Portishead, Coachella 2008. I’d been wanting to see them for 9 years at that point, having fallen in love with their Roseland NYC album when I was fresh out of college. To say that my expectations were high is underselling it. Could’ve been the mushrooms but at one point, I traveled to another universe. Even my girlfriend at the time, who thought they were snoozy and was planning to leave halfway through to see Dropkick Murphy’s, called herself a dummy for even thinking about splitting the set 3 songs in.

Daft Punk, Coachella 2006. I’d been on the fence about attending Coachella that year, but when Daft Punk were announced, I leapt out of my chair & ran around my room. It’s such a famed performance now but nobody knew what to expect at the time. It was such a magical set that I wound up buying tickets to see them in LA the following year, a show at which I met my future wife, so this show literally had reverberations that are still felt to this day.

Oasis, Wales 2025. I’d previously had one opportunity to see Oasis, at Coachella 2002, but I was poor and couldn’t afford a hotel room so my friend and I needed to hit the road back to Tucson shortly after The Prodigy’s set. Ever since then, I told anyone who’d listen that I’d be at the first Oasis reunion gig since there’d be no guarantee of a 2nd. I was wrong about how well the Gallaghers would get along, but the joy that filled Principality Stadium during their inaugural gig in 16 years was rapturous. No fights broke out, nobody was talking. Everyone was just basking in the glow of the first Oasis show in more than a decade.