There are good gigs, great gigs, and then there are truly special gigs – ones that only happen once in a blue moon, but are impossible to forget. While it’s hard to pinpoint what exactly makes these shows so memorable, throughout history there has been one consistent thread that can make a performance go down in the record books – the element of surprise.

Whether an artist or band just shows up to a venue unannounced or gave their fans as little as one hour’s warning, the following list remembers the shows that took us by surprise, and never left our minds – even if like us you weren’t there for most of them.

Warning: the FOMO levels are high with this one.

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