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Jimmy Buffett's Banana Wind concert at the Gorge in George in 1996. —AnonymousMy favorite memory of a live music event is when I was playing with my group Girlnoise back in Ann Arbor at a local shop, Argus Farm Stop, in the greenhouse late summer. We played our friend's piece, stones from lake superior (by Nadine Dyskant-Miller). The first movement opens with a peaceful line given by the cello, followed by violin. Gradually harmonicas join, building to a powerful peak felt in every part of the space but fades away to the second movement. My partner and I were playing the harmonica parts. The blend of the strings, harmonicas and the sounds of the late summer insects heard through the open doors and windows created a beautiful wash of sound and sense of being and awareness that I will never forget.
—Mary FortinoRobert Ashley and Blujean Tyranny playing live at a New Music Festival on Chicago's Navy Pier in June 1981(?)
—Gordon CrandallInterlochen Summer Arts Camp, I was a counselor and it was my first time listening to Les Preludes. The dancers on the roof, in the audience, and in the orchestra were mesmerizing. —AnonymousMy very first time at the Marathon was in the 1990s at Alice Tully Hall and I remember vividly seeing Pamela Z for the first time and equally Twisted Tutu with Eve Beglarian and Cathy Supove - very cool performances and very cool women performers!
—Ursel SchlichtOregon.
—Jimi DursoFreshman year of college my band had opened up for the group that had inspired me to become a composer, Artificial Brain. Their music has set me off on a journey to discover my own musical voice, so it was very meaningful to be able to play my earliest compositions for the people that got me started.
—Kyle MillerRehearsing with the Oakland Youth Orchestra for a performance of The Pines of Rome, and being so absorbed by the music and color and vibrancy I was sitting in the midst of. —AnonymousSeeing Colin Stetson live. That is truly muscular playing.
—Guy ThomasSteel Hammer at Mass MoCA
New singers, and the band had to RAISE the tent....and the concentration of that performance, and the collaboration was unlike any life music event I'd ever experienced.
—Karen CurleeSteve Reich and Musicians at Severance Hall in Cleveland many years ago
—Rob DickersonWatching the premiere of Meredith Monk's Cellular Songs. —Anonymousthe BANG ON A CAN MARATHONS IN THE WORLD FINANCE CENTER IN MANHATTAN AND THE BROOKLYN MUSEUM
—ALLAN YASHINShnee
And Lisa Moore performing what I think was an Elena Kats-Chernin piece
The "noise" band duo from I don't know when.
Monica Germino performing Julie's With a Blue Dress On
—Mary MadiganFirst time has the magic of first times... And in fact my first (and only!) attendance to boac all stars (in Barcelona) concert was magic! Up to the expectations. Keep it going!
—José M. Blanco MorenoNick Cave at Kings Theatre, Brooklyn. —AnonymousJohn Tavener's "Lament for Jerusalem" at the National Cathedral in 2011
—Bill F2012 marathon. my first trip to the city. beautiful sunny day at the wintergarden. todd and lowenstern played a duo, p.glass was signing cds at the merch table. i met the all-stars and david lang. everyone was so chill. i knew i found a community i could call home 🙂 —AnonymousOne Marathon in the Winter Garden, Margaret Leng Tan and friend took the two seats in front of me. After a bit, she turned to me and asked if I would hold the seats while they got something to eat. I responded, "Of course, Ms. Leng Tan." "You recognized me?!" I had to resist responding, "Yes, even without a toy piano." When she returned, we talked about what we were looking forward to hearing that day, and in the summer.
—Louis Vavrinsthe lead singer smashing a full skeleton onto the stage as clouds spun backward on the screens reading 'forever'
—Wilson StinerI loved the tinsel monsters the first time I saw Helado Negro live!
—AnonymousThat is tough as our club seen is amazing, I was at Piety studios with Elvis Costello & Mr. Toussaint for the "River in Reverse" recordings & I was in Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore & Malaysia last year for the Rainforest World Music Festival.
I have to say that Bruce Springsteen & the Seeger Sessions band the year following Katrina (2006) here in New Orleans at the Jazz & Heritage Festival was pretty special —AnonymousGavin Bryars, twelve hour performance of Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet at Tate Modern London from eight pm on twelfth of April to eight pm on thirteenth of April two thousand nineteen
—Fedja KlikovacThe Kronos Quartet playing Different Trains in a synagog in Pittsburgh
—peter biloenGavin Bryars, 12 house performance of 'Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet' at Tate Modern London from 8pm on 12 April to 8am on 13 April 2019
—Fedja KlikovacBeing moved to tears by notes that had never been heard aloud before at a premiere. —Anonymous frederick rzewski grace cathedral sf —AnonymousBranca
—Thom KennonToo many to pick a favorite. But last year I loved the Julius Eastman pieces at Loud Weekend.
—Lynn BrownJulia Wolfe Fire in My Mouth
—Daniel FelsenfeldThe B 52's live at a Madame Wong's in Los Angeles Chinatown in 1979. Fred started the show holding up his beeping transistor radio for the start of "Planet Claire"
—Dave GranvoldBang on a Can Marathon at Alice Tully Hall in July of 1996! (And Steve Schick performing a work by George Lewis at that same festival!)
—Pamela ZIn the mid 1970s - I don't remember when exactly but I must have been around 20 - I went into San Francisco to see the Philip Glass Ensemble on tour. The venue was packed, it was super loud and virtuosic and exciting, and the vibe was unlike all the other concerts I had ever been to before. I remember walking out and thinking that something had changed.
—david langAhh too many! Since we are in canland, I have a very fond memory of performing with the Orchestra of Original instruments at the BOAC summer festival in 2014. We performed and improvised in paper clothing made by Anne Hamilton. We were moving in and around the audience. I just remember there were some really incredible moments of silence, as well as a vibrant sense of community and excitement, that we were all experiencing this paper chorus for the first time.
—Zan BerryHi! In the late 70s, right after I moved to New York, I saw a live free performance of Steve Reich and Musicians playing Music for 18 Musicians down in the Battery. I think it was in the old Customs Building, which is now the Museum of the American Indian. I knew, then, that this is why I came to New York!
—Michael GordonDoing an on the spot improv with a friend at a new years party
—Shoshana KleinIt felt like being part of history to sit in the Winter Garden watching Alvin Lucier sitting in the room while listening to "I am sitting in a room."
—Colin MacDonaldMagical nights at the winter garden when the marathon was 24 hours!
—Adam wolfensohnJust listening to these spontaneous compositions here is not unworthy of such distinction! But I'm gonna go with the Butthole Surfers at the Paradiso in Amsterdam, August 1987. Blew my mind.
—Kenny Savelsonhearing the Anthony Braxton trio live at the Big Ears festival a few years back.....seeing "Anthony Braxton's Macbook Pro" scrolling across his screen brought a lot of joy
—Will YagerIt was spring break 1985. I was studying at the Yale School of Music. And I heard that the Cal Arts Festival was going to bring Louis Andriessen to their festival and perform his monumental works De Staat and De Tijd. So Michael and I bought plane tickets to California, rented a car, and camped out in the Cal Arts parking lot. The pieces were played in a large open atrium and the audience was scattered throughout, sitting on the stairs, hanging over balconies, laying on the floor. The pieces were huge and bold and beautiful and resonant and awe-inspiring. I was enveloped in the sound, in the experience. Wow!
—Julia Wolfethe singular blurred memory of 5 years wandering the hallways of mass moca during the boac summer marathon, high fiving new buds, ripping great tunes, and that one time there was a wizard fight <3
—Matt EvansMy favorite memory of a live music event was the first Bang on a Can Marathon that I went to in the early 2000s! —AnonymousHearing the Bang on a Can All-Stars LIVE for the first time! It was Road Trip at BAM! The video, lights, and musical grooviness created an all-around mesmerizing and memorable experience.
—Maggie StapletonIt was in Darmstadt sometime in the 90's. In retrospect I am pretty sure they booked the All-Stars to shake things up, create a stir. That happened.
After the first piece half the audience applauded & the other half booed. This went on all night with ever increasing intensity and ever changing allegiances.
At one point a guy got up and challenged the whole audience to walk out with him.
No one went with him.
Seems everyone else was interested in continuing the robust exchange. By the end of the night it was all but a riot. Pretty sure we played an encore.
I wouldn't have missed that night for the world.
- Mark Stewart
—Mark StewartI can't decide. There are so many. Maybe the Billy Joel concert I went to when I was 17. Or maybe playing the groove section of Music for 18. By the way I'm loving this live sound typewriter!
—Lisa MooreListening to Timber at a BoaC Marathon in 2014—lots of people had left by then, and I was laying on the steps of the Winter Garden in the back for a full hour, staring at the weird palm trees and the night sky thru the skylight.
—Kyle Tieman-StraussI was 12. The band was Kansas on the last leg of its "Leftoverture" tour. It was loud. The band was hairy. And the lights where are unlike anything I've seen before. And I wondered, with such an incredible light show, why the person running those lights wasn't up on stage.
—Timothy Thomasaaaabababababcbcbcbcbcdcdcdcdededededefefefefefgfgfgfgfhghghghihihihijijijijijkjkjkjklklklklklmlmlmlmnmnmnmnmnonononopopopopopqpqpqpqrqrqrqrqrsrsrsrstststststutututuvuvuvuvuwvwvwvwvwvwxwxwxwxyxyxyxyxzzzzzzzzz
—Pascal Le BoeufAt the BOAC summer festival in 2018... playing Sextet by Steve Reich - Vicky Chow on piano, David Cossin across from me on vibes, and a couple other amazing people. Steve was there... he was so pleased. We were filled with joy after... so happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy.
—Gloria Yehilevsky
