Best Live Performer(s) In Music

[Spiritinthesky]

Who has been the greatest live act ever?

The best band or act you've ever seen?

The Stones, U2, Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, Queen, Pink Floyd, The Who, Bowie, Dylan, Kiss, Nirvana or someone else?

This Day in Music have just started a poll to find out. If you fancy voting for who you think should win go to http://www.thisdayinmusic.com

You can vote for any act, just go to 'other' on the list.

 

[Ronny Shade]

Best show I've seen by far is Prince.

 

[Untilteld]

carrot top.

 

[Heretic]

The answer is Gwar.

But aside from them...um Nirvana? They were notoriously garbage live. I wont judge anyone that I did not actually see in concert, so Prince is up there. KISS is an experience...kind of like Gwar...in that the quality of the music takes a backseat to the fact that so much is going on.

 

[Franklin Richards]

The Pope.

 

[thedeadite]

Best show I have ever seen was David Bowie/Nine Inch Nails, there was no break were one band stopped and the other started. They simply transitioned between the 2 by doing duets of each others material in between acts.

 

[The Chairman]

Billy Joel is the best I've ever seen. No flashy explosions or elaborate lighting displays, just 3 1/2 hours of great music.

Second would be The Rolling Stones

 

[Lobo]

Kiss and Ted Nugent have been the best I've seen.

 

[SLVRSR4]

Behemoth and Dimmu Borgir

 

[CFE]

Best show I've seen by far is Prince.

Seconded...his 'Musicology' Show was unforgettable.

Acoustic "Little Red Corvette" = Brilliance.

CFE

 

[chaseter]

The Tijuana Donkey shows.

 

[taskmaster]

Behemoth and Dimmu Borgir

Serpentine...... OFFERING!

 

[The Chairman]

A big part of great music is hearing it live, but not all artists can do so properly. Basically, the point of this thread is to state which artist or band is best at live performances, and why.

For me, it's Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band. I've watched two of their live dvds this weekend and their connection with their audience is just amazing.

 

[danoyse]

I've seen Bruce in concert 10 times, and he's definitely my favorite.

My second favorite is U2. I've seen them 3 times and it's practically a religious experience.

I also love Billy Joel. He hasn't had a new album in ages, but his shows are still great with him just playing his old stuff.

Paul McCartney is great too - hearing old Beatles songs live is incredible, and both shows I saw were a lot of fun.

 

[The Chairman]

I've seen Bruce in concert 10 times, and he's definitely my favorite.

Hopefully, I'll finally be getting a chance to see him May 4th at Nassau. I've got my River t-shirt and my sign request ("I'm Going Down") ready to go. He's got such an amazing connection with his audience, they know every word and even sing along to the instrumental parts. His concert look like church revivals.

I also love Billy Joel. He hasn't had a new album in ages, but his shows are still great with him just playing his old stuff.

Eh, Billy's only good these days if it's an event show like MSG. For the last two years, he's doing literally the same set at every show with little if any variation (though he recently did "Travelin' Prayer" for the first time in 30 years). He only does 20 songs a night and one of them is his roadie coming out to sing "Highway To Hell."

Check out JoelFansForever (far and away the best Billy forum on the web), a lot of Billy's longtime fans are expressing a lot of negative views because of Billy's inactivity.

 

[The Chairman]

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These two performances alone are proof of Bruce's live performing superiority.

 

[danoyse]

Hopefully, I'll finally be getting a chance to see him May 4th at Nassau. I've got my River t-shirt and my sign request ("I'm Going Down") ready to go. He's got such an amazing connection with his audience, they know every word and even sing along to the instrumental parts. His concert look like church revivals.

You'll love it. It's like a giant party. My favorite song of his is Thunder Road. I haven't heard it since 2003 but the shows are so good that I never realize he didn't play it until I'm reading the set list on Backstreets later.

Last show I saw was at Giants Stadium last summer, and the show was delayed due to an accident on the NJ Turnpike, so they didn't come on until 9:30...yet they still played 30 songs.

I emailed one of my friends who's also a Bruce fan the next day just to tell her I was watching Bruce play Rosalita and Jungleland at 12:45 that morning.

I have both of those live DVDs - this was one of my favorite clips from the Barcelona show. I saw him in Philly about two weeks earlier and he played this at our show too:

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One of my favorite parts on the Live in NY dvd is what one of my friends refers to as "the 75-minute version" of 10th Avenue Freeze Out.

Another great DVD to check out is the VH1 Storytellers show. It's all acoustic, and goes into the stories behind the songs. Great DVD.

 

[The Chairman]

I like that Bruce never does the same set twice. The only two songs he does every night are "Badlands" and "Born To Run." Other than that, there's no telling what he'll do. Unlike Billy, who mostly plays only his greatest hits, Bruce always has surprises up his sleeve at his shows. Last tour, he was doing stuff like "Crush On You" and "Held Up Without A Gun" that hadn't been done in 30 years.

I wish I was at the Giants Stadium show. I tried getting tickets, but we missed out.

That performance of "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" is awesome. I love the "sermon" in the middle.

Bruce is also a great storyteller. I love the one he tells in the middle of "Growin' Up" on the Live boxed set about his parents wanting him to be a lawyer or an author and his mom and sister telling him it's not too late to back to college.

""For six years they've been following me around California...Hey ma! Give it up!"

 

[danoyse]

You should check out E Street Radio. They play a ton of live shows - some from the 70s, some as recent as the last tour. One of my favorite band intros was from a show in LA during the reunion tour - he introduced Steven van Zandt as "the only man I've ever known who's been thrown out of Disneyland! I was with him, and I left in solidarity!"

The whole sign thing was nuts during the last tour. He played "Incident on 57th Street" and "Jersey Girl" just on sign requests from the audience.

This is one of the songs I loved on the last tour - the new version of "Reason to Believe". This was from a show in Chicago that was just a few days after I saw him at MSG:

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[The Chairman]

You should check out E Street Radio. They play a ton of live shows - some from the 70s, some as recent as the last tour. One of my favorite band intros was from a show in LA during the reunion tour - he introduced Steven van Zandt as "the only man I've ever known who's been thrown out of Disneyland! I was with him, and I left in solidarity!"

The whole sign thing was nuts during the last tour. He played "Incident on 57th Street" and "Jersey Girl" just on sign requests from the audience.

This is one of the songs I loved on the last tour - the new version of "Reason to Believe". This was from a show in Chicago that was just a few days after I saw him at MSG:

I'm actually listening to an audience recording from the last Giants show right now.

I love the new "Reason To Believe." Definitely one of the highlights.

Were you at the Tampa show where they payed tribute to Danny? It was supposed to be one of, if not the, best of the tour.

I actually know the guy who played percussion on the Seeger Sessions. He got to play with Bruce on "American Land" in 2007 at MSG. I'm tempted to ask him to get Bruce to appear at our graduation.

 

[Mutagen]

I would say Michael Jackson.

 

[The Chairman]

I would say Michael Jackson.

Michael doesn't sing live.

 

[Mutagen]

Michael doesn't sing live.

I've seen it, one of the first I ever seen. True I saw it on T.V., but it was still live. That moonwalk was too cool for words.

 

[danoyse]

I'm actually listening to an audience recording from the last Giants show right now.

I love the new "Reason To Believe." Definitely one of the highlights.

Were you at the Tampa show where they payed tribute to Danny? It was supposed to be one of, if not the, best of the tour.

I actually know the guy who played percussion on the Seeger Sessions. He got to play with Bruce on "American Land" in 2007 at MSG. I'm tempted to ask him to get Bruce to appear at our graduation.

If it was the 7/31 show at Giants Stadium, that was the one I was at. I heard all 3 shows were amazing.

I wasn't at the Tampa show, but I did get to see one of Danny's last shows when they played MSG in October 2007 - in fact, that was the same show that the Seeger Sessions band joined them to sing "American Land" at the end of the show.

 

[The Chairman]

I've seen it, one of the first I ever seen. True I saw it on T.V., but it was still live. That moonwalk was too cool for words.

Michael's a great performer, no doubt. But the fact he doesn't his own singing live brings him down a few notches in my book. Same with Madonna.