best on stage music performer??

[PhyllipThylamine]

oh shut up you lot, half your argument is missing & I can't be arsed to figure out who's in the wrong! Lol

BAUHAUS!

I only got half a gig, up in Kentish Town a few years ago but fuck did they throw it down for that half hour. Was gutted when the guitar fx crashed but prior to that they had been simply stunning. I can't, off the top of my head, think of an entire gig that compared to that brief half-gig of sheer energetic lunacy! Peter Murphy solo last year wasn't half bad, but Bauhaus... FUCK!

It wasn't exactly energetic, but I saw The Wailers in London in the late 90's & that was probably one of the best gigs I've ever been to. Oroginal members & singing from Stephen Marley completed the illusion. Other worthy mentions to New Order at Reading (94 would be my guess), The Cult last year, Pink Floyd at Wembly Stadium in the late 80's, Wierdo at The Fridge (London, about 10 years ago) & Lab 4 at the same. Many more are missing from this list...

 

[StoneHappyMonday]

An

What would you call you and your little clique following me everywhere I go on here? Do it to anybody else do you? Didn't think so.

Bit paranoid mate. I fuck off everybody here, it's a hobby.

And to quote Johnny Rotten outside the High Court "Bollocks is legal. Bollocks bollocks bollocks."

Anyway, anyone else think the Chemicals are a tad disappointing live?

 

[mydrugbuddy]

whats your opinion for what band or solo artist are the best on stage performers?

Freddie Mercury of course !

 

[jancrow]

I'm still working my way through the Queen Band Aid footage, it's fucking superb, what a voice, what a showman. Band Aid might not look quite so useful in retrospect but what a day it must have been.

Other excellent live bands: Pixies (on the right day), Sparks, Prince. All for different reasons.

 

[Myshkin]

Led Zeppelin, on the other hand, were uncharacteristically awful that day.

Oh, and it brings me pleasure to see The Cult and Bauhaus mentioned here.

 

[fastandbulbous]

Bit paranoid mate. I fuck off everybody here, it's a hobby.

May I say you're very good at it, you should consider doing it professionally!!


It's a gift (I do it in person much better )

 

[ageingpartyfiend]

There's been so many...

For sheer performance energy and utter joie de vivre I would have to say Freddie Mercury's performance I (kinda, due to overstimulation) saw at Knebworth in 1986 takes some beating. Was never a huge Queen fan or owt, but what a show.

For totally tripped out bizarreness Hawkwind's all-nighter at Stonehenge 1984 was a completely different universe, and Roy Harper's main set at the same festival was the most I have ever seen anybody get into their music.

For the ultimate in sound and vision from a rock perspective Roger Water's ongoing 'The Wall' tour is something else, and my most blissed out reggae sessions have come at the hands of the mighty Jah Shaka (particularly those mid-90's Bristol all-nighters), Dub Syndicate and Burning Spear

 

[Acid4Blood]

Anyway, anyone else think the Chemicals are a tad disappointing live?

Yes, 4 out of the 5 times I've seen them they have been disappointing.

Their performance at the Witness festival in 2002 was fucking unreal tho. Electric atmosphere & an amazing climactic set. It was during their "Come With Us" tour AFAICR.

Pretty much had the same experience with The Prodigy. Saw them 4 times, 3 dissapointing & 1 amazing. It was on their "Their Law" greatest hits tour. Howlett ended the set by stopping the music & left the whole crowd singing "I'm gonna send him to outer space, to find another race". That moment gave me shivers. What a way to end a gig! %)

 

[StoneHappyMonday]

The Freddie Mercury love-in is getting a bit worrying.

 

[hooks]

The Prodigy at Glastonbury circa 1994. Best live performance I ever did see.

I'll 2nd Chemical Brothers as the shittest (or biggest let down anyway).

Others in their prime are PWEI and Carter USM, both incredible live. Muse too but they've now gone rather shit now IMO.

 

[Marmalade]

Led Zeppelin, on the other hand, were uncharacteristically awful that day.

eh. I made a wrong assumption about the question. thought it was about bands we'd personally seen.

if it's about any band, incl from footage, that opens it up a bit I guess

I'd add The Cardiacs to my list for their Maresnest performance. I can only wish I'd been there

also, i forgot about The Pixies. I saw them last year and I'd say it was definitely my favourite gig ever

pavement last year makes my top 5 also

[edit] Hooks: Alan Moore, knows the score! PWEI is one of the acest band names ever

 

[Mailmonkey]

Motorhead

Lemmy being so fucking cool and the fact that It was SO FUCKING LOUD!

I was racking me brains at this thread, but yeah, fucking Motorhead, they turned up late when I first saw them, Lemmy turned to the band and just said " Fast as you can lads", sort of half muttered it, then they let rip....fast as fuck, loud as fuck, dirty as fuck.

SHM, Chemical Brothers!!! I've seen them 4, 5 times now, and am always blown away by them. I've never seen them sober. I love their recorded stuff, a lot of it, not all of it, but yeah I like them live too :D

 

[parttime crackhead]

Adam Beyer, Dave Clarke, Tiga, PRODIGY, Oasis, Benga, Underworld.... Just based on personal experiances at festivals/club nights etc

Dave Clarke? He just stands there looking raging staring at his decks. I've seen him numerous times & don't think I've ever even seen him crack a smile.

marilyn manson (yes mr warner himself) i would say would put on an amazing show

I thought Manson was quality live as well man. Me & my trackied up mates looked well out of place in the crowd haha.

And while I'm at it can I put in a controversial nomination for the worst live act?

Chemical Brothers.

Seen them about 4 times at festivals and they certainly know how to take a crowd...nearly there then straight back down again.

Maybe its just me. I actually like a fair bit of their recorded stuff.

Edit - Just realised I misread your post. I thought they were good lol. Maybe the rest of the crowd agreed with you & I was just that out of it that I didn't realise (read original reply below for this to make sense)

Agreed on that one as well. Saw them at Exit & they were banging. The crowd were shite though, just standing there nodding their heads. We kept shoving forward expecting it to be a bit more mad near the front but it wasn't. Fuck knows what the score was. Also had to leave when the big clown face appeared as my ket fuelled mate started freaking right out, he'd already been freaking it for a wee while "I feel like I'm on a spaceship, we need to go, we need to go!" but ignored him until the clown face when he looked at me with sheer terror in his eyes like "WE NEED TO GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!!!!" so I took him to safety & what he described as "Nice happy music with no fucking black & white clown cunts."


Not read the full thread as I'm lazy but I'd like to add Mike Skinner to the list, he's been fucking amazing every time I've seen The Streets. Also Wu-Tang, particularly the gig I caught when Method Man actually showed up, shit was bonkers. Nas & Damian Marley live was pretty fucking impressive as well. Jay-Z with the full band was %).

Couldn't really say who was the best, there will definitely be better stuff than I've listed that I can't remember at the moment



Edit - Fuck, how could I forget. Hawtin's latest Plastikman live show (saw it at The Barras) was fucking mental. Walked out of that gig & everyone was just like "Whoa! That was incredible!".

 

[parttime crackhead]

In that case, why don't you call someone a nigger?

It's no different to calling them a dick.

C'mon to fuck. He clearly didn't mean it the way people have taken it. I referred to MD 20/20 as "poofy Buckfast" last night. No-one said a thing (that I noticed anyway, unless there was a sly edit but I doubt it). I would say it again. What's the difference?

Gay means happy anyway. I prefer the term bummer when referring to homosexual males hahaha

 

[Marmalade]

gay is largely chosen by homosexual males as their preferred term of colloquial 'label'

poofter is not.

to me, the definition of whether it's offensive or not [edit] to you and people you interact with [/edit] should be decided amongst yourselves ie: the people you socialise with

on a wider scale more respect should be applied, although it should never be seen as a right, or entitled guarantee, by the groups in question

ie: my sis is classed as disabled. I/we quite happily refer to her disabled parking badge as her 'razzer pass' .. and we make various other references to her disability in a similar vein and nature. we both understand the context and intent of these phrases and there's an implied shared understanding

referring to the disabled colloquially as 'spaz' or 'razzers' would take on a completely different context and not be acceptable to me. [edit] and i hazzard a guess it would seem and be received as offensive to most disabled people[edit]

you can apply this theory in a similar way to the use of paki, nigger etc.

[edit x 1million] the term Paki has other connotations however, in terms of location, much like Aussie, that as a term make it acceptable, when used in that particular context

this whole labeling and derogatory word usage is problematic simply because of the multiple meanings and connotations and context used by different groups of people

 

[matt<3ketamine]

Agreed on that one as well. Saw them at Exit & they were banging. The crowd were shite though, just standing there nodding their heads. We kept shoving forward expecting it to be a bit more mad near the front but it wasn't. Fuck knows what the score was. Also had to leave when the big clown face appeared as my ket fuelled mate started freaking right out, he'd already been freaking it for a wee while "I feel like I'm on a spaceship, we need to go, we need to go!" but ignored him until the clown face when he looked at me with sheer terror in his eyes like "WE NEED TO GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!!!!" so I took him to safety & what he described as "Nice happy music with no fucking black & white clown cunts."

hahahaha god i love ketamine

 

[parttime crackhead]

gay is largely chosen by homosexual males as their preferred term of colloquial 'label'

poofter is not.

to me, the definition of whether it's offensive or not [edit] to you and people you interact with [/edit] should be decided amongst yourselves ie: the people you socialise with

on a wider scale more respect should be applied, although it should never be seen as a right, or entitled guarantee, by the groups in question

ie: my sis is classed as disabled. I/we quite happily refer to her disabled parking badge as her 'razzer pass' .. and we make various other references to her disability in a similar vein and nature. we both understand the context and intent of these phrases and there's an implied shared understanding

referring to the disabled colloquially as 'spaz' or 'razzers' would take on a completely different context and not be acceptable to me. [edit] and i hazzard a guess it would seem and be received as offensive to most disabled people[edit]

you can apply this theory in a similar way to the use of paki, nigger etc.

[edit x 1million] the term Paki has other connotations however, in terms of location, much like Aussie, that as a term make it acceptable, when used in that particular context

this whole labeling and derogatory word usage is problematic simply because of the multiple meanings and connotations and context used by different groups of people

Pretty much agreed. I think the intention behind it is the main part. I've jokingly called a gay guy a poof before, no offense was meant, none was taken. I've also said far worse things than that & gotten away with it because I didn't mean any harm.

The only time I've ever had someone take offense (when I've not been deliberately trying to offend them because I dislike them) at some derogatory word I've used is when I called a boy I used to work with a "Paki bastard" to which he replied "I'M FROM INDIA, I'M NOT A FUCKING PAKI! I HATE FUCKING PAKIS, EVERYONE THINKS I'M ONE OF THEM. FUCK PAKIS!!!" haha (we were mates, this was not actually an argument - I also don't think he really hated Pakistanis, but you never know lol). He then threatened to phone the Taliban on me.

 

[matt<3ketamine]

but you never know lol. He then threatened to phone the Taliban on me.

lulz

NSFW:

 

[Busty St Clare]

I've seen Iggy at least twice (from foggy memory), once with the Stooges and once solo and I came away both times thinking "meh". Rolling around stage with his hand down the front of his leathers, mumbling incoherantly or even worse passing the mic over to some git in the font row of the mosh pit. Perhaps he was able to score some good gear each time I saw him but you can keep that type of showmanship.

You either love or hate The Hives, but there is no denying the showmanship of Howlin' Pelle Almqvist. The man holds a crowd to attention and has some of the best swagger of any frontman on the stage.

I saw The Dandy Warhols and Artic Monkeys in the past 6 months and both shows were spot on. The drummer for the monkeys is a fucking machine and both bands sound as good live as they do on record. Ditto for Gomez.

Fat Freddys drop know how to get a crowd pumping but I guess it helps when you see them in a steamy intimate setting not a wide open festival field.

 

[Myshkin]

eh. I made a wrong assumption about the question. thought it was about bands we'd personally seen.

I tried to limit my choices to that, purely because if I were to open up the can of worms that is the past then I'd have loads of names to reel off. A lot of them would be the usual suspects - Led Zep in '74ish and the Stones in '72 spring instantly to mind, as do the Velvets of any era (nineties reunion aside). From any footage I've seen of these bands they were worth it, and not just because of the myth factor.

That said, quite a few of my favourites were utterly dire live - I remember getting excited about the Felt live DVD and then witnessing something for which the description 'damp squib' would be far too charitable. The same goes for any New Order footage I've seen.

One of the biggest regrets is that I wasn't old enough to see Swans in the late eighties. I mean, there's a reunion of sorts, but as cool as Gira still is it feels more like his solo project with a few ex-Swans faces, and Jarboe's obviously not there. I don't think he'll ever reach this level of intensity again, particularly the last couple of minutes where he punches himself in the bollocks repeatedly before collapsing from sheer exhaustion. Admittedly the meth played a big part, but it's comforting to know somebody's willing to hospitalise themselves in the name of art.