Louis CK @ Kings Theatre (November 22, 2025)

I was a bit surprised when I heard about this tour, as Louis had been cancelled for sexual misconduct many years ago. But it didn't deter me from wanting to see the show. Fran didn't know what she was getting into when she agreed to accompany me to the show (she had never heard of him before), and was reminded earlier that day by her brother about Louis' past. All that being said, it turned out to be an absolutely hilarious performance.

This was the first time I had seen Louis live. I wasn't sure whether to expect any sort of change in his style or content post-cancellation, and as far as I could tell there wasn't really any. He didn't address his misconduct in the material, nor do I think he needed to (as an aside, I later found out that he had previously put out a bunch of other material after the cancellation, so this wasn't really a comeback, even though it was his biggest tour since then). While definitely on the raunchier side, he has a rare ability to combine solid material at different philosophical levels. One minute he's joking about farts, another about satisfaction in life, and then later about pedophilia. And all the while leaving us all in stitches.

He had a couple of openers, whose names I can't remember or find at the moment. The first was a woman who wasn't very funny. The second was a Norwegian guy who played the awkward shtick to near perfection - I later found out that his name was Daniel Simonsen.

Radiohead @ Movistar Arena (November 8, 2025)

I was in disbelief when in September Radiohead announced their first tour in 7 years. Even though it was a European tour, I had already booked a vacation to Spain and Portugal with my mom and mother-in-law, so there was a slight chance that I might be able to see one of the shows. I had to do a triple-take when I saw that their last show in Madrid lined up with the day that the tour group would be arriving in Madrid. Even crazier, I later found out that the venue was less than a 5 minute walk from the hotel where we would be staying. Needless to say, I jumped at this opportunity, signed up for the ticket lottery, and got up at 5am to join the virtual queue the morning that the tickets went on sale. With a little payment help from Fran, I was able to score a "fast track" ticket for the show.

The fast track ticket didn't really give any special perks (I knew this going in), though purchasers received "exclusive items" designed by the band (this turned out to be a swag bag, with the most notable items being the bag itself and an umbrella). For me, the most important aspect about the ticket was getting a really good seat close to the floor. I also bought a long sleeve t-shirt from the merch stand, though it turned out to be a little too small.

There was no opening act - the band started promptly at 8:30p as advertised. They played until 10:35, with a single encore (as expected). About ten minutes before the band came onstage they started doing a kind of crowd warm-up where they would play some tones and light up different sections of the arena (at which point that section would scream).

This tour was the first time they played "in the round". The circular stage (including screens and lighting) was cool, and the band (particularly Thom and Ed) made decent use of it by moving around to different sections from time to time. During the early part of the performance the audio didn't sound quite right to my ear, but that improved as the show went on. One regression was that during "Optimistic" (which was played later in the main set) I could barely hear any of the drums.

The setlist spanned their catalog, with representation from every meaningful album (Pablo Honey doesn't count 😅). Standouts included "Reckoner", "Pyramid Song", "You and Whose Army?", and "Let Down". They also ended with my favorite closer, "Everything in Its Right Place".

All in all, the show was a good reminder (not that I needed one) why Radiohead is by far my favorite music artist. I don't know how much longer they'll be around (I didn't really expect them to ever tour or make new music before this tour was announced), but I very much appreciate them while they are.

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Rating: 4.8/5

 

Grizzly Bear @ Brooklyn Steel (October 14, 2025)

This was the first concert I had been to in well over a year. Grizzly Bear isn't among my favorite artists, but I like a fair bit of their stuff. I don't think they have any new recent material, but this was apparently their second live show in six years - the first the day before at the same venue kicked off a brief tour with five shows there in 6 nights (and later dates next month).

Overall it was a solid show, and they played well. The setlist included a couple of my faves by them, but even the songs I was less familiar with sounded good. Not too much else to say besides that. It was good to be back at a live show.

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Rating: 4.1/5

Mike Birbiglia @ Beacon Theatre (June 9, 2024)

This was the first time that we had seen Mike live (unlike the last two times) where it wasn't a residency sort of deal. And he brought this up during the show, commenting that some people prefer the early shows on his tours where the material is more fresh and exciting (though this has the potential downside of not being as refined). The show was billed as "One Night Only" with the title "Please Stop the Ride" - I still don't quite get that title after seeing the show, but whatever.

Since it was a tour show, he had an opening act - two in fact. First was Gary Simons, then Atsuko Okatsuka. They were both pretty decent - definitely better than the opener for Anthony Jeselnik last time out.

Neither, of course, was nearly as funny as Mike. This show was centered around his dad recently having a stroke, and also teaching his now 9-year-old daughter, Una, lessons about the good life while himself not having answers to many of the big questions. As alluded to before, it was a bit more freewheeling than his polished residency performances (with perhaps a couple of reused bits from prior releases), and he also threw in little material for the locals (as he has lived in Brooklyn for many years now). We both really enjoyed the show, and Fran laughed so hard for so long that she was crying a little bit. Mike is still at the top of his game, delivering a mix of storytelling, jokes, and life lessons in his trademark style. I look forward to seeing how the refined product turns out in the special.

Davido @ Madison Square Garden (April 17, 2024)

 

Showtime was billed at 8pm, but Fran and I arrived close to 8:20, not expecting anything to get going any time soon. The DJ started bringing on opening acts maybe 10-15 minutes later, and that lasted for about an hour before they were semi-abruptly pulled off stage. I described that whole scene as "amateur hour". At one point there were 5 or 6 guys standing behind the DJ laptops doing who-knows-what. And most of the acts, bar one, weren't very successful at getting the crowd hyped up.

Anyway, Davido came on a little after 9:30, and wrapped up a bit before 11:30. The crowd was pretty sparse when we arrived, but filled up around the time he started. Throughout his set he brought on a lot of guest performers, sometimes performing with them and other times leaving the stage altogether. A couple of those departures led to reappearances to perform songs within the crowd (once on the floor, once on the first level of seating).

I had the realization during the show that I was only familiar with maybe half of his discography, which is low for me going to see an artist's show (but I did walk out to one of his songs at our marriage reception, so I guess that's sufficient). A lot of the crowd seemed to know the lyrics to every one of his songs, in contrast to me never having even heard half of them. But there were at least a couple of songs he didn't play that I wish he would have (e.g., "Assurance").

Performance-wise... There was a live band for most of Davido's songs; though I think they just played recordings for the guests. The stage setup was modeled after the NYC subway, which made me wonder whether that was specifically for MSG or whether they reused that at other shows. There were also pyrotechnics at various points. And he had dancers that came out (somewhat randomly) for a lot of the songs.

Overall it was a fun show, but tough to give a high rating.

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Rating: 3.8/5

 

Anthony Jeselnik: Bones and All @ Beacon Theatre (March 23, 2024)

Anthony Jeselnik is not for everyone. But if you appreciate his style, he's good at what he does. The only person in my NYC circle who appreciates (or at least can put up with) his style is apparently my father-in-law, Tommy.

The opener was some fast-talking lady (I forget her name), who was alright. You can imagine that her act was a bit crass, considering who she was opening up for.

Anthony's act was maybe about an hour and change (Tommy expected longer), and the material was about what you would expect from him - misdirection and one-liners. Some "targets" this time around included trans people, pregnant women, and children. He had me cringing a couple of times, when I wasn't sure if he was still on the line or a little bit over it. But you just have to remember that they are just jokes, and then you can appreciate the humor. He even had a bit where he explains his style as "gallows humor", in the process of setting up another killer joke.

All in all an enjoyable show. I can see this being another Netflix special.

Ramy Youssef: More Feelings @ BAM Howard Gilman Opera House (December 8, 2023)

For the second straight year, Franny surprised me with tickets to a comedy show for my birthday. And once again the show was straight fire. This time it was to see Ramy Youssef, whose TV show Ramy we had enjoyed together. This show/tour, "More Feelings" was a follow-up to his first comedy special "Feelings" (which neither of us had seen until after we saw this show). Like the TV show, the comedy show centered around his experience as an Arab American and practicing Muslim. The recent war between Israel and Hamas provided further inspiration for the new material. As I mentioned before, the show was great; his jokes were funny, and he has mastered his style of delivery even more since the first special.

A couple of additional noteworthy tidbits... His disabled friend Steve, whom we knew from a recurring appearance on the TV show, was the opening act - a pleasant surprise for us. There was also a point during Steve's act where he was describing the concept of "inspiration porn" from a disabled perspective, and asked for audience members to yell out someone who inspires them. On the second asking Fran shouted "my husband", to which I was immediately embarrassed (kinda like when she tries to start the clap after a plane lands). Thankfully Steve's on-stage reply of "Somebody hasn't been f*cked in a while" helped relieve the awkwardness. 😅

Lastly, this performance was a no-phones show (they locked up audience member phones in little bags that they unlocked afterward), so I didn't get a picture.