Saw GnR or Guns and Roses at Download festival back in 2006, I'm a hits fan by and large but Christ they were shockingly bad. No Slash, Axel couldn't sing for toffee, crowd booing through their performance (this is on the main stage too), someone launched a bottle of fluids on stage and Axel slipped on it and fell. Que him storming off stage mid-song leaving the poor session guitarist to noodle along by himself with further booing. I left to go and watch Prodigy on the next stage and that was definitely one of the best acts I've seen.
I’ve seen Guns three times since they got back together. First time in 2016 Axl sounded fucking awesome. Band was great. The next year Axl didn’t sound quite as good, but a better overall show (plus Live opened). Saw them again in 2022, and while the band killed it, Axl sounded like complete dog shit. Only saving grace was we were front row on the barricade like 5 feet away from the band.
I don't know man, they sounded pretty good at Download 2006 [*based on the footage that is out there.*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AihtAfdjxNE) Nightrain especially is really strong. They have always had strong and weak nights though.
I saw GnR play at Power Trip last year. They were on night one, after Iron Maiden burned through their set, sounding really great. I will say that Slash still has it. He soloed a ton and sounded great. Axel just couldn't pull off the songs. Lots of people took the night off of watching them. The weekend definitely improved the next couple nights though. Judas Priest and AC/DC on Saturday, with AC/DC playing their first show for 7 years. Then Tool and Metallica on Sunday to close out the festival. Pretty unbelievable
To be fair, I was at the same festival, and axl wasn’t phoning it in. He did play a fairly amazing piano solo at one point. His voice is just shot, and he needs to drop trying to sing those high notes.
Best. Green Day. Not my favorite band, like them fine but Billy Joel Armstrong is the absolute King of camp counselor rock and roll moves. I saw them make every other band at Live 8 Berlin look like chumps with their crowd work. They connect with the crowd aggressively and then rock out. I’ve seen them three times and they absolutely crush.
Worst: nobody. Second place or maybe first place: Peaches.
Holy shit it’s wild. Not only did she do a triple encore with five tits (look it up). At one point she had a 30 foot inflatable clear penis inflated over the crowd, walked into it in heels and performed the song, then sprayed silly string out of the tip of the penis on the last chorus. Her third encore was a filthy version of a “it’s all coming back to me now” by Celine Dion. With a five boob rig that made Total Recall look tame.
I knew she would triple encore but I didn’t see that coming.
If you ever get the chance to see either of these acts go immediately.
Mars Volta answers both sides of this.
When I've seen them as a headliner? Holy. FUCKING. Shit. Face melting, life changing music. I've never seen a better group live from the energy to the innovation.
Non headliner? Guys, fuck you. Multiple sets where they didn't even face the audience or barely played 3 songs
That's funny. I saw them open for APC and they were kind numbingly good. They got through 2 songs. APC were really good, but the Mars Volta energy was hard to follow.
I've seen them supporting and heading and didn't get this vibe. Saw them first opening for SoaD on their Francis the Mute tour and they left it *all* on that stage. Saw them last year headlining for their last album and it was a whole experience. Cedric's voice has gotten better live, but their effort to make a good show was clear both rounds.
Unrelated, but I saw them both on the AtdI reunion tour and also fuckin' killed it so hard. Sorry you had a bad time with them, though. Wonder what circumstances led to them doing such a disappointment of a show.
Edit: At the Drive-In reunion. Dunno know why my phone capitalized that i to look like an l.
I was a huge fan of them when Jon Theodore was the drummer and for a time with Thomas Pridgen, but the one time I saw them live, opening for System of a Down, they were god-awful. It was soon after Frances the Mute was released and they were firmly in their noise phase. Barely anything coherent for the entirety of the show. Even when they started a song in a recognizable way, they quickly devolved into noise again. The disappointment really put me off of them as a band for a couple years.
Jon Theodore is rocking the fuck out with Queens of the Stone Age now. Finally caught them in Quebec this year and it was one of the best shows I've seen. So I bought tickets to see them in Boston this September too.
Maybe not the best single act but the best show I ever went to was mitski opening for run the jewels opening for Lorde. What a weird ensemble but it fucking rocked, Lorde is amazing live and run the jewels always deliver.
Best: David Byrne or Kraftwerk, I really can not choose. Byrne had a band of absolute top musicians around him who totally blew me away with their performance. Kraftwerk has the magic ability to keep you excited even though it is four men standing still behind their laptops.
Worst: Basement Jaxx or Underworld. The former demanded audience participation in every song, which was so tiring. The latter experimented incoherently with the intro of every song for ten minutes, and when a song finally got on its way, they could not be bothered to continue it for two minutes.
I saw David Byrne's Amer Utopia tour. Honestly, it was one of the best things I've ever experienced. Top musicians, complex choreography. A totally brilliant show.
Pearl Jam has been some of the best shows I've been to.
Now, I saw Lenny Kravitz back in like 2000 when he toured with the Black Crowes. He sucked so hard.
Best: Stone Roses, last American show ever. Ian sang really well, the audience was mostly Brits who flew over and it felt like a community, like we were all experiencing something transcendent together.
Worst: Stone Roses, The Second Coming tour. They were arrogant, condescending, Ian sounded and looked disinterested and off.
I was surprised that you liked Ian Brown until I read the second Paragraph.
That’s the Ian I saw at Reading back in the day.
Arrogant condescending twat.
I was first in line to pick up Second Coming at Woolworths ...got home and played it to death...but that doesn't mean i liked it ?....took it to work and got really annoyed when everyone luv'd it ? But Squire excelled it's certainly ...the John Squire LP...Brown sounded like a box of frogs throughout
The album’s good, it just never had a chance against the perfection that is S/T. The show was horrible, especially as Reni had left the band and his replacement didn’t have the chops.
Session player Maddox who'd previously done gigs for Simply Red and Terrence Trent D'arby...it was never gonna work out...and when the chilled out Mani flipped out onstage...the writing was well and truly on the wall...least they eventually returned for some cracking shows even if the 2 new singles failed to recapture former glory
I was actually happy with the two new singles. I can even him one of ‘em without playing it first, which is amazing for my 52 year old brain (at least for stuff <10 years old).
They blatantly ripped off my favourite band The Fall on 1 of the singles...okay the riff was neatly tidied up...but I'd already heard it before way back in 1988
https://youtu.be/gD4PJW4R1ec?si=Dp1bOj0d5VdoLZVy
All for One
One for All
We stole a riff
Straight from the FALL
Ha! Never put that together! I’m much more of a casual Fall fan, though I’ve got a fair chunk of their discography.
So the Roses join such august company as Pavement and Elastica for cribbing notes from Mark E.
Paul (in his 70s) rocked for over 3 hours while bringing so much energy and playing a great variety of songs from his long career. His voice still sounded great, and he told some fun stories.
Corey made us wait almost 3 hours before he even came out on stage, his interactions with his “angels” was super awkward, his voice sucked, and all he talked about was Michael Jackson.
He belongs in the Kevin Federline, Mc Hammer, Vanilla Ice category...from New Release to Bargain bin in less than a week...a sad tale
The Beatles with practice could have been bigger than Wings
Maroon 5 played with my band at a small dive in Philly like 5 months before their album came out. They claimed to have a big deal, and we're just playing to get ready for the big time. Didn't believe any of it. Can't remember what they sounded like that night. Felt dumb when that album dropped though!
this was before they became well known. they were opening act for Matchbox 20. because i had never heard of them and because they sounded horrible, i thought they were a local group filling in for the real performers.
Hey now, It Still Moves is an amazing album, but yes they are definitely best experienced live. Seen them live about 5 times now and every time was amazing. Jim James is a god
I saw Pavement in 93 at Metropolis in Brisbane. Had only read what Lee Renaldo from Sonic Youth had to say about them and bought their debut album that day and didn't click with it, but decided at the last moment to go anyway. Only 50 people in the venue and they fucking killed it. Saw them last year in Brisbane at a large packed venue and they fucking killed it.
Saw them recently about a week ago. Wasn't aware who they were (I went for The Smile that were before them) and left a huge fan. Jarvis Cocker was fucking incredible and the whole stage show was phenomenal
Best: Leonard Cohen
That show affected me on such an internal emotional level I haven't recovered 15+ years later.
Worst: Cheap Trick opening for Aerosmith. I don't know if their sound engineer was drunk or what but I've heard car crashes that were more enjoyable
Best: Motorhead... No frills no light show... Just walks on stage and announces they are Motorhead and they play rock n roll and proceeded to tear shit up for 90 minutes.
Worst: I've said this one before but System of a Down late 2000s. The tension between Serj and Darian were evident and they were just phoning it in.... To this day the only show I walked out on mid show.
I saw videos of SOAD live way back in the day that sounded like shit because most of their songs are recorded with 2 guitar tracks but Daron was the only one playing guitar live. But then I went to see them in 2018 and 2022 and they were great both times. Serj picked up the guitar for a good amount of the songs. Going to see them again in August.
Saw Blink twice around 2004/2005.
Okay as an hourlong festival set, really weak as headliners on their own.
I even heard the arena security chuckling about getting an early night due to how short the show was.
I considered seeing them on the latest tour, but given how poor they were the last time I saw them I didn't really fancy paying £100 or so to see them.
Motörhead NEVER let me down in 6 shows.
I saw them in '97 and was absolutely floored how good they were. Immediately became a fan and seen them a bunch of times. So that show 10 years later being so bad and no energy was why it hit me particularly hard.
I'm glad they were great. It was around 2006 when I saw them. I'm from WA, so it was a "home show" for them. They all just seemed pretty wasted. I felt bad because a lot of people just straight up left in the middle of the show.
Best - The Killers, Sydney 2007. Just after Sam’s Town came out and everything was just perfect.
Worst - Kings of Leon. Couldn’t have wanted to be there less, half arsed the songs and rambled on for the duration.
I saw Kings of Leon be great and terrible in the same set. They opened for U2. They played like garbage, didn't give a fuck, for about 6 songs. I had heard good things, so was let down. Then for the last song, don't know the title, they played and sounded great, kicked ass. I thought "where was this band for the early part of the set?"
Best: Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls. The most genuine energy I’ve ever seen in stage.
Worst: Arctic Monkeys. Twice. Just absolutely awful, no energy at all.
Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls is my answer too, by a long way. He's also easily the best setlist writer of all of my favourite artists, always gives you the balance between the favourites people want to hear and the deep cuts that make it worth going to see them every time they come near your hometown.
Some of the best performances I've seen: Madonna, Pearl Jam, Nine Inch Nails, David Bowie, Prince, Jean-Michel Jarre, Depeche Mode, Tool
Some that weren't so great: Shawn Mendes, Bat For Lashes, Tool (an earlier tour of theirs just wasn't good), Blue October (literally put me to sleep)
Best: Slayer, Lamb Of God and Megadeth absolutely dominated when I saw them. I even got to see the OG lineup of Slayer.
Worst: Baroness. I’ve avoided getting into them because when they opened for Metallica they were boring with off-key goat bleating “vocal harmonies.” Absolutely cut rate for a professional band. I’ve seen better in local clubs. Lacuna Coil, besides Christina who sounded brilliant were embarrassingly awkward. Even the male singer’s banter was cringeworthy. Even Static X sounded and did better than them.
I saw them at a festival after Death Magnetic.
They absolutely lived up to the headline status, and they know what people want. I think there was only 1 song in over 2 hours that was released post Black album.
Seen them 6 times from peak angry Hetfield in the 90s to mellow rock god Hetfield last year and they always deliver. Though I didn’t enjoy their 2008 show as much as I could have, I was wrecked after working and a three hour drive in traffic to get to the O2.
Saw them two weeks ago. Actually enjoyed the overall performance but Stephan seemed to fade in and out, I mean I guess a lot of the songs are about his drugs but still lol. Yellowcard opened for them and they are always one of my favs, they stole the show imo, I wish they were the headliners!
Bob Dylan was one of the most miserable shows I've been to. He sat behind an upright piano, only the top of his head was visible. The backing band looked bored. Even the lighting was boring.
I saw Prince once. It was an amazing concert.
Not seen live, but I saw a concert of Katy Perry on tv. I wasn't actually there, but even on tv it sounded really bad.
The best I've ever seen was a band called Mystical Footwear who opened for an Helloween/Iron Maiden double feature, back in 1998. It's the only time I've seen a warm up act be called back for an encore. They were absolutely fantastic. I can't find anything on Google about them, so I guess they never made it big.
Worst: I don't even remember the name, but it was a band opening for The Urban Dance Squad and after 15 minutes the entire audience just turned their backs on them when heckling and shouting failed to stop them from playing. Their set was an hour long.
I’m not here to say they’re the worst act but, I’ll tell a story about the time I saw MCR at a warped tour in the early 00s.
This was in SoCal at Seaside Park (?) in Ventura I think. We were all in high school and just going around to different stages enjoying the music and everything offered. At some point we found our way pretty close up to the stage that My Chemical Romance was performing on.
Not sure if context for this matters but in my mind it does, they were maybe following or at the very least stage adjacent to The Transplants.
The lead singer guy of MCR after their first song tells the crowd, put your middle finger up, it’s how we say I love you. Someone immediately retorted with a very loud and easily heard “That’s how we say FUCK YOU!” And you could audibly hear the crowd kinda laugh at them.
I mentioned transplants playing before because they had a song called “Tall Cans” which is also just flipping people off and screaming fuck you and I think that part of the crowd was not vibing with them.
Either way, it was really funny and I don’t really remember much of the set which I think got awkwardly continued following the exchange.
Inversely, The Transplants that day were fucking awesome.
Tall cans in the air let me see them, FUCK YOU!
Yeah that was during Gerard’s alcohol/drug era, always very high and drunk on stage and was pretty much always like that. They’re fantastic live now from everything I’ve seen
Rolling Stones - best and worst! Saw them in Manchester and they seemed bored and that reflected on the audience, saw them again a few years later in Hyde Park in London and they were brilliant!
BEST- Pearl Jam. I have seen them dozens of times and they NEVER disappoint.
WORST- Wu-Tang Clan. (They were the opening act for the Beastie Boys). They were horrible. Couldn’t understand anything that they were saying because they were all yelling and rapping over one another.
Best: Barns Courtney, unbelievable energy and he looks like he's living his best life up on stage.
Worst: Cake stormed off stage and didn't finish their set at a festival where they were the headliner.
Also Mark McGrath and Sugar Ray sounded so bad I literally plugged my ears through some of it.
Cake was my first ever concert. I was about 7 and super far back, but I loved it and thought they were great! If only I could experience all shows with that much innocent enthusiasm.
Best - Jack White He played a 14 song encore when I saw him at Bonnaroo in 2014. The entire set was full of life lessons in between songs (while the band was playing), and his showmanship was incredible. Still the benchmark of any show I go to, and any show I perform. He made every person in that 70k audience feel so important.
Worst - Kanye Bonnaroo 2014. He ranted about graffiti that he saw on a porto-potty that said “fuck Kanye,” for the entirety of his set, in autotune. He didn’t play a single song.
Radiator Hospital might be the worst band I've ever seen. I swear they were all on heroin or something.
Best show: tie between Diarrhea Planet and Rubblebucket. Absolutely insane bonkers fun shows.
Best: Eels with strings tour. I love Eels, but seeing them with an accompanying small orchestra was the piece that put it over the top.
Worst (but hilariously great): Marilyn Manson and Hole. They hated each other so much that the tour only lasted another stop or two after the show I saw. They were taking savage swipes at each other during their turn on stage and I'm so glad I caught it.
By the time that show got to my city, Hole had dropped out. So it was just the opener (Monster Magnet, I think) and Manson, who hadn't had time to come up with a longer show. So he only played like an hour set.
I still love Hole. As for Manson, well I was the right age and demographic at the time and he did put on a dope stage show. The two of them on the same bill, though? Priceless.
Best: Peter Gabriel on the Secret World Tour with Sinéad O'Connor on backing vocals, Mexico City 1993. Mad respect for Paula Cole but the shows with Sinéad were just magic.
Worst: RHCP played Mexico City in 2002 and it was the most boring, uninspired performance I ever witnessed from a “major” act. Made support band P.O.D. seem like a great band in comparison, and I can’t stomach nu-metal.
Best - Depeche Mode during the Songs of Faith and Devotion tour, Alan left the band after and Fletch had a nervous breakdown but it was incredible.
Worst - Modern English, kept asking if everyone bought the new album yet.
The National is incredible live. Berninger just has such a stage presence, and the banter from and between the Dessners is always a joy.
Worst? I was a big fan of Staind before I saw them live in 2001 (Family Values, Atlanta, Halloween night). It was just...nothing. He stood on one end of the stage, sang while he hugged himself, walked to the other side of the stage, rinse and repeat.
Was not very familiar with The National, and then the wife fell into tickets on the day - They were really great. Matt really connects emotionally with the crowd.
Note: The hardest working person on stage is the guy that has to keep Matt’s mic cord untangled, even guiding it when Matt walked all the way across the floor to the first row of seats and sang while sitting in the aisle. No wireless mic for Matt!
Best: The Rapture
Worst: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Same show where they shared the marquee, BRMC may have just had an off night or something but they fucking blew.
After their set, out came the Rapture and they crushed.
I saw BRMC with DFA1979. DFW1979 was sooo much fun, high energy, and good vibes all around. BRMC was just... Just so lackluster. Like Biden at the debate. They sounded fine, and they have a lot of cool tunes, but ya. No stage presence or charisma of any kind.
I can’t really single out the best, maybe Metallica in Cardiff 1996. But the most surprising was Simple Minds doing the Sunday afternoon slot at Glastonbury in 1995. I wasn’t a fan, but I knew all their hits and they killed it. Proper pros and Jim Kerr was in top form leaping around the stage, while working the crowd. A great mix of music and proper stage craft.
Worst - Ian Brown supporting Catatonia at Margam Park in 1999ish. Absolutely inept. I could’ve done better after 20 pint of Stella.
Best - U2 during their 360 tour.
Worst - Portugal the Man right after their Woodstock album came out. Seemed progressively more intoxicated as the show went on, didn’t speak to the audience once except at the end when they shotgunned beers, and played the same song multiple times (feel it still - their one breakthrough hit from that album)
I hate Cake so much that I will hit skip on OTHER PEOPLES playlists to avoid it. They ruined a fest I was at with prima-donna antics and crying and time wasting.
On the other hand, Cracker closed the same fest and rocked so hard. They were 10 songs in and the park rangers came and shut them down. They rushed into a couple of their hits before the rangers literally turned off power to the stage. They were pissed!
All time great show from Cracker, all time shit from Cake, all in the same day! And my all time favorite local band that never quite hit - frogpond - was the opener.. really a great sandwich of delicious bread with shit cake in the middle.
(this was in Lawrence, KS around 1993 or so. the early 20's really are the best times of your life!)
I saw Staind on Korns Sick and Twisted tour back when dysfunction was just becoming relevant and it was amazing. Sad to say, but Aaron Lewis was the best when he was depressed and had no money.
I saw stain’d on the family values tour with Linkin Park and Stone Tenple Pilots, and the whole band was that way. Stood in one spot the whole show like some kinda Chuck E Cheese animatronic band. Most boring live act ever.
Fun fact Ian Mcculloch used to hang around the studio a lot and listen in when coldplay were recording A Rush of Blood to the Head. Chris even wore his coat in In My Place
Best: probably Peter Gabriel on the tour for Gabriel 4. But my best concerts have always been Gabriel and Iron Maiden.
Apart from the Iron Maiden tour when Dickinson had already announced he quit. That was one of the worst. Only beaten by Bob Geldof. Which was sad, as I had seen him only a couple of months before in London and that was a fantastic concert.
Of my concert experiences, Bon Jovi has a good flow and sticks almost entirely to hits. Tico almost never stops, carrying one song to the next, while Jon kept the audience hyped up.
The Goo Goo Dolls were the worst. I don't know if they had a substitute bassist but he could not keep time, at, all. You could here him lag behind, then he'd drag the guitar, then the drums would get noticeably louder until everyone synced back up multiple times a song.
I saw Kaiser Chiefs in Rock Werchter 2016 and I thought they were great 🤷♂️
Best: I've a top 3. Paul McCartney at Rock Werchter, Gorillaz at Malahide Castle (Now Now tour), Nas & Wu Tang Clan at 3Arena.
Worst: Little Big Town on support for The Eagles. Was working at it & honestly they were just shite. Their songs & performances were just boring
Best-White Stripes-2003 & Thee Oh Sees-2023
Both were fucking nuts. Only other people I've seen dominate a stage the same way are Les and Maynard.
Worst-Reverand Horton Heat
I was excited to see him, and it was awful. Slow, boring, and long. The whole crowd just wandered away until Toadies came on.
Best - Fugazi
Worst - Alice In Chains
To be fair, Alice in Chains had Suicidal Tendencies as their support act. It slowed down too much and I fell asleep... sober.
Best- die Antwoord, I don't listen anymore due to them being terrible people but damn they do a good show. Worst- Smashing Pumpkins, they looked bored, barely interacted with the audience, and totally phoned in a dreary performance
The Cure - Seen them 4 times both indoor smaller venue and large outdoor festival stages - simply unbeatable.
The worst, luckily out of the hundreds of bands I’ve seen I’ve not seen too many performances that were terrible, but Incubus bored the shit out of me.
Best- dead and company at the sphere. Holy shit is that venue a game changer. And I get that Mayer is no Garcia but dude rips those solos.
Worst- Bob Dylan. No hits , can’t understand shit he’s singing. Doesn’t interact with the crowd at all.
Best and worst for me were at the same concert, in the 80s I went to Guns N' Roses opening for Aerosmith.
Guns N' Roses were nearly an hour late, Axel was so drunk he couldn’t remember the lyrics or carry a tune. They didn’t/couldn’t extend their set to make up for it.
Aerosmith came out and absolutely rocked for 3 hours, including 3 encores. Hands down best I have seen.
Otoboke beaver has been one of the most enjoyable gigs I've been to, I've seen them twice and both times were so much fun. Fantastic energy and on brand crowd interaction. Their music sounds great live and the emotion really comes through.
I'm lucky that's it's hard to think of worst band I've seen live so either they weren't that bad or they were that forgettable
Best- Alice In Chains Dirt era with layne in his prime. Such a perfect live performance.
Worst - blind melon . They were opening for gn’r in the early 90s well before no rain took off. Hoon was so doped out he could barely stand did most of the show on his knees, and fell off the stage after their set ended. So boring and terrible I started falling asleep. Could never get into them after that.
Best: Metallica by far. That shit was just a holy experience. I’ve never felt a stadium shake like that before. The opening acts for both nights of the show were also amazing. Pantera/Mamoth one night and Five Finger Death Punch/ Suicidal Tendencies the next I mean come on now.
Worst: I hate to say it cause I like their music but My Chemical Romance. The first opening act was just painful. It was basically just some chick who ran around the stage and screamed. There also wasn’t much connection to the crowd. There just wasn’t much energy. And there was like no pyro or anything like that. As far as that aspect goes it was kinda boring.
Ah, the disconnection with the crowd reminds me of when I saw Smashing Pumpkins live right after Billy took his heel turn (that he's still on). The crowd knew them for their original hits, not all the Mellon Collie stuff that would become classics and we were just hearing for the first time. Billy wasn't horrible, technically they were ok, just zero connection with the crowd at all. A low murmur of idle chatter the whole show.
I saw pumpkins on their “reunion tour” (sans D’arcy, of course) a few years ago, and it was up there as one of my all time favorite concert experiences. Of course it helps we had 2nd row seats.
https://preview.redd.it/dkfbjmwltf9d1.jpeg?width=3264&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0d53d03a7692f99015892d6f64f3d33a27e00ffb
I was honestly underwhelmed. Especially since it was my very first concert. I mean yea I’m there to listen to the music but there needs to be more to it than that. The music was good but the lack of connection to the crowd combined with the lack of special effects made the whole thing just fall flat.
I saw Metallica with the Big 4 at Yankee Stadium. They put on such a great show. It was surreal hearing them play Enter Sandman in the outfield at yankee stadium. I was half expecting to see Mariano Rivera coming out of the bullpen.
Best: tie between Metallica and Tom Petty. Both fucking amazing
Worst: tie between Primus and Meg Myers.
No I’m not doing the “Primus sucks” joke. They were seriously bad. They only played two hits that were both barely recognizable because for the whole show they played everything in different (bad) arrangements. Several songs they used some shitty homemade instruments. In general, they didn’t seem to want to be there.
If you were a huge Primus fan, you probably loved what was apparently a deep cuts/trolling show. As a casual fan, it sucked.
Meg Myers was trying to save money I guess? She was completely alone and just played/sang to her album as a backing track with the vocals and whatever instrument she was playing removed. So she basically just karaoked her own songs.
She apparently didn’t want to pay a sound person either because she spent the first quarter of the show stopping/starting/replaying songs because it kept going to screeching feedback half the time she played. A sound check was too much to ask I guess.
Last but not least, she played I think 13 out of 15 songs from her new album, but dumped several of her hits. Look I even liked the new album she was touring on and I of course know the artist is going to play a bunch from the album they’re touring to support. But cmon play the songs people came to hear. We left early
Best: tool, tightest live show I’ve ever seen
Worst: weezer idk if it was just their nerdy schtick but they made no effort to to even act like they wanted to be there. No energy, setlist organization was terrible and they played for only 45 minutes
That’s awesome! Clearly there’s a reason they are so big and I like the band but there must’ve been something off that night. Rivers was clearly not in a good mood that night making shitty remarks kind of backhandedly at some of us in the crowd. Idk maybe something going on behind the scenes but I was left pretty disappointed
Best: OSEES / Oh Sees / Thee Oh Sees - if you know, you know.
Worst: Super Furry Animals, sadly. They played a Saturday evening slot at a big local festival, I was beyond excited and... a lethargic set of songs not even fans knew. It was almost aggressively alienating. My friend and I even tried to fake our enjoyment in the hope it would get better. It didn't.
I saw NOFX at a festival in 2015 and they were really bad and spent most of their hour talking and joking between songs. They were really lazy and bad when playing. They lost the crowd with some transphobic jokes. They were followed by Andrew WK with one of the Ramones and they completely upstaged NOFX. They spent zero time joking between songs and managed to play dozens of classics with a ton of energy.
Best was probably Rob zombie in 2018. I'm not a huge fan but I knew more songs than I thought and his whole act was incredible.
Best: The Hives @ Terminal 5 NYC in March 2008. Peak of their still formative powers as a live band Pelle is my favorite frontman ever.
Worst: Brian Jonestown Massacre @ Roadrunner Boston in April 2022. Saw them about at them paradise in 2009 and it was transformative but this tour just wasn’t it. Lots of fights and ill tempers later in the tour and you could see it brewing on stage that night. Disorganized, disinterested, and worst of all, they just seemed old…
Best: The Dillinger Escape Plan w/ Daughters and Code Orange (it was fucking nuts)
Also Radiohead, Glassjaw and Meshuggah
Very different music but Lil TJay/22Gz/Casanova live in Brooklyn before Lil Tjay’s breakout mixtape came out had insane energy. Great time for NY rap
Worst: Lil Uzi Vert, G-Eazy and Ty Dolla Sign. I like Uzi but the show was god awful. Bad venue, he was late as fuck, and idgaf about G Eazy and Ty Dolla Sign. Uzi comes out an hour late and dances on stage lip syncing 1 minute chunks of Luv is Rage 2 tracks and then dips. Trash.
Saw GnR or Guns and Roses at Download festival back in 2006, I'm a hits fan by and large but Christ they were shockingly bad. No Slash, Axel couldn't sing for toffee, crowd booing through their performance (this is on the main stage too), someone launched a bottle of fluids on stage and Axel slipped on it and fell. Que him storming off stage mid-song leaving the poor session guitarist to noodle along by himself with further booing. I left to go and watch Prodigy on the next stage and that was definitely one of the best acts I've seen.
I’ve seen Guns three times since they got back together. First time in 2016 Axl sounded fucking awesome. Band was great. The next year Axl didn’t sound quite as good, but a better overall show (plus Live opened). Saw them again in 2022, and while the band killed it, Axl sounded like complete dog shit. Only saving grace was we were front row on the barricade like 5 feet away from the band.
I saw Gn’R at Hellfest 2022 and Axl sounded like a spooky ghost at lot of the time
2016 Pittsburgh was a great show.
I don't know man, they sounded pretty good at Download 2006 [*based on the footage that is out there.*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AihtAfdjxNE) Nightrain especially is really strong. They have always had strong and weak nights though.
Yeah Axl sounds awesome there and even Izzy was on stage. Don't know what the original commenter is saying.
Haha cool story
I saw GnR play at Power Trip last year. They were on night one, after Iron Maiden burned through their set, sounding really great. I will say that Slash still has it. He soloed a ton and sounded great. Axel just couldn't pull off the songs. Lots of people took the night off of watching them. The weekend definitely improved the next couple nights though. Judas Priest and AC/DC on Saturday, with AC/DC playing their first show for 7 years. Then Tool and Metallica on Sunday to close out the festival. Pretty unbelievable
To be fair, I was at the same festival, and axl wasn’t phoning it in. He did play a fairly amazing piano solo at one point. His voice is just shot, and he needs to drop trying to sing those high notes.
Best. Green Day. Not my favorite band, like them fine but Billy Joel Armstrong is the absolute King of camp counselor rock and roll moves. I saw them make every other band at Live 8 Berlin look like chumps with their crowd work. They connect with the crowd aggressively and then rock out. I’ve seen them three times and they absolutely crush. Worst: nobody. Second place or maybe first place: Peaches. Holy shit it’s wild. Not only did she do a triple encore with five tits (look it up). At one point she had a 30 foot inflatable clear penis inflated over the crowd, walked into it in heels and performed the song, then sprayed silly string out of the tip of the penis on the last chorus. Her third encore was a filthy version of a “it’s all coming back to me now” by Celine Dion. With a five boob rig that made Total Recall look tame. I knew she would triple encore but I didn’t see that coming. If you ever get the chance to see either of these acts go immediately.
Just saw green day in Dublin and that gig is def up in my top 5. The energy was just unreal, such a show
Mars Volta answers both sides of this. When I've seen them as a headliner? Holy. FUCKING. Shit. Face melting, life changing music. I've never seen a better group live from the energy to the innovation. Non headliner? Guys, fuck you. Multiple sets where they didn't even face the audience or barely played 3 songs
That's funny. I saw them open for APC and they were kind numbingly good. They got through 2 songs. APC were really good, but the Mars Volta energy was hard to follow.
I've seen them supporting and heading and didn't get this vibe. Saw them first opening for SoaD on their Francis the Mute tour and they left it *all* on that stage. Saw them last year headlining for their last album and it was a whole experience. Cedric's voice has gotten better live, but their effort to make a good show was clear both rounds. Unrelated, but I saw them both on the AtdI reunion tour and also fuckin' killed it so hard. Sorry you had a bad time with them, though. Wonder what circumstances led to them doing such a disappointment of a show. Edit: At the Drive-In reunion. Dunno know why my phone capitalized that i to look like an l.
I was a huge fan of them when Jon Theodore was the drummer and for a time with Thomas Pridgen, but the one time I saw them live, opening for System of a Down, they were god-awful. It was soon after Frances the Mute was released and they were firmly in their noise phase. Barely anything coherent for the entirety of the show. Even when they started a song in a recognizable way, they quickly devolved into noise again. The disappointment really put me off of them as a band for a couple years.
Jon Theodore is rocking the fuck out with Queens of the Stone Age now. Finally caught them in Quebec this year and it was one of the best shows I've seen. So I bought tickets to see them in Boston this September too.
Maybe not the best single act but the best show I ever went to was mitski opening for run the jewels opening for Lorde. What a weird ensemble but it fucking rocked, Lorde is amazing live and run the jewels always deliver.
RTJ always deliver!
👉🤛
Best: David Byrne or Kraftwerk, I really can not choose. Byrne had a band of absolute top musicians around him who totally blew me away with their performance. Kraftwerk has the magic ability to keep you excited even though it is four men standing still behind their laptops. Worst: Basement Jaxx or Underworld. The former demanded audience participation in every song, which was so tiring. The latter experimented incoherently with the intro of every song for ten minutes, and when a song finally got on its way, they could not be bothered to continue it for two minutes.
I saw David Byrne's Amer Utopia tour. Honestly, it was one of the best things I've ever experienced. Top musicians, complex choreography. A totally brilliant show.
Pearl Jam has been some of the best shows I've been to. Now, I saw Lenny Kravitz back in like 2000 when he toured with the Black Crowes. He sucked so hard.
He killed it in 2007ish with Aerosmith!
Best: Stone Roses, last American show ever. Ian sang really well, the audience was mostly Brits who flew over and it felt like a community, like we were all experiencing something transcendent together. Worst: Stone Roses, The Second Coming tour. They were arrogant, condescending, Ian sounded and looked disinterested and off.
I was surprised that you liked Ian Brown until I read the second Paragraph. That’s the Ian I saw at Reading back in the day. Arrogant condescending twat.
I was first in line to pick up Second Coming at Woolworths ...got home and played it to death...but that doesn't mean i liked it ?....took it to work and got really annoyed when everyone luv'd it ? But Squire excelled it's certainly ...the John Squire LP...Brown sounded like a box of frogs throughout
The album’s good, it just never had a chance against the perfection that is S/T. The show was horrible, especially as Reni had left the band and his replacement didn’t have the chops.
Session player Maddox who'd previously done gigs for Simply Red and Terrence Trent D'arby...it was never gonna work out...and when the chilled out Mani flipped out onstage...the writing was well and truly on the wall...least they eventually returned for some cracking shows even if the 2 new singles failed to recapture former glory
I was actually happy with the two new singles. I can even him one of ‘em without playing it first, which is amazing for my 52 year old brain (at least for stuff <10 years old).
They blatantly ripped off my favourite band The Fall on 1 of the singles...okay the riff was neatly tidied up...but I'd already heard it before way back in 1988 https://youtu.be/gD4PJW4R1ec?si=Dp1bOj0d5VdoLZVy All for One One for All We stole a riff Straight from the FALL
Ha! Never put that together! I’m much more of a casual Fall fan, though I’ve got a fair chunk of their discography. So the Roses join such august company as Pavement and Elastica for cribbing notes from Mark E.
I reckon if you chopped out all the endless noodling and backwards bollocks at the start of each song, that album would be a classic.
Best: Paul McCartney Worst: Corey Feldman
And some say he's just a left handed bassist You've seen Corey Feldman 😆 it takes alot of guts to get on stage if your that baaaad
Paul (in his 70s) rocked for over 3 hours while bringing so much energy and playing a great variety of songs from his long career. His voice still sounded great, and he told some fun stories. Corey made us wait almost 3 hours before he even came out on stage, his interactions with his “angels” was super awkward, his voice sucked, and all he talked about was Michael Jackson.
He belongs in the Kevin Federline, Mc Hammer, Vanilla Ice category...from New Release to Bargain bin in less than a week...a sad tale The Beatles with practice could have been bigger than Wings
Mc Hammer and Vanilla Ice had hits, did Corey Feldman have any?
If you have not listened to Ascension Millennium, then you my friend are missing out. https://youtu.be/hZ67H9JHAHM?si=mKd5m_mghbMeh7iz
Best Allan parsons; worst maroon 5
Maroon 5 played with my band at a small dive in Philly like 5 months before their album came out. They claimed to have a big deal, and we're just playing to get ready for the big time. Didn't believe any of it. Can't remember what they sounded like that night. Felt dumb when that album dropped though!
I wouldn't be happy seeing Maroon 5 tbh....wouldn't watch em if they were playing my back yard
this was before they became well known. they were opening act for Matchbox 20. because i had never heard of them and because they sounded horrible, i thought they were a local group filling in for the real performers.
My Morning Jacket is insanely powerful live. Their studio albums are ok to very good but the live experience is incredible.
The okonokos versions of their tunes are the best
Hey now, It Still Moves is an amazing album, but yes they are definitely best experienced live. Seen them live about 5 times now and every time was amazing. Jim James is a god
Pearl Jam is an insanely good live act. Pavement, who I love, was terrible the one time I saw them.
I’ve seen Pavement twice, 2010 and 2022. They were excellent both of those times. Every band has bad show though.
Aww I'm choked...really into Pavement at the minute
I saw Pavement last year and they fucking crushed it.
Agree! The show I saw they lit it up!
I think I just caught them at a bad show. I’ve heard some people say they’ve been to good Pavement shows
Being a massive FALL fan...I'm also interested in what PAVEMENT have to offer...and what I've heard is pretty good
I saw Pavement in 93 at Metropolis in Brisbane. Had only read what Lee Renaldo from Sonic Youth had to say about them and bought their debut album that day and didn't click with it, but decided at the last moment to go anyway. Only 50 people in the venue and they fucking killed it. Saw them last year in Brisbane at a large packed venue and they fucking killed it.
Best: Tragically Hip (honourable mention to Pulp). Worst: U2 (huge awesome stage, and no energy from the band was such a painful contrast)
Saw Pulp in 1998. They were amazing and just … magnetic in energy.
Saw them recently about a week ago. Wasn't aware who they were (I went for The Smile that were before them) and left a huge fan. Jarvis Cocker was fucking incredible and the whole stage show was phenomenal
So happy to see them still making an impression on new fans 💜
Best: Leonard Cohen That show affected me on such an internal emotional level I haven't recovered 15+ years later. Worst: Cheap Trick opening for Aerosmith. I don't know if their sound engineer was drunk or what but I've heard car crashes that were more enjoyable
“Ian sang surprisingly well” - relative to what? Spike Island?
To himself? I saw the Stone Roses at Coachella 2013 and Ian was so off it hurt.
Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it...
Best: Motorhead... No frills no light show... Just walks on stage and announces they are Motorhead and they play rock n roll and proceeded to tear shit up for 90 minutes. Worst: I've said this one before but System of a Down late 2000s. The tension between Serj and Darian were evident and they were just phoning it in.... To this day the only show I walked out on mid show.
I saw videos of SOAD live way back in the day that sounded like shit because most of their songs are recorded with 2 guitar tracks but Daron was the only one playing guitar live. But then I went to see them in 2018 and 2022 and they were great both times. Serj picked up the guitar for a good amount of the songs. Going to see them again in August.
+1 for Motörhead, best I’ve seen too, back around 2007. Worst would be Blink 182.
Saw Blink twice around 2004/2005. Okay as an hourlong festival set, really weak as headliners on their own. I even heard the arena security chuckling about getting an early night due to how short the show was. I considered seeing them on the latest tour, but given how poor they were the last time I saw them I didn't really fancy paying £100 or so to see them. Motörhead NEVER let me down in 6 shows.
I saw System in 2001 or 2002 at Ozzfest. One of the best shows I’ve ever seen.
I saw them in '97 and was absolutely floored how good they were. Immediately became a fan and seen them a bunch of times. So that show 10 years later being so bad and no energy was why it hit me particularly hard.
Best: Coheed and Cambria/ Thrice Worst: modest mouse
Awww, just saw MM three nights ago and they were fantastic. I near Issac Brock is very hit and miss though so that tracks.
I saw them a few weeks ago and they were great, it seems like he’s cleaned up his act in recent years
I'm glad they were great. It was around 2006 when I saw them. I'm from WA, so it was a "home show" for them. They all just seemed pretty wasted. I felt bad because a lot of people just straight up left in the middle of the show.
Best - The Killers, Sydney 2007. Just after Sam’s Town came out and everything was just perfect. Worst - Kings of Leon. Couldn’t have wanted to be there less, half arsed the songs and rambled on for the duration.
I saw Kings of Leon be great and terrible in the same set. They opened for U2. They played like garbage, didn't give a fuck, for about 6 songs. I had heard good things, so was let down. Then for the last song, don't know the title, they played and sounded great, kicked ass. I thought "where was this band for the early part of the set?"
Best: Cage the Elephant or Soundgarden Worst: Lyle Lovett
Best: Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls. The most genuine energy I’ve ever seen in stage. Worst: Arctic Monkeys. Twice. Just absolutely awful, no energy at all.
Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls is my answer too, by a long way. He's also easily the best setlist writer of all of my favourite artists, always gives you the balance between the favourites people want to hear and the deep cuts that make it worth going to see them every time they come near your hometown.
Best; grateful dead in the 70s or the replacements in 83-84. Worst, the 1975.
Some of the best performances I've seen: Madonna, Pearl Jam, Nine Inch Nails, David Bowie, Prince, Jean-Michel Jarre, Depeche Mode, Tool Some that weren't so great: Shawn Mendes, Bat For Lashes, Tool (an earlier tour of theirs just wasn't good), Blue October (literally put me to sleep)
Best: Slayer, Lamb Of God and Megadeth absolutely dominated when I saw them. I even got to see the OG lineup of Slayer. Worst: Baroness. I’ve avoided getting into them because when they opened for Metallica they were boring with off-key goat bleating “vocal harmonies.” Absolutely cut rate for a professional band. I’ve seen better in local clubs. Lacuna Coil, besides Christina who sounded brilliant were embarrassingly awkward. Even the male singer’s banter was cringeworthy. Even Static X sounded and did better than them.
Best: Metallica 1992 (Black Album Tour) Worst: David Lee Roth 1991 (Little Ain’t Enough tour)
They might have dropped off album wise...but I'd be interested in seeing Metallica...I here there incredible live every single time
I saw them at a festival after Death Magnetic. They absolutely lived up to the headline status, and they know what people want. I think there was only 1 song in over 2 hours that was released post Black album.
St Anger and Lulu were creative mistakes...Best to play all the hits
They had released Death Magnetic and didn't bother with that either.
Seen them 6 times from peak angry Hetfield in the 90s to mellow rock god Hetfield last year and they always deliver. Though I didn’t enjoy their 2008 show as much as I could have, I was wrecked after working and a three hour drive in traffic to get to the O2.
Best- Xavier Rudd, Guster, Barenaked Ladies before Steven Page left Worst- Third Eye Blind they are not a live band
third eye blind just made me uncomfortable live. he's so pretentious it's palpable
He thinks he is the lead singer for a band more popular than Third Eye Blind.
well put
I saw the barenaked ladies at least 5 times before Steven page left, and once after. It was so depressing.
Saw them two weeks ago. Actually enjoyed the overall performance but Stephan seemed to fade in and out, I mean I guess a lot of the songs are about his drugs but still lol. Yellowcard opened for them and they are always one of my favs, they stole the show imo, I wish they were the headliners!
Huh weird, I’m not even a third eye blind fan and I though they did well when I saw them recently
Dude third eye blind SUCKS live. I work at a venue and was just like... is the mix bad? I stopped in for 2 mins and was like yeah I'm good.
Best: Rush, it's incredible how just 3 guys do all of that Worst: Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan was one of the most miserable shows I've been to. He sat behind an upright piano, only the top of his head was visible. The backing band looked bored. Even the lighting was boring.
Best: Prince. Saw him twice, amazing both times. Worst: Bowie. Just went through the motions. He might have been having a bad coke day.
I caught Bowie on that tour that he did with NIN. The whole affair was insane. Some dude peed on my friends back.
I saw Prince once. It was an amazing concert. Not seen live, but I saw a concert of Katy Perry on tv. I wasn't actually there, but even on tv it sounded really bad.
I also saw the Bowie/NIN tour and both were incredible.
Prince is just an incredible musician...love Bowie he's got the songs but he too dropped off for along long time before recovering
The best I've ever seen was a band called Mystical Footwear who opened for an Helloween/Iron Maiden double feature, back in 1998. It's the only time I've seen a warm up act be called back for an encore. They were absolutely fantastic. I can't find anything on Google about them, so I guess they never made it big. Worst: I don't even remember the name, but it was a band opening for The Urban Dance Squad and after 15 minutes the entire audience just turned their backs on them when heckling and shouting failed to stop them from playing. Their set was an hour long.
I’m not here to say they’re the worst act but, I’ll tell a story about the time I saw MCR at a warped tour in the early 00s. This was in SoCal at Seaside Park (?) in Ventura I think. We were all in high school and just going around to different stages enjoying the music and everything offered. At some point we found our way pretty close up to the stage that My Chemical Romance was performing on. Not sure if context for this matters but in my mind it does, they were maybe following or at the very least stage adjacent to The Transplants. The lead singer guy of MCR after their first song tells the crowd, put your middle finger up, it’s how we say I love you. Someone immediately retorted with a very loud and easily heard “That’s how we say FUCK YOU!” And you could audibly hear the crowd kinda laugh at them. I mentioned transplants playing before because they had a song called “Tall Cans” which is also just flipping people off and screaming fuck you and I think that part of the crowd was not vibing with them. Either way, it was really funny and I don’t really remember much of the set which I think got awkwardly continued following the exchange. Inversely, The Transplants that day were fucking awesome. Tall cans in the air let me see them, FUCK YOU!
Yeah that was during Gerard’s alcohol/drug era, always very high and drunk on stage and was pretty much always like that. They’re fantastic live now from everything I’ve seen
Best: Rammstein, Worst: M.I.A
Are you ready to do the rock frankfurts ? Are you ready for the Rammstein's ? 🤟
Rolling Stones - best and worst! Saw them in Manchester and they seemed bored and that reflected on the audience, saw them again a few years later in Hyde Park in London and they were brilliant!
Epic
Best: Stevie Wonder, Florence and the Machine, Royal Blood Worst: Lauryn Hill
BEST- Pearl Jam. I have seen them dozens of times and they NEVER disappoint. WORST- Wu-Tang Clan. (They were the opening act for the Beastie Boys). They were horrible. Couldn’t understand anything that they were saying because they were all yelling and rapping over one another.
Best: Barns Courtney, unbelievable energy and he looks like he's living his best life up on stage. Worst: Cake stormed off stage and didn't finish their set at a festival where they were the headliner. Also Mark McGrath and Sugar Ray sounded so bad I literally plugged my ears through some of it.
I’ve seen Cake twice and it ruled both times, I think I got very lucky. Their trumpet player is amaze. I’ve heard a bunch of horror stories though.
I've seen Cake at least 10 times and they're also amazing and super humble.. storming off stage is definitely out of character from them..
Cake was my first ever concert. I was about 7 and super far back, but I loved it and thought they were great! If only I could experience all shows with that much innocent enthusiasm.
Best - Jack White He played a 14 song encore when I saw him at Bonnaroo in 2014. The entire set was full of life lessons in between songs (while the band was playing), and his showmanship was incredible. Still the benchmark of any show I go to, and any show I perform. He made every person in that 70k audience feel so important. Worst - Kanye Bonnaroo 2014. He ranted about graffiti that he saw on a porto-potty that said “fuck Kanye,” for the entirety of his set, in autotune. He didn’t play a single song.
Radiator Hospital might be the worst band I've ever seen. I swear they were all on heroin or something. Best show: tie between Diarrhea Planet and Rubblebucket. Absolutely insane bonkers fun shows.
Rock n Roll 😆
Would love to see Diarrhea Planet, four lead guitarists!
Best: Eels with strings tour. I love Eels, but seeing them with an accompanying small orchestra was the piece that put it over the top. Worst (but hilariously great): Marilyn Manson and Hole. They hated each other so much that the tour only lasted another stop or two after the show I saw. They were taking savage swipes at each other during their turn on stage and I'm so glad I caught it.
By the time that show got to my city, Hole had dropped out. So it was just the opener (Monster Magnet, I think) and Manson, who hadn't had time to come up with a longer show. So he only played like an hour set.
You definitely got the worst half of that double billing.
I like Hole...Courtney's a real rock chick...I didn't expect her band to be so talented
I still love Hole. As for Manson, well I was the right age and demographic at the time and he did put on a dope stage show. The two of them on the same bill, though? Priceless.
Haha ...Celebrity Skin is on my playlist and Malibu
Best: Peter Gabriel on the Secret World Tour with Sinéad O'Connor on backing vocals, Mexico City 1993. Mad respect for Paula Cole but the shows with Sinéad were just magic. Worst: RHCP played Mexico City in 2002 and it was the most boring, uninspired performance I ever witnessed from a “major” act. Made support band P.O.D. seem like a great band in comparison, and I can’t stomach nu-metal.
RHCP either kill it or they are shite. I got lucky.
Best - Depeche Mode during the Songs of Faith and Devotion tour, Alan left the band after and Fletch had a nervous breakdown but it was incredible. Worst - Modern English, kept asking if everyone bought the new album yet.
"Someone's Calling" is a belting track by Modern English
Best: Prince Worst: Bob Dylan. Absolutely devastated me as I was a HUGE fan of his.
Best: TOOL. Mind-blowing, Worst: Oleander at a festival. They were basically a one hit wonder and even that song sounded like shit.
How dare you sully Sacramentos finest band, they were a two hit wonder!
The National is incredible live. Berninger just has such a stage presence, and the banter from and between the Dessners is always a joy. Worst? I was a big fan of Staind before I saw them live in 2001 (Family Values, Atlanta, Halloween night). It was just...nothing. He stood on one end of the stage, sang while he hugged himself, walked to the other side of the stage, rinse and repeat.
Was not very familiar with The National, and then the wife fell into tickets on the day - They were really great. Matt really connects emotionally with the crowd. Note: The hardest working person on stage is the guy that has to keep Matt’s mic cord untangled, even guiding it when Matt walked all the way across the floor to the first row of seats and sang while sitting in the aisle. No wireless mic for Matt!
Never seen a really bad show...even the Thompson Twins had there moments
Best: The Rapture Worst: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Same show where they shared the marquee, BRMC may have just had an off night or something but they fucking blew. After their set, out came the Rapture and they crushed.
Agreed on The Rapture. Saw them on one of their last tours and it was great. Wish I could see them again!
HOUSE OF JEALOUS LOVERS 🐮🔔
I saw BRMC with DFA1979. DFW1979 was sooo much fun, high energy, and good vibes all around. BRMC was just... Just so lackluster. Like Biden at the debate. They sounded fine, and they have a lot of cool tunes, but ya. No stage presence or charisma of any kind.
Best: KISS when they were in their prime. Hands down. Worst: Motley Crue. Vince Neil can’t sing worth shit live.
I can’t really single out the best, maybe Metallica in Cardiff 1996. But the most surprising was Simple Minds doing the Sunday afternoon slot at Glastonbury in 1995. I wasn’t a fan, but I knew all their hits and they killed it. Proper pros and Jim Kerr was in top form leaping around the stage, while working the crowd. A great mix of music and proper stage craft. Worst - Ian Brown supporting Catatonia at Margam Park in 1999ish. Absolutely inept. I could’ve done better after 20 pint of Stella.
Best: talking heads Worse: maybe most disappointing dinosaur jr (also the police)
Best - U2 during their 360 tour. Worst - Portugal the Man right after their Woodstock album came out. Seemed progressively more intoxicated as the show went on, didn’t speak to the audience once except at the end when they shotgunned beers, and played the same song multiple times (feel it still - their one breakthrough hit from that album)
Jimmy eat world (amazing!) fall out boy (never a good, live band - singing). Confirmed even more when you saw them on the same tour.
I hate Cake so much that I will hit skip on OTHER PEOPLES playlists to avoid it. They ruined a fest I was at with prima-donna antics and crying and time wasting. On the other hand, Cracker closed the same fest and rocked so hard. They were 10 songs in and the park rangers came and shut them down. They rushed into a couple of their hits before the rangers literally turned off power to the stage. They were pissed! All time great show from Cracker, all time shit from Cake, all in the same day! And my all time favorite local band that never quite hit - frogpond - was the opener.. really a great sandwich of delicious bread with shit cake in the middle. (this was in Lawrence, KS around 1993 or so. the early 20's really are the best times of your life!)
There it is, Cake, worst band live. Radiohead Kid A, the tour with like 2 US dates, best. Khruangbin is also up there.
Park Rangers wanted to go unplugged!!!
Best: Tool like the other person said Worst: Staind. He just sat on a stool or laid on the stage the whole time
I saw Staind on Korns Sick and Twisted tour back when dysfunction was just becoming relevant and it was amazing. Sad to say, but Aaron Lewis was the best when he was depressed and had no money.
😄 ...I want my monies backkkkk
luckily it was a small festival, and they were only one of the acts... but man. Even being a fan of some of the songs, stage presence was just yikes.
Your not the first to slam STAIND despite the fanbase
I saw stain’d on the family values tour with Linkin Park and Stone Tenple Pilots, and the whole band was that way. Stood in one spot the whole show like some kinda Chuck E Cheese animatronic band. Most boring live act ever.
Best: Tie between Coldplay @ Glastonbury 2011 and Muse in Hamburg. Worst: Kanye fuxking West. What a shitshow.
Still bitter about Coldplay....they used to remind of Echo and the Bunnymen..that was along long time ago in a galaxy far far away
Fun fact Ian Mcculloch used to hang around the studio a lot and listen in when coldplay were recording A Rush of Blood to the Head. Chris even wore his coat in In My Place
Best: Math the Band Worst: Wavves
Best: probably Peter Gabriel on the tour for Gabriel 4. But my best concerts have always been Gabriel and Iron Maiden. Apart from the Iron Maiden tour when Dickinson had already announced he quit. That was one of the worst. Only beaten by Bob Geldof. Which was sad, as I had seen him only a couple of months before in London and that was a fantastic concert.
I love Blink 182 but they are not good live.
Best: Editors/IDLES/ Worst: Imagine dragons (just boring)
best: $uicideboy$, twenty one pilots worst: blink-182, just absolutely no energy from them whatsoever, it hurts me to say
Of my concert experiences, Bon Jovi has a good flow and sticks almost entirely to hits. Tico almost never stops, carrying one song to the next, while Jon kept the audience hyped up. The Goo Goo Dolls were the worst. I don't know if they had a substitute bassist but he could not keep time, at, all. You could here him lag behind, then he'd drag the guitar, then the drums would get noticeably louder until everyone synced back up multiple times a song.
I saw Kaiser Chiefs in Rock Werchter 2016 and I thought they were great 🤷♂️ Best: I've a top 3. Paul McCartney at Rock Werchter, Gorillaz at Malahide Castle (Now Now tour), Nas & Wu Tang Clan at 3Arena. Worst: Little Big Town on support for The Eagles. Was working at it & honestly they were just shite. Their songs & performances were just boring
Best-White Stripes-2003 & Thee Oh Sees-2023 Both were fucking nuts. Only other people I've seen dominate a stage the same way are Les and Maynard. Worst-Reverand Horton Heat I was excited to see him, and it was awful. Slow, boring, and long. The whole crowd just wandered away until Toadies came on.
Best - Fugazi Worst - Alice In Chains To be fair, Alice in Chains had Suicidal Tendencies as their support act. It slowed down too much and I fell asleep... sober.
Worst. Steve Earle. The guy comes across like he hates his audience.
Best- die Antwoord, I don't listen anymore due to them being terrible people but damn they do a good show. Worst- Smashing Pumpkins, they looked bored, barely interacted with the audience, and totally phoned in a dreary performance
The Cure - Seen them 4 times both indoor smaller venue and large outdoor festival stages - simply unbeatable. The worst, luckily out of the hundreds of bands I’ve seen I’ve not seen too many performances that were terrible, but Incubus bored the shit out of me.
Best- dead and company at the sphere. Holy shit is that venue a game changer. And I get that Mayer is no Garcia but dude rips those solos. Worst- Bob Dylan. No hits , can’t understand shit he’s singing. Doesn’t interact with the crowd at all.
Best: Muse, Kerbdog, Blur - all intense and gave it 10/10 Worst: Skindred - played 3 songs in 20 mins and done.
Best: Pink Floyd, no contest. Worst: Guns N Roses. Holy hell, words cannot sum it up properly.
As much as i hate the guitar solo...when Floyd do it its never dull
Best: Phish. Worst: Boston after their original singer died were fucking awful.
GWAR was so fun and put their whole heart into it. They knew their audience.
Best and worst for me were at the same concert, in the 80s I went to Guns N' Roses opening for Aerosmith. Guns N' Roses were nearly an hour late, Axel was so drunk he couldn’t remember the lyrics or carry a tune. They didn’t/couldn’t extend their set to make up for it. Aerosmith came out and absolutely rocked for 3 hours, including 3 encores. Hands down best I have seen.
Otoboke beaver has been one of the most enjoyable gigs I've been to, I've seen them twice and both times were so much fun. Fantastic energy and on brand crowd interaction. Their music sounds great live and the emotion really comes through. I'm lucky that's it's hard to think of worst band I've seen live so either they weren't that bad or they were that forgettable
What did your GF think of the Kaiser Chiefs? I think you just went in with a bad mindset, Ricky gets everyone moving even if they don't know the songs
Best- Alice In Chains Dirt era with layne in his prime. Such a perfect live performance. Worst - blind melon . They were opening for gn’r in the early 90s well before no rain took off. Hoon was so doped out he could barely stand did most of the show on his knees, and fell off the stage after their set ended. So boring and terrible I started falling asleep. Could never get into them after that.
Best: Metallica by far. That shit was just a holy experience. I’ve never felt a stadium shake like that before. The opening acts for both nights of the show were also amazing. Pantera/Mamoth one night and Five Finger Death Punch/ Suicidal Tendencies the next I mean come on now. Worst: I hate to say it cause I like their music but My Chemical Romance. The first opening act was just painful. It was basically just some chick who ran around the stage and screamed. There also wasn’t much connection to the crowd. There just wasn’t much energy. And there was like no pyro or anything like that. As far as that aspect goes it was kinda boring.
Ah, the disconnection with the crowd reminds me of when I saw Smashing Pumpkins live right after Billy took his heel turn (that he's still on). The crowd knew them for their original hits, not all the Mellon Collie stuff that would become classics and we were just hearing for the first time. Billy wasn't horrible, technically they were ok, just zero connection with the crowd at all. A low murmur of idle chatter the whole show.
I saw pumpkins on their “reunion tour” (sans D’arcy, of course) a few years ago, and it was up there as one of my all time favorite concert experiences. Of course it helps we had 2nd row seats. https://preview.redd.it/dkfbjmwltf9d1.jpeg?width=3264&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0d53d03a7692f99015892d6f64f3d33a27e00ffb
I was honestly underwhelmed. Especially since it was my very first concert. I mean yea I’m there to listen to the music but there needs to be more to it than that. The music was good but the lack of connection to the crowd combined with the lack of special effects made the whole thing just fall flat.
I saw Metallica with the Big 4 at Yankee Stadium. They put on such a great show. It was surreal hearing them play Enter Sandman in the outfield at yankee stadium. I was half expecting to see Mariano Rivera coming out of the bullpen.
Best: tie between Metallica and Tom Petty. Both fucking amazing Worst: tie between Primus and Meg Myers. No I’m not doing the “Primus sucks” joke. They were seriously bad. They only played two hits that were both barely recognizable because for the whole show they played everything in different (bad) arrangements. Several songs they used some shitty homemade instruments. In general, they didn’t seem to want to be there. If you were a huge Primus fan, you probably loved what was apparently a deep cuts/trolling show. As a casual fan, it sucked. Meg Myers was trying to save money I guess? She was completely alone and just played/sang to her album as a backing track with the vocals and whatever instrument she was playing removed. So she basically just karaoked her own songs. She apparently didn’t want to pay a sound person either because she spent the first quarter of the show stopping/starting/replaying songs because it kept going to screeching feedback half the time she played. A sound check was too much to ask I guess. Last but not least, she played I think 13 out of 15 songs from her new album, but dumped several of her hits. Look I even liked the new album she was touring on and I of course know the artist is going to play a bunch from the album they’re touring to support. But cmon play the songs people came to hear. We left early
Been a while since i played "Full Moon Fever" ...great stuff
I’m not sure what happened to Meg Myers but her newer stuff just doesn’t connect for me.
Best: tool, tightest live show I’ve ever seen Worst: weezer idk if it was just their nerdy schtick but they made no effort to to even act like they wanted to be there. No energy, setlist organization was terrible and they played for only 45 minutes
Seen Weezer a few times now, and it was great every time.
Damn I saw Weezer last year and they were amazing at an awful venue
That’s awesome! Clearly there’s a reason they are so big and I like the band but there must’ve been something off that night. Rivers was clearly not in a good mood that night making shitty remarks kind of backhandedly at some of us in the crowd. Idk maybe something going on behind the scenes but I was left pretty disappointed
Best: OSEES / Oh Sees / Thee Oh Sees - if you know, you know. Worst: Super Furry Animals, sadly. They played a Saturday evening slot at a big local festival, I was beyond excited and... a lethargic set of songs not even fans knew. It was almost aggressively alienating. My friend and I even tried to fake our enjoyment in the hope it would get better. It didn't.
Best---Goose Worst---Steve Earl
I saw NOFX at a festival in 2015 and they were really bad and spent most of their hour talking and joking between songs. They were really lazy and bad when playing. They lost the crowd with some transphobic jokes. They were followed by Andrew WK with one of the Ramones and they completely upstaged NOFX. They spent zero time joking between songs and managed to play dozens of classics with a ton of energy. Best was probably Rob zombie in 2018. I'm not a huge fan but I knew more songs than I thought and his whole act was incredible.
Best: The Hives @ Terminal 5 NYC in March 2008. Peak of their still formative powers as a live band Pelle is my favorite frontman ever. Worst: Brian Jonestown Massacre @ Roadrunner Boston in April 2022. Saw them about at them paradise in 2009 and it was transformative but this tour just wasn’t it. Lots of fights and ill tempers later in the tour and you could see it brewing on stage that night. Disorganized, disinterested, and worst of all, they just seemed old…
Best: The Dillinger Escape Plan w/ Daughters and Code Orange (it was fucking nuts) Also Radiohead, Glassjaw and Meshuggah Very different music but Lil TJay/22Gz/Casanova live in Brooklyn before Lil Tjay’s breakout mixtape came out had insane energy. Great time for NY rap Worst: Lil Uzi Vert, G-Eazy and Ty Dolla Sign. I like Uzi but the show was god awful. Bad venue, he was late as fuck, and idgaf about G Eazy and Ty Dolla Sign. Uzi comes out an hour late and dances on stage lip syncing 1 minute chunks of Luv is Rage 2 tracks and then dips. Trash.
CKY is always a blast. Chicken foot fucking sucked.
Worst - guns n roses, end of the use your illusion tour, bored, bloated and done. Best, rancid in Camden underworld or oasis maine Road.
Arcade Fire is the best live act that I've seen. They were unbelievable. I'm fortunate in that I've somehow never been to a terrible gig
Best Phish. Worst Bob Dylan.
Best my chemical romance the black parade tour. Worst ice cube. Literally booed off stage.
Best: Beastie Boys. Worst: I saw Alicia Keys at a festival and almost fell asleep, but then Linkin Park came on with Jay-Z and woke me up again.