I love music, particularly live music, and have been lucky to see more than my fair share of concerts in my lifetime. But instead of trying to list all the performances I’ve ever seen — which would probably be nearly impossible, not to mention a little boring — how about I share a few concerts that have a special memory attached?

1. Janet Jackson, Rhythm Nation tour (circa 1989). I was 12 years old and it was my first concert ever. I’ll leave it at that.
2. The Supersuckers (circa 2000). Yes, I’ll admit it. I’m a Pearl Jam groupie and only went to this particular concert at the Showbox in Seattle because I found out that Eddie Vedder was their top-secret special guest. And boy, was it worth it. I was five feet away from the stage and I was totally swooning.
3. Thievery Corporation (circa 2005). I don’t remember the exact venue, but it was somewhere in NYC’s Meat Packing District, and the performance was crazy cool.
4. Sleater-Kinney (circa 2002). During a concert at the Knitting Factory, I believe (Floribunda, do you remember?), the band insisted that all shorties should come closer to the stage so we could see better. Short girl power!
5. The Evens (circa 2007). We saw them at an unremarkable NYU venue. In addition to the music, the fabulous part was that the band sat one table over from us at dinner (Quantum Leap in the W. Village) before the show. Cool by proximity, we were.
6. Quasi (circa 2003). Again, the Knitting Factory in New York (I think). Again, Janet Weiss on drums. Need I say more?
7. Radiohead (2008). Having never been able to score tickets to any of their shows in New York, having an unobstructed view of their performance at Wuhlheide in Berlin was simply amazing. (Photos and more here).
8. Sonic Youth (2007). They played their Daydream Nation album in its entirety at Brooklyn’s McCarren Park Pool, an immense empty swimming pool in Greenpoint, complete with chipped and peeling turquoise paint. Cool, huh? (Check out my photos here).
9. Ben Harper (2006). It’s no secret I’m a big admirer of his, and I’ve seen Ben Harper in concert many many times. But my favorite, by far, was a last minute show at the Supper Club, a relatively small venue in Manhattan. The venue was super intimate, we were close to the stage, and really felt the electricity of the performance. Definitely goes down as my top concert experience of all time. (You can read more of my gushing here).

We also have tickets to see Pearl Jam in Berlin this summer (with Ben Harper recently announced as the opener), and I’m sure I’ll be able to add that show to this list. (Check back in June for plenty of gushing and swooning).