While I did not hit a numerical record for my most ever shows in a calendar year, the quality of who I saw, combined with achieving some personal goals, has 2025 as my most epic concert year ever! Looking back, I can say for the third year in a row that distinction applies!!! I made it to see 65 shows this year and I am both thankful and fortunate beyond my wildest dreams for the opportunity to share my adventures. Once again, the memories created this year will last forever and I am beyond thankful for the people that helped me create and share those moments.
I crossed seeing AC/DC off my bucket list with what may have been the best show I have ever seen! Also crossed off the bucket list was having photo credentials for Metallica! Twice!! I was the only local photographer to have access for both Tampa shows while working with a local rock station! Other highlights of the year included seeing a show at Red Rocks Amphitheater, seeing Metallica FOUR times in one month, three separate cruises with my ‘Monsters’ family and seeing old and meeting new friends at the shows I attended. This year was all over the entire musical spectrum in those 65 concerts with bands ranging from Air Supply to death metal.
2025 summarized numerically:
• 65 concerts (counting 15 cruise nights as 1 concert per day)
• 191 bands seen
• 88 new bands seen for the 1st time
• 8 cities
• 2 states
• 23 venues & 3 cruises on 2 cruise ships
• 7 new venues I had never been to
First-Time Bands: 3-Year Comparison
| Year | Unique Bands Seen | First-Time Bands | First-Time % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 191 | 88 | 46.10% |
| 2024 | 204 | 89 | 43.60% |
| 2023 | 170 | 66 | 38.80% |
This year instead of a few words about each show, I’m going to let my favorite shots of the year do the talking. With easily north of 25,000 shots for the year to choose from, I picked out just over 900 as favorite shots. To see the list of shows and bands I saw in 2025 go here with the most recent shows listed first. 2025 encompassed shows # 419-483. To see all 900+ photos I picked out as favorites and whittled down to my most favorite go here. For my absolute favorite shots from that group go here.
To say it was an amazing year of concerts, adventures and friends is an understatement. I am beyond fortunate to have the opportunity to see musical legends as well as some of my favorite bands perform. I got to hang out with great friends and meet new friends along the way. Once again, I discovered a ton of bands this year. With travel to multiple cities, venues and cruise ships, forever I will have stories to tell and photos to share that captured the moments and memories. More than once this year, and again as I write this, I feel like I was ‘living the dream’! My thanks and appreciation to all of those who helped make 2025 the epic concert year it was.
Concluding 2025 will be my debut on the sidelines with photo credentials for a college football game when the Iowa Hawkeyes take on the Vanderbilt Commodores in the 2025 ReliaQuest Bowl in Tampa, FL on New Year’s Eve.
CMO
\m/
