What is a concert diary?
A concert diary is a private record of shows you have already been to: the artist, the venue, the city and the date. A rating, a note and a photo are optional. It is not a list of who is touring, and it is not a database of setlists.
Reviewed 25 October 2026 by Felipe Basurto.
Published: · Updated:
What people actually write down
People write down the artist, the venue, the city and the date. The artist, so you can find the night later. The venue and the city, so two stops on the same tour do not collapse into one. The date is one calendar day, not “sometime that summer.” A rating, a note, and a photo are optional: who you went with, or whether you stayed for the closer.
Photos are optional. If you keep them, they belong to that night, not to a camera roll that also holds receipts and screenshots. A setlist belongs in the entry only when you write it. Nobody else’s setlist is your memory of the room.
What it is not
A tour calendar answers “who is playing near me.” Songkick and Bandsintown are built for that. A diary starts after the show, when the only person who can say you were there is you.
A public review site is a different object. Letterboxd works because films have a page everyone can mark. A concert diary can stay private. The friends who were in the room are not the same thing as an open network of strangers’ tours.
A setlist site answers “what did they play.” That is a useful record of the band. It is not, by itself, a record that you were there, or of who you stood with.
Diary, setlist log, or the next show
People ask for “the best concert app” and mean three different jobs. This is not a ranking. It is the job, then an example of who says they do it.
| Job | What you keep | Who says they do it |
|---|---|---|
| The next show | Who is playing, and where to get a ticket. | Songkick and Bandsintown. |
| Setlist log | The songs played, often filled in for you. | Gigvault, Concert Archives, and Concerts Remembered say they save setlists. |
| Concert diary | The night you already lived: artist, venue, city and date. A note is optional. | A notebook. Encore, on iPhone, does this too. |
Where Encore sits
Encore is an iPhone concert diary for shows you've been to: photos that stay on the phone, ratings, and stats. You save the artist, the venue, the city and the date of each show. A rating, photos and notes are optional. There is no ticket scan and no import from another app. Photos and videos stay on the iPhone. If you sign in, the artist, venue, city, date, rating and notes are backed up to Encore’s servers. This version cannot restore that backup, and nothing syncs between devices. The free plan includes every feature, capped at 10 concerts.
The page about tracking concerts you’ve been to is the product answer. The habit of writing the night down is in how to remember every concert you’ve been to.
Questions
What is a concert diary?
A concert diary is a private record of shows you have already been to: the artist, the venue, the city and the date. A rating, a note and a photo are optional. It is not a list of who is touring, and it is not a database of setlists.
Is a concert diary the same thing as Letterboxd?
The habit is similar: you log something you already saw and give it a rating. Letterboxd is a public site for films. A concert diary can be private. Encore is one iPhone app in that style. It is not affiliated with Letterboxd, and it is not a public review site.
Does a concert diary include the setlist?
Only if you write it down. A diary entry is whatever you keep. Encore has no setlist feature, so a setlist is a note you type. Other apps, including Gigvault, Concert Archives, and Concerts Remembered, say they save setlists. This page is not a ranking.
Free to download, all features unlocked up to 10 concerts. US App Store, 5 Oct 2026: Premium removes the limit, $1.99 a week, $9.99 a year, or $25.99 once. iPhone, iOS 18 or later.