Aside from a ton of great new albums, there were some kickass tours this year too!

My pick would have to be for Cattle Decap/Revocation. There were only four bands (Full of Hell and Artificial Brain supporting), and Cattle played a 15 song set which was awesome. I got to talk with Josh Elmore, and he says they want to go a little more atmospheric on their next album. (Hopefully in 2018?)

Metal Blade's 35 year tour was pretty great, too. It was actually my first time seeing Whitechapel and my 2nd seeing Goatwhore.

Pick your favorite tour/show this year, and why?

Does a fest count? Full Terror Assault 3 was just fucking awesome. Finally got to see Overkill. Was sweet even if I was worn down from 3 days of metal and drinking. Goatwhore, Toxic Holocaust, etc. Had a great time.

For a single show I'd go with Exodus, Obituary, and Power Trip. Didn't catch all of Obintuary's set but fuck Exodus and Power Trip destroyed that place.

Power Trip in Toronto in September was awesome.

But seeing Metallica (regardless of the opening acts) on the massive stadium WorldWired tour was really great. I know it's probably not very "cool" to pick them, but holy fuck, I think the show I was was fantastic. Probably one of the best of the nine time I've seen them.

Gotta agree, Battle of the Bays was life-changing. Power Trip, Obituary, and Exodus leveled the place. Excellent performances from all of the bands.

dragged into sunlight put on the best show for my year (opening for mayhem a bit over a month ago), followed by moonsorrow - who i've seen a couple of times before, but they're always great. deströyer 666 and kypck were also very good

a couple of great non-metal gigs include wöyh! (off kilter proggy rock/pop stuff) and saimaa (hippie weirdness)

biggest disappointment by far was not seeing bölzer, because they had to cancel at the last minute due to injury... rotting christ wasn't as good as the first time i saw them either, because they only played a couple of tracks off the debut and everything else was the last two albums (really, not even non serviam) - this was a festival gig tho'

surprise of the year goes to actually seeing rippikoulu live

I saw them in STL and yeah it was awesome. Sure if I listened to the show now I'd probably be picking it apart, Lars' simplifying the drums, the solos being off, etc. but live it was monstrous. Even played out tunes like Sandman were massive and powerful. It was a spectacle show and they pulled it off.

I've been to a LOT of metal shows (and even more shows in general) and the intensity of the crowd (I was on the floor about 30-35 feet from the center) during the ecstasy of gold->hardwired was one of the most insane things I've been a part of. I can't hear the intro to hardwired and not get a huge smile on my face now thinking of that moment.

Favorite individual set was Sargeist at MDF, followed by Children of Bodom on their 20 years tour. Both probably the two best sets I've ever seen. Friday of MDF had a ridiculously stacked lineup, but Sargeist's setlist stuck out as my favorite, in particular when they played "Twilight Breath of Satan." I was kinda hoping Children of Bodom just played straight through the rest of Something Wild after Deadnight Warrior and In the Shadows because that would've been such a ballsy move. They still played almost the whole album though. Bodom's first four albums were and important early metal band for me, and this was the first time I saw them, so I hugely enjoyed that show.

Vader, Entombed, and NAILS were probably my next favorites, followed by Insect Warfare. There were also a bunch of other bands I saw that were super great, though a bit below those bands... Metallica (really cool to hear them play "Halo on Fire," wonder if they'll ever play that again since all the songs they played that weren't from the new album were older stuff, so when they tour on future albums idk if they'll go back to much of the Hardwired material), Nordjevel, Pharmakon... plus some other bands I've been wanting to see for a while like Autopsy and Scorched (though I wasn't the biggest fan of Autopsy's setlist). Mayhem's DMDS could've been the best show of the year, except the show they played here had literally the worst sound of any concert I've ever been to. Some people were literally just having conversations during the show.

On top of these shows, there were plenty of other great concerts. I really enjoyed seeing Cave of Swimmers again, especially hearing the new song--that was awesome! Seeing Cryptopsy again was great too, though they only played one song from The Book of Suffering this time, unfortunately. Also, seeing Homewrecker with a bunch of nearby beatdown hardcore bands was great. I was honestly not really intending to go, because I didn't know any of the supporting bands and, while I like Homewrecker well enough, they're not a great band, but the supporting bands ended up really wowing me. I missed the first two, but Detriment and Hell to Pay (I think those were the two I saw) were fucking VICIOUS and definitely overshadowed the headliner.

There were three concerts I wanted to go to but had to miss for various reasons: Kreator on the Decibel tour, False with Cloud Rat and others, and the recent Cannibal Corpse show. Also, I missed Desolated on apparently their farewell tour and fucking BEWITCHER because I didn't know they were playing .

I might close things out this year by going to see NAILS and Shitfucker. So far, next year looks promising in terms of concerts. In particular, I think the Decibel Metal and Beer fest has a way better line up than this year's. Here's to more brutal metal shows in 2018!

Since moving from New Jersey to North Carolina in late 2014, I can literally count the number of shows I've been to on one hand. None of them were metal (unless you count Rush in 2015, which I certainly do not).

Hardly anyone of note tours through my town-they either hit up Charlotte or the Raleigh/Durham area (compared to New Jersey which has a notable venue in nearly every town and also has stones throw access to NYC). So what that means for me based on where where I live is at least an hour and a half one way for travel, which is not horrible in of itself, but getting out of a club show at 1am to only have a 90 minute drive ahead of me basically rules out any show on any night other than Friday or Saturday (up for work at 5am). Couple that with the fact that I nearly exclusively go to shows alone-because neither my wife nor any of the people I might consider friends have the same kind of tastes I do-means that I am forced to be hyper-selective as to which shows I go to.

So in 2017, I went to exactly two shows and to reiterate, none were metal.

I saw Yes with Todd Rundgren and Carl Palmer. And while I enjoyed both openers much more than expected despite no familiarity (Rundgren especially), I was there for Yes and that was essentially because Yes is just one of "those" bands that I probably should have seen years earlier. Plus, they're getting up there in age, and figured it was time to see them before Steve Howe kicks the bucket. Nonetheless, it was a spirited and enjoyable show with one song chronologically from each of the first 9 albums.

I also saw St. Vincent on her Fear The Future Tour. This was a show-a one woman show that contained elements of live music performance, theater, visual art. Just a wild and bizarre pop art spectacle. No opening acts, the performance was preceded by a screening of her short "horror" film The Birthday Party, after which she went into a two set show-the first being reworked (to fit the current album's sonic aesthetic) selections from her first four albums and the second being her new album (the utterly sublime Masseduction) in full. I have to admit that I bought the ticket not knowing what the show would be like and was initially hugely disappointed to find out that she'd be playing alone to backing tracks rather than having a band on musicians onstage with her (as she had in the past), but 2 songs into the first set it clicked with me that this was not meant to be a conventional "rock show" but rather a performance art piece where the visuals and theatrics-from elaborate choreographed draping, to video projections, right down to what she was wearing, how her makeup was done and eventually undone, and the color choices of her guitars alongside the colors in the lighting-were equally important as the music to the presentation as a whole. Plus, I got to experience her otherworldly guitar stylings in person. I just found the whole thing to be incredible.

I haven't narrowed it down to a tour/show, but getting back into pits this year has by far ramped up my enjoyment of concerts more than anything has in years.

At 35 years old I've been to enough concerts where it's all starting to become pretty stale for me. One thing I've stopped doing over the years though is getting into the fray with everyone. I guess I've just bought into the "I'm getting old" crap. I went with a friend a couple months ago to Dying Fetus who dragged me towards the stage where most of the action was going on and it really did ignite passion for live music in me again.

Damn you fucked up, Obituary was the best one of the three! Quite possibly the best non fest I went to this year, along with Conan/Graves At Sea/North and Thou/Cloud Rat/False

However, Psycho Las Vegas was definitely the highlight concert for me. So much emotion at that one.

I saw Metallica for the first time in 9 years and they were fantastic. It was awesome to hear them play songs like Damage Inc and Through The Never and the new stuff came across very well live. Kreator in March were also superb as were Halloween last month. Anthrax were a lot of fun too and seeing Black Sabbath one last time was very special for me. Away from metal, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds were incredible despite playing a huge, impersonal arena and Queens Of The Stone Age put on a great show at the same venue. It's definitely been a good year for memorable shows. I already have some great ones lined up for next year both metal and non-metal.

For me it was definitely Manilla Road, having some decent openers and one amazing one: Slauter Xstroyes!

MR played basically everything I expected and then some, including a lot from Mystification, Crystal Logic obviously, and Open the Gates, with a few from The Deluge, To Kill A King, and maybe one or two from The Blessed Curse. They never play anything from Spiral Castle, but I really wish they would! In any case, they sounded great, and I think Hellroadie is much better live than on the albums (where he sounds oh so tired...), I didn't really miss Shelton's vocals while Hellroadie was singing (until Shelton DID sing and I remembered how good his voice really was, despite now being much deeper and raspier). The crowd was smaller than I expected, but it was an extremely rabidly faithful group, judging by the singing along and silly antics.

And Slauter Xstroyes, holy shit that singer can belt it out. Old dudes but really glad I got to see them.

Also obligatory to mention that I saw Warning. "Watching From a Distance" was one of my all-time favorite sad high school albums. Great live too. The first few vocal notes were painfully off, and I thought to myself "oh shit he can't sing at all live", but he quickly adjusted, found the key, and the rest of the performance was flawless vocally. Only turn-off was the drummer's stage presence. He looks kind of like Eric Wareheim doing a character...

Cannabal Corpse was the best show for me, with Astronoid a close second.

Interesting.

I think I only went to one show this year: Black Dahlia Murder back in May. It was okay but we arrived late and missed the first two openers.

I had a ticket for Kreator/Vader but didn't go thanks to depression. That would've been the best.

The best for me was Ne Obliviscaris and Allegaeon. I went in more excited for Allegaeon, but I was super impressed with how well NeO played live. Super clean and crisp, and the venue had excellent acoustics as well. Unfortunately it was a pretty short show though (Allegaeon didn't even play 40 minutes).

New Cryptopsy, playing None so vile in full.

Went mostly to meet few friends that live far away from me, came back mind blown.
Surgically precise, great stage presence and a small crowd of madmen air guitaring and singing even the slap parts and the pinch harmonics, I had tons of fun!

Haven't been to that many shows this year, but they were actually mostly of memorable ones. My strongest memory - being beaten to a fucking pulp by Demolition Hammer at Brutal Assault. That one gig will stick with me.

As for single shows, seeing Blind Guardian (playing "Imaginations" in full and all) in a packed club during a terrible heatwave was tiring, but it was probably the best show of their out of the 4 times I caught them. Also Killing Joke with Grave Pleasures opening was a lovely one.

Oh man that's a hard one for sure!

Seeing Sabbath on The End tour twice at London's O2 Arena in Jan/Feb was just fantastic. Sabbath are my favourite band so to see them go out in style was definitely a big deal to me.

Anthrax at The Forum in London in Feb was also spectacular. They played two sets - one of old and new and then Among The Living in full. Flawless!

Vader at the Underworld in Camden with Immolation as support. Intense!

Guns 'n' Roses at the Olympic Stadium was simply breathtaking. Axl was spot on and Slash was phenomenal as you would expect.

Helloween at the Brixton Academy on their Pumpkins United tour... Unbelievable! I really cannot describe just how amazing this show was. Damn near three hours of classics, with Kiske and Hansen back in the fold.

Lastly, Airbourne at the Roundhouse, London. One of the best hard rock acts going today. They always put on an amazing live show and this time was no different.

Loads of gigs already lined up for 2018 already too!

Demolition Hammer - June 24th in NYC.

Probably will go down as the best/fave concert of my life.

They played EoV in its entirety.

^ Seconding this. From the first note of “Skull Fracturing Nightmare,” it felt like the entire floor had shifted under my feet in all directions at once. It was practically impossible to stay in one location the entire time they played unless you were right up in front, and even that was no guarantee.

What city did you see Astronoid at? I saw them in Detroit on Super Bowl Sunday and unfortunately, maybe 12 people showed up. I love that album and thought it sounded great live.

Xasthur

Saw MR for the first time ever on their 40 year aniversary tour this year (first time on dutch soil actually for them) and felt very, very priviledged.. What an amazing atmosphere and what a great set. They played Dreams of Eschaton from a crowd request. Still get goosebumps, just thinking about that.

Also Primordial in Arnhem was brilliant. Hoped they would play Heathen Tribes for the Arnhem reference, but they didn’t do that. Instead they played a great version of Coffin Ships and one of my all time favourite Primordial songs No Nation on this Earth.

Other honourable mentions were Batushka and Helloween.

When to quite a handful this year but probably my favorite was Day 1 of Days of Darkness Festival. Manilla Road put on a helluva show, and was my favorite band of the night. The lineup was a really cool mix of doom metal, synthwave and a bunch of other cool stuff. That and the fact there was literally a costume party right outside the venue made this the best fest and Halloween I had in a while.

Also, super jealous of anyone catching Demolition Hammer.

This is a tough one. I managed to see a lot of great bands live this year and I had a blast at most of the shows. I think this one goes to the Children of Bodom, Carach Angren and Lost Society show in Ottawa. Not the most fantastic lineup I saw this year, but the show was crazy. Carach Angren was amazing, Lost Society blew me away and it was really cool hearing all of CoB's old material. The crowd was electric and a lot of fun to be around and mosh with. Plus, it was my first time ever in Ottawa so that probably added to the enjoyment.

Hellowen on their Pumpkins United world tour... Just WOW! I'm not a fan of the power metal subgenre, but it was one of the best shows I've ever seen in my life. I think it was the most epic show I've seen since I catched Rush on their Time Machine world tour!

Also, I'm going to see Neurosis for the first time on saturday ... I've got really high hopes!

I saw Nick & The Bad Seeds in the Detroit Masonic temple this year. It was amazing. It was just crazy scheduling that, the night before, Sigur Ros played the same venue. It really made the travel worth it for me. Both shows were some of the best I've seen. (and both very different from each other, and anything else, really)

I can agree with those.

Oh, and Emperor's Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk show at Brutal Assault.

Sabbath at the O2 back in January. I was expecting a good show, but not an absolute classic since Ward wasn't there - but holy crap, it was amazing. I didn't pay too much attention to Ozzy or Clufetos, instead I was just swept along by the sheer power of the Iommi/Butler wall of sound. The core energy those two tap into is astounding. This was my ninth time seeing some version of the Tony/Geezer combo, and it was easily the most brutal and heavy I've heard them. The MoR material sounded like Killing Joke. And a bit of Megalomania in the mid-set riff jam brought the vibe of Sabotage from 40 years in the past into the arena, genuinely a goosebump moment.

When to a number of shows this year and it's a tough one to pick a favorite.

But I am leaning towards Pain of Salvation in NY. Great show and Portnoy showed up playing drums on "Ashes".

I also will at that I enjoyed the Bodom tour. Lost Society was fun and killed it live. Carach Angren was amazing and it was great to hear Bodom play their old material.

I'm gonna have to say Manilla Road at Frost & Fire III this year. They played an intimate 2 hour set full of classics, in front of a small but very enthusiastic crowd.

Deftones in Paris was the highlight for sure. Fantastic energy and flawless performance.

Metaldays in Slovenia had three 10/10's as well: Katatonia, Death Angel and The Foreshadowing. Another great one was Neurosis in Stockholm. VERY intense.

I'm not a huge fan of theirs outside a couple songs so after they played Chopped in Half like 5 songs in I called it a night. Sunday night shows suck since I have to get up early the next day. If it had been a Friday or Saturday I would have caught the whole thing.

helloween pumpkins united and rhapsody on farewell tour.

That moment was brilliant and completely took me by surprise. So glad I went for "Gold Circle" tickets for that show. I normally stay well clear from that kind of bullshit but I made an exception for this one. Definitely money well spent.

The Angelcorpse reunion and the Mysteriis... Mayhem shows by a long shot, most intense experiences I've ever had.

The best I saw this year was Helloween's Pumpkins United show in London. I was expecting it to be really good, but I wasn't expecting one of, if not the, best shows I've ever seen. Hearing songs I never thought I'd ever get to hear live, let alone with Kai Hansen and Michael Kiske... Hearing Kiske and Deris together was amazing as well, and the Kai Hansen medley of Starlight/Ride the Sky/Judas was nothing short of mindblowing. The show totally brought back the feeling of being 14 and discovering them/power metal for the first time, and the giddy excitement that comes with it. Absolute magic.

High Spirits playing a secret practice room show in Newcastle was brilliant - the whole scene there is absolutely mad for them, so there was something like 50-60 people crammed into a tiny wee room on a Tuesday night going absolutely fucking mental. Proper fun.

Venom Inc. at the Lords of the Land festival in Glasgow was great too. To be the highlight on a bill that included Autopsy, Mayhem (playing DMDS), Primordial, and plenty more is no mean feat. They were fast as fuck, they were loud as fuck, they blew up an amp, and the crowd was really up for it, so it was a good time.

Other highlights of the year would include Ross the Boss, Tokyo Blade, and Warwound.

Biggest disappointments of the year would be Traitor's Gate. They sounded great and were really good at playing their songs, but they mostly played new songs, which were a bit shit. And they played just two songs off the Devil Takes the High Road release. Those two songs were great, but suffering through 30+ minutes of dullness for just two was a bit much.

I got to see Metallica for the first time, that was pretty cool.

Power Trip/Gatecreeper/Cannibal Corpse was awesome. PT was insane. I'd say their set was the best performance of any band I've seen this year.

I think I had the most fun at Nile/Overkill earlier in the year, so that'd probably be my fav overall for 2017.

Went to the Argus album release show in Pittsburgh last night. Ironflame was there and they fuckin killed it. They are really good live. Argus was incredible too. They played their new album, From Fields of Fire, in its entirety. Great show. My first show in a really long time.