I love concerts. They allow you to see your favorite artists up close performing your favorite songs by them. Even in my short amount of years on this Earth, I’ve been fortunate to go to 11 concerts/festivals by some of my favorite artists. Anyhoo, let’s get on with the list. (Note: I will rank an artist’s individual set at a festival and not just the festival as a whole).
19. Pharrell Williams – Global Citizens Festival at Central Park (2019)
Get mad at me all you want, but Pharell is not great live. He mostly sings over the backing track and his voice was rougher than usual on that day, as I remember him rapping most of the time and not singing that much as well as a few voice cracks. My favorite part was the emoji for when he performed “Happy.” I still will forever love him though.
18. Sabrina Claudio – Governor’s Ball (2023)
Besides Pharell, every other artist from here on out gave a great performance. But, I don’t know and of Sabrina’s songs and the crowd really didn’t either that day, so that’s why it is getting such a low placement. Sabrina was very energetic and hilarious when she introduced her bandmates and she was just a funny person overall.
17. Ari Lenox – Governor’s Ball (2023)
I wasn’t paying that much attention to this concert as me and my blog co-host were waiting for the next performer to get on the other stage (we’ll get to him later), but the performance was good. My favorite part was when Ari did a cover of “All Night Long” by the Mary Jane Girls.
16. Alicia Keys – Global Citizens Festival at Central Park (2019)
Only problem with this performance was that I was late for it and didn’t hear ½ of the set. I only heard “No One”, “Girl On Fire”, & “Empire State of Mind (pt. 2).” as we were in New York after all.
15. Bruno Mars – Prudential Center
I was very young when I attended this concert, but the energy was immaculate. Buno in his band started off with 24k magic and just rolled into a whom bunch of his hits at the time “Chunky”, “Just the Way You Are”, “That’s What I Like”, & more were amazing at this concert. I hope Bruno and Anderson bring the Silk Sonic crew back together so I can see them together.
14. Giveon – Governor’s Ball
I love Giveon a lot, so his performances of “Peaches” and “Heartbreak Anniversary” where he brought out a wine glass will forever live in my head-rent free.
13. Foo Fighters – Sea Hear Now (2023)
I love Dave Grohl, man! He and the Foo Fighters brought so much energy with a whole moshpit of 30 – 60 year olds just going crazy. There were so many highlights, the band playing their favorite songs outside of the band, Dave roasting the everlonging (see what i did there) s**t out of us, the crowd yelling out every word to “The Pretender”, me going crazy when they played “This is A Call” & “Monkey Wrench” and so much more.
12. Stevie Nicks – Sea Hear Now (2022)
Hearing Stevie perform “Landslide” live almost brought me to tears. My mom used to sing that song to me every night and hearing it performed to me felt like a dream come true.
11. Coast Contra – Governor’s Ball (2023)
I’ve been a big fan of Coast Contra ever since they dropped “NEVER FREESTYLE” in 2022. So when we discovered they were doing Governors Ball with Push, we immediately bought tickets. Their 30 minute set completely controlled a crowd that didn’t even know who they were. “Never Freestyle” started with a Mortal Kombat Sample before Eric jumped in with his verse. They also played their freestyles of Mobb Deep’s “Give Up The Goods”, ATCQ & LONS’s “Scenario” and D.I.T.C.’s “The Enemy”. Sadly, the power went off just as they were closing their set with “Legacy”.
10. Pusha T – Governors Ball (2023)
No joke, the stage had a giant snow globe and the DJ booth was a fake mountain of snow. I thought we were seeing a performance of Winter Wonderland for a second (it was June btw).
Anyways, Push performed songs from his most recent two albums (It’s Almost Dry & DAYTONA) before “leaving” the stage and letting the DJ do something. He played Lil Uzi Vert’s “Just Wanna Rock” and the crowd immediately went into the giant pit. Then, Push came out and did the greatest encore set of my life “Mercy”, “Move That Dope”, “Runaway”, “Grindin” (I went crazy when he played it and yelled the intro like a madman. I’m not joking, I think you can hear me if you watch the recording), Chief Keef’s “Don’t Like (Remix)”, & “Scrape it Off.”
9. Queen + Adam Lambert – Global Citizens Festival (2019)
I’m so glad that Queen found a replacement for Freddie so I could see them live and watch them perform what feels like an eternity of hits. The most memorable part of the concert was the broadcast cutting off, then 30 seconds later they played an encore of Freddie’s Live Aid back and forth segment, We Will Rock You, and We are the Champions to close out the night.
8. Bruce Springsteen at Barclays (2023)
So if you didn’t know, these tickets cost a whole arm, leg, and maybe a kidney, but Bruce has been on my concert wish list for years, so we bought them. But, Bruce definitely put on a show that was very entertaining. It’s common knowledge for Bruce fans that his big hits get played at the end during the encore, but his cover of The Commodores “Nightshift”, newer songs “Letter to You”, and classics like “Atlantic City” kept my interest throughout the whole show without tapping out. But, the encore was something special, you should have been there.
7. Snoop Dogg, Too $hort, & Wiz Khalifa – PNC Arts Center (2023)
When Snoop, $hort, and Wiz announced that they would be headed on the road to tour for High School’s 12th anniversary, my friend, my co-host, and I were so pumped. Funny enough, I asked my friend if he wanted to join and he didn’t ask his parents, he just said yes. That was how excited he was. So, did it love up to the hype? A: Yep, but first, the downsides. The three of us didn’t know a lot of Wiz’s songs & Too $hort was kinda annoying with how coky he is, but him playing “The World Is Filled…” was a welcome surprise. The crowd was a mix between old people and young fans, so it was kind of confusing to tell who’s concert they were attending. Snoop 100% carried the performance with the young crowd going crazy for “Gin & Juice”, “The Next Episode” & Nothin’ But a ‘G Thang (he basically did the whole Doggystyle album) with some nice tributes to Eazy-E, Biggie, and of course, 2Pac and guest appearances by The Lady of Rage and Warren G. The encore was the best part (excluding the skit before it, oh my god that was bad) as Snoop and Wiz traded hits like “We Dem Boyz”, “What’s My Name” and “Drop It Like It’s Hot” (the Pharrell intro was so clever), but the show was at its energy peak when it ended with “See You Again” (with a touching tribute to Paul Walker, Kobe, DOOM, Nate Dogg, XXX, Juice Wrld, DMX, and more) and “Young, Wild, & Free” with my friend and I joining the mosh pit. 2 west coast legends and a future one putting on an amazing performance.
6. George Benson – NJ Pac (2023)
Before I saw Benson perform live, I only knew of two songs, those being “Love X Love” and “Give Me the Night.” But, a month prior, I listened to his most well-known songs, which gave me a whole new love for him and his music. “This Masquerade”, “On Broadway”, and “Turn Your Love Around” are some of my favorite songs ever now. The show had a quiet crowd (mostly because the average age was like 65), but Benson played a lot of great songs besides the aforementioned ones. He performed a cover of Roberta Flack’s “Feel Like Making Love”, and let one of his drummer’s perform a cover of Chaka Khan’s “Ain’t Nobody.” The show ended with “On Broadway” as well as his other drummer Andrew Simmons getting the spotlight with a damn-near 3-minute solo of his own. I even recorded some of it. For the fact that Benson is 80, there is no doubt in my mind that he had one of the best performances I’ve seen in my life.
5. NY State Of Mind Tour – Wu-Tang Clan, NaS, & De La Soul at Barclays Center
Last year, Wu-Tang, NaS, & Busta Rhymes (w/ Spliff Star) went all over the world to promote the “NY state of mind.” And, for the 30th anniversary of “36 Chambers”, they did it again, but with De La Soul as the new opener. So, my co-host and I bought tickets and went to Barclays. Immediately I almost laughed out loud because while I was waiting, some people at the back of the line were guessing why my teenager-self was at a Wu-Tang concert. Sadly, we missed De La, but RZA came on and introduced each member one-by one with a different song (RZA – “Clan in the Front (Pt. 1), GZA – “Liquid Swords”, Inspectah Deck – “Guillotine [Swordz]”, Cappadonna – “97 Mentality”, Raekwon – “Incarcerated Scarfaces”, U-God & YDB – “Da Mystery Of Chessboxin’”) but, my favorite introduction was Ghostface with “Mighty Healthy.” Then, to end their first session off, they played “Bring da Ruckus.”, and then it transitioned to “Verbal Intercouce”, where NaS did his set of street classics. He played “The Message”, “Hate Me Now”, “Got Ur Self a Gun”, “Get Down”, two songs from Magic 3 (a welcome surprise), and an “Illmatic” medley containing “Halftime”, One Love”, “Memory Lane” (where he did his 2nd verse acapella), and “N.Y. State of Mind.” The rest of the show was great, with Havoc and Method Man showing up, but I had to leave early, because it was a school night.
4. Pass the Mic – Radio City Hall
Pass the mic live seemed like a dream come true for hip-hop fans, as it was a given that Cassidy would get the best people for his given shows. But, boy was this a lineup. I do have a gripe though, and that is because all of the artists are from the 80s-90s and from NY. It doesn’t show the worldwide diversity that hip-hop is known for. But, I wasn’t mad as the commute to radio city was laughably easy. Funny enough, the show actually started on time, only 10 minutes after the scheduled time of 8:30. As expected, the first part of the show was great, as every act performed their biggest hits. But, believe me, I lost my s**t when I heard “Step Into A Wooorlld” come out of the speakers, as KRS, who you know I love, wasn’t on the bill. The second part included the headliners performing 12-minute sets, ending with Slick Rick and Doug E. Fresh performing “La-Di-Da-Di” and Naughty By Nature’s Treach performing “Hip-Hop Hooray” with everyone (my belief is that Cassidy put Slick Rick last because he anticipated he’d be late).
3. Bruce Springsteen – MetLife Stadium
Springsteen’s return to NJ for the first time since the 2010s, was anticipated around the state, and it did not disappoint. The crowd was better than Barclays, and Bruce performed different songs like “Spirit in The Night” from his first album. The encore included fan-favorites “Jungleland” and “Jersey Girl”, which are some of my favorite songs of his. In Conclusion, this was the Barclays show, but better.
2. Kendrick Lamar – Governors Ball
It’s kinda crazy how I’ve only been to a handful of concerts that are actually around my age range.
Nevertheless, this concert was AMAZING. The fact that Kendrick was late, but it made the crowd EVEN BETTER is some G.O.A.T. stuff. There were no filler songs, the best crowd ever, the best individual performance of a song ever (we’ll get to that), and the most amount of times where I thought I was going to lose my phone. K. Dot even performed iconic features like Pusha T’s “Nosetalgia” (I was a bit bummed that he didn’t show up, but it was his daughter’s birthday that day, so I can’t be too mad at him) and The Weeknd’s “Sidewalks.” But the crowd definitely got the hypest for songs off of Good Kid, m.a.a.d City the most. As expected HUMBLE, DNA, & Alright made everyone and their mother go crazy, but when Kendrick brought out his cousin Baby Keem to do “family ties”, it was NUTS. Everybody knew every word, and the bass was boosted extremely loud, making the mosh pit I was in jump up and down like they were in an insane asylum. This goes blow-for-blow with my number one, but it didn’t stand a chance in the end.
NUMBER ONE —- Stevie Wonder in Washington D.C.
Seeing your favorite artist perform live is so special
The story on how we got tickets was the most random thing ever. One summer 2018 day, we were at the beach in Long Beach Island, where a plane went by that said “STEVIE WONDER ATLANTIC CITY SOON” or something like that. I ran to my parents to tell them about this, and they found out that he was performing in Maryland a couple months later, when I had another break. We drove 5-hours to Maryland, checked into our hotel, and went to the venue. Then, when Stevie showed up, he said “What’s up D.C.!”, then we realized that we were right near the river between Maryland and Washington D.C. Anyhoo, the concert started off with a tribute to Aretha Franklin, who died weeks before. Then, at the half-way point, Stevie said “D.C., I have a special guest for Y’all.”
I’m going to stop this segment to let you, the reader, guess who it was. Come on, guess.
Alright, Did you guess it?
I have 100% certainty that you were wrong, because it was DAVE CHAPPELLE!!!! He did some stand up jokes, then the show continued, ending with “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” and “Superstition.” I can’t explain all the details, since it was 5-years ago, but I can tell you, it felt magical. Like God gave me a front row seat to watch the best artist alive perform a two-hour medley of his never-ending amount of hits (swear to god, his hits are as long as CVS receipts). That night in 2018 still remains the best of my life to this day.
The Music In My Mind 
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