I went to 100 concerts in 2025

I’ve been averaging about 60-70 shows a year lately and for some reason this year I wanted to see if I could hit triple digits in a year. And with that, I also decided to track some data out of curiosity and share some thoughts with it. To clarify, this purely covers concerts, no festivals or anything longer/larger than a typical concert (such as Fremont Fridays), or any sort of casual live music where it’s not necessarily the main focus (such as a bar with live music); I went to a few of each of those. I’m also excluding the handful of shows out of state in cost data so the numbers specifically reflect Seattle. Two of the biggest complaints I tend to hear are “concerts cost too much” and “there’s not enough live music in Seattle”, so I guess ultimately my goal with this post is to show there’re a TON of opportunities for live music and plenty of affordable options.

Fees:
Made a good step this year with the FTC now requiring ticketing sites to show cost with fees up front. I mean the fees are still there, but it’s some sort of progress. Online fees tend to range between 20-50% of the “ticket price”, which feels absolutely absurd most of the time. I feel it’s a huge factor that drives people away from concerts. The single highest fee I paid this year was $43 (on a $144 ticket), the highest proportionately was $8 on a $10 ticket. Something that most people probably aren’t aware of though, there are a bunch of venues with box office hours where you can get tickets for no fees or significantly less. Showbox Market/SODO, Crocodile, Neumos/Barboza (at the Runaway during business hours), Paramount (for all STG locations including Neptune and Moore). I saved $190 this year through the box office, which averaged $11/ticket.

Resell:
The absolute bane of my existence. The bullshit game I’m constantly forced to play. I’ve tried to crack the code and it’s damn near impossible to gauge whether shows will sell out or get cheaper. I’ve seen shows I wasn’t even considering selling out do so in a day or so and others I was expecting to sell out not to and actually get cheaper on resell. For any “gotta go” shows just get a ticket online asap if you can. Too many times I’ve seen shows I wanted to go to sell out and be x2-4 face value. But, on the flip side, you can get killer deals on resell, especially last minute. I saved $193 on resell tickets this year, which averaged $21/ticket (by far the craziest was $15 for a $69 ticket just after doors opened, although an outlier). You just have to be okay with not going if prices don’t drop to what you want or it sells out.

Finding Shows:
Feel like this comes up ALOT. Following artists and venues on social media helps a lot (and as much as I hate to admit it, I’ve learned about shows through targeted ads). Blogs like Do206. Posters around town (seriously, I find out about a fair amount of shows through posters. I feel like people underestimate them and act like they’re obsolete). Also just browsing venue calendars once in a while. I keep a (growing) list of venues with links to their calendars and browse through them every so often.

Venues:
– Seeing some closures this year has been rough. Madame Lou’s was my most attended venue with Crocodile just behind, so the closure of Madame Lou’s (with implication of Crocodile struggling) is extra rough. Caught me off guard too because most shows I go to there are pretty well attended.
– Who do I need to harass at MOPOP to get more concerts in the Skychurch? Such a great space for shows and criminally underutilized for it.
– Showbox SODO is still the most ass venue and I’m irritated how many times I had to go there this year. On the plus side, I didn’t have to go to White River this year!
– I also set a goal of hitting at least one venue a month I hadn’t been to before. Missed a month or two, but hit 12 in the end. Lucky Liquor, Black & Tan Hall, Mountain Room, Baba Yaga, Ballard Homestead, Hidden Hall, Woodland Theater, Miller’s (Carnation), Georgetown Steamplant, Rabbit Box, Bad Bar and Shanty Tavern.

Local artists I saw this year you should check out:

• Mr. Dinkles / Punk
• Kapslok / Punk
• Yonny / Hip-hop
• Vic Daggs II / Hip-hop
• Capala / Nu-metal
• Da Qween / Hip-hop
• The Little Lies / Fleetwood Mac cover band
• Hockey Teeth / Indie/Pop Rock
• Campana / Hip-hop
• Kenshi Killzzz / Neo Soul
• Sol / Hip-hop
• Greg Cypher / Hip-hop
• Kate Dinsmore / Singer/Songwriter
• Sister Wife Sex Strike / Folk Punk
• Travis Thompson / Hip-hop
• Oblé Reed / Hip-hop
• Juá / Neo Soul
• Nathan Nzanga / Hip-hop
• Everything’s Fine / Pop Punk
• Daphne / Pop Punk
• Charles Zaid / R&B
• Ayyo Will / Pop
• Jesse Desean – 10 Thousands Rats / Hip-hop
• Nacho Picasso / Hip-hop
• AJ Suede / Hip-hop
• Kuinka / Folk Pop
• Parisalexa / R&B
• Deep Sea Diver / Indie Rock
• Feed the Biirds / Pop?
• True Friend / Alt Rock
• THEM / Pop Rock

Top 10 Shows of 2025:

John Legend / WAMU – incredibly biased on this one since it was a 20th anniversary tour of one of my all-time favorite albums. He played every song off the album, and then some, and went for about 2 hours. Probably the only show I’ll ever be able to sing along word for word damn near the entire set (so much so that the people sitting next to me acknowledged it at the end and gave me some of their VIP merch).

Matt Nathanson // Vertical Horizon / Showbox – One of the biggest surprises of the year. Almost didn’t go due to the price, but ended up finding an absolute steal on resell day of. I’m familiar with a chunk of his music, and I’d seen him once before a couple years ago opening at White River and it was cool, but a headlining show at a much much smaller venue couldn’t be anymore different. Dude has probably the best crowd banter I’ve ever experienced; I have never laughed remotely that much at a concert. He also had a giant prize wheel that he used to randomly select songs throughout the show (with categories like specific album, new song, old song, cover, sad song, happy song, songs you might hear in a grocery store, etc) which was a ton of fun. Also, I’m not going to lie, I didn’t initially recognize Vertical Horizon by name, but when I got there I instantly recognized the cover of their hit album at merch and was like “oh shit”. It was just the lead singer touring playing acoustic, but he was great and it was a huge added bonus getting to hear their hit songs live.

Wynne / Laundry (Portland) – Wynne is one of my favorite PNW rappers at the moment. Small intimate venues are my favorite. Live hip-hop with a full 100% live band is probably about my favorite thing in the world. She did a 6 show run at a bunch of random spots/venues in Portland with a full live band, so I had to go down for at least one. Turned out there was only one I could make and it was at this tiny little vintage streetwear shop. Couldn’t ask for anything more. This is the type of shit I live for.

The Kooks // lovelytheband // SODO – One of my alltime favorite bands. They’re from England so it’s always a treat to get a chance to see them live. They also did a meet in greet at Easystreet earlier in the day, so getting to meet them was pretty dang cool too.

Stephen Day // Anna Vaus / Madame Lou’s – Sold out show. Great energy, great performance, great singer, just an all around good time.

Doechii // Kal Banx / WAMU – I have been dying to see Doechii live ever since I got turned on to her sometime last summer. Sucks that it took long enough that she was playing a big venue, but I was fully satisfied with the show. She’s an incredible performer.
Sidebar: One of the downsides of being in our little corner of the country is we’re typically either the first or last stop on a tour, and when we’re the last we frequently get shafted on merch. They only had small tour shirts left, I was very bummed about that.

Wheatus / Madame Lou’s – I mean, let’s be real, I went for Teenage Dirtbag, I don’t know a single other song. And going in with no expectations, they put on a great show! They had probably the most unconventional setlist I’ve ever experienced. They had a list of songs to play, and it was an anniversary tour of their first album so they were playing all of those songs, but the order was almost entirely determined by the crowd shouting out songs. There were a few shouted out that weren’t on the list, and the lead singer responded to them saying he’d play them acoustic after the show. And he delivered. Stage cleared, people started filing out, and eventually he wandered out to the edge of the stage with a guitar. He ended up playing four songs and on each one an additional backup singer meandered out to join in, so by the last song it was him and three singers harmonizing backup. I’ve been to 100s of shows and have never experienced anything like that. It was special.

Kesha // Scissor Sisters // Rose Gray / Xfinity Center (Boston-ish) – Unashamedly one of my alltime favorite artists. The stars aligned with a trip I was making out there for other reasons, so I was mostly just stoked I got a chance to see her since she rarely comes through the PNW and wasn’t coming on this tour. The venue was basically the equivalent of White River to Seattle, so that was a bit of an adventure (fortunately there was a train that stopped just a few miles away and I shared an Uber with some strangers). The whole show was very much centered around putting her abuse/lawsuit behind her and finding happiness, she did some interesting stuff in terms of staging and mixing, played all the hits, a bunch of the new songs, but man, after she played Praying I think that was the loudest and longest I’ve ever heard a crowd cheer at a concert.

Oblé Reed // Parisalexa // Esebree – Oblé’s one of my favorite Seattle rappers right now. Fantastic energy on stage. He occasionally plays with a full 100% live band and this was one of those shows. Like I said, 100% live hip-hop is one of my favorite things in the world. Only reason this is low on the list is because I’ve seen him live a bunch of times already. Highly recommend checking him out. He’s just an all around good dude.

Daphne // Everything’s Fine // Intrinsic / El Corazon – Honestly kinda surprised this made it to the last spot. It was a bunch of local pop punk, great, but nothing special. Maybe it was the headspace I was in at the time or something, idk, I just remember enjoying this show quite a bit. I was especially into Everything’s Fine. Daphne had great stage presence and they played a pop punk medley that absolutely fucked.

Honorable Mentions:

Nacho Picasso w/ Televangel // AJ Suede // Stas THEE Boss // Milc w/ Andy Savoie / Madame Lou’s – It’s cool seeing Nacho get back into music. Couldn’t even tell you the last time I saw him live. Crowd was a good vibe. Also AJ Suede is another one of my favorite local rappers right now.

The Little Lies // Madman Across The Water / Crocodile – Fantastic local Fleetwood Mac and Elton John cover bands. Not like, middle aged dudes cosplaying rockstars, legit young musicians who do it as a side project.

Deep Sea Diver // Coral Grief / Paramount – I’d barely even consider myself a casual fan, but this show was such a vibe. Always impressed when artists like that to me can fully captivate me for a whole show, and they did about 90 minutes.

Slum Village // Peace Beloved // Vice Soulectric // Greg Cypher (Last concert at High Dive) – RIP High Dive. RIP Dilla. Fall In Love is an alltime great beat.

Petunia and the Vipers / Shanty Tavern – Grew up in Lake City area. I’ve passed by Shanty Tavern 100s of times but never went. Found out way too recently that they did live music and had been trying to get out to a show for a minute, unfortunately it ended up being their second to last. Band was great and people were actually dancing, like partner dancing.

Dishonorable Mentions:

Connor Price // Graham / Showbox SODO – I wouldn’t even consider myself a casual fan, but he’s got some catchy tunes and does some neat stuff through social media, so it felt worth checking out. There was absolutely nothing wrong with his performance, he’s got good stage presence. Turns out I just didn’t really entirely know what I was getting myself into and was not at all prepared for the amount of middle school aged kids and families there. I was towards the back and as soon as he came on hella kids went up on shoulders and I couldn’t see shit. Kinda annoying. On the plus side, the bar was pretty much empty so I watched most the show from there. It was just not the vibe I was expecting for a hip-hop show.

Pete & Bas // Delivery Boys / Crocodile – If you’re unaware, they’re two old white British dudes in their 70s that rap. I had low expectations going in. I dig and em and it was a novelty thing I just had to see for myself. The novelty admittedly wore off after a bit, but the worst part was they had by far THE loudest backing vocal track I’ve ever heard; you could barely hear them most the show. The thing is, Bas absolutely would’ve been fine without it and had solid energy and stage presence, but Pete was often struggling to keep up.

Sol // Feed the Biirds // Jesse Desean / Polaris Hall (Portland) – All the performers were great; no issues there. The crowd during Feed the Biirds was THE worst I’ve ever experienced in terms of talking. Most people in there were having full on conversations, some trying to be heard over the performers. Obviously I go to a ton of shows, I’ve developed a reasonably high tolerance to crowd chatter, but it was so egregious that at one point between songs I turned around and yelled at everyone to stop talking.

Random Takeaways/Observations/Comments:

– Going to smaller shows with predominantly younger crowds gives me warm fuzzies. They’re almost always moshing (I never in my life would’ve guessed I’d find myself witnessing people mosh to Island in the Sun at a Weezer show), dancing with their friends, and just generally seem to be living their best lives in that moment. I frequently find myself walking out of those shows thinking “Maybe the kids are alright”.

– Seeing the underground Punk movement this year was fucking dope. I’ve almost entirely been watching from the outside, but seeing all these young musicians take charge full DIY and create spaces through pop-ups at Cal Anderson, Gasworks, etc has been incredible. Keep at it!

– Doors/Showtime: This has always been an irritant. Venues have been commonly unclear whether the listed time is doors or showtime, but the standard has always been showtime 1 hour after doors. I started noticing a small trend this year (Neumos/Barboza the biggest offender) of times being specified as doors, but some shows starting 30 minutes after. And it’s a complete crapshoot whether it’ll be 30 or 60 minutes; you can’t know until you see the set times on the door. If I don’t feel the need to be there at doors, I tend to show up within 15 minutes before showtime. I was not happy occasionally coming in towards the end or completely missing an opening set. That is also so incredibly disrespectful to the first opener; there’re plenty of times where that sets them up to playing to a mostly empty room.

– Photographer/Videographer etiquette: To be clear, I find these folks to be overwhelmingly considerate. I just need to acknowledge this one dude that I’ve run into a couple times now in the last month. He’ll constantly shove past me, stand right in front of me, just all around disruptive to people in the crowd. Don’t be that guy. It’s hella rude. If you tap me on the shoulder and signal/ask if you can get by or be in my way for a quick second (which again, an overwhelming majority do that), I will always be willing to accommodate.

– Stop talking while the performers are on stage. I’m not talking about a quick comment or question to your friend or a bit of chatter, that’s fine, we’re not at the theatre, I’m talking having full on conversations and trying to be heard over the performer. You’re an asshole for that, period. This primarily happens during opening sets. I get you’re with your friends, probably are only there for the headliner, etc, but it’s SO incredibly disrespectful to the performer. Also, you probably don’t realize there are always people there specifically for an opener and it’s incredibly disruptive and disrespectful to them as well. Fortunately I find it to still be at a tolerable level in general, but it’s certainly a growing trend that needs to stop. And it’s not all bad, I’ve been to lots of shows over the years where the crowd has been appropriately so quiet at certain moments the performer acknowledged Seattle has some of the most attentive crowds they’ve experienced.

– Stop being dicks to tall people. I get, you’re short, it’s already hard enough. I’m average height and I get stuck behind talls sometimes too, it sucks. They’ve been inflicted with genetics just like you though. They have just as much of a right to be as close to the stage as they can as you do. It’s not fair at all to expect them to relegate themselves towards the back just because they can see over everyone.

– Lastly, we need to talk about engagement. People enjoy things in their own way, I get that and I try to be mindful of it, as should everyone. But I genuinely don’t understand how people can stand there completely still without as much as bobbing their head. Which again, if that’s just how you are, you do you, and others should leave you be. I just need people to understand that performers feed off the energy in the crowd and when we give them more they give us more and it elevates the experience for everyone. When performers look out in the crowd and see most people are kinda just standing there, it really sucks for them. So if you’re maybe socially anxious, self conscious, think you’re too cool, whatever, I promise you nobody gives a fuck if you dance how you might perceive as “bad”. In fact, people at concerts are likely to encourage you and join in more than anything. And it doesn’t have to be anything fancy, just give me some swaying, shoulders, head bobbing, anything. The way I see it, the only bad dancer is the person that won’t even try to move.