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Not Good Live Bands

#121
does a sh1tty sound guy count as a "bad performance"? I saw Them Crooked Vultures on Monday and I left completely dissappointed. Musically they played great, Groel was really an incredible drummer (he never missed a beat). But I could NOT hear any of the bass it just blended in with everything else to the point it was pure boom. The bass drum was way over the top and the vocals were not very clear so I could hardly make out what he was singing about half the time.

But musically they played great.
 
#122
marchone said:
The Monkees. I saw them when Hendrix opened for them. Lip synced.
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Lip syncing to a live band in 1967? On that tour they played all their own instruments except during the solo sections when The Sundowners became the band (and a tight one at that). All the recordings from that time clearly indicate they played and sang all the vocals LIVE as documented on Live 1967.
At any rate, it must have been weird for little 14 year old girls taking Jimi in all his glory and I for one would have killed to witness it.
 
#125
chjohnst said:
does a sh1tty sound guy count as a "bad performance"? I saw Them Crooked Vultures on Monday and I left completely dissappointed. Musically they played great, Groel was really an incredible drummer (he never missed a beat). But I could NOT hear any of the bass it just blended in with everything else to the point it was pure boom. The bass drum was way over the top and the vocals were not very clear so I could hardly make out what he was singing about half the time.

But musically they played great.
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If you count sound as part of the performance, absolutely yes.
But doesn't TCV also use Hutch, kyuss/qotsa's soundfella?

It can be bad production overall (poor sound equipment/placement) or chalk it up to an overwhelmed soundguy.
 
#126
I thought MGMT was pretty underwhelming live. And when Hinder opened for Aerosmith... :rollno:

Oh! And I played Warped Tour in Milwaukee this summer, and Blood on the Dance Floor was so bad that some of the other bands were openly jeering at them backstage and literally over half of the audience was flipping them off during their set. It was painfully awful.
 
#127
Gerhn Blanston said:
Two words; VAN HALEN!
The VH show @ the MGM Grand in Vegas was a $190 a seat (face value) TRAIN WRECK. I almost walked out but hung around to see if it could get any worse; and it did.
All in all I witnessed my favorite tunes hacked to death by an epic band.
The whole episode can be summed up here in Eddie's guitar solo from the night in question. 12/30/07 - (8:09)
PUT THE BOTTLE DOWN ED!
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OMG! That was horrible. Maybe one minute of that stuff could be spliced together to form something listenable but........:o
 
#128
jaywa said:
Was that during Zep's drugged-out phase? Seems like inconsistency in live performances can often be tied back to drug/alcohol abuse within the band. Lots of people have also identified Aerosmith as a major "live" disappointment back in the day and guess what, at that point they were all zonked literally out of their minds.
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http://www.youtube.com/embed/5IQr-jAvxBM
 
#131
jmattbassplaya said:
yeah... I kinda always had a feeling that's how they were in their dark years... But these days they are absolutely fantastic!
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Agreed... I saw AIC with the new singer twice. Once in support of Velvet Revolver and Once at a festival being followed by Stone Temple Pilots. Now I've seen STP 4 times and they were great every time, but after Alice in Chains both of Weiland's bands seemed somehow less impressive.
 
#132
denton57 said:
I love Zeppelin, but sound remains the same movie just sucks IMO. I remember being so excited to see it for the first time and just feeling so let down.

I have seen some footage of them on some recent release and it was great, so I don't know...
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Agree w/ Song Remains The Same movie not being the best concert performance on film by quite a long shot. I have heard boots from the 70's that were much better. But Zepp was never about precision live, they were about cocky roughshod energy live, and I always liked that about them. But pretty different than their rightfully famous studio output.
 
#133
BigOldHarry said:
Back in the day, Aerosmith was widely known as a terrible live act - always loaded as hell, sloppy... just bad. Great recording group... and I understand that they are a MUCH better band live now than they were back in... well, I first say them in '77 (and they could barely get on stage!) - -
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I saw Areosmith in 1977 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and they were horrible -- their sound, their stage presence, all of it. I was stoked to see them but they sucked.

On the upside however, REO Speedwagon opened that show and they were outstanding.
 
#134
I saw Guns n' Roses in '91 over in Germany. Duff was so drunk, they had to carry him off stage and one of his techs took over. Sloppy playing, the band was not happy and the sound guys were having all kinds of problems. The one bright spot was when the band left for about half an hour due to setup issues. The PA was pumping Jane's Addiction and people started dancing. Sad, but true.
 
#136
Worst big name: a second vote for Bob Dylan. It seemed he really didn't like being idolized by his fans all that much. His set lists as amazing, and the strength of the songs and savvy of his band almost pulled it through - almost - but his vocal delivery seemed designed to subvert any chance of musical success. His voice is rough, no doubt about it, but what he chose to sing was even rougher. Just really bad, unmusical phrasing and delivery of classic lyrics. I don't know if he was just bored of the old melodies, in which case he should have updated the band arrangements to match the new herky jerky melodies, or if he just didn't want the fans singing along. I think it was the latter. He really sabotaged his own show though.

Best live band ever: Fishbone. Just crushing musical energy and flawless performance.
 
#138
The Eagles aren't actually bad live; they're just... BORING. Whether it was the '70's or one of their countless reunion tours, they usually just stood (or sat) on stage and recreated their songs note-for-note from the albums. Joe Walsh seems to be the only one interested in improvisation. Otherwise it's like looking at a poster of the band on stage while listening to a CD.
 
#139
You wanna know who sucked live arround 1999 or 2000?

Kenny Wayne Shepard. Boring as it gets. Said he had been on the road 18 months. Everything was uninspired.

Soulfly ruled their first tour, and i saw them four times after that as opening acts and they were terrible. I hear they got better but the last time i paid to see them was 2004? Mebby 2002?
 
#140
My friends and I went to a Liz Phair concert on new years 1994. It was at the peak of her indie cred and right in the middle of her "stage fright/nervous mistake" phase which resulted in much heckling from the audience.

The two opening bands blew her away: we got there in time to see one of the first Veruca Salt performances, which was mind-blowing. Then Hum took the stage, and if you missed Hum in the 90's then I don't even know what to tell you.
 

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