Best (& Worst!) Live Bands

[Andrew Boyd]

Seen several over the years, none to bad, lucky I guess.

 

Amonst the best Pink Floyd ( Wembly ) ages ago, Pritty Things (LCH Folkstone), Clapton with Andy Fairweatherlow ( Albert Hall - History of the Blues tour ).

 

Just seen Ledz Zepplin - as good as the real thing, poss better. Note / sound purfect. Note to self - don't stand so close to the speakers!

 

These days I seem to see 'local' groups gigging in pubs . . look out in the Weymouth area for "Splinter" just do covers, but wow.

 

There is so much talent out there, you just need to find it. Nothing beats a small venue.

[starlight]

best, levellers, last gig of tour, played like it was the first

ub40, saw skineads, mods, rastas and all sorts, all dancing together, magic!

teardrop explodes, weird and awesome.

worst, haircut one hundred, couldnt play or sing.

alabama3, what a load of political crap! shame, take that out and they would of been good.

[Alan Stubbs]

Since posting on this thread in 2004, I saw Cream at the Royal Albert Hall for one of their reunion gigs.

You could still feel the tension between Bruce and Baker, You got the distinct impression that Jack Bruce is a wind-up artist and Ginger Baker has had a sense of humour failure. I know that there is still bad blood between them over song writing royalties.

 

Still, it was a great gig on 2 counts - they played a lot of my favourite stuff well.

Best of all, they didn't try to recreate what they were when I saw them as a 14 year old back in the '60's, so it stood up well as a gig in it's own right.

 

 

During 2007, I saw Richard Thompson. What a songsmith! No stage presence at all, but there again, he doesn't need it.

In 2006 I saw John Jorgensen play a tiny venue in Wigan, you felt that he was playing beautiful music wth only you in mind. A much underrated artiste.

 

I saw the John Mayall 70th birthday gig at Liverpool where he had Clapton, Mick Taylor and Chris Barber guesting. Why Chris Barber was asked, God only knows and why Clapton was allowed to play Hoochie Coochie Man.......

 

Around the same time at the same venue, I saw ZZ Top who were real fun.

 

Oh yeah, Happy New Year everyone!

Edited January 1, 2008 by Alan Stubbs

[Dave Matthews]

Best, in no particular order.

 

Pink Floyd, Knebworth and Animals set

Yes

The Clash

Camel

R.E.M.

Seth Lakeman

Roger Waters

 

Not so hot was David Gilmour at the Royal Festival Hall, we got to our seats and realised it was an un bl**dy plugged gig. After reading the comments about Clapton, I'm not so disappointed about missing out on tickets a while back.

[Andrew Boyd]

Dave

 

What was Roger Walters like live? His 'Amused to Death' album is one of my all time fav's. . . quality.

[happymondays]

In no particular order,

The Good:

 

Faithless.... One of the best live groups Ive seen,

Paul Weller..... Got to be one of the best with an acoustic guitar IMO,

Stereophonics.... Saw them off the back of Jeep, never been the same since Stuart Cable left,

Killers..... Has to have been one of the best headline acts I have seen at Glastonbury (2005),

Richard Ashcroft.... Excellent live seen him twice,

The Doves...... Manchester Appollo, seen these a few times probably one of my favourite live acts,

The Beautiful South...... Again at the Appollo just before they split, top class live,

Primal Scream...... I saw these twice one was so so and the other was the dogs do da's,

Kasabian...... Brilliant live band,

Razorlight..... Ditto,

Basement Jaxx.... Wasn't sure about these but what a performance,

The Zuton's..... Very good,

The Chemical brothers.... Brilliant and visual effects to match,

Moby..... Excellent saw him around Play,

Lady Smith Black Mambazo..... Saw these in the Isle of Man no instruments just 8 guys accapella, left smiling from ear to ear,

Manu Chao..... Feel good vibe,

Badly drawn Boy..... Another good acoustic act,

 

The Bad:

 

Only 2

 

Ian Brown.... Seen him 3 times every one crap, I love the Stone Roses but live Ian sucks,

The Happymondays..... Well its my namesake but the years of constant drug taking has made Sean a wreck.

 

Could list a lot more but I think I got carried away as it is.

[chesters1]

meatloaf and gillen equally both were dire ,in the gillen one the diehard longhairs and beards retired to the bar.

 

the leas cliff hall had a good turnaround of bands in the 70's but gillen was at the guildford venue i cant remember were meat sweat was

Edited January 3, 2008 by chesters1

[Janet]

The best? Without doubt, for me it has to be Bruce Springsteen in Sheffield on the Tunnel of Love tour. I forget the year, but I'll never forget the experience. What a consumate performer, and what a show!

 

Next best - Runrig, when they had Donnie Munroe on vocals. An absolutely outstanding performance from a very underrated Scottish band.

 

The worst? Undoubtably the Spice Girls when they first started. Saw them at a Party in the Park thing in Blackburn, and they were truly dreadful. They don't seem to have improved any in the intervening years ...

 

Janet