What are the 5 best bands you've seen play live?

I am going to change this to best concerts instead of bands.

See if you can find the common link between all 5 concerts.

In no particular order:

1. The Ting Tings - We saw them at The Record Bar in Westport.  Itty bitty venue which made for a totally awesome show.  That's not my name!  The only think that could have made it better was if we could understand anything they were saying.  They were pretty English.  The only thing I understood was something about being "knockered up" which I'm pretty sure they were.

2. Sugar Ray/Uncle Kracker- this was at the MO county fair when we were in college.  Sugar Ray and Uncle Kracker were opening for The Goo Goo Dolls.  I am not kidding when I say Mark McGrath, aka The Hottest Man on the Face of the Planet Next to Ryan Reynolds, walked out into the crowd and was within arms distance.  Nikki (college roomate) and I almost died.  Chad was not impressed.  And Sugar Ray had a bartender on stage behind them.  It was awesome.  You know who was not awesome?  The Goo Goo Dolls - you could tell they were unhappy to be there and their show was lame.

3. Matchbox 20/Fountains of Wayne - Also while we were in college.  This was at SMSU in Springfield.  I came up from Branson and Chad and some friends came over from Rolla.  Remember the song "Stacy's Mom?"  That was Fountains of Wayne.  And Matchbox 20 has some of the best songs ever - at one point they rolled a grand piano out onto the stage for Rob Thomas to play.  Very awesome.

4.  Sister Hazel - We went to see Sister Hazel at the Wichita Zoo a few years ago.  It was so awesome.  I bought a t-shirt and 2 of the band members signed the sleeves.  And we found out that hardcore Sister Hazel fans are called "Hazel Nuts" which still makes me laugh every time I think about it.  However, we didn't get the memo about bringing our own lawn chairs, so we were the only 2 standing the entire night.  But it was totally worth it.  There is nothing cooler than being at a great concert and having a peacock walk by and hearing lions roar in the background.

Side Note:  Sister Hazel sings my top 3 favorite songs of all time.  Change Your Mind, All For You and This Kind of Love.  Sure, there are other new ones that I like for a while, but those 3 have remained my favorite for many years.

5.  My BFF, Brad Paisley.  Oh my.  If you don't know the whole story of this concert, you can read it here.  It was one of the most awesome experiences of my life.  Darla and I still talk about it all the time.  Everyone we know is sick of hearing about it.  And who am I kidding when I say this was in no particular order - this is far and away #1.

Did you guess the common link?  They were all awesome.

We are going to see Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros on Wednesday.  I doubt they will push anyone out the top 5, but we'll see.