With music being one of my greatest passions, I have loved going to concerts ever since I was a freshman in high school. In recent years, however, it has become a full-blown addiction. My record so far was 15 concerts in 2023, and I came close to tying this number in 2024 with 14 concerts (I would have tied that number if the tickets I bought for Creed in Atlantic City didn’t turn out to be a scam). Here’s how I would rate all 14 shows based on the lineup, my view of the stage, the headliner’s setlist, the quality of the performance, and the average of those four ratings!
Gwar at Starland Ballroom
Lineup: 5/10
There were two openers before Gwar: X-Cops and Cancer Bats. My brother informed me ahead of time that X-Cops was just the members of Gwar wearing cop costumes, which meant they had the duration of Cancer Bats’s set to transform from sleazy cops into extraterrestrial monsters. X-Cops were equally as theatrical and entertaining as their later counterparts; unfortunately, I wasn’t a fan of Cancer Bats’s sound neither recorded nor live.
View: 9/10
I was told that front row seats are a must at Gwar concerts, and Starland Ballroom is a standing room only venue, so I made sure to arrive before doors open. I ended up about five rows of people from the stage, so the view was great – and I got very doused in alien blood (I’ll explain myself in the Performance review).
Headliner Setlist: 7/10
I didn’t start listening to Gwar until a couple months before the concert, so I wasn’t particularly attached to any of their specific songs.
Performance: 9/10
GWAR is my brother’s favorite band and he’s seen them live multiple times. He warned me that the show would be gnarly… and boy was he right. From beheading puppets of two major political figures to spraying the audience with blue “alien blood,” the show was violent to say the least. Everyone left the venue looking like a Smurf!
OVERALL RATING: 7.5/10
SiM at Brooklyn Bowl Philadelphia
Lineup: 6/10
There were three openers before SiM: Within Destruction, Crystal Lake, and Fame On Fire. I thought it was really cool that all three openers were from different countries (Slovenia, Japan, and the United States), especially since the headliner was also from Japan; unfortunately, the only opener that I enjoyed musically was Fame On Fire.
View: 9/10
Brooklyn Bowl is another standing room only venue, so I arrived before doors opened. Even after a trip to the bathroom I was able to get a spot just three rows of people from the stage!
Headliner Setlist: 7/10
The band acknowledged that they were made famous by the songs they did for Attack On Titan, but they explicitly stated that they are NOT an “anime band” and they have so much other music. As if to drive this point home, they removed “UNDER THE TREE” from their setlist despite performing it at preceding shows of the tour, and just played a recording of it after the encore. They did at least play “The Rumbling” from Attack On Titan, though. Also, I was surprised to find out after the fact that Fame On Fire has a song with SiM and yet they didn’t perform it together at the show. I was equally confused last year when Black Veil Brides toured with VV yet didn’t perform their song “Temple of Love.”
Performance: 10/10
Boy can these guys put on a show! Their entire performance was absolutely electric, and I would love to see them live again.
OVERALL RATING: 8/10
blink-182 at Wells Fargo Center Philadelphia
Lineup: 6/10
There were two openers before blink-182: Astronoid and Pierce The Veil. Astronoid did absolutely nothing for me. My taste in music is INSANELY broad and it doesn’t take much for me to like a song, but they don’t have a single song that I thought was worth adding to my Spotify. As for Pierce The Veil, I thought they were a surprising choice because they just feel so different from blink-182. Both of them are technically emo, I suppose, but such different types of emo – Pierce The Veil is screamo, blink-182 is, well, not. I personally am a fan of both bands, though, so the weird choice of opener worked out for me!
View: 1/10
This was, without a doubt, the WORST view I have EVER had for a concert – and this was the 49th concert I’d been to in my lifetime. Being too far away to see the stage is one thing, but the fact that I couldn’t even see the screens was absolutely infuriating. I guess that’s on me for not checking View From My Seat before buying the tickets, but Ticketmaster could have at least warned me that I would have a horribly obstructed view! I was pretty much restricted to listening to the performances, because I could hardly watch anything at all.
Headliner Setlist: 9/10
Their setlist was a great combination of old and new music, including a new song that hadn’t even been released yet. They even included snippets from a couple songs by bands that Mark and Tom were involved in as side projects! I can’t think of any songs that I had wished they’d played but they didn’t.
Performance: 8/10
From the banter between Tom and Mark to Travis’s drumset literally floating in the air, there was plenty of entertainment!
OVERALL RATING: 6/10
Melanie Martinez at Hershey GIANT Center
Lineup: 5/10
There was one opener before Melanie Martinez: Lola Young. She was okay, but I would have much preferred the band Beach Bunny, who had been the openers for the 26 preceding shows of the tour.
View: 7/10
Despite arriving long before doors opened, I wasn’t able to get nearly as close to the stage as I had hoped. Nevertheless, my view of the stage was perfectly clear and I never had to look at the screens.
Headliner Setlist: 5/10
I was so upset about the setlist I wrote a whole article about it. What bothered me the most was that even though this was advertised as the “Trilogy Tour,” her three albums did not receive equal attention: there were 8 songs from Cry Baby, a mere 4.5 songs from K-12, and 7 songs from her newest album PORTALS.
Performance: 7/10
The costume changes, pyrotechnics, and dancers were all top notch. However, Melanie barely interacted with the crowd at all, making it all feel very impersonal.
OVERALL RATING: 6/10
Thirty Seconds To Mars at Freedom Mortgage Pavilion
Lineup: 9/10
There were three openers before Thirty Seconds To Mars: KennyHoopla, Poppy, and AFI. KennyHoopla, bless his heart, is pretty good recorded but didn’t have much of a stage presence live. Poppy did amazing musically but I got the vibe that she knew she was just an opener and didn’t give it her all. AFI was fantastic and I would happily see them as headliners. This group of artists was such a great combination, though, that I’m giving them a 9/10.
View: 6/10
My seats were in that happy medium section where I could see what was going on onstage and wasn’t completely reliant on the screens for visuals.
Headliner Setlist: 8/10
The cover of “Stay” by Rihanna was an… interesting choice, especially considering the band has such a vast catalogue of their own music. I also didn’t love that they included some of their more pop-sounding songs; after all, I was so excited to see them because they were such a foundational part of my emo phase. Nevertheless, they performed my favorite song (“Hurricane”) as well as other classics from the same album, and they even added an additional song to the encore that wasn’t originally on the setlist.
Performance: 9/10
Jared Leto may have been the worst Joker in all of live action DC history, but this man is still a performer. His interactions with the crowd were so warm and genuine, and he has a phenomenal stage presence. Movies may not be his forte, but darned if he isn’t an incredible musician!
OVERALL RATING: 8/10
Glass Animals at Merriweather Post Pavilion
Lineup: 3/10
There was one opener before Glass Animals: Kevin Abstract. Frankly, I have never been less interested in an opener in my life. I love Glass Animals for their alternative pop sound, yet Kevin Abstract is straight up hip hop and rap. At least I was able to use his set to check out the merch table and buy an iced coffee.
View: 7/10
I had a pretty centered view of the stage, but still relied on the screens a lot because I was so far away. This position ended up being an advantage, however, because during the song “Gooey” Dave (the lead singer) came all the way up to the lawn barrier, which was directly behind me!
Headliner Setlist: 6/10
Most of the set was from their newest album, which was fine because I thoroughly enjoy their new releases; to be honest, though, I think I prefer their older music and wish they had played more of it. They only played one song off my favorite of their albums, ZABA.
Performance: 10/10
Fellow Fandom Spotlite writer Hailey went to an earlier one of their concerts at a different venue and said it was by far the best concert she’s ever been to. I completely understand why! Dave is so sweet and humble, and you can tell that he genuinely enjoys performing.
OVERALL RATING: 6.5/10
Avril Lavigne at PNC Bank Arts Center
Lineup: 10/10
There were two openers before Avril Lavigne: girlfriends and Simple Plan. This was the second year in a row that I saw girlfriends open for Avril, and though I was a little disappointed that their setlist was almost identical to their one from the 2023 tour, they still did great. Simple Plan was one of my favorite bands as a kid, and a lot of their songs have very emotional significance for me, so seeing them live was a dream come true.
View: 7/10
This is the first time I saw Avril at a venue that didn’t have standing room, which unfortunately meant this was the worst view I’ve had of her so far – but considering I was in the front three rows for the previous concerts, that’s not really saying much! These seats really weren’t that bad at all.
Headliner Setlist: 6/10
Avril Lavigne is my favorite artist of all time, so there isn’t a single song of hers that I dislike or wouldn’t be happy to see live; still, I was a little bummed by how similar this setlist was to her previous ones. I was absolutely stoked to see her perform “Hot,” one of my favorite songs of hers, but was greatly disappointed when she only performed a snippet – especially because this was the only song on the entire setlist that was shortened. And how could she call this her “Greatest Hits Tour” without performing the titular song of her 2007 album The Best Damn Thing?
Performance: 6/10
Avril is my queen, my goddess, my icon… But I can’t pretend that her performance didn’t feel a little plastic. Even her fun audience interactions felt scripted, and a lot of her songs lacked energy.
OVERALL RATING: 7.25/10
Green Day at Hersheypark Stadium
Lineup: 6/10
There were three openers before Green Day: The Linda Lindas, Rancid, and The Smashing Pumpkins. I personally didn’t feel like The Linda Lindas were ready for such a massive stadium tour just yet in their career, but I have high hopes for them and wish them success! Rancid wasn’t quite my cup of tea, but the audience seemed to love them. The Smashing Pumpkins was an odd choice, since the headliner and both other openers are all punk rock whereas The Smashing Pumpkins are more grunge; I like them, though, so I can’t complain too much.
View: 4/10
I am not a fan of how this venue is set up – and not just because the lines for the bathroom were so long I ended up missing the first Smashing Pumpkins song despite bolting away as soon as Rancid was finished! I was at the very front of the Rear General Admission Field, and even in the front the stage was so far away I was completely reliant on the screens for any visuals. I couldn’t see anything on the actual stage with my own eyes whatsoever.
Headliner Setlist: 6/10
Maybe I’m just getting old, but 37 songs felt like A LOT. On top of three opening bands, this setlist made for a looooong night. I’ve never been to a concert where a band performed an entire album, let alone two entire albums. In addition to every single song off of both Dookie and American Idiot, they also included five songs off their newest album and one song each from five other albums. My favorite of their songs, “21 Guns,” did not make the cut.
Performance: 8/10
Billy Joe Armstrong (the lead singer) doesn’t age at all. His voice continues to sound great, and the whole band had as much energy as if they were still in their 20s. I have to give them massive credit for surviving through that long setlist, too! Billy Joe forgot some song lyrics, though, and an amp also caught on fire at one point.
OVERALL RATING: 6/10
Falling in Reverse at PNC Bank Arts Center
Lineup: 7/10
There were four openers before Falling in Reverse: Jeris Johnson, Tech N9ne, Black Veil Brides, and Dance Gavin Dance. I had never heard of Jeris Johnson before, but I enjoyed the electro viking rock gimmick he had going. To be honest, I used Tech N9ne’s set to buy merch and use the bathroom. I know that Falling In Reverse has added more hip hop elements in their newer music, and that they have a song with Tech N9ne, but their overall genres are just so vastly different. It was really bizarre to see a rapper on the lineup for a rock concert. I love both Black Veil Brides and Dance Gavin Dance, but I was surprised that the longer slot went to the latter instead of the former; after all, BVB has twice as many monthly listeners on Spotify than DGD does. And I know I should obviously take this with a grain of salt, but the woman next to me in the audience said DGD was the worst band she’s ever heard and told me I’m probably their only fan when she saw I was wearing one of their shirts. Regardless, I’ve wanted to see DGD live for a while now, and BVB has been one of my favorite bands since I was in high school, so I was stoked to see them together.
View: 7/10
My seats were a couple rows farther from the stage than the last time I went to this venue, but the view was still pretty decent and I could easily see the full stage.
Headliner Setlist: 7/10
A majority of the set came from the band’s newest album, which is a mix of songs I absolutely love and songs that I don’t really care for. They also sprinkled in two songs from the first album The Drug in Me Is You plus one song each from three other albums as well as one single. My favorite of their songs, “Bad Girls Club,” didn’t make the cut, and they didn’t even play the full song that they chose off of that album: they only played up through the first chorus.
Performance: 6/10
Controversial lead singer Ronnie Radke really has a way of working up the crowd… to the extent that it felt more like a cult than a concert at points. He also tried WAY too hard to hype up the rest of the band without ever actually gave them any of the spotlight. Still, I can’t deny that he is a charismatic and explosive performer. I also thought it was really cool that the music videos for each song were projected in the background while they were played (albeit a bit weird because most of the people appearing in the videos are no longer involved with the band). During “Game Over,” however, they showed clips from TikToks of people criticizing the band, which felt wrong in so many ways and made me very uncomfortable.
OVERALL RATING: 6.75/10
Lord of the Lost at Irving Plaza
Lineup: 6/10
There was one opener before Lord of the Lost: Julien K. I didn’t like any of their songs enough to add to my Spotify library, but they did put on an entertaining performance (though I was even more entertained by the ABBA music played over the speakers between sets).
View: 7/10
As always with standing room only venues, I made sure to arrive as early as I could; but apparently this wasn’t early enough, because there were at least 10 rows of people between me and the stage. At least I was nice and centered, though!
Headliner Setlist: 8/10
I discovered Lord of the Lost thanks to their participation in Eurovision, so I was happy as long as they played their entry “Blood and Glitter.” Chris (the lead singer) prefaced it with “Here’s the Eurovision song,” which I thought was hilarious. Plus, starting with “The Curtain Falls” and ending with “One Last Song” was genius.
Performance: 10/10
What. A. Show! Smaller venues make for a more intimate experience as it is, but the band interacted with the crowd in a way that made it feel like a small gathering of friends and family. I don’t always like it when artists do a ton of talking instead of singing, but in Chris’s case, he was just so personable I could have listened to him talk for hours.
OVERALL RATING: 7.75/10
MMRBQ at Freedom Mortgage Pavilion
Lineup: 10/10
The MMRBQ is split into two parts: the General Admission portion and the main show. The GA bands were Jersey Calling (whose entire set I missed), Sleep Theory, Silvertide, and P.O.D.; the main bands were The Warning, Nothing More, and Halestorm, with The Offspring headlining. With such a long [bill], I couldn’t believe how lucky I was that I not only already knew, but also liked, all but two bands (I had to look up Jersey Calling and Silvertide). There have been years when I didn’t know a single one of the GA bands (as is the case with the 2025 lineup), or when I didn’t even know the headliner (such as Jane’s Addiction in 2021). The Offspring had been my first rock concert back in 2014, so it was pretty awesome to see them again exactly 10 years later – even if it was only from the lawn.
View: 9/10 (GA), 3/10 (main)
For the General Admission portion of the day, everyone is allowed to sit or stand wherever they want. This meant that even though I bought lawn tickets, I was able to spend the first half of the day in the pit, with just one row of people between me and the stage. My view from the lawn was drastically different: even though I was pretty close to the front of the lawn (just a few rows away from the Reserved Lawn section), I still could barely see the stage with my own eyes. Even the multiple screens weren’t much help, especially before the sun fully set.
Headliner Setlist: 6/10
I was really hoping they would play a few songs from their 2021 album Let The Bad Times Roll; unfortunately, the only song they did from that album was their instrumental cover of “In the Hall of the Mountain King.” I was surprised by this, especially because I know WMMR (the radio station behind the MMRBQ) plays the song “Behind Your Walls” fairly often. There weren’t many differences between this setlist and their setlist when I saw them back in 2014, except for the inclusion of one single song from their newest album (which was unreleased at the time of this concert).
Performance: 8/10
2024 really felt like the year of seeing punk bands from the 90s still killing it. With vocally straining songs like “Self Esteem” and “You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid,” it’s a miracle that lead singer Dexter hasn’t completely destroyed his voice by now, let alone that he can still perform those difficult songs. Fully engaging a crowd of 25,000 people is quite the feat, but The Offspring did so with ease.
OVERALL RATING: 7.2/10
Marianas Trench at Irving Plaza
Lineup: 9/10
There were two openers before Marianas Trench: PIAO and Cassadee Pope. PIAO felt extremely out of place with her bubblegum pop sound, but oh my gosh, I love her. She’s extremely talented, sweet, and relatable, and I even got the chance to meet her at the merch table after the show. When I found out that Cassadee Pope was the lead singer of the band Hey Monday, I absolutely lost my mind, because their song “How You Love Me Now” has been one of my favorite songs of all time since I was in middle school. Needless to say, I went ballistic when she performed this. Her solo music is awesome, too, and I would happily see her again.
View: 8/10
After missing my scheduled train into the city, I ended up arriving far later than planned. Fortunately, there was somehow less than 10 rows of people between me and the stage. The lead singer, Josh, entered the crowd and walked around the audience for two different songs, so I would have seen him up close at one point no matter where I ended up.
Headliner Setlist: 9/10
The friend I went with only knew songs off their album Phantoms, so for their sake I was slightly disappointed that they didn’t play any of those songs; however, Phantoms is actually by far my least favorite of their albums, so personally I was perfectly pleased with this exclusion. I was happy that in addition to 8 songs from their newest album, they also played 4 songs from my favorite album (Ever After), plus 2 songs each from 3 other albums as well as 1 single.
Performance: 10/10
I have listened to Marianas Trench for quite a few years now, but this concert skyrocketed them to the top of my favorite artists. Josh is insanely talented, and the other three band members also got their time in the spotlight. I don’t even have the words to properly express how fantastic this show was. I can’t wait for them to go on tour again!
OVERALL RATING: 9/10
P!nk at MetLife Stadium
Lineup: 7/10
There were two openers before P!nk: The Script and Sheryl Crow. Unfortunately, traffic was so atrocious that I missed The Script’s entire set and all but two of Sheryl Crow’s songs. Missing Sheryl Crow was a bummer, but I’m so distraught over having missed The Script that I’m planning an entire trip to Ireland in 2025 just to see them live in their home country.
View: 4/10
To be honest, I avoid stadium venues when I can because the only affordable seats tend to be so high up that the people on stage look like ants. But at least at this particular venue there were three screens to watch (one horizontal and two vertical).
Headliner Setlist: 6/10
I was very disappointed when she replaced my favorite song, “Don’t Let Me Get Me,” with a cover of “Me and Bobby McGee” in honor of Kris Kristofferson’s passing. It was a lovely tribute, and I know it’s selfish of me to be unhappy about it, but of course I would be upset when the song I was looking forward to the most got swapped out for a song I didn’t even know. I was also hoping that the song they chose for the “guess that tune” game she plays with the pianist every night would be one that I knew, but it wasn’t.
Performance: 8/10
While the aerial stunts made this concert totally unique from any other show I’d ever been to, it also meant that for the songs with aerials, P!nk didn’t sing. My main reason for going to concerts is to experience how the artist sounds live, so I missed out on this experience with four of the songs on the setlist – including one of my favorites, “So What.” When P!nk did sing, however, she was incredible. All of her stories and asides were hilarious, and she made it feel like she was speaking individually to all 80,000 people in the audience. She also exchanged candy and other goodies with fans in the front row, which was so sweet (pun unintended).
OVERALL RATING: 6.25/10
BABYMETAL at Wind Creek Event Center
Lineup: 8/10
There was one opener before BABYMETAL: Scene Queen. To be honest, I was more excited to see her than I was to see BABYMETAL. I only knew a few of BABYMETAL’s songs beforehand, but Scene Queen has been one of my all time favorite artists ever since her debut and I had already been to two of her headlining shows. She mentioned that BABYMETAL was one of her bucket list bands to tour with, so I was super happy for her to see that dream come true! However, I’m docking a couple points here because the audience members who were there solely for BABYMETAL and weren’t familiar with Scene Queen’s music must have been rather taken aback by the explicit nature of her songs.
View: 5/10
Since this show was on a Thursday night, I had to head to the venue straight from work, which meant I couldn’t arrive as early as I would have liked. Despite being perfectly centered and less than 20 rows away from the stage, I somehow couldn’t see anything that was happening onstage right in front of me. I think it’s because the entire crowd had their hands up for almost the whole show.
Headliner Setlist: 7/10
At first I thought “RATATA” was an odd choice since about half the song is performed by another artist, but when I found out this song was nominated for Metal Hammer’s Best Metal Song of 2024, the decision made sense. As I mentioned above, I didn’t know a lot of BABYMETAL’s songs before the concert, so I was super bummed when they didn’t play my favorite of the few songs I do know, “KARATE” – especially after seeing that they played it during other shows on the same tour.
Performance: 7/10
Kawaii metal is such a bizarre concept to begin with, and man is it fun to see in action! The girls’ sparkling costumes and idol-like dances juxtaposed with screaming backing vocals and heavy instruments was so much fun to see. Unfortunately, I worry there may have been some lip-syncing involved due to all the dancing.
OVERALL RATING: 6.75/10
Here’s to another year filled with live music!
