The 2008 HardRockChick.com Awards

Best Shows: These 10 immediately come to mind as shows that really wowed me in 2008.
1. Nine Inch Nails, Deerhunter @ The Forum, 9/6/08
2. The Dillinger Escape Plan, The Bled @ BOTH, 4/7/08:
3. Marilyn Manson, Ours @ The Warfield, 2/20/08
4. Saul Williams, Dragons of Zynth @ Slim’s, 3/21/08
5. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (electric) @ Great American Music Hall, 9/9/08
6. OhGr @ Slim’s, 11/21/08
7. The Faint, Glass Candy, Shy Child @ The Fillmore, 8/4/08
8. Metallica, Lamb of God, The Sword @ Oracle Arena, 12/20/08
9. A Place to Bury Strangers, Sian Alice Group @ BOTH, 9/30/08
10. Nine Inch Nails, Crystal Castles @ key arena, 7/26/08

Worst Shows: These 5 shows made me cringe in 2008.
1. My Bloody Valentine, Spectrum @ The Concourse, 9/30/08
2. Outside Lands @ Golden Gate Park, 8/22-24/08
3. Cut Copy, Black Kids @ Mezzanine, 4/26/08
4. Too Short, Celsius 7, Mavrik, and many more @ 1015 Folsom, 2/22/08
5. Chris Cornell, Timbaland @ The Fillmore, 10/31/08

Most Disappointing: I had high expectations for these shows, and the bands really let me down.
1. Ministry
2. Atmosphere
3. My Bloody Valentine
4. The Damned
5. Chris Cornell

Best ‘Nostalgia’ Acts: Older bands that delivered stellar performances in 2008.
1. Ted Nugent @ The Fillmore, 6/19/08
2. Billy Idol @ The Fillmore, 6/26/08
3. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds @ The Warfield, 9/19/08
4. New York Dolls, We Are the Fury @ The Fillmore, 3/5/08
5. Mission of Burma, Hank IV @ The Independent, 9/27/08

Best Swag: These items really added to my rock memorabilia collection.
1. NIN guitar pick from JMJ
2. Saul Williams setlist
3. The Faint setlist
4. Signed and numbered Manson poster
5. The Sword drumstick
6. My pic w/ Brendon Small (in my homemade Dethklok shirt)

Craziest Shit I Saw: Things that made me go whoa.
1. SHAT: one word- dildos
2. Dillinger Escape Plan: attempt to break the back window of Bottom of the Hill
3. The fire at The Fillmore that canceled Dethklok
4. Robin Finck throwing his guitar at the barrier, scaring several fans at the NIN Inglewood show
5. A drunken member of HotTub stage diving to attack a girl that was making fun of her.

Firsts and Lasts: What I saw make their debut or their final appearance.
1. Hearing NIN play ‘In This Twilight’ for the first time ever
2. Seeing one of Velvet Revolver’s last performances
3. Seeing one of the last shows at 12 Galaxies
4. Seeing Josh Freese and Alessandro Cortini’s last 2 shows w/ NIN

Best Venues: These places make a good show great and a bad show a bit more tolerable.
1. The Fillmore
2. Bottom of the Hill
3. Great American Music Hall
4. The Warfield
5. Slim’s

Best Local Bands: I’ve been generally disappointed with the local bands in SF, but I’d recommend these.
1. Veil Veil Vanish
2. immigrant
3. The New Centuries

Hottest Tickets: I could have sold the following tickets for oodles of money.
1. GA presale tickets to see NIN at Planet Hollywood in LV
2. The Raconteurs @ Bimbo’s
3. Filter

Shows I missed due to illness, etc. 🙁
1. GWAR @ The Grand Ballroom
2. Radiohead @ Outside Lands
3. DEP/Cavalera Conspiracy @ The Fillmore
4. Conor Oberst @ Bottom of the Hill
5. 16volt @ DNA
6. MSTRKRFT @ Mighty

Most Rockin’ Non-Concert Experiences:
1. U.S. Air Guitar Championship
2. Russell Brand
3. Rocky Horror Picture Show
4. Obama Victory Street Rally
5. Guitar Superstar

How about you? What was your best/worst shows of ’08?

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update 1/1/09

I forgot to rant one more time about my 2 biggest ticket debacles:

1. Flight of the Conchords
2. Beck @ The Independent

These two shows detracted from my normal status of Ticket Queen….argh….