Best of 2009 w/bonus best of the 'aughts

2009 was a good year: I saw 57 shows (old favorites and new discoveries from far and wide) and even got an article about my Coheed fanaticism published on the USA Today Pop Candy blog.

There's so much good stuff, it's almost too much to list:

• Best show I saw in 2009: hands down, ZZ Top. They were amazing and had the biggest beards and coolest guitars too. Runner-up: Landmine Marathon
  
• Band I'd waited the longest to see live: Propaghandi. It could have been better but after listening to them for more than half my life, I just wanted to see them.
  
• Funnest (Most Fun?) Show I saw in 2009: The Meatmen. Definitely the best crowd of the year, best costumes and stage props and hottest drummer.
• Show I traveled the farthest to see, not counting the shows I saw in Portland (since I was there on vacation, not for the shows): Coheed 51 in Buffalo
• Best non-US band I saw: Lyapis Trubetskoy [kruto!] Honorable mention goes to my favorite Tuvans, Alash.
• Favorite locals: tie between Solar Powered Sun Destroyer and Caverns. Don't make me pick one.
• Sweatiest show: The Dillinger Escape Plan at the Rock & Roll Hotel. Runner-up: Clutch at Sonar. Yes, those were both worse than any of the outdoor shows.
  
• Weirdest show: Bloody Panda Very close runner-up: The Devil's Blood
  
• Other favorites in no particular order: Hall & Oates, Air Supply, Far, & Mastodon
• New favorite song: Crazy for Blowjobs (obviously)
• Best bands I saw for the first time in 2009: Toxic Holocaust & Salome
• Best sandwich: DC Nine smoked gouda grilled cheese [non-show-related runner-up: Milano sub from The Italian Store]

Best of the 'aughts (to the best of my recollection), in no particular order

• Billy Idol at the 9:30 Club - wow, that was 2001? attended with Ms. LvL, one of the most expensive tickets I'd ever bought (at that point anyway) - found the stub, it was $35
  
• Green Day at the Patriot Center - attended with Ms. LB after winning the tickets on DC101
• Coheed & Cambria in Pittsburgh - I don't know if it was the lack of sleep or what, but this was a religious experience for me
• Thursday at the 9:30 Club - Tue Sep 17, 2002.
  
• Bear vs. Shark - anywhere, anytime. I miss those guys.
• Turbonegro - anytime, anywhere. Hopefully they'll go back on tour now that Euroboy is cancer-free.
• Anthrax - despite the "incident"
• Three at the Electric Factory - this got them on the Progressive Nation tour; too bad their label dropped them (actually two labels dropped them) recently
• Sick of It All at the Ottobar, August 2004 - still the most stage diving I've ever seen

I could probably go on, but I think that's enough for now. In 2010 I hope to see more of Coheed (duh), Toxic Holocaust, and maybe some new bands.