[IrritatedTrout]

I'll do my show rankings of 2012 now. I've seen so many shows that it's impossible to rank them numerically but I'll group them into tiers. I didn't go to any bad shows, they were all awesome. So the highest tiers will be pretty stacked but oh well.

Tier 1: God tier

•Tool @ Hampton Coliseum – Hampton, VA – February 3rd 2012
•Iron Maiden / Alice Cooper @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheater – Charlotte, NC – June 21st 2012
•Iron Maiden / Alice Cooper @ Aaron’s Amphitheater – Lakewood, GA – June 23rd 2012
•Iron Maiden / Alice Cooper @ Susquehanna Bank Center – Camden, NJ – June 29th 2012
•Iron Maiden / Alice Cooper @ Jiffy Lube Live – Bristow, VA – June 30th 2012
•Scorpions @ Merriweather Post Pavilion – Columbia, MD – July 12th 2012
•System of a Down @ Verizon Center – Washington D.C. – August 7th 2012
•Rush @ Jiffy Lube Live – Bristow, VA – September 9th 2012
•Megadeth @ The Fillmore – Charlotte, NC – November 25th 2012


Tier 2: Excellent

•Anthrax / Testament @ Ram’s Head Live – Baltimore, MD – February 7th 2012
•Mastodon / Ghost @ The Fillmore – Silver Spring, MD – May 9th 2012
•Rob Zombie / Megadeth @ Merriweather Post Pavilion – Columbia, MD – May 12th 2012
•Roger Waters @ PNC Arena – Raleigh, NC – July 9th 2012
•Agalloch @ Empire – Springfield, VA – July 28th 2012


Tier 3: Really good

•Lamb of God @ The National – Richmond, VA – January 22nd 2012
•Kiss / Motley Crue @ Farm Bureau Live – Virginia Beach, VA – July 21st 2012
•Ian Anderson @ Ferguson Center For the Arts – Newport News, VA – October 1st 2012

I'd say my least favorite show of the year was LOG because I was sick and because I'm not a huge fan, I mostly just went because it was cheap and because my friends were going and because I'm a casual fan. If I had to choose a favorite show I'd probably pick Iron Maiden / Alice Cooper in Charlotte because it was the first night of the tour and the atmosphere was electric. Not knowing the setlist was really cool and I just about lost my mind when they did stuff like Moonchild, The Prisoner, Seventh Son, ATSS, etc.

Oh, and I had tried to buy a pit ticket with no luck since February. I probably checked Live Nation at least 500 times between presale and the day before the show but no dice. Thankfully my girlfriend's brother-in-law who I was staying with has a degree in digital multimedia or something so he's a photoshop pro. The feeling of complete relief was unbeatable when I got on the rail with my lawn ticket redesigned to say pit.