1994:

tonight show taping (leno-NBC studios) w/ harry shearer and drew barrymore
at the palace (hollywood) w/ drive like jehu (early)
at the palace (hollywood) w/ drive like jehu (late)

On the Simpsons.

Local bands, including the New Grand, Scratching Post, Salmonblaster, the Matadors, Two-Minute Miracles and the Weekend – countless

First time was in a packed Brighton Concorde (The original scout hut one) on a joint tour with SFA and it was a revelation. Shortly afterwards I did some unsolicited remixes of a couple of their tunes, and got to know them well enough to be able to get on the guest list for any of their gigs. I loved their live performances so much I timed my visits to friends around the country with their gigs.

Biggest stage I ever saw them on was the Southampton Guildhall, a venue that must hold at least 1500 as support to Ash, they were heckled throughout the whole performance, but continued to deliver a cracking set. Saw them two days later in Sheffield in the slightly smaller Octagon and they blew the entire crowd away with everyone pogoing like mad, and blew Ash entirely off stage.

Smallest was probably the Harlow Square in 1998 in front of about 20 fans, and 30 friends of the local (awful) support act. Probably when they were at the depths of their unpopularity, but despite that this was probably the start of their change of direction.

Scariest was the fan-only free gig at The Wag club previewing their second album material where they handed out questionnaires to the crowd to vote on the songs as they played them. My god they had some weird fans, and the lack of alcohol (it was an under 18’s gig) didn’t help.

Maddest was possibly when they played at the Feet First Club night at Camden (can’t remember the club, but it was a big one - “biggest indie night in London” or something). There was a slow trickle of people joining the band on stage at dancing, but by the end possibly 100 people were on stage with the band.

Most fun was possibly Reading Festival in 97 (I think) Last band in the tiny DrMartens tent, but a rammed crowd really up for seeing a band who hadn’t played in the country for a few months (they were “big in Japan”).

Never a bad gig, but then I was biased. Haven’t seen them for nearly 3 years as they usually only do a few of one-offs a year, and the only one in England is always in London, which I can never be arsed with.

The Cure, three times, Depeche five (so that ranks it up there with those others I mentioned, rah!). Radiohead is at four, I know that much...

...i go out a lot, what can i say?

After I've seen certain bands a whole lot of times, it becomes interesting in a very different way--just to see how their treatment of their songs changes from night to night. The bands I see a lot tend to go out of their way not to repeat themselves.

Crumbs...

I figure I have seen:

Pulp 20 times including on Saturday
Huggy Bear 20 times
Blur 10 times
Elastica 10 times
Sleeper 9 times
Suede 8 times
The Cure 8 times
St Etienne 8 times
Divine Comedy 7 times
Echo and the Bunnymen 6 times
Julian Cope 6 times
Robyn Hitchcock 6 times not counting marathon instores in Minneapolis
Manics 5 times but not since '95
Cornershop 5 times
PJ Harvey 5 times
Pixies 5 times
Stereolab 5 times
Orbital 5 times
REM 5 times before 1990
Love and Rockets 5 times due to friend with Daniel Ash fixation
Lush 4 times
New Order 3 times

Friends' bands (people in some of the groups above are friends but here I'm talking about people I didn't meet through work during Britpop years):

Momus approximately fifty million times not counting impromptu serenades
The Lollies about ten times
Dub Pistols/Deja Vu ten times or so
Arturo five times
Laika five times
Moby four times

Oh, the jealousy pours from my fingers.

It doesn't help that they never tour, though. Really. A friend of mine once was like, "I think I saw Lungfish once, up in Boston ... I dunno, some Dischord band with beards."