That was Los Angeles; these are the top five from San Francisco:

1. Flaming Lips about seven times with the show on May 15, 1996 at Slim's still being the loudest show I have ever seen.
2. Pulp played on May 21, 1996 at Bimbo's (what a week). Saw Blur/Pulp but this was a better show.
3. Supergrass Supergrass Supergrass every album, so every tour.
4. Radiohead (OK Computer) with Spiritualized (Ladies and gentlemen) opening.
5. Beck in 1997.

Saw the Stones in 1999 as well.

1. STOOGES - at the Big Day Out this year. There was a certain percentage of the crowd losing their shit at actually getting to see Iggy, and the rest were pissed bogans who had no idea who they were watching

2. Radiohead 2003 - they hadn't been here since the very end of the OK Computer tour in 1998, and probably won't ever be back. Had seated rather than GA tix, but still one of the best shows I've seen. The fact that they cancelled their 2 Melbourne shows (out of a total of 4 for the whole tour) a few days later cos Thom's voice was shot made it all the sweeter at having seen them

3. Sonic Youth 2004 - at the time I didn't think I'd get to see them again. Of course now they're coming down for Splendour in the Grass next weekend. Played mostly Sonic Nurse/Murray Street songs, but the encore of Kool Thing and White Cross was great. And then I went back to my cousin's hens night, which was a whole other story in itself...

4. Sleater-Kinney 2006 - I missed their 2002 tour despite them playing Sydney on my 18th birthday so I could legally have got in if I weren't living 5 hours drive away at the time. The Grates supported. Their drummer vomited part way through their set and Pae kept giving her shit about it for the whole show. S-K again blew my mind in how good they were after seeing them the day before at the BDO. Janet is surely a cyborg. Glad I got to see them

5. New Order 2002 - effectively closing my first Big Day Out, which I had won tix to. Had a massive case of heat stroke after a long day, but was pleasantly surprised at the time at how many of their songs I knew. Apparently Bernard was reading lyrics off a teleprompter

6. Something for Kate 2004 - the first band I became obsessed with, back with their original line up and playing only songs from that era for their 10th anniversary. First and only time I've seen most of those songs played live

Ditto. My brother was home from the Navy once and my mom said she'd buy us tickets to a show. We picked VH mainly because we both really wanted to see Alice In Chains (Facelift-era--they were opening) at the time.

Van Halen was actually pretty damn good. Had no idea though that they had such intense devotees. Like Deadheads or Parrotheads only Van-Heads?

The Go-Betweens in 2000 in San Francisco. RIP Grant!

I saw Van Halen once with Roth and once with Hagar. Even though the Roth version is unquestionably superior on record, I actually thought the Hagar version was better in concert. They were all pretty wasted when I saw them with Roth.

I really don't have any bands to blow your socks off, so the only one I really want to mention was my first concert. My mom took me to see the Stones at Soldier Field in like '96 or '97.