Best live bands

[MelvinsArmy]

Since we've got a few musical threads going strong, I thought I'd start another. How about a list of the best live bands you've seen? That's what it's all about right? I've been fans of bands until I see them play live and realize they're horrible, and I've see bands that I wasn't really into blow the roof off a venue and convert me into a huge fan. In my opinion music is best experienced live, there is an energy and excitement that can never be captured on CD or video, if the band is on.

So we don't make each of our lists gigantic, how about we do it like this. List bands that if you found out they were playing tonight, in your town, for $100 (high price to weed out the maybes and only list the must-sees) at a good venue, you'd drop what you were doing and go see them. That is, see them again because you must have seen them once to know if they're amazing enough to spend that kind of loot. Let's make it active bands, don't list dead people, bands that will definitely never reunite, that kind of thing.

Here's my list, in no particular order.

Melvins
Soundgarden
Neil Young
Meat Puppets
Sleep
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Harvey Milk
Portishead
Marilyn Mason (if Twiggy is with them)
Queens of the Stone Age (if Lanagan is with them)

broken up bands, when they get back together:
Ween
White Stripes

bands I haven't seen that I'd drop $100 to see them tonight:
Goatsnake
Electric Wizard
Hepa/Titus
Paul McCartney

[askbob]

I've been fans of bands until I see them play live and realize they're horrible, and I've see bands that I wasn't really into blow the roof off a venue and convert me into a huge fan. In my opinion music is best experienced live, there is an energy and excitement that can never be captured on CD or video, if the band is on.

So very true!



Widespread Panic
moe
Los Straitjackets(unreal live)
Fuel
Tommy Emmanuel
Steve Vai
Zappa Plays Zappa(Dweezil)
Rage Against the Machine
Days of the New
Pink Floyd
John Mayer Trio
Temple of the Dog
Devo

[Incredible_Serious]

Never went to many bands as a youngster (doesn't help living at the end of the earth), but I did manage to catch Primus twice, years ago.... and those were two great gigs.

I have also seen Soundgarden and INXS (the real INXS, before they went loopy, and then before they started photoshopping lead singers), and they were both great shows as well.

Who I'd like to have seen but didn't:
Roger Waters and / or Pink Floyd
Marilyn Manson
The Tea Party
Morphine
Queen
Thin Lizzy
This Is Serious Mum (TISM)
They Might be Giants
Kraftwerk

Not much chance of going to see any concerts these days..... not where I'm living. Just have to rely on my CD collection.

Alex

[Charlie don't surf]

Classic- Pink Floyd by far

Alt- Soundgarden-

Indie- At The Drive In/Mars Volta

[CamplinP]

Large Venue - Iron Maiden (Somewhere in Time)

Small Venue - Chevelle/Breaking Benjamin

[GreenHell]

The White Stripes @ The Fillmore – Detroit
Black Sabbath (’99 Reunion) @ Pine Knob - Detroit
Misfits (sans Danzig) @ House of Blues - Chicago
Pearl Jam @ The Palace - Detroit
Social Distortion @ Royal Oak Music Theater - Detroit
Local H @ St. Andrews Hall – Detroit
Jethro Tull @ Meadowbrook - Detroit
Metallica (summer of ’94 “Binge and Purge” tour) @ Pine Knob - Detroit
The Black Keys @ ’04 Bonnaroo
The Offspring @ Cobo – Detroit

Worst – Oasis @ Cobo - Detroit

[kaiser]

pixies, surfer rosa, the ritz nyc 1990/91 (little fuzzy). my favorite show ever.
morrissey, jones beach 1991.

worst, ramones, the ritz 1989. i should have known better.

scarriest, burn and sick of it all, the marque 1989/90??. i kinda stopped listening to hardcore after that show.

i got dragged to an INXS concert ion 91 i think (medowlands,continetal arena) soup dragons opened so i went along. i was blown away by INXS live, so tight.
soup dragons were awful, the exact opposite of my expectations.

[THEYTOOKMYTHUMB]

I've only seen about 12 bands live that anyone may have heard of outside of this area. Aerosmith was the only one that I thought sounded very good. I'm kind of an audiophile too so I'm just not real crazy about live music or live recordings. Not to mention Evansville doesn't get a whole lot of big bands. We have a new stadium here so it's getting better. I have to travel 2-4 hrs for a lot of big names. I would have liked to see the Beastie Boys while MCA was still around. Metallica and Tenacious D are 2 I'd definitely like to see also. Now that I think about it, my wife dragged me to an Alabama concert one time and they sounded pretty good. The beer may have been a big part of that too though.

[Coelacanth]

For me, by far the best concerts I've been to were Blue Oyster Cult. I've seen them several times, my first concert ever was back in about '81 or '82, BOC supporting their "Fire of Unknown Origin" album; that was a big stadium concert with the full-size fire-breathing, smoke-snorting Godzilla. "Veteran of the Psychic Wars" had 4 people beating on huge kettle drums to emphasize the distinctive, moody beat of that song, and I was amazed by a guitar solo later that night when two guitarists played their solos while reflecting spotlight beams from their chrome-backed guitars throughout the crowd. They also might've been one of the first bands to ride Harleys up on stage. That I remember so clearly my first concert ever, after all these decades, from when I was in Grade 8 or so, shows the impression it made on me. I later saw them several times in smaller venues, where they were even more interactive with the crowd. There's just something special about seeing a live rock band with 3 musicians playing their instruments while harmonizing the vocals altogether. You just don't see that anymore these days, what with all the canned backup vocals (and canned lead vocals too, sadly).

That said, the last time I saw BOC wasn't so good. Their usual keyboardist wasn't there, he was replaced by a stand-in who also doubled on rhythm guitar. He at least seemed to be enjoying the concert. Eric Bloom (lead singer for most songs) was just mailing it in, though. Other than their most recent shows, BOC were unbelievable live.

Someone mentioned the Tea Party; a few summers ago, I caught Jeff Martin's solo show at a small venue here, and that was an incredible show. It wasn't about the special effects, but the guy just exuded charisma and knew how to interact with the crowd. His intro monologue & instrumental prelude to "The Cobra" made the hair stand up on the back of your neck. It just goes to show you that you don't need million-dollar laser light shows, smoke machines and a host of backup dancers all aping you to create a great live atmosphere.

[Lonestar]

Black Lion Genocide!




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(yes - it's a comedic band, a local one... but they do perform live: [youtube]UnvsgiV1COc[/youtube])

Paul

[scootmike]

Seen a lot of bands in the late 70's to the late 90's.
Starting with Kiss in 79-80, Judas Priest opened
Rush Moving Pictures Tour was a good show.
Iron Maiden Piece of Mind, Powerslave , Somewhere in Time, Fear of the Dark Tours, Maiden always puts on a great show.
Guns N Roses Use Your Illusion Tour, Soundgarden opened and rocked hard, it was my birthday, 3 rows back from stage and GNR was on their game that night!
Hank Williams Jr Family Tradition, Man of Steel, Montana Cafe Tours, he was really something back in the 80's-90's.
Mike

[Bormac]

Live gigs are great. I have especially enjoyed smaller more intimate venues where you can get a little more up close and personal with the band. Still, big venues are great too.

Whilst a lot of people go for the big names on tour I have really enjoyed the up and coming bands that people know little of. I have always been surprised and amazed at their eagerness to impress and win over the audience with a great performance. Not yet spoilt like some of the bigger names out there it's been obvious these guys do it for the pure love of their craft.

As for favourite live gigs. I've seen so many that little really stands out. I have enjoyed them all.

[Mazdaj]

Best I ever saw was in 1991 when Alice in Chains opened for Van Halen. The late Layne Staley was singing, Yet AIC hadn't gone big yet. We all looked at each other and thought, "who is this!?". Unbelievable. Too bad it will never happen again.
If you could step back in time, I would spend more than $100 to see Queen circa 1985. Freddie Mercury had to have been one of the greatest front men of all time.
Now back to the actual question... I would drop cash to see Tool. Seen them twice-awesome sound, lighting. More of an experience than a concert. Great topic.

[jayman24]

Best Live Performances I saw.

Gregg Allman two summers ago.
Dickey Betts and Great Southern three summers ago.
Both were free concerts.

ZZ Top about 4-5 years ago
I was working at the venue they played at.

[durb69]

in no order of significance. and yes I have been to all these concerts and they all kicked ass.

Slayer
Metallica
Iron Maiden
Slipknot (surprised me-not a fan)
sick of it all
ROB ZOMBIE (killer show)
snapcase (bad ass hardcore)
Ramones
the gym class heroes (I did live sound for them in a venue not much larger than my living room, a long time before they got big, and when there music was a lot cooler lol)
In Flames
Shadows Fall
Judas Priest
Suffocation (brutal Death Metal)
Cannibal Corpse
Morbid Angel (not as awesome as i hoped live but still cool)
Alice Cooper
DIO (RIP)
Black Sabbath
Ozzy
Rancid
Deftones
KISS
Smashing Pumpkins
Soundgarden
L.A. Guns
Lamb of God (seen em 10 times probably)
Motley Crue
cake (so much fun ha ha)
Bloodsimple
Biohazard
Vision Of Disorder
Killswitch Engage (seen em 10 times or so as well lol)
skid row
Queensryche
Machine Head
RATT
Whitesnake

All these shows kicked pretty good ass in my mind. A lot of the bands I saw many many times over again. My favorite shows are in small bars though.