As a kid, Jordan Burger used to sing with all the men in his family including his grandfather, uncle and dad. Jordan joined the ranks by the time he was in his school, singing and playing the cello. His older brother Rob, who has worked with artists like Iron & Wine, Ryan Adams, Laurie Anderson and Norah Jones, is a multi-instrumentalist arranger and composer with perfect pitch.

“He was the quintessential guy with the record collection I’d sift through as a kid, whether it was Ozzy Osbourne or the Beach Boys,” Burger said.

Rob was the catalyst for his younger brother’s love of music and took him to countless concerts when they were teenagers. In college, Jordan harnessed that enthusiasm into booking bands at Emory University in Atlanta.

“In college I was the social chair, and I would book bands from Mike Luba (co-founding partner of Madison House),” Burger told Amplify. “I always loved the live music aspect of the business and I admired and wanted to become guys I’d read about like Chip Hooper, Scott Clayton, Cass Scripps, Jonathan Levine and Marc Geiger. So upon graduating, without having that ‘mailroom gig,’ which to me was just a myth you read about in David Geffen and Ian Copeland bios, I started booking my friends Evan and Jaron.”

Burger interned for Erik Olesen (now head of radio at Crush), then for Top 40 at Elektra and Atlantic, then independent promoter Wallace Barr and East Coast Entertainment Atlanta’s Mark Letson. By 1998, Burger moved to New York where he worked for Pinnacle working with Scott Sokol and John Dittmar, booking bands like Oasis, Kid Rock, and Rob Zombie.

After a brief moment running his own agency, Burger joined The Agency Group where he spent 10 years working with the industry’s best including Steve Martin, Steve Herman, Jeremy Holgersen, and Ken Fermaglich. Burger joined Fleming Artists for six years with Adam Bauer. In 2012 he moved to Nashville and in 2016 began to work with Jesse Aratow and Nadia Prescher at Madison House as an agent.

“I’m in love with Nashville,” Burger said. “Ultimately I love live music. My family has to come first, sometimes, but I live for the live concert experience all of my every day.”

Amplify tried to chat with Jordan about just five of his favorite shows, but he couldn’t help but drop a few extras into the mix including an intimate Justin Timberlake gig, Prince at Madison Square Garden, and Squeeze at Radio City Music Hall. Still, the series is called Five Shows so Burger graciously whittled the list down to the best of the best.

Red Hot Chili Peppers at the Ritz in New York

Oct. 27, 1989

My older brother Rob is a popular arranger, composer and multi-instrumentalist and my greatest early musical influence. Rob would take me on the train to Nassau Coliseum to see bands like Genesis & KISS. And we would go to NYC to places like Wetlands and Tramps, where I saw many acts including Living Colour, and Stevie Ray Vaughn sat in with the band. My earliest favorite concert was seeing the Red Hot Chili Peppers at the Ritz in 1989. That was a few years after the Red Hot Chili Peppers released “Uplift Mofo Party Plan” and the year they released “Mother’s Milk.” The show was packed and loud and my first really incredible live sweaty, in the pit, rock n roll experience.

H.O.R.D.E. Tour at Jones Beach Theater in Long Island

July 12, 1992 

widespread panicIt was the summer after my Freshman year in college. I went with my brother to the Horizons of Rock Developing Everywhere (H.O.R.D.E.) tour at Jones Beach in Long Island and I remember it being a really foggy day. The lineup that day was one stage that had Widespread Panic, Phish, Spin Doctors, Col. Bruce and the Aquarium Rescue Unit, Blues Traveler, and members of the Allman Brothers! I think the lineup says it all. With the beach as the backdrop to the stage, my memories of the day are a little bit hazy, but I remember I saw the show of a lifetime.

The Cat Empire at Summerstage in Central Park, N.Y.

July 23, 2007

Personally speaking, I would argue this band is one of the greatest live bands on the planet. They’re from Melbourne, Australia and I booked them for a bunch of years while at The Agency Group. Their songs and live shows bring great joy, and their concerts are attached to some of the best highlights of my adult life. I enjoyed my bachelor party with their band in Montreal. My wife and I were on honeymoon in Fiji & Australia in December 2005 and were able to attend their Christmas party concert (in warm summer weather) in the world famous Spiegeltent. Such a wonderful show and night. But the highlight of my Cat Empire experiences was July 2007 when they played Central Park Summerstage in NYC on the day my son Jake was born. My wife Kate and I went for a walk in Central Park and on the way to soundcheck decided it was time to go to the hospital. We went up to Columbia Hospital and the doctor said we had about 12 hours still with some inducing. So I cabbed it back to the concert in the gorgeous summer, watched this band absolutely crush it, and a few hours later my baby boy arrived. A perfect day.

My Morning Jacket at Bonnaroo

June 14, 2008
In 2008, My Morning Jacket performed a world famous set in the pouring rain at Bonnaroo. I came to Bonnaroo for work, but I was wandering around since I had a moment off. It was the first time I had ever seen My Morning Jacket play and the crowd kept getting bigger around me. The rain started to come down really hard in the middle of their set, but they played on and no one left. They’ve played so many times, but I just remember being drenched in a downpour and celebrating the musical bliss of my life. Those boys rocked with everything that they had and it was my first of many My Morning Jacket gigs since and my winner for best show I’ve ever seen.

Foo Fighters at Hangout Festival in Gulf Shores, Ala.

 May 20-22, 2011

foo fightersDave Grohl can do no wrong. Their nighttime headline set on the beach was just a legendary memory for me, classic two-hour Foo Fighter’s rock set. Even better was when Cee Lo Green didn’t show up for his 4 pm happy hour set. After the crowd waited for about 15 minutes, Grohl hopped on stage to explain how he was relaxing and eating lobsters in his dressing room after he had caught some ocean waves. He joked that we were so spoiled for needing him to come fill in. But since the fans needed him, the Foos slayed a 45-minute set of covers including Alice Cooper’s “Schools Out” and some Queen. Hangout Fest is a special one for me too. In 2016, it was the first festival I took my kids to. My daughter got to see her favorite, Ellie Goulding, and my son met Walk the Moon.