No Studio Magic to Save You Now . . . The Best and Worst Live Acts You've Ever Seen

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DMB - Charlotte NC about four years ago. Not a big fan of the music but wow I was shocked with the live show. Great live music.

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I know I should be embarrassed for liking DMB as much as I do, but this is the truth. They are really excellent live. There's no such thing as studio magic with this band, their live concerts exceed their studio releases. I usually pass on their studio CDs, but I have the majority of their live ones. I know not everyone likes Dave Matthew's voice (you're all crazy, he's wonderful), or his lyrics (you're all crazy, they're wonderful), but I'd be really surprised to hear anyone have a bad thing to say about his band. Those guys can play the hell out of their instruments.

Years ago--like '94 or so--I saw Better Than Ezra live, before they had a hit, at a little venue by LSU. They were completely awesome. Fast forward to last New Year's; I'd finally broken down and paid the big bucks to see their annual New Year's Eve show at House of Blues in New Orleans. And, while I won't say they sucked, I will say HOB's sound is absolute crap. EVERYTHING sounded tinny from the opening act to the bassiest of notes. So, while the show was good (the audience was not--too many frat boys) it sounded terrible.

As for opening acts, I cannot say enough bad things about the Dirty Projectors. They opened for both nights of the Jarvis Cocker shows I saw in NYC in April. On the second night, the guys behind me & my sister were particularly vocal about how much the Dirty Projectors sucked (justifiably so) and then one chick in the band chucked a bottle of water at them. Problem being, she had terrible aim and I suffered through Jarvis' show with wet hair. (Being right up by the stage has its disadvantages.) On the up side, the first night Cocker was the best show I've ever seen, and the second night was the second best.

Great idea for a thread! :up

The best/worst concerts I've experienced don't always equate to my favorite/least favorite artists.

Most memorable performances: Bruce Springsteen, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sly & the Family Stone, Peter Gabriel, Tool, Grateful Dead, Ravi Shankar, Michael Jackson, King Crimson

Most disappointing performances: Green Day, Elvis Costello,

And I'll add -- Shows I attended but wish I remembered better, mostly because I was sitting way too far away and it was therefore just too impersonal: Led Zeppelin, Yes, Pink Floyd, Aerosmith

And there's 100 more that are all somewhere in-between. I know I'll remember them later, probably right after the editing deadline :lol

Most incredible live performance I ever saw was Pink Floyd during the Wish You Were Here Tour.

I know many will find this wierd but maybe the best Solo performer was Neil Diamond. Talk about someone that can wrap an audience around his finger. Then there was Elton John at the Hollywood Bowl about 2 weeks before the release of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.

Disappointments have been Stephen Stills, mostly because Elvin Bishop opened for him & was absolutely on fire. And I was also disappointed by Santana early in his career.

Most surprising was Lynyrd Skynyrd, because they were opening for the Who & no one had any idea who they were. Their first album had yet to debut, but by the time the finished Freebird & walked off everyone was more than intrigued.

Blew-me-away performances just remembered: Frank Zappa (several times), XTC, The Stranglers, and The Clash. :guitar

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Originally Posted by lei;2477952;

Blew-me-away performances just remembered: Frank Zappa (several times), XTC, The Stranglers, and The Clash. :guitar

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I'm really sorry that I never had a chance to see Zappa. I once watched a Biogrpahy on him where they interviewed a bunch of people that played with him & almost all of them said he may have been the best guitar player they had ever seen. One guy said that Frank could be on stage with 30 musicians all playing at the same time. One person would hit a bad note & Frank would know who it was & give them a withering "Don't do that again" look. I think the guy was an absolute genius.

Best shows I've seen, in no particular order:

-Neil Young (Road-eye tour)
-Social Distortion
-The Replacements (probably my favourite show ever)
-Queen (3rd row centre, Bohemian Rhapsody tour, opening act Thin Lizzy)
-Boomtown Rats
-The Go-Betweens
-Alex Chilton

Shows I didn't care for:

-REM (boring)
-Jethro Tull (boring)
-The Jam (just plain bad)
-Stiff Little Fingers (my friends thought it was great, I was bored - I'm starting to see a pattern)
-Camper Van Beethoven (not actually bad, just a bad attitude from the singer, including implications that the audience was culturally shallow and smashing a beer bottle on the stage causing shards of glass to fly into the audience)
-which reminds me of Steven Leckie, formerly of the Viletones (bad music, slashing his arms with a razor in the 80s, waaaay after the days of punk self-mutilation - pathetic).

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Originally Posted by razorbacker;2477987;

....One person would hit a bad note & Frank would know who it was & give them a withering "Don't do that again" look. I think the guy was an absolute genius.

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He was indeed. :bowdown

At least one time he actually stopped a song for a bad note. I think that's a bit over the top but I admire his integrity. :lol

I remembered another totally dud show. Talking Heads. Definitely expected better there.

JR and I are on pretty much the same page.

Ozzy (6 times) - Consistently one of the best concerts out there.
Van Halen - Awesome. I was too far away, and it was a huge venue, but still great.
Poison (2 times) - They know how to put on a show.
Tesla - Front row, center stage in a small venue. Excellent.

Not so great:

Whitesnake - They were past their prime and it was not good.
Queensryche - Eh, flashy show but nothing that blew my socks off.
Motley Crue - Saw them a few years ago on their reunion tour. They just can't rock those old songs like they used to, and there was some tension between the band members.

And easily the worst on my list:

The Tubes - I walked out of this show, and I've never done that before or since. It was the most awful thing I've ever heard.

Now, please stop laughing at my musical choices :)

When I was in my first year of college in Virginia, DMB still hadn't hit it big quite yet and they played every Tuesday night at a bar in town called Trax. And I never went, for which I could totally kick myself now. The only place I've seen them was at a bar in London, a couple of years later, when they still hadn't really hit it big there, and they were great.

--The Indigo Girls also do an awesome live show -- so clearly talented with no need for any studio help.

--The Barenaked Ladies are great live, they joke and jump around but also clearly showcase their talent. They played a NASCAR race I was at last year (long story) and came out to one end of the stage around one microphone and played a really pretty song, with one mandolin and a lot of harmony.

-- The Dixie Chicks are very energetic live.


I can't think of any walk-out-awful concerts I've been to, although I did see the New Kids on the Block once, and it was probably horrid but I've blocked it from my mind. :laugh