OT: Best "Live" Band Ever?

[Tomulator]

I will go off the board for a hundred here...

Midnight Oil

Anyone who knows about this band, or has witnessed them live knows what I'm talking about.

In their prime, they absolutely KILLED!

[Rockindeano]

I will go off the board for a hundred here...

Midnight Oil

Anyone who knows about this band, or has witnessed them live knows what I'm talking about.

In their prime, they absolutely KILLED!

Boy you aren't kiddin. They were stupendous live.

My vote however, unequivocally goes to Bruce. 6 hour long concert. Amazing.

[Behshad]

Evergrey.

[yulog]

I personally prefer the finished product to live, but one band i know sounded better live than they did in studio . Foghat-a great live band in their prime. Another aspect of live is seeing if they sound as good as the cd they put out--Yes with jon anderson has always sounded picture perfect when i saw them live.

[Tomulator]

Interesting...to me it's the opposite.

The way a band carries itself "live" in terms of musicianship, energy, production, ability to sound reasonably close to the recordings, etc. is much more important.

The "high" you get after witnessing a butt-kicking live show cannot be duplicated, IMO.

[Ehwmatt]

Nothing beats a good live show for me... I know a band kicks ass live when their studio recordings sound "stale" compared to what I still have in my memory as bitchin' live music. Some outstanding live acts I've had the pleasure of seeing:

Dream Theater - The best I've seen. Different setlists almost every night of the tour, unbelievable virtuosity on the part of every musician in the band, and the fact that they play so many different sets on the same tour is even more impressive when you consider how long, complex, and difficult their catalogue is. Aside from that, their showmanship has gotten better and better over the years considering how difficult their music is to perform accurately. They are easily the best for me now that vocalist James LaBrie's vocal chords have fully recovered from a food poisoning-induced rupturing several years ago and he now sounds great live.

Styx (don't care what anyone says about DeYoung... they still put on an energetic and faithful performance and Tommy is one of the best singers in the biz)
The Moody Blues (saw em last summer, these guys were surprisingly excellent... especially since they're even older than a lot of the acts I see)
America (album-perfect harmonies, great vocals, clearly enjoy playing live and do meet n greets for the fans after every show)
Paul McCartney (had shivers listening to Beatles songs being played live by the Beatle who sung them... I like Ringo's live show, but hearing Paul do them can't be matched)
Todd Rundgren (never plays the same thing two nights in a row, has literally hundreds of songs to play that the crowd will enjoy)
Night Ranger (Brad Gillis/Jeff Watson era) (loud, energetic, smokin hot two guitar attack, all the great harmonies reproduced live, great arena rock anthems)
Steely Dan (never play the same set, classic songs, can always count on a great backing band schooled in jazz-rock)
Tesla (classic blue-jean rock, reproduced faithfully with just the right amount of band-fan interaction in between songs)
Dennis DeYoung w/ Symphony - Saw him with the Cleveland Pops Orchestra four some years ago, unbelievable show. Dennis still in fine form and a great backing band playing a lot of classics from Styx and his solo career
Ambrosia - Great musicianship sealed up in a package of slick vocal harmonies, excellent light jazz-rock instrumentation, and great audience interaction (saw them in very intimate venue). I missed David Pack though.

Acts I've found overrated: (this might get some opinions going)

The Boss - I like a lot of his stuff, some of his songs are absolute classics, you can't argue with his band but... this just didn't do it for me live
Tom Petty - Same as Bruce, he has a huge library of classics, but his live show and sound felt so sterile... no bottom end, no live guitar crunch, just didn't care for it that much to be honest.
Yes - I'm a big prog fan but this was a snoozefest, and I didn't even get Starship Trooper
The Who - Awesome in their prime if Live at Leeds is any indication, but Daltrey's voice is beyond shot now - a complete joke
U2 - I like listening to them on record but live? I can only deal with so many delay-soaked Edge arpeggio lines. Zzzzz
Goo Goo Dolls - I really like their stuff through the years, but they were crap live. Rzenik can't cut it live vocally, changing the melody of every song to avoid going beyond mid range at best, and their song selection was awful (80% ballads)

[Maui Tom]

Seeing Paul was a dream come true and it was fantastic....

but...best ever...for me...and I'm old...was the Ronnie Van Zant led Lynyrd Skynyrd.

[Rip Rokken]

My vote however, unequivocally goes to Bruce. 6 hour long concert. Amazing.

The Boss looks like he's about to drop a grumpy every time he sings... I couldn't take 6 hours of that.

Great White... killer live!

There is also a band called MuteMath that is supposedly phenomenal live, but I've never seen them. They come thru town from time to time.

[X factor]

I will go off the board for a hundred here...

Midnight Oil

Anyone who knows about this band, or has witnessed them live knows what I'm talking about.

In their prime, they absolutely KILLED!

Boy you aren't kiddin. They were stupendous live.

My vote however, unequivocally goes to Bruce. 6 hour long concert. Amazing.

Agreed- I've seen Bruce close to a dozen times, and he's NEVER failed to deliver (though the longest I saw clocked in at barely over 4 hours

and as far as runners up?

PRINCE- abso-fucking-lutely amazing! Pure non-stop excitement!
Jason and the Nashville Scorchers- an (unfortunately) relatively unknown band from the Nashville 80's scene who absolutely tore the joint up every time they plugged in!
U2- Saw JOSHUA TREE tour- akin to a religious experience!

[Rockindeano]

My vote however, unequivocally goes to Bruce. 6 hour long concert. Amazing.

The Boss looks like he's about to drop a grumpy every time he sings... I couldn't take 6 hours of that.

Great White... killer live!

There is also a band called MuteMath that is supposedly phenomenal live, but I've never seen them. They come thru town from time to time.

OMG. Great White?

You have lost ALL credibility.

No one works harder and sings with more emotion and conviction than Springsteen. You make fun of the way he looks when he is singing, yet you like Dokken. You're too much. Hit the rehab centre you freak.

Great White, LOL...Hey, light a fuckin piece of dynamite in an indoor pool hall and watch 19 people die. That was a genius move. Tards.

[X factor]

My vote however, unequivocally goes to Bruce. 6 hour long concert. Amazing.

The Boss looks like he's about to drop a grumpy every time he sings... I couldn't take 6 hours of that.

Great White... killer live!

There is also a band called MuteMath that is supposedly phenomenal live, but I've never seen them. They come thru town from time to time.

Now Ripper- don't make me bring up the time I saw DOKKEN at MONSTERS OF ROCK and they sucked the Mississippi River dry! Most dissapointing act of the day! KINGDOM CLONE was actually better than they were that day!

(I DID, however, see em on the TOOTH AND NAIL tour- opening for RJD- and they pretty much kicked ass...)

[Ehwmatt]

Agreed- I've seen Bruce close to a dozen times, and he's NEVER failed to deliver (though the longest I saw clocked in at barely over 4 hours

and as far as runners up?

PRINCE- abso-fucking-lutely amazing! Pure non-stop excitement!
Jason and the Nashville Scorchers- an (unfortunately) relatively unknown band from the Nashville 80's scene who absolutely tore the joint up every time they plugged in!
U2- Saw JOSHUA TREE tour- akin to a religious experience!

Still waiting for a chance to see Prince... he even sounded good at the SB which is hard to do and I've heard nothing but great things about his show.

[Rip Rokken]

Great White... killer live! .

OMG. Great White?

You have lost ALL credibility.

Great White, LOL...Hey, light a fuckin piece of dynamite in an indoor pool hall and watch 19 people die. That was a genius move. Tards.

Btw, I just re-read my comment and wanted to clarify that "killer" wasn't a play on words about the Station incident. I know you didn't interpret it that way, but on second glance I see where someone else might think that, so I wanted to fix it. The fire was a terrible tragedy, and I'd never joke about it... Just a bad choice of descriptions I used!

That being said, I actually mentioned Great White to tweak a response out of ya... haha! However, I've seen them 3 times and they are very good live -- really a band best seen live, as their studio albums have always had kind of a sterile sound to them. Mark Kendall is just a great guitarist and showman who plays with a ton of feeling, but it doesn't really come out that way from the albums.

[ProgRocker53]

The best live show I have seen has been Porcupine Tree.

Blew everyone else, Journey/Rush/Van Halen included, completely out of the water.

[Rip Rokken]

Now Ripper- don't make me bring up the time I saw DOKKEN at MONSTERS OF ROCK and they sucked the Mississippi River dry! Most dissapointing act of the day! KINGDOM CLONE was actually better than they were that day!

(I DID, however, see em on the TOOTH AND NAIL tour- opening for RJD- and they pretty much kicked ass...)

Yeah, everyone knows and admits that Dokken sucked big time during Monsters of Rock. George's playing with his back to the audience the whole time is legendary by this point. Even the band knows they were at their worst during that tour, and reading all of their different takes on it is interesting. They just about killed their careers that tour...

Kingdom Come is HIGHLY underrated... I have every album they've put out, and Lenny Wolf is a very creative songwriter. He somehow manages to keep it fresh and interesting, mainly thru the use of effects and instrumentation, rather than unique vocal melodies. I've loved almost everything they've put out... Hey, if you haven't seen any recent Kingdom Come, check this 8 1/2 minute opus from their latest album out... half ballad, half rocker...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRxx6sTpDU4

While I'm at it, here is one of my favorite Kingdom Come songs... Their 3rd album "Hands Of Time" made me an instant fan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEpWfwTao_o

[Vladan]

Toto and of course Journey with Perry

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmTuShRaakI

[Lerxst101]

Tough.

Bruce - 3+ hours of putting every ounce of his being into the show is amazing. And the fans are incredible as well.

Rush - 3 hour shows of late (amazing that they get longer as they get older) have been the best I've ever seen from them (going back to Exit Stage Left tour)

Styx - though not fan of all the songs they play live, sonically, I have never heard a band sound better live. Never.

Journey - despite the too many changes in lead singers, great shows. Right behind Styx with respect to sonics.

Dream Theater and Yes - musicianship, musicianship, musicianship (Rush in that category as well). Like Rush, they are not running across the stage, but they just immerse the audience in their incredible music, displaying their virtuosity.

Kiss - only want to mention b/c yes, the theatrics were great, but finally seeing them on their first reunion tour, it made me realize how "simple" their music is. But a fun show nonetheless, and isn't that what really matters?

But bottom line for me, is that there is nothing like a live performance, whether rock, classical, or jazz.

[Tomulator]

There are a group of bands out there which I consider in the "elite" group which ALWAYS deliver (or delivered) live. They are (in no particular order),

1) The Who
2) The Stones
3) Journey (SP era)
4) The Boss
5) The Kinks
6) The Knack
7) The Replacements (when they were sober enough to stand up on stage)
Midnight Oil (see comments below)
9) Queen (w/ Freddie)
10) Hendrix

Re: Midnight Oil...Peter Garrett was such an "electric" persona and performer that he just drew you in. He was weird, granted, but POWERFUL. Alot like Jagger in his prime, or SP even. His amazing, unique, powerful delivery coupled with the INCREDIBLE dual-guitar attack and ROCK-SOLID drumming made The Oils an act that is darn hard to beat live! Plus, they had a very focused, controversial, rebellious, politically-charged, drive that few bands have ever matched.

Simply put, they blew me away each and every time I saw them.

[Jeremey]

Best live all around bands I have seen:

Prince
Bela Fleck and the Flecktones
Soul Sirkus (due in large part to Virgil Donati's amazing performance, I will always remember how jaw dropping that solo was)


Live shows I was disappointed in:

Sting
John Mayer
Journey in 2005 (midst of 30 year anniversary tour, seemed to be going through the motions, no life on stage)

[7 Wishes]

In no particular order

Aerosmith, 1996
Tori Amos, anytime
Asia, 1983
Boston, 1997
Damn Yankees, 1990
Def Leppard, 1987
Dream Theater, anytime
Foreigner, 1982
Peter Gabriel, 1987
Don Henley, 2001
Bruce Hornsby, 1998
Iron Maiden, 1985
Stanley Jordan, 2002
Journey, 1982-1984
Motley Crue, 1985
Night Ranger, anytime
the Outfield, anytime
Prince, 1998
Queensryche, 1987
Radiohead, 2000
Skid Row, 1990
Stratovarius, 2005
James Taylor, anytime
U2, anytime
Van Hagar, 1985
Van Halen, 1982-1984. 2007

[Jeremey]

In no particular order

Tori Amos, anytime

Man, my wife dragged me to see Tarry Anus sometime around 1996 or so...I first heard her when Little Earthquakes came out and I was working in a record store, and thought she was the second coming of musical Jesus. However, her live show at GSO Auditorium was painstakingly hard to live through. Granted this was just her and a piano, but she drew her notes out and slid off the piano bench and played so slooww and pained it was clear that she was musically bored with her material. Granted this show was also on her birthday, so she could have dropped some mushrooms before going on stage.

[epresley]

Queensryche or Rush

[larryfromnextdoor]

if you folks want to be bored out of your mind, go see a George Strait show.. hes touring now..

one man , one stool, an acoustic guitar,, a band way in the back... no movements..

[X factor]

There are a group of bands out there which I consider in the "elite" group which ALWAYS deliver (or delivered) live. They are (in no particular order),

1) The Who
2) The Stones
3) Journey (SP era)
4) The Boss
5) The Kinks
6) The Knack
7) The Replacements (when they were sober enough to stand up on stage)
Midnight Oil (see comments below)
9) Queen (w/ Freddie)
10) Hendrix


Re: Midnight Oil...Peter Garrett was such an "electric" persona and performer that he just drew you in. He was weird, granted, but POWERFUL. Alot like Jagger in his prime, or SP even. His amazing, unique, powerful delivery coupled with the INCREDIBLE dual-guitar attack and ROCK-SOLID drumming made The Oils an act that is darn hard to beat live! Plus, they had a very focused, controversial, rebellious, politically-charged, drive that few bands have ever matched.

Simply put, they blew me away each and every time I saw them.

Tom- AMEN to #7 ...but were they EVER sober enough to do that???

[Tomulator]

There are a group of bands out there which I consider in the "elite" group which ALWAYS deliver (or delivered) live. They are (in no particular order),

1) The Who
2) The Stones
3) Journey (SP era)
4) The Boss
5) The Kinks
6) The Knack
7) The Replacements (when they were sober enough to stand up on stage)
Midnight Oil (see comments below)
9) Queen (w/ Freddie)
10) Hendrix


Re: Midnight Oil...Peter Garrett was such an "electric" persona and performer that he just drew you in. He was weird, granted, but POWERFUL. Alot like Jagger in his prime, or SP even. His amazing, unique, powerful delivery coupled with the INCREDIBLE dual-guitar attack and ROCK-SOLID drumming made The Oils an act that is darn hard to beat live! Plus, they had a very focused, controversial, rebellious, politically-charged, drive that few bands have ever matched.

Simply put, they blew me away each and every time I saw them.

Tom- AMEN to #7 ...but were they EVER sober enough to do that???

Westerberg is a legend. Period.

[Moon Beam]

I'm sure none of you are to familiar with these guys but they are amazing.
Great Big Sea

[Saint John]

Journey with Perry 81-83. No one was better.

[Jeremey]

I'm sure none of you are to familiar with these guys but they are amazing.
Great Big Sea

Is that anything like the "Great Big 'C'" in your avatar?

[Moon Beam]

No not at all Jeremey.
Great Big Sea is a kind of Irish folk uppity band from Newfoundland.

[Lula]

[quote="Maui Tom"]Seeing Paul was a dream come true and it was fantastic....

quote]

Yes it was, thank you so very much!

Love the Replacements, but never saw a sober show. I have seen so many different live shows, difficult to say which was best. U2 has always been great, Journey with Perry, Bruce, The Who, The Clash... those are a few of my faves.