The best live experiences I had in 2012 (20-11)

30-21

Ladies and gents, I present to you 20-11...

20. Tenacious D 5/24 (The Fox Theater, Oakland, CA)

19. EDC 6/8-6/10 (Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Las Vegas, NV)

18. Modest Mouse 1/25 (The Warfield, San Francisco, CA)

17. Frank Ocean 7/16 (The Regency Ballroom, San Francisco, CA)

16. Jermaine Dupri & RZA 7/12 (Resident Evil 6 IGN Rooftop Party, San Diego, CA)

15. Not So Silent Night 12/8 (Oracle Arena, Oakland, CA)

Check out my NSSN playlist with videos from Grouplove, Tegan and Sara, Passion Pit, M83, and The Killers:



14. FYF Fest 9/1-9/2 (LA State Historic Park, Los Angeles, CA)

Check out my FYF playlist:



13. Outside Lands Sat/Sun 8/11-8/12 (Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA)

Check out my Outside Lands playlist:



12. Modest Mouse/Eyes Lips Eyes 5/19 (Stanford University's Frost Amphitheater, Palo Alto, CA) 

This was the revival show for Stanford's Frost Amphitheater and my first time attending a show at this venue. Everyone I went with and I unanimously agreed that it was an amazing venue and this show was a near perfect experience. I truly hope to see many more shows at this venue in the coming years.

11. Richie Hawtin 6/7 (Drais After Hours, Las Vegas, NV)

The night before EDC I arrived too early and did not have a hotel room until the next day. Luckily the Vdara let me hold my luggage and get ready to go to this Richie Hawtin set that I had hoped would help me get through most of the night without needing a hotel room. As I arrived so did Richie and his crew who were just in the lounge causally making their way down do the dance area. This was my first indication that it would be a special and intimate night. Before his set Richie was mingling with the crowd so I made sure to speak to him about Holy Ship and Coachella for 2013 and beyond. He was very nice and answered all my questions without inhibition. Speaking of Holy Ship, many OG shippers ended up showing up at this party whom I haven't seen since the boat.

All of this is great but it still isn't quite the reason this set made it so high on my list. The main reason is that Richie ended up playing a 6 hour set from 4AM to 10AM! It was a powerhouse performance that tested the patience and dedication of the crowd but was ultra satisfying if you stuck through it all. Since I didn't have a room that night I stayed for the whole thing and it was an amazing experience. I'll never forget walking out of Drais into the bright light realizing it was already hot as hell and almost afternoon.

I don't have any video of this night because I only had my phone and it died really early on.